CHAPTER 395: CHAPTER 395: THE DUNGEON’S REACTION

"The key to breaking the deadlock really does lie with Cassandra."

Watching from behind, Bell fully agreed with Finn’s judgment.

This trial was inherently unfair. If they could gather information about the "Spirit" in advance, the flow of battle might be completely different.

In other words, intelligence was the deciding factor.

But no one had access to intel on the "Spirit" beforehand—not even him. The sole exception among them all was Cassandra.

With her ability to experience precognitive dreams, Cassandra could glimpse future events. If she saw the battle in her dreams, she could indirectly grasp the flow of combat. This information-gathering ability was unique to her—and it was also the key to breaking through.

’If we can get more detailed information about the Spirit, the situation could tilt in Loki Familia’s favor from the outset. But it all depends on whether Cassandra can get that information or not.’

Precognitive dreams were basically a cheat. If you knew what was coming, you could alter the outcome—at least to a certain degree.

But Cassandra couldn’t change the future on her own. Her ability was cursed. It was as if the world let only her see the path ahead, yet denied others the belief to act on her words.

Still, fate had shifted.

Cassandra might not have the power to change destiny by herself, but now she had allies—people who could help her defy that fate. That alone placed a much heavier burden on her shoulders.

Bell simply gave a small smile and moved on from Loki Familia’s meeting.

With a casual snap of his fingers, the projection shifted to his end.

"Ah! I can’t see it anymore!"

Loki-sama’s shriek rang out the moment the image changed. It was so loud Bell nearly covered his ears on instinct.

"Loki-sama, from here on it’s just their last words. You planning to keep listening?"

That single line was enough to make Loki furious. There was no way she wanted to hear Finn and the others’ so-called final words. She had no intention of entertaining such grim nonsense. If it was farewell talk, she wasn’t interested.

Seeing her face flush red and green in alternating flashes, Bell couldn’t help but find it amusing. He randomly brought up several other floor feeds.

"Looks like the situation on the other floors matches my predictions."

The monsters were spawning more slowly, almost as if the entire Dungeon itself had been affected by the Black Dragon’s roar.

That part had mostly been Bell’s guess. The drop in monster numbers on the safe floors from the 32nd to 39th levels had led him to that conclusion—and now, the live feeds were proving him right.

"These floor images... Bell-kun, are you onto something?"

"This is my theory about the effects of the Black Dragon’s roar. The ones affected aren’t just the Adventurers. Even the Dungeon itself is being influenced."

Bell then pulled up feeds from the 32nd through 39th floors. They were taken from visual capture devices he’d left behind in the monster-heavy zones along the way.

"This is what happened yesterday after Captain Finn and the others broke through."

The Dungeon walls shown on-screen were still riddled with cracks and craters, clear signs that the Dungeon hadn’t yet repaired itself. But this kind of delay was far from normal.

"What? It hasn’t repaired yet?"

Even Hestia looked stunned. She might not have set foot in the Dungeon herself, but guild records had taught her that monsters are born from the Dungeon’s walls and floors, and that those walls would fracture during the birth. Until those cracks were restored, no new monsters would emerge in that area.

Yet the Dungeon was always known to repair itself quickly. Hestia had read that the deeper the floor, the faster the repairs.

A state like what they were seeing on screen—completely unrepaired—should only appear in the uppermost floors near the surface.

"This is impossible!"

Loki immediately pulled Hestia aside and examined the other floor feeds. One after another, the walls in each showed visible cracks and holes. Loki remembered them clearly—those were left by Finn and his team during their breakthrough.

"How could this be?! We’re deep in the Dungeon! Normally, damage like this should be repaired almost immediately. Why would this still be here?"

Exactly. Under normal circumstances, the Dungeon would restore each floor promptly. The Dungeon is the very cradle of monsters—why would it let that cradle stay damaged for so long?

And yet, something this strange really was happening.

It had all begun after the Black Dragon’s roar echoed through the Dungeon.

That’s what led Bell to his hypothesis. He investigated it based on his suspicions and eventually arrived at a fitting explanation.

"There’s no doubt—it doesn’t make sense. But this phenomenon only started after the Dragon’s roar. So, could it be... the Black Dragon’s roar caused widespread damage to the Dungeon itself? And now, the Dungeon is prioritizing repairs to more critical areas, leaving the others neglected for the time being?"

Bell then pulled up footage from other floors the expedition had passed through.

Being meticulous by nature, he had set up visual capture devices after clearing each floor—just in case anything happened, he’d be able to detect it immediately.

Of course, even with all his precautions, some of the devices had been destroyed. After all, they were gemstone-based tools inscribed with runes—fragile, and vulnerable even to regular monsters. That’s why he didn’t have footage for every floor.

"Some of the visual recorders were destroyed, but even with what’s left, we can already see a trend."

The footage had been placed in high, visible spots.

The devices covering the first eighteen floors were positioned on elevated areas—hard to damage, and offering the widest field of view. Even so, the screens barely showed any monsters at all.

Loki noticed it too.

"Why are there so few monsters?"

"Loki-sama, even these clips with visible monsters were handpicked. On many floors, I couldn’t capture a single monster. This only started happening after the roar."

Loki quickly recalled what Bell had said just moments ago.

"Kid, are you saying the Dungeon’s repair efforts are focused on more vital areas right now, leaving the rest untouched? And that the only monsters currently in the Dungeon are the ones that were already born—meaning once they’re killed, nothing new will spawn for a while?"

"Exactly."