Hugo

When she returned, I was back sitting near the campfire. I didn’t want to chase after her, knowing that the others were still unconscious, in case a monster popped out.

“Finally.” I glared in her direction when she came. “Now, about my wand…”

“Don’t worry! I’m sure she will fix you up with something! And you can always just buy a new one once you’re back on the outside!” She laughed.

“You know, you’re cutting my strength in half by slicing my wand like that. What if I wanted to go further in, huh? And I couldn’t be bothered to go back to town to restock.” I stood up. “At the very least, you should pay me what that wand cost me to buy. Which would be ten gold pieces.”

It was a lie. I couldn’t even remember how much money Marina had to spend to buy it all those years ago.

“Sorry, kiddo, but I don’t have any money. I might be a master swordswoman but I’m not good at all with coins! Why, the last time I had any coins, I spent it all on the tavern!” Once again, she burst into a laughing fit.

“...I can’t believe this.” I sighed. “Well, as you promised, tell me where the exit is and we’ll be on our way.”

“Sure!” She smiled. “Wake up those friends of yours and we could get going right away. Oh, and don’t worry about the floor boss. I already took care of it.”

“...Yeah, I imagine you did.” After all, she did kill seemingly every single monster on this floor already. Or at least, the ones that patrolled near this region.

I conjured a simple ball of water with my hand (didn’t need a wand for that) and dropped it on Felicia and the others. I then shook them as hard as I could. After their unfortunate accidents, they certainly could use a quick bath.

One by one, they slowly returned to the world of the living, with no lasting damage, thankfully enough (or else that swordswoman had something other than my wand to pay). I then explained to them what had transpired.

Felicia was the first to express her displeasure. It was either her or Tama, really.

“So, you think you can just attack us and get away with it?” She glared at the pink-haired woman. “You’re lucky Milord is a merciful man or else he would’ve killed you already.”

“Oh please, I wouldn't count that as an attack." The swordswoman smirked. "I call it… a greeting. And besides, your little Lord won't be able to do that anyway. I'm the strongest swordswoman in the world after all." She patted her chest.

"You!"

I grabbed Felicia's hand and shook my head.

“But Milord, she’s humiliated you! A-and she humiliated me as well!” A small tear appeared in the corner of her eye. “We should at least punish her a little! Wipe that smirk off her face!”

Sorry, Felicia. I know how embarrassing it must be for a woman your age to have an accident. But she isn't someone you should pick a fight with.

"Unfortunately, she's right. I can't beat her. I told you before, didn't I? That she was a Virtouso in the Lancelot Order. She wasn't lying. I had tested her power after all."

"But Milord…"

"Enough."

Suddenly, the swordswoman interrupted us.

"All four of you are so much weaker than him. Flies like you have no right to tell him what to do."

"F-flies?" Felicia replied.

All of a sudden, I felt it again—that overwhelming terror emanating from her.

The desire to kill. She could cut all of us in a split second.

Felicia lost her balance, making her kneel down on the ground, panting. The others reacted similarly.

Only I remained standing. Barely.

"Maybe I should swat down those flies for you, Hugo Greenwood." She unsheathed her sword. "No doubt they're dragging you down from greatness."

Her eyes were nothing like they were before. It was now akin to a wild beast, hungry for blood and carnage.

I could feel Felicia's shaking hands grasping my arm. Looking down, her eyes were overwhelmed with fear.

"W-we have to… we have to run… run run run run…" She whispered over and over.

…

Run?

Haven't I swore an oath to myself that I will never run again, no matter what happens? Even if it means facing off against an enemy far stronger than myself?

"...No. I'm done running." I grabbed her quivering hands with my own, giving them the firm grip they desperately needed.

Looking back at the swordswoman, I replied, "I would've let you go if all you did was knocking us unconscious, since you seem like a good, honorable woman. But if you actually laid a hand to my companions, that would be another matter.”

“Oh?” Her smirk grew, making it look positively demonic. “Do you still have something else in your magic repertoire? Oh, wait, you can’t cast them. Not without your wand.”

“I’ll try nonetheless.”

To be honest, I am now really, really afraid. As afraid as I was when I faced that inquisitor woman, or even more. Even now, my legs are rapidly shaking and my heart is beating like crazy.

But, what is fear if it’s not to be conquered? That’s what a real man will do. Even if it means his death.

...I don’t care if I die. I only care if I die a coward.

“Then do it! Give me your best shot!”

Without my wand, I can only cast weak spells reliably. A wand helps augment a mage’s power. Without it, it will cost a lot more mana to cast a spell. Not to mention the difficulty increase that will rise exponentially if the spell is complex, as a wand helps the focusing of mana as well.

...But, with this distance, where she’s this close, I still have one ace I can try on her.

The problem is… would I be fast enough to do so without her executing a dodge or a counterattack?

Gently, I peeled Felicia’s hands off my arm.

“No… nonononono, you can’t fight her, Milord. You just can’t. Please, Milord, don’t do it!”

I ignored her plea.

I dashed forward, stretched my arm, and—

“Bold but foolish! I’ll take your arm for that!”

"Stop this at once!"

It all happened in a flash.

Manifesting in a burst of light, Xaela stood between us and grabbed both of our arms.

Before throwing us to the ground.

"Why are you two fighting? You're on the same side!"

I managed to recover mid-fall, as did Isolde. But we both knew that our fight was over, now that she had appeared.

The normally emotionless elf was now visibly angry, glaring at both of us.

"Hey, she started it. She threatened my friends." I quickly explained.

"Haah, and here I thought I could have more fun with him." The swordswoman shrugged, before returning to her smirk. "Well, he's all yours, Miss Administrator. I'll go back to my training. But a little word to you, Hugo Greenwood." She looked at me. "Be stronger. You have a rough future ahead of you."

"...Excuse me?" What is she talking about?

"Oh, nothing." She grinned, placing her hands on her waist. "I too will grow stronger. And once I perform my duty, if I can't find a man stronger than you, I'll go to you and make you my husband. Look forward to that."

H-Huh?! What did she just say?

Before I could say anything, she already dashed away.

Did she just… propose to me?

------

"HOW DARE SHE! DOES SHE THINK SHE CAN JUST PROPOSE TO MILORD LIKE THAT?"

After Felicia recovered from her fright, naturally, that was the very first thing she said. She grabbed my left arm and hugged it like the possessive girlfriend she was.

I wasn't complaining though as her soft breasts were pressing into it.

The others returned back on their feet as well. With Isolde and her hostile aura gone, they quickly regained their composure.

"Are you unharmed, Unchained One?" Xaela asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled. "Thank you for stopping our fight back there. I would've lost an arm if you hadn't interfered."

"L-lost an arm, Milord?" Felicia's eyes widened.

"My plan was to sacrifice my arm to cast a fatal spell on her. It was the only way I could win against her." I gave a wry smile to the redhead.

The spell is simple and it costs practically no mana as well. It's a spell that only works on humans though. Probably. Using my magic, I will create an air bubble inside her bloodstream. Just a tiny one, far quicker than filling her lungs until it burst.

And when it reaches her heart, it will clog her arteries, giving her a heart attack.

It's a little trivia I remembered from my old world, how it's really dangerous for air to be mixed with your blood.

I never really tested it though. I don't know whether it will work with monsters and nonhumans. Their biology might be different, more resilient than us humans.

I call it "Heartbreaker".

"Y-you can't do that! I forbid you to do that! I can't fix a decapitated arm!" Felicia yelled, hugging my arm even closer. "To see you walking around with a stump, just because of me, I'll never forgive myself!"

Sniffling, she began crying onto my shoulder.

Yep, I've seen this one coming.

Patting her head gently, I replied, "Well, it's not like I did it just for you. I did it for Theo and the others too. And for me as well."

"F-for you, Milord?" She looked up.

"To be brave against an opponent stronger than me. Ever since I failed Leila, that was my goal. As a man. As a human being."

"M-Master Hugo… Uwaahhhh!"

Theo ran over and hugged me as well, crying in the process.

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sir Hugo, if you'll excuse my impudence, I believe Miss Felicia is right."

Tira was the next person to step up.

"Bravery is one thing but recklessness is another. If you cause grief to your spouse for no good reason... I don't believe it's something a good man would do."

"Hmph, I'm not surprised." Tama flipped her hair. "He has always been reckless. I'm starting to worry that my Theo is going to turn as reckless as him."

My Theo, huh? I guess since they have been dating for a while, she has gone past that shy new couple stage completely.

"Well, like I said, that was my only option, since she sliced my wand into two."

"Wait, she did?" Felicia replied. I showed her what remained of it and she immediately cursed her again.

"THAT BITCH! HOW DARE SHE?"

Yep, this is also to be expected.

"Milord, don't worry, You can use my staff for the moment."

"There's no need. If it's a staff he needs, I can provide it."

All of a sudden, Xaela spoke.

"Really?" I turned to face her.

"Yes. You have passed my Master's test. I am now obliged to tell you the truth. So please, if you would, continue to the next floor."

"I… don't see how those two are related but sure. We can go." Well, so much for that swordswoman helping us out.

"Wait, before we go—" Felicia interrupted. "We… need to clean up first." She blushed.

...Oh right. Their accidents.

-------

After everyone was back with their clean clothes, we followed Xaela to the floor teleporter. Just as Isolde said, the boss monster was gone.

Stepping on the lighted square, we were swallowed by light as usual.

When I could see again, my surroundings had changed completely.

I was now inside a large white room, with square pillars reaching upwards to the skies. All around me were floating platforms, going left and right, up and down, and front and back. Pulsating blue lines covered both the pillars and the platforms.

And to my horror, I was all alone there.

"Wait, where is everyone? Xaela? Xaela?"

The robed elf manifested herself in front of me.

"What I'm about to tell you is for your ears only. It will be up to you to tell them the truth. As for your friends, they're fine. They're on the 601th floor. This, on the other hand, is the Summit. The 1000th floor."

"W-wait, this is the deepest part of the dungeon?"

"Correct. My master only told me to test you up to the 600th floor. The rest won't be needed."

The platform we stood on suddenly rose up.

"I shall begin by telling you the tale of my master's people, the Ancients. Or the Progenitors, as some of your kind called them."

"The Progenitors? So you really do work for them… Can elves live for that long? The Progenitors were around like thousands of years ago, right? Are you a high elf by any chance?” Her ears were covered by her hood so I couldn’t really judge their length.

“Please, Unchained One. Save your questions for later. For now, I advise you to listen to my tale first.” She gave a slightly impatient glare at my direction.

“Ah, alright. Sorry about that.” I gave a sheepish smile. “Please, continue.”

“As I was saying, this story began from the Ancients. Once, their civilization was no different than the world outside now—primitive, with barely any magic tools being used to enhance their lives. And they all worshipped one single being. Gaia, the One True Goddess, one who created the world and molded every soul that lived above it.”

Gaia, the One True Goddess? That name sounds—

"Arghhh!"

All of a sudden, a sharp pain entered my hand.

"Then, one day, a certain man was born into the world. Your predecessor, the first Unchained One."

Huh? My predecessor?

"His soul came from another world, unmolded by the Goddess. And so, he was free."

My eyes widened.

Another transmigrator?

"Wait, what do you mean by free?" I asked her.

"Unbound by the Chains of Fate that the Goddess had created. Free to disbelieve, free to choose his own path, free to see the world in a whole new way."

"Hold on, do you mean the Goddess can control Fate? How does that work exactly?" Yeah, really. If you manipulate someone's fate, do you just decide what happens to them?

"Yes. She controls the fate of every soul she created. And since your predecessor's soul wasn't made by her—"

"He can do whatever he wants. He can decide his own destiny." I interrupted.

Wow, to think there's another transmigrator other than me. And he's this super special person too…

I can't help but feel a little giddy.

"Time passed and he sired children and that children sired more children. His descendants shared the same freedom as him. And so, slowly but surely, the Goddess's control was wrestled away from her."

"Wait, how does that work? Procreation has nothing to do with soul creation, right?"

She nodded. "True. His descendants did have the Goddess's soul. However, there's also the phenomenon my masters penned as Soul Liberation. If an Unchained One were to have a close relationship with a Chained One, the Goddess's grip on the Chained One will slowly weaken until it erodes completely. It doesn't matter if it's his son or his many wives. All of them soon became Unchained Ones as well."

Whoa, many wives, she said. This guy was quite the player.

Still, that means the same thing should happen to me. Uh, not the many wives part. The Soul Liberation part.

"Eventually, there were enough Unchained Ones that the Goddess took notice. It led to centuries of endless conflicts, between the devotees of the Goddess and the Unchained Ones. And in the end, the Unchained Ones won."

I gulped. I think I know where this is going.

"Society, free of the Goddess's influence, grew rapidly. Wonders you could not imagine in your mind were used on a daily basis. Yes, that includes technology from your world."

Here, I would ask how she knows about my world, but I feel she's going to explain that later.

"I guess that's when the World Dungeons were built?" I changed my question.

"Correct." She nodded. "It was a major effort to create these. I wasn't there when the construction was in progress, however."

"...I see. So you were born later." Just how old is she?

"I was born near the End Day — the day our civilization came to an end."

I fell silent. She didn't show much of it, but I could sense a tinge of sadness from her expression.

"It happened in a flash. A global war broke out and the Ancients fired their weapons against each other — weapons that were simply too powerful for their own good. If I had to compare them, they were akin to the nuclear missiles of your world."

Wait, seriously? They had nukes?

And they killed themselves by it… that's an eerie reminder of my old world.

"Billions died. Our civilization ended in a single day. The land became inhospitable. Magic became impotent, as magic dampeners destroyed the land's mana. And the survivors — they couldn't restore it to the way it was.

"In the end, every single one of them perished in a dead, desolate world."

…And that's how the Progenitors went extinct.

"And then — She appeared. She gave life back to the land, desiring to start over with a new species to rule over. That would be you, humans."

...

"The Goddess… she was the one behind the nuclear war, wasn't she?"

"You're sharp. Yes, that was the conclusion my master took. In some arcane ways, she manipulated the nations of the world to destroy each other. For even Unchained Ones could still follow Her with their own will."

All of a sudden, I felt a jolt on my legs.

The platform had stopped. We had reached the very top of the floor.

"Now, I shall talk about a different God you should be more familiar with."

"The Heavenly Dragon? How is he related to the Goddess?"

We took our steps off the platform, returning back to firm, solid floor.

"He's our weapon against the Goddess. An artificial God that will take the reigns of Fate from her."

"A-an artificial God? Are you serious?"

"Yes. He was indeed the most wondrous creation of my masters. He was far from perfect though as we failed to finish him before our civilization ended. And so, the Cycle came to be."

"The Cycle?"

Surrounding us was a great white expanse, only limited by a large dome-like structure that acted as both its walls and ceilings. Said dome was also white, though unlike the pure white floor, it had glowing lines traveling through its whiteness.

“The Cycle of the Hero and the Demon God. Every thousand years, a Demon God will be born. It would wage war against humanity, cutting humanity’s number in half. And then, a Hero will come to oppose it, putting an end to its reign of terror.”

I froze.

“Wait, that’s the story of—”

“Arthur, Mira, Milicis. All three were chosen by the Heavenly Dragon to be Heroes of the last Cycle.”

“What about Ilymhrra?! Isn’t she one of them too?”

Xaela shook her head. “No. She’s… just like me. An Administrator. Albeit one that had left her position a long, long time ago. She has forgotten that, of course, since she has remained outside for so very long. Another effect of the Heavenly Dragon’s influence.”

Suddenly, the room transformed.

The white dome turned pitch black before being granted innumerable stars as its decoration. The floating sphere in the middle changed as well. It had transformed into what looked like a living model of a solar system, with a large sphere sitting in the middle and small spheres circling around it in a constant orbit.

“The Heavenly Dragon will eradicate any memories that might let the masses recall the existence of the world. He will also erase any memories of an encounter with the Goddess, normally happening through one’s dreams. That way, the world would never be again seduced by the Goddess’ honeyed words.”

“And that’s how she lost her memories?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“W-wait, I don’t understand.” I held my head. “So you’re telling me the whole Hero and Demon God conflict was orchestrated by the Heavenly Dragon? And for what purpose exactly? I don’t see how it can be—”

“A ritual. It is a ritual for it to restore its power. Humanity’s faith on the Dragon will restore its power — the power it desperately needs to keep the Goddess sealed. And the desperate cries for salvation against the demons is far more powerful than a common prayer for good fortune.”

I was speechless.

To think that the God so many people prayed to — good people like Nicole — is no God at all...

It never grants prayers.

It eats them instead.

“That’s… that’s beyond cruel! The Church! Milicis! Does she know?”

Xaela looked away. “I imagine she does. The Heavenly Dragon should inform her the moment He chose her to be his Grand Priestess.. Before her time, faith in the Heavenly Dragon had pretty much died away. Her triumph against the Demon God rehabilitated that faith. Knowing the truth, she readily deceived the world for the greater good.”

“How about the other heroes?!”

She paused. “I do not know the details as I only heard it from Ilmyhrra. But her apprentice, Mira — she learned the truth later. And she was not happy with it, it seemed.”

Thus causing the schism between Mira and Milicis — the one thousand year conflict between the Magocracy and the Church.

"It's almost a thousand years since Arthur's victory. Does that mean it's going to happen again?"

"...If we're lucky, yes."

"All for the sake of feeding your God. The way I see it, I don't see why we should choose your God over Gaia."

She fell silent, still keeping her face away from me.

"Gaia is a cruel and uncaring Goddess. You should know that more than anybody else."

"Huh? Why should I? This is the first time—"

"You've met her before. Many times in fact. I can see it. Her taint inside you. You've simply forgotten. Thanks to the Heavenly Dragon."

"What? When?!"

"I shall awaken those memories for you. However, I'm afraid it will be quite painful. So please bear with it."

Before I could react, her fingers were already touching my forehead.

"Arghhh!"

An unbearable headache assaulted me, so much so that I felt my head was about to explode at any moment.

I fell down, darkness encroaching my vision.

I slipped into oblivion.