Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy-Chapter 612: Island Again (2)

"We've been through countless hells. But you're telling me there are even more outlandish ones? Ha! What a joke!"

Garad did not believe Ruel's words in the slightest.

The wars they had fought were not petty games between nobles fighting for territory, were they?

No. The battlefields where heroes stood were on a much grander scale than those of national wars. They were battles for the survival of humanity.

In those battles, the evil gods created every imaginable hellish scenario to eliminate the heroes, who were the only variables that could disrupt their plans.

But you're saying there are dungeons even worse than that?

"Such nonsense can only come from a child's delusion. Even that child wouldn’t be able to explain it properly!"

"Yet, it exists. Garad. It exists. A hellish realm beyond our comprehension."

Ruel had seen it.

He had seen a hell so far beyond what he had imagined as the worst. A place where, with a single misstep, death was the only outcome. A place that made him doubt whether even if he knew everything about it, he could ever survive.

"I thought about it when I escaped that place. If I had entered back in my prime, could I have cleared it? I replayed it in my mind over and over, but the outcome was always disastrous."

Personal abilities had nothing to do with it. Once the creator of the dungeon set their mind on killing their opponents, the chances of surviving within were close to zero.

"What about our party? It wouldn't have been any different. Maybe we could have gone a little further, but we wouldn’t have reached the end. Even if we sacrificed one of our own to make progress, it still wouldn't have worked. It would have been impossible for us."

"If it’s impossible for us, then who would it be possible for? While we’ve been called the best in this mental world, who could possibly clear such an absurd dungeon?"

"I wonder that myself."

Behind Garad, Erginus, who had emerged from the shadows, met his confused gaze and burst into laughter.

"Didn't you hear? Despite appearances, I’m a god. There's no way the world I created inside the mace could be violated."

"...This is inside the mace? Not some child's mental world?"

"Of course. Think about it. What happens if there's another mind inside someone’s own? It would get invaded. Do you think I wouldn’t care about that?"

Ruel's mace was a divine relic, but the additional magic woven into it was Erginus’s work. Naturally, there would have been some consideration for the future user of the mace.

"But that’s just a guess, of course."

"So you're Erginus, but not really Erginus?"

"Exactly. My memories were interrupted. I don’t know exactly what the real Erginus did afterward."

The current Erginus, the one who had started as a puppet and become real, was limited by the knowledge he had when he was created. He didn't know what the real Erginus had done after he went to the surface.

The same applied to what was stored inside Ruel's mace. Initially, Erginus couldn’t comprehend it. After gaining divine power, he was able to sense what was inside and understand it to some degree, but he could never reach its origin.

That was because it was a rule that hadn’t yet descended into the realm of humans.

"The Erginus on the surface must have reached the domain of divine power, right?"

"I've heard that too."

When Ruel nodded, Erginus smiled, and Garad stared at the two alternately in confusion.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

"Garad, of course you don’t understand. After all, you’re Garad, but you’re not really Garad. You're more like a thoughtform. You don’t have knowledge beyond what’s contained within you, right?"

"...Yeah."

After Garad reluctantly agreed, Erginus snapped his fingers. From the shadows around them, darkness rose up to form chairs.

"I know your power, but still, the darkness makes me uneasy."

"I feel the same. A small mistake, and I feel like I’d be eaten alive. If the Queen weren’t here, I don’t know what would have happened."

"Wait. Queen? You mean the Fairy Queen is with you?"

"Didn’t you hear? Ha ha ha! How funny. You, who used to always have a woman with you, now I’m teasing you with a woman’s story! I’m happy, but! Let’s put that aside for now. There’s something more interesting we need to talk about."

At the attention focused on him, Ruel realized that the discussion was leading toward the dungeon they were about to enter.

"You know, an impossible dungeon can’t really be created. Even Agra in our prime couldn’t have made something like that. It’s quicker for divine power to run out than for such a dungeon to exist."

Divine power wasn’t infinite. Though their power seemed endless from the perspective of mortals, it still had its limits. There was always an end.

"If our party in its prime couldn’t clear it, then that’s it. A place like that can’t exist. If such a place did exist, it wouldn’t be a dungeon. It would be something very close to one."

"Then it must be something very close."

Ruel responded calmly to Erginus's words. No matter how much they discussed it, the reality wouldn’t change. That place truly existed.

"I’m really curious. I want to see it with my own eyes."

"Then you will. Soon."

"There’s a restriction. That place seems to be beyond my reach."

"Why is there so much that gods can’t do?"

"Well, when you think about it, we’re just agents borrowing power."

After Erginus left, saying he would return later, the chairs made of darkness melted back into the shadows.

At that moment, Lucy, blocking her path with a barrier, hummed a tune.

Her figure didn’t look like someone walking into hell.

Instead, Lucy’s steps seemed innocent, like a child heading out to play.

Garad, easily reading her emotions, couldn’t understand this situation.

If what Ruel had said was true, the place Lucy was heading to now was a hell that would allow no mistakes.

One wrong step and it would be an execution ground where death was inevitable.

But how could she walk toward such a place with such lightness?

Lucy wasn’t crazy. Though he hadn’t known her for long, Garad had learned enough to understand her.

She was kind and noble, but at her core, her emotions were no different from those of a regular girl.

She was scared of what was scary, disliked what she disliked, and avoided what she didn’t want to deal with.

Her friends, however, would probably be the ones to surprise him with their exceptional traits.

So the reason Lucy could walk into hell with a smile was that it wasn’t hell to her.

In other words, a place that was hell for others became a playground for Lucy.

"Now that I think about it, have you ever seen Lucy properly clear a dungeon?"

"Back when you were in that puppet body."

"I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about properly."

"Properly? What nonsense is this? The way Lucy Alrn led back then was impressive."

Even in the age of myths, there weren’t many who could lead people like that.

But now you're saying that wasn’t proper?

"Oh, we’re starting now."

Garad turned his head lightly, following the tone as if a performance was about to begin. What he saw was Lucy Alrn humming while stepping forward, with traps rushing toward her, eager to kill her.

"What’s this?"

"Blades imbued with power that could tear through metal. Arrows coated with deadly poison that will kill with just a touch. Flames that will suffocate you even if you dodge through the air. Sometimes you’ll lose your senses, and other times, you’ll be surrounded by countless illusions. Curses, and the like, are too common here."

No matter how skilled someone was, no matter how strong, no matter how talented, this dungeon was designed to kill.

It was pure evil, the kind of malevolent force that would make even Garad, who considered himself the greatest, feel a chill.

"But that’s okay. Because Lucy’s here."

However, Lucy Alrn never lost her composure, no matter how grueling the challenges were.

The tune she had hummed when she first entered this dungeon still filled the halls.

She continued her performance, using the execution stage called a dungeon as her platform.

This wasn’t just about seeing the future. You couldn’t pull off this kind of behavior by simply seeing one future.

This required experiencing tens, hundreds, thousands, and even countless futures before one could perfect such a skill.

"Alright, Garad. Now you’ll admit it, won’t you? That you lost the bet?"

"Wait, hold on. Let’s talk this through first."

"Don’t worry. This is the mental world. We can make anything. Even if it’s armor you’re wearing."

Indeed, the dungeon created by the awful God of Garbage was on another level from others.

Having cleared this dungeon countless times, I could move with ease, but even now, I sometimes felt a terrifying chill in these surroundings.

If humanity’s enemy wasn’t that idiot Agra, but the God of Garbage, the world might have already been destroyed.

As I thought about this, I suddenly saw the door leading to the end in front of me. The same door where the young Lucy had left her memories.

It was faster than before. Naturally, I had grown much stronger since the last time, so this was to be expected.

Placing my hand on the door, I took a deep breath, thinking about what awaited me beyond.

Confronting Lucy’s memories meant confronting her emotions. The feelings of the young girl who had lost her only shield, crying in anguish, couldn’t be light.

So I braced myself, preparing not to be consumed by the emotions Lucy had held.

"Ha."

As I opened the door with both hands, Lucy’s laughter echoed from beyond the dungeon’s darkness.

I laughed with her.

And comparing the two of us, it became clearer!

I’ve grown a little taller!

About 0.1 cm, give or take!