Chapter 642: Full-Scale Purification Operation
Although Tauro and his party had successfully defeated the Troll Emperor, it wasn’t over yet.
There were still many troll-type monsters remaining, so the extermination continued. Tauro retrieved the damaged humanoid puppet Eve and the wolf-shaped puppet Garo into [Magic Storage], then continued deeper into the pseudo-dungeon.
The gatekeeper elf couldn’t be left alone, so the gatekeeper accompanied them.
Even after defeating what was essentially a disaster-class S-rank monster, Tauro and the others still had enough strength to continue. To the gatekeeper elf, it felt almost like a dream.
The moment the Troll Emperor appeared and Tauro’s group chose to fight it, the gatekeeper had honestly believed death was inevitable.
And yet, Tauro’s party moved as if they had planned everything from the start—launching a seamless offensive, judging the right moment, and finishing the battle in one decisive push while minimizing damage.
Of course, after the fight, they were all out of breath. It was clear they had been fighting under immense pressure. It wouldn’t have been strange for them to retreat at that point.
After all, there were still many trolls left.
And surely the deepest parts of this pseudo-dungeon would have a high concentration of magic essence, since that was where the monsters were generated.
Tauro and the others knew this, so despite their exhaustion after defeating a disaster-class monster, they chose to press deeper. The gatekeeper could only admire them.
Of course, it was dangerous. The gatekeeper might very well die.
But after witnessing such heroic actions, the gatekeeper felt an obligation to risk that life and witness what this team would accomplish.
“The magic essence is especially dense on this floor…”
Tauro muttered as he led the way, visibly strained by the dense magic essence filling the underground.
“Yeah. This area is probably the source of the monsters in this pseudo-dungeon. Tauro, Zion—let’s use [Purification] here.”
Aeris made her judgment based on the density of the magic essence, as Tauro had pointed out.
“Got it.”
Tauro and Zion nodded, asking Ragune and the gatekeeper elf to keep watch.
Tauro was already using [True Eye] together with [Presence Detection] to watch for monsters, but it was better to be cautious.
Still, with Ragune there, things should be fine.
With that, the three began chanting purification magic centered around Aeris.
Aeris possessed [Saint], and after training for a year in the Dragon’s Den, she had learned to use [Grand Purification].
Zion, with [Light Mage Monk], also excelled at purification magic.
Tauro had learned [Purification] early through his masked special skill [&%$#] and had refined it ever since, giving him more than enough power to support the other two.
If the three of them purified the pseudo-dungeon together, it should have a major effect.
They continued chanting in unison with Aeris.
And then—
“[Grand Purification]!” “[Purification]!” “[Holy Purification]!”
As Aeris, Tauro, and Zion cast their respective purification spells, the three spells merged into one and spread light throughout the cave.
The light expanded further and further, reaching even the other layers.
The three poured all their magic power into the spell.
How long did it last?
A moment? Several moments? Or much longer?
Ragune and the gatekeeper elf couldn’t open their eyes for a while, blinded by the intense light. When they finally could, the magic had subsided.
“…Did it work?”
The gatekeeper elf muttered.
“It’s done.”
Ragune answered confidently.
Ahead of Ragune, Tauro, Aeris, and Zion sat exhausted on the ground, drinking the magic-restoration potions Tauro had handed out.
“I got carried away by Aeris’s momentum and poured in too much magic…”
Tauro chuckled as he began drinking a second potion.
“When you put that much power into an ordinary [Purification], of course I’m going to go all out too.”
Aeris replied with exasperation as she accepted another potion.
“I thought I was going to run out of magic trying to keep up with you two.”
Zion added with a smile and drank another potion as well.
“Haha… Well, thanks to that, the magic essence that filled this place seems to be completely gone. It shouldn’t turn into a pseudo-dungeon again for a while.”
Tauro said this partly to reassure the gatekeeper as the three drank a third potion each.
“Really!? That would be the first time since this territory was established!”
The gatekeeper elf exclaimed at the magnitude of their achievement.
“It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, the magic essence may gather again over time… but right now I can’t sense any at all, so it should be fine for quite a while. Right, Aeris?”
Tauro wasn’t an expert and didn’t want to give false hope, so he added the caveat.
“It should be fine. If my wide-area [Grand Purification], Zion’s high-powered [Holy Purification] for a concentrated local area, and your high-output [Purification] couldn’t cleanse it, then we’d have to bring in Maria, the dragonfolk [True Saint].”
At that, Tauro and Ragune exchanged looks.
“If that’s the case…”
Ragune opened [Dimensional Corridor], and Tauro used [Spatial Transfer] to disappear.
“They vanished!?”
The gatekeeper elf was shocked, but Aeris and Zion remained calm.
“They’ll be right back,” Aeris said, and Zion nodded.
After a short while, Tauro returned with Maria, the dragonfolk [True Saint] serving as a guardian of the Van Dyne Marquisate.
“So this is the place… Hmm… yes, it should be fine. The last time this place was purified was probably by the previous dragonfolk [True Saint], so at this level it should remain stable for more than five hundred years… Oh? There’s something here.”
Maria waved lightly to Aeris as she assessed the area, then pointed to something.
Tauro walked over to where she was pointing and picked up a black lump from the ground.
I’ve seen something like this before, Tauro thought.
“Is this… a lump that was on the verge of becoming a Dungeon Core?”
It was misshapen and far from a true Dungeon Core, but its color and aura felt similar.
“I’m surprised…! This really was about to become a dungeon.”
Aeris said, peering at the Dungeon Core-like lump in Tauro’s hand.
“But it’s good we caught it in time. Thank you, Maria-san.”
“No problem. I’ll head back then.”
Maria replied casually, and Tauro took her back through [Spatial Transfer].
After seeing Maria back and returning to the pseudo-dungeon, Tauro said:
“Well, we can’t just leave this lying around, so let’s destroy it.”
With that, he prepared to destroy the misshapen Dungeon Core-like lump on the spot.