Two hundred years ago, humans signed the Treaty of the Sivius Empire with the Demon King Sivius, establishing the Sivius Eternal Neutral Empire, which the divine church was forbidden from interfering with.
The capital district was designated directly above the slumbering Demon King Sivius. Thanks to the immense magical energy leaking from the Demon King, young people under the age of 26 in the capital district tended to have higher divine affinity—meaning they could level up faster.
The deeper one ventured into the dungeon, the more the monsters were influenced by the Demon King’s magic and the stronger they became.
With the arrival of Viloti and Adelina’s escort squads—plus Bernice—the convergence of these three forces had already begun to stir some of the high-ranking monsters in the dungeon depths from their slumber.
But now, besides those high-ranking monsters, another young lady was beginning to lose her temper.
Adelina trailed behind Felyn and Viloti, watching the two walk together, and it was driving her absolutely mad.
Her blue-gray eyes flickered with a dangerous light, and even the surrounding air seemed to grow warmer.
“Lady Adelina…”
Ed, her attendant, looked at her with concern. The normally gentle young lady seemed like a different person at that moment.
“That Viloti… she actually dares to get that close to Felyn…”
Adelina bit her lip, her fists clenched involuntarily.
Her blue-gray eyes shimmered with jealousy and resentment, but she forced herself to calm down.
“Lady Adelina, then shall we…”
“Stick to the plan.”
She couldn’t afford to confront Viloti now. Though both escort teams were aware of each other’s presence, as long as no one met face to face, this silent mutual agreement to avoid conflict could continue.
But the moment she and Viloti confronted each other—even if no words were exchanged—the risk of friction or outright conflict would become real.
It seemed today wouldn’t be the day she could leave a good impression on Felyn.
So, just as Felyn silently did things for her, she would silently do things for him.
…
“Man, luck’s on our side today.”
Felyn sat on the ground, recording notes about the magical beast in front of him.
For some reason, today felt like he had been blessed by the Demon King himself—whatever creature the exam required, he somehow just happened to encounter it.
And as soon as the magical beasts appeared before him, it was like they lost their courage and perfectly demonstrated the behavioral patterns described in the textbooks.
Take the creature before him now—a three-meter-tall gargoyle. It should’ve been fiercely aggressive by nature.
But right now, it stood obediently in place, even mimicking the exact attack and behavior patterns listed in the manual.
“Mm-hmm, its attack method is through…”
With a real-time demonstration, Felyn quickly grasped the textbook’s content.
He diligently recorded notes in his notebook, completely oblivious to the pained expression on the gargoyle’s face.
This was probably the worst day of its entire career as a magical beast.
It had been napping peacefully in its den when suddenly over a hundred humans stormed in and drove it out.
As the gargoyle fled, it ran into dozens more people and had to quickly change direction.
Eventually, it ended up here. Seeing only three humans, it thought it could finally let off some steam—only for a cold voice to ring in its head:
“If you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll kill you.”
That masked girl was terrifying. She radiated an aura of dominance, and she could communicate with it!
What humiliation! A proud Tier 5 magical beast, reduced to a living mannequin for a human!
“Change poses.”
The gargoyle immediately switched poses, its eyes filled with flattery toward the masked girl.
Among the three humans, only the masked girl was standing. The other two—a boy and a pink-haired girl were sitting on the ground.
What was with that pink-haired girl? Was she out here on a picnic with her boyfriend? Bringing him water, feeding him snacks—what next, having children in front of a poor gargoyle’s eyes? How indecent!
Viloti knelt beside Felyn, watching the obediently posing gargoyle with some surprise in her eyes.
Someone was clearly controlling it. Her gaze landed on the masked girl.
Communicating with magical beasts required extremely advanced divine techniques.
And anyone capable of such high-level divine magic had to be a senior member of the church.
Even though Viloti still had a few powerful guards hidden nearby, none of them could make a Tier 5 magical beast pose like a pet.
This girl was strong—stronger than anyone in her escort squad.
But why did she seem so familiar, as if Viloti had seen her somewhere before?
And for someone so powerful to willingly team up with Felyn, who had no apparent use or value… that didn’t make sense.
A woman’s intuition radar began to activate, scanning Felyn’s recent social network.
Aside from Adelina, there was only Bernice.
Could it be her?
Or… were there other girls in Felyn’s life she didn’t know about?
“Alright! That wraps up the last monster observation. Today went way better than I expected!”
Felyn closed his notebook, genuinely surprised by how smoothly things had gone.
The six magical beasts required for the exam had all been encountered and recorded in a single day.
What luck.
“Felyn, are we heading back?” Viloti patted her knees and stood up as well.
“My task is done. Miss B… I mean, miss, do you have any other places you want to go?”
Bernice shook her head and said nothing.
Seeing that its job was done, the gargoyle received Bernice’s approval and ran off thudding down the corridor.
“Then let’s hea—”
Bernice suddenly grabbed Felyn’s hand.
“Eh? What’s wrong?”
“Lady Viloti! Step back!” A hidden guard near Viloti immediately jumped out from the shadows, shielding her.
The space in front of Felyn and the others shattered like glass. A white-gloved hand gracefully reached out from the crack, followed by a figure emerging from the spatial rift.
“Good day, everyone. My name is Hubert. I’m a demon.”
Hubert adjusted his tailcoat, and his monocle gleamed faintly in the dim dungeon light.
The convergence of these three powerful forces had stirred this demon from his slumber.
“My apologies for appearing in such a rude manner, but…”
Before he could finish, Viloti immediately activated a Tier 7 sigil.
Icy-blue markings gathered at her fingertips, and countless ice lances formed in the air, like silver arrows aimed directly at Hubert.
Almost simultaneously, Bernice pulled the trigger of her sigil gun. The magical engravings along the gun’s body lit up instantly, a silver-white glow of divine energy coursing through it like flowing water. Her movements were clean and sharp, her eyes behind the mask like blades.
A blinding pillar of divine light shot upward, illuminating the dark corridor.
Holy pressure swept through the area—a power capable of purging all evil, a judgmental light from the gods themselves.
Where the light passed, even space itself distorted, as if reality would be torn apart by its force.
It was Felyn’s first time witnessing high-tier divine magic.
This was true divine magic—pure godly power, far more potent than any sigil-based technique.
“Too much talking.” Both girls spoke in unison.
“You won’t… even let a guy finish his intro…”
Hubert’s voice echoed from the distorted space. His form flickered within the divine light.
“So uncivilized…”
With a casual flick of his finger, countless magic circles appeared on the ground.
Magic was the weapon of the demons, and unless one had specialized in demonology, one wouldn’t understand what those formations signified.
“Felyn, be careful!”
The air grew thick with magical energy, making it hard for Felyn to breathe.
He felt his body suddenly grow light, as if he were falling backward.
His vision blurred. Just before everything turned to darkness, he saw two figures step in front of him—
One pink, one silver-white.
And far in the distance, he thought he glimpsed a flash of rose-tea color rushing toward him.
Then it felt like his body was torn away from reality and thrown into a void.
Not again…
The last time he passed out in the dungeon, he woke up in Viloti’s home.
Where would it be this time?
(End of Chapter)