Hey everybody.
It's been an awfully long run since I started this novel. Thanks for staying with me this long, even when my stories aren't the best. I'm surprised some of you guys are still here when I haven't posted much… but enough of that, let's get into a summary to clear up any confusion.
This mini-arc I never expected ended up becoming quite important, so let's start from the top.Kael's motives for entering the dungeon are unclear. Maybe he just wanted some points.
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After the fun in the Elvish Kingdom, he left that spicy dragon, Lysandra, back at home base in their zombie-infested land. God knows what trouble she's causing, messing with those poor zombies. With a favor from the Elvish Princess, Kael tagged along with the lazy piece of shit Elvish Prince, alongside the Adventurers Guild, into the dungeon.
(Fun fact: it's only called "The Adventurers Guild" because countries and religions banned any custom name to prevent any faith from building around the group, since names have power. By doing so, no other adventurers guild could be made, as they would have the same name, which just causes utter confusion. That doesn't mean there aren't any independent guilds, they just aren't legally allowed to give any ranks to individuals. That's a power only major groups have, like the Adventurers Guild or the Mercenary Guild.)
I have a tendency to get off track, my bad.
Now, some of the members being suspicious of him questioned him. They were all in the abandoned village, which was actually created by Leena and Skelly. To properly scout the area, the guild paid Leena a huge sum of money to allow them to own a building. The members knew Leena was part of the dungeon but went along with her false identity to prevent trouble. I only introduced a small cast of characters from the guild (despite them all being exceptional) to prevent confusion—and it seems I still introduced too many.
This dungeon was known, based on data salvaged from the previous generation, to split people into groups near the lower floors. This is important later on. As with most dungeons in this world, they were expecting some kind of debuff on their power. Clearing the early floors was rather simple; most, if not all, didn't need to do anything, as a couple of individuals were enough.
Bein predicted Leena would attempt to betray them around the midsection of the dungeon, as they assumed she had the role of a lead. Some dungeons have a specific creature that follows groups around without causing any problems until a certain depth. Fighting these individuals is risky, as they tend to have a high babble sense, and they themselves never attack. However, when Rotû and Kael solved a puzzle, Leena had no choice but to follow up with the secret path they unknowingly selected, and it sent them down early, splitting them apart.
These several groups traveled together, all doing their own thing, and came across these horrific, small, rotten creatures that are extremely resistant. Yes, these are corrupted fairies, nearly fully dead from feasting on that deadly tree, which is responsible for turning a large section of the forest all black.
As they were forced to split apart once again, we were introduced to Ryua and her traveling with Kael as he grows in strength.Chapter 310 is a very informative chapter, so I suggest rereading it.Here, he finally reaches and acquires a rank 5 mana core and, with it, cleanses his impurities, making him attractive. Finally ridding himself of that dreadful, ugly, basic face he had.
From here, we're introduced to Mirelith, which sends us back in time and shows us the life of Ryua, her connection to Oda, her life as a failed experiment, and the death of the rest of their companions.
Then we go further back in time to Kael's dark past that he cannot seem to remember. He was certain he had never killed anyone before, yet here, he brutally tortured someone to death. With that, Ryua and Kael have a talk where they end up respecting each other and are forced to split up.
Afterward, Kael ends up meeting with the prince, where they have a nice chat and come to an agreement: Kael will help him get ahold of the Flower of Life and Power that the prince plans to use in the war. Kael goes according to the script of the novel, as in the story, the prince has the flower. He's trying his best to prevent the butterfly effect.
Moments later, they come across Dúnadan and Ithiona. In the mortal world, apart from the Fairy Prince, these two are the second-strongest fairies. Unlike other fairies, they didn't fully deteriorate; despite their grotesque looks, they retained consciousness, even if they lost portions of their memories, and some of their personality traits got rewritten. Individually, because of their role in their race, their power is at the top, but they were weakened, as their bodies and minds deteriorated.
After passing the test, they moved forward.
Ryua and the others go to the lowest floor, where the tree lies, and the Flower of Life and Power is. Here's where some may be confused:
"Why are they so weak against Dúnadan and Ithiona when they're considered the strongest adventurers?"
Well, that's rather simple: Ithiona and Dúnadan are guardians. Their power cannot hurt their companions under their will.
On the other hand, the adventurers are dealing with two powerhouses and the prince, whose very presence lowers morale. They can't use full power when their allies are around.They were under the assumption that only a select few would enter the final floor, while others entered different routes.
It's also important to note that Ithiona's illusions are no joke; the more people that break out of them, the stronger they get on the individuals remaining in them.
During this fight, the Elvish Prince betrays them and goes for the flower, while Dúnadan and Cora fight him. Rotû uses his power to break Baya out of the illusion and channels Itto's power into her, allowing her to use his lightning in order to fight Ithiona. Other individuals I didn't name were also fighting the horde of monsters.
Leena sends Kael to the top of the mountain, far away from the fight, where she explains herself and offers to kill him peacefully before the resurrection of her mother. After a brief conversation and his denial, she is caught off guard once he opens his rift, exposing that he himself is a Dungeon Master.
She then takes him to the resurrection of her mother, where he didn't imagine he would end up the victim of her mental attack, as she tries to take control over him, only for her to get interrupted by a cloaked figure.
Meanwhile, Leena is going through a mental crisis as her mother didn't kill her like she promised and blames Kael.
In order to protect his mind, the system initiates the reward, sending Kael into a flashback.
And this is so far where we're at.
Fuck, there's still lots of little pieces I didn't feel the need to explain, so forgive me.That's all for the recap.And remember, questions are always welcome.