I leveled up two levels at once!
That was absolutely fantastic.
Next up!
Even though the previous battle was tough, I'm still hyped!
Then, the next opponents stepped onto the stage. They were all on par with that Orc—some even wielded that Dark power. But in the end, they all ended up as my experience points.
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After match #93, I leveled up again. Only seven matches remain—but I'm feeling a bit drained. Every fight now is a brutal struggle, life-or-death risk. Three fights in a row have already worn me out.
Is there halftime break or something?
While I was wondering, another opponent jumped onto the stage. From Appraisal, I saw its strength matched the previous ones.
So no break it is.
Time to fight!
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I immediately won two more matches; only six left now. Leveling up healed my wounds and stamina—truly a blessed feature.
Alright, onward!
Match 95...
Match 96...
…
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Those last two opponents used Dark power, making them tough—but Suzu's magic still cut them down. It sapped my SP and MP heavily, though, because even if Suzu casts spells, I suffer the resource drain.
As a result, my SP and MP were completely depleted.
Match 97…
This opponent was a two‑headed Goblin. Weird body, but the coordination was terrifying. Halfway through, it split into two, forcing me to fight both at once. I barely beat them both—exhausted.
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"Upgrade it right away!" Seina barked.
Right—Support Evil Eye had just leveled too. Perfect timing.
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It worked!
Prophecy?!
I could hardly stay calm at the name. It means future‑seeing power?
"Wait a sec," Seina said urgently and rushed off to do something.
But match 98 had already started—I hadn't even leveled, so couldn't recover.
"Let me help," Meradis said, transferring her power to me.
In no time, my SP and MP refilled—but she collapsed from exhaustion.
Thank you, Meradis.
Time to fight again!
I beat two more opponents in a row. Neither used Dark power, and both were weaker than previous foes—Suzu helped, so I could handle them.
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"Done!" Seina suddenly shouted.
"Done what?" I asked.
"The enemy analysis system is complete."
Oh—that's a catch. How does it work?
"It's like before, but it can read actions from all opponents on stage—and you can use it without my input. It's faster, and outside combat it can even glimpse future events via [Prophecy]. There's more but I'll explain after the match."
Sounds premium.
Let's test it.
Whoa! I could literally see every detail of the next fight—who, what skills, how they move… I saw it all!
That's overpowered.
But it was still fragmented—maybe because my skill isn't maxed yet.
Time to focus on the final match.
Here comes the last one. I already knew everything, so I won easily…
Well, it wasn't totally effortless; seeing the moves doesn't guarantee reflexes—this final opponent had slightly higher stats, and I still ate some hits. It hurt.
But a win's a win.
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After a hundred battles, no one else stepped up.
Is it over now? Anything else I should do?
Suddenly I felt immense pressure bearing down on the arena. All the goblins and orcs kneel in submission—it confused me.
What's going on??
Then two huge figures appeared in the distance: a goblin and an orc, both massive. The goblin held a staff and wore an ornate leafy hat. The orc carried a spiked old mace, with strange marks all over its body.
Could they be the leaders? Both Half‑Kings?
If they attack me, can I even escape? If they can pursue beyond floor 10, I might be toast.
"Don't use Appraisal—they'll sense it as provocation," Meradis warned.
Oh—you's awake? Are you okay?
"I'm fine, thanks for asking."
"They won't gang up—they know you killed their strongest, right?"
Seina—could you please stop talking so much?
Contrary to my anxiety, the two leaders just stared at me, without making a move.
What's this?
Are they admiring me?
"Congratulations, outsider," the goblin leader spoke up.
What?!
They can talk…
"Easily explained—they're more intelligent than usual goblins," Meradis said.
Makes sense.
Huh—I should reply.
"Th-th-thank you…" my voice wavered.
My palms were shaking—standing before two Half‑Kings, how could I not fear? Even if I'm strong, facing them undefeated, I must tread carefully.
"You… frightened?" Seina taunted.
Fear of powerful beings is normal—no shame in it.
"Hey…"
I ignored Seina and looked back at them.
"According to our customs, you may take spoils matching your wins—or exchange everything now for an audience with the Dark God."
The Dark God… sounds ominous, but also exciting.
What do you all think?
"I don't have any info on this 'Dark God' title…" Meradis admitted, looking down.
"Neither do I, but from the name alone it implies a being powerful enough to call itself a 'God'. And 'Dark' hints at its nature—meeting it sounds dangerous," Seina added.
Yeah, makes sense.
What about you, Suzu?
Suzu?
Has she already done her inner awakening?
I thought it was rare, but Suzu does it like nothing. Still, I hope she gets some insight this time—after hearing "Dark God," she awakened right away, so maybe he learned something?
But I can't wait indefinitely, the leaders are expecting an answer.
If I delay further, they might change their minds. Rushing a decision isn't good either though.
"Uhm… could I have some time to think?" I asked.
"You may. You have three days; after that, refusal of this offer voids the deal and you must challenge again," they replied.
With that, they departed.
At most, I'll just fight again. I can gain more experience, level up my skills, and wait for Suzu to wake up.
For now, let's just enjoy this short break.
…
For the next three days, I stayed on the tenth floor, but things didn't go quite as I had imagined.
The goblins and orcs, after witnessing my achievements, became much more friendly. Every day, I sparred with them, but since we were now "acquaintances," I couldn't bring myself to finish them off anymore.
Haizzz…
Looking at all that experience right in front of me yet unable to claim it—it honestly hurt a little. But if I acted recklessly, I'd be done for.
Since that encounter, I hadn't seen the two leaders again, but it did make me more aware of their presence. As a result, I constantly felt something watching me from afar.
I didn't know whether it was the goblin chief or the orc chieftain, but it was clear they were keeping an eye on me. With creatures that intelligent—and even capable of speech—I needed to be extremely cautious.
Luckily, just two days later, Suzu finally woke up, so I used the excuse of "going to sleep" and entered the Virtual World to talk things over with the others.
But… why does she look so panicked?
What's wrong, Suzu?
Suzu was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. No one said a word—we all waited for her to calm herself before speaking.
"I-I… saw it."
Saw what?
Did she see the Dark God? Did it do something to her?
"I saw… countless eyes…"
Huh?
I was expecting a massive, grotesque creature—why just a bunch of eyes?
"Quiet! Let her talk."
A…!
Seina smacked me on the head again.
"Getting impatient is normal, Seina. You shouldn't hit Shiraori like that. After all, Shiraori is the host," Meradis said as she fluttered over and landed on my shoulder.
She's got a point!
Seina, you should learn a thing or two from Meradis.
"Hmph!"
"Um… I think I should start from the beginning."
Yes, you should!
"At first, I wanted to find some information related to the title 'Dark God,' but since my Inner Enlightenment is mainly focused on magic, I looked to see if there was any magic tied to that. In the end, I found only one result—a skill called [Malice]. I followed the trail from that skill and discovered it was connected to some unknown entity…"
"After that, I followed that path, and at the very end, I saw an enormous being. When I saw it, it saw me too. In an instant, thousands of eyes turned toward me, freezing me in place—even though that place wasn't even real."
"It only revealed a portion of its body, yet that was enough to overwhelm everything around it. While all those eyes were locked on me, I took the chance to reach deeper into its being, and what I saw was… it unleashing thousands of tendrils all over, pulling in planets and devouring them. The beings there called it the Dark God—Leviathan."
Woaa, I wish I could've seen that!
"Can you take this seriously!?" Seina smacked me again.
Ow..! Sorry, okay?
But through Suzu's story, the creature's name was clear—and we could confirm it's definitely a villain. So… should I really be messing around with a villain? I'm not even the main character, I might die!
Still, there's something that really caught my attention—[Malice].
I've heard about it before in Mr. Loyral's tales. It's an incredibly powerful skill that lets you absorb hatred and resentment from surrounding beings—or even from those you've killed—and convert it into strength.
As long as your soul can handle the assault of all that hatred, you can absorb as much power as you want. And that part? No problem—I'm almost maxed out on my Soul Attack Resistance skill already.
So that gives me yet another reason to go meet the Dark God.
"You still want to do this?"
Seina noticed I was tempted and tried to stop me.
You have to take risks if you want rewards!
"But this is way too risky! Even in the Inner Enlightenment realm, that thing still affected Suzu. Do you really think you'll be okay?"
Well… yeah, it is dangerous…
"I suddenly remembered something."
Just as we were going back and forth, Meradis spoke up with new info.
What is it? Tell us!
"Before, I wasn't too familiar with the title 'Dark God,' but when I heard its real name, I remembered a book in the Primordial Library of the elves that talked about it. I've read it before."
Ohh, tell us already!
"In that book, it was referred to by another name: the Devouring Chaos God. Wherever it went, it consumed everything in sight. Even things that shouldn't be edible—or were incredibly dangerous—Leviathan could still digest them."
"Its form wasn't clearly described, but just like Suzu said, it had countless eyes and tendrils. Each eye could hold an entire universe, and each tendril could pierce through tens of thousands of universes and drag them in to be eaten."
"Wait, what I saw wasn't that terrifying," Suzu quickly interjected.
Yeah, I think Meradis might be exaggerating a bit… Whole universes inside its eyes? Tendrils that pierce through thousands of universes? How are we even supposed to fight that?
"Suzu probably saw a projection of it. The book also mentioned that Leviathan splits itself into billions of avatars to consume more efficiently. The more it splits, the weaker each version becomes. That's why what Suzu saw didn't seem that overwhelming."
This thing is seriously gluttonous. I'm definitely borrowing that move someday.
"Is it really… that terrifying…?"
Oh no, Suzu's scared now?
Don't be afraid. If we die, we'll die together!
Ow…!
Seina hit me again.
"Stop joking around!"
"I'm not sure, but that information is pretty trustworthy. The book was written by Queen Marakia herself and placed in the library. Only with her permission can it be read—and usually only her descendants get access to it."
Written by the Queen herself again, huh…
Could this be another trap?
"Were you given permission by the Queen to read it?" I asked.
"No, my father read it and told me about it. My mother left when I was young, so to cheer me up, my father often told me stories he experienced or read in books. That book left such a strong impression that I still remember it now."
I see…
So she grew up without her mother…
"Do you want us to help find your mother? And then stay with us for another ten years?"
I was just thinking it, but Seina went and said it out loud.
Hey! How could you just say that!?
"I know it's a little abrupt, but we're just trying to help," Seina said.
Still, now's not the time to bring that up!
Meradis smiled gently and said, "Thank you all for your kindness. If you can find her, that would be wonderful, but I don't want to trouble anyone further. Besides, even if I never find her, I can still stay with Shiraori for as long as I want."
Oh no, Meradis has her own emotional baggage too?
"Ahem, back to the main topic. With the information from Suzu and our little princess here, we can clearly say that going to meet the Dark God would be extremely dangerous."
But didn't some goblins and orcs get good stuff from it?
"How do you know they didn't pay some price? Even if you asked, they wouldn't tell you. Maybe they're even working for that being."
"I don't think we'll be facing the real Leviathan," Meradis added. "The book says its power is so great that no planet could possibly contain it. So what's down there is likely just a tiny fraction of it."
Another piece of important info.
No matter what, I still want to go.
It'll be fine, Seina—Lady Luck is always on my side.
I knew she was just worried, so I reached out and patted her head to reassure her.
If anything happens to me, just support me with everything you've got.
"Alright… I won't stop you anymore."
With that, everyone was on board. I went to see the two leaders and informed them of my decision. We agreed to meet the next day so they'd have time to prepare.
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The next morning, I arrived early. In front of all the goblins and orcs, the two leaders joined forces to open a path beneath the arena. Only the three of us descended.
It was a staircase leading downward, and not long after, we reached the bottom.
This is…
What lay before me was a space that wasn't very large—and the only thing inside was a massive, towering gate.
Could the Dark God be behind this?
The gate wasn't active at first, but then the two leaders did something, and a red glow began to spread across it. The light flowed outward until it completely lined the edges.
They didn't need to say a word—I could already tell that behind that gate, something terrifying was waiting for me. But I'd come this far. There was no turning back now.
I took a deep breath…
And stepped through the gate.
I wonder what awaits me on the other side…