Prologue – Dragon and Dragon ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
「Hey, you……?」
The red-haired girl that Takeda Junpei met in the B-Rank Adventurer Selection Exam suddenly said after seeing him.
「Up until now, how many times, are you repeating life and death? Your karma is twisted that……it would be impossible to be fixed anymore you know?」
Receiving the girl’s words, a sharp pain runs through Junpei’s head.
「……repeating……life and death……? What do you mean……by that?」
And, he kneeled down on the grown.
While enduring the pain, the announcement of the electronic voice that echoes inside his head repeated.
ーーIn addition to murdering Sakakibara Kazuya and chance meeting with a dragon species, words that reaches the core have been received, the Thesaurus Points would be reduced by 70
The thesaurus points became 0.
In exchange to resealing, a skill shall be released. Furthermore, a part of the memories shall be released.
Extreme Skill【Trash Box】has been released.
From hereafter, optionally throwing away loaded skills is now possible.
Junpei slowly tries to understand what those contents mean.
Up until now, because Junpei had limited skill slots, in other words, he cannot throw away skills, so he did not take even the skills that he thought useful.
In short, it looks like thanks to the skill【Trash Box】, it would be possible to throw away skills.
“I mean, isn’t that……”, Junpei shivered with what it meant.
He would be able to steal all the skills from the people he killed or neutralized as long as he wanted, and throw them away if they became useless.
It was really something that could be described as “extreme”.
However, he did not have the leisure to think of that.
Anyways, his headache……it was terrible.
No, it was not limited to that.
He felt something hot, coming from deep within his head.
ーーwell, that cannot be helped.
The things that he should not, no, cannot forget……they were once again forcefully sealed together with the release of the extreme skill.
His brain cells were screaming, his soul was tearing.
What Junpei was feeling right now……he was about to remember something, but he cannot. It was like remembering what one had taken for dinner last night, but cannot remember for some reasonーーit was that kind of a mysterious feeling.
The girl who saw Junpei’s expression of enduring pain while drenched in sweat, whispers while tilting her head.
「Hmm……」
The red-haired girlーーCharnaught, started to bite her thumbnail as if to express “Incomprehensible……”.
「At first, I thought……it was forcefully resurrecting, then continue to explore the labyrinth, but……it looks like it’s different」
「……?」
「You are genuinely living……in fact……there are no traces of resurrection magic being used」
Charnaught’s golden eyes widened, then grinned.
「No……I see. This is……really quite……」
Did she feel something ridiculous, she started laughing while holding her stomach.
「Kufufu!! Ufu! Kufufufufufufufu! Kuhahahahaha!! This is great……!! It is neither god’s deed or the deep labyrinth’s deed……this is……this is just……a human’s deed……!!」
Continuing to laugh, Charnaught continued.
「ーーto be able to compel cruelty to this level……kuhahah!! Kuhahahahahaha!!! What a thing!!」
She made a huge nod, and said after turning around.
「……no, that is why……it might be because people like you exist, that humans are able to advance. Well, that’s, all……excuse me then」
「……what do……you mean?」
「What or whatever……I am just……no, I just do not want to get involved with you……or the whatever situation you are in」
Charnaught said while waving her hand backward.
「What I wish for is tranquillity. And, peace. Really when did the world became so troublesome, that I would need to be involved with such a harmless dungeon seeker……well then, see you later」
▼▼▼
ーーa few days later.
2000 meters above the ground.
Grasslands, forests, towns, and lakesーーthe scenery below passed very quickly.
A golden dragon and a red-haired girl riding on the back of that dragon.
Earth Dragon Empress Charlings and Flame Dragon Empress Balfnaught.
Just a while ago, the two of them had fused, and became the golden-eyed scorching red-haired beautiful girlーーCharnaught, however, right now, they had removed the law of fusion.
「The human world after a long time……their food culture had evolved so much. Chocolate donut……that was really delicious」
When the red-haired girl Balfnaught said that, the golden-colored dragon turned its glaring eyes towards the girl on its back.
「I cannot take a human form. And you, you ate out alone for several days……」
「A-re? Didn’t I brought lots of sweet souvenirs for Charlings」
「……you and I have a difference with size. There is no way that I would be satisfied with just 30 pieces of donuts」
「Arara〜. I’m very sorry for thaat……」
And, the girl looked towards the place far away up to the skyーーshe looked up to the Firmament, and whispered.
「……even so, that boy. Really……that was the first time that I saw such a sickening curse. Isn’t that right, Charlings?」
The golden dragon also whispered with a similar displeasure to those words.
「And so……in the end, what was that thing? No……is this really for the best? Balfnaught」
「Are you asking if we should leave it alone or not?」
「That is right. We had just exchanged a fist or two, and without properly exchanging words……we left. It is true that right now, that boy cannot become a threat to us, but……even so, isn’t he a Skill Hunter in its infancy?」
「If you are talking about that, it should be fine if he’s left alone. “That” is harmless after all」
Silence for a while.
And, the dragon opened its mouth.
「What do you mean by……harmless?」
「Un. “That” is harmless……should I explain it to you?」
「The explanation……can you wait for a while」
「n? Wait? Why?」
「That is, I know that analysis is your forte, that, I admit. It is I who had suffered for so much because of your way of thinking who is saying it. I can swear on that」
「I do not want to be told like that by you, who would forcefully flip the whole board when we were just playing shogi so sneakily」
「Well, leaving that on the side. In reality, you had understood everything with just that interaction right?」
「Not all though? I can only confidently say that I had read 98% of it」
「You can say that that’s everything. Even so, I am also counted as one of the primordial dragons. I do not like being thought from one to ten. Can I speak of my thoughts?」
Silence once again.
The dragon flapped its large wings, and ascended.
「I see. If that is so, it should be good to hear your thoughts……u〜n……should we make it in the form of me asking questions to you?」
「Let’s do that」
「Ne〜, Charlings? What……do you think?」
After pausing for a bit, the dragon opens its mouth.
「Is it about the curse that he have?」
「Un. That’s right」
「I had thought that, that curse, it is an ability of immortality that resurrects in the instant of death. On top of that……it’s a type that the owner itself doesn’t know about it」
“Un”, the girl nodded.
「You thought……means, it’s in past tense right?」
「Umu」
「Then, what do you think right now?」
Silence came once again.
However, after a while, the dragon slowly opened its mouth.
「Is it not……returning from death?」
(TL: 死に戻り Respawn / Resurrect in save point, I think)
“Kusuri”, the girl giggled.
「I’m very surprised, to think that Charlings could reach up to that with only that information」
「Did I not tell you, don’t make a fool of me alright? Although I’m like this, I am still a primordial dragon」
“Kukku”, the golden dragon laughed satisfyingly.
On top of that, did the dragon became very happy to the words “I’m surprised” that came from the red-haired girl, it narrows its eyes and nodded many times.
「Well, leaving that on the side……too bad. You’re wrong」
And there, the dragon got speechless, and got petrified for a while.
「What did you say……? I-I was quite……confident about it you know?」
「It is not returning from death. I can assure you that」
「Why is that?」
「The karma that surrounds his soulーーwith just returning from death, it would not become that much」
Receiving those words, the dragon became silent.
And finally, the dragon squeezed out a mortifying voice.
「I see……if you say so, then it might be so」
“However, if it’s like that……”, the dragon asked the girl.
「What in the world was that?」
This time, the girl became silent, and after a while, she raised her right hand’s pointing finger.
As if to reorganize inside her own head, or maybe to recheck them, she swings her finger as if it was a baton.
And, after nodding, she opened her mouth.
「”That” is……no, “that” is also……just like the god, or just like the chief of the conquering team deep within the labyrinth……he has become a prisoner of time」
「Hmm? A prisoner of time huh? From how he looks, he is just a boy in his teens though……prisoners of time should have lived for a long time……」
「As a fact, he is still in his teens you know? But, in reality, he isーー」
And there, a turbulence had appeared in the sky that the dragon was flying in.
Although stirred up by violent winds, the girl continued her words as if nothing had happened.
「He isーーーーーwhat he walkedーーーーーthe pathーーーーーーand with experience itself engravedーーーーーーthat is whyーーーーーthe conqueringーーーーーーeven normal humansーーーーーthe onlyーーーーーーーーーhe had alreadyーーーーーーvery long timeーーーーーーnumerousーーー」
Finally, the dragon passed through the turbulence.
Receiving the girl’s’ words, the dragon made an indescribable expression.
「I see. That is……that really is……grand, spectacular, and gruesome……I see」
The dragon and girl let out a deep sigh at the same time. And the silence for so many times had come again.
Unknown for how long had passed, finally the two finished their drive in the sky, and see their dwelling, the ancient forest.
And there, *Pan*, the girl clapped her hands as if to remember something.
「Ahh, come to think of it. I remembered because of that place’s labyrinth」
「What?」
「The distortion of space」
“Ahh, that huh……”, the dragon said with a voice mixed with displeasure.
「That’s true……the distortion of space is already at the level that it cannot be ignored」
「Most probably, the guys in the deepest part of the labyrinth had started to seriously challenge the last floor」
「The erosion……will it start? There’s also one who is trying to challenge us in the guild examination a while ago right?」
「Un」
「This isn’t something that is needed to be asked, but……have you noticed that we were being followed?」
「Don’t look down on me. And so……it looks like, he could also intervene with the physics calculation laws」
「It is you who is looking down on me. In the first place, one would be useless if they are unable to intervene with the physics calculation laws in the deepest floors. And so……what’s our winning percentage?」
The girl became silent again, and finally raised her right hand’s pointing finger up.
As if to reorganize inside her own head, or maybe to recheck them, once again, she swings her finger as if it was a baton.
And, after nodding and leaving a pause, she opens her mouth.
And, at the same time, the wind blows.
「ーーーー%」
「The deepest part of the labyrinth……huh. I see……」
「……where are we receiving the attack? I don’t want to lead it to our place of sleep」
「If so, you want to land on the ground around here?」
「Un, let’s do that」
「However, the erosionーーconnecting the current world and interstice world……huh」
And the dragon that looked up to the sky continued its words.
「ーーit will be stormy」
V3 C4 Part 4 – The Dungeon Seeker – V4 C1 Part 1
(「He isーーーーーwhat he walkedーーーーーthe pathーーーーーーand with experience itself engravedーーーーーーthat is whyーーーーーthe conqueringーーーーーーeven normal humansーーーーーthe onlyーーーーーーーーーhe had alreadyーーーーーーvery long timeーーーーーーnumerousーーー」
「彼は──────彼の歩んで────道は──────そのものに経験を刻む──だから─────普通の人間でも──攻略────唯一の道──既に──────彼──気の遠────回数──」
TL: This is just my guesses. Not sure what happened or what will, but I think that just knowing that Junpei’s a crazy nut is enough.)
Not like a person who can stay ‘sane’ and human after all that is normal anyway
thanks for the chapter
Feel like re : Zero ::-)
Don’t tell me that the time in the dungeon itself is quite distorted that each time Junpei was ‘dead’ the time’ll rewind and’ll definitely and forcefully make Junpei go through the most painful fate in each of encounter…
If only Junpei killed once, as the dragons said, his karma wouldn’t be that much (which we didn’t got to know the exact numbers, but guaranteed too much for a once revived human) because Junpei didn’t realize that he already experience his failure and the resentments from the ‘failures’ piled up in the ‘present’ Junpei which resulting in the amount of karma he have now.
Damn, the time travellers the shota god said before maybe also had so much karma just like Junpei because the erosion of time of the labyrinth. The cause of erosion’s still not revealed though, but with this much, I really pity Junpei as his fate is really deep sh*ted one.
Well, that’s just my rough and unrefined analyze after the first time I read it, so please ignore it ’cause I’m not confident with this theory.
NO. But don’t you think it’s too obvious what his situation is really now? He’s the same as that god and sage , a prisoner of time and there’s no way what you said is correct otherwise other inhabitants should be the same, also his real age and what the alchemist said to him that as if his body is cultivated for countless of years and his thought process is higher compare to your normal highschool student that only spends life in labyrinth
so… ain’t it obvious that on that time and place out of fear to die didn’t he jumped into that manhole? That’s why the god sarcastically laugh as he explained the story of the other man who willingly jumped in there too
well from your point meet mine
i can tell that shota god is junpei itself
shota god need junpei present remain alive and get stronger to kill him
from begining his gruesome with that noriko, matched her servant keep asking :when you kill me? ” that dragon loli dont want kill him? of course shota god will be her opponent as well
I’m expecting the twist to be that he is basically just a normal teenager with a crazy amount of bad luck.
But i also expect that he has gone through enough suffering that fate itself is trying to helpbhim in some ways. Like, “karma” is pissed at god, or something…
Gah. We’ll see!!
I would literally applaud if the curse ended up being karma pissed off at that insane god~
Couldn’t this mean that Junpei was the guy who was giving himself tips the entire time?
This is getting wild. Wouldn’t he have alerted himself though?
Thanks for the chapter!
So he keeps dying, having his memories manipulated and resurrected again and again until he, by chance, survive and continue?
Garbage~Garbage~ there’s a garbage theory here it was barely explained (and it was explained in this shitty chapter too) at all but he’s become part of a time distortion~~~~
Soooo…they don’t see him as a real threat, yet they don’t want to deal with him….interesting.
Oh, there’s still somebody sane here, good luck continuing the deranged novel of babalo~~~
my guess is to view the interstice lab as a literal dungeon from a videogame. the word “interstice” if you havent already looked it up, means a space of intervention. a small one.
follow my train of thought here: in most games you have multiple lives. some games excluded ofc, but even then while you may not have multiple lives, in any game you have multiple continues.
what i am thinking is that the “interstice” itself is sort of a pass and go save file.
so, to the dragons who exist on the outside of time, they see the file, as one line. they dont see junpei’s life on the file, only the entire file. so at first the red haired girl couldnt read it as “this boy is on his first and only playthrough” instead she sees the entire save file meaning she sees ALL of the possible “saves, deaths, repeats, continues” etc. and thats why she thought he’d died and resurrected so many times.
there is a theory called “everett’s theory of quantum mechanics” also known as the “many world’s theory” which basically…imagine time as a tree. going up or down is the trunk, one single line. but from that trunk there are many many branches OR roots, depending which way you go.
anyways, basically those branches are “different timelines” or worlds. if you think of the line junpei is on (the current story we’re all reading) as the tree trunk, then the branches/roots would show all the different ‘worlds’ or versions where he died, or where he didnt get tricked into the labyrinth at all. or where he got his revenge. or where he didnt choose revenge. or where he spoke up and saved the cannibal girl from eating his poison flesh etc. its endless versions and possibilities.
like charnaught said, dragons exist OUTSIDE of time, so she couldnt originally see that the junpei of this story is the “only one” and she just saw ALL existing junpeis. she sees the entire tree, the roots, and the branches.
and im guessing what she said to the other dragon that made him so shocked and surprised, is that she either realized or guessed, that that can only mean this current junpei is most likely going to be the strongest combination of every existing junpei. or in other words, the one who battles through and survives the entire interstice labyrinth, without dying once. and that is probably why they immediately started worrying about the future. as he is now, he still doesnt compare. but if left alone, he’ll obviously be the most powerful thing because of his skill hunter ability. think about it this way, if you have the ability to only grow stronger, AND you are ‘guaranteed’ to never die, you will undoubtedly be able to take on a dragon in the future. the only thing he needs IS time (kind of ironic, tbh)
also, somebody mentioned before in an earlier post that junpei might be the adventurer who leaves the notes to himself. i think thats entirely plausible. the reason being is that for junpei to become the most powerful, at some point in time he would need to also gain the ability to exist outside of time itself. the mystery adventurer could simply be a different timeline’s junpei who gained the ability far sooner, and is sending messages back to himself to ensure the process goes smoothly. if the strongest junpei achieves the ability to move in and out of time, by proxy he would be able to either directly or indirectly strengthen all other timelines junpei as well. (this is starting to sound a hell of a lot like rick from rick and morty, now that i think about it haha)
my guess there is, on the dungeon floor where junpei fought the medusa, i always wondered what if he stayed behind and killed THAT dragon. what if instead of leaving the medusa to die to the dragon, if he killed the medusa himself and used her head to kill the dragon? or something idk.
like the adventurer said, he was only at level 300 or so, but that was before entering the interstice lab. there’s just no telling how much stronger he became later on as well.
That seems to be the case…
I think that somebody was playing dark souls…
I guess that the story we’re reading is the combined one (like the moment when he jumped off the cliff, since the case of his death was “easily”overlooked… And some other”seams”)
Ugh, too long, the headache induced by the chapter earlier and nearly gone has been returned in full force….. (╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻ let’s just all go table happy~ hey Junpei join in and through hummonculi~ (╯°. °）╯︵ 🤸
Your profile pic really compliments your in depth analysis
And, he kneeled down on the grown. -> He knelt down on the ground
i really like this people commenting their own analysis,
sometimes its hard to come up with one, and you’ll be left thinking “what the fck is going on”
kudos fam
I guess that each time he died, he simply entered the labyrinth so he probably died several times on each floor…
And I guess that “Ossan” is himself, leaving the notes for the next (or previous) self…
(I think that causality and logic went for a looong walk…)
Are you guys reading the same thing…….it literally said it wasnt resurrection
No, they aren’t, their minds were infected by the nonsense and with limited ability to compute garbled data.
There was a chapter earlier where the treasurer Hunter ossan appeared and passed through hummonculi town before Junpei got “summoned” to play with the flirty psycho godling
My thesis:
It is not resurrection. Resurrection means the Body raises from the dead. The Dragon said something about Savepoint, this wasn’t it either.
So, what would be the worst thing that could happen to someone, rather than this?
Starting over and over and over and over again!
No Savepoint. No progress. Even the Notes are only his imagination. They are remnants of his past information packed in an insane package of delusion to remember why he had problems before. No one except him sees these Notes. The Notes are in a speaking pattern of the Food of the Dryad. Because he would go insane if somehow a Note of him appears in the Dungeon of the Guild it was now written as from that crazy Woman, who likes to break aspiring Adventurers.
The same is with the arm of the Devil. Suddenly he gets it and rationalized it as if this skill always belonged to him from God but was sealed.
The Thesaurus Points are a giveaway. Similar meaning, but not the same. This does not mean every Thesaurus Point was one Life. It means they are used to help him combine similar happenings to get forward. They get lower, if he achieved something good. They get used to reseal his earlier deaths, to not let him get insane. When they get to zero, some of his true potential gets released, while the memories get mostly resealed and start again from 100.
If he dies, he goes back in time and starts again until he finishes the Dungeon.
Read the story about Sisyphus and now add to the fact, that the guy does not even notice his predicament. He knows, the Dungeon is torture, but does not know, that his torture is a hundred times worse than he thinks.
As politely as possible, I would like to say, TAKE YOUR THESIS AND SHOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻ FYI just so everyone knows, ivI’ fucking had it with this incomprehensible novel
(╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻ FUCK IT!!!! And the worms and narcotics eroding the author’s brain to think that this migraine inducing nonsense was a good idea for a novel. I’ve accidentally read horror gore mangas that made more fucking sense (╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻ I hate horror in general, but I really really really wanted to see Junpei get out of the labrinth (╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻
Looking at the comments, I just have one thing to say: fucking shit
So, through what mean he keeps coming back to challenge the dungeon over and over? What is past peek exactly? Is it related to how he comes back?
This made me think about the sage meantioined by the shotagod who was stuck in the safe spot for 90 million years without going ”crazy” and breaking down. The thing he stuided was dimensional transportation as a way to leave the dungeon.
What if that person is Junpei? He managed to teleport out of the dungeon but it transported him into earth and got reincarnated as Junpei.
It fits in that no normal mortal being should experience 90 million years completly alone. There is also that part about blocked memories, it has been mentilned multiple times in the story as a way to stave away insanity the brain would lock away memories.
Also as a small reminder the 90 million years he experienced was just 1 day in reality, it also brought huge changes to the labyrinth and would fit with how Junpei is summoned and made to enter the labyrinth again
This is my head cannon now. I like it most. Hoping it is the true one~ no spoiling for me though!
Just as fucking incomprehensible as always, I fucking quit. I hate this damned fucking headache roundabout bullshit never explaining anything nonsensical novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(•_•)!!!!!!!!! (╯°. °）╯︵ ┻━┻!!!!!!!!!
Dk wtf is going on anymore. I just wanted to see some revenge, lol.