Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

Sometimes, danger doesn't come from the front.

Being backstabbed by someone you fully trust is the greatest danger.

[What are you doing, main body?!]

The awareness avatar of the Evil God was suddenly thrown into utter confusion. It had imagined that it might run out of energy and be pulled back for a scolding by the main body, only to then present today's achievements to gain newfound respect. Yet, it had never anticipated—

Why did the main body cut its "safety rope"!

This way, even if the main body could still "see" the situation over here, it couldn't quickly pull itself back. In this opaque and obscure Sain Dungeon, isn't this equivalent to....

abandoning it?

No!

In that instant, Gong Qiying's spiritual power reserves suddenly surged significantly, all thanks to the awareness avatar.

Why, main body, why did you do this!

The awareness avatar wanted an answer, but with the invisible thread severed, the main body could only hear its voice, unable to receive any information from the main body again.

Its unparalleled wisdom told it that the main body's actions might be an intention to let it die.

How could they abandon me so easily? Could it be that the Sain Dungeon has some kind of ability similar to my corruption, polluting me without my notice, so the main body doesn't want me?

Does it mean it wants me to explode with the Sain?

At this moment, the Mansis Brain once again released a light that drove onlookers insane. This time, the awareness avatar, having lost the ability to transfer the damage elsewhere, could not avoid it. Its body was being tormented by several mixed "dirty bombs," and there was no new body nearby to seize.

It could only bite the bullet and face the warm yellow light that offers no warmth, placing all its hopes on its strong mental resistance as the Evil God's awareness avatar.

Nonetheless, it still felt uncertain, so it withdrew its erosion control over the Sain Dungeon, focusing most of its power on self-preservation.

This truly was a blunder, directly unleashing all its power against the Sain Dungeon might have forced Gong Qiying's hand more effectively.

On the other side, Gong Qiying noticed that the rate of spiritual power consumption suddenly slowed down at a certain point.

Though he didn't know the reason, he invested all the saved spiritual power into the enhancement of the Mansis Brain.

Instantly, the light emanating from the Mansis Brain became more dazzling than ten or even nine Mad Fire Lighthouses!

"How is this guy still fine? As expected of an entity related to the Evil God?"

Gong Qiying was puzzled. He even started to wonder if he had made a mistake and whether he should try another approach.

Then he saw the consciousness avatar, previously steady as a marble statue despite being punished relentlessly by the Sain, finally tremble as if meeting its destined collapse.

[Oh oh oh oh—]

The awareness avatar emitted a high-pitched sound it had never made since its creation, as the corrupted and abyss-tortured, mutated body trembled frantically.

For the first time, it felt what the previously fallen parasites felt, and the result was not pleasant at all. Very unpleasant!

There was no mystical or complicated feeling. When gazed upon by the Mansis Brain, its mind would inexplicably generate hysterical madness, tearing all conscious thoughts to pieces!

If one could visualize the resistance each creature has to insanity as a bar, an ordinary person's would be the length of a fingernail, while the awareness avatar's might collectively equal the height of dozens of adults, yet even that had its limit, and that moment had finally arrived.

"Why did it suddenly become effective?"

Gong Qiying felt even more peculiar. Logically, results would be good, but this sudden shift from total resistance to total vulnerability was suspicious, prompting him to silently channel more spiritual power into Dungeon defense as a precautionary measure.

The facts proved this was the right move.

The awareness avatar, which hadn't known pain since birth, couldn't bear the madness-induced agony once exposed to it. Although its intangible body wouldn't suffer from blood loss, the mental torment grew even stronger.

Torn from the main body's protection, it was merely a Favored after all.

Yet, would it resent the Hidden Dull Star main body for abandoning it?

[Main body, I've understood your intent]

The awareness avatar, gritting its teeth against the mental agony, remained steadfastly loyal to the Evil God main body. If even an avatar isn't loyal, then why create it?

[You've seen it, the deeply hidden secrets of this Dungeon, truly astonishing]

It seemed resolute, resiliently resisting the constant torment of madness, gathering all its power, whether for defense or corrosion, and consolidating it within itself.

As an avatar originating from the main body, how could it not know the main body's current thoughts?

It seems I'm really doomed this time. I don't know what went wrong. Even the main body doesn't want to let me go back so that it can explode here in Sain Dungeon and make the final contribution.

Putting away all the powers used for defense, the impact of Mansis's brain on its mind grew stronger.

[I haven't even figured out my last words yet...]

The frenzied influence of Mansis's brain had already caused an anomaly in its spirit. Not wasting any more time, it resolutely activated—

[Great Self-Destruction]!

An invisible existence cannot explode like a tangible life form.

A ripple suddenly appeared in the air of Sain Dungeon, followed by visible spatial waves. The distorted space spread in all directions, shredding everything along the way.

Even Mansis's brain was affected. Its massive body burst with wounds under the spatial waves. In an instant, it was a bloody mess, yet it still retained its shape and could cast a gaze.

Given its strength, it would still become like this. If humans were here, they would probably perish instantly with no chance for recovery.

Gong Qiying frowned, the wave hitting the similarly invisible Dungeon defense. Almost in the blink of an eye, the defense raised earlier was shattered. He resolutely poured his spiritual power into it without a pause, the numbers dropping like a plunge.

If the defense hadn't been preemptively raised, the spiritual power consumption would have been even greater.

The Consciousness Avatar decided to self-destruct, just as decisively as the Hidden Dull Star that once possessed Eliphas and vanished without a trace. Their relationship may be more intimate than he imagined.

The other party self-destructed, which seemed to signify Sain's victory, weakening the forces of the Evil God.

Yet after consuming so much spiritual power, not a single useful piece of information was obtained. In retrospect, it was akin to fetching water with a bamboo basket, making him seem like the real loser.

When it comes to weakening Sain Dungeon, the Consciousness Avatar did succeed, causing Gong Qiying a significant loss in revenue for a long time!

"No, that guy seems to have left something behind."

Something flickering with little stars appeared where the Consciousness Avatar had been. Although the light was faint, it was enough to be discovered.

With precautions in place, Gong Qiying had the Dungeon approach the item, and upon contact, something flashed before his eyes—some were mere words, others were images, all unconnected and utterly chaotic.

He saw Demons with dark skin and varied forms kneeling and praying toward a towering giant tree. The tree's rough bark glowed an eerie light that shot into the strongest Demon's body. That Demon instantly became more formidable and terrifying, surpassing even Eliphas in momentum.

That Demon later became the Demon King, the very first Demon King.

The first Demon King eventually died by the sword of the first Hero. His body was buried beneath the Great Demon Tree, and after countless years, purple Starlight emerged on the surface of the Great Demon Tree, and the second Demon King burst forth!

The screen flashed again, showing the defeated second Demon King. With powers far surpassing the first Demon King, he could not be killed. Hence, he was imprisoned in a dark, sunless jail of unknown exterior appearance until one day, a crack appeared in the prison.

Another jump brought the scene to an area under a cosmos filled with flickering purple light. Hundreds of people dressed differently from modern attire were performing some ritual, each a master of rare caliber. Through the ritual, they sent all their power skyward, and for a fleeting moment, the purple Starlight seemed to dim!

Shortly thereafter, Gong Qiying awoke from these chaotic memory images.

"What did I just see?"

Undoubtedly, the thing he touched was the myriad memories left behind by the Consciousness Avatar.

Due to the frenzied impact brought by Mansis's brain, the Consciousness Avatar couldn't completely obliterate itself without leaving a single trace. The remains contained a hint of memory within.

These memories were enough to give Gong Qiying much to contemplate.

What was that giant tree? Is the purple Starlight related to the tree?

Is its sealed location the Dungeon? And what does that final scene mean, where many people gathered for a ritual that could harm the Evil God?

What was that ritual?

Meanwhile, above the cosmos, the purple star cloud turned with satisfaction. It had exerted considerable effort to eliminate the nauseating remnants from the Consciousness Avatar, and now it could finally resume its sweet slumber.

From the Consciousness Avatar, it learned about the existence of higher beings' flesh within the Sain Dungeon, yet this revelation did not particularly surprise it, as if what should be shocking is if such beings were absent in Sain.

Despite going through this episode, some of the power it painstakingly accumulated over time was lost once more.

[That Dungeon... interesting]

Today, both sides uncovered some of each other's secrets.

"If given the chance, more about the Demon Clan should be understood."

Gong Qiying copied his own memories to avoid forgetting what he had just seen.

The crisis was temporarily lifted, but before he could reset the Dungeon to its original state, he noticed changes in the outside world.

A large group of twisted Monsters of Conanberg style were chasing Fanen and others, hopping around?