Needless to say, Jake’s question made the entire situation quite tense as he looked at the Second Mistress. She was taken aback and stared at Jake for several seconds, clearly having not expected him to find out.The moment he had entered the residence of the Second Mistress, he had felt the familiar mana signature of the container with the Secret Scroll inside. Considering the Fallen King had made it clear the Guard Captain still had one, it wasn’t hard to figure out this was the “missing” scroll.It took her a moment, but the Second Mistress collected herself and sighed. “Why hide it? Why would I not? Would you have helped bring the Prime Consort to me and assisted in slaying the Demon Lord if I didn’t have anything to offer?”“Probably.” Jake shrugged.She seemed taken aback by his answer. “Why?”“Why not?” Jake asked. Doing that was bound to earn a better achievement, so helping her out only made sense in his head. Of course, she didn’t know about achievements, so maybe it made se

A sudden burst of heat hit Jake as he stepped out of the gateway and appeared on the thirty-fifth floor. One thing was already different about this floor compared to any prior: There was no difficulty selection with Minaga. Instead, they just appeared within the Demon Lord’s castle.Before anything else, Jake released a Pulse of Perception to get a lay of the land. What he saw was probably the smallest floor they had encountered so far.The floor was just one unrealistically giant castle. It consisted of three different sections of note: the massive central throne room, a large, circular hallway surrounding it, and three towers that each had hallways extending from the large, circular hallway. Jake also spotted a certain someone hidden in a room pretty much right next to where they appeared.As Jake was still looking through the mental map from his pulse, they got the usual welcome message for the floor.Welcome to the thirty-fifth floor of Nevermore: Minaga’s Labyrinth (Demon Lord’s

In any encounter, dealing with adds—short for additionals, or enemies that one had to fight alongside the boss—was a bit annoying. In most cases, the boss would enter some charge-up phase during the fight with the adds, and Jake had kind of expected this to be the case during their planning. This turned out not to be the case, and Jake had the sneaking suspicion it was due to them allowing the artifacts to be empowered.Yeah, that seemed like something Minaga would do. If they were sabotaged, the Demon Lord would be unable to summon anything. If they did nothing, the boss would channel the spell or something to summon the Tower Demons, immobilizing himself for a while… And if they empowered him, they would have to face the boss and all his minions at the same time.Alas, it was not entirely unexpected, so they had planned on taking advantage of one of their party’s unique traits: individual excellence. Each of them could fight exceptionally well on their own, which was why they spread

Instantly, the entire party shifted movements. The Sword Saint retreated back as Sylphie summoned a tornado that completely sealed the movements of the sword. At the same time, roots appeared from below and slithered up the legs of the boss while the Fallen King threw out two chains, catching both his arms. In an instant, the Demon Lord’s movement was completely restricted. They all knew he could break out within a second… but they wouldn’t give him a second.Jake dismissed his bow and used One Step to appear right in front of the boss, both katars already out. Eternal Hunger stabbed the otherwise impenetrable armor, but the expected did not happen. He felt the surprise of the Demon Lord as the katar managed to penetrate the armor by several centimeters. It was only now that the boss noticed what Jake had been doing. The spot he had used Touch of the Malefic Viper on during their one-versus-one had turned an even darker shade than anywhere else, and his repeated poisoned arrow had onl

Jake and company had visited many city floors before and knew what to expect. Except, this was not a normal city floor. This one had been made by Minaga, and the Unique Lifeform had already warned them this place would be special. A special floor made by a special guy.Upon their immediate arrival, Jake did not see what was so different. At first glance, it looked just like a usual city. As long as you ignored the fact that Jake spotted at least a dozen statues of Minaga just from where they’d entered, and that the general architecture reminded him of that mage area he had visited to buy his current bracers.As usual, the system messages also appeared, inviting them to the floor.You have arrived on Minaga’s City Floor of Nevermore.All violence outside of the arenas is strictly prohibited on all city floors, including this unique City Floor. Challenge Dungeon(s) can be found in the central square. If Nevermore is left and reentered, you will automatically be taken to the latest city