The Next Morning....
I was up early — like, very early. The sun had barely managed to rise kind of early. The main reason for being up this early, was because I wanted to try out the gauntlet that the blacksmith had made for me yesterday in order to use the Sacred Blade of Hopes power, without needing to worry about my demonic powers and nature getting in the way. So, I had grabbed the blacksmith with me, as well as put on the gauntlet on my left hand, while carrying the blade in my right hand, it resting within a sheathe that the blacksmith had also made for it. We were currently on our way to a nearby dungeon, which I remembered the location of from the game, considering that it was one of the last dungeons the protagonist would raid.
It was the perfect place to test how much the gauntlet is able to withhold the Sacred Blades power and how much of that power I could actually draw out to use with the gauntlet in my hand. And in case you are curious — the Gauntlet served more or less as a method of absorbing the Sacred Blades power and granting me the ability to use it, without my demon heretige getting in the way. It also functioned as an amplifier for the blade, as it was capable of increasing the powers 'density' and 'potency' — two things that in the game, were actually kind of crucial to the games combat system.
Anyways, as we marched on — the blacksmith began to look around, seemingly scanning the area for something. And if I had to take a guess - I think he was searching for potential materials to use in his craftsmenship and blacksmithing — since he would be known to do that a lot. Anyway... The dungeon we're headed to.
I already explained that it was one of the last dungeons the protagonist would raid in the game, which meant that it was chuck full to the brim with extremely powerful monsters. If I remember correctly, the highest level enemy was literally something like Level 145, maybe Level 150.
This was considered widely to be a good place to grind exp, considering that the final dungeon was around 45 floors of enemies between the levels of 100 to 170 AND it was only playable once, being when you go through it in the story. Why was it only playable once? Pretty simple.
Because as part of the main story, the protagonist HAD to destroy the dungeon, since in the story it was close to experiencing an event called an 'Eruption'. In the lore, when a dungeon reaches the end of its lifetime, it will go through a process called 'Eruption' where the dungeon will straight up blow up and release all the monsters inside it, into the world around and make everyones life a living hell.
That's why in the games main story, you HAVE to destroy the dungeon by taking down its core, all to prevent it from erupting. With that in mind, it is no wonder this place that we were going to was known as the best place to grind. It was replayable unlimited amount of times, it was relatively quick at around 20 something floors and the enemies gave out a LOT of EXP, making it kinda a 'gold' mine for EXP. Anyways — it wasn't long before we eventually reached the dungeon. It was like a opening into a cave, which was made from black crystals and minerals, with a bright red light shining from it's inside. The dungeons looked differently depending on where they were and what level or grade they were. This dungeon in specific was known as 'Mythic' grade, which was one grade below 'Legendary'. It also had a black colour to it with a red shine inside, because it was a Dark Lands Dungeon, and the Dark Lands the dungeons tended to be different tones of grey and black. The darker the Dungeon — the higher its grade with in the Dark Lands.
"Ghurt — you remain here."
I said to the blacksmith with me. Ghurt, the blacksmith, immediately looked at me a bit confused, before nodding lightly and bowing towards me.
Ghurt: "As you wish, your Excellence."
I exhaled lightly, before drawing the sacred sword from the sheathe it was in, the blade seemingly reacting to me drawing it, as golden lightning and energy crackled from it — all being absorbed by the gauntlet in quick succession. Eventually, as I drew out the blade, I swung it to the side, before handing the sheathe to Ghurt. Time to put the sword which was made to defeat the Demon King to the test - just how powerful it TRULY was is what I wanted to know. I leapt off of the cliff we were standing on before landing quite roughly in front of the dungeon, destroying the ground below me, before rising back up to my feet and beginning to march towards the dungeon. Now I know — isn't this messing up the protagonists eventual story too much? I mean — not only did I claim the weapon the protagonist was supposed to claim in around 16 or 17 years, but I am now going to conquer the second to last dungeon within the game, where the protagonist would need to enter to gain more levels to try and stand against the Demon King of Sins.
Now trust me when I say this, but I myself was worried about all these things when I first arrived into the world. I was worried as hell about changing too many things before the protagonist could get to them, however at this point, I don't care anymore. The Sacred Blade was mine and I had no intention of raiding the Kingdom of Evelia. Plus, this dungeon that I was about to raid all by myself, it was one which wouldn't disappear, until its core is destroyed. And since I was not intending on doing that, the dungeon would remain here intact, such the protagonist would be able to reach it eventually when they need the dungeon. However, for now, this place is perfect to test out the absolute limit of the Sacred Blade and how much of its power I am capable of using with the gauntlet absorbing the blades power. As I walked up to the dungeon entrance, I felt this ominous atmosphere and aura around it — almost like the dungeon was reacting to my presence. It wasn't scary or intimidating in any sense, considering that my aura was around 80 times more powerful than this, but I feel like it was worth mentioning how the aura felt.
Taking in a deep breath, I exhaled. This was my first ever time doing something like this... Sure, I was invincible, so nothing in the dungeon could even scratch me, however I was still a bit nervous about entering it. I don't know if I am just paranoid — but the human I technically am mentally felt a bit scared about entering a place that in the real world literally could never exist.
Or would it count as my previous world not the real world...? I mean, it isn't like I was playing a VR game or something.... The world around me was real and physical, not a game. Well, I suppose that is a question for another day.
Right now — I have some monsters to slay.
I took my first steps into the dungeon, beginning my descent down into its depths, holding the Sacred Blade tightly in my left hand, before sharpening my gaze down to the area which was located at the bottom of this staircase. Let's see what I can do inside a REAL dungeon like this. Can the monsters inside prove to be a little bit resilient? Or will I simply wipe the floor with them all.
Honestly — who knows. One thing is for sure however... I am NOT leaving this place, until I kill all the monsters inside and take control of the dungeons core. Taking control of the core would mean that the dungeon falls fully under my control, allowing me to basically do anything I wanted with it. This would prove to be useful as a personal testing and training ground — since Dungeons cannot be destroyed on the inside, unless you destroy the core.
Well, at least that's the case for the protagonist and their friends. I am not sure if this dungeon will be able to handle the power of the Demon King of Sins, a tyrant with power that kind of surpassed that of the Gods at times. Well... Kind off.
I descended down the staircase for a little bit longer, eventually reaching the end and making it into the first out of 20 floors inside the dungeons. The room was filled to the brim with spider like monsters, who all immediately turned to face me the minute I entered and hissed towards me, before beginning to rush towards me with the intention of probably killing me. Unluckily for these Arachnid bastards however...
"I have the blade that was created to be my only weakness."
I stated, before grabbing the swords handle with my other hand and dashing at the giant group of arachnids, the gauntlet allowing me to "feel" the sacred swords energy and thus, allowing me to activate its powers — creating a golden flame which engulfed the swords blade. I 'smirked' to myself, before beginning to tear through the large spider group with ease — the Sacred Blades golden flame engulfed blade instantly burning through the Arachnids, which was not surprising in the least. I mean, the Sacred Blade was made to take me down, so it would be pretty weird if it wasn't capable of defeating other monsters of this world. It wasn't long then, when all the Arachnids in the room with me were dead, slaughtered by me.
The blades blade was still engulf in a golden flame, which allowed me to grin internally. The Gauntlet worked — it allowed me to channel and use the power of the Sacred Blade of Hope, bypassing my demonic nature and abilities which in nature would clash with the blades power and reject it
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"If this is what it can do with a basic demonstration of its power... I wonder how much more I am able to do with it."
I thought, before exhaling and making the flame around the blade disappear, before continuing my march on inside the dungeon.
I easily tore through the floors with the Sacred Blade, trying new abilities from its power every single floor, in other to see the absolute limit of this blade in my hands. The entire time while using the blade and its power, I was also monitoring the gauntlet and if it was still able to withstand the power and would not shatter on me randomly.
However, the gauntlet was completely unmarked, which meant that even the power of the Sacred Blade of Hope wasn't enough to degrade or damage it. What a quality product from Ghurt... I wonder what else I can get him to forge that has durability and resistance like this. Anyways—
I am getting ahead of myself. I had just torn through the 19th floor, utilising the blades Golden Lightning mixed with the Golden Flames and even a little bit of just straight up gold chains or something. A lot of gold aspects to this blades abilities.... I suppose it makes sense for a supposed 'Holy Artifact' but it still boggled the mind lightly on how the whole theme of the sword was around gold.
Kinda reminded me of an individual inside the game that I remember from the DLC... But I cannot recall the name of or where they came from. All I remember was that the individuals whole theme and abilities were surrounding gold and gold energy and what not.
I shortly began my descent down into the dungeons final floor, reaching it shortly after descending down the staircase. The final floor was much, much more open — almost 4 times more room than all other floors. Inside, it looked like a cave environment, with crystals and minerals, and what not all over the place. There was one giant crystal cluster hanging from the ceiling with a bright light shining off of it, lighting up the whole entire room.
I looked around, eventually spotting the boss of the dungeon on the other side of the room. The boss of this specific dungeon, wasn't like your usual boss. He was actually a monster who was directly created by the Demon King of Sins whose original purpose was to act as a guard of the Demon Kings personal vault. However, after one of the subordinates asked to be assigned as the guard there, this creature kinda lost its purpose, so Avis Virtiosa set it free into the world to wander alone — mainly because he didn't feel like wasting energy of his by destroying it, as it would waste the magic he used to make the thing in the first place. However — I am going to waste that energy right here and now anyway, so I suppose that whole backstory was unnecessary.
The boss of the dungeon was a knight like being, who had much larger, denser and heavier armour than all other knights under the service of the Demon King of Sins. The armour was coloured a deep, pitch black with only crimson red accents being the other colour fining out the details within the armour and making it look even colour than it was from the outside. I mean, it was a pretty cool combo, an individual with the beefiest armour in the world, wielding a Greatsword and having the power gift of the Demon King himself. Good stuff honestly — gotta hand it to Avis Virtiosa. The knight on the other end sprung to life, lifting the Greatsword up into the air, before beginning to rush me.
Oh right — you might be confused why something the Demon King, or I suppose, I created would draw its blade towards me. Well, it is simple — the second this thing became a dungeon boss, I lost all authority over it, as the very nature of a dungeon changes how a monster operates and acts. Monsters inside dungeons generally are masterless and are completely untamable noir controllable by anything other than the dungeon. So, basically I am forced to kill this thing. Should be simple.
I took a defensive stance against the large knight, as it continued to rush towards me. Eventually, as soon as it got close enough, the knight lifted its Greatsword into the air, before attempting a downwards slash towards me, which I promptly and quickly dodged out of the way of, before engulfing the Sacred Blade in a golden flame and lightning combo, before also unleashing as much magic of the Sacred Blade as possible.
"Now then — let's see if you can survive!"
I shouted, before swinging the sword at the knight, who attempted to block the incoming strike with its Greatsword — however, the Greatsword shattered in an instant, which seemingly shocked the knight, as the Sacred Blade easily pierced through its armour and went all the way through, before the raging magic of the blade created a large pillar of golden light, which engulfed the knight completely, slowly but surely completely disintegrating it from existence, not leaving a single trace of the knight behind. Not even excess magic was left over from the thing as it was basically atomised.
Afterwards, I quickly dissipated the flames and lightning around the blade, before spinning it and sheathing it back up. Dungeon successfully conquered. And it didn't even take that long — this sword is ridiculously strong. I lifted the sheathed blade up higher a bit, before exhaling and lowering it back down to my side.
In the following bit, I simply had walked over to the dungeons core, which was this massive swirling orb of energy at the very back of the final floor, which I promptly took full control of using my Demonic Magic, gaining full control of the entire dungeons in the end.
"Should probably return to Ghurt."
I thought, before turning around and beginning to move, slowly beginning to ascend back up all the stairs and floors which I had descended down just a while earlier. It was going to be an annoying trip...
• • • • • •
- - - -
Summoned to Another World, but as the Final Boss
- - - -
• • • • • •
After I had made it out of the dungeon, I reunited with Ghurt, who had managed to collect up a shit ton of materials which he wished to bring back to the castle to use in his forging projects and what not. To be honest, I kind of wanted to protect against it, however I simply couldn't bring myself to care enough about it to actually think of a good reason as to why he can't take all these materials back, so I simply allowed it. Then we both headed back, as I gave Ghurt a basic overview and sort of my 'review' of the Gauntlet and how I think it could be improved. Out little talk seemed to inspire Ghurt greatly, as the minute we arrived back to the castle, he immediately rushed to his smithing zone of the castle. Meanwhile I headed back to the throne room, where inside Emily was waiting for me, greeting me and welcoming me back as soon as I entered. From there, I simply sat down onto the throne, as Emily began to bring out report after report about some things that the patrol has spotted in the Dark Lands and other things happening around the castle.
Pretty standard stuff for a castle setting honestly... I mean, as a monarch now and having experienced this for atleast 5 days now, I was already used to dealing with problems around the castle and in the Dark Lands. It really wasn't that hard — especially considering that I used to be quite good at managing things. I mean, I was literally a manager at my job in what I suppose was my 'previous life'. So it definitely spoke up to my management skills.
After around an Hour or so of sorting through the reports, an individual dressed in quite hefty and fancy armour barged into the throne room, before quickly moving close to the throne and kneeling down before me, causing me to slightly lift my gaze up from the documents that Emily was giving me.
"This better be important enough to validate your disturbance at this moment Dvirt."
I stated in a rather imposing and cold tone.
Dvirt — one of the 7 closest subordinates of the Demon King, known among them as the 'Devil Knight' and plays the role of the captain of my main force of the army.
Dvirt: "My apologies your Excellence, however I have received a word that the Dragon-born King and the Golden Dragon Saint is seeking an audience with you."
The knight stated, which made me internally gasp, before lowering the documents in my hand. The... Golden Dragon Saint? As in the one who is basically the Dragon-born kinds sacred goddess or something? She's seeking an audience.... With me? For what purpose though? As far as I understood, the Golden Dragon Saint and the Demon King of Sins were not on good terms with eachother, considering that the Demon King of Sins had accidentally caused the death of a LOT of Dragon-borns during the fall of the Kingdom of Inara. I scratched my chin for a minute, both Emily and Dvirt nervously watching me.
Then I sighed, handing Emily the documents.
"Emily, take these away for now. Dvirt, tell them that I will accept an audience with them. They may enter."
Emily & Dvirt: "As you wish, your Excellence."
The two of them bowed before me, before both left the room and went off to do what I tasked them to. I then exhaled, facepalming lightly. I never thought that I would encounter the Golden Dragon Saint this quickly.... In the Main story, the Protagonist meets the Golden Dragon Saint around the end of their 1st year at the academy, where it is first 'revealed' that the protagonist was the Hero meant to claim the Sacred Blade of Hope.... If that much wasn't already obvious enough with the whole cover of the game.
Now, the Demon King does meet the Golden Dragon Saint during the main story and then also in the DLC, but that was on a battlefield where the two had a clash that wrecked havoc. Which makes me wonder... Did I mess up? Did I change the events too much and now the Golden Dragon Saint is coming to fight me already?
Well... Whatever the reason for her to seek an audience with me — one thing was for sure. It was not because she wanted to talk things out peacefully. Oh no — I bet she's coming for my head.
I lightly grinned, leaning back into my throne, before taking more of a pose which a tyrant would typically have in a throne.
"Alright Golden Dragon Saint... Let's see what you have in store for me."
• Next Time •
[ (6.) The Demon King & The Golden Dragon. ]