Destroying the Ritual

Cheng Tian's combat strength had skyrocketed too quickly, causing his save file to severely affect, or even "contaminate," the Knights of the Round Table dungeon.

However, the form that save-file contamination took was not the same in both cases.

In the previous Monster Hunter World + Soul Sacrifice dungeon, Cheng Tian and the other players had entered a newly created dungeon. Thus, when the dungeon was created, Chosen Space could incorporate new variables in advance and insert them directly into the Background Setting.

For instance, Librom had been thrown into the leyline core far earlier than Cheng Tian's group of nominal Fifth Expedition members. It had even placed entities from the original Soul Sacrifice into Monster Hunter World, indirectly freeing Librom's close friend, Merlin, from the cycle binding him to his original world.

But this dungeon was different.

The Knights of the Round Table dungeon did not belong to Cheng Tian alone. It was shared by a considerable number of players at the time. Even if they could not enter it now without invitations, that did not mean there would never be another opportunity. In other words, the dungeon's most fundamental settings could not be casually altered.

For example, replacing the bearded Arthur here with a five-foot-one Gynified Artoria without any explanation would conflict far too greatly with the foundational setting.

Therefore, the Dungeon Modifiers intended to balance combat strength this time could only manifest as newly added elements after Cheng Tian entered the dungeon.

Archduke Garibaldi was unquestionably a powerful individual proficient in both magic and martial arts. Yet even with numerical enhancements based on a B+-rank dungeon, without drastically rewriting the setting, his overall strength still could not contend with Cheng Tian and the Scorching Sun Legion he represented in the Great Expedition mission.

And Archduke Garibaldi had