The bony Dark Mage was extremely pleased with his tactics. From the start, his aim had been to bomb Jake. Sren couldn’t do that with other monsters, but with demons it was possible because he had their True Names.

Fiona, who had been teleported beside him, looked closely at this scene while hiding her sense of dread. However, a trace of happiness appeared on her face when she began seeing a faint, tall silhouette still standing.

”What?!” Sren’s shout echoed in the core chamber.

On the 69th Floor.

Jake stood there like a statue. The earlier attack had completely burned off his clothes and he remained naked in the pool of lava.

His body wasn’t injured in the least and it appeared as if he was unconcerned by the lava’s heat either.

At the last moment, Jake had tried using the Sphere of Darkness, but knowing that it wouldn’t make any difference against an explosion of such caliber, he did something ridiculous or rather…

He did nothing at all.

Jake had just stood there, knowing that he might get killed. It was completely foolish and utterly arrogant! But… it kind of worked because of his overpowered skill, [Negation Aura].

[Ding! You have committed a prideful sin. You gain 9,052 Evil Points!]

Actually, that had been the best course of action. As Jake moved a little, he immediately began trembling and sweating. It was not his mind, but his body reacting to the earlier attack.

Splash! Jake walked forward and knelt on a rock bed. He stayed there for a few seconds and stopped his trembling. Then he glanced around with a smirk on his face, mocking the master of this dungeon.

…

”How? Why?!”

Inside the core chamber, Sren appeared to have lost his mind. Invoking the True Name of so many demons had cost him a considerable amount of mental strength.

Also, using [Teleportation] to bring up those demons from the 60th floor drained him of his mana. At the moment, he had no way to stop Jake from descending to the 70th floor.

He wanted to at least teleport Jake to the 42nd floor and occupy him with Kaine. This demon should also be exhausted after dealing with that explosion, no matter how he did it. If Nyssa could also join, they ought to be capable of defeating him…

He would have to replenish his mana for that, and he had to be quick! Sren stopped using the mirror to reflect the images in his mind and lethargically walked toward the dungeon core.

”Lith, you note the demon’s location… Use the chimeras on the 70th floor to delay him if needed…” Sren passed his orders to the dungeon fairy.

Just as he turned to examine the homunculus, he sensed that she wasn’t standing in her previous location.

”Daddy…”

Before he could realize the threat, a sharp sword had already pierced through his heart.

Whoosh!

Sren’s body disintegrated into multiple black threads of mana. The lighting in the surroundings dimmed and the dungeon core pulsated with extreme energy.

”What have you done?! Fionnaaaa!”

The Dark Mage’s shrill cry shattered all the magic light crystals on the 72nd Floor. The Dungeon Fairy appeared absolutely terrified seeing the unstable dungeon core. It looked like it was about to explode.

Suddenly, a purple light shined from one of Sren’s rings which had fallen to the ground. It shot toward Lith, who cried madly after touching the ring.

The dungeon fairy’s translucent wings rapidly turned black. The earlier mana threads converged toward him and began turning Lith into something else.

At the same time, a tremendous mana wave shook all of the Tartus Dungeon.

Clang! Clang!

The Adamantine chains binding Yvonne vibrated endlessly. The dragon girl saw a chance and immediately shouted at Fiona.

“Quick, cut these chains if you want to live!”

Having an immature mind and in a panic, the homunculus obeyed the Crimson Dragon and shot toward her. Fiona’s hands, which had turned into sharp swords, landed on the mana-sealing chains while chaos ensued in the dungeon.

On the 24th floor, all adventurers ran to take shelter under a giant yellow shield. Under the joint casting of multiple C-Rank mages along with the blessings of clerics, a dome shield was made to shelter other adventures from the falling debris.

Ruxa, Erin, Perry and the centaurs were also taking shelter under it.

”Something must’ve happened on the lower floors.”

”Master…”

They looked at each other with worried expressions and faced the ground.

…

Ting! Ting!

Fiona managed to cut the adamantine chains after half an hour. She transformed her hands back to normal after that and slowly backed off.

The dragon girl weakly plopped to the ground once the chains stopped holding her. Yvonne’s hands, legs, neck and waist had black marks of clogged blood.

Being chained for more than a hundred years, these were the evidence of her suffering. She felt her body and slowly stood up.

”Ah!”

Yvonne felt a familiar, almost dream-like feeling of mana finally flowing in her body. Her dormant mana core began rotating again. Genuine joy blossomed in her heart as she greedily absorbed the mana.

Her 5th Circle aura rose and Yvonne’s senses reached the dungeon fairy, who was suddenly getting larger and larger.

”Grr…” A low growl came out of the dragon girl’s mouth.

”So you’re still not dead…”

Hatred and Anger boiled inside her and dragon scales reappeared all over her body. Yvonne hadn’t fully recovered enough for her to transform, but with mana at hand, she could use draconic magic.

The dragon girl’s right palm turned into a three fingered claw which she pointed at the Dungeon Fairy.

At this moment, Sren was trying to transfer his authority of a dungeon master to Lith… Along with that authority, his soul was connected as well. If he succeeded, he would become a very limited entity, a fairy as well as the master of the dungeon.

He could never go out of Tartus, but that was still better than dying!