The light of the bonfire flickered in the cave, casting long shadows of Greg and the black cat sitting opposite him onto the uneven rock walls, like two silent, ancient statues in a standoff.
After hearing Greg's questioning, Nightmare, the Goddess of Night, did not answer immediately.
She stood up gracefully, moving with silent feline steps, and slowly walked to Greg's side. She began to pace around him in a slow, circling walk.
One lap, two laps.
Her emerald eyes, reflecting the firelight like gems in a deep pool, scrutinized Greg intently. It was as if she were examining a complex and precise instrument, or perhaps confirming some invisible quality.
After the third lap, she stopped at Greg's side, and her ethereal voice rippled directly into his mind:
"Because you are very special, Greg Sass."
"Special?"
Greg raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.
Specially unlucky? Specially good at hunkering down? Or specially prone to being targeted by death CGs?
Nightmare continued, her tone carrying a sense of insight unique to a deity:
"I can feel that you seem to possess some powerful talent, a potential that would allow you to conquer the Five Great Dungeons."
The term 'Five Great Dungeons' was not unfamiliar to Greg.
In the game 《Do You Like a World Where You Can Happily Party Up Even as a Girl?》, aside from the main storyline of girls bonding, this was the core and most headache-inducing hardcore content setting.
The Glory Cael Magic Academy Dungeon—this godforsaken place where he was currently hunkered down—was only the first and most accessible one.
The Duchy Dungeon—located beneath the permafrost glaciers of the Northern Ice Duchy, a paradise for extreme cold and ice-type magical beasts.
The Empire Dungeon—hidden deep beneath the capital of the Central Empire, heavily guarded and extremely difficult.
The Undersea Dungeon—sunken in the deepest trench of the Boundless Sea, with maximum environmental pressure, unreachable by anyone who wasn't a top-tier water mage or a special adapter.
The Demon Realm Dungeon—located in the heart of the Demon territory, overflowing with demonic energy, a literal hellscape for humans.
These five dungeons were grand in scale, complex in mechanics, and the strength of the monsters within grew exponentially.
In the original game, they weren't so much 'conquerable instances' as they were 'ultimate challenges prepared for the most hardcore players.'
Before Greg transmigrated, no complete walkthrough for all Five Great Dungeons had ever appeared on the game forums; there wasn't even a full guide for a single one.
Most players, including himself, just dipped their toes in, fishing for rare materials or special gems in the first few floors before making a run for it.
After all, this was essentially a Galgame!
Wasn't spending time and energy figuring out how to bicker with a tsundere princess, how to raise a cold saintess's favorability, or how to trigger special events with a merchant guild's daughter much better than repeatedly dying in dark, damp, monster-infested dungeons?
Therefore, Greg's knowledge of these Five Great Dungeons was limited to the general terrain and initial monster types of the first few floors.
The deeper levels?
That was a dark unknown, thick with the scent of death.
"Wait."
Greg snapped out of his memories, his expression shifting from solemnity to more direct confusion and resistance.
"Whether I have the potential to conquer these dungeons or not, what does that have to do with you, Goddess? And why on earth would I want to conquer those godforsaken places?"
Greg was puzzled.
Usually, when someone is chosen by a goddess, it's because they have the power to save the world. He was being scouted because he was good at being a dark little rat in a dungeon.
What kind of logic was that?
"Of course it matters."
Nightmare seemed to have anticipated his reaction; her voice remained calm and steady.
She walked back to the fire and sat down gracefully, her tail wrapping around her front paws.
"Although my memories have been eroded into fragments by the long passage of time and the severing of faith, certain core imprints remain clear. I remember... these five dungeons were not formed naturally, nor could they have been easily constructed by the living beings of this world."
She raised her emerald eyes, looking into the boundless darkness deep within the cave, as if she could peer through the rock to see somewhere far more distant.
"They are seals, and they are tombs."
Greg's heart skipped a beat.
"Tombs? What's buried there? Powerful ancient magical beasts? Fallen heroes? Or... legendary treasure?"
He tried to guess based on conventional fantasy tropes.
Nightmare slowly shook her head, negating all those conjectures.
"They bury... some extremely dangerous existences. Their essence, form, and purpose are entirely incompatible with this world. If they were to fully awaken and break free from their shackles..."
The black cat's voice took on a rare gravity, even a hint of... dread.
"This world will likely face its true... end."
"Destroy the world?"
Greg was stunned for a moment, then, as if realizing something, he put on an 'I get it' expression.
"Oh, you're talking about the Demon King. You can rest easy on that front. Although that guy is indeed a nuisance, someone will naturally take care of it."
According to the original plot, the Demon King's Army would stir up war in the mid-to-late stages, but they would eventually be defeated by the combined efforts of the heroines who had grown in strength.
Though the process was convoluted, the ending was a predestined victory for the light.
That was a main quest. As a former villain, he could just stay on the sidelines, cheer them on, and focus on surviving.
However, after hearing his words, Nightmare visibly froze.
In those emerald cat eyes, a clear trace of... confusion emerged.
Along with a subtle 'what the hell are you talking about' vibe.
"Demon King?"
She repeated the word, her tone odd, the tip of her tail twitching unconsciously. "Where did this... random stray on the street come from?"
Now it was Greg's turn to be baffled. "Wait, are you sure the world-destroying threat you're talking about isn't that Demon King who's entrenched in the Demon Realm, building an army and dreaming of conquering the human world every day?"
According to the tropes of almost all fantasy works, isn't the ultimate world-destroying boss the Demon King?
"Of course not."
Nightmare's tone was certain, even carrying a bit of disdain.
"The Demon King you speak of leaves no shadow in my remaining memories."
"Such an existence might cause a stir in your current era, but in the older and far more... dangerous era when I was active, he wouldn't even have made the cut."
"What I speak of are those buried at the core of these five dungeons—the Outer Gods."
"Outer Gods?"
Greg chewed on the completely unfamiliar term, his brow furrowing tightly.
He was one hundred percent certain that in all the text, dialogue, lore fragments, and even the hidden background stories of the original game, the concept of Outer Gods had never appeared.
This was a setting that completely exceeded the scope of his game knowledge.
"I've never heard of any Outer Gods. Could it be that you're so old you're misremembering? Or is this something you just made up to trick me into going on an adventure?"
After all, this Goddess didn't seem very reliable, and she had a prior record of forcing a bond on him.
Nightmare's voice carried a genuine sense of lament and loneliness:
"To think that after a long slumber and being forgotten, the living beings of this world haven't even heard the name of the Outer Gods anymore."
"Then, I suppose, there is surely no one left who would actively explore, let alone conquer, these five prisons that suppress calamity."
Greg nodded. "Dungeons are full of the unknown, after all. If it weren't to avoid certain flags, I wouldn't want to stay here for a single second longer."
This was the general mindset of players and a true reflection of most adventurers in this world.
Dungeons were treasure troves of resources, but they were also tombs of death.
Upon hearing this, Nightmare seemed to let out a soft sigh.
She spoke in that slightly perplexed tone:
"It is truly strange. I have observed that you humans often burst with incredible courage, wisdom, and yearning when faced with the unknown vistas beneath a beautiful female's skirt, braving any hardship to forge ahead."
"Why is it that when the object is replaced by a dungeon, which is equally full of the unknown but might hold the key to the world's survival, all that remains is fear and withdrawal?"
Greg: "How exactly did you manage to link those two things together?"
Nightmare blinked her emerald eyes innocently, as if to say: Did I say something wrong?
Greg facepalmed, feeling that discussing this with a Goddess who had such a peculiar way of thinking would be endless.
He decided to bring the conversation back on track.
He picked up a few pieces of dry wood and tossed them into the bonfire.
The flames flared up with a 'whoosh,' crackling more loudly and driving away the chill of the cave and the psychological pressure of the darkness.
Greg brushed the dust off his hands, his tone becoming firm again:
"Anyway, if you're looking for someone to conquer these Five Great Dungeons for you, you've got the wrong guy. I'm not going to actively seek out my own death."
He would only conquer a dungeon to save his own life, but he would never do so proactively.
Because the high difficulty of these Five Great Dungeons was common knowledge.
Even though this black cat was indeed a Goddess, Greg had no way to verify the truth of all the things she was rambling about, as these were factors never mentioned in the original game.
Besides, as long as he followed the original plot, wouldn't the world return to peace anyway once Victoria defeated the Demon King?
Taking a step back, even if some Outer Gods really were buried in there, and even if they really would wake up one day... when would that be?
A hundred years from now? A thousand years?
By then, his bones would have turned to dust. Whether the world was destroyed or not, what did it have to do with him?
Rate on N.U.
