The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 232 - The Depths of Her Fear

—

Curious about what lay beyond the next floor of the dungeon, Will and Shuna followed Lucifa to the “backstage” of Tenth Demon Castle. They trailed behind her as she led them through countless hidden doors and small windows, twisting and turning through the labyrinthine paths of the dungeon. Finally...

They arrived at the same room where they had first met Lucifa.

The room exuded the same girlish charm as before, with its cutesy wallpaper and the unmistakable atmosphere of a young girl’s bedroom.

This time, however, Will’s memory wasn’t erased by Lucifa. Yet even without memory manipulation, navigating the dungeon’s “backdoor” left him utterly disoriented—he couldn’t remember the way at all.

“Hmm... this is the door to the next floor. If you’re curious, you can come in with me,” Lucifa said, standing before the wall behind her bed. She extended her hand toward them in invitation.

“A door? Where? Shuna, do you see it?” Will asked, puzzled.

“Yes, I see it... but she hasn’t opened it yet,” Shuna replied.

“What?”

Will and Shuna exchanged confused glances as Lucifa walked toward the wall. She mimed the motion of turning a doorknob, and then...

She vanished into the wall.

“???”

“Huh?”

Both Will and Shuna froze in shock, rushing to the spot where Lucifa had disappeared.

The two of them inspected the wall from top to bottom.

“In my eyes... there’s nothing here at all!” Will exclaimed.

“There’s a doorframe and a handle right here,” Shuna said, straining as if trying to turn an invisible knob. “But... I can’t open it.”

“What... what’s going on?”

Now it was just Will left feeling completely lost. To him, the spot where Lucifa had disappeared was nothing more than a blank wall.

There was no “unopened door” as Shuna described, nor any sign of the “open door” Lucifa had walked through.

Will even reached out to touch the wall where Lucifa had vanished.

He knew game designers often left backdoors in their models for debugging or shortcuts during testing. Could this wall be something similar?

“Nope. It’s just a solid wall,” he muttered.

There were no cracks letting light through, no uneven surfaces—nothing at all.

Yet Lucifa had clearly walked into it as if it were a door.

“Strange. Why can’t you see it, Will? It’s right here...” Shuna said, frowning.

“I feel like there’s something here that people like me just can’t perceive,” Will sighed. “Once again, I’m reminded of how vast the gap is between my status and yours—an insurmountable chasm—”

BAM.

Before he could finish his lament, Lucifa suddenly reappeared from the wall and crashed into him, sending him flying backward.

“Oof... That’s a strange thing to hear from a Hysterm family heir... Huh? Will?” Lucifa blinked in confusion.

“The new floor is amazing—so much new space and resources! It’s been ages since I’ve felt this excited.” She stretched lazily before glancing around. “Huh? Where’s Will?”

“You knocked him over,” Shuna replied flatly.

Will groaned as he got up from the floor. Taking advantage of the moment, he inspected the wall again.

He confirmed it.

There really was nothing there for him to see.

Shuna could see an unopened “door,” but he couldn’t even perceive its existence...?

“Why didn’t you follow me in? Once work starts, you won’t get another chance to see an untouched dungeon floor,” Lucifa said with a pout.

“We can’t get in,” Shuna explained with a sigh. “In my eyes, the door is still closed.”

“I can’t even see a door at all,” Will added, tapping lightly on the wall.

“Could it be that people who aren’t part of this dungeon can’t see this door?” Lucifa speculated, her “brilliant” mind arriving at this conclusion.

“This is news to me too,” she admitted.

“It’d be stranger if a dungeon Empress had already brought outsiders through her dungeon’s doors before,” Shuna remarked dryly.

“And...” Lucifa added, pulling a small black metal block from her pocket and handing it to Will. “I found this inside earlier. I don’t know what it’s worth, but maybe you can use it to forge your sword?”

Will examined the metal block. For some reason, its color felt oddly familiar.

It wasn’t pure black; it had a faint iridescent sheen. If he had to describe it... it looked like “rainbow black.”

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

This color reminded him of something he’d seen before—perhaps when sunlight hit the “Demon Jar” at just the right angle?

Could it be related to demons?

—

After everything was settled, Will and Shuna prepared to leave this lonely dungeon.

They stood at the brightly lit entrance of Tenth Demon Castle—the same spot where they had first met Lucifa.

As Will reflected on their time in Zymart Town, he realized they had only spent two days there. Yet it felt far richer than many of the other cities they’d visited before.

Perhaps it was because they had spent more time interacting with Lucifa and learning from her than they usually did with others.

“Well then, we’ll be off,” Shuna said with a casual wave to Lucifa, who had come out to see them off.

For Shuna and Will, this was just another ordinary farewell.

They had passed through so many dungeons and cities by now that they were well accustomed to these partings.

But...

“So... you’re leaving Zymart Town tomorrow?” Lucifa asked hesitantly.

“We’ve said that plenty of times already,” Shuna replied with a small smile.

“Mm...”

Lucifa sighed deeply before forcing a smile onto her face.

For her, saying goodbye to adventurers wasn’t something she experienced often.

After taking a few breaths, she felt her heart—reinstalled just two hours ago—begin to calm down slightly.

Though these adventurers had been led here by unknown forces, they had given her an experience unlike any other.

“Will is heading to the capital to meet his princess. And Shuna...”

“I’m part of Morning Star. Wherever he says to go, I’ll go.”

“Shuna...”

“Alright then,” Lucifa said softly as she stepped closer to Will. Cupping one hand over her mouth as if sharing a secret, she whispered into his ear:

“There’s something ancient and ominous lingering on you—a trace of one of the oldest demons. It seems like someone from ‘Zero Demon Castle’ left their mark on you.”

“?!”

“As Empress of Tenth Demon Castle, I don’t know where Zero Demon Castle is now. Theoretically, it should’ve been destroyed long ago. But that mark on you suggests otherwise. Be careful when you reach the capital.”

“Got it,” Will nodded seriously.

“Well then,” Lucifa said with a bright smile. “In human terms—safe travels! And if you ever miss me, you’re always welcome back at Tenth Demon Castle—if it still exists by then.”

“No problem! Until we meet again!” Shuna waved cheerfully as they walked away.

Lucifa watched them disappear into the night streets.

But...

This farewell felt different for her—it was almost joyful.

As a dungeon Empress, forming friendships with adventurers was rare but undeniably interesting.

—

“Zero Demon Castle—it sounds like some kind of ultimate ‘origin’ dungeon,” Will mused as he tied together the cursed cloth and metal block Lucifa had given him. Under the moonlight, he examined what would eventually become Treya’s gift.

In the original story, Treya had only revealed late into the narrative that Entark swordsmanship was connected to demons. The specifics of what lay within the “Demon Jar” were never fully explained. For Will, everything related to demons remained new information.

He should’ve guessed—if there was a Tenth Demon Castle, there must’ve been a Zero Demon Castle! After all, programmers always start counting from zero!

“Huff—I’m back from my shower! Let’s get some sleep early tonight. Aren’t you going to wash up?” Shuna asked as she returned, somehow having found shower facilities in the Adventurer’s Guild. According to her, they were built because Zymart Town once hosted a swampy dungeon that required everyone to clean up afterward.

“Yeah... Hey Shuna,” Will began hesitantly. “Back in the dungeon... when we saw our ‘greatest fears,’ did you see something too?”

“You noticed?”

“Well... normally you’re so full of energy. But for a moment back there, you seemed unusually drained. That’s not like you.”

“......”

“So what was it? What could possibly scare someone like you?”

Will wanted to know—because understanding this would help him better understand Shuna as the “protagonist.”

“It’s something I’m not afraid of,” Shuna replied cryptically.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hmm...” A mischievous grin spread across her face as she leaned in close to Will without bothering to cover herself properly with her towel. “What do you think someone like me could possibly fear?”

Will felt certain that Shuna—normally so straightforward—was brushing him off this time. But...

“Alright then. Sleep well~”

It seemed she was determined to avoid answering.

“Fine. Goodnight.”

—

After making sure Will had gone to bed, Shuna sat alone under the moonlight, staring at her pale right hand illuminated by its cold glow.

She had lied—a rare occurrence for her. But when it came to her origins, she had never truly shared her earliest memories with anyone.

As she gazed at her hand in the moonlight, its pallor seemed almost ghostly under the frigid light.

No matter how many layers of mental resistance spells she cast on herself, she hadn’t been able to block Lucifa’s attack entirely.

Indeed, even against a mental-type Empress at full power, she was still relatively weak.

She had always known what her greatest “fear” was—because it was also her oldest nightmare. Even now, as she stared at her hand and let her mind wander, she found herself slipping back into that nightmare.

Her greatest fear was...

Her own “birth.”

That was her earliest memory—and unlike most naturally born humans, hers was crystal clear because her brain had been fully developed from the start.

The moment she opened her eyes for the first time, her mind was blank—a pure white slate devoid of memories.

But...

She saw...

Her hands clutching knives, both drenched in blood that dripped down her fingers and onto the ground below.

And before her—

The lifeless body of a dungeon “Emperor,” lying on the floor of an empty final level within a dungeon.

She had been hacking away relentlessly at that body with no restraint—slashing again and again until blood pooled around her feet.