Chapter 130 : Chapter 130
Chapter 130
The resonance made every cadet in the Dive Tunnel gasp in shock.
Undoubtedly, every single one.
“Hey, a Level 5?!”
“International law requires Platinum Knights for that dungeon!”
“W-Wait, Martin!”
To top it off.
[Dungeon conquest reconsideration recommended.]
“This is insane!”
“Ten knight corps failed to conquer it, right?!”
The cadets were in an uproar, but fortunately, before it escalated.
[Warning to cadet. This Time Chaos Dungeon is extremely dangerous. Lower-grade conquest recommended.]
The system left by the Archmage activated.
“I want to conquer this one.”
[….]
Well, now it begins.
The Archmage’s AI wouldn’t be easy.
A verbal battle with the AI.
I had to convince it now.
“….”
[….]
After a long pause, as if a person deliberated.
[Approved. Initiating dive to Level 5 Time Chaos Dungeon, Fog Island.]
It made an absurd decision.
‘That… easy?’
I was taken aback, but it worked out, so good!
[However, accompanying allies are recommended.]
Allies.
Several came to mind, but no.
I knew the weight of a Level 5 Time Chaos Dungeon.
No fool would walk into what looked like their grave…
“Me! Me! I’ll go!”
[Two conquest team members confirmed.]
Luri leaped onto the Dive Tunnel.
“You arrogant fool! You thought to tackle such danger alone?!”
[Three conquest team members confirmed.]
Adela followed suit.
I thought that was it, but.
“Wait! I’ll join too!”
[Four conquest team members confirmed.]
Emperor Anette joined.
“Hold on! Stop, just a sec!”
[Five conquest team members confirmed.]
Bord rushed in.
“Phew, safe!”
[Six conquest team members confirmed.]
“Haa!”
[Seven conquest team members confirmed.]
Elisha and Mary.
“Up we go!”
[Eight conquest team members confirmed.]
“….”
[Nine conquest team members confirmed.]
Gilbert and Lina entered the magic circle.
“Tch, how could I, the eye of the storm, miss this!”
[Ten conquest team members confirmed.]
“Oh, Prince, really.”
[Eleven conquest team members confirmed.]
“This is right, yeah?”
[Twelve conquest team members confirmed.]
Prince Kazaks, Muller, and Shuga.
A conquest team of 12 formed in an instant.
Coincidentally, the entire Café Exploration Club.
Watching them join one by one…
“Hey, you guys…”
I wasn’t exactly thrilled.
“Are you insane?”
They must think a Level 5 Time Chaos Dungeon was child’s play.
“The demon lord that attacked the Academy was easier than a Level 5 Time Chaos Dungeon. Don’t you know what a reconsideration recommendation means? It means entire conquest teams, including Platinum Knights, all failed. Failure means death.”
“I know.”
“Of course.”
“Think we came clueless?”
Responses came from all around.
“If Martin’s going, how could I not!”
“The Black Knight’s going, so I should join at least once.”
Luri, contractor of the Spirit King, and Adela, master of the hierophant.
Their reactions were… resolute.
Like facing life’s ultimate mission, unyielding.
Next, Anette spoke.
“Martin, I told you, didn’t I? If you saved me, I’d make it worth it. I’ll prove it.”
Then Prince Kazaks.
“I know this is madness. But look at this team’s composition. Failure would shake the empire’s foundation. So I choose to join and save everyone.”
Finally, Gilbert.
“We’re young, but we’ve each given ourselves noble missions.”
His words spoke for the entire protagonist’s party.
“To protect the empire’s peace, the daily lives of its citizens. It seems small, but it’s the most important thing. The process wasn’t smooth. Our inexperience harmed people.”
It was infuriating, but.
“Let us help. Let us grow by following you, to contribute more to this world. If we can’t overcome this, surpassing our limits is impossible.”
Honestly… having the protagonist’s party would be reassuring.
It pissed me off, but Gilbert was strong.
“Now, tell us. What do we do?”
Gilbert asked on behalf of everyone.
I looked at his righteous face.
“…Every man for himself.”
I pulled out all the antidotes stashed in the magical pouch.
“Take these.”
They took the antidotes, puzzled.
I glared at Gilbert, who reached for one.
“Not for you.”
With stellar force, he didn’t need antidotes.
I also had them take large backpacks, ropes, camping gear, detection stones, alert stones, and various survival items.
It looked like preparation for a long-term conquest.
Elisha asked Mary, the smarter one.
“Uh, Mary. Where are we going?”
“I-I don’t know…”
“The preparations look thorough, which is good…”
After grabbing purification stones, I began explaining.
“I’ve given you all the necessary supplies. Unless your head’s stuffed with udon instead of brains, you won’t die.”
Elisha bristled.
“What did you…!”
“Let’s go.”
“Argh!”
[Confirmed. Twelve team members. Moving to Level 5 Time Chaos Dungeon, Fog Island, under reconsideration recommendation.]
A flash of light, a floating sensation, and my body was whisked away.
***
It was a puzzle.
A massive puzzle, as if mountains had crumbled, pieces chaotically mixed and haphazardly fitted together, greeted my eyes.
Briefly, spacetime reassembled, returning to normal.
I had successfully dived into the Time Chaos Dungeon.
‘This is Fog Island, right?’
Regardless of location, I immediately took an antidote and wrapped my body in stellar force.
The foul poison trying to invade through my airways and skin was eradicated.
Forest and poison.
The Fog Island dive was successful.
In the original, there were cases of landing elsewhere, but that was a needless worry.
‘Alone, huh. Perfect.’
Gilbert had stellar force, and I’d given antidotes to the others, so no worries.
‘With protagonist plot armor, he’ll bring them back alive.’
Know-It-All (Lv 4) analyzed the environment, confirming an ancient ecosystem. It’s approximately 100,000 years ago on Fog Island. Circumstantially, there’s a 75% chance it’s the era when ‘The Birth of Elves’ began.
Know-It-All said 75%, but this was indeed 100,000 years ago, when the elf race was born.
So… if the dive was successful.
‘Stay sharp.’
This was my third natural Time Chaos Dungeon dive, not artificial.
Compared to the slime dungeon in the sewers or the flame demon in the ecological park, it had an epic scale.
It was closer to the artificial dungeon of the Universal Independence War from the imperial tournament.
Smaller in scale but incomparably harder.
That’s how difficult it was.
In the original, 14 knight corps were sent, none returning alive.
Nine were exploratory teams diving with resolve to die, and the main five, including seven Platinum Knights, were annihilated.
Naturally, no information about the dungeon existed.
‘My case is different.’
I knew how hard Gilbert struggled to conquer this dungeon.
In the original, the Time Chaos Dungeon that engulfed Fog Island reached its limit.
As it showed signs of invading the continent, the Human Alliance urgently dispatched Gilbert and elite forces from across the world.
With no information, Gilbert and the top knights learned through trial and error, barely conquering the dungeon in tatters, but missing the most critical element.
‘I need to change that now.’
To alter the fate of the apocalypse, I had to handle this effortlessly.
***
Regaining consciousness post-dive, Mary, dizzy, stabbed her magic staff into the ground and collapsed.
She hadn’t heard of dive aftereffects.
It wasn’t just dizziness.
Breathing was labored.
Her vision was blurry.
Her body felt hot, then cold.
This was…
‘Poison…?’
What happened to me?
Where am I?
Gilbert, Lina, Elisha, Bord—none were here.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind.
[Grrrr…]
A beast leaped from the bushes.
‘M-Magic…’
She couldn’t cast.
It was too close, and the poison clouded her mind.
‘Ah!’
In her dizziness, Mary reached for one clever solution.
From the holster at her right waist, she drew a revolver and shot the beast.
[Whine!]
The beast’s head exploded, and it rolled on the ground.
Mary, stumbling back, flinched.
‘A wolf? No, that’s…!’
Its fur was nearly gone.
Not sparsely missing, but sparsely clinging.
Its eyes were crazed, drooling profusely.
‘It’s steeped in deadly poison…!’
She was certain even its leaking blood was laced with poison.
Amid confusion, Mary reached into her backpack.
With blurred vision, she barely found an antidote and swallowed it.
The antidote’s refreshing energy coursed through her, burning away the unnoticed poison.
Regaining her senses, Mary was horrified.
‘No way…’
Poison.
Poison.
Poison.
This place, the surroundings, perhaps the entire world, might be saturated with poison.
She had studied countless Time Chaos Dungeons, but never heard of such an extreme world.
No wonder no one survived.
Inevitably, one person came to mind.
‘How did Cadet Martin…?’
How did he know?
It wasn’t just poison, was it?
He surely knew more.
Without Know-It-All’s help, Mary reached the conclusion swiftly, her intellect shining.
‘It was true.’
Martin had said, ‘Unless your head’s stuffed with udon instead of brains,’ you wouldn’t die.
Why he used a southeastern oceanic island nation’s dish as a metaphor, she didn’t know.
‘If only he’d fix that crude tone…’
As clever as she was, Mary wasn’t bold.
Knowing human malice, she feared others.
Especially a cold, cynical hunter like him was hard to deal with.
He ran a violence circle, was linked to illegal cartels, and was a school bully.
Of course… during his suspension, something happened, and since returning, he acted more good than evil.
The details were unknown, but he had clearly changed.
‘He’s trustworthy.’
When Gilbert, Lina, Elisha, and Bord weren’t around, he was a top candidate to navigate extreme situations.
That was why she joined this journey.
‘I have to trust him now.’
His words were harsh, but it meant he was thoroughly prepared.
The pile of antidotes proved it.
‘…Move.’
She had to find the dungeon’s objective.
How this world was warped was impossible to discern, set in an era tens of thousands of years ago with no records.
She had to move quickly to discover the conquest goal.
“Eek!”
A signal sounded from her backpack.
She hurriedly pulled out a vibrating ‘detection stone,’ indicating someone else with a detection stone was nearby.
***
Wild Instinct (Lv 4) says this seems like the right place.
Know-It-All (Lv 4) says there are traces of a path.
‘Enough.’
The noisy system messages were giving me a headache.
I had to be cautious; the beings I was about to meet were sensitive.
“Well, found it, so good enough?”
Thorn bushes and thick trees blocked the path like a fortress wall.
“Hey, can I come in?”
I knocked loudly, but no response came.
‘As expected.’
Instead, I placed my hand on the thorn-covered wall and channeled stellar force.
The force, the antithesis of all evil, purified the poison and breathed life into the thorns.
The bushes twitched, parted, and a path opened inward.
“Come in quick!”
A voice urged from within the thorn passage.
I followed the voice inside.
The fear of the thorns closing in faded soon.
Glowing plants lit the darkness, and butterflies and deer greeted me.
Soon, a bright light appeared.
The exit.
‘This is it…!’
Stepping out, a fairy kingdom unfolded.
A land of fairies, smaller than my hand, with delicate wings.
They lived in harmony with flowers, trees, and nature.
“Hello, mysterious human.”
Turning, I saw a tiny fairy emerge from behind a deer.
She looked at me with half worry, half curiosity.
I gave a faint smile, barely noticeable, and waved.
“Hello, fairy.”
“Oh?! You know us?!”
“Of course. How else would I have gotten here?”
This place… was like a fairy tale.
In the original, Gilbert couldn’t see this place and only imagined it.
When he found it after struggling on Fog Island, it was already corrupted by poison, a land of the dead.
Only one fairy remained to hand over the key to the solution.
“Grant me the chance to meet your great queen.”