VIP Chapter 219: “Protagonist”
This was something Will was pondering as he tossed and turned. He was thinking about how to reverse Treya’s current “blackening” state. He was confident that since he had personally taught Treya, she should remain within his control no matter how much she “blackened.” What had Treya encountered? And to what extent could he help her? After all, for someone who had read the original work, he knew the ins and outs of that political struggle at this point in time, including the victors and the vanquished.
And compared to these matters… there was one more important thing…
Will believed that only through his own efforts would there be a chance to save her from the mindset of “blackening to the point of wanting to control Will.” Ah, to put it simply… If he could help Treya succeed in the royal family’s struggle, Treya would surely call him “Teacher Will” one after another, just like before.
“I see, I see. What should I say, a compliment?” Shuna crossed her arms, listening somewhat coldly to his self-proclaimed cool lines. She should have known; from the moment he wrote to her, he had shown concern for every teammate, with perfect development plans, understanding each of their psyches thoroughly. Indeed, he was a natural Hysterm family member, adept at navigating relationships with multiple women.
However… Shuna watched Will before her. After finishing his words, he lowered his head, looked at his fingertips, and began to ponder. In this state, he might be one step closer to “falling in love” with someone. Although it was his two teammates who brought this about, not herself, Shuna felt a pang of reluctance… but she decided to help him.
“So, what’s next? Are you still planning to obtain Lucifer’s heart?”
“Yes. But the more I think about it, the more I worry about Treya’s condition. So, I think I need to get the heart as soon as possible and then head to the capital.”
“Mm-hmm.” Will felt Shuna’s tone seemed to have become dejected again.
“Uh… Of course… Since you’re still here, we’ll explore together this time.”
“Now you remember you have a teammate beside you and aren’t just thinking about the little princess far away?” Shuna teased, then lightly tapped his head and stepped closer to him. “If you’re willing, we can set off tomorrow. However, when fighting Lucifer, if you go solo, I’ll just be there as insurance.”
“Huh? Why is it like this again this time?” Even though Will wanted to try, after getting off Liya’s chair, his state felt completely different.
“Lucifer is an enemy who is very skilled in the mental type. If she specifically targets my weaknesses and pulls me into her trap, my control over the force will easily go out of control, and I might kill her directly—but I don’t want to clear this dungeon.” Shuna’s tone and manner shifted back to her most proficient dungeon analysis. “The best way to deal with mental-type enemies is to have someone who can ensure they remain clear-headed in reality, acting as an ‘anchor’ between illusion and reality. This way, one person can be sure that everything they see is real, while the other sees everything as untrustworthy.”
“You mean, I, as the true conqueror, will take her skills, and you will be the anchor, because if you really go, you might accidentally clear the dungeon?”
“Correct,” Shuna snapped her fingers. “That’s what I mean.”
“Please, are you kidding me? How are we supposed to ‘not clear the dungeon’ and still get the Empress’s heart?”
“Hmm… What if she can survive even without her heart? After all, she’s a creature of the dungeon, and a demon. We can’t view her with ordinary assumptions, right?”
“You’re surprisingly insistent on this…” Will sensed something was off with Shuna. They had previously refrained from attacking to learn things from dungeon emperors, but most of the time, she, as a pure “Adventurer,” always acted with clearing the dungeon as her primary goal. Unless… there was something more fitting to her “true nature,” something that interested her more.
“Why don’t you want to clear the dungeon?”
“Because… there are more things I want to know from Lucifer.”
“What things?”
“This…” Shuna turned around, shifting from leaning her arm on the window to looking down, to leaning against the window and looking up at the sky. “How exactly can one reach the end of the dungeon? What is there to see?”
“?!” Shuna slowly turned back to look at Will. “You see, it’s useless for adventurers to simply want to explore deeper and stronger dungeons; they also need to think about the depths of the dungeon to reach it.”
Looking into her eyes under the moonlight, Will seemed to feel… She had the same “ambition” as Lucifer. Perhaps it was because she had received a shocking answer in her dungeon explorations. Her black eyes looked at him, as if trying to swallow him into the black hole of her pupils.
Will had once believed that her concern for conquering dungeons and her “contests” with powerful dungeon enemies were perhaps just a charade with a dungeon emperor. But it seemed that wasn’t the case. What she truly cared about were pure answers—What existed in the depths of the dungeon? What was the meaning of the dungeon’s end? What was the significance of exploring dungeons?
…
God-Attuned. Humans “gazed upon” by “gods,” not “blessed” by them. In the context of the original work, it more strongly conveyed the feeling of “a great task is about to be bestowed upon this person.” And besides receiving the blessing of the goddess Reviers, God-Attuned individuals shared another, more similar commonality… They were all fixated on the “end of the dungeon.” For most God-Attuned individuals, this manifested as “conquering the deepest part of the dungeon.” But Shuna’s fixation seemed deeper—
“The meaning of the act of conquest itself has diminished, so I want to ask her for more information and how exactly one can see that end.” Her head tilted back, extending out the window, she gazed at the starry sky. In a city lacking light pollution, the stars appeared brighter and clearer, as if the entire galaxy had been sprinkled on the night’s canvas. She reached out towards that galaxy in the sky, her eyes narrowing slightly. —Even if not from the perspective of “human” or “adventurer,” she wanted to reach the end of the dungeon. This was the obsession she was now displaying.
…
It was a pity that, in this “world”—or perhaps even this world—Will had only seen one such person. Xiu.
“Phew… Alright, I’ve finally said the thing that was weighing on my mind the most. Now it’s time to sleep.” She stretched and returned to the sofa. Then, she reached out and took off her hoodie. The moment she removed the hoodie, it seemed to have pulled her innerwear. And so… Will, who had been watching Shuna’s movements, saw the trace left on her southern hemisphere the instant her innerwear was pulled up. It was a crossed band, like a Mobius strip, but hollow in the middle, filled with intricate patterns and incomprehensible ancient script. This mark was the symbol of the goddess Reviers—and it symbolized that the person bearing this mark was God-Attuned. The position of this mark. It perfectly corresponded to… Xiu’s position.
