Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Tch... those useless fools, they can't even defeat some monsters" Davis cursed incessantly.

His plan had been foiled but that was alright, as long as Edar reached the bottom floor and destroyed the dungeon core, it would be his victory.

On that note... "What's taking him so long? Donlt tell me... he couldn't have"

Edgar was a Ranker as powerful as him or even more. The puppet of the demon was an anomaly that he didn't take into account in his plans; however, there shouldn't be more than one of them inside this dungeon.

So then why? It was at this moment, he recalled the words the demon said to him before they started fighting.

"It doesn't matter to me how many people you send below, there is no way they would ever be able to get closer to the dungeon core. You asked me if there was still anything that I can do? The answer is yes, I'm still yet to play my trump card".

What if the trump card the demon mentioned wasn't the peculiar puppet he was using but something else? Something that was on the bottom floor.

If Edgar was done in by that trump card, it was no wonder that the dungeon was still standing. It was no wonder that the demon was unfazed even when somebody dived down. It turned out that he still left some of his forces on the bottom floors as a precautionary measure.

"T-This can't be..."

Davis was finally faced with reality, he realised that his plans had completely failed. Not only did he not get the thing he came here for, but all his efforts also went into vain. Worse, he even lost a powerful ranker.

The demon was multiple steps ahead of him this whole time, he had been completely outwitted.

Even for an organisation like the Adventurer's Association, a loss of a Ranker was a significant blow. How was he supposed to report this to his higher ups? Forget about suffering severe punishment, he might even lose his position.

And all of this was because of a single low ranking demon. Davis had truly fallen into the pits of despair at this moment.

"Hey human, tell me how does it feel? To have your hopes crushed right in front of you, the things that you have worked for disappear. Are you having regrets? Do you feel despair?" Simon revealed a wicked smile displaying his sharp fangs.

These were the same words Davis used to look down on him. Not that their roles have reversed, it was Simon's turn to enjoy the show.

This feeling of achievement and ecstasy of cornering your prey and looking down at them at the end, was the very best. No wonder the demons were so true to their desires, this feeling gave him a weird sense of fulfilment and strength.

It was as if he was getting empowered by those negative feelings released by his opponents every second. To think he was inhibiting such feelings by suppressing his demonic side, it was quite foolish of him.

This intoxicating feeling... MORE, he wanted to bask in that feeling more. He wanted to step on his enemy some more and break them completely. Feed on their despair and pain.

[[ğ’"£ğ’"±ğ’"ªğ’"½'ğ’"¼ ğ’"»ğ’"²ğ’"°ğ’"±ğ’"½, ğ’"®ğ’"¶ğ’"«ğ’"»ğ’"ªğ’"¬ğ’"® ğ’"¶ğ’"®. ğ’"£ğ’"±ğ’"²ğ’"¼ ğ’"²ğ’"¼ ğ’"€ğ’"±ğ’"¸ ğ’"‚ğ’"¸ğ’"¾ ğ’"ªğ’"»ğ’"®, ğ’"½ğ’"±ğ’"® ğ’"½ğ’"»ğ’"¾ğ’"® ğ’"‚ğ’"¸ğ’"¾]].

At that moment he felt like a voice whisper to him and the time around him come to a crawl. He could see everything move at a very slow pace.

While this mysterious change was occurring to Simon, Davis on the other hand was going through a crisis. The words that the demon said to him were the very same he used to condemn the demon. Every word, every line felt like a tight slap on his face.

"Dammit... Dammit... it's all your fault demon. It's all because of you... I'll kill you, I'll make sure that your dungeon is destroyed"

Davis suddenly howled like a wounded beast and took out something from his space ring. It was a round amethyst disk with many runes inscribed around its edges.

Davis grabbed the disk and poured all of his mana into it. Immediately, the disk floated up and started rotating. The space around the disk violently fluctuated before a small whirlpool formed in the air.

That Whirlpool violently sucked and pulled Davis towards it.

"What?! The floors were tampered to disrupt spatial laws using space magic. It should be impossible for teleportation and other gate magic to appear here" Alice muttered in shock.

"The floors were redesigned to only stop low tier space magic and artefacts. That item he used definitely had some intermediate or advanced magic cast on it. Quickly stop him before he gets away" Annette ordered.

The Valkyries and the other subordinates quickly sprang into action but none of them could approach closer because of the violent spatial storm released by the whirlpool.

"Don't think that you have won demon!! I'll make sure to repay today's debt in the future. Enjoy your short victory while you can, because there will be no more for you in the future. Now that you have made enemies with the entire Adventurer's Association, you will regret this".

"Mark my words, I'll destroy your dungeon. I'll expose those forest spring spirits you are hiding to everyone in this world".

Davis left those ominous and hate filled words while getting sucked into the whirlpool.

"Bastard" the Valkyries cursed, they wanted to capture the person; however, the spatial storm was too much.

[[ğ’•·ğ’–"ğ’–"k ğ’–’ğ’–Š ğ’–’ğ’–˜ 𒖌𒖊𒖙𒖙𒖒ğ’–"ğ’–Œ 𒖆𒖜𒖆𒖒? 𒕬𒖗𒖊 ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–š 𒖘𒖚𒖗𒖊 ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–š 𒖜𒖆ğ’–"ğ’–™ ğ’–™ğ’–" ğ’–'ğ’–Šğ’–™ ğ’–’ğ’–’ğ’–' 𒖊𒖘𒖈𒖆𒖕𒖊? ğ’–‚ğ’–’ğ’–" ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–"𒖜𒖘 𒖜𒖒𒖆𒖙 ğ’–’ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–‰ ğ’–"ğ’–‹ 𒖉𒖒𒖘𒖆𒖘𒖙𒖊𒖗 ğ’–’ğ’–Š 𒖜𒖒ğ’–'ğ’–' 𒖇𒖗𒖒ğ’–"ğ’–Œ 𒖙𒖒𒖊 ğ’–"ğ’–Šğ’–’ğ’–™ 𒖙𒖒ğ’–'ğ’–Š ğ’–’ğ’–Š ğ’–ˆğ’–"ğ’–'ğ’–Šğ’–˜? ğ’–‚ğ’–’ğ’–'ğ’–' ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–š 𒖇𒖊 𒖆𒖇ğ’–'ğ’–Š ğ’–™ğ’–" ğ’–’ğ’–†ğ’–"ğ’–‰ğ’–'ğ’–Š ğ’–’ğ’–™? 𒕺𒖗 𒖒𒖚𒖘𒖙 ğ’–'ğ’–’ğ’–’ğ’–Š 𒖙𒖒𒖆𒖙 𒖙𒖒ğ’–'ğ’–Š ğ’–’ğ’–"ğ’–š 𒖜𒖒ğ’–'ğ’–' ğ’–"ğ’–"ğ’–'ğ’–’ 𒖘𒖙𒖆ğ’–"ğ’–‰ 𒖙𒖒𒖊𒖗𒖊 ğ’–†ğ’–"ğ’–‰ 𒖜𒖆𒖙𒖈𒖒?]].

"Shut Up!!!"

Simon didn't let the voice within him say any further. He suddenly rushed towards the whirlpool while using the finger of Ozymandias as a shield.

For the first time since that Historia, he saw the finger taking damage. The violent spatial storm was powerful enough to even damage the extremely sturdy skin of the finger and dissipate the curse energy around it.

The more closer to the whirlpool he got, the more violent the spatial storm became. Until it reached a point where even the [Dominator's Control] technique couldn't keep up. The finger of Ozymandias was blown away by the spatial storm.

With his shield gone, it was only normal for Simon to also retreat yet instead of backing away, he stormed on and continued forward.

The spatial storm powerful enough to even keep the Valkyries away and damage the finger of Ozymandias was endured through by Simon. His body bled, his skin and muscles were torn, bones crushed but like a madman, Simon continued towards Davis without caring about his body or what happened to him.

"You fool are you that tired of living?"

Davis screamed in panic, his face pale white. Now that he had used all of his mana into that disk, he was extremely vulnerable. Not to mention the miasma that entered his body was continuously eroding him from within.

Even Valdris had problems neutralising the curse energy much less Davis who was all but spent. At such a time when his defences were at its lowest, an attack from the demon would be life threatening.

But he wasn't the only one who was in a panic, the Valkyries who saw their master rush headfirst towards the whirlpool were also shaken to the point where all blood drained from their pretty face.

They hurriedly call out to him but Simon did not stop, it was as if he was under some kind of spell, he could only see his goal in front of him. Even the extreme damage his body suffered, did not register to him.

Simon tightly clenched his [A] tier sword which was refined to its max refinement and plunged it towards the chest of his horrified opponent. That was not all, he even emptied his mana pool into his sword and brought out its true might.

BUZZZ... the blade of the sword glowed with the intensity of the sun, scorching and melting the insides of his opponent.

"AAARRRGGHH!!!" Davis screamed miserably, his face terror-stricken. His body swelled with the heat and burst apart at the end with his remains getting swallowed by the whirlpool.

Even until the end, Davis wore a face that was unresigned to his fate. Perhaps he would have escaped with his life had he kept his mouth shut. However, he had to incite Simon and that was his downfall.

After hearing that death threat, Simon would be an idiot to let him live.

"There is no way, I'm going to stand by the side and watch this time..." Simon muttered under his breath before losing consciousness.

BANG... the spatial storm destroyed his body and slowly sucked him towards the whirlpool.

"Master!!" the Valkyries screamed jumping towards the whirlpool without caring about their lives.

Just when it seemed like Simon would be swallowed inside that whirlpool, a resounding clear cry of the phoenix echoed across the floors and an enormous azure shadow tore through the floors and appeared in front of the whirlpool.

The illusory azure figure then spread its magnificent divine wings covering the entire floor and freezing everything except the living that was on their side. It brought a violent snowstorm and even the spatial laws itself showed signs of freezing, covering the whirlpool in a layer of frost.

CRACK... a crisp noise sounded out and the whirlpool shattered like a glass. Simon who was about to be swallowed by it, was also caught by that figure dressed in azure blue clothes.

"Seriously, you never change. How can you be so reckless?" that figure spoke in a soft voice that carried complex emotions and melancholy.

The figure was none other than Irene who was currently tightly hugging the blood covered and unconscious body of Simon as she slowly descended down.