SIAHG 26

Chapter 26

The door to the sponsored dungeon was closed forever.

That was the end of the fourth floor.

Like a lie, the dungeon and the city within it were now directly connected to the corridor.

They opened the door to the corridor.

The party realized that the damp, bloody stench from earlier had disappeared.

The corridor of the Great Magician’s mansion stretched out before them.

Shhhhaa—

A heavy downpour poured down outside the windows.

It was not the dungeon or the ashen city, but the normal scenery inside the mansion.

It was late at night. Lightning flashed across the dark sky, followed by thunder crashing down.

Every time the light struck, the figures of the party reflected faintly in the rain-streaked window.

Their faces were pale as corpses.

They had committed a sin.

They had left April Sharon imprisoned in that dungeon forever and escaped.

That was their choice.

“Let’s go down to the third floor,” Siân spoke heavily.

The soft glow of the corridor lights lined their way.

As if congratulating them on surviving the fourth floor, the lights shone warmly upon them.

But their minds were far too broken and cold to be comforted by that faint warmth.

No matter how much they tried, the stairs had always repeated the fourth floor endlessly.

Yet now they could descend to the third floor with ease.

When they opened the door to the third floor, a corridor stretched on ahead.

The Crown Prince pointed toward an open door as if to welcome them.

“Do you see the open door over there?”

It was a lounge. At first they suspected a trap, but it seemed not.

A fire burned. The place was cozy and safe.

An equivalent exchange.

“Perhaps… this is a reward for facing such a powerful demon. I had wondered why such a strong monster had appeared.”

Siân could not continue speaking. His head rang.

“April loves her friends, you know.”

He remembered the moment April had saved him.

Inside the dungeon’s temple on the second floor, she had rushed out of Room 202 to protect him from the cultists.

It was his desire to protect April that had awakened his special ability.

And in the end, what did that lead to?

They gained a safe lounge.

At the cost of sacrificing April.

Siân squeezed his eyes shut.

“…That wasn’t my intention.”

The Crown Prince muttered as he gauged the group’s mood.

Even though he knew it was an excuse, he added:

From the beginning, he had not brought April into their group thinking she would be a sacrifice.

The monsters in the mirrored world had been horrifyingly strong.

He remembered when April appeared at the western stairs.

Before that, Yeniel and Evelyn had clashed during the banquet about which escape route to take.

Because of that, no one used the western stairs.

The Crown Prince’s reputation in high society was well known: he never kept anyone close other than his most trusted aides.

Those at the party had been seasoned enough to leave the western stairwell alone.

No one dared to take the same path as Lady Debnoir, after all.

But April, innocent and unaware, came down the western stairs.

She descended lightly, like a flower, and smiled brightly.

“I was running to escape the monsters, and ended up here! I’m so glad to see my friends.”

Siân had reprimanded her for her rudeness, but Yeniel and Max had been tense.

They knew the Crown Prince was in a sensitive state.

He had been obsessively taking sedatives.

Yet April had eased his nerves so effortlessly.

Her innocence had unlocked the lock he had kept so tightly shut.

Yeniel remembered too.

That precious daughter of Marquis Sharon, who had reached out without hesitation and held her hand.

It wasn’t a calculated meeting born from weighing value.

It was an unchosen encounter that stirred human feelings in her.

That clear, guileless face had taken a piece of her heart.

Even now, that fragment was captive.

At the very least, April was the only person Yeniel could truly like as another human.

What if the demon hadn’t appeared?

Everyone had asked themselves that countless times.

That monster from the sponsored dungeon… with its pitch-black body and blood-red eyes.

Now they understood why the continent had been driven to the brink of destruction a thousand years ago, invaded by demons from another dimension.

Those beings existed solely to annihilate humanity.

Even one loose demon could ruin the world.

Therefore, a demon must never be released.

When Yeniel had found the manual explaining the dungeon’s switch, she had asked the group’s opinion.

To take April with them.

Or to leave her behind to ensure the demon would never be unleashed.

Everyone agreed to leave April behind.

They had weighed her value precisely, and could do it.

The Crown Prince was the heir to the throne.

Siân was still an extraordinary talent, cast into the mirrored world only by the Great Magician’s hand.

Yeniel was the Crown Prince’s true brain—indispensable.

Max was a loyal aide, prepared by the Emperor himself for years to serve the Crown Prince.

The scales measured value accurately.

Was April truly valuable?

Intangible emotions could not tip the scales.

Yes—April was someone they could abandon.

In the end, that was the truth.

The party entered the rooms in the lounge, each prepared according to their number, and lay down on the beds.

No one could actually sleep, but they did it anyway.

Yeniel gazed at the dark window, recalling the single mistake—

When her trembling hand had accidentally flung the paper describing the switch’s function into the dungeon.

That was an uncontrollable variable.

Even if it was April, Yeniel’s principle was never to make mistakes.

Lightning and storm raged endlessly outside.

Then—amid thunder, the securely locked door of the lounge began to thump, thump, bang.

They soon realized it was not just thunder.

BANG!

The sound grew louder.

A massive axe blade was smashing the door from outside.

The thick stench of blood drifted in.

The ominous noise shattered the silence, and everyone rushed out.

Bang, crack! Smash!

Until now, every monster had only mindlessly clawed at doors.

But the huge axe blade was splitting the lock cleanly, with precision.

As the door shattered, a white dress stained crimson appeared.

It was the sin they had abandoned inside the dungeon.

Her beautiful face was splattered with blood, and in her remaining hand she held the severed head of the demon they had fled from.

Its eyes were still open, twisted in terror.

The party froze.

April’s path was drenched with the dark red blood dripping from the head she carried.

Lady April looked at them and smiled radiantly.

“So you were all here?”