Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

Maria has disemboweled herself!?

No, the position is higher up, as if it's in the chest area. Even so, the amount of bleeding is enormous. Such an injury on a normal person would be a severe wound!

Uffie couldn't help but widen her eyes. What on earth is happening here?

She knew some Berserkers, in the heat of battle, would do things to harm themselves. The classic example would be using a knife to carve patterns on their arms. But for Maria to wildly stab herself right from the start, she had to be a seasoned nutcase Berserker, someone even those cautious of carving patterns wouldn't dare to approach.

Yet, Maria did not let out a sound from the weapon piercing her body, not even a muffled groan. It seemed as though she had completely grown accustomed to the feeling of being wounded.

Only now did Uffie realize something surprising—she hadn't heard Maria make any sound at all, not even during combat, except for the most basic breathing.

The blade was pulled from the flesh, accompanied by blood splashing in two lines on the ground, as Maria stood there in the same stance as before.

But around her body seemed to hover a faint red mist, or perhaps a fiery aura? Like blood floating beside her, enhancing her already cold temperament with a murderous air, giving the impression that she was about to go all out.

The mutated creature felt a powerful oppression, like a soldier in Soul Society encountering Aizen. It was trembling along with its controlled body, while Uffie, due to watching the battle, could sense it even more intensely and broadly than the mutated creature.

What Maria emitted was the aura a true master and strong warrior possessed!

Uffie had only seen similar things on a few people, one of them being Sword Saint Japar.

Maria lifted her eyes, her gaze under the hunter hat intersecting with the mutant creature.

"Chirp!"

The mutant creature let out a sound like a small fry, while Uffie sensed the opponent was wavering—it wanted to escape but couldn't part with this body.

She suddenly burst forth to see if she could reclaim control of the body, but the mutant creature quickly noticed her agitation and suppressed it in an instant. This brief episode, lasting less than two seconds, became a rare, excellent opportunity in the battle.

Maria didn't rush over to wield her Dual Blades, nor did she combine weapons to perform a Thrust. These two attack methods were the most commonly used and representative when she created distance earlier.

But this time, she leapt high, her posture agile as a butterfly,

Dark, concentrated blood gathered around her body, as if brewing a powerful magic with simplistic effects but extraordinary might—clearly, an ability required for unleashing massive damage through charged power.

The mutant creature instinctively tried to interrupt its opponent's attack during charging, but just as it reached for the repeating crossbow beside it, Maria swooped down toward it!

So it wasn't a charging skill! Then why hover momentarily in the air!

The parasite might be confused, but if replaced by veteran adventurers from Sain Dungeon, they would have new insight: Maria's brief pause in the air perfectly allowed adventurers to turn and run a couple of steps or roll twice, effectively catching them in their recovery phase.

The nimble Maria suddenly crashed down like a fierce tiger, shattering the floor with blade-shaped cracks, as cool blood flowed down like a fountain, causing a wider range secondary attack. Anything touched by her blood would feel an unspeakable sting!

The entire clock tower trembled, and the mutant creature barely dodged the deadly blade by using all four limbs awkwardly, yet the blood splashed squarely on its back, creating a horrifying wound!

The mutant creature and Uffie simultaneously let out screams, though the latter was a mental scream.

Maria's blood seemed to seep into Uffie's body through the wound? But the injury healed quickly, leaving Uffie unable to feel it properly.

Instead, the mutant creature got agitated, grabbing a weapon to fight back.

In the next instant, Maria's Dual Blades abruptly combined, launching a Thrust at the mutant creature from a distance!

An abstract spear formed of blood erupted from the weapon's tip, its power akin to a divine spear capable of piercing everything.

The mutant creature frantically rotated its long spear trying to resist, yet the blood's intense impact made its legs plow deep furrows in the ground, and its arms constantly trembled, seemingly at any moment about to open wide, but it forced out the body's potential, barely holding on!

Yet, before it could feel joy, Maria, thrusting alongside the blood spear, swiftly broke through its defense, the sharp blade ruthlessly stabbing into its abdomen.

She twisted the blade, and Uffie immediately felt unbearable gut-wrenching pain. Along with the pain, something like liquid seemed to be flowing in through the blade.

Uffie wasn't someone who'd gleefully cry "Hit me again, sister!" after being beaten up; now her mind was full of pleading for anyone to end this battle!

But amidst the pain, she deeply engraved Maria's graceful dance-like posture among the blood into the depths of her eyes.

Apart from the stabbing pain in her abdomen, this was the first time at such close distance seeing Maria. That flawless face, flowing white hair, and stern gaze—all deeply fascinated her.

"Bang!"

Maria withdrew the blade and kicked the mutant creature away. Before a second had passed after she completed the move, the mutant creature, stuck closely to Uffie's face, suddenly expanded and exploded forward with countless needle-like insects; had Maria's move been slower, her face might have directly been splattered.

Facing the swarm of parasites, Falling Leaves's blade oozed blood mist, quickly lifted high and then chopped down, leaving a trajectory dragging dark red residual shadow, blood droplets flying in a parabolic arc to the ceiling, condensing back down with grand momentum, finally the blood explosively burst before her!

Her blood splattered all around, the red mist gradually dissipating, while the dense parasites airborne were completely annihilated by this move.

Indeed, facing a multitude of small-sized Monsters, one must use an AOE skill.

The mutant creature seemed frightened, already contemplating escape, yet it was deeply bonded with this body during the fight and couldn't withdraw momentarily, so it seized upon the brief moment before the blood mist faded to close in, attempting a sneak attack on Maria with a swift move.

However, the opponent wielded her blade once again filled with strength; this time, the weapons didn't directly clash, Maria's blood-formed mighty Blood Blade devoured from afar, the mutant creature tried to block with its spear like usual, the Blood Blade merely glanced through the spear, instantly diagonally slashing onto its chest.

"Puff—"

A large amount of blood spurted from the wound on the chest, but new blood was replenished.

The mutated species knelt on the ground as if it had lost all its strength, gasping heavily, as it recognized the pitiful power gap between them, like an insurmountable wall.

If Uffie knew what this guy was thinking, she might not be convinced, because although the parasite had adapted to her body in a short time and mastered a lot of combat techniques, she hadn't used any of the combat skills she knew. If she were to personally face Maria, even if she lost, it wouldn't be as ugly as now!

But none of this mattered anymore.

Uffie looked at the seemingly defeated parasite and then at Maria, who was walking slowly, each step sounding like a heartbeat to the observer, and couldn't help but sigh:

Is it going to end...

It's a pity I couldn't do anything to surpass my father before dying in the dungeon.

There's nothing wrong with what the Sain Dungeon did, I hope my father won't resent this place when he hears about me.

Oh, I also didn't get a chance to leave a grandson or granddaughter for my father, but I really couldn't find a suitable person to marry. At the very least, they have to be able to beat me, and their appearance can't be too off-putting...

They say before someone dies, their life flashes before their eyes, showing past regrets and beautiful moments, reviewing their life in a brief instant.

However, after thinking about the topic of love, Uffie's thoughts ran wild like a runaway train, which might be related to her somewhat offbeat personality, still thinking about love on the brink of death, which feels quite sad, having grown up without having one heart-pounding moment.

She suddenly felt a deep sense of frustration, to the point that she didn't even pay attention when the mutated species, controlling her body, made a final counterattack only to be easily resolved by Maria, until Falling Leaves stabbed into her chest, and the intense pain finally pulled her back to reality.

A liquid surged into her body, and Uffie suddenly felt like she had regained some control over it, looking down.

Blood was flowing along the blade of Falling Leaves into her body, and its source was none other than Maria.

But actually, it was the Sain Dungeon transferring the blood needed for Blood Therapy into her through Maria.

"Splat!"

The parasite on her face suddenly detached, falling to the ground twitching, and Uffie, as if drained of all strength, collapsed forward.

To her surprise, Maria actually didn't avoid her, allowing her to lean on her shoulder, with a faint fragrance lingering at her nose.

Such a... gentle feeling?

Maria spoke for the first time.

"Sleep now, return to the dream."

Her voice was different from the imagined chill, unsure if the comparison was apt, but Uffie felt, it was like a gentle doctor tending to a patient, and she was the patient being cared for.

"Everything will restore to original."

So reassuring.

A sudden fatigue enveloped Uffie, making her want to close her eyes and sleep deeply, but for some reason, she felt a hint of reluctance at this moment.

...

When she opened her eyes again, Uffie was lying among the white flowers of the Hunter's Dream.

There was no noise except for the gentle wind, a scene of peace.

She stared blankly at the sky, seemingly unsure of which side was real, her body restored to original, with no trace of the parasite.

It wasn't until she heard unhurried footsteps that she got up, seeing the puppet, looking exactly like Maria, standing before her.

"Welcome back, kind hunter," the puppet said its customary greeting.

"..."

Looking at the puppet before her, Uffie couldn't help but recall Maria, her overwhelming strength, the softness in the final moments, and that universally attractive appearance.

She swallowed a bit nervously, murmuring with a somewhat dazed look:

"Dad, you might not get a grandchild..."

"Achoo—"

Meanwhile, on the road riding a horse, Gapar sneezed.

"What's this, suddenly I have a bad feeling."

Looking up, the distant sky seemed to show his late wife waving and smiling at him, only to revert to original after a blink.

"What's happening?"

He rubbed his nose, which had been a bit sensitive these past days, and couldn't help but urge the horse to run faster.