anwhile, back in Silver Blade City, just outside the villa surrounded by rose hedges and illusion glyphs that shimred faintly under the stars, Nolan was... sleeping.
Deeply.
The kind of sleep only a man who had run out of both stress and sanity could fall into.
He lay there on a stone bench just beside the front porch, arms crossed over his chest like a grumpy statue who had given up on caring, one foot twitching every so often. His cloak had slipped halfway off his shoulder, and his head leaned back at a crooked angle.
Then ca the snoring.
It was loud. Unfiltered. Rolling out of his throat in deep, vibrating growls that seed to shake the nearby potted plants.
"—nghhh... yes... yes, that’s right, fireball in the left socket," Nolan mumbled in his sleep, shifting slightly. "Stupid system can’t tell left from right anyway... heh..."
He twitched. Then snored louder.
"...Mmmh... who the hell nas a spell ’Heaven-Splitting Dragon Claw Punch’? Overcompensating much..."
His brow furrowed, a line of drool beginning to escape the corner of his lips.
"...Should’ve taken that egg refund... Should’ve just taken it..."
A sudden kick of his leg made the bench creak.
"...Ninth Stage... baby boss guardian... whatever..."
His body sagged slightly to the side, as though the weight of his exhaustion was finally pulling him deeper.
"...No, I’m not paying that debt, I never signed that—hey! Get your hands off—"
Suddenly, the doors of the villa burst open with a loud SLAM.
"NOLAN!"
The voice pierced the still night like a sword of pure fury.
Nolan jolted upright, flailing for a brief second before falling face-first off the bench, cloak tangling around his arms.
"W-what? What?" he muttered groggily, blinking blearily at the sharp figure in the doorway.
Lirazel stood there, eyes blazing, hands on her hips, her silvery hair almost floating from the force of her irritation.
"You’re supposed to be guarding!" she barked. "The other spawn of demon gods could attack our daughter any minute now!"
Nolan sat up with a groan, rubbing his forehead. "Daughter? I don’t even rember kissing a girl."
"That egg you bought!" Lirazel snapped, marching over and swatting him on the shoulder. "That’s your daughter now! The Naga Siren! She’s your floor guardian! Or have you forgotten your own dungeon rule set?!"
Nolan grunted, trying to untangle his cloak. "I didn’t forget. I just... didn’t expect it to happen so fast."
Lirazel threw her hands in the air, exasperated. "We are probably the first mortals in the lower realms to successfully hatch a dungeon floor guardian! Do you even understand how rare that is?!"
He blinked at her.
"No! Of course you don’t!" she shouted. "That egg wasn’t just a summonable beast. It’s a spawn node created from the remnants of a demon god’s shattered authority. That ans others—other demon god spawns—will sense it! They will co! They will co with armies! With monsters! With formation-breakers! Even if it kills them! They’ll try to erase her!"
"And?" Nolan muttered, stifling a yawn. "We’re strong. I’m Ninth Stage Mana Knight and—"
"You’ve been a Ninth Stage for two weeks!"
"Well—"
"You have no combat experience! You trained kids! With wooden swords!"
"Hey!" Nolan pointed. "I used real swords sotis!"
Lirazel’s expression was stone cold. "If they co—and I an real enemies, not cave goblins with bad breath—what will you do? Wing it?"
He scratched the back of his head, visibly uncomfortable. "...I an, probably."
She stared at him, incredulous. "Do you want her to die? Do you want to die? Because if I die, then the dungeon hierarchy collapses. You’ll be next. You’ll be teleported into that throne chamber with a giant red ’X’ painted on your forehead."
Nolan fell silent.
He looked away, jaw tightening. "...I know."
Lirazel’s expression softened. "Then why did you fall asleep?"
He didn’t answer for a mont. Then finally, "Because I’m scared too," he lied with a straight face.
She blinked. Speechless.
Nolan decided to double down.
"I’ve done everything with luck. mory fighting. I studied. Fought simulations. Taught theory. But I never really fought a war. I didn’t earn this power the sa way others did. Sotis I feel like I’m just holding it together with duct tape and prayers," he said with a very straight face.
However, Lirazel stepped closer, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Then fight scared. Just don’t stop fighting," as if she believed him.
Nolan blinked. Speechless. But looking at Lirazel, seeing her serious, he just went with it. So he nodded slowly, exhaling.
They stood there for a mont. Just breathing.
But up above... far above... far beyond the mortal sky...
In the cold dominion of the Higher Realms, where stars themselves bowed to ancient wills, two shadows stood amid a swirling mirror of black fla and shifting mist.
They looked down through the scrying pool, watching Nolan and Lirazel in silence.
One of them—a tall, cruel figure with curved horns and red eyes that shimred with charm and decay—tilted her head, the corners of her luscious mouth curling into an amused smile.
The Succubus Demon Lord.
"So that’s the mortal you contracted with?" rumbled a guttural voice beside her, one that echoed with the resonance of oceans and madness.
The second demon was a towering, cephalopodic entity with dozens of twitching tentacles sprouting from his back and shoulders. His skin was a living tapestry of runes and eyes, blinking out of sequence.
The Cthulhu-like Demon Lord.
"Yes," the succubus murmured, watching Nolan scratch his hair. "Of all the mortals I’ve contracted over the centuries, he was the least remarkable. diocre aptitude. Average soul weight. His charisma score was pathetic."
"And yet," the other demon mused, "he hatched a dungeon floor guardian."
The succubus narrowed her eyes. "It shouldn’t have been possible. That egg was supposed to take fifty years to gestate. He hatched it in days. And now it’s bound to him. The first of its kind."
The tentacled demon turned his eyes toward her. "He is stepping into the War Ga."
"I know," she said, tone darkening. "The Lower Realm Ownership Ga wasn’t supposed to be intense for another hundred years. But now, a mortal like him triggered it... It’s going to be a bloodbath."
"He’s an insect," the Cthulhu-like demon rumbled. "But a curious one."
The succubus watched Nolan closely. "What’s strange... is that I drained his lifespan a long ti ago. He shouldn’t have even lived past thirty. But now... he has a new one. Strong. Intact. Overflowing."
The other demon paused. "You think soone intervened?"
She nodded slowly. "Another being. Sothing outside the system. His sudden jump to Ninth Stage Mana Knight, and even more mysteriously, to Seventh Stage Mana Specialist in re weeks... it’s absurd. It defies logic."
"Fascinating, maybe a sudden hidden talent was triggered when he died," the tentacled demon growled.
The Succubus would nod.
Cthulhu would add.
"It is a pity then... that he will die."
The succubus turned her gaze to him, but he had already shifted his pool.
"Look," he said, pointing to a scene unfolding below.
In the mortal realm—far from Silver Blade City—a group of knights began setting camp near a river bend. In the distance, several carriages trailed behind them.
The demon lord’s tendrils curled. "The first victims of my spawn... will be his students."
The succubus’s eyes narrowed as her gaze fell upon the knight in black armor, the chief of Black Vale Territory—Varros.
And behind him... in those carriages...
The apprentices Nolan had once trained. Oblivious. Unaware. Surrounded.
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