Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 45

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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 45: C-Rank Labyrinth – Nightmare World (3)
【So that’s what you’re after!】
Sue laughed brightly, an “Aha-ha-ha!” ringing out as she traced a faint bolt of lightning slowly across my cheek.
【I knew you’d ask, so I’ve been scraping together Divine Power just for this! Pretty clever, right?】
Given such overwhelming kindness, I offered a radiant smile in return.
“Thank you.”
……
For a moment her presence flickered, accompanied by a distant, keening wail, then snapped back into focus.
【Don’t you dare smile like that again—not unless you want to see me unmade!】
Crackling!
Violent lightning erupted across my entire body, incinerating the tattered rags I’d been wearing in an instant.
The arcs traced every corner of my frame with unusual deliberation, and then transformation took hold.
【Ta-da!】
When I opened my eyes again, a new garment adorned me.
Priestly robes, black as pitch.
Unlike the oppressive darkness of the Nightmare World itself, these vestments shimmered in a relatively luminous jet-black—the color of Sue’s own lightning.
《Holy Relic – Sky Invader》
《A shabby black vestment bestowed by the detestable Sue. It grants intuitive knowledge of the positions of all things pure, sacred, and untainted.》
The Foul Sky’s sovereign embodied the taint of false authority.
She would not tolerate even a single wisp of blue sky or white cloud.
And so she labored under an insatiable urge to befoul every pristine being, place, and object.
The Sky Invader, imbued with Sue’s desire, was nothing less than the ceremonial vestment that an unclean heretic priest must invariably don.
【Well, I’m off now. Say—next time, could we do the rite while you’re half-naked?】
“But of course. My body is the private property of one so exalted.”
【Aha-ha-ha-ha!】
The divine oracle concluded with laughter ringing in that jade-bright voice.
I rose and surveyed my new attire, then fastened the Authority of Restoration about my throat before speaking.
“Everyone, we have now pinpointed the location of the White Land we must discover.”
It felt natural.
A faint presence existed somewhere far ahead.
A pure white dream encircled by nightmare.
“The second phase of our expedition plan—acquisition of the holy relic, the Sky Invader—has concluded successfully.”
– Kar…?
“What troubles you?”
– Can heretic priests really obtain holy relics so easily…?
Under normal circumstances, they could not.
“Had it been so simple, the Evil God’s Cult would have conquered the world long ago. She gathered Divine Power painstakingly and granted it to us. This is the lowest-tier relic there is.”
The exalted one would likely suffer from insufficient faith for some time to come.
So grateful was I that I resolved to move slowly whenever changing clothes over the next month.
“Now we proceed to the next phase.”
Exploration of the Nightmare World.
The third stage—finding the white land.
“From this point forward, the danger only increases. Please heed my instructions all the more carefully.”
***
The White Land’s location, determined at random, was not excessively distant.
It could be reached by walking steadily for just under two days.
Fortune had been neither remarkably kind nor unkind.
Some instances placed it so far away that even sprinting at full speed wouldn’t get us there before four days had passed—by that measure, we’d been lucky.
“…I’m exhausted.”
Since we existed in a dream where sleep wasn’t necessary and rest held no value, the expedition members grew increasingly fatigued with no reprieve.
And as the first day wore on, the King of the Dead’s gaze turned toward us once more.
– Fendrick….
“It’s fine. Probably.”
Fendrick, still an aspiring explorer, was already on the verge of collapse.
Rosalia showed no change in expression, but her gait had subtly slowed.
‘I’m nearing my limit too.’
Nearly twenty curses from black mages clung to my body.
All of them restricted physical movement, and by now even the simple act of moving my legs felt burdensome.
“Stay strong, everyone.”
I could not show weakness at a moment like this.
Everyone would be shaken otherwise.
No matter how difficult things became, as expedition leader I had a duty to steady everyone’s resolve when exhaustion threatened to overwhelm us.
“You can do this. I believe in your talents. I trust completely in both of your abilities and your mystical arts.”
A Labyrinth cannot be conquered by the strength of a single person.
Every explorer needs companions to face trials and hardship together.
“If we combine our hearts and strength in exploration, we can overcome any Labyrinth.”
The Nightmare World, hardly top-tier and merely C-rank, was no fitting grave for the Moon Exploration Party to sleep in.
“When this expedition ends, Astrimia will be freed from the curse that bound her with forced oblivion, and she will share joy with Fendrick.”
And the fact that we had conquered an uncleared dungeon would spread throughout Pletica.
“Just hearing that lifts my spirits.”
Fendrick, whose energy had flagged moments before, managed a thin smile.
“…….”
Rosalia’s gaze softened with approval.
“Then we’ll continue moving.”
Our march through the darkness continued.
“There—they’re here!”
After a day and twenty hours of travel had passed.
As we adjusted our course with painstaking care, we encountered the Demon Race pursuit squad once more.
Before combat could begin, what appeared to be a black mage among the enemy shouted out.
“There is an assassin who becomes shadow and a swordmaster who wields a gleaming blade! The silent, solitary priest attacks the mad harp elf, and black mages, guard against the assassin and swordmaster’s approach!”
The enemy had now fully grasped our expedition’s composition.
From this point forward, my role would be more critical than ever.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Crackle!
To draw aggression, I transformed my body into lightning and scattered bolts in all directions.
I did not forget to unleash fire with the artifact Spark of Glory.
“I am Kar, a harp elf who admires Leria above all divine beings and dreams of becoming a solitary, silent priest. And because I’ve always taken great interest in black magic, I’ve spent day after day researching curses, plagues, and poison. Long live Leria. I love black mages.”
“…….”
Silence fell across the dim battlefield.
Though it had always been quiet, an unusually heavy stillness now descended.
“Why the lack of response? Do my faith in Leria and love of black magic seem laughable to you?”
“…Be swallowed by the twilight!”
It seemed amusing, apparently.
Whoosh!
A fierce, roiling blaze circled in the void before suddenly splitting into hundreds of beetles and diving toward me.
Simultaneously, a tall pillar of flame shot upward, and from the pointed tip at its peak, rays of fire began pouring down.
The Great Military Formation and the Annihilation Tower.
No trivial mystical arts, these.
—Scratch-scratch!
Golden-hued flame beetles swarmed over my body, gnawing and burning my flesh.
Ssshhriieek—!
A crimson ray pierced clean through my abdomen.
I glanced down at the neat hole where my belly had been, then let my lips curl upward.
“Hah. I’ve always wondered what it felt like to be a donut. Thank you for enlightening me. So this is what it’s like?”
Hearing my expression of gratitude, the priests seemed to falter for a moment, almost pleased.
Crackle.
After blasting all the beetles away with Black Thunder Blooming, I quickly drank a Health Recovery Potion from my subspace.
My body recovered swiftly, but the headache became unbearable now.
‘I’ve never depleted my Spirit Points this much before.’
《Your Spirit Points: 0/100》
For the first time, my Spirit Points as a Heretic Priest had fallen to zero.
Even in this state, my mystical arts functioned without issue.
One of the few advantages of being a Heretic Priest.
In exchange, every time I consumed Spirit Points, a comprehensive suite of serious mental afflictions came crashing down—madness, hallucinations, crushing depression, psychotic episodes.
While I could endure it to some degree while under the effects of the expensive Mental Barrier Potion, the potency faded rapidly, so I needed to be as cautious as possible.
《It is recommended you drink more potion soon.》
Just as I obeyed and drained another Mental Barrier Potion.
Whoooosh—!
Astrimia, who had been gathering strength in silent concentration, released a brilliant radiance like starlight.
While the black mages were utterly delighted by the sudden onslaught of light, Fendrick swung his aura-wreathed blade.
“Hell calls for you!”
The black mages responded to the sudden attack, unleashing a barrage of mystical arts.
Murky green thorns, teeth, mist, enormous wooden tendrils.
And demonic sentinel beasts materialized, bursting forth.
“Hold back the swordsman, and keep detecting the assassin’s approach!”
The black mage who had shouted at the beginning hurried his panicked comrades along, flinging black magic indiscriminately.
For Fendrick’s level, these were formidable opponents still beyond his reach.
Struck by a green sphere, Fendrick was driven back toward me, but he shifted his body into the Resistant Body form—gaining some immunity to black magic—then charged forward again.
Whoosh.
Even as he did, the priests’ assault continued, pressing relentlessly against me.
I endured, absorbing every blow with my own body.
Until the moment came.
“…Ugh.”
At some point as the onslaught never ceased, several enemies began coughing blood from their mouths.
First, one.
Then ten.
After that, all of them.
Even the sentinel beasts spat blood and collapsed one by one.
“…What have you done.”
The black mage leader who remained standing asked.
Normally I would not afford an enemy such courtesy as a detailed explanation, but since death was imminent, I made an exception.
“Assassination is not accomplished by blade alone.”
Poison.
Stabbing and cutting in a sudden strike are only part of an assassin’s arsenal.
They would not have known.
That assassins of the Brites Family grow deadlier the darker the place.
…….
Rosalia, cloaked in shadow and having dispersed her venom through the crimson Death Rose, emerged at my side.
In the meantime, the poisoned Demon Race continued to vomit blood, their already blue skin turning an even more sickly shade.
“…None of you will survive.”
“Is that so?”
Fendrick, who had somehow managed to neutralize the poison with black magic, severed the black mage leader’s body as he rose.
The other black mages, barely able to get to their feet, could not escape Astrimia’s elegant blade.
Their heads fell in rapid succession.
Rosalia confirmed the kill on the remaining priests and returned.
Tap.
She then tapped my arm and held up six fingers.
“Has your level increased? Congratulations.”
Given the countless enemies slain thus far, it was inevitable.
“You’ve now entered a difficult stretch. From level six onward, the soul’s refinement becomes brutally slow, so do your best.”
I would have wanted to hold a celebration, but given the circumstances and location, it was regrettably postponed in favor of focusing on the exploration.
I led the team members, who had eliminated all the Demon Race, onward once more.
“We are almost there now.”
At last, the White Land lay before our eyes.

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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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