Compared to the simple purity of the Goblin Kingdom, the plot on this side seemed a bit "complex."
But in reality, after organizing his thoughts now, Isagi felt he had been overthinking it.
Over in the Goblin Kingdom.
It was a very simple story of the original, strongest "King" having died, leading to the collapse of the kingdom, and thus the need to find a successor—
As for the [Anthropomorphic Holy Church] right before him, Isagi judged that, to sum it up, it should be:
[The church gathers all its power to recreate the strongest "Miracle."]
"The previous Miracle was undoubtedly [Goliath]." On the way back, Isagi chatted with the girls traveling alongside him.
"In the Pale King's storyline, it was explicitly mentioned that it was defeated by the giant representing the Miracle.
"But later, Goliath was killed by [Adventurers].
"However, I'm more inclined to believe that it was abandoned."
What did that mean?
The monsters saw that the once incredibly powerful "Miracle" giant was defeated by adventurers time and time again. Ultimately disheartened, they realized it wasn't the "strongest existence."
That was why the Anthropomorphic Holy Church revered "Adventurers," which led to the subsequent appearance of the monster adventurer parties, as well as Alfia—
"[Miracle] doesn't simply refer to Goliath or a Monster Rex, but rather to a power appearing within the Dungeon that even the monsters themselves cannot comprehend."
"Just like the pitfalls over in the Middle Levels, the Anthropomorphic Holy Church also calls them[Miracles]. By using the bell, they can cause the crisscrossing rock walls filled with gray rubble everywhere to split open, revealing unprecedented pathways, or causing people to fall into deeper levels. This is also a 'Miracle.'"
"In that case, didn't that [Great Tree Priest] from before say that the Anthropomorphic Holy Church also used the power of Miracles to make [Alfia] appear?"
"Yeah!"
"There's also that monster called [Absolute Evil]."
With him taking the lead, the girls also began to chatter and discuss, but they quickly discovered a new problem.
"Since [Alfia] has already appeared, doesn't that mean their goal has already been achieved? Or is there something else?"
"It's hard to say. Furthermore, why must they resurrect Alfia? Is it just because she's the strongest adventurer?"
"Indeed!"
"In any case, let's head over and take a look first."
The [Place of Truth] before them had already returned to its original appearance.
A wasteland piled with scattered rocks of various sizes; apart from weeds, it seemed as if nothing else existed.
Isagi and the girls arrived at the location where they remembered encountering the [Great Tree Priest] previously, only to find that this guy was long gone.
Previously, when they first came here, they discovered this guy hiding behind the stone wall. Aside from learning the origin of the monster adventurers, it had also issued a quest, asking their side to defeat them.
But later, with the triggering of the BOSS battle, that monster adventurer party had been taken out by the BOSS instead. It was unknown if that counted as completing the quest, or if he and the girls needed to search for other monster adventurers all over again.
Amidst these thoughts, since Lefiya was still sleeping and they had nothing to do, Isagi and the girls wandered around this [Place of Truth] once more, but the result was that there were no new discoveries.
Thus, they could only return the way they came. Next, they actually had two choices.
One: Return to the Anthropomorphic Holy Church Cathedral they discovered earlier and explore inside.
Two: Continue climbing upwards through the[Great Tree Labyrinth] to reach the very top, the "Dark Zone" their party hadn't explored yet, or even continue further up to the [Inner Side of the Holy City] where he encountered Alfia.
After Isagi and the girls discussed for a while, they decided to choose the latter.
That was, to continue climbing upwards along this place known as the [Inverted Spiral Road of Pain].
They had already resolved the several zones of [Poison], [Ice], and [Fire] previously; only the final "Dark Zone" was left unexplored.
Regardless, there wouldn't be any problem taking a stroll through there first, right?
Harboring such thoughts, they returned to the "Great Tree Labyrinth," filled with towering trees and lush foliage, where interlocking branches formed a continuous upward path.
After finding the nearest black Site of Grace, they set up camp to rest until Lefiya woke up and recovered a portion of her mental strength.
Only then did Isagi use the "whistle" Marie had given him previously, summoning a fiery red large bird, which was also a "shortcut" in this zone, or rather, a "teleportation mechanic."
It directly took everyone in the party from this Site of Grace, carrying them on its back, flying in one breath all the way to the very top they had previously explored—into the burning zone where crimson sparks floated everywhere.
All around, the distinct "crackling" sound of trees being engulfed by fire could be heard everywhere.
Fortunately, the BOSS here had already been taken out, so there were no special mechanics.
Moreover, after walking a few steps forward along the scorched tree trunks on the side, suddenly, it was as if they had arrived in another world—or, as Isagi had described it before, that sensation of suddenly "surfacing from underwater."
In the blink of an eye, the dancing flames, the sweltering and stifling aura, the swirling crimson sparks... all vanished without a trace here.
All that remained was pure pitch-black.
It was an extreme darkness where one couldn't see their own fingers stretched out in front of them, to the point where they couldn't even see a sliver of their companions standing right next to them.
As if intending to swallow everything. Furthermore, everyone could feel that at this very moment, within the surrounding darkness, something seemed to be constantly watching them, its gaze drifting near and far.
That chilling gaze was like a long snake. It would even slowly give one the illusion of suffocation.
"Phew—" In the darkness, the sound of breathing was also infinitely magnified, intertwining together, even forming a certain kind of echo at times.
Under these circumstances, it was simply impossible to explore forward.
Isagi just felt that his past self had been too "reckless," blindly flying upwards, disregarding everything else, and surprisingly actually breaking through this layer of the zone.
But right now, he had to use that item. According to the small pilgrimaging bugs, they needed the light of the "Pearl Tree" to dispel the darkness before their eyes.
Very quickly, Isagi brought out the "Pearl" he had just acquired.
It looked like a pure white sphere the size of an apple, but strangely, it didn't emit any light.
But it seemed different at this moment.
Just like when they were in the [Place of Truth], a pure white light radiated outward. Subsequently, it began to cover the surrounding darkness—not dispelling it, but rather dyeing everything around them in a pure white color.
Aside from himself and the girls, the tree trunk beneath their feet, the foliage not far away, the weeds, and... the corpses of the bugs.
Like a lantern, it suddenly illuminated an area of several meters around them.
Beneath their feet was still the broad tree trunk road, except that numerous bug corpses were piled up on both sides of the path.
Various kinds of bugs.
Worms, mantises, butterflies, beetles, cockroaches, scarabs, grasshoppers...
Large and small. Some looked somewhat humanoid, while others were entirely bugs. They were completely tangled together, piled up. If not for the distinct lines of the bugs' exoskeletons, it would have looked like a pile of grayish-white flesh.
Not only that, the "Pearl" also illuminated a small area beyond the tree trunk.
Thus, Isagi and the girls simultaneously saw that there were also countless bug corpses floating in mid-air.
They floated, as if solidified, unmoving, even giving the illusion of looking at "amber."
Their entirety also presented a completely grayish-white color.
They were particularly eye-catching amidst the surroundings that used the darkness as a "curtain." At the same time, around them, black "things" resembling thin threads or earthworms were wriggling.
What exactly was that?
Isagi remained silent. Clearly, this place right now was completely different from those zones below.
Moreover, perhaps because of the "Pearl" in his hand.
In the distance within the originally pitch-black darkness, small "lights" began to appear.
Just like households with drifting lights in the distance under the night sky, or like lighthouses guiding the way forward, several incredibly tiny clusters of light were sparkling at different locations ahead. If one looked closely, they were even slowly "moving."
Faced with such a bizarre scene, it was naturally impossible to give up exploring.
Isagi and the girls quickly formed their usual formation, with himself and Ais taking the vanguard, Lefiya and Miss Heith in the middle, and finally Ryuu-senpai and Tiona bringing up the rear.
The six-person party began to "push forward" with incredible coordination.
Subsequently, what the group discovered was that the initially somewhat distant pure white lights seemed to be slowly approaching their side.
"Could that be some kind of BOSS?"
"It's possible."
Isagi said, thinking that it definitely wouldn't be anything good anyway—in the Dungeon, could one even encounter "good things"?
Most importantly, it had been too quiet along the way.
Those zones below had all been individually annoying: spike traps, poison debuffs, slippery and freezing snowy ground, trees covered in fire everywhere, as well as monsters that popped out at the drop of a hat—flying ones, ranged ones, tormenting people alongside platforming sections and traps.
The reason why they didn't grind for Ability Scores in those places below previously was exactly because it was too troublesome.
But now.
Among these tree trunks filled with grayish-white colors, apart from the piled up and floating bug corpses in mid-air, there was absolutely nothing else.
This was clearly abnormal.
Isagi remembered the first time he came here and encountered that guy resembling some deep-sea monster fish, as well as the BOSS that appeared from its mouth—
[Hero Who Subjugates Miracles · #@$%!@#].
Why didn't the other party have a name?
What exactly was that thing?
Its existence was definitely closely related to the Anthropomorphic Holy Church's plot, even including this entire completely fabricated pilgrimage route that could never possibly reach Paradise—no, where even "Paradise" itself didn't exist.
Carrying these numerous questions, not long after, the fully focused youth and girls finally ran into the slowly approaching "light points" from the distance.
And thus.
Appearing before everyone's eyes were the figures of another "adventurer party"...
____
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