After returning from the palace, Dean had spent nearly a month at his castle. During this time, he had continued his training.
This wasn’t just training with Percival.
At the same time, alongside Harry and the ghost under his command, he had engaged in simultaneous combat, trying to learn how to fight against two Mid-Level opponents by using everything at his disposal.
By the end of the month, he had truly improved.
He’d undertaken intensive strength training, constant drills, and had even taken lessons in business management for a while.
He’d tried to improve himself as much as possible.
It could be said he’d been quite successful in this regard. He’d now managed to grow strong enough to hold his own and stand up to Percival, even when the latter attacked him in a semi-serious manner.
He could even defeat Harry and the ghost under his command.
And of course, this meant he could now carry on clearing the dungeons.
The dungeon he needed to enter had long since been presented to him. It had been almost twenty-seven days since Dean had rejected that system window.
Every week, that system window had appeared before him once more.
Now, the time had come to accept it.
As the weekend drew to a close, Monday night arrived, and with it, that system window had reappeared before him:
[The Cosmic Terror, First Beta, Sixth Dungeon!
Title of the Dungeon: Across the Stars (Aether)
Task: Solve the puzzles and leave the dungeon.
Players Inside the Dungeon: 432]
[Your request to join the dungeon has been rejected three times. Do you wish to join the dungeon?
Yes/No]
Dean saw those system windows he’d seen so many times before, yet at that moment he hadn’t said whether he’d accept or not.
The system windows continued to appear right at the corner of his right eye; during this time, Dean had issued several orders to his servants, butlers and, of course, Liam.
The orders concerned improving the security of the castle and the grounds.
Not only that, but Dean had also ordered Harry to continue his training and to provide instruction to those wishing to train in close combat at the castle.
Dean did not merely wish to be strong himself; he wanted the rest to be just as strong.
Having completed everything, there was no longer any reason for him not to enter this dungeon, for which he had already prepared himself, and he finally pressed the ’yes’ button that had been displayed to him.
As soon as he did so, the two system windows vanished from his view, and the room Dean was in was suddenly engulfed by shards of light, swallowing him whole.
-----
-----
-----
It was a dimly lit room. Torchlight reflected off the walls, and the flickering flames cast the shadows of the people in the room in all directions.
There were exactly twelve people in the room.
Ten of them were figures clad in gleaming silver armour, with broad wings.
One was a woman in white robes, holding a file, with long hair and two small wings.
The other was an incredible woman, whose body was even more beautiful than Nemesis herself, with hair that seemed to glow like pink marbles of the sea and a pair of bright, pale pink eyes.
"All 432 human beings are here, ready for the exams, Your Highness," said the woman who resembled a secretary.
"Good."
This woman’s name was Aphrodite.
The Goddess of love, beauty, desire and sexual passion.
The daughter of High-God Zeus and Titaness Dione.
Still, the question was not ’who’ this person, this goddess was.
The question here was why she was here?
What was she trying to do?
What could the Goddess of Love have to do with the dungeon filled with puzzles?
"Shall we begin?" the secretary had asked immediately.
Aphrodite had smiled at that moment.
Her smile seemed to set the flames in the room alight, spreading a radiance all around.
"Begin," she concurred, without waiting any longer.
As Dean watched the surroundings change, he found himself in a cave.
There was no one around him.
He was alone in a cave, one side of which was bright, the other half-lit.
Dean looked around, trying to make sense of what was happening, and at that moment he heard a voice echoing through the cave:
"Welcome, esteemed inhabitants of the Earth-Realm. I am here today, under the command of the Goddess, the administrator of the Dungeon, to explain what lies ahead for you."
It was a high-pitched, pleasant-sounding female voice.
"A total of 432 players will navigate exactly six separate puzzles, alone, and at the end of all these puzzles, those who survive will receive their rewards and return to the Earth-Realm."
"Do not be misled by our referring to these tasks as ’puzzles’. Each one will be a riddle, a task requiring you to use your wits, and something that must be solved using sequential energy equations."
"I therefore wish you all the best of luck and would like to announce that the [Across the Stars] dungeon has begun."
When the voice finally fell silent, Dean was able to look around him once more.
[The Cosmic Terror, First Beta, Sixth Dungeon has started!
Dungeon Title: Across the Stars (Aether)
Task: Solve the puzzles and leave the dungeon.
Players Inside the Dungeon: 432]
Dean closed the system window that had appeared before him and tried to work out what he was supposed to do in this cave.
At first, he’d used his Holy Power to radiate energy around him.
He’d failed to achieve any result.
After that, he’d thought that perhaps he could achieve something by using mana, so this time he’d radiated that energy around him as well.
There was no need to reiterate that he’d failed to achieve any result.
With that, he was preparing to take his first step to walk around, but a strange fear had gripped him.
He felt as though a huge boulder would fall on his head if he did anything wrong.
This, of course, wasn’t true.
One might say Dean had been harbouring a slightly paranoid thought.
Just as he was still wondering whether or not to take that step, something unexpected happened.
Dean kept blinking, unable to believe what he was seeing...
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter