The vast chamber of the dungeon lay in absolute silence.
I took several shallow breaths.
Calm down.
The power the enemy had obtained was far beyond anything normal—so overwhelming it threatened to crush my composure. But moments like this were exactly when the basics mattered most. I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and consciously lowered my center of gravity. My breathing came not from my chest, but from deep within my abdomen.
A power capable of tearing through the world itself.
My eyes fixed on the rift floating in the air before us. If I looked away from it now, victory would forever remain out of reach.
Solana’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“So it’s the power to rip through the world, open a hole in it, and pass through to instantly travel anywhere… In effect, teleportation.”
The Medicine God, Sigris, nodded with a pale expression.
“And if the monsters under his command can pass through those openings as well, then he can send them anywhere.”
“I see…”
Shaking his brown braids, the God of Hunting, Uru, narrowed his sharp eyes.
“That explains why he abandoned a stronghold like this dungeon so easily. No matter where he is, he can simply tear open the world and send an army of monsters straight into the Royal Capital.”
From the rift in space, a chilling wind whistled through the chamber. It resembled the freezing air that had once blown through the Great Void before the world itself had been born.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Then… they can attack from anywhere.”
The princess had already begun rallying support within the Royal Castle, gathering adventurers and strengthening the city’s defenses in preparation for war. But if the enemy truly possessed a power like this, then Ymir might suddenly appear inside those defenses without warning.
Even this very moment wasn’t safe. There was always the possibility that Ymir and a horde of monsters could emerge here in an instant and attack.
A sudden question surfaced in my mind.
If they were truly that powerful… then why hadn’t they attacked already?
Were they gathering strength? Building an army?
Trying to ease the tension tightening my chest, I took another deep breath.
“…We still don’t have enough information.”
Loki snapped his fingers sharply.
“Then let us recreate Ymir’s form here once more. Just as Luisia requested.”
Loki closed one eye and glanced toward Lu. My little sister gave a small nod before turning her sky-blue eyes toward me.
“There’s something I noticed.”
Once again, the walls and ceiling began to glow faintly. Particles of light rose from the floor and slowly gathered together, reconstructing Ymir’s figure.
This time, the illusion remained perfectly still. Even motionless, his body of over two meters tall radiated overwhelming intimidation.
“Here!”
Lu ran toward the projection and pointed at Ymir’s left arm.
Seeing my little sister standing so close to that monstrous figure was terrible for my heart… Pulling myself together, I looked toward the massive arm she indicated.
A bracelet was shining there.
“This! It’s the bracelet I made back in Flocia!”
Together, we moved toward Ymir’s projection, surrounding the motionless figure.
Solana let out a low murmur.
“So it’s true…”
The icy bracelet reflected the goddess’s face as she leaned in for a closer look.
I tried to organize my thoughts.
“Wait… Lu put that on him during the battle in Flocia, right?”
“Yeah. It was originally a pair of shackles, but…”
In the battle that followed soon after, the shackle on the right side—and the chain connecting them—had been destroyed. Which meant only the left half remained, hanging from Ymir’s arm like a bracelet.
In other words…
For some reason, Ymir still hadn’t been able to destroy that remaining shackle.
Lu clenched both fists tightly.
“Ymir still hasn’t managed to break it. Which means… there must be something within us that even the enemy can’t destroy!”
Her hair swayed as she looked straight at me with unwavering eyes. I scratched my cheek awkwardly. It was true—we still didn’t know why Ymir couldn’t break the left shackle. But perhaps Lu was right. Maybe there really was something we possessed that even an enemy like him couldn’t crush… something beyond his power to overcome.
The fact that Lu could still find hope in that possibility was incredible in itself.
“Right, Oniichan? I’m right, aren’t I?”
Before I realized it, I was smiling.
“Yeah. Ymir may be strong… but I’m sure we’re not going to lose either.”
My voice echoed across the vast chamber far louder than I expected. Even I was surprised by how strongly it rang out.
…Was that just forced bravado?
Still, it was far better than hanging my head in despair.
Heimdall burst into laughter.
“Ha ha! Exactly. The enemy certainly appears overwhelming, but…”
His cool eyes narrowed slightly.
“There are still unanswered questions. Ymir’s world-devouring power—hm, calling it teleportation would be simpler. If he can truly use it freely, then yes, it’s a terrifying threat. But it’s more natural to assume there are limitations.”
Heimdall pointed toward the rift in the air.
“The most likely explanation is that even Ymir consumes an enormous amount of magic power to perform these transfers. If he is conserving his strength for the final battle, then it would explain why things remain quiet for now.”
Solana slowly spoke up.
“About that… I believe I may have discovered why Ymir plans to attack three weeks after the battle at the Royal Capital.”
Startled, I looked back at the goddess.
Solana gave a faint, self-deprecating smile and shook her head.
“More accurately… perhaps I should say I remembered. As the Daughter of the Sun, I should have realized it much sooner.”
She placed a hand over her chest.
“Everyone, close your eyes. I want to show you the memories of us gods.”
I exchanged glances with Lu, Mia-san, and the others.
Then I closed my eyes.
Solana’s voice echoed directly inside my mind.
“I will now show you a scene from the distant past. From the Age of Myth… the battle in which we were defeated.”
Something appeared within the darkness behind my closed eyes.
Flames.
A single spark spread in an instant, illuminating the world around it. Before I knew it, I was floating high in the sky, gazing down upon a land consumed by war. Looking around, I saw Lu, Mia-san, Felix-san, and Safi nearby. The gods floated slightly below us, all of them staring down at the battlefield beneath.
This was—
The war from a thousand years ago.
The battle between gods and monsters… the battle they had lost. The beginning of everything that had led to the conflict we now faced. Perhaps because we were viewing it from such an impossible height, I couldn’t distinguish individual soldiers or monsters fighting across the green hills below. The human armies and the monster hordes looked instead like massive waves crashing against one another.
Sometimes the waves collided and pushed each other back. Sometimes one side shattered and was swallowed whole. Then suddenly, the world darkened.
Lu whispered softly.
“…Night?”
“No,” Solana answered from below us. “The sun.”
The goddess pointed toward the sky. The sun that had illuminated the hills was slowly being devoured, piece by piece. Until, at last, it vanished completely. Darkness like deep night fell over the land, and the monster army seemed to surge forward with renewed ferocity.
Solana spoke quietly.
“…That was the moment my mother—the Sun Goddess—was struck down by the monsters. I inherited her role afterward, and eventually the light returned… but for a time, the world was swallowed by darkness.”
This must have been when Solana had been sealed away inside the gold coin. So if the Sun Goddess disappeared, even the light pouring from the sun itself became distorted…
“In the previous apocalypse, the enemy targeted my mother first. The magical power radiating from the sun strengthens all living beings. Just as my Light of the Sun’s Awakening awakens gods and dwarves alike… the enemy sought to destroy the sun before anything else.”
Solana floated upward slightly until she was level with us.
Her gaze slowly swept across everyone present.
Then the goddess spoke.
“They’ll do the same thing this time.”
“…You mean they’re targeting you, Solana?”
I cut in immediately.
“Then we’ll protect you no matter what.”
“W-what!? N-no… that’s not what I mean.”
Solana shook her head quickly, her cheeks faintly red. Lu suddenly leaned forward, while Felix-san kept awkwardly clearing his throat beside her.
“Ahem… Anyway. For some time now, I’ve felt that something about the sun has been… strange. So I’ve been observing it in secret.”
Come to think of it, there had been moments when Solana disappeared from the gold coin for a while. Several times, she had mentioned being worried about “the condition of the sun.”
“I’ll explain it plainly. Soon, the light of the sun will weaken. The monsters are waiting for that moment. In other words, the reason the apocalypse is set for three weeks from now… is because the day the sun weakens has already been decided.”
I tilted my head in confusion.
But aside from Thor, the other gods all nodded as though they understood immediately.
Mia-san spoke first.
“…There’s really a day like that?”
“There is. It’s the solar eclipse.”
Solana answered.
I’d heard about it before from Father. Very rarely, there came days when the sun appeared partially swallowed away. During those times, magical power became unstable, and adventurers were warned to act with caution. According to scholars, eclipses could supposedly be predicted in advance to some degree… though whether that truly counted as prophecy, I didn’t know.
“…In the past, the enemy targeted the sun first. And the sun itself sometimes waxes and wanes like the moon. As the Daughter of the Sun, I should have realized the connection immediately…”
Solana lowered her gaze with a bitter smile.
“Perhaps… I simply lacked the courage to look back on the past… Pathetic, isn’t it?”
Little by little, the burning hills spread beneath us began to fade away.
Before long, we found ourselves back within the vast chamber of the dungeon. The freezing wind still blew from the crack in space, yet now I could also feel a warm breeze drifting in from somewhere beyond.
Maybe the winds outside the labyrinth had changed direction.
“Alright. Let’s organize what we know.”
I took a breath and continued.
“Ymir can teleport together with huge numbers of monsters. But doing so consumes an enormous amount of magic power.”
Loki lightly clapped his hands.
“…And when the sun’s light weakens, monsters grow stronger instead. Many monsters are vulnerable to the magic of the sun. Just as cold magic and burning magic once clashed in ancient times, opposing forces always exist in this world. If the power of the sun diminishes, then the opposing force—the magic that strengthens monsters—will naturally intensify.”
Loki raised a finger as he continued.
“More importantly, the seal covering the world is still functioning. Since the gods created that seal, if the sun weakens and the gods themselves weaken as well, then naturally the seal will temporarily weaken too.”
At those words, everything finally clicked into place.
I lowered my chin slowly.
“So transporting massive armies requires huge amounts of magic power… That’s why Ymir is waiting for the solar eclipse, when they’ll be strengthened.”
Now the logic was clear. They would wait for the eclipse, empower themselves through the weakened sun, and then use that amplified strength to send countless monsters near the royal capital in a single move.
That was Ymir’s strategy.
Heimdall smiled.
“Now that we understand the enemy’s plan, the answer is simple. Even when the eclipse comes, we must prevent any teleportation inside the capital’s walls.”
Loki had already folded his arms, deep in thought.
“Hm. If we pour all our magical power into the Frost Orb that controls the seal, I believe we could at least block monster teleportation around the royal capital and the warriors’ temple. We can leave the construction work to the dwarves, of course…”
“…It’ll be difficult, but not impossible.”
Safi answered while twirling her hammer.
Yeah. We’d achieved what we came to the dungeon for. We finally understood how the enemy intended to strike.
I looked toward everyone and called out firmly.
“Let’s head outside.”
Careful not to let my voice shake, I still forced strength into my words.
“We’re going to win!”
Together, we left behind the dungeon known as Blood-Red Sunset. As I gripped the war horn in my hand, I made a silent vow within the dungeon where Father had lost his life.
I will protect what you entrusted to me.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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