Chapter 407: The Keys for Survival.

Chapter 407: The Keys for Survival.

Fugnarus Kongun,

Takuma Akanishi, Aiko Hasebe,

Ryuji Enokida,

Yuuko Takeshita,

Lautrex von Cashim,

Six groups, and only two may survive.

Tenth Floor Rules

In the middle of this stage, there are two temples with artifacts that act as the key for the entrance to the next floor. Only teams with these artifacts may use them to teleport themselves from this floor to the nextLeaving the dungeon floor in any other way aside from these artifacts will result in death through the dungeon masters choiceOnce both artifacts leave the floor through their usage, the floor will be destroyed by the dungeon master along with everything on it. A heavy penalty debuff will be applied on everybody remaining on the floorAll surviving parties will receive a generous treasure chest to compensate for the heavy-handed gambitAll rules from an Event Quest is applied to this one aside from the exceptions stated here

And the Event Quest rules were as follows:

Good Morning, to those in Anko-Naztas Inkoran-Tazul! Regardless of where you are or who you are, the Origin Gods wish all of you a fine WaterDay. Today marks the beginning of the first Event Quest after the implementation of the unique Job System. Participation in the rank A dungeon [Manethalas Nest] will yield many rewards and bonuses, including the illustrious unlocking of your unique Job. For the grand prize for those able to complete this challenge, you will be eligible to gain a unique Job.

Rules:

Your participation will be registered through your party the moment you enter the dungeon. You may not change the members mid-way through even if you lose a member by any meansBetrayal of your group through any means will be scrutinized by the Goddess of Order, Plesia. In this revelry, punishment shall be the reward reaped for those willing to break the concept and theme of this Event Quest.Victory goes to the party able to reach the last floor of the dungeon, where you will confront the rank A drake, Manethala. Your challenge will depend on the drakes mood and decision, scrutinized by Goddesses Crustacia and ChihiroThe designated party leader may surrender at any time, meaning the party will give up further participation and be automatically transported out of the dungeon for their safety. You will still acquire a reward. The party leader will be scrutinized under rule 2Individual members may leave the party at any time by either leaving the dungeon through the front entrance, emergency exits within the dungeon, or through space-time. You may also call out your surrender, forcing the dungeon to expel you automatically for your safety. Your rewards will be determined by how far you made it.Everybody has one entry. Once you surrender or leave the dungeon, you forfeit your right to continue in this Event Quest

Event:

[Manethalas Greatest Gambit] is the name of the Event Quest and involves parties to forge themselves through 15 floors of trials ranging from physical and mental challenge monster subjugations and puzzlesEach party will face the same trials during this Event. You are allowed to help other partiesYour reward will depend on how many floors your party managed to clear until somebody clears Manethalas last challenge. The hard time limit for this Event will be this years New Years EveEach member of a party will receive their individual rewards after the Event is over. Those with a unique Job already unlocked will receive a different reward if they become the victors

This Event Quest is very difficult. The recommended level for the participants will be level 100, but during the duration of the Event Quest, anybody will be allowed to enter the dungeon as long as the rules are followed.

May you be blessed by the Origin Gods. Let [Manethalas Greatest Gambit] begin!

So, since we technically bypassed the second event rule, the dungeon master compensated with this heavy-handed floor. Considering the original intent of the dungeon, it made sense. Higher risks, higher rewards.

I am not dying, just saying, VifiYok stated with no hesitation after we read all of this. I dont care if its a king or your friends, I will not die. I will drag all of you over the finish line if I have to.

And it wouldnt break any of the rules, Franz responded with a nod. Even if we wanted to sacrifice ourselves, would it count as a betrayal for you to save us? Would it count as a betrayal for us to sacrifice ourselves if you dont want it? What constitutes a betrayal in the eyes of the Goddess of Order, Plesia?

We dont need any rule lawyering from you Tatsuya cut him short, although he didnt look him directly in the face. After what had just happened, it seemed the tension between Tatsuya and Franz just got worse.

On the other hand, my relationship with the latter was turning, uuuh, better, I guess.

Hesti-chan, are you planning on charging towards the middle? Franz spoke with a wide smile, a complete departure from his previous expressions. The monsters stopped spawning, but we dont exactly know where the middle of this place is.

I suggested I could fly up, in fact, I could even use [Unheilige Engel] to transport everybody over. In terms of speed, nobody should be able to beat us. The challenge itself wasnt too difficult, but the real test will be the social-dynamic challenge afterwards, including a very, very unpleasant meeting with Yuuko the one student I burnt.

Kyouya snapped his fingers, forming a question. Oh right, Light-san, how

Franz is enough.

Didnt you vehemently ask everybody to call you by that nickname? Why the change?

Franz was the name my father gave me. After everything, I didnt want to associate myself with him in this world. He then looked over at me, showing me warm eyes. Im happy with my original name now.

Yikes. I internally thought, unable to process it properly. I was grateful for the warmth, but, somehow, unlike with Neill, I couldnt feel comfortable around him. Maybe it was just the way he worded his sentences.

Ignoring it, Kyouya continued, Oh right, Franz-san, I wanted to ask you about your experience in the Empire. We read the newspaper, but did the Empire actually issue a death sentence for Hestia-san? You guys were sent to kill her?

His face twitched, looking unsure. You know the newspaper sent around the world to each of Folschrecks vassals and provinces? Well, one of our own made itYuukobut the idea was hijacked at the last moment with the church forcing that statement about Hestia-chan leading the grimgarians. It was capture first, but then the church ordered her execution. It was all really sudden. And, yes, our group was sent here to slay her.

Franz then looked over at the demonkin. VifiYok sighed and shrugged.

Lord Envy, posing as the pope of the Church of Aurena as you all know, had always wanted to kill, or at the very least, mind control Hestia. When I led the battle on Elyonda, he ordered me to awaken Karhalantheel with the black mercs he hired. That Streiga, for example, is a VifiYok stopped for a moment as she looked at Franz, drawing my eyes, where I only saw him look forward with a thinking face. Shaking her head, VifiYok continued. Hes a real scholar, despite his looks. We had the plan perfected to destroy the Champion of Yeostar forever.

She then pointed at me. The only real obstacle was your meddling, since the gods can give you a Divine Quest. After your whole involvement in Griffonpeak, Lord Pride had exposed your existence to us. You killed the Warbringer-esque version for the Envy demonkins, you know. USkaiehe was in a similar role as me but for Lord Envy, although far weaker in combat. The commotion you caused would have been similar if you actually killed me which happened anyways, since I faked my death.

In other words, he was one of the replacements in the event that the current Prince of Envy died, since he had an Original Sin ability.

Just saying, I feel no regrets. He killed somebody important to me. Having his body atomized was his just dessert. My answer was filled with disdain. I didnt even care if he had a name or was a nameless little insect like any other criminal.

VifiYok chuckled for a moment, smiling as she waved her hand. As I said, Lord Envy and Lord Wrath have always been in contention. Youll find no problem with me. USkaie and I were speaking acquaintances at best. In fact, I can guarantee you, none of the sensible Princes of Sins are happy Lord Envy is putting a bounty on your severed head. The moment you die, we face the wrath of Melloxtressa. If she dies, then we might get some unwelcome visits by the Dragon Empire.

The way shes saying that makes my life value less than Moms

She continued, Thats why Lord Envy gave me those two objects. Both were to lock the two of you up. We blame the humans for your death, and boom, dragons and humans are in a very precarious situation. And, it doesnt matter if the evidence points towards us, when the elves, the dragons original ally from long ago, leads a force against Folschreck because of a very, very thick hatred due to the War for the Faefolk.

And the gods cant directly influence something like this, I stated, understanding the plan they were going with. Unless it was through Champions and Saints, but in that case, it would be a total mystery on how everything would be resolved, not to mention how the demonkins would just twist things in their favor.

She spoke a lot. Is this her way to gain trust? Doesnt matter. Gotta be careful.

Franz then began giving us a breakdown of the people on the other side, including their current levels and combat styles. The average level of the students on the Empire side was around 75, with Takuma and Franz being the highest level at 89 and 85 respectively. Unlike my group, they didnt have an experience increasing title, and were just sent into more and more battles with the help of the Imperial Knights

In other words, they got power leveled. Which was still quite useful since all of them have access to the skill shop.

The knights protecting them, on the other hand, were a bit stronger though. Royce, Karlst, and Falamm were the names of the guardian knights for the three last student parties, with Royce being the strongest and holding a similar rank to Yorshka back when she was still a Knight of Aurena.

Royce is an Artorian, around level 116. Sir Karlst is my knight guardian, and hes level 94. Falamm is the weakest at level 90. Unless we can change their opinions in some manner, we wont be able to persuade them. The Church of Aurenas word is higher than the Holy Emperors, and only matched by a blessed.

Which I am.

And also the person they are trying to hunt down. You also burned Yuuko-san to the point Saintess Fleindia couldnt even heal her for over an hour, or so; that means you have lost all the goodwill from my class, even if I try to persuade them. I can bring my party over, aside from Karlst, but that is about it, Franz presented the terrible news to me.

[Dread Burn]whether ally or foe, if you were burned by my flames, you literally couldnt recover your health as long as it was active. That was why my song [Dragon Fire] was so invaluable, since it made it so my allies couldnt get hurt by any of my fire attacks. Sadly, Yuukos [Magic Breaker] sorta ruined that idea of mine as the moment she cast it on me, she was burned since I couldnt use [Aerokinesis] to play my song.

Now that she was disfigured and had gone through an hour of agonizing pain, I could very much understand why none of them wanted to listen to me. To them, I was essentially the demon dragon boss, and if I were in their shoes, I wouldnt forgive me either, even if it wasnt technically my fault.

I could try to show them the proof of who I actually was. Unless they did some mental gymnastics, it should work, and I could also use my [Miraculous Grace] to fully heal Yuuko. I owed it to her. Then again, there was also the chance no one would think about it logically if they really, really hated me.

I guess the Hands of Heaven is out of the question, too? Franz nodded, explaining that the Hands of Heaven only reported to the Holy Emperor. To them, blessed were a rank lower. Saintess Fleindia?

We could, yes. She also has the other half of your stone pair, anyways, so we cant avoid speaking with her. In any case, they are probably planning their own tactics at this point, so we better move.

I nodded and had everybody get on my [Unheilige Engel]. With Rajah in my shadows and four people flying on it, it was quite unbalanced since it could support two people at best. I had to cast it once again to make controlling them easier. Meanwhile, Rajah had to run on the ground as he was far too large now to fit into my dragonewt shadow. The pains of being big, huh?

Once I took to the skies, I also took this time to look over Rajahs Profile. I had planned to help him with his skill points.

Name: Rajah Level: 0 Race: Young Silverlight Shadow Virgacuga

Age: 1 Year

Status: Health: 7789 Mana: 6790

Strength: 4079 Intelligence: 2589

Vitality: 3211 Wisdom: 2901

Agility: 6789 Stamina: 6892

Effects: None

Skill Points: 24300

Unique Skill: [Lucent Illusion Lv. 1] [Virgacuga Bladehair Lv. 1] [Virgacuga Toxin Lv. 1]

Skill: Magic skills and related:

[Mana Efficiency Lv. 3] [Mana Control Lv. 5]

[Arcane Mind Lv. 8]

[Holy Magic Lv. 10] [Holy Amp] [Holy Magic Efficiency]

[Dark Magic Lv. 10] [Dark Amp] [Dark Magic Efficiency]

[Silent Casting Lv. 4]

[Chant Revocation Lv. 5] [Mental Warfare Lv. 2]

[Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 1] [Mental Stability Lv. 1]

[Fluid Cast Lv. 1] [Multi-Cast Lv. 1]

Physical skills and related:

[All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 1]

Senses and movement skills:

[Accuracy Correction Lv. 5] [Concentration Lv. 6] [Prediction Lv. 7]

[Danger Perception Lv. 7] [Probability Correction Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 7] [Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 9]

[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 8] [Enhanced Vision Lv. 10] [Tracking Lv. 9]

[Evasion Lv. 10] [Acrobatic Lv. 10]

[Air Walk Lv. 2] [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 8]

Resistances:

[Physical Super-Resistance Lv. 1] [Absolute Pain Tolerance]

[Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. 3] [Mind Protection Lv. 1]

[Mana Leak Resistance Lv. 1]

[Fear Resistance Lv. 9] [Lava Resistance Lv. 1] [Sacred Resistance Lv. 1]

Trust is hard.

I get it Well, Mana Eyes.

Floor 10 Key: The key to transport your party to the next floor, effectively winning the Floor 10 challenge. Hold it up and shout Activate to activate the key

It was nice to know the instruction manual.

With the first key in our hand, we got back on Rajah and set off for the other temple as our next destination. As we continued the monster ride, I took out the recorder again to continue filming everything, still astonished by the beauty of this place; too bad the experience was slight ruined by the rather sickening challenge. Sadly, just as I was about to record the sight of the second temple from the bottom of its feet, my sensory skills suddenly took notice of a few signals.

Oh oh.

Nine targets, with two dashing up to us at an incredible speed. The rest were slowly surrounding us, which Rajah could probably break through if my guess was correct on who these people were. However, this was also an opportunity to put some knights in their place. If all six parties wanted to live, we needed to work together.

Traitors! The first of the two approaching signals appeared from the sky, looking like an archangel with his white armored robes and wings, before he landed onto the floor. He brandished his greatsword, pointing it not at me, but at the boys. Aiko-chan really tried to persuade me that you two were mind controlled by that dragon. Helps to be friends with a Saintess candidate, right? Thing is No, no. I know those eyes everywhere. If Light was mind controlled as well, you two wouldnt look so grumpy. But, you two look like you are about to kill each other! Traitors!

You figured that out cause both of them still hate each others guts?! Gosh, these guys are classmates, alright.

He then pointed the blade at VifiYok and me. Valeria, nice to see you, again. Sorry, but youre in big trouble. Now Mhmm? Couldnt get a good look before, but you are hot just like the bishops mentioned.

This guy for real?

Takuma Akanishi, the [Savior] and [Hero]. I had exactly no idea who he was and my short meeting with him before made me think he was a self-righteous, asshole hero-archetype. It turned out, he was a bit of a flirt, too.

Takuma Franz eyed him with annoyance, about to draw his sword, but another voice interrupted him before he could.

Ah ah ah! A light-hearted, teasing tone drew out attention to our back, where we saw a white-golden armored knight wag his finger in disapproval. He pointed his right gauntlet at us, causing a mechanical sound as white light appeared from his gauntlet, creating something like a lightsaber. Unsheath, and I will shoot, Sir Light.

Sir Lautrex, Franz addressed the very same Hand of Heaven I had the misfortune to fight. That wasnt a good first impression.

We know you were at the first temple, the knight stated before starting to circle around us with Takuma. He was delaying, allowing me to notice the presence of the other seven signals in the vicinity. We are kindly asking you to hand it over to us and cease your movements to the second temple.

I sighed as that was their first demand. Tha

However, before I could say anything, VifiYok clicked her tongue.

Pfff! Yeah, yeah, give it over to you! Great suggestion so we can die, while you two parties may leave, right? she snapped her head over to me, eyeing me with a rather terrifying glare. Its your call.

You dont need to tell me anything, I snapped back at her, although I understood her sentiment. Rajah was my lovable cat, Tatsuya and Kyouya were my friends, and Franz was my cousin. I could not risk their lives.

With those being our answers, both men stood still until the rest of the group arrived. While the students looked nervously at what was happening, especially a girl in a white-robe who was grimacing at Tatsuya and Kyouya. Both were mumbling Aiko taking deep breaths and looking like they were in pain.

The guardian knights of the students stepped forward, all unsheathing their swords. Their faces and features were covered up by their armor, unlike the flamboyant Hand of Heaven. Everybody was ready for a fight, huh?

My name is Knight-Captain Royce Albert Loucestro, a Knight of Aurena in the service of the Church of Aurena and Pope Gwyn. Our blades are guided by the Goddess, blessed by her! He gave me a stern look, only focusing on me and nobody else. Your form does not fool us, dragon! Your actions against humankind have been noted down by our scribes! The Goddess knows of your sins!

She knows, alright.

As it looks, you have not accepted Sir Lautrexs mercy. I respect your wish to fight to the very end, but your alliance with the green-skins has sullied your soul! You will not receive a good death. We do not need the dragonslayers here to end you!

Ohohoho, but you do, little insect.

By the Holy Emperors and Pope Gwyns commands, we will avenge the damage you die to Aureolis! Knights of Aurena, ready yourself for combat! Heroes of Aurena, ready for battle! Sir Lautrex!

The very knight raised his arm, still readying his lightsaber gauntlet at us. He finally put his helmet back on, now getting into a fighting stance. Ready as ever, Sir Royce. We have to make sure Lady Aiko makes it out of here alive.

Valuing a potential blessed, huh?

Superb! That Royce guy expressed before continuing his speech. As such, today we will avenge the many deaths in Elyonda! Let us fight for the honor

Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. I jumped off Rajahs back before closing my white mage robes, making me look like any other shrine maiden of the Church of Aurena. I then pulled out my icicle, diamond-looking tiara made by Mom back when we first met, putting it on to signify my status. Third Princess of the Dragon Empire of Kargyx, daughter of Dragon Emperor Eltharion and Sixth Dragon Empress Melloxtressa, Party Leader of the rank B adventurer party Aurora, rank B hunter and soon-to-be rank A. Ahem, direct Idol and Champion of Goddess Aurena. You may now kneel, knights.

A note from AbyssRaven

Make way, lowly paladins. For the Idol has come to beat your ass! Fanservice time.

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Thank you for reading this chapter.

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About the author



1 Fictions 7 Posts 1 Threads

Tuesday, June 13, 2023 5:14:12 AM Germany [Member of Zard Skwad]

Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I'm just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.

I eventually found out that I've been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I've decided to just share it with others.

Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.

I'm also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn't mind you pointing it out though.

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