Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

"You were curious just now, right, wondering why nothing happened to me even though the parasite burrowed into my body."

Fanen exposed his unhealed wound on the spot, throwing the dying parasite on the ground back into it. As soon as it touched the blood, the parasite became extremely active, even starting to reproduce immediately. Yet he still had a nonchalant attitude, and with a shudder, those bugs that had just found a new home were crushed to powder.

"It's all because of that Dungeon, freeing us from the fear of parasitism."

"As long as you enter the Dungeon, you can definitely be cured too!"

When talking about the Dungeon, Fanen was filled with positive emotions, as if sharing their most prized treasure with Uffie. The confidence on his face was so exaggerated it could almost purify the Fallen Demon Egg to death.

"Oh..."

Uffie was momentarily surprised by the confidence radiating from him, nodding somewhat dumbly.

The last time she saw someone so confident was when she was young, and a drunk Gapar insisted on taking her to slay a dragon. The two of them wrestled with a giant dragon all night, only to discover it was actually a town's bridge when Gapar sobered up.

The dragon wasn't slain, and they disrupted local traffic.

This incident made young Uffie and her father work for days to fix the bridge. It led her to think that dragons and bridges looked exactly alike, until she grew up to know no dragon resembles a bridge at all.

It's not like it's an aluminum-steel bridge dragon.

"Dungeon? Dungeon?"

The odd species kept muttering to itself.

"No wonder, I see, I was wondering why you suddenly became so—"

Before it could finish speaking, it was hit with a strong rush of speeding wind, rendering it speechless. If it weren't for its body tightly connected to Uffie, it might have been flung away!

Without any hesitation, while it was suddenly enlightened, Uffie moved the legs she could still control, already running with Fanen and the others onto the street, closely following them toward the so-called Dungeon.

Wait, wait, wait, have you guys already decided so quickly? Without a moment's hesitation or thought!

The odd species couldn't understand. It was a matter of life and death, yet why did Uffie run with Fanen without a second's hesitation? If it were it, it'd rather stay put, using all its strength to resist the invasion. At least that's a bit more secure!

But, to be honest, all its talk was because the odd species was panicking!

Fanen's displayed confidence made Uffie instantly choose to trust him, causing the odd species to panic about what to do if that Dungeon really had a solution?

No way, I need to speed up the body invasion, I can't let them get over there!

Just then, with a smirk on her lips, Uffie tightened her control on her uncontrollable left arm by clinging tightly to her right arm.

"Don't think about playing any tricks."

Like this, she ran with her arms close to the body following Fanen, fully placing her life in the hands of that unknown Dungeon.

Her current running posture looked like an odd species.

"Isha, go find everyone else. I'll take her and go ahead!" Without waiting for Isha's response, Fanen turned and ran towards the Fishing Port District with Uffie, because he knew if he were any slower, Isha would catch up.

In terms of speed, he's currently the fastest among Savis City's survivors. No one could catch up if he pushed it.

However, there's always someone faster, and within a few eye blinks, he saw Uffie rush ahead of him, managing to suppress the parasite while keeping her bizarre running posture, yet still running in front of him!

Fanen had no choice but to be impressed and became curious about Uffie's identity. Such skills couldn't belong to someone unknown. Could she be one of the renowned Golden-level Adventurers?

With the speed Uffie was now unleashing, reaching the Teleportation Gate within five minutes was more than enough, making Fanen, who was originally leading the way, feel like he was slowing them down.

"Keep running in this direction to the end, there's a marked building there. The Teleportation Gate to the Dungeon is there. You go ahead!" Fanen shouted.

A shelter was originally built around that Teleportation Gate, but after they transferred all parasites away, they temporarily moved the survivors living there to avoid being affected by the parasites swarming to another Teleportation Gate.

"Okay!"

Uffie swiftly responded, accelerating instantly, exploding at an even faster speed, leaving Fanen dumbfounded.

So... she was already taking care of him just now, and could actually run even faster?

"The faster you run, the faster you lose strength, I'll soon take over you!"

During this time, the odd species had been continually chattering away, still sneering with superiority.

"It's useless no matter how you run; do you really believe that the Dungeon can save your life? Why not team up with me instead, at least you'll achieve great feats with your body."

Uffie ignored it completely, treating it like air.

Thus, the odd species' sarcasm turned into annoyed curses.

"You're recklessly committing suicide, how can you trust something mysterious?"

However, as Uffie approached her destination, the Teleportation Gate was within reach. The odd species' cursing turned into some conciliatory negotiation, even with a hint of fear in its voice. Mainly because these people were all too confident, confident enough to make it lose its confidence.

Could its proud parasitic ability be so easily nullified by an unknown Dungeon?

It shouldn't be, it's wrong, it's impossible!

"Bang!"

Uffie kicked open the building's door, the Teleportation Gate to the Dungeon eerily stood before her. At this moment, one of her legs was starting to disobey her, constantly hindering her movements, yet she couldn't stop.

"Time to say goodbye." She glanced at the odd species, using what control she had over her other leg to spring like a rocket into the Teleportation Gate.

The odd species cursed angrily:

"Fine, if you're so confident that the Dungeon can save you, let's wait and see!"

...

Sinking, the feeling upon entering the Dungeon was like falling into an endless ocean abyss.

Uffie's eyes couldn't open, and even if they could, she would only see darkness.

The sound of liquid sloshing in a bottle came from beside her, the cold liquid continuously being infused into her body, as if her blood was undergoing some transformation, rudely being altered.

But this feeling wasn't unpleasant; on the contrary, it was comfortably addictive.

When the Hidden Blood Parasite was latched on her brain, its every movement made her head throb, never allowing her peace. Yet now, she didn't feel a hint of pain.

She could still sense the parasite's presence, feel the areas where it was attached to her brain and its thick body, but it had become less active, or rather, quieter.

The more of this strange, unknown liquid was infused into her, the quieter the parasite became, as if it was deeply attracted by something contained within the liquid, becoming preoccupied with it rather than Uffie's body.

This was a good opportunity to break free from the parasite's hold, however, Uffie frustratingly found her own body seemed drawn to the liquid, unable to muster any strength.

Like everyone entering the Dungeon for the first time, she was supposed to see reflections similar to those others described. But for some reason, aside from the sound of sloshing liquid at her ear, all she saw was darkness, as if something had gone wrong.

Yet after a while, images finally flashed before her, not related to the Dungeon, but scenes from the Red Country's Capital, appearing to be a kitchen of some sort?

No, this wasn't her perspective; she never entered places like kitchens. Whose memories were these?

She watched from the first-person view as "she" served red wine specifically for the lords. She was very familiar with this wine; since the rescue army arrived in the Capital, the King of Red generously supplied them with it as a daily beverage. But she never liked alcohol and had never tried it.

The following images made her eyes widen with shock.

Because she saw "herself" pulling out a bloody meatball, extracting several small parasites from it, and putting them into the red wine, where they mixed perfectly!

That meatball was the same one Fanen discovered at the museum!

What exactly have my soldiers been drinking all this time!?

A sudden pain shot through her brain, instantly pulling her out of this memory belonging to who knows whom, and instinctively she knew it was related to the Hidden Blood Parasite on her head.

Yet at that moment, the parasite suddenly awoke, and its activity spewing pain brought Uffie back to consciousness. She barely had time to assess where she was, feeling some loss of control over her body as the parasite babbled crazily!

Meanwhile, Gong Qiying received a report from the Dungeon.

"The blood amount for Blood Therapy is insufficient?"

The Crystal Ball was filled with scenes of Uffie at the Yusefka Clinic fighting for control of her body with the odd species. She regained some control over her body, but the parasite became inexplicably lively, engaging her in an intense mental duel.

All along, Gong Qiying had a fixed blood therapy amount for everyone who entered the Dungeon. Depending on each person's constitution, the amount needed to resist the Hidden Blood Parasite varied, but it was his first time encountering someone for whom the allotted blood was not enough.

Was it because Uffie's physical resilience was too strong, demanding more blood for therapy?

That parasite also seemed extraordinary; maybe it was related.

Gong Qiying tapped his finger on the altar, intrigued by the odd species, committed to obtaining it for study. As for Uffie, though he wasn't sure of the relationship between the girl and Gapar, he was eager to have such a skilled individual in the Dungeon.

"Let's help a bit."

On the other side, Uffie was feeling increasingly overwhelmed. The odd species inexplicably turned savage and uncommunicable, solely intent on taking over her body, with an accelerated rate of invasion.

After coming to this Dungeon, just the special air scent invoked memories of those bizarre things seen in {empathy} with Fanen, especially the head-caged running man and the endless chase, significantly weakening her spirit.

On the brink of succumbing to the odd species' invasion, her vision suddenly shifted, transporting her from the Yusefka Clinic to the Hunter's Dream.

A vividly lifelike puppet stood before her, turning its back to her, appearing so fragile from behind.

Uffie mistakenly thought it was another human from the Dungeon and warned, "Stay away from me!"

She was on the verge of losing control over her body!

The puppet responded slightly, slowly turning around.

The scene shifted abruptly, placing Uffie in an instant at the top of a bell tower-like structure, the complex-fashioned clock casting dappled moonlight on her.

The puppet fully turned, but in the turning instant, her attire changed, now wielding a uniquely fashioned weapon.

"Clack—"

A flash, splitting the weapon in two.