Inverting the "Miracle"

With their consent, the City Hall and the Adventurer Guild provided Shane and his party with highly reliable supplies.

He was even allowed to pick out "expensive" equipment he had never been able to afford before—it was incredibly thoughtful!

Of course, Shane wasn't the type to fleece them for everything they were worth.

So, he only picked out 10 standard longswords, 10 sets of pauldrons, 10 sets of armor, 10 pairs of greaves, 10 pairs of bracers, 10 pairs of lambskin boots, 10 kunai shuriken, 10 refined iron marbles, 10 sets of custom-fitted clothing, 10 sets of blankets and quilts of varying thickness... along with some tea sets, cookware, tableware, stationery...

Frieren just stared in stunned silence.

"All done." Shane patted his half-full backpack, looking satisfied. "Leaving half the space empty—gotta save room to scavenge for loot in the dungeon."

With everything prepared, the two of them officially entered the dungeon.

The moment he stepped inside, Shane understood why this dungeon instance was called the Inverted Land.

They had entered another Gostan City.

Shane looked back over his shoulder; like a reflection on the surface of water, this dungeon was a mirror image of the real world.

The difference was that while it was daytime outside, it was nighttime here.

Furthermore, there were no residents.

A light breeze swept through the empty streets.

The entire city was deathly silent.

Shane leaned closer to Frieren; the sense of being in a "ghost town" inexplicably reminded him of many unsettling scenes from movies.

The two of them walked slowly along the street, trying to find some useful clues.

However, after walking through several blocks, they found absolutely nothing.

They didn't encounter a single trap.

Nor did they encounter a single monster.

It truly seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary, empty city.

But Shane knew in his heart that things were never that simple. How could a high-risk dungeon capable of swallowing multiple adventurer parties be nothing more than an inverted empty city?

If the surface was ordinary, then the interior must be anything but.

"Frieren, give it a shot."

"?"

"Oh, I mean, try destroying the surrounding buildings. Make some noise and see if we can lure out any monsters."

BOOM—

Frieren's massive beam of magic tore through the street, leveling a row of houses directly in front of them. The explosion kicked up a deafening roar that sounded particularly jarring in the empty city. They stood in place and waited for a while, but still, nothing suspicious occurred.

"Let's go, let's look somewhere else."

Shane turned around.

And then, he nearly let out a shriek!

A figure had appeared abruptly behind them.

The figure was tall and burly, sporting a pair of curved goat horns. Its dark gray skin was covered in eerie black markings, and beneath thick white hair, its face was as hideous as a demon's, with a mouth full of fangs—utterly terrifying.

It was none other than Corrupt Sage Qual!

Frieren hadn't detected anything behind them at all; by the time the target appeared, it was already too late to counterattack.

Qual sneered as he looked at Shane and Frieren. "Two more test subjects have arrived."

With that, he snapped his fingers nimbly, instantly casting a spell that dragged both of them into the darkness.

"Come now, try out my new invention: a spell that inverts [Miracles]."

"Unlike the [Miracle Magic] that helps people reach paradise, this new spell allows people to savor the deepest fears hidden in their hearts."

"Let me see you tremble."

Beep—

"Fifteen minutes remaining until the end of the exam."

Shane was jolted awake by the sound. He opened his eyes, dazed, and found himself sitting in a classroom.

On the blackboard in front of him, a line of large characters was written: Exam Room No. 35, Mathematics (National Paper) - 15:00 to 17:00.

Huh? What is going on!

He was shocked. He looked down and saw the pristine white exam paper on his desk; not only was it completely blank, but there was also a large puddle of drool on it.

In an instant, he felt as if he couldn't breathe!

"Did I fall asleep in the college entrance exam hall? Everything before this was just a dream..."

No!

No!

No!

This is the dream! Wake up, quickly!

Slap.

Shane used all his strength to slap himself across the face.

The blow was so heavy that his cheek swelled up instantly, and his ears were left ringing.

Fire was everywhere.

Yet Frieren felt her body growing cold.

The village where she had grown up was destroyed; everywhere she looked, there was nothing but ruins.

The Demon General before her was laughing maniacally, holding the severed limbs of her companions in his hands.

She wanted to stand up and continue the fight, but her mana was completely exhausted, and she couldn't even move a finger... Was she going to die just like this?

A low chuckle came from before her as the Demon General transformed into the Demon King, stepping through the viscous blood on the ground to approach her and seize her by the throat.

"Overestimating your own capabilities."

Frieren looked at the corpses of her companions appearing at her feet and did not refute him.

Yes, they had overestimated themselves. They had lost to the Demon King, and humanity had lost hope once again.

They should have just stayed in the forest and never come out; such an outcome was truly pathetic.

The next second, the voice of Flamme sounded from behind her.

She asked Frieren, "Demons cannot understand humans, so Frieren, as an elf, what about you? Do you understand human emotions?"

This voice was like a pebble dropped into a deep pool, stirring up ripple after ripple.

In an instant, Flamme's smiling face shifted into countless other appearances.

The grandmother who often took care of her in the elf village, the old man on the roadside who invited her to hitch a ride, the child who gave her flowers, Himmel who praised her magic as interesting, Heiter who liked to pat her head, Ize who was always just as uninterested as she was... and so many others.

Countless faces intertwined in chaos.

They aged, died, vanished, and finally settled into a single blank face.

Empty, hollow, a void of nothingness.

A surge of indescribable self-reproach and guilt welled up in Frieren's heart.

"Flamme, in the end, I still haven't learned anything at all..."

Bang—

A light as bright as day appeared in her field of vision.

In an instant, it pierced through the darkness surrounding her.

In her ears, Shane's shout rang out:

"Frieren, straight ahead!"

Her vision was a vast expanse of white, and she could see nothing, but she did not hesitate; she raised her staff and fired a magic attack directly ahead.

Crack—

It was the sound of something shattering.

Following it was Qual's low, hoarse roar: "Impossible! How could the experiment fail! No—"

At the same time, Shane activated Dash to reach Frieren's side, pulling her into the Goddess's Barrier in a single instant.

Seeing that she was unharmed, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Because the Mind Shield trait provided strong resistance against mental-type magic, he had woken up shortly after falling into the illusion, but no matter how he called out to Frieren, it was useless, which had terrified him.

He couldn't deal with the demons on his own!

Fortunately, Electric Shock and Flashbang had performed well once again.

Seeing that Frieren had recovered, he looked at the situation outside the barrier and asked seriously:

"Frieren, can you beat nine of Qual?"