Ding-dong!
<‘Open’ command received.>
<Opening Morgue’s Magical Warehouse.>
The entrance of the warehouse opened, radiating black magical power.
“…You called for me, Master?”
From beyond the pitch-black darkness, Jeanne revealed herself.
Her face was completely covered with black cloth, only her eyes exposed, radiating killing intent.
Over the skull armor she usually wore, she had draped a tattered rag like a cloak, stained with layers of blood and filth in countless places.
She looked utterly exhausted.
Anyone would believe she was a wanderer who had roamed the desert for a long time.
…Was exploring the Observation Zone really that tough?
Her hair looked a bit dry and frizzy, and she seemed to have lost some weight.
Though a Death Knight shouldn’t be affected by such things.
While I was having these random thoughts.
Grab—
Jeanne suddenly grasped my hand tightly.
“Master… Have you been well all this time?”
“?”
In her eyes as she looked at me, worry and relief were mixed together.
Her reaction is strangely intense.
For some reason, I felt a subtle sense of dissonance.
Soon after, Jeanne flinched and stepped back in surprise.
“I-I’m sorry. I dared to touch Master’s noble body without permission…”
“No, that’s… fine. What’s wrong?”
At my question, Jeanne hesitated before continuing.
“There is no way Master would suffer hardship… but this unworthy disciple was simply worried because we hadn’t been in contact for over half a month.”
“Wait. Half a month?”
Did I hear that wrong?
Only about three days had passed since entering Maslow’s Tower.
It’s hard to gauge exact time inside a dungeon, but I could roughly estimate from my biological rhythm, fatigue, and hunger.
Then Jeanne added with a serious face.
“Precisely 16 days, 13 hours, 47 minutes, and 51 seconds have passed since Master departed.”
Jeanne does not lie.
Especially not to me.
“So the flow of time is different inside and outside the dungeon.”
I had heard of dungeons where time flows differently.
Distortions of space-time, powerful magic emitted by dungeon bosses, forbidden ancient magic, and so on.
It’s a phenomenon caused by various reasons; sometimes time inside flows faster, and sometimes, like now, time inside flows much slower than outside.
But one thing is certain.
…This is a slightly dangerous situation.
Time outside the dungeon is flowing much faster.
There may not be much time left until a dungeon break.
At that moment, a giant mantis let out a monstrous shriek and charged at Jeanne.
[KIIIIIEEEEEE—!]
However.
Slash—
Jeanne swung her sword without even turning her head.
A clean trajectory from bottom to top.
Gan Jiang and Moye sliced through the giant mantis like melting butter.
Crack… Crack-crack…
Pure white spores explosively burst from the split body of the giant mantis.
At the same time.
DADA-DA-DA-DA-DA—
The severed halves of the mantis began stitching themselves back together.
But then Jeanne pierced the giant mantis’s body once more.
Stab—!!
The giant mantis’s regeneration stopped instantly.
Fssssssss—
The giant mantis’s body turned white, then crumbled into white powder.
No way…
She had destroyed the Cordyceps core.
And with a movement that clearly knew exactly where the core was located.
Jeanne straightened her posture and spoke.
“It seems these monsters can only be killed by destroying their weak point.”
“You already knew?”
“There were similar specimens in the Observation Zone. Some could move their heart’s position, and unless the heart was destroyed, they regenerated at extreme speed. After fighting hundreds, thousands of them… I can now roughly read an opponent’s vital point through the flow of their magic.”
…
“Hmm.”
While I was struggling in Maslow’s Tower, Jeanne had grown considerably in her own way.
And quite a lot at that.
Just the magical power flowing around her was enough to guess how much stronger she had become.
Soon, Jeanne spoke in a solemn voice.
“Master. If it is not rude, I would like to prove the results of my training to you.”
She looked at me with eyes burning with enthusiasm.
I nodded and said.
“Before that, there are survivors. We need to save them first.”
“I shall obey your command.”
Jeanne regulated her breathing and released her magical power.
Black magical power exploded outward, swirling like a vortex.
SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH!
A pitch-black aura surged forward, carving sharp sword marks into the sand.
The Sword Demon of Ravianglily.
An aura truly worthy of that infamous title.
At that moment, an astonishing sight unfolded.
Tremble-tremble-tremble-tremble—
All the insect-type monsters began shaking in unison.
Even the corpses were trembling in fear before the overwhelming presence of the Death Knight.
Then.
BOOM!
With an explosive sound, Jeanne shot forward.
A shockwave followed belatedly, whipping up a sandstorm behind her.
KUOOOOOOO—!
The center of the insect swarm that had darkly covered the front split apart like the Red Sea.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash~!
The sound of hard carapaces being sliced never ceased.
With every swing of her sword, dozens of insects were bisected.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash—!
Inside the severed cross-sections, dandelion-seed-shaped cores were clearly visible.
Jeanne was cutting every single one of them.
Then.
BZZZZZZZZ—!
A swarm of giant hornet monsters descended from the sky.
From all directions—front, back, above, below, left, right.
Thick stingers flew in from every angle.
However.
SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SWOOSH!
Jeanne’s arms began moving so fast that afterimages couldntered invisible.
Crimson trajectories scattered through the air.
Thud— Thud-thud-thud-thud—
The incoming hornets were sliced into thousands of pieces and fell.
Both the hornets and their Cordyceps cores.
Everything was cut on an atomic level.
Finely minced fragments of insects and Cordyceps piled up like mountains.
Thanks to that, the survivors gradually became visible.
Warriors, thieves, and a red mage.
All of them had been surrounded and struggling against the insect monsters.
“KUAAAAH~! These damn bugs—!”
“Damn it! I’m out of arrows!”
“Kyaaaaa— S-Save me…!”
In that moment of certain death.
『Seven Demons First Strike: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』
Black magical power erupted from the tip of Gan Jiang and Moye.
KUAAAAAAA—!
Demonic energy surged forward, dyeing everything black.
A wave of darkness swallowed everything around it.
KUAAAAAAA—!
The monsters caught in the Gluttony Slash vanished without a trace.
Yet the sword energy precisely avoided the area where the hunters were.
Perfect magical power control.
The sword energy itself moved like a living being with will.
Soon, Jeanne moved the hunters to safety.
The entire process took roughly one minute.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
After setting the survivors down, Jeanne immediately charged back toward the monsters.
The hunters let out cheers of joy.
“That’s… A+ rank 12. The Sword Demon of Ravianglily!”
“We’re saved! An A+ rank has finally joined us! We’re alive!”
“T-Thank you… Oh gods…”
Leaving the hopeful cheers behind, Jeanne raced unhindered through the insect monsters.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash—!
One strike, one kill.
With every swing, severed insect bodies scattered in all directions.
Through the gaps in those cross-sections, Cordyceps cores were precisely split in half and shattered.
Fssssssss—
Jeanne danced through the insects like a goddess of the battlefield.
At that moment, a gigantic shadow fell over the entire area.
SWOOOOOSH! BOOM!
A giant centipede’s tail slammed down where Jeanne had been.
But Jeanne had already kicked off the ground and leaped into the air, escaping the attack range.
The giant centipede blocking her path was on a completely different level from the monsters so far.
An A+ rank monster.
Not only was its body powerful, but unless the Cordyceps mother body parasitizing inside was destroyed, the situation would not change.
Jeanne immediately raised Gan Jiang and Moye high.
“Master! Please watch! The results of my training…!”
The flow of air reversed in an instant.
Slowly at first, then faster and faster.
GRRRRRRRRR—
A sandstorm swirled and gathered around Jeanne.
Black magical power erupted like an active volcano.
At that moment.
『Seven Demons First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』
A black curtain fell, and all light in the surrounding area vanished.
It wasn’t just light that disappeared.
Sound that reached the ears, air that entered the nose, sensation that touched the skin.
A perfect abyss that devoured everything now ruled this place.
It felt as though even time itself had been extinguished.
Just as I began to think that.
The darkness that had covered everything instantly condensed and gathered.
At the same time.
KUAAAAAAA—!
A black current surged forward.
A vortex of condensed black magical power advancing forward.
It resembled a black dragon with its jaws wide open.
KUAAAAAAA—!
The desert sand was sucked upward, parting like the Red Sea.
Sand, rock, minerals, bones, fragments of temples—everything mixed together and followed behind the black dragon.
KUAAAAAAA—!
The black dragon’s jaws wrapped around the giant centipede’s tail and began burning fiercely.
CRAAAAACK—!
The centipede’s body split in half along that trajectory.
The colossal centipede that had towered toward the sky was torn into two and began vanishing.
As the black dragon soared high into the heavens, the gray sky scattered like a mirage and was dyed in darkness.
GRRRRRRR—!
Finally, new text appeared.
Ding-dong!
<The final wave of the Physical Safety Needs section has ended!>
<The climber who defeated the hidden boss will receive a special reward!>