MDPS 26

 Episode 26

My Dark History Is Too Strong 

Intrusion (1)

Tower of Fierce Battles, 50th Floor – Blood Palace Audience Chamber.

Karmar de Labl was observing the countless adventurers challenging the 51st floor.
The reason was simple.
He was looking for the culprit who had destroyed his creation, Varg.

“Caligo. And surely, there must be an adventurer controlling him.”

To that end, Karmar had collected Varg’s blood and used it to strengthen every creature on the 51st floor.
Through the battle data of these faster, stronger creatures, he planned to identify the outlier among the many adventurers.

And indeed—his eyes caught sight of one party.
Using a tool that allowed him to observe the domain, Karmar looked closely at the adventurer.

And he was utterly shocked.

“Caligo and… Hertia!? Why in the world are those demons here!”

The Witch of the End, Hertia, and the Liberator of Death, Caligo!
They were never ones to trust each other’s backs.

Above all, those demons should have disappeared together with that man.
And yet here they were, reappearing—competing, even, to slaughter his creations.

“…It seems I must verify their state for myself.”

Karmar granted a measure of authority to one of his creatures.
He wanted to see how they would react to a stronger opponent.

“If they are the demons I know, they would never cooperate.”

But contrary to his expectations, that’s exactly what they did.

—“Caligo!”
—“Oho! My turn, is it!”

Hertia froze time while Caligo unleashed poison.
Instead of trying to prove their own strength individually, they performed a coordinated attack…

“…Impossible. To think even those beings could be ‘summoned.’”

Ever since his Tower had been summoned into this dimension, Karmar had learned a fact:
Humans here could summon powerful beings from his own dimension.

But no matter how gifted, no human should have been able to summon those ones—the beings of Pandemonium.
The strongest, most exalted demons, who had sworn loyalty to one man alone: Lucifer.

“I must confirm this!”

Who in the world had bound such wild demons together?
Could it be that ominous man had returned as well?

Looking again, he saw—aside from Hertia and Caligo—a hulking golem, a scantily dressed woman with a red parasol…
And one plain-looking man.

“That must be the summoner! Zoom in on his face!”

When Karmar finally saw the man’s face, he sighed in relief.
That emotionless man commanding the battlefield—he was not Lucifer.

“Whew…”

Yes, he had worried too much.
Lucifer was dead—or as good as dead.

It had been a long time since that demon and his followers, who once ruled a dimension, had vanished.
Rumor had it divine punishment had struck them down.

But Hertia and Caligo being used as someone’s summons was also undeniable fact.

“How pitiful, for demons to fall so low.”

Karmar muttered with a smile tugging at his lips.
If Lucifer wasn’t the one commanding them, there was nothing to fear.

Besides, the demons’ current power was laughable compared to their prime.
No doubt, most of their strength had been lost upon summoning, and they were only just beginning to recover.

“This is perfect.”

Now was the ideal chance to exact vengeance on that madman, Caligo!
The time had come to make him pay for the sin of slaughtering noble vampires and filling them with fear.

Ssshh—

Karmar rose from the throne of the audience chamber.
He spread the spilled blood of Varg across the floor, shaping it into a massive warp gate.
He intended to jump straight to where they were and kill them in one blow.

At that moment—

—“Lord Karmar de Labl.”

It was a message from his butler, Vite.

“What is it?”
—“I sensed you using your power, so I contacted you to confirm the matter.”
“There is something I must deal with.”
—“The warp cannot be held open for long.”
“It’s fine. This will be over quickly.”
—“Then I will focus on maintaining the gate.”

There wasn’t much time, but that didn’t matter.
He wouldn’t need long against a weakened Caligo, Hertia, and a mere human.

Tower of Fierce Battles, 59th Floor – Silent Field (2).

《You have entered the Silent Field (2).》
《The Witch of the End, Hertia, deals a fatal wound to the Crimson Watcher.》

“…How vexing.”

Hertia’s displeasure was written all over her face.
And it wasn’t without reason.

Even after replacing all her equipment with brand-new gear, her speed in defeating monsters hadn’t improved.
The difficulty between the 50th and 51st floor, then again from 51st to 52nd, felt wildly unbalanced.

It was as though the level design had been shattered—completely ignoring the natural growth pace of adventurers, only for the monsters to suddenly spike in strength.

“If this were balanced like in the game days, with my current party’s power, we should have been able to breeze through to the 70th floor.”

And yet, even after Hertia inflicted a fatal wound, the monsters did not fall.
No wonder she was irritated.

Iron and Temina felt the same.
Only one person did not.

“Why, Hertia, have you grown old? To lose your temper at mere opponents of this level!”
“Shut your mouth before I tear it apart.”
“Oho, how scary! I feel nothing at all, yet you throw a tantrum like a hysterical fool! Don’t you agree, oh Wise One?!”

…Did Caligo even realize what he was saying?

The reason he found this section so easy was none other than my passive skill.

Skill 1 – <The Cruelest Avenger>
“Damage dealt by your villains against their ‘nemesis’ factions increases greatly.”

If the enemies here had been elves, the situation would have been reversed.
After the Episode 8 update, I wonder what he’ll say then…

And Hertia seemed to know this as well.

“Caligo. Do you truly know nothing?”
“What? What don’t I know?”
“…Hah. What can one expect of a madman.”
“What’s that supposed to mean! My brain is filled with brilliance, you know! Isn’t that right?!”

When Caligo turned to me, I averted my eyes slightly.
Despite his appearance and abilities resembling a mad scientist, moments where he displayed true intelligence were exceedingly rare.

“W-Wise One?! D-Do you mean there’s nothing inside my brain?!”
“Focus on the battle.”
“…Yes…”

Leaving the oddly deflated Caligo behind, I approached Hertia and Temina.

“Hert, Temina. How does it feel for you two? Comfortable in battle?”
“…Forgive me. It seems my abilities are still lacking.”
“I feel like my firepower is weaker than expected as well! I’m definitely stronger than before, but the enemies seem even stronger!”

…Looks like we’ll need to re-adjust.
I hadn’t expected such difficulty even after upgrading their gear once.

“I may have been too complacent in my judgment.”

My original goal today was to conquer the 60th floor, but at this rate, we should stop at the 59th.

“We’re changing the plan. Today, we stop here and return.”
“Oho! Ending so soon? How disappointing!”
“…My apologies, great one.”

With Caligo still brimming with confidence and Hertia downcast, together with Temina and Iron’s firepower, we cleared the 59th floor without issue.
The only disappointment was the clear time.

《You have cleared the Silent Field (2).》
《Unbelievable record!》
《Time Taken: 59 minutes 22 seconds》
《You have set a new #1 clear time ranking.》
《Clear Grade: ‘SSS’》
《You have set a new clear grade record.》

Back in the game days of Legend Seven, the clear time for this stage was exactly 60 minutes.
And that was accomplished with much weaker overall power than now.

And yet, under far more favorable conditions, I achieved only this?

“Infuriating! If my past self saw this, he wouldn’t just laugh—he’d mock me relentlessly.”

No matter how unexpectedly strong the monsters had become, it was no excuse.

“…Yes, I have been taking things too easily, relying too much on my summons’ value.”

I couldn’t forgive myself for this.
It was time to research more efficient and powerful combinations.

But just as I was envisioning dozens, hundreds of possible party setups and preparing to leave the dungeon—

《The information of the 60th floor, Silent Execution Ground, has been altered.》
《On the 60th floor, “Raging Battlefield” has opened!》
《An anonymous being has intruded into the dungeon.》

“…What?”

In Legend Seven, there was a system called “Intrusion.”

Normally, conquering the Tower created an instanced dimension for each adventurer.
Unless you partied up, you would clear it alone.
But the Intrusion system allowed someone to invade another adventurer’s instance.

Most of the time, it was abused for crime—killing adventurers ahead of you, stealing loot or summons—so it was strictly prohibited under international law.

But for an intrusion to happen now, of all times…

“And an anonymous being?”

As I remembered, intruders were labeled “Anonymous Adventurer.”
But being? What was that supposed to mean?

And if they wanted to intrude, shouldn’t they have come to my current 59th floor? Why the 60th?

《The anonymous being’s power influences the Tower.》
《Until the “Raging Battlefield” on the 60th floor is cleared, you cannot leave the Tower.》

…What nonsense was this?

As if it wasn’t frustrating enough that my plan had been disrupted, now I couldn’t even leave?

“And I’d just finished drafting my reinforcement plan, too…”

Let it be known—I despise, truly despise, when my plans are derailed.

To me, conquest is a challenge where I pour all my strength.
Yes, unexpected variables are part of life.
But I am someone who takes pride in preparing for those variables and responding perfectly.

I had even stopped climbing at the 59th floor to ensure that perfection.

Crack—!

“And now, a mere Tower dares to interfere with my plan.”

Whoever it was, they clearly had no sense of fear.

“Hert. Caligo.”
“Yes, my master!”
“Yes, Wise One!”
“From now on—no idle chatter.”

Flinch—!

Hertia and Caligo straightened at once.
It seemed my anger had reached them.

For a moment, I wondered if I had forgotten myself and snapped too much.
But no—the frustration burning inside me left no room for second-guessing.

With a sigh heavy with rage, I strode toward the warp leading to the 60th floor.