Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

I told Paul that the Hero had lost his power and transferred the world’s power to Ellos. If I announced it publicly, it would only have served lowered their morale. It was best to not tell anyone, but I felt like I needed to tell Paul.

“So it really was like that...”

After listening to what happened, Paul wore an uncharacteristic solemn expression. I held him by his collar and shook him.

“It really was like that? Did you know something!?”

“No, no! Just that... Ever since Ellos lost Baruella, he’s done many things without telling me. He lost his usual laughter, and he got stronger even though he didn’t enter the dungeon... I also couldn’t talk to him like I could before. That was it!”

Indeed, it was hard to suspect someone just because of that, especially if that person was someone he was close to. I accepted Paul’s explanation and let him go. After letting out a dry cough, I continued.

“In any case, I have your world’s power right now.”

“Ah...”

Paul made a nervous expression. If I were in his position, I would have immediately thrown me in the prison until I spat out the world’s power. That was how important the world’s power was. The only reason Paul wasn’t doing anything was that no one was strong enough to restrain me.

Eventually, he opened his mouth carefully.

“Hey, Kang Shin.”

“We need to pick a new Hero from your continent. I’ll transfer the power to him.”

“Ah.”

He looked openly relieved. Then, he suddenly paled. I didn’t know who put him in the position of a crown prince, but that person must have wished for the empire’s doom.

“A new Hero? But who?”

“Ah, I already decided, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“You’ve already decided? But Ellos and I are the only ones you know from this continent!”

“Yeah, I also don’t want to make someone I don’t know into the Hero. That’s why I picked someone I knew.”

“... Eh?”

Paul tilted his head. He blinked his eyes a few times, then widened his eyes and shouted.

“M-Me!?”

“Yep!”

“You want me to become the Hero? Hell no!”

“Don’t worry. You might not know this, but you don’t have the right to refuse.”

I grinned at Paul who was frantically shaking his head.

“It takes a long time to transfer a Hero’s power. That means I’ll need to take that person to Earth, and I absolutely refuse to bring someone I don’t know to Earth.”

“I refuse! I don’t want to, I can’t.”

“Then you want me to go back to Earth with this power?”

“There’s this excellent knight! I’ll recommend her in my place!”

“Just get packing.”

“But she’s an absolutely beautiful female knight!”

“I don’t care. Go pack.”

Paul seemed to be going insane. He muttered more nonsense before he dropped his head and spoke.

“I can’t. I’m too weak.”

“I agree, you’re weak, but humans aren’t strong from the start.”

I grabbed his shoulders and spoke seriously.

“There’s something I’ve prepared for you.”

“You? For me?”

“Yeah.”

I announced with a solemn expression.

“I call it the thrashing phase.”

With that, I dragged Paul back to Earth. The Edias continent’s people protested, so I cleaned up the invaders for a day with Lotte and Licorice while I waited for Paul to get ready.

Even though the density had decreased, Edias continent’s atmospheric mana was still on my side. Using it, I annihilated many invaders.

“With this, you won’t have to worry about anything for a while. Their leader is also dead, and I should have killed at least a tenth of their overall number.”

“Are you saying you annihilated 10% of them in a single day?”

“No, of course not. The 10% is including the ones I killed on the way to Peruta Mountain Range.”

Paul opened his mouth with a dumbfounded expression.

“You’re not human.”

“I’ve been thinking that recently, too.”

In any case, after I returned to Earth with Paul, I visited Eleine to report what happened. I didn’t go to Fairy Garden and went directly to the Lost Valley guild area. Eleine had told me how to get there last time we talked.

When she found out that the Hero was already dead when I got there, she couldn’t hide her shock.

“They’re even more skilled with magical tools than me? I thought for sure that he was still alive...”

“They had a way of tricking the dungeon’s system, so that much should have been nothing.”

“Haa, Tian...”

Eleine dropped her head and quietly murmured what seemed to be the Hero’s name. Was that enough? She soon raised her head and continued.

“In any case, you completed the mission perfectly. I’ll make sure to give you the MVP reward.”

“But I couldn’t save him.”

“But you tried. You did everything you could for Edias continent. I’m sure Tian would be thankful to you, too.”

When I became lost for words and just stood there silently, Eleine chuckled and put her hand on my head.

“You’re a good Hero. It reminds me of the time when I was a Hero.”

“... Thank you for the compliment.”

“But you’re not good enough as a man. I want to see Lin right now.”

“Sorry, but I don’t find that regretful.”

She frowned at my response and took out a small bead from her pocket. It had strange runes scribbled on it and was radiating a mystical glow.

“What’s this?”

“Mm, that’s a bit hard to answer. Right, I’ll tell you how it was created. When I transferred the world’s power to my continent’s successor Hero, I used the tiny bit of world’s power remaining in my body to make it. It’s a magical tool.”

“Won’t you get in trouble if someone found out?”

“No one did, so it’s okay. So what this does is...”

She confessed her crime nonchalantly and continued.

“It forcefully raises the power of an object to its next level. I don’t know how to explain it. Not even Lord could name this item.”

“It’s an enhancement stone.”

“Enhancement stone?”

“No, nevermind.”

I took the bead from her and appraised it. As expected, it was full of question marks just like when I first appraised Radiance. I was surprised that Eleine was such an amazing magic artificer. Even if it was made using the world’s power, making an item that surpassed Sherafina’s ability... I saw her in a different light now.

“Huhu, you’re grateful, right?”

“Yeah, thanks. It looks like it was worth risking my life.”

I wasn’t being sarcastic. It was a reward that surpassed my imagination. As I received the enhancement stone, all kinds of thoughts ran through my head. Could I use this on myself? If I couldn’t, where do I use it? Chaotic Spear? Pure Black Desire? How was I supposed to activate it?

When I realized I couldn’t use it on my body, it was decided. I had to use it on Pure Black Desire. Chaotic Spear could still evolve on its own, but this was the only way for Pure Black Desire to evolve.

“Then that’s it for the reward. Bye-bye. I want to hurry up and meet Lin.”

“Ah, let me go, too. I have to ask Lin something.”

At that moment. Eleine’s scowled like a frog that ate a stinkbug.

“Oh? Eleine was hiding something like that?”

Lin grinned and stared at Eleine.

“I didn’t think you’d do something like that.”

“I didn’t keep a portion on purpose. I wasn’t good at controlling the power at the time.”

“Well, it turned out to be a good thing for this kid. So, you said you wanted to enhance Pure Black Desire with that thing?”

“Yes.”

I gave him both the enhancement stone and Pure Black Desire. He took the enhancement stone and examined it for a bit. Then, he shook his head.

“I don’t think this is something you can just use.”

“Do I need to do something special to get it to work?”

“Something like that.”

I stared at Lin blankly. Then, I glared at Eleine. She shook her hands immediately.

“W-What? No! I didn’t put in any strange conditions!”

“What Eleine made is certainly a magical tool that enhances, no, evolves, objects. But it can’t be used on anything. It looks like it has several complicated conditions. I can only see through a couple of them. First, the object you’re using it on has to have an appropriate league. Your Pure Black Desire barely passes it.”

“What’s the second?”

“The second one is a bit iffy. It’s kind of like your Chaotic Spear, but a little different. Pure Black Desire needs to go through many battles and build a record of blocking all sorts of attacks. As they say, objects have memories too. This magical tool raises the league of an object by using the object’s battle experience with its owner.

“It sounds complicated, but in the end, it’s all about EXP.”

“Mm?”

“Just something from Earth.”

I received Pure Black Desire and the magical tool.

“I made a slight modification to Pure Black Desire. When it’s time, it’ll glow. You just have to smash Pure Black Desire with the magical tool. Smash it hard, like you want to break it.”

“Oh, as expected of Lin.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty amazing. Anyways, good job on your Dimensional Mercenary mission. Hurry up and bring that gun-user to me. Ah, it was good seeing you too, Eleine.”

He chased me away naturally and did the same to Eleine. Eleine frowned and shouted.

“Argh, I came to see Lin! I need Lin to console me!”

“Loka is still pregnant. Even I wouldn’t do it with another woman at this time.”

“But I’ll die if Lin’s not here!”

“...”

For a moment, Lin made an extremely tired face and puffed out smoke.

“Then you can stay for tea. I’m saying this beforehand, don’t expect me to put a hand on you.”

“Un!”

“That means you can’t touch me either.”

“... Un?”

“Otherwise, you can go.”

“No, I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”

Did she like Lin that much? I made a wry smile and quietly left. I suddenly wanted to see Loretta, but now wasn’t the time. I had to something to give to someone as quickly as possible.

“Hungry.”

When I went back to Marianne’s Garden, Daisy was sprawled on the kitchen table as always. I made a wry smile and asked.

“When did you break through the 16th floor?”

“Two hours... ago. I haven’t, eaten anything, during that time. I’m, starving.”

“Wait a bit, I’ll make you something. And here.”

I took out the dragon bracelet Lin made with Radiance and handed it to her. When she received it, she looked at my own wrist fixedly. I added with a bitter smile.

“I fully absorbed mine. You’ll probably absorb it too.”

“Absorb...? Tsk.”

Daisy made an inexplicable sound and immediately equipped her bracelet. She did it so quickly that I didn’t even have the time to warn her.

The change was immediate. Daisy fell from her chair and rolled around on the ground without a word. It would’ve been better if she said something, as the complete silence was frightening.

Seeing Daisy roll around the ground so energetically, I thought about tying her to a mop. Suddenly, Daisy shot up. She seemed to be doing her best to maintain a calm expression, but she was clearly teary. It seemed it hurt a lot.

“You tricked me.”

“You put it on before I could say anything.”

“Kang Shin, bad.”

“Yeah, yeah, my bad.”

“Punishment, make me, delicious food.”

“If it’s ramen, sure.”

I spoke with a grin, and Daisy quickly nodded.

“From now on, Kang Shin is, forever my ramen chef.”

“... Forever?”

“Forever.”

In any case, it seemed Paul’s thrashing phase would need to wait a while.