CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER 191: REVELATIONS (PART 2)

"Well, that’s alarming, to say the least. So, when Monsters kill humans, that somehow weakens the boundary between your world and ours," Frowned Leed warily.

"If that’s the case, then why doesn’t this Demon Lord send a bunch of Archdemons and Dragons in the Dungeons?" Added Zian.

"Well, I don’t know the exact specifics, but the Demon Lord’s Demonic Art that allows him to create the Dungeons has rules and limitations that he must follow.

From what I know, the more the boundary between the worlds weakens, the less restrictions he has with creating Dungeons. Not only can he create them more frequently in general, but he can create taller ones more often as well," Answered Luxuria.

"Do you know exactly what the limits of this ability is?" Chimed in Aria.

"No, I do not know the exact rules and limitations of his Demonic Art, but I do know that the height of a Dungeon determines how powerful the Monsters in it can be, and that shorter Dungeons can be produced much more frequently.

But occasionally, he can bend those rules, to varying extents. I believe he can do so when the stability of the boundary fluctuates, which happens occasionally, but I cannot say so with absolute certainty."

That must be when Dungeons that deviate from the standard patterns appear.

"How much time do we have before the boundary is breached?" Inquired Aria grimly.

"I do not know, there are many factors to consider. But I do know that the boundary repairs itself at a fairly steady rate.

When he first began his invasion of this world, the boundary deteriorated quite rapidly as a tremendous number of humans were killed, but once the humans of this world began fighting back with relative effectiveness, the deterioration of the boundary slowed drastically.

Over the last few decades, it has been in a stalemate, the rate of deterioration and repair effectively canceling each other out.

But that stalemate will likely end soon...recently, it seems the Demon Lord has been experimenting with and discovering loopholes in the rules of the Demonic Art he uses to create the Dungeons, and he has been able to bend those rules more frequently than before."

"Bend the rules, how, exactly?" Inquired Jorin with a frown.

"Well, most notably, he can place a few stronger Monsters in Dungeons where there would normally be weaker ones.

He cannot create taller Dungeons as frequently as he can create shorter ones, which previously meant that he could not deploy too many stronger Monsters to this world, since that would require Dungeons of a certain height...but now, that is no longer an issue.

As a result, more humans are being killed, and at this rate, it is only a matter of time before the boundary slowly but surely begins to deteriorate again," She explained.

"I see, that explains why there have been a lot more Dungeons that deviate from the standard patterns, and why so many unexpectedly powerful Dungeon Bosses have been appearing as well," Surmised Charlotte thoughtfully.

"And there definitely have been a lot more Hunter deaths lately, so what she’s saying does add up," Nodded Isla with a grimace.

"Yes, however...the Demon Lord has not been satisfied with the current rate of progress, he is growing rather impatient, he may opt for furthet increasingly aggressive and drastic measures before long.

He needs a much higher number of human deaths, and in fairly quick succession, in order to open a rift between the worlds. He is rather cautious, and mostly only assigns Monsters he sees as disposable to the Dungeons.

But that is starting to change, increasingly so. The strongest beings in that world, after the Demon Lord himself, are the Archdemons, Dragons and King Ants.

He has been mostly holding them back upto this point, saving them for the main invasion, if and when the boundary is breached. But now, he will likely send more and more of them through the Dungeons. His army is quite vast, so he can certainly afford to do so."

"Hm...is it even possible to breach the boundary? I mean, several billion people were killed by the time the Sanctuaries were build, and the current world population is barely at half a billion," I pointed out.

"While the boundary does repair itself and has not deteriorated significantly in the last few decades, it is currently in a rather weak state...it deteriorated rapidly initially, but once the humans began fighting back, the progress with weakening it further slowed, and quite immensely.

It has been fluctuating around more or less the same state for the last, let’s see-...seven decades or so, I believe...-but it is still in a rather weak state, especially when compared to the state it was in when the invasion through the Dungeons first began.

While I do not know the exact numbers, it certainly would not require billions of deaths to breach the boundary in its current state, I only know that that there must be a relatively large number of deaths in a short period of time, but I do not know the specifics beyond that."

Huh, so that’s how it works.

I think I get it...at one point, there were probably thousands of people dying every single day to the Monsters, and consequently weakening the boundary at a steady and ceaseless rate.

But after the Sanctuaries were built, the rate of human deaths at the hands of Monsters dropped drastically, so the progress with deteriorating the barrier stalled as a result.

Still, enough damage was done before the Sanctuaries were built that the boundary is currently in a precarious state...we may well be just one disaster away from a full-on Monster invasion.

"I see, so it isn’t a matter of steadily chipping away at what’s left of the boundary, he needs to deal a significant blow to it in one shot to breach it, and to do that, he needs several human deaths caused by Monsters in a short time," Nodded Charlotte with a grimace.

"Precisely."