Chapter 216: Chain Explosions, the Approaching Juggernaut!
"How is this possible? The Lambton was actually…"
The sight left Jura staring in disbelief.
He had gone through so much trouble to obtain that Lambton, yet it had been killed so easily?
"Ethan-san…"
Looking at Ethan, Ryuu did not know what to say for a moment.
Strong.
He was simply far too strong.
Bang!
At that moment, the slain Lambton collapsed into ash, leaving only a magic stone behind.
This was a monster capable of freely traveling between Dungeon floors.
In the deep floors, Lambtons often crossed between levels and launched sudden attacks on adventurers. Many people had died to them.
And because they had no fixed territory, even finding one was difficult.
Step, step.
Ethan slowly walked toward Jura.
Of course, he was deliberately slowing himself down.
His purpose was to pressure Jura.
After all, Ethan was extremely curious about the monster that had appeared in the original story—the Dungeon's defense mechanism, a monster only born under special circumstances.
"Y-You… Don't come any closer…"
Watching Ethan approach, Jura began to panic.
When faced with true terror, the fear buried deep inside a person would inevitably leak out.
Jura was no exception.
He might be a member of Evilus and a madman himself, but he was still human. As long as he was human, fear remained part of him.
"Turk! What are you waiting for?! Start the plan!"
Suddenly, the terrified Jura shouted loudly.
Among Bors's group, the werewolf who had initially claimed to have personally seen [Gale] immediately darkened his expression.
He was clearly furious with Jura.
Not only had the plan failed to proceed as expected, but Jura had even exposed him.
"Turk?"
A catman from Bors's group who normally got along fairly well with Turk stared at the werewolf in disbelief.
This timid-looking guy with a pile of bad habits was actually part of Evilus?
"Damn it!"
Now that he had been exposed, Turk no longer dared hesitate.
After all, there was a monster-like man standing not far away.
Especially after Bors had been bragging earlier, plenty of information about Ethan had been revealed, including the fact that Ethan had already reached Lv.5.
"Hurry up and detonate everything!"
"Tch."
Turk glanced toward Jura with obvious irritation.
He was unhappy, but there was no other choice now.
"Detonate everything? Don't tell me…"
Ryuu suddenly seemed to realize something, and her face instantly turned pale.
"Ethan, stop him! Otherwise—"
BOOM!
Before she could finish, a deafening explosion erupted.
Then another followed.
And another.
The explosions continued one after another, clearly not coming from a single location but from a chain of detonations spread across the area.
"Hahahaha! Ryuu Lion, it's over! You don't have a chance anymore!"
"The true 'Juggernaut' is about to descend! Hahahahaha!"
Jura, who had been frightened by Ethan moments ago, burst into wild laughter when he heard the continuous explosions.
"Jura!"
"Do you know why I chose this place?"
"Because the 27th floor and the 25th floor are effectively the same!"
"Once this entire region pierced by the Great Falls suffers damage, the Dungeon treats it as a single floor!"
"Damage and everything else are shared! The Dungeon will mistake it that way!"
"In other words, whether an 'explosion' happens on the 27th floor or the 25th floor… to the Dungeon, it all counts as 'damage' inflicted on the same floor!"
Hearing Jura's explanation, Ryuu's pupils suddenly contracted.
Sealed memories began awakening.
Memories of the tragedy she never wanted to remember.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The deafening explosions continued without pause.
Ethan frowned slightly.
It seemed the butterfly effect caused by his arrival was truly significant.
In the original story, Jura had never possessed this much firepower.
With explosions continuing on this scale, the explosives had to be Kaenseki.
And there was definitely a huge amount of it.
What Ethan did not know was that Jura possessing this much Kaenseki was actually connected to him.
Because of Ethan, the Ikelos Familia had been subjugated.
Even Daedalus Street had been swept clean by the Freya Familia, causing Evilus to suffer catastrophic losses.
Most members of Evilus were greedy and despicable people.
After suffering such a heavy blow, their first response had not been revenge.
Instead, they turned on each other.
Driven by greed, they bared their fangs at their former companions.
Because of this, Jura, as a monster tamer, used the monsters under his control to seize quite a few valuable supplies.
After a long period of preparation, he finally accumulated this enormous stockpile of Kaenseki.
Unlike in the original story, he no longer needed to rely on Ryuu's magic.
After all, depending on someone else always introduced too many uncertainties.
"Do you think I did nothing during these five years after you slaughtered everyone around me?!"
"I investigated everything! I kept investigating where and how I needed to do it to summon that 'despair'!"
Jura's face twisted horribly as he spoke, looking utterly deranged.
He was a complete madman.
And Ethan could feel it too.
As the explosions continued and vast sections of the surrounding floors were destroyed, some unseen will deep within the Dungeon began to awaken.
"Jura… I should have made absolutely sure you were dead back then."
"That's right! You should have killed me!"
"But you failed!"
"Now your punishment is coming, Ryuu Lion!"
"The Juggernaut is about to descend! Everyone here will end up just like five years ago—torn completely to pieces!"
"No… No…"
Painful memories and crushing trauma assaulted Ryuu once again.
For Ryuu, the deaths of every companion in her Familia five years ago were a shadow she could never escape.
A scar in her heart that could never truly heal.
Now Jura had ripped that wound open once again.
The terrifying Juggernaut was going to descend once more.
This time, everyone would die.
Pshk!
Blood suddenly burst into the air.
A long spear glowing with golden light pierced straight through Jura's body.
"How… could…"
Before the madness on Jura's face could even change, his life had already reached its end.
Ethan had only kept him alive because he wanted to use Jura's plan to summon that monster.
After all, Ethan's current position made it inconvenient for him to deliberately trigger something like this himself.
Now that his objective had been achieved, Jura had no value left.
"Ryuu, are you all right?"
Ethan turned toward her.
Ryuu's face was filled with terror. She had clearly suffered an enormous shock.
"It's the same… Just like back then…"
"It's going to happen… again…"
"Ah… Alise…!"
Ryuu's emotions had already become extremely unstable.
…
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