Yuulvan woke up early in the morning. The st few days had been full of intense working, but it had given results. The spells for handling radiation had made excellent progress, and were almost ready for real-situation use. Both the decontamination and shielding spells were functional, although the decontamination was very mana-intensive.

  He still needed to handle the spell to cure the afflicted, but he would ask Zoemie, whose name he learned in the interim, whether he could bring his student Hreijinda for her assistance before doing that.

  Normally, he wouldn't have used his teleportation in such a fashion, but Hreijinda's assistance would likely be most helpful here for, if nothing else, for securing patients, and needs must as the devil drives.

  He was intent on making the most of his time here, as it had so far proven to be eminently worthwhile. He would definitely return ter. I was thinking winter of next year. He should have plenty of time at that point.

  He had also studied the anchors around the dungeon some more, and had picked up some of their tricks for use not just to upgrade the seals around several Apocalypses sealed not too far from his path to the Demon Realm, but also to improve various of his spells. Their true nature still eluded him, but he could tell that they were incredibly complex.

  Speaking of improvement, he had been granted a spell practice room by Zoemie, which he was quite pleased with. The boulder-spinning spell had progressed to a good level, and Zoemie's advice about using heavy materials for the rock had been on-point.

  He had settled for a rge sphere of stable, heavy metals, including an ultra-dense core, and while it made the spell more expensive and harder to control, the results in term of damage spoke for themselves.

  It would take either unfathomably high quality armor or being a very high-tier fighter with an incredibly resilient body, if not both, to not get smashed into dust by the spell. He was also getting pretty comfortable with moving around while the rocks spun, and also started to work on changing their distance. All in all, he was satisfied.

  After finishing his breakfast, his magic guided him to Xajymzia's boratory, so he wandered over to it. He expected to finalize the decontamination and shield spells soon, mostly by looking over ways to make them somewhat less expensive to use. Stumbling across this dungeon has been nothing but positive.

  The thought made Yuulvan smile.

  Zoemie woke up, looking at the time. 1PM. Okay. She teleported to the kitchen, having confirmed it was empty, and started to conjure herself breakfast. She had been slightly busy the day before, as she had finished to fuse her combat gloves.

  Now, all that remained was to actually start training with them, but for now Zoemie didn't feel too pressing a need. The past few days had been calm, which Zoemie was thankful for. Already had a dozen lifetimes' worth of trouble.

  Zoemie shook her head, trying to dispel the worst of the negative thoughts, and refocusing on her games instead. What am I gonna py today ? "I'll definitely finish that one, now that I've caved Distorted's skull in..." No, seriously, fuck that guy. Way too strong for a first boss.

  Zoemie focused on her breakfast, then on her post-breakfast routine. More training, more pying. It was boring, and a little repetitive, especially without Internet. But it ain't like I can do much else. Plus, she was safe and secure here. Best it'll ever get.

  The thought made Zoemie sigh.

  Xajymzia looked around in her boratory. Things were proceeding apace. She had duplicated a few more items from Earth. Nothing continent-shaking, mere baubles, but she had a better idea of what to expect to have to do.

  Each piece of the portal's functionality she could avoid leaving to the magical-mind guidance, was that much less work necessary in building the battery. Speaking of, she had confirmed she had a material capable of holding the massive amounts of energy necessary with minimal loss, one of the metals Zoemie had made a while ago now.

  The 2-7-4 power pnt was coming along nicely. It would still require some optimizations, but the basic structure was down and it was already contributing to the dungeon. She had to say that, whatever else could happen, she would at the very least remember Yuulvan well for making that power pnt possible alone.

  The more minor improvements came as they came. The Potion Generator had been massively boosted, being about thrice as fast, and Xajymzia's upgraded body could easily handle the increased strain on her mana supply with room to spare.

  She was still debating with herself whether or not to invest radiological weapons properly, and was still unsure. Yuulvan's input had been helpful, as he had seen the effects on some of the strongest humans of their times, and as such could give her an admittedly imprecise but nevertheless helpful picture of the projected efficiency of such weaponry.

  Which, mostly, seemed to indicate that, while perfectly able to handle weaker fighters, against the pinnacle its raw killing power faltered. Although, weaker had to be taken in retive terms. The three adventurers she and Zoemie had slew would still likely die very, very quickly to the amount of radiation Xajymzia could deploy with a properly-optimized weapon.

  Ultimately, the thing that held back Xajymzia's hand the most about those weapons, was her own current work on decontamination and shielding spells. Secret weapons such as those thrived on the effect of surprise, and Yuulvan intended to spread his countermeasures far and wide, meaning there would be a strong chance her efforts would be for naught.

  Those anti-radiation measures being spread would be for the better overall, as far as Xajymzia was concerned, so she felt no anger or bitterness over it. It meant her enemies would expect Zoemie to be prepared and not attempt to use it, which was ultimately convenient for her.

  The thought made Xajymzia nod.

  Zoemie looked at the training dummy. She had taken her bath, and was now preparing for her training session, her new gloves in hand. They were thick, heavy, and satisfying to wear. The sword probably hit harder, but she still felt more confident wearing the gloves rather than her sword. Most likely since she had some experience in using her fists.

  Zoemie had wondered what kind of fancy tricks to add to her gloves. Her sword could swap between sshing and crushing, manipute its own weight, and plenty more. She had recovered the weight manipution to increase damage, and had added an impact amplifier curse, plus a short-range warp effect to get into melee quicker.

  It was less useful on her sword since that worked at a longer range, but for something like fists whose range was no greater than her own limbs, it was very useful. She had also added an effect that allowed her to create grounded shockwaves when hitting the ground, as it seemed. She had first considered it for her combat gloves, but she had ended up shifting it over to her shoes instead.

  She punched the dummy once, twice, thrice. She then started moving, jumping and warping around while delivering her punches, slowly integrating her new sap gloves into her combat style, trying to learn when to swap as seamlessly as possible between them and her sword. She stomped the ground, creating a shockwave. More mana in, more power.

  This is not easy, fuck, Zoemie thought internally. This was going to take a long time and a lot of practice to get better at, but for now she had the time to do it. She braced herself, lowered her knees, and went for a lunge with her sword, before switching, quickly warping to the side, and going for a punch.

  The short-range warps are really disorienting. Gonna need to be sure of what I'm doing before using those in real fights. Zoemie shook her head. "That's what's training for, after all..." She sighed, cmped down on her frustration, and went back to hitting the dummy.

  High Priest Kvutar walked through the Greatwoods. He was, if he was frank, rather uncomfortable with being in such an area, even with the monster-repelnt artifact at his disposal. While he had strong abilities in holy magic due to his position, he was still not an adventurer nor knight, and cked proper combat training.

  At the same time, he couldn't risk having knights betray him, as those were bound to the crown, not the church, and while some individual priests may possess high combat abilities, the Temple did not have a standing army of their own. The Heavens were not very fond of war and did not wish their servants to engage in warfare as an aggressor, and they were known to spurn overtly warmongering nobles.

  Sadly, it did little to stop the more unscrupulous of those, but those same nobles tended to view the Temple and Heavens with disdain at best, so it wasn't a big loss either way. As he refocused on his surroundings, however, something clicked in the distance. A dungeon ?

  It would take him at least three quarters a day to reach it, which meant coupled with the need to sleep for the night and inability to move in the darkness, meant he couldn't reach it until the next afternoon. Is this where Outsider Zoemie dwells ?

  He gritted his teeth. This was going against his expectations. This was to be easy. Kvutar hated when that happened, because it forced him to revise his pns. He huffed, closed his eyes, then looked through his storage, searching for a specific item, and nodding upon finding it.

  He was not pleased with having to go to such lengths that he had to obtain one, but... The circumstances were exceptional, and her petunt, selfish behavior had forced his hand. This will not do. He took a deep breath, stored the item again, wrote the information down in his memory book, and kept walking.

  At no moment did Kvutar ever consider stopping, even with the dungeon having made things gone awry. He was still far enough from it. He could've buried his trump card and walked back the way he came, simply stating to all his pilgrimage was over and they would be none the wiser, not even Najabel seeing through the lie.

  But to Kvutar, the Will of the Heavens was absolute. And he would not suffer anyone to evade it so shamelessly. Least of all someone who had been very explicitedly brought there by the Heavens. Such behavior is impermissible.

  The thought made High Priest Kvutar frown deeply.

  Zoemie woke up from dreamless sleep not feeling her best. She shook her head, and teleported to the kitchen, grabbing breakfast, before eating it and completing the subsequent routine.

  What am I gonna py today ? "Dataminin' that game gave me the formu for the summon multiplier, and if I'm calcutin' this right... I can get a shitload of levels on those fields." Expins why I failed when following that video... Only real problem is that pying giants only on every field is really damn sluggish.

  Zoemie focused on the game and pyed a few levels, before teleporting to the bathroom. After taking her bath, she went back to her room, and she yed down in her bed for a short moment, not using her computer or doing anything in particur.

  Something jolted her to full consciousness, however, as she felt a presence in her dungeon. A presence she did not like at all. She immediately teleported to her changing room and put on her mask, before going to the living room as she prepared to observe, Xajymzia coming up behind her.

  Zoemie gritted her teeth as she observed. That old bastard... "How did you even find this goddamn pce, you fucking asswipe ?", she screamed into the void. "...Urgh." The mask's reaction was strange. It told her that the old priest, that had welcomed her quite a while ago now, was not that awful of an human being... but he was a massive threat to her specifically. "Shit ! What do I do ?"

  "Watch further.", Xajymzia answered behind her, much more calm. "What is he doing ? He is looking at... something.", she said, Zoemie fixed her eyes on him, and she felt a strange mix of jubition and rage.

  "Ah ! Get fucked, you piece of garbage !" No colr for you ! Thanks, old wizard man, she thought as she heard his voice from behind her. "Thanks, old man.", she said without looking at him. "First time I actually manage to prevent them from doing anything nasty to me !"

  I actually anticipated the asswipe this time ! "Is... something the matter ?", Yuulvan asked behind her, Zoemie taking a deep breath, refraining from letting her sheer jubition overtake her, as she quickly cursed the priest to prevent him from leaving the dungeon.

  "Yeah. Do you remember the old pig of a priest I was talking about the other day ? He's here. It's him.", she said as she projected the image on the TV screen, her anger taking over again, the old man raising an eyebrow. "And he brought a goddamn sve colr."

  Yuulvan raised an eyebrow. "High Priest Kvutar. He is definitely not a person I expected to see here, let alone with a sve colr. What is he even doing here ?", the old man said.

  "Dunno, but he brought a fucking sve colr and is a massive threat to me personally.", Zoemie snarled. "This is what I mean when I say everyone fucking hates me... What do you know about him, anyway ?"

  "I... do know a few things, and the confirmation of his identity has some important implications. But this is not the correct moment to speak of those.", Yuulvan said, before breathing in. "I cannot even fathom what he would be doing here... What is your pn ?"

  Zoemie looked at her hands, wincing. "Kill him, most likely. I mean, what else can I fucking do ? Let him go ? Not happening in a million years. I got my freedom from people through blind, dumb luck. I am not going to allow him to take that from me.", she said, trying to keep her volume under control.

  "If I let him go, he'll bring the other asshole backs somehow.", Zoemie grumbled. "Doesn't matter if I curse him, doesn't matter if I threaten him. The other bastards will get that info from him, whether through threats, sweet-talk, bribery, or whatever else you can think of. They cannot stand being denied me to hurt.", she rumbled in a low voice.

  Xajymzia looked at the priest through the screen, her eyes cold and hard. She, however, said nothing as Zoemie sighed, steeling herself for the confrontation, before she closed her eyes. Not fighting him in the main dungeon, though, Zoemie decided.

  She instead set up a small, cave-like area off to the side of the main dungeon, before covering half of it in magical shadows. "Let's do this.", she grumbled to herself, before teleporting away, Xajymzia's face expressing slight concern, while Yuulvan seemed more neutral on the matter.

  As Zoemie teleported, Xajymzia and Yuulvan looked at each other. "I am surprised you made no attempt to stop either of us, or even involve yourself.", she said, to which he took in a breath.

  "I... have no real stake in this confrontation, and I am dubious anything I say or do could affect the way this fight will unfold in a major way. Make no mistake : maybe staying out of it is a mistake on my part. But, this is an... understandable course of action. He brought a sve colr here, and clearly intended to use it on Zoemie." Yuulvan expined as he closed his eyes.

  "You should be with her. This will not end well.", he said. Xajymzia nodded, and teleported a far distance behind Zoemie, in the small area she had added to her dungeon. Yuulvan, meanwhile, simply sat down on the couch, the TV having gone dark, a bck mirror reflecting naught at him but his own thoughts.

  Zoemie observed from the old priest from behind the shadows. She was... a lot of things. She was jubint at denying him the opportunity to hurt her, she was worried that he had prepared some way to teleport the rest of the assholes. But above all... she was angry.

  And he, too, was angry, at having being denied the opportunity to hurt her. Zoemie had almost flinched when she had saw it, like a teacher that was about to scold her for something she didn't even understand. But this wasn't school. She could kill the old bastard, and no one would stop her.

  "Why the fuck did you come here ?", she shouted, an enchantment reverberating her voice, the confused old priest flinching for a second as he turned to face her. "And why in every fucking swear I can think of did you bring a fucking sve colr here !"

  "All I am is a servant of the Heavens.", the old bastard seethed, Zoemie boiling in rage. "And I will see their will through, in the name of all under Their unending watch.", he said, a sentence he had clearly repeated variants of a thousand times, before focusing on Zoemie. "Your petunt ways gave no other choices, I will not allo..."

  "Are you shitting me, you fucking pig ? You're the one who decided to show up here with a fucking sve colr, and it's my fucking fault ?", she screamed, stomping the floor and causing a shockwave to travel along the ground, unbancing the old priest.

  "The Will of the Heavens... is absolute", he said, getting back his footing. "Even if you cannot accept it, that does not make it any less true." He gred into the darkness Zoemie was hiding within.

  "I don't give a fuck about the heavens ! They fucking hate my guts anyway ! Everyone hates my fucking guts, especially those other assholes ! Why did you think I fucking left ? I am not going back even dead and fucking buried !" Zoemie shouted, stomping her foot again and causing a stronger shockwave this time.

  "I... do not understand... The Heavens... brought you all here for... a reason !", the old priest said, panting from the sheer power, seemingly trying to channel a spell. "You cannot escape... urgh !", he started to speak again, before another shockwave interrupted him, as he narrowly avoided falling down.

  "You know I don't have anything of value to contribute, you old bastard ! Don't py stupid with me ! Are you that much of a blind sheep ?", Zoemie screamed, her eyes wide and maniacal beneath her mask. "You should be happy that I left instead of coming all the way over here with a fucking sve colr. All you want to do is to hurt me !"

  "B.But the H...He.. Urgh !", the old man started, and was interrupted by a seething Zoemie's fist nding in his stomach, sending him flying a few feet, while she took deep breaths. Fucking asshole !

  He hit the ground with a dull thud, seemingly unmoving. "I've had it up there with your constant talk of gods ! Why don't they just answer for it themselves ?", she screamed, at which point the body started to float, light emanating from his eyes and jaws.

  "I, uh, hope you don't mind if we do, then."