“What do we do now?” the girl who called herself Bernard asked, having finally gotten back to her feet.

“The dungeon is failing.” Xin sighed. “I never thought Aberis would enter the dungeon of his own accord, but now, there isn’t enough miasma. When the next cycle begins, the dungeon will just disintegrate, and we’ll all fall in the void.”

I shook my head. “I don’t get it. I’m still missing something.”

“Deek.”

“There is nothing to get.”

“I mean, where is the dungeon core? We defeated the dungeon, didn’t we? With the Dungeon Master destroyed, the dungeon should present the core. We can then destroy it.”

“What’s the point?” Xin responded bitterly, “Destroy the core? The dungeon is going to destroy itself in less than an hour!”

“No, I mean… if the dungeon core is still around, then that means.” My eyes widened, and I looked at the spot where Aberon had been lying.

“Good deduction.” A whisper came from behind my ear.

I was struck like a hammer, and went flying across the room, slamming into a wall.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Deek!” Garnet ran to my side.

“You’re still alive?” Xin asked incredulously.

The once normal looking Demon King was still standing. However, his veins had turned black, like he was barely holding the miasma inside him. Black veins creeped down every part of his exposed skin. His eyes even contained black pupils. He looked quite sickly, and admittedly much more like a Demon King than he ever had before.

“My son thought he could kill me, but he has failed. However, the Demon Castle is collapsing. To save it, I will use your bodies as sacrifice!”

“Demon Castle… it’s more than the Demon Castle that is collapsing.” I said. “It’s the entire dungeon?”

He blinked. “Yes… the dungeon is the Demon Castle! Stop trying to confuse me, fool.”

“He isn’t aware he’s a copy.” Xin explained.

“But he’s mentioned he’s aware he’s in a dungeon?”

“The Demon King’s Castle is a dungeon, remember? Of course, the Demon King of the Demon’s King Castle knows he’s the Dungeon Master of Demon King’s Castle, so his copy would be the same.”

“I think I’m getting a headache.”

We were in the copy of a dungeon, inside a bigger dungeon. That was probably why I couldn’t use Slave Communication or Portal into the Demon King’s Castle. That also meant this guy was a Dungeon Master who was the copy of another Dungeon Master. Something didn’t seem right about that, but I wasn’t being given much of a chance to dwell on it.

“Nevermind that, give me the sword and I’ll take care of him.”

I nodded and tossed her the sword. The sword was still made of pure metal with no hilt, so it was a bit odd to hold, especially without a gloved hand. That said, as soon as Xin caught it, she let out a scream and dropped it. There was a sizzling sound as if it had burned her hand. The Demon King had attacked at that moment, striking Xin and causing her to fly back, hitting a wall. I scrambled to grab the Silvthril sword she had dropped, even more confused than before.

The second I had it in my hands, the Demon King’s eyes locked on mine. “You die next!”