Chapter Summaries

After the Exchange Meeting, Greg left with Rom and Colwin, then joined Victoria and her roommates on the way to the dining hall. Melina watched Greg and Victoria together and realized Victoria was the person her father had told her to monitor.

• Lilith awkwardly praised Greg for bringing honor to the Kingdom and the Academy, then ran off after insisting she had not wanted to praise him.
• Greg reassured Rom and Colwin that Lilith’s sharp words were not meant to hurt him.
• Victoria and her roommates joined Greg, Rom, and Colwin on their way to the dining hall.
• Adele and Kaira teased Greg and Victoria as a couple, and Victoria calmed down after Greg advised her not to react.
• Melina watched Greg and Victoria from a corridor corner and recognized Victoria as the person her father had told her to keep an eye on.

Greg discovered that Wendy was the Fifth Imperial Princess, who had been sentenced to execution, and rushed to act before the sentence was carried out. Meanwhile, Sylvia questioned Veronica about why she had attended the Debate Hall, leaving Veronica visibly alert to her suspicions.

• Greg and his friends read an imperial notice declaring that Wendy, the Fifth Imperial Princess, would be burned at the stake in seven days for allegedly colluding with Demons.
• Greg recognized Wendy in the portrait and left immediately to do something before her execution.
• Sylvia visited Veronica, and the two exchanged guarded conversation about the Exchange Meeting.
• Sylvia asked whether Veronica had attended the Debate Hall because she was interested in someone, and Veronica slowly opened her eyes.

Veronica and Sylvia discussed their mutual interest in Greg, and Sylvia refused Veronica’s offer to attend the Fifth Imperial Princess’s execution as a Candidate Saintess. After Sylvia left, Veronica revealed her hostility toward her for remaining close to Greg.

• Veronica admitted that Greg’s performance at the Hundred-Academy Exchange Meeting had caught her interest, and Sylvia acknowledged how much she trusted him.
• Sylvia defended Greg’s place at Glory Kail after Veronica suggested he deserved better resources and might eventually move to a more suitable academy.
• Veronica offered Sylvia the chance to attend the Fifth Imperial Princess’s execution in seven days and publicly announce her status as a Candidate Saintess.
• Sylvia declined, saying she preferred to stay with her friends, and left Veronica’s room.
• Veronica concluded that Sylvia cared about Greg and privately called her vile for staying at his side.

Wendy waited in prison after deliberately returning to the Imperial Family, planning to expose her brother Finn’s manipulation at her execution. When the Crown Prince’s sinister butler threatened to use her death in an experiment, Wendy resolved to rely on the Cult Leader’s help rather than accept her fate.

• Wendy awoke from a dream of the black sun over the Imperial Capital and considered why she had allowed herself to be arrested.
• Wendy recalled trusting Greg to rescue her and planned to reveal that the Crown Prince was being used when she was brought before the public.
• The Crown Prince’s butler offered to seek a pardon if Wendy admitted wrongdoing, but Wendy rejected the offer as a lie.
• The butler revealed that his group had been watching Wendy and said he intended to test whether her death would affect a deity.
• Wendy resolved not to be swept along and placed her hope in the Cult Leader’s help.

Greg infiltrated the underground labyrinth to meet Ellie and clear three Dungeon floors before rescuing Wendy, while Nightmare helped him evade the guards. He headed toward the hidden Dungeon entrance, hoping Ellie was waiting there.

• Three knights guarding the labyrinth discussed the Shadow Swordsman and heard a noise in the passage.
• Nightmare posed as a black cat, distracting the knights while Greg hid in the shadows.
• Greg thanked Nightmare for helping him avoid detection, and she smugly took credit for saving him.
• Greg decided to meet Ellie and clear three Dungeon floors before returning to plan Wendy's rescue, since he needed Ellie's strength and had little time left.
• Greg followed the hidden passages toward the Dungeon entrance, hoping Ellie had kept her promise to wait for him.

Ellie ventured alone into the Imperial Dungeon, dismissing Greg’s warning until a hidden time-slowing trap left her helpless before three clockwork Monsters. Black Flame destroyed the Monsters at the last moment, saving her again.

• Ellie defeated the First Floor’s lord Monster and continued deeper into the Dungeon, thinking Greg had been overly cautious.
• Ellie easily killed three level-thirty Monsters and proceeded through ruins where enemies grew increasingly scarce.
• Ellie triggered a trap that slowed her movements and left her unable to escape as three clockwork Monsters attacked.
• Black Flame swept in from the passage and destroyed the three Monsters, and Ellie realized Greg had saved her again.

Greg searched the Imperial Dungeon for Ellie after finding the entrance deserted and followed her trail into the Second Floor. He rescued her from a time-slowing trap, then collapsed into her arms.

• Greg found the Imperial Dungeon's entrance empty and rushed inside to look for Ellie.
• Nightmare told Greg about a shortcut to the Deep Layer and explained that the Dungeon was connected to the Mother of the Clepsydra, whose laws concerned time.
• Greg followed a trail of Monsters Ellie had killed, passed the First Floor boss chamber, and continued to the Second Floor.
• Greg found Ellie trapped in slowed time as three mechanical Monsters attacked her.
• Greg used Black Flame to destroy the Monsters and break the trap's effect, then called Ellie a stupid maid and collapsed into her arms.

As Greg slept after exhausting himself to save Ellie, she remembered how they first met when she was twelve and defending her orphanage. The memory ended with young Greg stepping in as thugs threatened the orphanage.

• Ellie watched the exhausted Greg sleep and recalled that he had saved her before.
• At twelve, Ellie beat up thugs who were harassing a street vendor, then returned to Morning Light Orphanage.
• The orphanage director warned Ellie to stop fighting and take care of herself.
• A bald thug and his men threatened to drive the orphanage out, and Ellie stood between them and the director.
• Just as the thugs moved to attack Ellie, young Greg arrived in a carriage with Knights and ordered them to stop.

Six-year-old Greg saved Ellie and the orphanage from thugs, then took Ellie in as his apprentice maid despite her frightening insistence. Years later, Ellie reflected on how her feelings for Greg had grown and kissed him while he slept, wanting him to find happiness.

• Greg frightened off the thugs by revealing that he was Duke Sass's son, and Ellie asked to become his maid.
• Ellie seized Greg and demanded that he accept her, and Sebas welcomed her to Duke Sass's Mansion as his apprentice maid.
• Ellie said goodbye to the orphanage children and left with Greg, promising to protect them.
• Ellie struggled through her apprenticeship, pranked Greg for amusement, and eventually became his personal maid.
• Ellie recalled how her feelings for Greg changed over the years and gently kissed him as he slept.

Greg woke after rescuing Ellie from the time Monsters and found her safe beside a campfire. After they made up over her recklessness, Greg faced the prospect of eating her strange purple soup, while Nightmare teased him about his greed.

• Greg woke in the ruins, found Ellie safe, and remembered using the World-Devouring Black Flame to save her from the time Monsters.
• Greg scolded Ellie for rushing ahead alone, but she admitted she had been arrogant and apologized for nearly getting hurt and forcing him to exhaust himself rescuing her.
• Greg comforted Ellie, told her not to blame herself, and asked her to wait for him before charging ahead next time; Ellie agreed.
• Ellie prepared a bubbling purple soup, and Greg worried about how to stop her from serving it to him.
• Nightmare spoke to Greg, accepted his thanks for helping him, and teased him for being greedy enough to spare neither his own maid nor himself.

Greg learned that Ellie had kissed him while he was unconscious and began plotting how to encourage her to take the initiative. He remembered that Wendy still needed rescuing from the Dungeon, but Ellie’s glowing purple soup presented an immediate ordeal.

• Nightmare told Greg that Ellie had kissed him while he was unconscious, and Greg accepted that she had done it more than once.
• Greg admired Ellie and devised a plan to seduce her into making another move while he pretended to sleep.
• Nightmare reminded Greg that Wendy was still waiting in her Dungeon cell, and Greg told Nightmare to stop reading his thoughts.
• Ellie served Greg a pot of strange, glowing purple meat soup and insisted he finish it.

After recovering in the Dungeon, Greg told Ellie that Wendy was the Fifth Imperial Princess and had been framed and imprisoned, but he urged Ellie to keep clearing the Dungeon because its source might be connected to Wendy’s crisis. Greg and Ellie headed toward the Second Floor’s temple, where its floor boss awaited, while Nightmare admitted it did not know what had changed inside.

• Greg recovered after eating Ellie’s purple soup and told her that Wendy was the Empire’s Fifth Imperial Princess.
• Ellie revealed that she had killed the people secretly following Wendy when she first picked her up.
• Greg told Ellie that Wendy had been framed, imprisoned, and was due to be publicly executed, then persuaded her not to rush off and disrupt Wendy’s plan.
• Greg claimed the Crown Prince’s strange behavior and Wendy’s situation might stem from the Dungeon, so Ellie agreed to keep clearing it first.
• Greg and Ellie traveled through the Second Floor toward an ancient temple, with Ellie cutting down the monsters in their way.
• Greg asked Nightmare about the floor boss, and Nightmare said it knew the Dungeon’s layout but not what had changed inside since its last visit.

Greg and Ellie explored a pristine temple hidden in the Dungeon, which Greg suspected was preserved by the Mother of the Clepsydra’s power. They reached enormous hourglass-carved doors that likely led to the floor’s lord boss.

• Greg worried that he and Ellie lacked information about the floor’s lord and its moves.
• Ellie and Greg entered the old temple and found its interior spotless despite its ruined exterior.
• Greg told Ellie that the Mother of the Clepsydra’s authority might have altered or reversed time inside the temple.
• Ellie examined an ancient scroll but admitted she could not read it, while Greg skimmed another and urged them onward.
• Greg and Ellie crossed the temple and reached huge metal doors, where Greg suspected the floor’s lord waited beyond.

Greg and Ellie encountered the Second Floor’s boss in a church-like hall and discovered that it could restore itself after Ellie’s attack. The Everturning Filthy Clock reassembled in its complete form, and Nightmare recognized that it contained fragments of someone’s authority.

• Greg and Ellie entered a vast hall containing an intact statue of the Mother of the Clepsydra.
• Metal components covered in writhing flesh gathered in the aisle as the hall decayed around them.
• Ellie attacked the forming creature with a powerful sword slash, apparently destroying it.
• Greg noticed that only the area struck by Ellie’s attack had briefly returned to its pristine state, then watched the creature reassemble.
• The complete monster appeared as the Everturning Filthy Clock LV50, and Nightmare said it had been made by fusing flesh and machinery with fragments of that one’s authority.

Greg and Ellie fought the Everturning Filthy Clock, whose gears let it distort time and thwart their attacks. Greg devised a plan to hinder its time control, and the chapter ended as water splashed onto its gears.

• The Everturning Filthy Clock manipulated time around Greg and Ellie, dodging their attacks and nearly striking Greg with its chain arm.
• Greg realized World-Devouring Black Flame could bypass the monster’s time distortion and suspected its chest gears were the source of its power.
• Greg told Ellie to follow his plan, then spread Level 1 Freezing Mist, which slowed the Everturning Filthy Clock’s gears before it reversed the mist away.
• Ellie feinted at the monster’s right arm while Greg pulled her out of danger with Tentacle Bind.
• Greg used Level 2 Waterwave Flow on the ground beside the monster, splashing water onto its chest gears as it watched in confusion.

Greg and Ellie defeated the Everturning Filthy Clock by freezing its gears across time and striking before it could activate Time Reversal. Ellie’s emerging Sword Domain destroyed the monster, and Greg reached Level 41.

• Greg had Ellie restrain the Everturning Filthy Clock while he attacked it with World-Devouring Black Flame.
• The clock used Time Reversal to escape, but returned with its gears frozen by Greg’s trap.
• Greg explained his plan and ordered Ellie to finish the immobilized enemy.
• Ellie used Sword Domain-Condemnation to cut the Everturning Filthy Clock in two, destroying it.
• The hall aged and decayed after the clock’s death, and Greg gained experience and reached Level 41.

After Ellie revealed her nascent domain, Greg and Ellie rested before continuing deeper into the Dungeon. Greg found strange marks at the next passage entrance and wondered whether a monster had come up from the lower levels.

• Ellie told Greg she had developed a nascent domain after reaching Level 70, and Nightmare praised her.
• Ellie asked Greg to repay her for letting him sleep on her lap while he was unconscious, then rested on his lap and fell asleep.
• A few hours later, Greg woke Ellie, and they checked their equipment before heading deeper into the Dungeon.
• Greg spotted strange marks around the passage entrance and wondered if a monster had forced its way up from a lower level.

Greg and Ellie explored the third floor of the Academy Dungeon, where Nightmare guided them through the ruined settlement. They entered the deep area, prepared for stronger Monsters and traps.

• Greg and Ellie emerged onto the third floor and saw the ruins of a sprawling settlement, while Nightmare hinted that she remembered the Dungeon.
• Ellie wanted to collect antiques, but Greg persuaded her to leave them and gather dropped Gems on their way back instead.
• Nightmare guided Greg through the outer ruins, where Ellie easily defeated the Monsters they encountered.
• Greg struggled with a stone door until Ellie opened it from the other side, then they continued into the middle area.
• Ellie asked how Greg knew the route, and he claimed the Goddess of Night had guided him in a dream.
• Greg warned Ellie that the deep area might contain powerful elite Monsters and traps, but she remained unfazed.

Greg and Ellie encountered a Level 55 Crystal-Spined Beast guarding a ruined sacrificial temple, and Greg killed it with his World-Devouring Black Flame. Greg reached Level 43 and obtained the Purple-Gold Thorn Shield skill.

• Greg and Ellie found a Crystal-Spined Beast emerging from the sacrificial temple and identified it as a Level 55 elite monster.
• Ellie’s sword barely marked the beast’s armor, and she evaded its powerful counterattack.
• Greg told Ellie to distract the beast while he prepared to finish it.
• Greg’s World-Devouring Black Flame overwhelmed the beast’s Purple-Gold Thorn Shield and inflicted numerous debilitating effects.
• The Crystal-Spined Beast’s armor crumbled, its eyes went dark, and it collapsed as Greg leveled up to 43 and obtained Purple-Gold Thorn Shield.

Greg and Ellie reached the third floor’s boss arena, but found it empty, and Greg realized the lord may have left the Dungeon. Suspecting it was near the Empire’s Crown Prince, Greg changed course and decided to return to the surface to save both Wendy and the Empire.

• Greg received the Shield Parry skill and set off with Ellie toward the deeper reaches of the third floor.
• Greg and Ellie reached a spotless plaza that appeared to be the third-floor lord boss arena, but no enemy appeared.
• They searched the plaza for hidden mechanisms and found no sign of the boss.
• Nightmare said she had not sensed the blasphemous presence since they entered the floor, leading Greg to suspect the lord had left the Dungeon.
• Greg connected the missing lord to the Crown Prince and decided he and Ellie would return to the surface to save Wendy and the Empire.