The figure arrived at the third floor, still lightly touching the core contained within the pouch. The core itself was still intact, yet a massive crack ran through the center of the beautiful fist-sized stone. Deep within, the conscious contained within the core was in a deep slumber, and mana weakly leaked out of the core.

In other words, this core was dying. Dungeon cores were extremely fragile despite their appearance and hardness of stone. The fact that mana was leaking out of the core meant that the core itself was slowly dying. The mana levels would drop to zero and the core would become nothing more than a dead jewel at most. The soul contained within it would die as well.

Glancing around, the figure made out the expanse before it. An open cave covered in rolling fields of grass, a huge lake, and jagged stones stretched out before it. A massive crystal formation extended like a massive pillar from the ceiling to the center of the great lake, the tip of the crystal touching the surface of the water. The corpses of terrifying beasts lay scattered throughout the entire floor, and a huge crack ran through the crystal formation on the ceiling.

“(X) ranked crystal overlord…Ironic.” The figure chuckled to itself as it stared at the massive crystal slowly leaking mana in a similar fashion to the Dungeon core within its pouch. “Even so, if the damage was only to this extent, I don’t see why you couldn’t help this one. Especially since you place such importance on this one…”

The third floor was in a state which could be considered to be wiped out. The leader of the floor, the (X) ranked crystal overlord was dying, and its monsters were dead. There was only one other existence the figure could think of that could directly pass the second floor of Gehennia’s Dungeon and enter the third floor. That would be one of Falynx’s God Servants. Falynx himself could probably skip to a lower floor if he showed up in person. The figure sighed as it stepped onto the surface of the lake, letting the water embrace it as it slowly sunk towards a gaping hole at the bottom of the lake. Those two gods truly hated each other to the bone. The figure would have to trouble itself once again to keep those two away from each other until the mission was finished. Then, at least, they could fight for as long as they needed to.

“Fourth floor should be damaged too then…It would be one of the easiest early floors to break through…” The figure quickly sunk through the hole at the bottom of the lake, landing into an expanse full of cold mist.

The expanse of the fourth floor was full of cold, blinding mist which ate away one’s field of view. The figure, however, could see directly through the mist, noting the massive spider web-like pillars of interlocking stone and sub-caves riddling the land. There were no plants on this floor, and the howls of monsters echoed throughout the fourth floor. With its vision, the figure picked out one of the monsters panickily running through the cavern. It was an (S) ranked Misty Morning Ape. This type of monster formed large groups under the control of a higher ranked evolution of its species, and produced mist from the pores in their body naturally. Being 8-feet tall at the shoulder even whilst running on all fours, the heavily muscled yet surprisingly agile ape wove through the network of stone pillars with precision. These apes were ambush predators who received strength and speed boosts from the very mist which constantly cloaked their bodies, and within the fourth floor, they could display frightening agility and coordination.

As the figure watched, the ape came across another of its kind of similar rank, and the two threw themselves at each other, slashing with their claws and baring their fangs as they leapt off of the stone pillars and floors, shattering stone and tearing up the earth in their vicious brawl. The figure snapped its fingers, and its shape once again blurred through the fourth floor, passing countless other fights. Some of these conflicts were on the scale of wars, as hundreds of Misty Morning Apes led by higher-ranked Misty Morning Ape Chieftains or Misty Morning Ape Warlords clashed throughout the fourth floor. This type of chaos was possible only when the leader of the monsters on this floor; the Misty Morning Ape Emperor, had perished. Being an (X) ranked monster, even if the Emperor was injured, it could still exert control over the Warlords and Chieftains, so this chaos could only be attributed to the Emperor Ape’s death.

Arriving at a random hole in the wall which resembled the many others nestled within the floor, the figure strolled right through. Winding through a few pathways, the figure arrived at the end of the cave, where a teleportation array softly emitted light. The activation of the array meant that the Ape Emperor was already dead, confirming the figure’s thoughts. Instead of activating another skill, the figure merely stepped onto the teleportation array, as it was the simplest and easiest way to access the fifth floor without using [Fool the World] again. The teleportation array emitted a blinding flash of white light, and after it dimmed back down to a soft glow, the figure was no longer there.

Somewhere on a hill on the fifth floor, a blinding flash lit up the environment before settling down, once again coating the land in a black void. The figure looked around before noticing the cold. It was to an extent which even the figure could slightly notice the temperature change.

“Did the floor change? If I recall, the Archaic Lich ruled over this floor…but this cold is not something the Lich can control.” The figure leapt into the air, floating and looking down on the floor. Despite the shrouding darkness, the figure could still clearly see through the floor as if the lack of light meant nothing.

The fifth floor of Gehennia’s Dungeon normally contained the sprawling ruins of an empire, crawling with millions of terrifying undead. Now, however, it was nothing but an icy wasteland. The entirety of the floor, excluding the hill which the figure had teleported, was covered in a layer of ice ranging from several inches, to several feet thick. Cold energy was emanating from the abandoned royal palace, yet suddenly, a piercing cold seemed to lock onto the figure. A ferocious aura emerged from the palace, and the figure saw a shadow emerge from the palace, flying towards it at breakneck speed.

With a mild smirk on its face, the figure stopped and floated in place as a young human girl who appeared to be no more than 12 years old in a kimono appeared before the figure. Her brilliant blue eyes seemed to emit a cold pressure, and her pale skin released faint wisps of frost which faded away after reaching a certain distance from her body. Giving the figure a brief glance, the girl’s pupils constricted, and her body began to grow a large amount of fur. The kimono covering her body ripped apart and fell away in shreds, and nine beautiful swaying tails erupted from her behind.

In an instant, a massive white fox with nine tails was floating before the figure, snarling. This monster was actually one of Gehennia’s guardians, meaning that its power was of a different scale compared to the other leaders of the floors, being at (XXX) rank in terms of power. This high of a ranking, and its closeness to the Dungeon as a guardian would naturally allow it to detect an anomaly within the Dungeon, allowing it to notice the figure. Generally, Gehennia allowed a guardian to watch over a maximum of five floors at a time, but floors one through six were actually trial rounds which did not represent the true power of the Dungeon. Finding a single guardian, let alone THREE on the same floor was very uncommon. The figure smirked before slowly drawing its hand to its robe, tearing it off and letting the robe fall listlessly to the frozen ground.

A gleaming, muscular human was revealed, floating before the girl. His body was covered in rippling muscles, wearing nothing underneath but a beast-skin loincloth and a pouch on a band around his neck. His head was bald, and his golden eyes were sharp, as if they could cut through everything. His white teeth seemed to emit a light which the fox could notice even though the environment was pitch black.

“Remember me, Aguru? Nixam? And is that Eden?” A rich, powerful voice rolled out from the smiling man’s mouth, causing the fur of the fox to raise as it hissed at him. In addition, a piercing cold struck at the figure’s body from a distance, not seeming to affect him in the slightest. The wailing of an infant suddenly filled the entirety of the fifth floor as well, echoing off of the walls and creating a hateful cacophony of sound. If any organism under the (C ) rank had been within the fifth floor during this time and heard the wails, their eardrums would’ve immediately burst, and their minds would have fallen into madness, turning them into mental vegetables. The three guardians which were on this floor, Aguru, Nixam, and Eden, all focused on the figure. The figure quickly flitted over the information in his mind as he observed the fox in front of him, and the two auras lurking from the distance.

Aguru and Nixam were both Kitsune of different evolutionary pathways, controlling powerful ice abilities. Aguru was a physical fighter with extreme speed and terrifying attack prowess, able to freeze her opponents just by coming into contact with them while dancing around their blows. Nixam was a mage-type fighter with wide-ranged ice-type magic. The entirety of the frozen fifth floor was likely due to her terraforming the area to better suit both Aguru and herself in a fight. Both of these girls were Kitsune; monster foxes which could freely change into a human form. These two guardians were also considered to be the complete opposite of Uruga and Maxin, who held fire-attributed skills instead.

Eden, on the other hand, was a special guardian formed from the naming of a monster known as Resentment Baby. Created through the torture of several one-month old human infants to death by their own parents through different means. The figure decided to omit the rest of the grisly details which were needed to create a Resentment Baby, but noted the key facts about the baby. Resentment babies possessed outstanding psychic, mental, and sonic attacks, but little to no physical prowess. In addition, being an undead allowed it to ignore the effects of the cold created by Nixam.

Feeling their attention on himself, the figure raised his arms and said in his powerful voice: “Bring Gehennia here immediately.”

The auras of the three instantly became hostile, and the kitsune in front of the figure snarled in anger.

“Master is busy. Leave immediately, Ainflaen.” A cold hiss leaked into the figure’s ears from the distance. Causing his previously smiling face to twist in anger.

“Damned fox. Is that how you speak to me?” The figure’s face twisted and changed, seeming to flit between forms. One moment, the face of a beautiful woman appeared, then it changed into the face of a scowling demon. A mirthful child showed up next, before morphing into a rat’s head. After several more changes, the figure returned to normal, and he smiled at the kitsune before him once again.

“Address me by my correct title.” This time, his voice was stern and unforgiving. Aguru, the kitsune before him, yelped as she was grabbed by an invisible force. The hostility from Nixam and Eden intensified, and a cold response from Nixam flowed to his ears.

“Ainflaen, The Billion-Faced Being, Fooler of the World, God of Treachery, Deceit, Illusions, Lies, Betrayal, Backsta-”

“My current title, dear.” A deep and hideous voice emerged from the figure; whose lips hadn’t moved. Aguru yelped in pain as the force around her compressed itself further. Despite her (XXX) ranked strength as a guardian of Gehennia’s Dungeon, she was unable to slip out of the force. Seeing this, the hostile auras faded out significantly, and a cold yet reluctant voice echoed throughout the fifth floor.

“Clikchia. God of Information, Truth, History, and Knowledge.”

Clikchia smiled as the force on Aguru lessened, and the kitsune wiggled out of the grasp in an instant and retreated several dozen feet away, warily staring at him. Clikchia emitted the aura of a kind, old gentleman and repeated himself.

“Bring Gehennia here immediately.”