Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 33

Chapter 33: The Seed of Ruin

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Now then, what should I call it? The God of Destruction. She called it the “Seed of Ruin.”

Then, I shall call it Ruin Seed. It slithered out from the rift in space. Well, I wasn’t entirely sure if that tear in space was actually a dimensional rift, but that was what it felt to me. Regardless, now that things had come to this, I had no choice but to fight it.

“Will this dungeon hold though?”

With that concern lingering in my mind, I unleashed my breath attack. The golden light of my breath was based on pure radiance, instantly sweeping across the Ruin Seed, creating waves of heat and explosions in its wake. It pushed back the darkness that ruled this space, forcing it back in repeated bursts—but it did not stop the Ruin Seed from moving. Though it appeared to be gliding through the air, its movement carried a certain slimy, unsettling quality. It closed in, tendrils writhing, attempting to coil around my dragon form.

My barrier shield reacted instantly, sending sparks flying. No—rather than sparks, it was more of an explosion. The tendrils, embedded with countless needle-like organs, had attempted to pierce my body. Their movement resembled that of a jellyfish. However…

The main body of the Ruin Seed, the underside of its jellyfish-like bell, glowed with a sinister black light. A black breath attack. The barrier I had deployed in anticipation of such close-range assaults took the brunt of it.

Oh?

This was the same barrier that hadn’t even trembled when faced with Sakamoto-san’s slashes—yet now, it quivered. A testament to the sheer destructive force of this entity. This was going to be a long fight.

…

…

…

…

It was long. A long and grueling battle. Its needle-laden tendrils stabbed directly when close, while at a distance, it scattered lightning-like attacks. Its primary weapon, the dark breath, was devastating—but it couldn’t be fired in quick succession. It possessed an incredible regenerative ability. But above all, the most troublesome thing about it was its unstable mass. One moment, it shrank to the size of a rat and within the next moment, it swelled to the size of the sun.

I, too, could manipulate my own mass—but this was something entirely different. That creature’s very existence was unstable. It destroyed itself—only to instantly regenerate.

The Seed of Ruin.

If its name was to be taken literally, then it was a being that continuously destroyed the world, repeating its cycle of existence and nonexistence, eventually dragging everything around it into its endless spiral.

So—how did I defeat it? Before becoming a dragon, I had taken the form of many different monsters. Among them, I had once been a succubus. A creature that could make its targets dream and manipulate them from within. I combined that ability with the hypnotic attacks of the Psycho Ruler, which I had used before. A being that endlessly fluctuated between existence and annihilation couldn’t possibly have a stable consciousness. And even if it did, it would shatter instantly.

But precisely because of that, its resistance to mental attacks was abysmally low. Perhaps this was because anything that came near it would normally be consumed in its cycle of destruction before it could even attempt an attack. Most likely, my own force of existence surpassed that of the Ruin Seed, allowing me to resist its nature.

Still, while my barrier shield could block its attacks, it couldn’t stop the split-second gaps between its disappearance and reappearance—an attack where its mass overlapped with my body. That had been excruciatingly painful. In the end, I forced it to dream of “an eternity where it never emerges.” By mentally manipulating it to continuously repeat that scenario, I managed to erase its existence. The moment it vanished, the vast and endless space we had been fighting in returned to its original size. The residual shockwave slammed into me, shaking my entire body.

Panicked, I quickly reverted to my human form. At the same time, an immense amount of experience points that Ruin Seed had possessed flooded into me.

Could this be a new evolution?

Ever since surpassing the phase of a  Gold Dragon, each evolution had taken significantly longer. When I had become the EX Magnifique Dragon, I had thought that was the pinnacle of my evolution. But it seemed there were still further heights to reach.

Well…For now, this should be the end of it.

Judging by how the Ruin Seed had emerged, Goddess Piroane must have lost a considerable amount of her power.

“Ah, I’m exhausted… Hm?”

Something was rolling on the ground? 

A drop item?

But as a dungeon monster myself, I shouldn’t be able to obtain anything other than experience points from defeating another dungeon monster. As I moved closer, I saw that it was a pure white sphere. It was about the size of something I could hold in both arms—roughly the same size as the microwave in my room.

Well, for now, I might as well take it back with me.

“…Time to go home.”

I was completely drained. Thinking could wait. Right now, I needed to get out of this collapsing dungeon.

“Jiro-san!”

“Oh—”

The moment I stepped out of the dungeon, Mimimi tackled me in a hug.

“I was so worried!”

“Ah, sorry about that. But as you can see, I’m fine.”

Even as I said that, her tearful expression didn’t clear up.

“Because…”

“You were in that dungeon for three days.” 

Sakamoto-san said, walking up behind her.

“Huh?”

Her words caught me completely off guard.

“Three days?”

Had that much time really passed? I had been so focused on my battle with Ruin Seed that I lost track of time entirely.

“Not to mention, the dungeon entrance became completely inaccessible. We had no idea what was going on in there.”

“…Yeah, I wonder why that happened.”

I played dumb, but all I got in return was an ice-cold glare.

“Uuuh… I’m just glad… So glad you’re okay… Huff…”

“Huh? Wait—”

Still clinging to me, Mimimi suddenly let out a deep sigh and went completely limp. Startled, I caught her, only to realize—she had fallen asleep.

“You should be grateful. That girl waited for you here the entire time.” 

Sakamoto-san said.

“Ah… I really did something terrible to her, didn’t I? Hm?”

“What?”

“And you?”

“Me? I was busy dealing with monsters that escaped the dungeon and handling newly formed dungeons that needed to be conquered immediately.”

“I see. And yet, you’re here now.”

“Shut up! I couldn’t just ignore such a weird situation!”

“Yeah… Fair enough.”

Looking around, I noticed a lot of government workers—most likely from the Ministry of Dungeons. Now that the dungeon had vanished, they were here to clean up the aftermath. Sakamoto-san was probably part of that effort as well.

“Anyway, for now, just take that girl home. Tomorrow, you’re coming to the ministry to report everything.”

“I don’t really have anything to report, though?”

“You’re coming.”

“…Understood.”

I knew resistance was futile. While holding Mimimi in my arms, I started heading home. Her warmth felt oddly comforting, making me wish the walk back to my apartment would last just a little longer.

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