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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Stella couldn’t believe what had just happened.
At first, she was certain she could win easily.
Although she had heard about the Silver Dawn Knights and knew of their skills, she thought the new knight wouldn’t be very strong since he had just joined.
She believed the reason he had requested a sparring match was because, as a newbie who had just joined the knighthood, he couldn’t control his inflated confidence and overestimated his own abilities.
So, after the sparring match ended, she had planned to give some light advice to the new knight, who would be dumbfounded after experiencing an overwhelming defeat, telling him not to be too arrogant or reckless and to work harder.
However, now, the one who was dumbfounded was Stella herself.
None of Stella’s attacks had landed.
No matter where she attacked, how she swung, or how hard she struck, that man deflected them as if he had known exactly what she would do, completely unfazed.
Later on, even when she wrapped sacred power around her body and swung her flail with all her might, those attacks were all deflected by what appeared to be an ordinary sword with nothing remarkable about it.
Moreover, unlike Stella, that man didn’t even seem to be using his full strength.
He showed no signs of running out of breath or anything like that.
He only slightly frowned each time he blocked an attack.
Just one hit.
A single hit would have been enough to shatter the Blessing of the Moon surrounding his body and end the sparring match.
It was something that could be done with a grazing attack, without even needing to land a direct hit.
However, until the very moment the Blessing of the Moon disappeared after reaching its duration, Stella couldn’t land a single successful attack.
It was the first time.
The first time she had been toyed with and defeated like this.
The first time she had felt an insurmountable gap with a man that she couldn’t possibly catch up to.
All of this was a first for her.
‘Was the shock too great?’
I looked at Stella, who had plopped down on the ground with her mouth wide open and a dazed expression, and rubbed my wrist.
My right arm was still tingling.
It was bearable, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful.
Every time I deflected the flail, my wrist would resonate as if low-frequency waves were passing through it.
It would be a perfect revenge to provoke her here, saying it was nothing, but I didn’t want to deliberately create unnecessary trouble.
Who knew how Stella would react?
However, my words were half-sincere.
In vanilla, it might be different, but in the Darkest Light Mod, bosses wielding huge weapons classified as ultra-large were relatively easier in difficulty.
Whether you were grazed by a dagger swung casually or directly hit by a greatsword swung with full force, it was equally a one-hit kill.
In that case, bosses with numerous small attacks were bound to be tougher.
Bosses with interruption moves or those with combo patterns that relentlessly pressured without a break were the top priority to be wary of.
The former was bound to get you hit if you weren’t careful, and for the latter, if you made a single mistake, it meant death.
The best example was none other than Lizé.
“So, Inquisitor.”
“……”
The eyes that had been blankly looking up at me turned slightly to the side.
Even without an answer, it meant she was at least listening to my words.
“Don’t you have anything to say to me? Like something to teach me, or feeling like granting me access somewhere?”
“…?”
A glimmer of light returned to those eyes.
However, the emotion that appeared in her green eyes was one of confusion.
It was a sign that she had no idea what I was talking about.
Now it was my turn to be puzzled.
Upon achieving victory in the sparring match, the Inquisitor would heartily laugh and praise the player’s skills, revealing the location of a certain rune dungeon.
She would say that with those skills, it might be possible to break through it.
It was in that very dungeon where the rune necessary to face the final boss of the DLC could be obtained.
“I… I don’t… know.”
Stella stammered.
I slightly furrowed my brow.
This was a bit troublesome.
Although I roughly knew the location of the rune dungeon, I needed the Inquisitor’s permission to enter.
Since it was a dungeon where the rune existed, it was a place directly managed by the Holy Kingdom, so even if I knew the location, I couldn’t just barge in without permission.
‘Should I just say it outright?’
The thought of directly asking if she could let me enter the rune dungeon crossed my mind.
Since the story was already thoroughly twisted, would it matter if I received an answer that way?
It seemed that the change in Stella’s reaction after the sparring match had a significant impact.
In the game, she would praise the player’s skills and laugh it off, but now, she had a completely dumbfounded expression, as if her soul had left her body.
“Is there something you require?”
As I was contemplating how to obtain permission to enter the rune dungeon from Stella, Selene approached my side.
Although her face was expressionless and cold as usual, a hint of astonishment towards me could be glimpsed on her countenance.
Something I required?
Of course, there was.
I needed to quickly obtain the rune for entering the boss room in the rune dungeon and move on to the next part of the story.
However, I wasn’t sure if it was okay to tell Selene about it.
“If it is something you cannot speak of in such an open place, I understand.”
Selene must have interpreted my silence in her own way, as she glanced at the battle nuns surrounding us and nodded her head.
It wasn’t really because of those nuns that I couldn’t speak.
“Follow me.”
“Ah!”
Selene suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me.
Seeing that, Stella let out a sound of “Ah!” and reached out her arm as if to stop us, but then limply lowered it, losing strength.
Selene, holding my wrist, strode off somewhere.
I obediently followed behind her.
I thought that, at least, there would be no harm in following her for now.
“This is the place.”
Selene only let go of my wrist after entering an empty cathedral some distance away from the sparring ground.
It was a cathedral that gave a very dark impression, made of grayish marble and silver.
I could roughly guess where this place was.
The grayish-white light coming through the stained glass and the painting on the ceiling that seemed to depict the moon made it obvious.
It was undoubtedly a chapel dedicated to worshipping the Pope of the Moon.
“It seemed like you had something to say to the Inquisitor. What were you trying to request? If it’s not related to the sun, anything the Inquisitor of the Sun can do, I can also do.”
Her violet eyes stared intently at me.
Although it was an action based on a misunderstanding, here, I had nothing to lose.
If telling Selene worked, great; even if it failed, I wouldn’t suffer any loss.
Having finished my calculations, I opened my mouth.
“Can you grant me permission to enter the rune dungeon near here?”
“The rune dungeon near here… Are you referring to the ‘Abyss’?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“…I believe you understand the meaning behind requesting permission to enter a rune dungeon.”
I nodded my head.
Saying you wanted to enter a rune dungeon was equivalent to saying you wanted to make the rune inside your own and absorb it.
Although it was mostly just a formality since most people who discovered them would just gobble them up, once a rune dungeon was discovered, it was treated as the property of that country.
Because who knew what kind of useful effects that rune might possess?
For example, if it was a simple and effective rune like magic power amplification, all the magicians would rush towards it with fiery eyes.
But I wasn’t from the Holy Kingdom; I was from the Empire.
In short, it was almost equivalent to saying that a foreigner would swallow up the country’s property.
“I know. But I don’t think it’ll be a problem. After all, the Holy Kingdom has also abandoned it after failing to conquer it, right?”
Selene flinched as if I had hit a sore spot.
The reason why the rune was still intact inside the dungeon even though it had been discovered long ago was precisely because the Holy Kingdom had failed to subjugate that dungeon several times.
The reason the Inquisitor readily granted permission to enter was closer to the meaning of suggesting that if the player had the skills to defeat her, why not give that place a try?
Of course, she would warn that it was a dangerous place.
So when the player cleared the rune dungeon and returned, she would be greatly surprised.
“……”
Selene bowed her head deeply, lost in thought.
I could hear her muttering something.
She seemed to be so deeply immersed in her thoughts that she wasn’t even aware her thoughts were leaking out of her mouth.
Of course, most of it was incomprehensible.
Even the few words I managed to understand were terms that couldn’t be interpreted on their own.
“Very well, esteemed guest.”
After a long time, permission was finally granted.
Even as Selene said it was okay to go to the rune dungeon, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy and kept emphasizing it over and over.
“Normally, it is something that should never be allowed, but I will trust the skills you demonstrated in thoroughly overwhelming the Inquisitor of the Sun in the sparring match.”
Strength filled her violet eyes.
“But keep this in mind. That place is no different from an abyss of unfathomable depth. The moment you descend to a place where the light from outside cannot reach, there’s no telling what might happen. Moreover, down there, even the Holy Kingdom cannot perfectly protect you. Even if it’s me. Do you understand?”
“Of course. So you don’t need to worry.”
“I have to worry. It’s a dungeon that we couldn’t reach the end of even after descending for a full twelve hours. How can you tell me not to?”
I inwardly laughed as I looked at Selene, whose expression had completely stiffened.
It took you 12 hours and you still couldn’t see the end?
Of course, that would be the case if you followed the path and descended floor by floor in the standard way.
With another method, it wouldn’t even take 20 minutes.
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This man is a speedrunner devil.
We should make a new religion out of this
Speedruning Kingdom saving