After dealing with the two Bosses behind the Fog Gate and exploring the flower sea area to a satisfactory degree.
Unknowingly, it had already been over ten days since entering the Dungeon.
It felt like time was passing very quickly, yet he and the girls hadn't really done much of anything.
They were still camping and resting around that pitch-black Site of Grace. This Great Tree Labyrinth, surrounded by a sea of flowers, had absolutely no concept of day or night. The pale blue algae emitted a faint halo consistently.
Accompanied by the drifting flower petals, as well as the bugs falling from above from time to time.
It was actually quite a beautiful scene.
Lefiya hummed a folk song from her hometown as she threw the remaining ingredients from her backpack into the pot, along with the wild fruits and mushrooms Tiona had gathered—which were said to be edible and very delicious.
After Heith's appraisal, they were indeed edible without issues.
That Amazon girl really seemed to have maxed out her wilderness survival stats.
The girls were making a racket.
Ryuu-senpai was still repeatedly looking at the map she had drawn. She seemed to feel there was a problem somewhere but wasn't quite sure. Her silly appearance was simply like an intern who had just entered a company, making one want to tease her a little.
Miss Heith, on the other hand, was somewhat constrained. She was always looking around, appearing a bit nervous and not quite integrated into the group. This was normal, after all; it was her first time officially coming on an adventure. After a few more times, she would naturally get used to it.
In contrast.
Although it was also her first time, this fellow Ais appeared to have much more leeway.
The golden-haired girl's face was full of satisfied expressions. This adventure, whether it was the battles with Bosses or the fights with ordinary Monsters, satisfied her considerably!
Ais could even feel her own growth.
She was already impatient, wanting to return to the city surface to update her Status and see exactly how many ability points she had gained. At the same time, she wondered what kind of Monsters she would encounter in the next adventure—the girl didn't like fighting for the sake of fighting.
What she wanted was to "become stronger." Combat was a means to become stronger, but it was indeed not her objective.
Isagi, however, sat alone by the fire, raising his head to look at that distant blue "vault of heaven," wondering if he should fly up alone to take a look before they left.
It would be good to be mentally prepared.
He mentioned his thoughts to Ryuu-senpai, and the other party expressed some worry.
However.
Well, this was the daily routine.
Today's resurrection count hadn't been used yet, so Isagi felt there was nothing to worry about. Thus, after eating, he asked the girls to wait for him here for a little while.
Subsequently.
Spreading his golden twin wings, Isagi flew directly upward.
Passing through those brilliant, large clusters of flowers.
Amidst the colorful rain of flowers, dodging the attacks of various Monsters, he continued upward, upward, upward—
After a long time.
In his line of sight, that gorgeous flower sea finally disappeared. Replacing it were traces of frost and snow, silent as death.
Layers of silver-white ice and snow covered the spaces between the great trees and the branches.
Most places had completely congealed into ice surfaces—looking very slippery at a glance—along with traps that still existed but had changed from spikes to ice thorns.
There was a biting cold wind that blew constantly.
And there were sharp blocks of ice, like blades, crumbling and falling from overhead from time to time. This was probably the cold region that the little beetle, Nick, had mentioned before.
Continuing upward.
With just a hurried glance, Isagi could imagine just how much more difficult it would be to continue climbing when he and the girls arrived here later.
He also didn't know if there was a Boss here, or if the ice and snow would melt after killing it or something.
Or perhaps it was just purely...
While flying, Isagi suddenly heard a muffled rumbling sound coming from above. Looking up, he saw a expanse of silver-white crashing down along with that pale blue light.
Holy crap, there's an avalanche too?!
That frost and snow falling like the sky was collapsing seemed as if it would submerge everything. Fortunately, he was flying in the sky and quickly ran out of its coverage range!
Undoubtedly.
This was definitely the handiwork of some Boss. After killing it, avalanches probably wouldn't happen here anymore—
Why does it feel like it hasn't become much easier?!
Going further up.
After the ice and snow melted, it turned into scorching flowing fire.
Nick had also said before that after the cold came the test of "heat." But Isagi never would have thought that the so-called "heat" meant that every damn great tree and the connecting branches were all blazing furiously.
"?"
It was very sudden.
When he was below, he couldn't see such a scene at all.
It was as if he had passed through some "transparent" door. In a split second, the world of ice and snow from just now completely vanished, replaced by a view full of crimson flames.
Burning, burning, burning.
As far as the eye could see, the entire forest was blazing. The sparks flying everywhere and the constantly dancing flames even gave the illusion of stinging one's eyes with pain.
The paths between the branches were completely charred; some had even turned into orange-red branding irons. Just one look made it impossible to understand how one was supposed to walk on them.
From time to time.
Fireballs spewed from who knows where would suddenly explode among the great trees.
Can this place really be traversed?
Isagi couldn't even imagine how he and the girls would continue upward when they arrived here.
It was truly tough for those pilgrim bugs to be able to keep climbing up in this kind of place. He could even see former "Goblin Camps" during the ascent.
The Pale King was also a ruthless man, to still be able to lead the Goblins upward through this.
Then next, he should be almost at Paradise, right—
Isagi raised his head.
But he discovered that the distant azure overhead hadn't become "closer" at all just because he continued flying up.
What is going on?
Amidst such confusion, very suddenly—while flying upward continuously, unable to stop for a moment (because if he stopped, he would be caught by the Monsters!)—Isagi abruptly realized he seemed to have plunged headfirst into an incomparably profound darkness.
In his line of sight, nothing could be seen.
Pure pitch-blackness obscured everything, making one think they had arrived in some void space.
Almost instinctively.
Isagi quickly turned on the Magic Stone Lamp hanging at his waist.
A small pure white light instantly exploded. Subsequently, what emerged before his eyes was a corner of a withering, dilapidated great tree that was slowly rotting.
The Magic Stone Lamp could barely illuminate the range of about one meter around his body. Places further away remained submerged in darkness.
Simultaneously.
Isagi could sense that something existed right beside him in a place he couldn't see.
"!!!"
Abruptly drawing his Greatsword from the mouth of his armor, under the faint silver-gray moonlight, a Monster appeared from below, opening a maw full of sharp fangs and slamming into him.
Clang!
Sparks flew instantly!!
The ugly Monster looked like a large deep-sea fish, yet also like some worm lurking deep underground. That incomparably wide giant maw almost occupied everything before his eyes.
Unimaginable immense force wrapped around him, pushing him constantly upward at a speed unknown times faster than before!
Then.
Isagi saw it. Inside the Monster's ghastly large mouth.
A pure white humanoid figure crawled out from within. It had the silhouette of a woman, but its overall size was much larger than a normal person, roughly around three meters tall. It was like a proportionally enlarged guy. No facial features, no hair, no clothes—
She laughed lightly, crawling out from between the Monster's sharp teeth, and brought that faceless face right in front of him.
[Hero Who Subjugated Miracles · #@$%!@#]
"?"
What does the garbled text mean?
Isagi couldn't understand. In the next instant, a sound like glass shattering came from behind him.
He suddenly crashed heavily onto the ground.
When he came back to his senses, the Monster from just now had completely vanished.
The sudden accident made Isagi lose his sense of direction somewhat. He thought to himself that he seemed to have been pushed constantly upward by a Monster like a deep-sea fish just now, and then...
Before his eyes was an incomparably magnificent and majestic city.
Beneath his feet was azure crystal. Not far away, there was a hole; below it was darkness. It looked like he had just come up from there.
He raised his head.
He could also see a layer of azure crystal. It was just that behind that layer of crystal was another giant city hanging upside down.
[The Reverse Side of the Holy City].
Isagi was a bit dizzy.
The scene before his eyes was somewhat difficult to understand. After passing through the Road of Pilgrimage just now, shouldn't he have arrived at Paradise?
Could it be...
[Paradise Does Not Exist]?
Or is there some more complicated plot here?
It was just like skipping through the plot all the way and then arriving in a completely unfamiliar area.
Isagi walked toward the giant city before him, only to discover that while it looked very large, in reality, there was only one straight road.
And there were no Monsters.
Between the boundless crystal planes, a straight stone path emitting pale blue light continued forward, guiding him to the foot of a clock tower on the outskirts of the city.
For some reason, Isagi felt the clock tower before his eyes was somewhat familiar.
And as he approached.
As if a narrator were recounting something, a woman's incomparably sorrowful voice came from the distance.
[What is a miracle?]
[What, then, is Paradise?]
[The Monsters have their own wishes and longings. The Church gathered them, mixed them together, and told the Monsters that as long as they continued upward, any wish could be realized.]
[This is the meaning of the Church's existence. However, things craved for will not be realized. When the Monsters discover this point, the Church will inevitably be destroyed.]
[Therefore.]
[The reason the Holy Church still exists is precisely because a certain wish and longing was truly realized.]
The door to the clock tower was pushed open.
To the side, a golden Site of Grace quietly emerged. Accompanied by the thick fog appearing behind the door, it indicated that a Boss battle was waiting for him inside.
Isagi walked in without hesitation.
But he discovered that inside was a small, abandoned church. Amidst the already damaged statues of gods, silver-white moonlight sprinkled down.
Messily.
Among the long benches that had long been dilapidated, a woman in a black dress with long silver-white hair sat there quietly—
[Greatest Evil · "Silence" Alfia]
____
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