Chapter Summaries

Victoria fought Lilith Kahn in the Class Placement Duel, hoping to trick her into using Flame Explosion and then evade it. Lilith anticipated Victoria’s feint and aimed the spell into the pit where Victoria had taken cover, leaving Victoria’s fate unclear after the explosion.

• Victoria remembered how Demons destroyed her village and renewed her resolve to become strong enough to protect those she cherished.
• Victoria drew out the duel with basic elemental magic, and Lilith grew frustrated as their battle settled into a stalemate.
• Victoria appeared to lose her balance, prompting Lilith to prepare Flame Explosion, but Lilith recalled a blond boy’s warning that Victoria would use a feint.
• Lilith guessed that Victoria planned to hide in the pit and evade the blast, then fired Flame Explosion directly at it.
• Victoria realized the spell was heading into the pit and cried, “I demand to check your cards!” before the explosion swallowed her.

Greg woke in the evening and set out to sneak out of the Dungeon to stop his maid from becoming a terrorist. At the Academy entrance, he collided with Lily Carlo, who appeared to be sneaking into the Dungeon herself.

• Greg found Nightmare living in his shadow and argued with her before she returned to silence.
• Greg ate some jerky, checked his equipment, and left the Dungeon at night to make his way toward the Academy's outskirts.
• Greg collided with Lily Carlo near the Dungeon entrance.
• Greg realized Lily Carlo seemed to be trying to sneak into the Dungeon under cover of night.

Lilith snuck out to tell Greg that she had beaten Victoria, but their awkward encounter left her blurting out the news as she ran away. Greg realized only after she had gone that Lilith had won with Flame Explosion, contrary to what he had expected.

• Lilith disguised herself and headed toward the Academy Dungeon to tell Greg she had beaten Victoria in the class placement assessment.
• Lilith collided with Greg near the Dungeon entrance, and he assumed she had come there for extra practice.
• Greg helped Lilith to her feet, and she panicked at the unfamiliar intimacy of taking his hand.
• Lilith tried to tell Greg about her victory but stammered and let him start to leave.
• Lilith shouted that Princess Lilith had beaten Victoria with Flame Explosion, then ran toward the girls' dormitories.
• Greg stopped in shock as Lilith's announcement registered.

After losing to Princess Lilith, Victoria hid her distress from Sylvia during a hospital visit, then confronted her own pain and doubts about whether she could fulfill her vow as the Hero. She remained alone in her hospital room, questioning whether she was strong enough to protect those she cherished and take revenge on the Demons.

• Sylvia tried to comfort the wounded Victoria about her defeat, but Victoria thanked her and avoided discussing the match.
• A nurse reminded Sylvia that dormitory curfew was near, so Sylvia said goodbye and left Victoria to rest.
• Once she was alone, Victoria’s composure broke, and she clenched her hand as pain pulsed through her bandaged shoulder.
• Victoria remembered the Demons’ attack on Border Village, her parents’ deaths, and the vow that had driven her training.
• Victoria reflected that Princess Lilith had defeated her with talent and fire magic, and she began doubting whether she could live up to the Hero’s name.

Victoria reflected on her failed plan and her complicated feelings about Greg, while Greg rushed into the wrong hospital room and mistook a bandaged patient for her. The chapter ended when Victoria appeared at the doorway and Greg realized the patient in the bed was a stranger.

• Victoria touched the Reflection Gem Greg had given her and felt guilty that she had failed to use it against Lilith.
• Greg endured a teacher’s warning shots and an encounter with a Wandering Evil Spirit on his way to the hospital.
• Greg found a bandaged patient in room 303 and tearfully tried to encourage them, believing they were Victoria.
• Victoria entered the room, and Greg discovered that the patient in the bed was someone else.

Greg checked on the injured Victoria, reassured her after her loss to Lilith, and then went to meet Ellie Hill at the city clock tower. Ellie greeted him with a smile and threatened to kill him if he arrived late again.

• Greg questioned the injured Yelina and secured her promise to keep what she had heard secret.
• Greg found Victoria in the hospital hallway and told her he did not blame her for losing to Lilith.
• Victoria felt her doubts ease slightly as Greg left to pursue his real objective.
• Greg crossed the city and climbed the hidden maintenance stairs to the top of the City Clock Tower.
• Ellie Hill greeted Greg at the tower and warned that she would kill him if he was late again.

Greg reunited with Ellie at the bell tower, where her threats gave way to a rare admission that she had worried about him. He failed to persuade her to leave and live independently, and the chapter ended with Greg asking whether she had enough savings to support them.

• Greg met Ellie at the bell tower, and she scolded him for being late and appearing in ragged clothes.
• Greg saw the worry in Ellie's eyes as she told him not to disappear on her again.
• Greg asked Ellie to pursue her own life now that she was no longer his maid, but she said she was already living the life she wanted by staying with him.
• Greg gave up trying to persuade Ellie to leave and warned her that he could not pay her while he struggled to survive in the Dungeon.
• Greg noticed Ellie's purse and asked whether she had savings.

Greg borrowed three gold coins from Ellie to buy supplies for the Dungeon and told her he intended to grow stronger. Ellie doubted his sudden ambition but sensed that he had changed, and his wish not to stand behind her left her blushing.

• Greg asked Ellie to lend him money, and she reluctantly gave him three gold coins.
• Greg rejoiced over the coins and said he planned to take conquering the Dungeon seriously.
• Ellie questioned where Greg had been, and he explained that he wanted to get stronger and prove himself.
• Greg told Ellie he did not want to stand behind her forever, and Ellie felt her cheeks warm.

Greg used his dark-attribute power to absorb a falling bronze bell before it could crush him, then told Ellie that the Goddess of Night, Nightmare, had chosen him as her emissary. Ellie was left stunned by his revelation and the mysterious power he had displayed.

• Greg wondered how to keep Ellie occupied while he attended the Academy, when the city's enormous bronze bell broke loose above them.
• Ellie realized she could not reach Greg in time to save him from the falling bell.
• Greg instinctively activated his LV1 Dark Bracer, and its black mist swallowed the bell without a trace.
• Ellie questioned Greg about the bracers and the strange power that had erased the bell.
• Greg told Ellie that the ancient Goddess of Night, Nightmare, had chosen him and made him her emissary.

Greg asked Ellie to establish a religious order worshipping Nightmare so the goddess could regain strength and help him change his fate. Ellie agreed to try, then stayed alone on the bell tower, resolved not to abandon Greg.

• Greg asked Ellie to help establish a religious order devoted to the dark night.
• Greg explained that restoring faith in Nightmare could strengthen the goddess and possibly grant him divine protection.
• Ellie agreed to try, though she warned Greg not to expect too much.
• Greg explained his plans to Ellie, then left the bell tower for the Dungeon.
• Ellie recalled her years with Greg and resolved to remain by his side.

Greg set up a protective tent in the Dungeon and discussed the mystery of why Ellie remained loyal to him, then prepared to scout the shallow levels. With Victoria injured and the story’s threats potentially arriving sooner, he decided he could not wait for her recovery.

• Greg finished assembling a sturdy tent, and Nightmare claimed its softest spot without helping.
• Nightmare asked why Ellie, a twenty-seven-year-old LV68 genius, followed Greg, but he admitted he did not know.
• Greg recalled that Ellie had stayed with his original-game counterpart through every route and ending, despite the game never explaining her loyalty.
• Greg woke at four in the afternoon, found Nightmare gone, and realized he needed to hunt soon to replenish his food.
• Greg considered the goblins near the passage to the middle levels and worried that Victoria’s injuries and the Wandering Evil Spirit’s early appearance might accelerate upcoming dangers.
• Greg gathered his tools and left the tent to scout the Dungeon’s shallow levels.

Greg cleared weak monsters in the shallow region, gaining experience and raising the proficiency of his mostly useless skills. Near the entrance to the middle region, he found goblins blocking the way and wondered why they had come there.

• Greg killed several low-level monsters and reached level 17.
• Greg examined Boohoohoo LV4 and Burrowing LV2, dismissing both as largely useless.
• Greg reached the junction leading to the middle region and spotted tough-looking goblins nearby.
• Greg wondered whether the goblins were blocking adventurers or had been driven up from below by some event.

Greg learned that an unnatural noise from the middle levels had driven goblins to block the route, and he suspected the three upperclassmen were responsible. At the hospital, Victoria recovered her fighting spirit and revealed that someone had helped her move past her defeat.

• Nightmare told Greg that she heard a regular, foreign noise coming from the middle levels, and Greg suspected the three upperclassmen had caused it.
• Greg realized the goblins blocked the route deeper into the Dungeon and decided to find help before investigating.
• Sylvia told Victoria about Class A, Lilith, and their homeroom teacher, Professor Grace Quinn.
• Victoria said she would challenge Lilith again after leaving the hospital, and Sylvia embraced her with relief.
• Victoria apologized for worrying Sylvia and admitted that she had not recovered entirely on her own.

Victoria admitted that Greg’s advice had helped her recover her resolve, while Sylvia’s growing affection for him was briefly unsettled by his late-night visit. Greg arrived at the ward battered and asked Victoria and Sylvia to help clear the Dungeon’s first floor, citing unusual signs and three missing upperclassmen.

• Victoria told Sylvia that Greg had visited after curfew and encouraged her not to give up after one defeat.
• Sylvia grew more trusting of Greg, then felt a faint unease when she realized he had visited Victoria late at night.
• Greg climbed through the ward’s window, injured and exhausted, and dodged questions about how he had been hurt.
• Victoria recognized that Greg had come with a request, and he asked her and Sylvia to help clear the Dungeon’s first floor.
• Greg said the Dungeon had shown unusual signs and that three upperclassmen who entered earlier had not returned.

Greg persuaded Victoria that he and Sylvia needed to investigate Dungeon abnormalities and search for three missing upperclassmen, then hurried Sylvia out that night. On the way, he claimed they had used the hospital window to keep their private contact secret, leaving Sylvia to wonder if he wanted distance from commoners like her.

• Greg told Victoria and Sylvia that Dungeon abnormalities might have trapped three upperclassmen and urged an immediate investigation.
• Victoria stayed behind because she was still recovering and entrusted Sylvia's safety to Greg.
• Sylvia agreed to go with Greg, and they climbed out of the hospital window before heading toward the Dungeon.
• Sylvia asked why they had avoided the main entrance, and Greg said he wanted to keep their private contact secret.
• Sylvia wondered if Greg was reluctant to get close to commoners like her.

Greg and Sylvia avoided girls searching near the Dungeon entrance, and Sylvia began to enjoy the forbidden adventure. Meanwhile, a blonde girl learned that contact had been lost with people in the deeper reaches of the Dungeon’s first floor.

• Greg pulled Sylvia into the shadows to avoid being seen by girls searching near the Dungeon path.
• Greg and Sylvia took a winding route toward the Dungeon entrance, hiding as the girls passed.
• Sylvia felt increasingly excited by sneaking around with Greg and discovered a taste for breaking rules.
• A maid told the blonde girl that a male intruder had escaped the girls’ dormitory and that a search was underway.
• The maid reported that all contact had been lost with people in the deeper reaches of the first floor, and the blonde girl’s quill stopped.

Catherine Roman, an illegitimate daughter of the Roman Merchant Association’s chairman, pursued the heir position to survive in a hostile family. She arranged a risky Dungeon test of a secret magitech device, and the testers’ disappearance left her without data.

• Catherine recalled that her powerful older siblings threatened her survival and that she had little chance of inheriting the association.
• She described how years of competing in the Roman Merchant Association had taught her to value self-interest over affection or loyalty.
• Catherine secretly funded a workshop to develop a prototype monster-repelling device and needed real Dungeon test results.
• She hired three indebted upper-year students through a fictitious company, disclosed the device’s dangers in their contract, and paid them to test it.
• The three testers vanished without returning any information, so Catherine decided she would need to recruit another group.
• The account contrasted Catherine with other dangerous heroines, including Lilith Kahn, whose possessiveness could emerge during her romance route.

Catherine Roman refused to involve the Academy in the disappearance of three Dungeon testers, determined to keep her secret magical device hidden. Meanwhile, Greg and Sylvia entered the Dungeon passage, where Nightmare sensed a strange scent on Sylvia that she said belonged to a bitch.

• Catherine rejected her maid's suggestion to alert the Academy about the three missing testers, fearing an investigation would expose her secret plans.
• Catherine ordered her maid to find another group of testers after the uproar at the Academy had subsided.
• Greg and Nightmare argued about what to call Greg before he asked what strange smell Nightmare had sensed.
• Nightmare told Greg the scent came from Sylvia, who was walking beside him through the Dungeon passage.
• Nightmare said Sylvia carried a scent belonging to a bitch, leaving Greg startled and incredulous.

As Greg left the Dungeon, Nightmare revealed that the Goddess of Light, Seraphina, disguised her real appearance and challenged Greg to provoke her. Greg learned that Nightmare and Seraphina were bitter enemies, then rejected Nightmare’s scheme to use the girl ahead to summon Seraphina.

• Greg asked Nightmare about the scent she had detected, and Nightmare explained that it belonged to Seraphina, not the girl.
• Nightmare claimed Seraphina’s famous figure was a disguise and offered to prove it by having Greg insult her aloud.
• Greg considered summoning Seraphina for a blessing, but Nightmare said she and Seraphina would not rest until one of them was dead.
• Nightmare suggested Greg make the girl fall in love with him and insult Seraphina when her connection to the goddess was most vulnerable.
• Greg called Nightmare a devil after hearing her plan.

Greg and Sylvia fought their way through a Goblin group guarding the passage to the middle floors, with Greg’s dark magic and Sylvia’s support giving them the advantage. The battle left them facing a Goblin shaman who had crept around to target Sylvia.

• Greg and Sylvia spotted about a dozen Goblin warriors gathered at the entrance to the middle floors, and Greg told Sylvia to support him from behind.
• Sylvia cast strength and agility enhancements on Greg, who ambushed two Goblins with Dark Bracer and killed them quickly.
• The remaining Goblins attacked, but Sylvia blocked an arrow while Greg charged into their ranks and cut them down.
• Sylvia renewed Greg’s buffs and used Holy Light Bullet to disrupt Goblins as Greg overwhelmed them with his dark magic.
• A Goblin shaman circled behind the pair and aimed its bone staff at Sylvia while chanting.