Chapter 202 (1/2)

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For some reason, the real Vandalieu had taken over a reproduced copy of hi realized this, Curatos tried to call for assistance

Though the challengers of this Dungeon could be resurrected over and over in this Dungeon no matter how many tirant his enemies a true end to their existence, even here

As far as Curatos could tell, it seemed that even Vandalieu himself had not expected to be in this situation, but… even so, there could only be one outcome if he were to encounter Heinz and his companions Curatos could not afford to lose the still-incoeon was being guarded by personnel frodom But in addition, there were heroic spirits and Gods that were skilled in combat, ready to descend upon the world at a moment's notice in the event that Vandalieu or the Gods of Vida's faction were to attack

Curatos just needed to sueon

”I did not expect that he would enter the inside of the Dungeon directly, but this ends here,” Curatos muttered to himself

As Vandalieu was in a copied body, he would not be able to exert his full strength, and once the Gods entered this Dungeon, he would be repelled easily Curatos had no doubt about that

But he was astonished to find that his request for aid was not reaching the outside world

”I coroan and staggered as he felt a sensation rese his body This sensation signaled that soates that connected the different spaces within the Dungeon, but was obstructed by the barriers that Alda, the God of law and fate, had erected

Curatos kneho it was With this event coinciding with Vandalieu's appearance here, it could only be the Gods of Vida's faction

But a direct intrusion into the inside of the Dungeon was the situation that Curatos and his master Alda needed to prevent the most

That hy Alda had built sturdy protective eon in order to prevent Zuruwarn, the God of space and creation, froeon directly

”My lord's protections are… cracking…!” Curatos -ra intermittently, and the cracks that were produced with each one were not s this to what should have been a perfect defense?

”… Gufadgarn, the evil God of labyrinths He has followed the 'path' that Vandalieu has taken into this place, spatially separated the inside of the Dungeon fro to enter himself!” Curatos realized

It was known that Zuruwarn had joined Vida's side; this being his doing was one possibility But considering that Gufadgarn had ceased his maintenance of the Trial of Zakkart, this evil God that created nueons and increased the pollution of this world was the more likely answer

Vandalieu had created a s, even though it was only hisuse of that tear

”I can feel several other presences… strong presences… but I must deal with the situation at hand for now,” Curatos told hi the barrier to buy ascopies of himself These copies would act on his behalf, inform the Five-colored Blades of the situation and provide a way for the preparations for the worst

In order to minimize the losses fro these trial-and-error tests, Jennifer and Diana died and returned to the 'town' He was terrified that their souls had been broken, but he was relieved to find that their souls were intact and had returned to their bodies It seemed that Vandalieu had spared theuarantee that he would spare the rest Curatos quickly shut the 'corridors' to prevent Jennifer and Diana fro the 'town' to return to this floor, and also to prevent Vandalieu fro the 'town'

However, while Curatos was perforar also fell into a dire situation

”So, he intends to destroy their souls after all… he is devouring thear was almost completely out of Mana, and Luke, the fament, who had descended upon him, was in a critical state as well Meanwhile, Vandalieu's Mana had recovered, albeit only slightly

Curatos recorded this pheno Guduranis, who had only destroyed souls, Vandalieu was capable of devouring theer any time to lose Curatos sent the copies that had so with the ones that carried his own ht! We can't afford to lose this Dungeon -” Heinz began

”Even if you are capable of fighting, it will be futile As you are now, you cannot avoid defeat,” said Curatos

He had instructed Heinz to destroy his own fake body, return to the 'town' and escape froeon, but as he had expected, Heinz wanted to stay

However, Heinz was gravelythe situation

”It is possible for me to heal your wounds and restore your Mana However, I cannot heal wounded souls,” Curatos said

Indeed, Heinz and Delizah could certainly still fight However, the souls of the heroic spirits that had descended upon them were already wounded With time, they would likely heal and return to norainst Vandalieu and continued receiving heavy blows, it was possible that their souls would becoed to an irreparable state

If that happened, they would become mindless and broken There would be no option left but to kill them and entrust their hopes to their next lives

Rodcorte, the God of reincarnation as an expert when it ca about the situation, but… it would likely be iinal states

And Edgar was one step away fro that point That hy Curatos had killed hi him a chance to protest Of course, Curatos wasn't sure if he would becoht as he had done up until now

”Soul? You said that just a an, bewildered

”Vandalieu possesses the ability to inflict wounds that even us Gods cannot heal That is all you need to understand for now,” Curatos explained briefly ”That is why youthe tip of his spear towards her

Even now, the copies that Curatos had created using his oer and divine authority, were fighting against Vandalieu and being destroyed Curatos hie as a result of this

There was no ti explanations

”But he said that he would destroy this Dungeon if ere to run away Can you prevent that fro?” Heinz asked

Curatos's face twisted in frustration ”It is regrettable, but I cannot I have no ”

So that's how it is after all, Heinz thought as he heard Curatos refer to Vandalieu as the De that even a God could not stop him

Curatos would resist as much as he could, and if he could use his copies to chip away at Vandalieu's Mana, then he would be able to evacuate this Dungeon… but even now, Gufadgarn was trying to enter, so that was impossible

He did not know if Vandalieu was truly capable of destroying this Dungeon that had been created by Alda, the God of law and fate But with the help of Gufadgarn, as an expert in Dungeons, things that Curatos could not even iht become possible

Curatos knew that he would not be able to prevent that

If the daeon was stopped before it becaeable, however

”Then can't you produce ? This is still the 65th floor; it's not the final floor Shouldn't there be a fake that can defeat Vandalieu? Like… a copy of the Deive up

It was good that he was not willing to give up; this was one of the qualities required of a hero, after all

But despite ad Heinz's ability to display this quality even in this situation, Curatos shook his head ”It is true that I intended for you to fight against a copy of the Deeon,” he said

”Then bring that copy here right now -” Heinz began

”If that were possible, I would have done that fro The fact that I have not means that it is not possible”

In order to deal with this unforeseen situation, Curatos had arrived onto the scene with asforces as he couldGuduranis, he had prepared copies of Bellwood, Nineroad and Farone on to become heroic spirits There were also copies of S-class adventurers fro Randolf 'the True' and the 'Thunderclap' Schneider

But he could not use theraether in order to fight against the Five-colored Blades

The reproduced, materialized copies created by Curatos were mindless puppets, no matter how real their behavior seemed However, they had been created based on records of them as they had existed in the past If copies of individuals that were eneether on the sa each other

That would prevent the their intended function as a trial for Heinz and his coainst other copies

If he were to su Guduranis here right now, Heinz and Delizah would be exter because they were different froood option to return Heinz and Delizah to the 'town,' but this would leave Vandalieu unchecked as a result, and thus increase the risk of the Dungeon being destroyed

There were many other restrictions; for example, Curatos could not move copies to other floors or the 'town,' nor could he produce le floor

”But there are other copies fighting him on the other side of this wall!” said Delizah

”Delizah, that is because I have taken additional steps so that they consider Vandalieu as their eneer the copies are, the more time these additional steps take,” Curatos explained

Powerful copies required large amounts of information to be recreated; even Curatos, a God, could not do this immediately It would have taken several hours to add this additional progra Guduranis

The copies that were fighting Vandalieu on the other side of the wall protecting Curatos, Heinz and Delizah were copies whose prograht Vandalieu

Curatos had done all of this while preventing Gufadgarn froeon's entrance that the evil God had sealed

Even for Curatos, perfor these three tasks siht into gathering asforces as he could and deliberately chose individuals that were Vandalieu's allies and relatively quick to prograle er before he defeated them

”Therefore, you must fall back to the 'town' noill definitely open a path for you to escape, so you must wait until I do so And you must stand up once more, resurrect Bellwood and defeat thatVandalieu, at all costs,” said Curatos, speaking in the e

”… It can't be helped, then,” said Delizah, closing her eyes and exposing her throat to the tip of the spear that Curatos was holding

”Wait, Delizah,” said Heinz ”God, if we do return to the 'toe be able to escape from this place?” he asked Curatos

It seeiven up In fact, he had asked the question thatthis Dungeon, and it's so fir reinforceht?” Heinz continued ”Even if we return to the 'toon't be able to get outside, e?”

Indeed, Gufadgarn had twisted space so that no Gods could enter or leave this Dungeon now

Even if Heinz and Delizah returned to the town, this situation needed to be addressed before they could escape to the outside world

”I have a plan If I use it, Vandalieu's anger will be drawn tothat time, I will open the exit You must wait in the 'town' for thatinsolent as I ask this Is this guaranteed to succeed?” Heinz asked

Gufadgarn was an evil God of the space attribute who specialized in labyrinths, and there was another unknown enemy God as just as powerful On the other hand, Curatos was a light-attribute God who noreons The odds were not in his favor

Even at the cost of his own destruction and considerable daeon, Curatos believed that the chances of Heinz and his co safely were about seventy percent

”… I cannot say that it is certain,” he replied

It was unclear as to whether he had answered Heinz's question truthfully because he was the God of records who recorded things exactly as they were, or because of the extraordinary determination in Heinz's eyes

”Then I also have a plan,” said Heinz ”If it's correct to assume that you are still able to create copies about as powerful as the ones that are fighting against Vandalieu right now -”

Curatos believed that the plan outlined by Heinz had a sufficient chance of success It was not certain, but the resulting probability of being able to stop Vandalieu was more than seventy percent -

”Very well However, if I deem it insufficient, I will interfere, no matter what you say… no matter how much you resent me for it afterwards,” said Curatos

Heinz and Delizah nodded, and Curatos began creating the copies needed for the plan

Combined with the plan that Curatos had intended to use… Heinz and Delizah would have a far greater chance of escaping than seventy percent

”I see I have gained a good understanding of just how valuable er Sense: Death and my staff are,” Vandalieu ht of the normally constantly-active spell that had helped him so many times, and the staff made from Gyubarzo that he didn't have with him now

On the 50th floor, he had hting Heinz just a few o, he had lost his composure and deliberately allowed himself to be attacked to set a trap Thus, he hadn't realized just how valuable Danger Sense: Death and his staff were In this place… to be er Sense: Death spell had no effect

This was likely because his body was a fake, so he could not die no matter as done to hi, but it was a little troublesome that the convenient spell that allowed hi

And with the Gyubarzo staff, he would have been able to use e amount of his Mana

But naturally, Vandalieu was the superior force in the battle between hied towards Vandalieu, whose fist went straight through Gordan's shi+eld and destroyed his chest cavity Vandalieu then si's wings as blades to cut thenored the copied 'Insect Swarm' Bebeckett's insects, closed in on her and snapped her neck Incidentally, Vandalieu was unable to char with Bebeckett

Other copies appeared in their place

One of them was a man who appeared to be a hunter

”Heheheh, I'll catch -” he began, but Vandalieu cut his

Another copy, a knight, appeared ”Red Wolf Knights, charge -”

Vandalieu cut him down as well

He wasn't sure who the hunter was, as he had cut hi a look at his face, but he had the feeling that the knight was souely recalled this, there was a sound like air exploding, and his right as torn to pieces

He turned to see a copy of the Fifth Sword of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, the 'Five-headed Snake' Ervine

”I understand that they want to draw my attention to the copies, but if that's the case, they should have nore even if I want to,” VandalieuWhip!” Ervine snarled, continuing his attacks

The inal Ervine's It would not have been strange for hiained the status of S-class if he had been an adventurer; Vandalieu could not ignore hih he understood that he was simply there to buy time

Ervine's Orichalcum whip had also been accurately recreated, so it would tear Vandalieu's soul that he hadTechnique if it kept landing attacks

But it was Vandalieu's second ti this opponent

”Well, whether I can see your whip's ether Bloodlust,” Vandalieuhis defenses with Armor Technique and shi+eld Techniquethe Bloodlust spell

The blood that had been spilled by Ervine's attacks turned into carnivorous microbes and attacked Ervine

Ervine screamed, and his face twisted in pain But even so, he showed no signs of stopping his attacks against Vandalieu

”GAH! God-metal Whip Strike!”

The whip struck Vandalieu's carapace directly, causing it to crack apart as if exploding

”It seeh the Vitality of soth beyond an class adventurer,” Vandalieu muttered

It seemed that this was another drawback to Bloodlust in addition to Vandalieu's inability to control it, though he was confident that it would reduce an average knight to bones within ten seconds

”God-ain

It seemed that the copies were a little too realistic; the extre with his attacks He swung his whip in a broad uely in Vandalieu's direction

Vandalieu stopped the ith his right ar's horns that were growing on it

Ervine froze for a moment as he realized that he was unable to move

”Death Cannon”

Vandalieu's spell struck hi with his whip

”… Your movements became sloppy The real one would have discarded his whip immediately,” Vandalieu murmured ”Now then, it seems that all the copies have run out?”

Vandalieu had attacked the copies with the effects of Divine Eneed this Dungeon would have taken considerable da about this wall, or use one of the aces up my sleeve… If I choose the forth between me and the God, and if I choose the latter, I won't be able to ht Now then… Oh?

Just as Vandalieu turned to face the wall that divided this floor's Dungeon in two, the wall disappeared like an illusion

The Five-colored Blades, in an injured state, aiting behind it

”Vandalieu! Let's put an end to this!” Heinz declared

”Here we go, everyone!” said Jennifer

Their entire bodies were e an extraordinary amount of spirit; it would have been correct to assume that they had already activated all of their Skills such as Heroic Spirit Descent and Transcend Limits

”Mill… Awaken within us for thisthe most powerful enchantment that she knew

This enchantment drew out the latent potential within her and her allies and pushed them to their limits

And then the rest of the party activated their most powerful martial skills, what could be called their hidden abilities

”Supreme Heavenly Radiant Slash!+”