“That is quite a look.”
I was unable to hold back myughter as I watched Lehric twist his mouth.
I shrugged off the robe draped over my shoulders simultaneously.
“Aegis Robe.”
Lehric muttered the name of the robe as he observed me.
Although it had a limit of ten-minutes, it was an item that could block any type of damage during that period.
It was one of the fake treasures created by the Dream Demon Manor.
“So, I see that you’ve been to the fourth floor.”
It seemed like he was struggling to suppress his rising emotions from his manner of speaking, so I responded calmly.
“Yes.”What I employed was a very simple trick, more like a y on words.
4. Guests are only permitted up to the third floor.
“It was puzzling at first. Since we were only allowed to go up to the third floor, I naturally assumed there would be some sort of penalty for going to the fourth floor.”
However, there was no penalty whatsoever.
And while it was not prohibited explicitly…
2. Please refrain from going outside at night. If you happen to go out, the responsibility lies with you.
Just like Rule No. 2, it was basically just a warning to not go beyond the third floor.
“I found it peculiar. But when I discovered the rule on the fourth floor, I realized.”
29. There is no fourth floor in the Dream Demon Manor.
“The fact that there is no fourth floor in the Dream Demon Manor means that the fourth floor we went to was not part of the Dream Demon Manor.”
“…”
“Since the fourth floor is beyond the Dream Demon Manor’s domain, the persistent rules of this ce do not apply to it.”
The fourth floor was not part of the Dream Demon Manor, hence the rules did not apply there.
Lehric took a deep breath and calmed his emotions before smiling.
“So, you went up to the fourth floor and escaped from the Dream Demon Manor at the stroke of midnight on the fifth day, before being expelled. Then, using the Aegis Robe, you survived the dangerous fourth floor.”
“Yes.”
“You are pretty clever.”
Even though he said that, Lehric’s smile remained stiff.
I guessed that the most crucial condition needed to copy someone was for them to lose their memory when expelled.
However, since I wasn’t expelled nor did I lose my memory, it meant that he had failed to copy me.
“Ha… haha.”
Perhaps because he had been excited about uncovering the continent’s secrets I held, Lehric was barely able to maintain hisposure.
Just like a child who had just received a gift only to have it taken away, it seemed that he had realized his failure and was immediately filled with raging anger.
His hand twitched, as if he wanted to break my neck right then and there for humiliating him like this.
He licked his lips, perhaps driven by the impulse to drench himself in my blood.
However, he wouldn’t be able to do so.
The moment he killed me, he would be even further from the secrets of the continent he was desperately looking forward to.
“Fine. I’ll admit that you outsmarted me. You exploited something I overlooked.”
Having reached that conclusion, Lehric was on the verge of losing his mind, but he acknowledged it rather calmly.
“So, what do you want?“
He gave me a twisted sneer.
“Your stay in the Dream Demon Manor hase to an end, but I never said that you could escape from here.”
“…”
“Yes, it is a pity. It’s really unfortunate that I was unable to get your memories. But there are plenty of other ways, and opportunities abound.”
“…”
“I see no reason for me to allow you to leave this ce.”
Lehric smiled widely, having regained his own pace.
The Dark Spiritualist and Han So on either side of me frowned but they did not intervene because we had expected this reaction.
“There is still one thing that bothers me.”
Seeing Lehric’s twisted smile with faint satisfaction, I pointed out the puzzling aspect.
“What is it?”
Perhaps having blurted out the question out of sheer anxiety; Lehric immediately covered his mouth with his hand after saying that.
“Why did you create the fourth floor?”
The moment he heard my question, Lehric’s stood stiff, and our eyes met.
I wondered what he felt right then.
Did he feel like his very essence as the Demon Lord of Deception wasid bare?
Or did he feel like his existence seemed insignificant?
Lehric hesitated to speak, perhaps afraid that he would reveal the truth if he said anything further.
Unfortunately, I pierced through the shield of silence and walked towards the truth.
“No matter how much I think about it, the existence of the fourth floor itself is strange. It ignores all the rules of the Dream Demon Manor.”
It was a ce where the rules weren’t applicable.
It also contradicted various rules of the Dream Demon Manor.
17. Cleaning is performed daily.
Despite the uing cleaning, it still insisted on devouring Jortu’s corpse.
28. There are no servants in the Dream Demon Manor.
It even went as far as to pretend to be the non-existent servants of the Dream Demon Manor.
29. There is no fourth floor in the Dream Demon Manor.
The Dream Demon Manor itself denied its existence outright.
“Because of the existence of the fourth floor, there are too many loopholes in the Dream Demon Manor.”
That was why it was pretty simple to use the fourth floor to bypass thest five days rule.
“I just added it as an element of fun for my amusement.”
Lehric answered with a grin. However…
“If you are truly the Demon Lord of Deception.”
I scoffed and rebuked him.
“You should have learned to lie better.”
“…”
Why was that?
Certainly, the Demon Lord in front of me could kill me at any moment.
He could brutally sever my neck, drink my blood, and hang my skinned corpse to decorate his general store.
Yet strangely, I felt as though he was in the palm of my hand, and perhaps I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.
“You did well by putting rules on the fourth floor. Thanks to that, it did seem like it was part of the Dream Demon Manor.”
The rules No. 27 and No. 29 were deliberately inscribed on the fourth floor.
“But your excuse is that it was just for fun? That is so absurd, that it’s not evenughable.”
Lehric’sme excuse to ridiculously continue the conversation only made me more certain.
“In my opinion…”
I slowly reveal the truth that the creator of the Dream Demon Manor wanted to hide desperately.
The reason why the Dream Demon Manor, which had been in operation for so long, could no longer function.
“You did not create the fourth floor.”
To be more precise, it wasn’t a fourth floor but a living entity.
While it looked like something grand and enormous, waiting for its prey with its mouth wide open, from a slightly different perspective, it seemed to be devouring the Dream Demon Manor.
“Romuleus.”
<em>Ruumbbble</em>!
As if reacting to its name or perhaps realizing the owner of the manor had returned, the Dream Demon Manor began trembling.
Simultaneously, Lehric’s face twisted grotesquely.
“The fanatic Mul from Room 109 said this about the fourth floor.”
- <em>How dare he try to embody a god. He is truly sphemous. I will surely kill Demon Lord Lehric.</em>
At first, I also thought he was just talking about a sculpture.
However, in the first ce, there was no way something like that would exist on the fourth floor.
The answer was clear.
“That must be the god he was referring to.”
<em>BOOOM</em>!
As if it had been waiting for this moment, Romuleus began to devour the Dream Demon Manor violently.
Its human-shaped tentacles began descending the stairs as the third floor gradually disappeared.
“They look so disgusting whileing down!”
“We’ll hold them off.”
<em>Bang! Bang!</em>
Han So and the Dark Spiritualist blocked the stairs to buy some time.
However, Lehric didn’t even nce at them and kept his eyes fixed on me.
“Did Mul call that monster a fake after seeing it?”
“Yes.”
“So ridiculous. How can someone call himself a prophet when he can’t even recognize if the god they serve hase?”
Unlike his usual self, Lehric was now sneering with contempt. He sighed deeply and nodded.
“The one who upied Room 110 before you, so I mean, after I allowed that fanatic Mul to stay in the Dream Demon Manor, that monster bared its teeth here.”
“…”
“It was like a conqueror. If it weren’t for that damned fanatic, the Dream Demon Manor could havested forever.”
Human-shaped tentacles began to destroy the Dream Demon Manor.
The second floor was already half devoured.
The grotesque maw of a god now upied the ce where the ceiling previously was.
“I wondered why it had stopped its activities. It turns out that damned god was waiting for me.”
The Dream Demon Manor was now disappearing in the same ridiculous and futile manner its name suggested.
Lehric, the owner of this ce, clicked his tongue in amusement.
Then he pondered over the current situation.
“In the end, I was unable to uncover your secret, and I also lost the Dream Demon Manor I created with so much effort.”
“I guess you could call it karma.”
“Do demons even have karma?”
Initially, it would have been more than enough to trap me in the Dream Demon Manor, but if I stayed for any longer, I would be devoured by the god.
“If you had been a little less intriguing or perhaps a little less mysterious, I would have given up immediately.”
Despite his disappointment, the demon locked his eyes on me as if I were a tempting fruit.
Having experienced it from Magan once before, I had be familiar with this gaze.
And in the end…
<em>Creak</em>.
Behind his back…
“Congrattions, Deus Verdi.”
A purple door opened.
“You are the only human to sessfully escape the Dream Demon Manor on your own.”
Lehric admitted his defeat honestly, as if it was meaningless to keep me here for any longer.
Crushing and trampling one with brute force was not in Lehric’s nature.
“I will pay you back for today’s humiliating defeat the next time we meet.”
With those words, Lehric quietly stepped aside, making way for me.
<em>Ruuummmmbllleeee</em>!
As if realizing that we were about to escape from this, Romuleus increased its pace and began to devour the Dream Demon Manor even more intensely.
Despite the increasing urgency of the situation, I turned around and looked at the two people fighting on the stairs.
And as if they were right on cue, Han So and the Dark Spiritualist were also looking at me.
“I am proud to entrust the future to you, who recognized me as a person, as Han So.”
Han So spoke as he swung his Heavenly Oath Martial Staff. His lips still bore a radiant smile despite his looming death.
“It seems I can only either greatly like or dislike you as a person.”
From the other side, the Dark Spiritualist expressed her honest feelings while wielding her magic.
Although the time spent was brief, we had shared a lot of conversations.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any regrets.
“I had long abandoned having rtionships with people, but you made me feel regretful at our parting, and I hate you for that.”
“…”
“I envy my future self who will be able to stay by your side.”
<em>Boom!</em>
The Dark Spiritualist’s mana surged.
The purple mana protected me as it tore apart all the tentacles flying toward me.
“I feel so upset with my other self who you’ll get to meet now, that I want to hit her just once, you know?”
It was an abrupt yet light-hearted remark.
However, her following words were anything but that.
“Jenny.”
Even though she was feeling shy, her eyes didn’t waver as she tried her best to remember as much of me as she could.
“That’s my name.”
“Jenny?”
“Yeah, it’s strange for a Necromancer to have the name Jenny, isn’t it? It sounds weak and doesn’t seem fitting, right?”
“That is a ridiculous reason.”
I wasn’t expecting to learn of her real name like this, nor did I expect that to be her reason for hiding it.
However, Jenny responded with a smile.
“Go and give her a good smack in my stead.”
“Well, if that is what you want.”
I nodded and turned around once again.
The Dream Demon Manor copsed.
The impending farewell was much heavier than I had anticipated, making it harder for me to move my feet.
However, grateful that I would remember them, their backs urged me to leave.
Hence, I gained a bit of strength and stepped out the door.
“Well done, Soul Whisperer of Norseweden.”
“Goodbye, my good apprentice.”
<em>Thud</em>.
Just like that, the door behind me closed.
And suddenly, I was once again standing in myboratory at Loberne Academy.