When the dark light faded, I was greeted with...even more darkness. Hey, I was only joking about that hell thing! ...oh, it's the night sky. Phew~~.

Now, where am I? I'm standing in a rock area, but it feels way smaller than any of the Dungeon floors, except for the 8th floor, but that one was barely the size of a "server room" if you wanna call it that. I do because it had a similar function. Not anymore though~~.

Plus the rocks are jet black, like coal. I gave them a few knocks, but they're way solid. Far from the barbeque coal I faintly remember from my previous life.

And is it just me, or is it rather chilly here? And breezy! *Achoo*! I'm too used to the not-cold, not-warm temperature of the Dungeon, so this sudden change is worse than normal! Someone, give me a jacket and hot cocoa! And the air's thin...too thin...it's too difficult to breathe...

"Yay! We escaped! Wo-hoo!" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

The fairy's here too, doing a strange dance. What a weirdo. I hope that she doesn't take that from me. And why is she able to shout like that!? Where did the thin air go? No, that sounds wrong...

Is it that the fairy doesn't need to breathe? That's unfair! She should be suffering alongside me! ...oh, wait. I think I've gotten used to it now. That's fast. Somebody, cancel that punishment I ordered!

"One question: just where have we escaped to?" - Garami

"The data from the archive says...the Devil's Peak!" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

Oh, so I've been promoted from a cave demon to a mountain demon~. But I'm still in the middle of no man's land! How's that a "promotion"!? Let me sleep in a nice, comfy bed!! Also...

"...that name...it sounds disturbing." - Garami

"Master is a demon, so I do not think you have any right to say that." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

Hmm, maybe not. Wait, is there any difference between "demon" and "devil" in this world?

"Oh, but the mountain is also called the Devil's Spine." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Whatever..." - Garami

I was starting to get scared, so I asked the fairy what was so "devilish" about this place. Turns out this place is the remains of some great evil god from an age too long to be remembered. Freaky.

"Did my bad Karma decide that I'd feel at home here? That's not funny." - Garami

"No, I don't think so. It seems that this mountain was the safest place the short-range teleportation could take Master to." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"...coincidently, where are the others?" - Garami

"Not here. They were removed through using a long-range teleportation spell." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

That's unfair! I was the one who fought against the Dungeon's ruler himself (just his soulless remains, but even so!)! Why am I demoted to the economy teleport class while those lazy bums got first-class transport?! I repeat; that's too unfair! Cheapskate! Biased teleport firm! I want my money back! Rather, I WANT MONEY!! And a bed.

Too bad neither looks to be anywhere near here. I looked down the mountain (damn, this rock's huge!) and saw just an obsolete wasteland. There are no trees, no animals, no buildings, no nothing. Just some dried-out rocks and lots of sand. Is this place the victim of desertification? The dry air makes the humid caverns of the Dungeon feel like a dream or a mirage...

Hold on. Is the desertification attributed to the Dungeon? Did it somehow suck up the moisture from the surrounding area? ...eh, whatever. It's not like knowing that will do me any good.

"Tch! Hey, how am I supposed to get down from here? Why did that stupid snake set up his lair here?" - Garami

"Who knows? Did he wish to harness the power of the Peak?" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

.........the powers of some "great evil god" do sound like a recipe for disaster. Literally.

The whole story feels so outblown, yet unfortunately, also possible, that I had to sit down and take a breather, despite the thin air...!!?

"M-m-m-m-m-!!" - Garami

"Master? What's wrong? You look like you have seen a ghost." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Not ghost! Moon! No, Moons! Plural! Sky! Broken!" - Garami

"What is broken here is Master's ability to speak. There is nothing wrong with the moons." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"No, there has to be!" - Garami

Up in the night sky were eight moons, one large with 7 smaller moons around it.

I get that a planet can have multiple moons. Just look at Mars or even Jupiter. Plus we're in a different world. That's way more than "just" a different planet.

No. What is making me hyperventilate like this is that the big moon (let's call it the main moon) has a huge crack in it! A fifth..., no, a sixth of it looks like it can fall off the rest at any given moment. There are even visible dust rings around the various moons, not only the main ones. You know, Saturn-style rings.

"That thing isn't gonna fall on us, is it? Is it?!" - Garami

"Oh, you are worried about the Luna Principalis. There is nothing for you to be concerned about. The moon gods are keeping it together ever since that part of it was broken alongside the previous five sub-moons." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"What do you mean by "broken apart"?!" - Garami

"Exactly what I said. The culprit is kept in place now, so it won't happen again." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Culprit!? You mean there are people crazy enough to want to destroy moons in this world with some superweapon!?" - Garami

"Hmm, I cannot say for sure that was the culprit's intention...and why are you talking about weapons? They simply flew up there and gave those old rocks a nice slam." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

......there are creatures in this world with the ability to crush moons as if they were hard candy. Unreal...

"...speaking of unreal..." - Garami

"Did we talk about that?" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

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"...why is it nighttime now? Wasn't it noon just earlier?" - Garami

"It was probably that the Dungeon's day/night function had been damaged." - Avatar

The whole Dungeon does have seen better days at the time when I returned to the 7th floor. I even cut that crystal computer thing to pieces with my Thaumaturgy Scythe. It was the quest reward I obtained when I defeated the ghost knight.

Name: Thaumaturgy Scythe [Weapon - Scythe] Rarity: Ex Quality: C+ Durability: 1.000/1.000 Effects:

* Magic Scythe

* Consumes MP to improve the damage to the scythe.

* Thaumaturgy Blade

* Allows the use of special Thaumaturgy Gems to enhance the scythe's blade.

* Calamity Blade

* Consumes 10 units of the same type of Thaumaturgy Gems to boost the power of the next attack.

* Final Blade

* Consumes all of this item's durability, all linked items' durability, and all Thaumaturgy Gems to unleash an incredibly powerful attack.

* Indestructible (Weak)

* Durability cannot decrease under normal means.

* Linked Item: Ring of Thaumaturgy Scythe

Turns out that the ghost knight, or rather, the species that the ghost knight was part of was something way more dangerous than I expected. What a fancy present for just snuffing out one of them. And you could choose a "Thaumaturgy weapon" from any possible type of weapon! The selection was so great that I needed the fairy's help back that night before she synchronized with the Kigal-Note.

The "linked item" is essentially something that's sharing the durability and stuff. This ring-thing is what produces the "Thaumaturgy Gems" that boost the damage of the scythe. I used one when I cut Glavars' neck before, so now I have...not many left.

Name: Ring of Thaumaturgy Scythe [Accessory - Ring] Rarity: Ex Quality: C+ Durability: 1.000/1.000 Effects:

* Thaumaturgy Gem Creation

* Gathers the owner's excessive Magic Power to generate Thaumaturgy Gems.

* The Gems are granted the traits of a random Element-type skill the owner has.

* Can normally create up to 2 Gems per 24 hours.

* Gem Storage

* Can store any number of Thaumaturgy Gems

* Indestructible (Weak)

* Durability cannot decrease under normal means.

* Linked Item: Thaumaturgy Scythe

It's been 2.5 days since I got the items, but there's not been enough "excessive" MP from me for the ring to produce a new gem today, so I'm left with 3 right now.

Also, according to the fairy, all these Ex (Extra) rarity items share the same aspect of "not being able to be destroyed". [Indestructible (Weak)] prevents age and weak skills from crushing them, but some skills are heavily specialized in destroying items. Though, even those need to be of a high tier if they hope to affect the Thaumaturgy series.

Ah, but this isn't the only fancy ring I own:

Name: Ring of the Blocked River [Accessory - Ring] Rarity: Ex Quality: C Durability: 700/700 Effects:

* Blocked River

* Negates Water-type attacks of a certain threat level by sacrificing 100 Durability.

* Unchangeable

* Durability cannot be altered except through the effect(s) of this item.

The blocking effect seems to be choosable, but I'm no tank. If I have the choice to block anything powerful enough to make the ring activate, I'll most likely have the ring take the hit instead of me. Even if I can only do so 7 times.

"Maybe I should make a parachute..." - Garami

"I think the [Web Wings] is easier to use for the descent." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

Tch. This is the problem of having too many skills. I sometimes forget which one I own...?

"Hey, is there something blinking there? At the horizon." - Garami

"Huh? ...hey, it's true. Did someone come here to defeat Glavras?" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

No... Those lights are too high up in the air. I took out the binoculars from my Storage and looked...!?

What the-!? Spaceships!? Wait, that's wrong. They look more like those floating ships from fantasy games. They seem to be using some kinda crystal-based engine to keep themselves afloat.

There are three of these sci-fi/magic fantasy hybrid ships. One looks sorta bulky and is brass-colored. Another is shaped sorta like a sword and is made outta silver metal. Then there's the final ship, which is twice as big as the other two and is made out of pure-black material. That seems to be the mothership, or flagship, or whatever you call it.

They seem to just float a distance away from the mountain, but...

"...!? Below, it is below us, Master!" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Below?" - Garami

I looked down and saw water coming out of the ground. Did someone hit a spring down there? ...isn't that water increasing somewhat fast?

Looking closer through my binoculars, I saw the ground around the water...melting? Or should I say, the ground that came in contact with the seeping water was transmuted into more water?

At the other end of the horizon, the three magical airships started their engines and came closer to the Peak. Why now? I've got a bad feeling about this...