A God’s Dungeon’s rose straight out of the golden ocean.
In the ruins of the city where the residents were wiped out, Adventurers who had a keen ear for rumors came flocking to its surroundings to set up base camp for the God’s Dungeon.
There was an unfamiliar man in this camp site.
He wore rather ordinary adventurer’s garb. But he was a good but tired looking man with an etheral quality about him.
The adventurers saw him emerge from the God’s Dungeon and whispered amongst themselves.
The women seemed to rate him highly, but the men determined that such a dreary looking man would not survive many trials.
Because the man did not look all that strong.
Though not a single person in the Adventurer’s camp knew the man’s face or name, his name and face had once been known throughout the world.
The Last king of the Holy Kingdom of Rutheginea.
Kromgard Rutheginea.
He was in Aege.
“…Status Screen. Stats.”
He entered into a secluded forest and leaned against the stone as he brought up his status window.
[Stats]
Strength 700 Dexterity 700 Vitality 701
Magic Power 699 Intuition 699 Magic Resistance 703
Resilience 698 Charisma 692 Luck 695
It was an extraordinary level of stats.
But his status points were suspiciously close to 700 as if they were forcefully arranged this way.
And the reason why was written in a new message floating below the Status Screen.
[Only a little further until Ascension is possible!]
Kromgard let out a laugh once he saw that.
And even before he finished letting out a sound,
Shuffle.
There was a footstep coming from the grass.
Kromgard’s eyes lit up with bloodlust for a moment but it quickly faded away.
It was because it was someone he knew.
It was a woman who seemed completely at odds with the forests who looked like she belonged in a painting. A human, yet somehow not quite.
Kromgard’s cold and malicious eyes greatly softened upon seeing her.
And soon, he let out his voice to call out her name.
“Adelwight.”
That’s right.
The mysterious woman who suddenly appeared before Kromgard was none other than the Witch of the haunted forests living throughout prepetuity, Adelwight.
Adelwight pointed towards the God’s Dungeon standing in the distance as she opened her mouth.
“Why don’t you just go and ascend already? If it’s for you, you should be able to ascend simply by entering the dungeon.”
Kromgard let out a bitter laugh as his answer.
In his rather exhausted expression, his eyes glistened like the last lonely star in the twilight hour before dawn.
The moment Adelwight saw his uncompromising, steadfast eyes, Adelwight recalled events from an era no one else could possibly remember.
‘Kromgard.’
The man who had shown her the faintest ray of light in the midst of inescapable eternal darkness.
If not for him, Adelwight would have still been living out her eternal life no different from the trees or stone, doing nothing of value.
“I have come to speak with you.”
Adelwight said.
Kromgard looked surprised.
“It has been a while since you’ve approached me first to talk to me about something. I suppose it’s the first since the time with the White Snake tribe?”
Unlike Kromgard who looked cheerful, Adelwight remained grim for a moment longer.
After a brief silence, she finally spoke up.
“I have decided to help you.”
“Hoh? What winds of whimsy is this?”
“Enkiadusa. After seeing he who holds the title and duty as the God of Order break the primordial Order of this world and directly intervene in the material world, I was able to finally make up my mind.”
Adelwight’s brilliant and fair eyes became deeply dyed with the colors of hatred and disgust.
“…I can’t sit by and watch any longer as he continues to call himself God and use his omnipotence to dominate the world with tyranny and abuse. Even after he maneuvered and compelled others to shoulder the burden of guilt for all eternity for having committed massacres.”
Adelwight closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Her long eyelashes were trembling with seething rage.
Kromgard approached this eternal witch and gave her a soft embrace.
“Adelwight.”
Adelwight said nothing as she leaned against him.
The two man and woman remained still without moving for a long time.
In the minds of the two embraced man and women were memories of literal eternities they had spent together that flowed through their streams of consciousness like a river.
They were discovered by Adventurers passing by, who pointed fingers at them and mocked them.
“Oy, look at that!”
“Mmm? Oh, that? What a nice view! Kekeke!”
These thoughtless utterances ended Adelwight and Kromgard’s reminiscences.
Kromgard’s eyes showed his murderous rage.
“You worthless insects.”
He was about to move towards them when he was stopped by Adelwight. She looked into the eyes of Kromgard that returned their gaze to her as she spoke in a low voice.
“…I saw a terrible dream.”
“A terrible dream?”
“About a book. I’ve had the same dream for several days now.”
Adelwight trembled for a moment as she remembered the form of the book that had been pressing down upon her for the past several months.
“…I have to go.”
“What are you going to do?”
Kromgard asked, sounding disappointed at their time cut short. Adelwight gave a smile full of sorrow as she turned to look at the beautiful golden ocean and the God’s Dungeon that rose out of the sea.
“I will save this world with you.”
“…Adelwight.”
Kromgard’s figure became rigid.
Adelwight walked slowly away from him.
“Please save this world. So that it can once again reclaim its lost original name.”
She raised her hands.
From her finger tips, purple pollen-like materials came flowing out.
The pollen followed the winds and arrived at the Adventurer’s camp before the God’s Dungeon.
At the campsite, the Adventurers were sitting in a circle chatting amongst themselves.
At the center was the man responsible for interrupting Adelwight and Kromgard’s moment together.
“That freakishly pale fellow, you know? What a madlad. He brought a woman with him to this accursed land where hundreds of thousands of people were killed overnight, having a cozy romantic rendezvous in the forest.”
While his mocking voice stirred the air, the soft lavender colored pollen surrounded the entire camp site.
One woman noticed this subtle change and sniffed the air.
“Huh? What’s this?”
Suddenly, the woman’s face became crumpled.
“U…Ugh…!”
She couldn’t breathe. She grasped at her torso with both hands as she began to convulse violently.
The man who had been excitedly speaking at the center of the Adventurers noticed the woman’s sudden change.
“Oy, what’s wrong with you suddenly?”
Very soon, he also felt it too.
That he could no longer breathe.
Unspeakable pain and agony soon followed.
“Kraagh…!”
In mere moments, his entire life came crumbling apart.
He watched all of his friends and comrades, who only moments before were listening to him speak, suddenly be gripped by the same unbearable suffering as he and writhe to death in their final moments.
“······.”
Using the last bit of his remaining strength, he wanted to know why he and everyone he knew was dying.
The purple pollen.
It was flying towards them from afar.
His eyes naturally followed the trails of where the purple pollen was coming from and that was when he discovered their source.
The lady who was watching him and everyone else die with the most cold uncaring look.
And in the last dying moments of this man’s life, the name of the legendary witch crossed his mind.
‘Could it be the witch of death feared even by the gods…Adelwight?’
His thoughts could not continue any longer.
The blood pouring from his eye sockets covered his sight and put an end to his ability to think.
“…”
Adelwight looked on at the camp site of death for a moment longer before quietly turning around.
Before the purple pollen became dispersed by the ocean breeze, she had completely disappeared from view.
Note: This tribe is known by three names, and they are used interchangeably. Ryze is a part of this tribe.
White Snake tribe, Dragon clan/tribe, Dragon God Clan.