Although the dungeon continuously spawned new monsters, there was a time interval between these occurrences.
As Greg left the dungeon earlier, he had conveniently cleared out the monsters along the way. This gave him the leisure to converse with Nightmare within his mind.
"It seems you have misunderstood once again."
Nightmare's voice rang out unhurriedly, correcting Greg's previous assumption.
"The scent of that bitch I spoke of does not originate from the girl herself. Rather, it is the scent of the goddess behind her, clinging to her soul."
Greg was stunned for a moment before it clicked. "You mean... the Goddess of Light?"
"Precisely."
Nightmare's tone carried an unabashed sense of disgust.
"Despite having a frame as barren as a desert, she always disguises herself as fertile land when she manifests. I still remember how she once arrogantly declared: 'Those are merely two lumps of useless, redundant flesh. What is there to envy?' And the result? Now, she has turned herself into the very thing she once despised most. Hmph, how deceitful and utterly hypocritical."
This sudden, earth-shattering secret nearly made Greg stumble.
"Wait! What did you say?! The Goddess of Light's massive chest is a fake!?"
In the original game, Greg had indeed seen the image of the Goddess of Light through Silvia's perspective.
She was holy, noble, and radiant, filled with a divinity that brooked no desecration.
But he had to admit, the thing that left the deepest impression on players was the goddess's astonishing, treasure-tier scale.
He could even clearly recall that visually shocking grandeur to this day.
If that was actually a disguise...
Greg felt a small piece of his illusions regarding certain beautiful settings of this world crumble instantly.
He initially wanted to ask, "How could you possibly know something like that?"
But he swallowed the words before they left his mouth.
While the original setting didn't explicitly state it, the background lore had obscurely mentioned that the Goddess of Night, Nightmare, and the Goddess of Light, Serafina, shared a lineage as sister goddesses in an extremely ancient era.
If that were true, it made sense for Nightmare to know some of the other's secrets.
So, he switched to a more practical question: "For real? Do you have proof?"
"Proof?" Nightmare sneered. "I do not possess the kind of proof mortals require, but I have a method to demonstrate it."
"What method?"
"It is quite simple."
A hint of mischievous delight seeped into Nightmare's voice.
"You only need to face this little girl in front of you and shout with all your might—'Serafina is a bitch pretending to have big breasts!' Then, no matter where she is or what she is doing, she will undoubtedly descend with a wisp of her will through this most compatible vessel to settle the score with you personally. Well? Care to give it a try?"
Greg didn't answer immediately.
He was rapidly weighing the pros and cons.
The Goddess of Light, Serafina, possessed the largest and most devout following in the current human world. The power of faith she could mobilize was as vast as the sea, far beyond what this destitute Hajimi shrinking in his shadow could compare to.
If he could truly summon Serafina this way and find a way to successfully persuade her, he might be able to obtain some powerful Divine Protections or blessings from her...
If that happened, never mind conquering the first layer of this dungeon, even the subsequent layers would likely become much easier.
Faced with such immense temptation, Greg asked cautiously, "How is your... relationship with her right now?"
Nightmare answered crisply, without the slightest hesitation: "An unending enmity until death."
Greg: "...Next time you want to kill me, you can just say so directly. You don't need to be so indirect."
He felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
He thought he was about to latch onto a golden thigh, but it turned out he was about to invite a terrifying enemy who could crush him countless times over.
Disappointment aside, curiosity still won out.
"Aren't you... sister goddesses? Logically, your relationship should be very close. How did it reach the point of unending enmity?"
Nightmare seemed to think for a moment before saying in an uncertain tone:
"Hmm... the specific reason has been worn away by the long passage of time; I do not remember it clearly. Perhaps... it has something to do with me frequently mocking her for being a 'washboard flat enough to race horses on' in the past?"
Greg nearly choked on his own spit. "You know the reason perfectly well, don't you!?"
He now strongly suspected that the Holy Church of Light's historical efforts to suppress beliefs and traces related to the night were not just due to doctrinal conflicts, but very likely hidden personal grudges held by Goddess Serafina.
For instance, she absolutely could not let anyone know the shocking secret that her proud figure was actually a disguise.
"Hey."
Nightmare's dissatisfied voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Why do I feel like you've been complaining internally this whole time? As my other half, shouldn't you share my hatred and think of how to get revenge on that hypocritical bitch together with me?"
Greg sighed helplessly.
"Please, get real. I'm only level 17. What do you expect me to use to get revenge on a Goddess of Light who has hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of fanatical believers, where a random regional bishop could probably level-stomp me? Use love? Or should I use my 'Whimpering' skill that just reached level 4?"
"This matter is simple."
Nightmare's tone was as casual as if they were discussing what to have for dinner.
"You just need to find a way to make that little girl fall for you. Then, when your souls and bodies unite—at that moment when her consciousness is hazy and her connection to the goddess is at its most intimate yet fragile—suddenly growl into her ear: 'Serafina is a bitch pretending to have big breasts!' That will do it."
"I am already starting to wonder what kind of interesting expression that always high-and-mighty, posturing bitch will make then, and what kind of melodious gasps she will let out beneath you."
Greg remained silent for several seconds.
"...I am now certain that you aren't a goddess at all. You're a devil to the core, aren't you!?"
Rate on N.U.
