Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 43 – Grade C Maze – Nightmare World (1)
A Priest is a class that serves the righteous gods.
More precisely, after the Age of the Grand Cathedral when the balance between good and evil collapsed, priests of the evil gods were demoted to mere “heretics.”
But in the Nightmare World, it was different.
This place existed in a timeline where all righteous gods had ceased to exist.
Because only faith in the evil gods had survived, the heretics had at last reclaimed their true station as priests.
“How remarkably foolish you are.”
A quiet voice of a Demon priest echoed from the darkness.
“Had you merely indulged in vice and expelled your base desires before retreating to the realm of fate, you could have preserved your shallow breath. Why then do you commit such missteps and court solitary silence?”
This should have been a serious moment, but—
“What is he even talking about?”
*Pfft.*
Pendrick and Astrimia were stifling small laughs beside me, making concentration difficult.
And it seemed the evil gods were having just as much trouble focusing.
《Sorry to interrupt, but the wise one cannot contain his laughter. Honestly, I’m finding it hilarious too. XD》
*Crackle, crackle, crackle!*
The evil gods were giggling away without a shred of decorum.
Why couldn’t they maintain even the slightest composure?
Their own heretics were undertaking this expedition with such deliberation.
“You there—fireflies plummeting into peril have no right to silence.”
Spheres of flame bloomed simultaneously from the priests’ hands.
“Burn to ash.”
Just before the fireballs came streaking in.
*Slice.*
The rambling priest’s neck was severed clean.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
One after another, the demons’ heads separated from their bodies and fell away.
It wasn’t until six had fallen that the priests looked wildly about and unleashed a barrage of flames, but it was for nothing.
“…….”
Rosalia.
The elf assassin, one with shadow itself, ranged freely through the enemy ranks and swung her dagger in relentless arcs.
“You’ll come to regret this….”
After severing the head of the last Demon priest, who left behind such hackneyed and tiresome final words.
Rosalia, rising from behind me, tapped my shoulder.
“Brilliantly done. Let us depart at once.”
For now, Rosalia had dispatched them easily while they were off guard, but from here on, things would not unfold so smoothly.
I sprinted forward, and the enormous eye drew steadily closer.
Because we all wore the Veil of Night Sky, the eyeball could not perceive us.
Within a day it would see through even that, so we had to flee far in this narrow window.
‘…I’m exhausted.’
My Stamina had dropped to 6, but pushing my body further without rest was beyond its limits.
Pendrick’s breathing had grown ragged—he too was reaching his limit.
Fortunately, we reached the shoulder before collapse from exhaustion.
– There’s something glowing over there.
Astrimia’s sword arm pointed to the very center of the shoulder, broad as a hillside.
A rectangular gate shimmering with murky green light.
《Space Transfer Gate》
《A gate opened by what appears to be a Black Mage to enable spatial movement. It seems primarily used when conveying orders to the King of the Dead.》
“We’ll go through that to reach the Surface.”
“…Won’t enemies be waiting on the other side?”
“That’s all right.”
As I moved toward the gate, I made a request of Astrimia.
“The moment we cross over, emit the brightest light you can at maximum output.”
– Understood.
The three of us lined up before the gate, then stepped through simultaneously with our eyes closed.
A severe vertigo washed across my mind—proof of just how sophisticated and convenient a maze exit gate could be.
*Whoooosh—!*
The next instant, blinding starlight pierced through my closed eyelids, and we bolted directly to the right.
“Ugh!”
“O solitary silence!”
“…those wretches.”
She ignored the voices calling from all sides and pushed her legs forward blindly.
To stop was to die.
Rosalia was an assassin; she stood no chance in a head-to-head fight against multiple enemies.
As she ran, she glanced up—the eyes that had seemed so close before now receded into the distance above.
‘Just a little further.’
The King of the Dead’s position lay roughly midway between the center of the entire region and its northern edge.
Based on this, she had to use the eyes as a landmark to gauge how far she’d come.
Much like ancient sailors navigating by the constellations.
“We need to adjust course slightly to the right as we go.”
If she kept pressing forward, a decent hiding place would appear.
It wasn’t perfectly safe, but during this four-day expedition, it would be the only shelter where she could steal even a brief moment of rest.
– Grrrr.
The moment her breath came in ragged gasps, a low growl cut through the darkness.
They’d been spotted.
Crimson eyes bloomed in the gloom around them.
Well over forty pairs of long, slit eyes opened.
《Demonic Hound (Level 1 + Level 2)》
《Beasts of the Demon realm reared by black mages. Danger escalates sharply with their numbers.》
“…….”
Rosalia was about to transform into shadow with the Shadow Race to engage the hounds, so I raised my arm to stop her.
“We can’t. These aren’t the only ones.”
Among the countless crimson eyes, enemies I wouldn’t have noticed without the Eye That Sees Through Truth were mixed in.
《Demon Black Mage (Level 5)》
《A black mage addicted to the power of the Demon realm. A formidable foe—exercise caution.》
“There are two black mages controlling the hounds. Pin them down so they can’t aid their beasts, then watch for your opening to assassinate them. You must move with extreme care. Be especially wary of curses.”
“…Understood.”
Even as Rosalia faded into shadow, audibly concerned for me, the hounds continued closing the distance.
This was the moment for a genius swordsman and an ego sword to shine.
“Pendrick, Astrimia. I’m counting on you.”
“…Do you think I can do this?”
Pendrick, still an aspiring explorer, asked hesitantly.
His voice was thick with tension, so I answered with firm certainty.
“You can.”
If you couldn’t, I wouldn’t have brought you to a place this dangerous.
“…Understood.”
As Pendrick stepped slowly forward, the hounds surged in faster.
“Astrimia. Let’s go.”
– Right!
Astrimia, wrapped in the Veil of Night Sky for summon form, cradled the warmth of starlight.
A single star bloomed on the blade.
The first star—Dubhe.
Whoooosh.
An aura of starlight spiraled around the sword.
– Roar!
– Yelp! Yelp!
Hounds poured in from all directions.
Pendrick held his ground for a moment, then swept Astrimia, wreathed in aura, in a powerful horizontal arc.
Powerful Strike.
A Tier 1 Mystery that struck the target with tremendous force.
Slash!
Astrimia severed one hound’s neck as it lunged, then immediately cut through the necks of two more.
Pendrick, a Level 1 swordsman, still lacked experience.
His stance was clumsy and his technique sluggish, yet every blow carved cleanly through his enemies’ bodies.
An aura that negated its target’s defense by more than thirty percent compensated for his shortcomings.
Crunch!
Eventually one hound managed to sink its teeth into Pendrick’s shoulder, but there was no real cause for alarm.
Screech!
Pendrick’s skin turned ashen and hardened like stone.
Resistant Body.
A Mystery that allows the body to temporarily transform in response to attacks that inflict wounds.
The fangs and claws of the Demonic Hounds could no longer deal meaningful damage to Pendrick.
“Look at me—!”
With Pendrick fighting so aggressively, I couldn’t simply rest here as the expedition leader.
At critical moments, I incinerated the Demonic Hounds with the artifact Spark of Glory, and my Eye That Sees Through Truth transformed into a raven, diving down to peck out their eyes whenever the chance arose.
Alone, I would have been surrounded and torn apart in moments, but now I fought alongside a dependable vanguard.
“Astrimia!”
Pendrick swung his sword laterally with vigorous force.
The same Powerful Strike he’d been using repeatedly all this time.
But.
Its power was far beyond what a Tier 1 skill should be.
Even the Level 2 Demonic Hounds, whose Spirit Grade exceeded Pendrick’s, had their bodies cleanly severed.
‘…Of course he’d reach that level.’
Pendrick’s second Trait: Master of Swords.
Its effect raised the Tier of all sword-related Mysteries by two stages while wielding a blade.
“Come at me, all of you!”
As his allies’ numbers dwindled rapidly, hesitation crept into the Demonic Hounds’ movements.
The swordmaster seized the opening and burst forward, sweeping through them indiscriminately.
Merely Level 1.
An explorer without even a companion was overwhelming the monsters.
Thrum.
Sue suddenly sent me a will suffused with keen interest, as if impressed.
‘So that’s why you insisted on recruiting this charmer. I understand now.’
I nodded slightly.
“As I told you, Pendrick will one day stand among the Twelve Heroes.”
Pendrick is the strongest and finest companion in the game.
And that remained true even now.
“How dare you—!!”
The Demon Black Mage’s head flew to the side as she fell, having summoned the Demonic Realm’s sickly green mist in stubborn resistance.
……
Rosalia, having finished off the last enemy, sheathed her dagger and rose again from the shadows behind me.
The battle was over.
As expedition leader, I patted the shoulders of my two weary companions and encouraged them.
“Well fought.”
“That was exhausting…”
Pendrick’s voice had lost its strength—he’d depleted nearly all his Vitality, the resource of the warrior class—while Rosalia remained characteristically silent.
“I’d like to suggest a brief rest, but we can’t afford it. The commotion from that fight will draw more enemies to us.”
Astrimia’s starlight had dimmed again, but the Priests and Black Mages who’d already spotted us would be closing in.
So we had to move quickly once more.
As we rushed toward a temporary hideout, I spoke to Pendrick in a quiet voice.
“Did your Spirit Grade not rise?”
“Oh, yes! I think it did?”
The genius swordmaster had become Level 2.
Before meeting me, he’d entered the Maze a few times, so this battle had yielded all the experience he needed.
But my fortune didn’t stop with Pendrick alone.
“I’ve also leveled up.”
As of today, I am a Level 3 Heretic.
Corrupted Meterd statues, hunts of the blood-soaked Blurive.
Having toppled only the choicest monsters and performed a rite of devotion, the time had come to ascend.
《By your accumulated efforts, your Stamina has risen by 2, and your Faith increased by 1.》
The most critical stat had climbed by a full 2 points.
My Stamina now stood at 8.
With Ghoul’s Mobility active, it surged to 14.
At that level, few attacks could kill me outright in a single blow.
“There you are!”
Just as the expedition’s pace began to slow, turbid green spines shot forth from the distance.
Tier 5 black magic, Hell’s Needle.
The kind of Mystery that mustn’t hit my companions, so I threw myself forward and took the full barrage.
Crash-crash-crash-crash.
Spines lodged across my entire body.
A dangerous black magic that corrodes not just the body, but the mind itself.
《Do I acknowledge myself as the greatest ally?》
The Eye That Sees Through Truth showed off by activating the Barrier That Defers Wounds in my stead, so my life force drained at a mercifully slow pace.
Crack-crack-crack!
Hell’s Needle kept raining down without relent.
But now I was a Level 3 Heretic.
With my Spirit Grade elevated, the efficiency and potency of my mysteries had grown, making it somewhat easier to endure.
I ground through the physical and mental wounds using Ghoul’s Mobility, whose duration had stretched to roughly two minutes, while my body deflected every other black magic mystery hurled at me.
‘Offensive black magic is manageable enough….’
But the curses that came with it weren’t so easy to brush aside.
Debility curses, lethargy curses, agony curses—the list went on.
Combined, they made my legs buckle, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through.
“Have you ever seen anyone so reckless?”
The Demon Black Mage, hidden in shadow, cried out in alarm—and gave away her position with her voice.
Rosalia was no assassin to miss such an opening.
“Urgh….”
The moment I heard the Demon Black Mage fall, I drank a Stamina recovery potion and pressed forward.
“There’s no time to celebrate. We must move quickly.”
In this Maze, one misstep meant death.
And that was precisely why it felt so right.
I was alive right now.
And I would stay that way.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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