Chapter 42: Outside

The white light faded and Karl, Leon and Mira appeared back inside the dungeon, only a short distance from where the red portal had first dragged them away.

Atherion and the surviving Fitzalans were nowhere to be seen, most likely returned to wherever they had originally entered Forgotten Cave from.

The red portal behind them trembled violently before folding in on itself.

A heavy boom passed through the dungeon as the entire portal collapsed and disappeared, leaving only disturbed Mana behind.

Leon looked at the empty space and laughed.

"Damn, that was thrilling, dangerous and ridiculously rewarding at the same time."

Karl smiled.

"Indeed—"

Victor appeared in front of him before he could finish.

Karl barely had time to react before Victor pulled him into a crushing hug.

"What the hell happened to you?!"

Karl’s face was pressed against his shoulder.

"Victor... you’re crushing me."

Victor released him just enough for Karl to breathe before immediately smacking him across the back of the head.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"I warned you to stay away from anything suspicious!"

Another fist lightly struck Karl’s shoulder before he could move away.

"You’ve been a professional for barely a month and you’ve already become this unruly?"

Karl rubbed the back of his head.

"I didn’t exactly volunteer to get dragged inside."

"That doesn’t make it better."

Victor gave him another irritated punch against the arm before grabbing both his shoulders and checking him from head to toe.

"One moment you’re standing there and the next that damn thing grabs you before I can even reach you."

"Do you know how close I was to contacting the Old Master?"

Karl pushed his hands away.

"I’m perfectly fine."

"That’s because you came back."

Victor glared at him.

"What the hell was I supposed to tell the Old Master if you didn’t?"

Leon leaned slightly toward Mira.

"He’s getting beaten after surviving all that."

Mira glanced at him.

"You can volunteer next."

Leon immediately looked away when Victor turned toward them.

Karl sighed and noticed something strange in what Victor had said.

"Wait, how long were we gone?"

Victor frowned.

"A few minutes."

Karl stared at him.

Leon stopped smiling while Mira looked toward Victor more carefully.

"A few minutes?"

"How long did it feel inside?"

Karl glanced toward the other two.

"Several hours at least."

They had passed through multiple trials, fought Satan, crossed the golden city and gone through everything surrounding the Divine Furnace within that time.

Leon slowly nodded.

"Okay, that’s actually weird."

Victor’s expression became more serious.

"Then explain it."

Leon waved one hand.

"Now, now, don’t be so paranoid, we came back with some great rewards, met some completely insane people and we’re already Level 99."

Victor slowly turned toward him.

"You’re what?"

Leon grinned.

"Level 99, all three of us."

Victor looked toward Karl.

Karl nodded.

"We reached the First Transition limit. The excess EXP got stored."

Victor remained silent for several seconds before looking between all three of them.

"You disappeared for a few minutes and came back Level 99."

"Pretty productive few minutes," Leon said.

Victor ignored him.

"What the hell happened inside?"

Karl looked toward the place where the portal had disappeared.

"It’s a long story."

They gave Victor the important parts without going through every fight again.

The other teams dragged into Forgotten Cave, Atherion Fitzalan and his group, the Beast Humans hidden among them and the strange trials that followed.

Victor’s expression became steadily more serious as they continued.

When Karl mentioned Satan and the Divine Furnace beneath the legacy, Victor stopped interrupting altogether.

Then came the Sovereign and finally Armando Scythi.

Victor’s steps slowed.

"Armando Scythi?"

Karl nodded.

"The Blood Warlock."

Leon scratched his head.

"Yeah. That Armando."

Karl continued with Lyra, the failed divine descent and Armando eventually breaking free before disappearing with her.

By the time they finished, Victor remained quiet for several moments before finally looking back at Karl.

"And you three survived all of that?"

Karl shrugged.

"Barely."

Karl then mentioned the rewards.

"Anyway, we got something shockingly good from the final settlement and it seems I luckily found something for grandpa."

He opened his storage and took out a small transparent bottle.

The moment Victor saw the golden liquid inside, his attention locked onto it.

Karl held it out.

"Divine Elixir."

Victor’s expression changed completely.

He took the bottle carefully and activated an advanced identification skill, examining its information for several seconds before checking it again.

[Divine Elixir]

[Type: Special Item — Elixir of Divinity]

[Effect: Restores severe internal injuries and repairs damaged foundations.]

[Effect: Purifies harmful and corrupted energy within the body.]

[Effect: Greatly strengthens the recovery of weakened life force.]

[Note: Effectiveness depends on the target’s condition.]

His fingers tightened slightly around the glass.

"This..."

"This really might restore the Old Master."

Karl smiled.

"That’s what I thought."

Victor immediately returned his attention to the Elixir, reading through its information once more as though making sure he had not misunderstood anything.

Arthur had been injured for years, now they finally had something that might actually restore him.

Victor carefully handed the bottle back.

"Keep it safe until we return."

"Obviously."

Karl stored the Divine Elixir again.

Leon, who had been waiting beside them, suddenly remembered something else.

"Oh, right, we also got this weird title at the end."

Victor glanced toward him.

"What title?"

"Heretic."

Victor’s expression darkened immediately.

Karl noticed the change.

"What?"

Victor did not answer, he pulled up one sleeve and clenched his hand.

A deep black mark slowly appeared across his forearm.

Karl stepped closer and several dark rings surrounded the centre while strange horn-like patterns spread outward between them, forming something far more complicated than the mark Forgotten Cave had shown them.

Then Karl felt heat spread across his own arm and a mark appeared beneath his skin.

Leon cursed beside him while Mira pulled back her sleeve as the same thing emerged across her arm.

Their marks were far simpler than Victor’s, with fewer rings and much less detail around the centre.

But one difference immediately stood out, the horns within Victor’s mark were black.

Theirs were golden.

Karl looked between them.

"So you already had the title."

Victor lowered his sleeve.

"We’re going back."

Karl frowned.

"Now?"

"Now."

Karl glanced toward Leon and Mira.

"There’s still nearly a week before the exam. We’ve reached Level 99 and our First Transition Tasks have already updated."

His original plan had been to finish those tasks first and return afterward.

Even without the Transition, reaching Level 99 this early was already enough to cause a ridiculous reaction during the exam.

Victor clearly did not care.

"No."

Karl looked at him.

"We have enough time."

"You need to come back."

"Victor—"

"I’m not arguing about this, Young Master."

Karl stopped, victor rarely became this firm with him.

His gaze moved toward the arm Victor had just covered.

Whatever Victor knew about the Heretic title was clearly far beyond the description Forgotten Cave had given them and what he remembered.

More importantly, that mark made one thing obvious.

He was not speaking from second-hand knowledge.

Karl sighed.

"Fine, we’ll go back."

Victor nodded and started moving, leon waited until he had gone several steps ahead before leaning toward Karl.

"So Victor’s a Heretic too?"

Karl looked toward his back.

"Obviously."

Leon glanced at Victor’s covered arm.

"His looked way cooler than ours."

Karl remembered the black horns and the multiple rings surrounding the mark.

"Yeah."

Leon stretched his arms as they followed Victor.

"Anyway, the city should be pretty lively when we get back."

Karl glanced toward him as he grinned.

"Especially the Vale family."

Karl smiled at that.

"Indeed."

He was rather interested in seeing their reaction himself, especially after seeing them all good and level 99.

But that could wait.

The jeep pulled away from the dungeon and headed back toward the city.