Alex tiredly gazed at the shattered ceiling of the dungeon, a remnant of his battle with Erebus. Finishing his cigarette, he was about to head home when he suddenly sensed something nearby. His first thought was that the enemy lurking in the shadows had finally decided to strike.
But soon, Alex realized it wasn't darkness—it was pure mana, palpable in the air. Shifting his gaze to the source of this strange sensation, he noticed a large orb of mana floating in the spot where Erebus had just been.
"Where did that come from?" ran through his mind as he stared intently at the orb. Alex couldn't fathom how it had appeared.
"When Erebus disintegrated, there was nothing left. So where did this orb come from?" he pondered aloud.
Approaching the orb, Alex cautiously took it in his hands and began to study it closely. After a thorough inspection, he concluded that it was the dungeon's heart. "If I understand this correctly, this must be the dungeon's heart. But didn't it merge with Erebus and the other part?" he thought, looking at the orb now in his hands.
"So many questions and so few answers," Alex muttered, deciding not to dwell on why the heart had reverted to its original form. His main concern now was where to place the heart and how to restore the dungeon. After the battle with Erebus, everything below the 18th floor had been completely destroyed.
"What am I supposed to do with you now? Where should I put you so you can start doing your job?" Alex grumbled, shaking the dungeon's heart as if it were a magical fortune-telling ball.
He shook it several times, hoping for an answer, but was met with nothing but silence, which made him sigh tiredly and rub his forehead.
"Not that I really wanted an answer from you anyway," he muttered, glancing around. The first thing that came to mind was to restore at least part of the dungeon floor so he could get a better look around.
After doing so, Alex began searching for any clues that could help him figure out how to use the dungeon's heart.
"And still, what to do with you? If I take you with me, how will adventurers earn money?" he muttered, tossing the heart in his hands as he tried to think of a way to restore the dungeon to its former state.
Suddenly, the hand tossing the mana orb froze—Alex realized he had forgotten one important detail.
"I need to purify you again, just in case there are any remnants of that filth that merged with Erebus," Alex said, using purification magic at full strength. The light from the spell was so bright that it illuminated a large area around him. After finishing the purification, Alex inspected the heart again for any defects or damage.
"Hmm, seems like everything is in order now. But where to put you?" he muttered, trying to find a suitable place for the heart. Alex began sending out mana pulses to locate the right spot, slowly walking around the hall, hoping he hadn't missed anything.
As he sent out another pulse, he suddenly stopped, his eyes widening in surprise—he sensed signs of life. This shocked him, as no one should have survived such a battle. Alex headed towards the source of the strange sensation.
Reaching a wall that seemed unremarkable, he squinted and began examining it closely.
"And what's wrong with this wall?" Alex muttered, carefully inspecting it, feeling that a living organism was hiding behind it.
Wasting no time, he punched a hole in the wall and found himself in a spacious room filled with various items—from gold to jewelry. Alex looked around in surprise, unable to understand how this room had survived the battle and all the attacks from the Dragon, who had furiously fired lasers from its eyes.
Ignoring the treasure around him, Alex moved towards the source of the life signs he had sensed. As he got closer, he narrowed his eyes and began to clear away everything obstructing his view of the anomaly.
"Who or what was hiding here while I was fighting the dragon?" he muttered to himself, pushing aside heaps of gold and various items. Finally, after removing all the obstacles, Alex found a massive crystal with a woman sealed inside, who strangely resembled someone he knew.
"She looks a lot like Ais, but older," he muttered, carefully examining the woman inside the crystal. Her golden hair and light armor made her almost identical to Ais, though with more mature features.
Without further delay, Alex shattered the crystal encasing the woman. He caught her before she could fall and hurt herself. Alex noticed that the woman in his arms was still breathing but remained unconscious.
He gently laid her down on the ground and began checking her for injuries. After a quick examination, Alex realized that her body was slightly weakened, probably because the One-Eyed Dragon had been feeding off her strength before it was forced to merge with Erebus. Alex healed all her injuries and waited for her to wake up.
"Are you planning on waking up anytime soon?" Alex said, crouching next to the woman. He lightly poked her cheek with his finger, waiting for a reaction.
The woman's eyelids fluttered slightly as if she was about to wake from a long sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes and met a pair of rainbow-colored eyes staring at her with curiosity, or at least that's what she thought.
"Who are you? And where am I?" she asked, trying to make sense of her surroundings.
"Don't you remember where you are?" Alex asked, observing her confusion.
"I remember fighting the dragon..." the woman murmured, and suddenly her eyes widened as if she had just recalled something. "The dragon! We need to leave before it comes back!" She abruptly stood up and grabbed Alex's hand, intending to lead him out of the area.
"Don't worry about the dragon. It's already been dealt with," Alex said calmly, trying to reassure her.
"Thank goodness..." the woman whispered, but then she froze, as if she remembered something crucial. "Where's my daughter? What happened to her?" Her eyes filled with desperation, and tears began to well up, as if she had lost something very dear to her heart.
"No need to cry. Maybe I can help. What's your daughter's name? I might know her," Alex said, trying to comfort her and verify his suspicion.
"My daughter's name is Ais; I have to find her," the woman said, anxiously looking around.
"If your daughter looks just like you, then she's fine," Alex replied.
The woman froze, and a moment later, she was standing in front of Alex with such speed that it even surprised him.
"You know my daughter? She's okay? Where is she now?" Questions poured out of her one after another, so quickly that Alex barely had time to keep up with their meaning.
He looked at her with a blank expression, trying to process her words. Unconsciously, he compared the woman before him to Ais. Unlike Ais, who always kept her emotions in check, this woman wasn't shy about expressing them.
Growing tired of the endless stream of questions, Alex simply covered her mouth with his hand and sighed, unable to comprehend how Ais could have such a talkative mother.
"Alright, that's enough. I'll answer all your questions one at a time," Alex said, keeping her mouth covered to finally silence her. "First of all, your daughter is safe and currently aboveground. She's joined the Loki Familia. Now, I'm going to remove my hand, and if you have any more questions, please ask them one at a time."
The woman nodded, accepting his words.
"Then let me ask, who are you? And what happened to the dragon?" she asked, examining Alex from head to toe.
"My name is Alex. I'm sort of a friend of your daughter. As for the dragon, it's dead," Alex replied. The woman's eyes sparkled, not because of the dragon's death, but rather at the mention of her daughter's friend.
"So, my little Ais has a friend; that's so exciting!" she exclaimed, placing her hands on her cheeks.
"Maybe you could tell me your name? It's a bit awkward talking without knowing how to address you," Alex said, trying to distract her from her daydreams.
"Oh, right. My name is Aria. And you probably already know my last name," she replied, waiting for Alex's reaction.
"Nice to meet you," he nodded in response.
"Since we've been introduced, could you tell me what happened to my daughter while I was in the dragon's clutches?" Aria asked, and Alex pondered how to answer, as he didn't know much himself.
"About a thousand years have passed since your disappearance. I don't know everything," Alex admitted. Aria froze, unable to believe her ears.
"A thousand years?" she asked nervously, looking at him.
"Yes, a thousand years," Alex calmly repeated.
"What has happened to my daughter all this time..." Aria mumbled, trying to process what she had heard.
"She's fine, and she's not as old as you might think. She, like you, was sealed in a crystal until Loki removed the seal," Alex explained, and Aria felt relief.
"I'm so glad my little girl is alright," Aria said with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
Alex decided to comfort Aria by telling her about how Ais had lived all this time, how she had met new friends and family, and how she had strived to become stronger to save her mother.
"My little angel, how you must have suffered..." Aria said, hearing about Ais's life, and mentally thanked Loki's family for helping her daughter.
"Not that she suffered; she just had to fend off Loki, who tried to look up her skirt," Alex mumbled without thinking, immediately realizing he had said too much.
"You mean to say that the goddess was harassing my daughter?" Aria asked with narrowed eyes, and a strong wind began to rise around her.
"Not that she succeeded. She was always stopped. And then I took over that job," Alex tried to calm the angry mother.
"Hmm, I'll have a word with that goddess for harassing my daughter," Aria said with a frown.
"Don't bother; she already stopped after I gave her a couple of lectures on proper behavior," Alex replied, recalling Loki, who had looked like a ghost after those lectures.
"Are you lying?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If you want, ask your daughter yourself when you meet her," Alex shrugged.
Aria scrutinized Alex, trying to discern if he was lying, but seeing no change in his expression, she smiled.
"Hmm, I can see from your eyes that you're telling the truth," Aria said with a smile.
Alex looked at Aria and couldn't understand how her mind worked. She was like a mirror image of Ais, but with a completely different personality. He sighed wearily, realizing that he might have yet another hyperactive personality in his life, capable of making quite a commotion.
Alex decided to smoke a cigarette to calm down and sort his thoughts, as the day had only just begun and so much had already happened: the battle with the dragon that had evolved like a Pokémon, and now it turned out that Ais's mother was alive. All these events were weighing heavily on him.
"Mmm, what are you doing? What's that thing you have in your hands?" Aria asked, looking at Alex, who was silently smoking and whose eyes seemed a bit tired.
"This is called a cigarette; it helps me relax," Alex replied, exhaling smoke through his nose.
"Can I try?" Aria asked, moving closer and trying to take the cigarette from his hand.
"No," Alex said, holding the cigarette above his head so Aria couldn't reach it.
"But why?" Aria asked, puzzled, jumping to grab the cigarette.
Alex's eye twitched at Aria's childish antics.
"Are you sure Ais is your daughter?" Alex asked with irony, watching the woman jump, trying to reach the cigarette.
"Of course! I carried her in my womb for a whole nine months," Aria replied proudly, placing her hands on her hips. "Why do you ask?"
"You're so different. You seem like an adult, but you're behaving like a child who's seen something new, while Ais is your complete opposite: calm and balanced, not counting her difficulty in expressing her thoughts," Alex said, comparing the personalities of mother and daughter.
"Ais has always been like that, but she's still my sweet little girl," Aria said with a bright smile.
"Well, as you say," Alex shrugged.
"Alright, it's time to leave. I still need to finish things here and return to the surface," Alex said, heading towards the exit.
"I agree; I can't wait to see my little Ais," Aria nodded, following Alex.
Alex and Aria left the hidden room and found themselves back in the main hall, where the battle had recently taken place. Alex immediately began studying the dungeon's core, hoping to understand how to use it to restore the damaged dungeon. Aria, coming out behind him, looked around and her eyes widened in surprise.
The walls and ceiling were completely destroyed, and the room where the dragon had once lived was almost entirely wrecked, made even bigger by the collapsed walls. When Aria looked up, her mouth fell open in astonishment: the ceiling separating the floors was simply gone, replaced by a huge hole through which other levels could be seen.
"What happened here to cause such destruction?" Aria murmured, staring at the hole in the ceiling.
"Did he do all this while fighting the dragon?" she wondered, looking at Alex, who was fiddling with a mysterious mana orb.
"But how can a person possess such power? Perhaps this is what my husband meant when he said a hero would one day appear who would meet our daughter," Aria said softly, reminiscing about her late husband.
These words brought a flood of memories of her past life. If her husband hadn't faced the dragon back then, perhaps they would have had a peaceful and happy family life. But "if" doesn't exist. Her husband acted like a true hero, facing the inevitable disaster in the form of the dragon. Though he perished, he managed to wound the dragon, like the heroes in the fairy tales she had read to her daughter.
"How I wish you were here, Albert," Aria whispered, tears in her eyes.
"How I wish none of this had happened and we could watch our daughter grow up together," she said, wiping away her tears.
"Don't worry, Albert. You can rest in peace. I will make up for everything we owe our daughter," Aria said, her eyes blazing with a determined fire, as if she had made an important decision.
Alex heard Aria's murmurs and, turning to her, was slightly surprised by her behavior. At first, she was shocked, then saddened by something, and then her eyes lit up with a fire, as if she had found the will to continue the fight.
Alex realized that she had probably remembered her husband, who died in the battle with the dragon, but then also thought about her daughter, deciding not to give up and to continue living.
"Well, mothers are all like that, ready to go through fire and water for their children," Alex said quietly, nodding to himself as if he understood what Aria was thinking.
"Alright, let's get back to this thing and figure out how to use it," he said, refocusing on the dungeon's core.
Alex continued examining the dungeon's core, trying to understand how to use it. In the process, he realized that the current amount of mana in the core was clearly insufficient to power the entire dungeon.
He decided to first fill the core with mana and then figure out how to apply it.
"Well then, let's see how much you can handle," Alex said, channeling a massive amount of mana into the core.
Aria, lost in her memories of her family, felt the change in the atmosphere and turned to Alex, who was causing these changes. She saw a huge amount of mana streaming from all directions into the object Alex was holding.
The flow of mana towards the core was many times more powerful than what she had felt from the dragon. In comparison, the dragon seemed like a weak flame, while the dungeon's core in Alex's hands resembled a vast firestorm burning as brightly as the sun.
"What is he planning?" Aria wondered, watching Alex's actions.
"How is he able to control such an amount of mana without getting harmed in the process?" she marveled, observing how a mana hurricane formed around Alex, which was being absorbed by the dungeon's core.
As Aria tried to understand what Alex was doing, he finished filling the dungeon's core with mana and wiped the sweat from his brow with a satisfied smile.
The core shone even brighter from the immense amount of mana it had absorbed.
"Heh, if Erebus had merged with such a core, his evolution would have gone faster and easier," Alex said with a smile, admiring the results of his work.
While Alex was admiring his handiwork, forgetting about his companion, a voice behind him reminded him that he wasn't alone.
"What were you doing? And what is this thing?" Aria asked, approaching Alex and looking at the dungeon's core in his hands.
"This is the dungeon's core. I was filling it with mana so that it would function properly," Alex replied, turning to Aria, whose eyes were filled with curiosity.
"Isn't the dungeon's core supposed to be inside the dungeon itself?" Aria asked, tilting her head to the side.
"And where are we right now?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We're in the dungeon…" Aria fell silent, realizing what she had just said, and puffed out her cheeks like a hamster, staring at Alex.
"That's not what I meant," she mumbled with puffed cheeks.
"I know, that's why I made a joke," Alex replied with a smile.
"But still, why is the dungeon's core in your hands?" Aria inquired, still keeping her pout.
"An idiot tried to merge with it and ended up dying by my hand," Alex shrugged, as if it were a minor detail.
"Someone tried to merge with the dungeon's core? How is that even possible?" Aria asked with surprise, unable to believe that such a madman existed.
"He was helped in that," Alex said, shifting his gaze to the dungeon's core.
Aria was astonished by how Alex spoke of it as if it were something ordinary, as if the one who tried to merge with the dungeon's core was just another monster from the first floor, easily defeated and then forgotten.
She tried to understand who this strange person was before her, who calmly talked about defeating a dragon and a person who tried to merge with the dungeon's core as if it were an everyday occurrence.
" Who committed such a crazy act? " she asked, standing right in front of Alex.
" God Erebus. He wanted to become the enemy of the world and give mortals a chance to develop, "Alex replied, looking up at Aria.
" You mean to say that a god tried to merge with that thing in your hands to become a villain, like in fairy tales? " Aria pointed at the dungeon's core.
" Not just with the core, but also with the dragon. Yes, he wanted to become a villain like in children's fairy tales, " Alex confirmed. Aria put her hand on her forehead, realizing that this was too much information for her.
" How did you defeat him? " Aria asked cautiously, understanding how powerful Erebus must have been.
" Do you want the short version or the long one? " Alex asked with a smirk.
" What's the difference? " Aria asked with some confusion.
" In the number of details I'll mention, " Alex explained, looking at Aria, who thoughtfully placed a finger on her chin.
" For now, let's go with the short version, and then you can tell me more when we get back to the surface, " Aria decided, smiling.
" Alright. At first, he was like a slimy dragon, which I cut through. Then he took on a more physical form, which I dropped from the 19th floor to the bottom of the dungeon. In the final stage, he took a humanoid form, which I simply destroyed, " Alex summarized briefly. Aria's eyebrows twitched, realizing that he had skipped many details, and this version was not so much short as ultra-short.
" You call that the short version? I shudder to think what your long version is like, " Aria said, looking at Alex with disbelief, as if he were some unknown creature.
" It is what it is, " Alex shrugged.
Aria didn't know what to make of this carefree guy before her. His words and actions indicated that this was something routine for him.
" What are you planning to do with this thing? " Aria asked, pointing to the dungeon's core in Alex's hands.
" I want to figure out how to put it back into the dungeon so that it merges with it again, " Alex replied. Aria also focused on the core.
" Isn't it supposed to be in a specific place? " Aria asked, looking at Alex, who had begun rummaging through his pockets.
" Hold this for now, " Alex said, handing the core to Aria and continuing to search his pockets.
" What are you looking for? " Aria asked, taking the core into her hands.
" This, " Alex said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
" It seems I've been smoking too much lately, " Alex mumbled, lighting a cigarette.
As Alex smoked, he focused on the dungeon's core, recalling all the manga and books he had read that mentioned dungeons, and tried to remember how they worked in those worlds.
A memory surfaced of a dungeon where the core was part of the dungeon itself and required certain conditions to be extracted. This situation was similar to the current one.
When Alex realized that this was a possible scenario, his eyes lit up with understanding, and he began to examine his surroundings carefully.
" Did you figure something out? " Aria asked, watching him closely.
" Yeah, I've come up with a theory, and I'm going to test it, " Alex said, directing mana into the floor.
Alex intensified the mana impulse, which, like blood, began to flow through the dungeon floor, gathering in one place.
Confirming that his assumption was correct, Alex hurried to the necessary point. Aria, noticing his movement, immediately followed him, holding the core in her hands.
" Where are you going? " Aria asked, catching up with Alex.
" If my theory is correct, the core shouldn't be outside but inside the dungeon, " Alex said, approaching the spot where he felt an accumulation of energy.
" What do you mean? " Aria asked, tilting her head, not understanding his words.
" Imagine the dungeon as a living organism, and the core in your hands as its actual organ. Where should it be? " Alex asked and waited for Aria's response.
When Alex posed his question, Aria thought for a moment before finally understanding what he was driving at.
" You mean it should be inside, not just inside, but inside-inside? " she clarified, gesturing energetically as if trying to show what she meant.
" And you were right. Here's a candy for the correct answer, " Alex smiled, reaching into his pocket, but his hand froze when he remembered that he had accidentally thrown away the last candy while checking the black mist coming from the dragon's breath.
" It looks like you won't be getting a prize because I accidentally threw away the last candy, " he admitted, looking at Aria sheepishly.
" It's okay, we all make mistakes, " Aria responded tenderly, like an older sister, and began patting him on the head, which only embarrassed him further. She even had to stand on her tiptoes to reach his head.
Alex looked at her actions with a blank stare, not understanding why she was doing this.
" Why are you doing this? " he asked, looking into her golden eyes.
" When Ais was upset as a child, I always comforted her this way, " Aria explained, continuing to pat him on the head.
" You do realize I'm an adult, right? " Alex asked with a wry smile.
" It's okay, everyone needs comfort, " Aria replied with a bright smile.
Alex just sighed tiredly and let her do as she pleased. Aria finally stopped patting him and looked at him with a smile, waiting for further action.
" Now that you've figured out where the dungeon heart should be, how do you plan to put it back? " she asked.
" I'll just shove it back in, " Alex said calmly, taking the dungeon heart from her hands.
" What do you mean by "shove it back"? " Aria asked, surprised, not understanding what he was going to do.
" I mean it literally. Watch how it's done, " Alex replied and knelt down at the spot he needed.
He held the dungeon heart, which began to glow. Slowly bringing it to the right spot, he started to gently press it, and the heart began to sink into the ground, merging with it.
As soon as Alex finished the process, the dungeon started to tremble, like an old mechanism that had been restarted and was ready to work. Aria watched in astonishment — this day had turned out to be full of unexpected events.
Alex closely monitored the flow of mana that surged upward, filling the walls of the dungeon. If you looked closely, you could see the ceiling slowly, but surely, beginning to restore itself.
" Well, now my work is done, " Alex said, dusting off his hands as if after a hard day's work.
Aria was still looking at the ceiling, not responding, completely absorbed in her thoughts.
" Hey, are you here? " Alex snapped his fingers in front of her face.
" Yes, I'm here, just surprised by everything that happened, " Aria replied, turning to him.
" It can definitely be called an extraordinary event, " Alex agreed, watching as the dungeon gradually recovered.
" Now we can go back. Are you ready to meet your daughter? " he asked, noticing the spark of anticipation in Aria's eyes.
" Of course, I haven't seen her for a thousand years, " Aria joked, causing a smile to appear on Alex's face.
" Then hold on tight, " Alex said, extending his hand to Aria. She raised an eyebrow in surprise but took his hand.
" What's this for? " she asked.
" So you don't fall after the teleportation, " Alex explained, and Aria's eyes widened.
" Wait, what... " she began, but her words were interrupted by a bright light that engulfed them along with Alex.
As Alex and Aria left the last floor of the dungeon, the once noisy place regained its silence and calm. The only sounds were the slowly recovering walls and ceiling.
To be continued...