Chapter 51.2: The Green Queen, Twilight Sword (2)
Dungeons change drastically in tiers of 3 stars.
Dungeons up to 3 stars consist of a few cave-like rooms and are cleared by killing all the monsters that appear.
Dungeons up to 6 stars have more rooms, each with a different environment, such as a river or a forest.
The monsters that appear are also tricky because they are suited to the environment.
Moreover, the reason why dungeons after 3 stars are particularly difficult is because of the ‘boss’.
The ‘boss’ of the dungeon.
The strongest individual who embodies the attributes of all the monsters in the dungeon!
On the continent, people even evaluated each other by saying how many stars they had, based on whether they could catch such a ‘boss’ alone.
Even that kind of leeway was only up to 6 stars.
The problem was the dungeons after 7 stars.
There are two major differences from 7-star dungeons.
The first is that instead of rooms, a virtually independent world appeared.
Even the environment was like a joke up to 6 stars, with extreme lava zones or freezing zones unfolding.
And the second is.
“This is the mid-boss.”
Mauro frowned and lifted the shell of the ‘Dragon Turtle,’ which had been shattered into pieces.
The monster’s flesh, which had rotted black and sticky, came along with it.
Caterina stood before the headpiece of the mid-boss ‘Dragon Turtle,’ which had been torn into several pieces.
The size of the torn piece alone seemed to be twice the size of Caterina.
“What star-level mid-boss is it?”
Mauro tapped the shell, gauging its strength.
After repeating it several times, he answered with a slightly tired expression.
“At least 5-star.”
“Considering that this is an underwater cave, it would be safe to say that it is actually a 6-star.”
From 7 stars onward, the difficulty level increased dramatically as not only ‘bosses’ but also ‘mid-bosses’ appeared.
And what the saintess and her party were looking at now was the corpse of the ‘Dragon Turtle,’ one of the mid-bosses of Dungeon Eire.
Caterina looked around the underwater cave.
None of the stalactites or stalagmites were intact. The walls were densely packed with huge claw marks.
It was a place where traces of fierce fighting remained.
However, the only thing visible was the trace of the ‘Dragon Turtle’.
“It’s one person.”
Mauro also muttered, looking at the traces.
“It pierced through in a single blow. Judging by the small amount of residue, it’s a sword.”
The ‘Dragon Turtle’, which could withstand dozens of shots from a magic cannon, had its shell ripped apart.
Twitch━.
It was familiar.
Caterina clutched her head at the sudden, surging headache, and Mauro came running up to her in alarm, saying something, but she couldn’t hear a word.
━There is a very large sword mark on the cliff of Ethelred.
A hero with brown eyes and brown hair, Abel.
Now Caterina saw Abel, who had been a hero.
━It was left by my father, but I still don’t understand. I can’t follow in my father’s footsteps back then, even with the holy sword…….
The holy sword, ‘Summer,’ the undefeated hero chosen by him, Abel, held out the holy sword.
To her, he looked perfect.
But such a hero was only chasing after his father’s trail, and she could only watch his back.
“Saintess? Saintess!”
Mauro’s voice rang out, and the illusion that had appeared for a moment dissipated.
Caterina looked at the corpse of the ‘Dragon Turtle.’ The same trajectory as the ‘sword’ that Abel in the illusion had thrust was reflected.
The swordsman whom even the hero had chased after, Edmund Ethelred, Count, would be at the end of this dungeon.
Caterina made the sign of the cross and hurried her steps.
“There is a bigger helper than I thought ahead. Let’s go.”
Moreover, since the light flowing from the holy crown showed a certain direction in a straight line, the saintess and her party were able to go straight.
That didn’t mean it was easy.
It was just a matter of crossing rooms that were close to independent worlds, but their faces were all pale.
This was because the extreme environment would have wiped them out long ago if there had been monsters.
And in another sense, they were appalled.
Floating in the lightless underwater space were the torn corpses of monsters.
They had been surprised by the blue blood that poured out when they used divine magic to illuminate it, but now they were used to it.
Mauro, who saw the body, couldn’t hide his horror.
“How did a single swordsman…….”
The most necessary power in a dungeon is holy power.
Holy power is precious because it not only heals people, but can also block the environmental constraints of dungeons, as the saintess and her party do, so a sufficient number of priests are needed in a raid party.
That is why the existence of priests was precious, and the Holy See was even more respected.
“That’s why we’re going to see him.”
Caterina replied, her lips curling up.
A single path of death that one person had passed through.
The fact that this path, made by a swordsman without holy power with only a sword, made them realize how tremendously skilled he was.
And so, after passing through 86 huge rooms, they arrived at the 87th room, the cavity.
Kururung━.
Whether it was because it was close to the outside of the dungeon, or whether it was a characteristic, a faint rumbling of thunder continued to echo.
There was no extreme environment like the one that had continued until now, as if it were the entrance to something, and it was literally an ordinary cavity.
And here too, monsters were piled up like mountains, forming several mountains, and so much blood had flowed that rotten blood had hardened like a lake on the floor.
“Over there━!”
One of the inquisitors shouted, pointing ahead.
In front of an old sword stuck in the ground.
A man was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. He looked as if he would collapse if touched, as if he had been starving for a long time.
But no one could touch him recklessly.
This was because the faintly emanating momentum was crushing everything around it.
“I’ll go.”
Caterina stopped the rest of the group and walked towards his back, which resembled Abel’s.
“Lord Count EdmunD?”
Caterina cautiously began to speak.
Whoooooooooooooooooooo━!!
In an instant, a tremendous wind blew that would have blown her away.
It was the wind that had risen as Edmund, who had risen and grasped his sword at some point, stopped just before piercing her.
Päng.
And the sword, which had been stuck in the ground until just now, was in his hand, aiming at her neck.
Edmund, as if he didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes, muttered in a cracked voice with his eyes closed.
“Not…… monster.”
Caterina felt herself standing on the blade.
One wrong move and she would fall to her death.
She swallowed her saliva and barely managed to speak.
“I am Caterina Fiorelli from the Holy See.”
“An illusion.”
Thump.
Edmund collapsed sideways, leaving only one word behind.
Mauro and the other inquisitors, who had been frozen stiff, tried to run to him, but hesitated at the sight of Caterina crouching down next to him.
She carefully took a crystal bottle from her bosom and dabbed the highest-grade holy water on Edmund’s lips.
His chapped lips regained their luster, and life returned to Edmund’s dying body.
“Holy…… water?”
Edmund murmured, his eyes opening from his lying position. Caterina nodded with the most benevolent expression.
“Yes. I crossed the land to meet you.”
At that moment, the holy sword ‘Summer’ trembled finely within its 72 layers of seals.
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