My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1061

“Let her go!” I took a step forward.

“Oh? Sad you lost your sword? Then again, all you ever wanted is power, right?” The girl teased.

“You don’t understand anything!”

“I don’t have to! It’s always the same with your kind. You… daddy… all you ever wanted was power! I wonder what will happen when that power is unleashed on you.”

“I’m giving you one last chance…” I took another step forward.

“Not here.” She grinned. “This reunion is for the final trial! Oh, don’t worry though. I won’t leave you defenseless. Here take this trash!”

She threw out her hand and a blade appeared, landing on the ground and rolling to me. I went to charge her, but she disappeared, taking Alysia with her. Making a face, I reached down and grabbed the sword. I immediately recognized it. It was a broken, rusty thing. This was the ancient blade, the form that the dungeon took in the physical world. It left me feeling even more confused, as I thought she had been the ancient blade. Just what did this mean?

I took a step to head to the next trial, only to see five more clones of Alysia. They had appeared in the place of the little girl. They immediately started to surround me, acting much like the one from the previous trial. No, these girls were even more powerful. They might even be stronger than the original Alysia. I just had that feeling. On top of that, I wouldn’t be supported by Alysia herself.

“It looks like I’m going to have to depend on you,” I spoke to the old sword in my hands.

There was no response from the sword. Whether it was a spirit sword or not, I didn’t know. It didn’t seem to be able to communicate with me if it was. Then again, I had a feeling my ability to communicate with Alysia had been an abnormality. It was probably because our souls had been wrapped around each other. It created some kind of connection between the pair of us that this dungeon couldn’t predict. That connection seemed to have been severed at this point.

I held up the blade as the girls attacked. As I fought, I felt helplessness and pain. I didn’t want to hurt Alysia. My only choice was to take on all of the pain to myself. After searing my soul in the fires earlier, I had barely managed to recover. I fought with all of my strength and will, but the damage grew. I took cut after cut. This ancient blade just wasn’t Alysia. I needed her. I wanted her beside me. I wanted her voice and the feel of her in my hand.

I executed Final Blow and gave out my strongest attack. I was able to obliterate two of them. I was relieved to see that it counted as a new attack.

{Last Chance has been activated.}

I would have fallen there, but I was saved by last chance. I started healing, desperately trying to restore my health as the remaining three Alysia attacked. I raced forward and attacked again. After some furious battle, I was finally able to destroy them. It took plunging us all into darkness, infecting them with Fear, and then using Mimic to trick them into attacking each other. By the time I reached the safe room, I was bloody from head to toe and barely standing.

I collapsed to the ground and passed out, unable to continue to the 9th trial.

Chapter 1062

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I regained consciousness. I was still in the safe room, as safe as I could expect to be. I immediately began to heal myself, trying to recover from the damage I had taken. Two days passed by the time I had regained my strength and recovered. As I lay down, a silent sword at my side, I stared up at the final mural. It was an image of the girl holding the ancient sword. Darkness was closing in around her.

At first, I didn’t understand what it meant, but since I could barely move, I had enough time to dwell on it, and I started to come up with a theory that I thought was accurate. Time passed, and I slowly forced myself to my feet. I had to get Alysia back, defeat this dungeon, and then save Eliana and Faeyna from the demon lord. The me from before might have fallen into despair. However, now, I would keep walking forward until I was dead.

With a breath, I continued forward and left the sanctity of the safe room for the final trial. As I had predicted, the final trial was no longer a coliseum. It was a boss room. Sitting at a seat at the end of the boss room was the little girl. She had a malicious grin on her face.

“I know who you are… and what you did,” I said.

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “And what did I do?”

“Killed your father… turned him into a sword.”

“Heh… I didn’t do anything to him that he didn’t do to me first.”

“He didn’t kill you.”

“No.” She made a face. “He let a dungeon do that for him. My father was an accomplished dungeon diver. He had lived an adventurous life, but retired from it before I was born. He used to regale me with stories of his adventures in the dungeon. How could a young girl not grow fascinated when she stumbled upon such a dungeon one day?”

“He should have cautioned you.”

“I was only ten! You know… it wasn’t the monsters that killed me. The dungeon… it took pity on me. It left me alone. But… I was lost. And scared. And alone. I starved to death in that dungeon. I cried for papa as I died, but he never came!”

“That… that might be so, but he didn’t know. He did look for you.”

“Hmph… look, maybe.” She shrugged. “But when he found me, the dungeon had left my soul alive. That wasn’t good enough for him. So… he conquered the dungeon, and replaced the dungeon master for himself! Then, he took my soul. No, he didn’t just take it. He harvested it. He was bad at controlling miasma. He could only make a little of my soul at a time, which he put into boss monsters. He’d then kill me, over and over again, collecting my soul one piece at a time! When he finally had recovered enough, he turned the entire dungeon into a sword, locking my soul inside!

“But that wasn’t enough for daddy. He became obsessed with power! He started to kill and slaughter, and reforge me, burning my soul over and over and over until I was strong enough! I didn’t kill my father! I stopped him! And then I did what he did to me. I turned him into a weapon, and I tortured him night and day. I made him feel all the pain that he gave to me!” She looked at the sword in my hands. “Eventually, he just went dead and rusted away. I hope you got familiar with that wretched sword. It’s now going to be your fate.”

A force ripped the sword out of my hands suddenly. It collapsed on the floor somewhere between the pair of us. A chain came out of the floor and grabbed my ankles. As I went to grab them, more chains grabbed my wrists. They immediately pulled taught, stretching me into an X. In a few seconds, I was chained up and unable to move.

“How does this pass the rules of your trial?” I demanded.

The little girl laughed. “This trial was never yours. It was hers.”

She waved her hand, and Alysia appeared once again.

“D-Deek?”

“Go forth! Kill this man! Kill the one who wronged you! Turn him into a sword and fulfill your destiny!”

Chapter 1063

“Who… are you?” Alysia asked, looking at me with questioning eyes.

“Why does that matter? He’s the man who tortured you! He’s the one who used you like a toy! He’s the one who chopped you up a hundred times! Kill him!” The little girl screamed.

“I am… who I have always been.” I sighed.

“You… you use dungeons.” She swallowed hard.

“The dungeons… they aren’t inherently evil. They’re just… misguided. Confused. They’re…” I glanced at the girl on the chair. “They’re like children lashing out. The reason you never became a True Dungeon Diver is that you never understood what it took. It wasn’t strength. It wasn’t power. It wasn’t the ability to destroy. It was the ability to forgive. To build. To grow. And… to accept.”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“The dungeons aren’t curses, they’re just blessings that don’t know it yet.” I chuckled. “They destroy because they don’t know any better, and if you’re lucky, you can turn them into a positive force in this world. That is what I believe. That is what I aim to do. You can’t fix a cursed world by continuing the path of hate and destruction. That will only make more curses. You have to build, and create peace.”

“Enough of your nonsense!” The guide snapped, waving her hand and causing a gag to immediately cover my mouth. “Abandoned soul! I’ve already told you everything you need to know! Now, kill this man who violated you and broke your soul! Kill him, and we will make him feel every pain he made you feel!”

“Pain?” Alysia looked over at her confused.

“Heh… maybe you didn’t realize it, but this man maliciously chopped down your body over and over. He was filled with hate and aggression! I will show you what he felt. See the thrill and pleasure he felt as he cut you down. Understand the hatred and annoyance he had as he tortured you.”

“Mmm!” My eyes widened and I shook my head, but it was too late.

White light flooded from the little girl’s hand and struck Alysia in the head. She blinked for a second as if she was processing what she saw, and then she turned to me, her eyes narrowing angrily. I gulped.

“Yes! Go, kill him!” the guide waved again, and Alysia’s hands turned into blades.

Alysia took a step toward me, and then another. She began to approach me, a growing fury in her eyes. I tried to pull from my chains. I tried to explain myself. All that came out were mumbles though. She reached me and raised her blade hand, and then swung it down.

Thump. Her hand changed into a fist, and she hit me in the chest. She lifted her other blade, and it turned into a fist, and then she hit me again.

“I-idiot!” She screamed.

She hit me again and again on the chest. Each time she hit me, her hits got weaker.

“Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” She started to wail, tears falling down her eyes as she continued to thump on my chest.

She collapsed against my chest, crying her eyes out as she pressed against me.

“Wh-what is this?” The little girl cried out in confusion.

I managed to finally spit the gag out of my mouth. “Ow…”

Alysia looked up at me. “Why did you do that? Why…”

“Haven’t… you suffered enough?” I responded, not sure what else to say. “I just… liked seeing you smile.”

Alysia’s teeth clenched, and she grabbed the back of my head. Then she pulled me into an aggressive kiss. Although I was tied up in chains and couldn’t move and I didn’t have much of a choice, I preferred this over the other options.