Danmachi: Is It Wrong to Be the Main Character in Orario?-Chapter 816: The Canary Locked in a Cage

"Damn it... damn it..."

At this moment, the Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus felt an overwhelming sense of danger. Every fiber of its being blared alarms, urging it to flee immediately.

It felt as though if it didn’t leave now, there might never be another chance.

But... the Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus could only bite its lip in frustration. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It wasn’t that it didn’t want to flee—it couldn’t flee.

It had been corrupted and devoured by the Dungeon. Even though it still retained self-awareness and rationality, in essence, it was no different from a Floor Boss.

Could a Floor Boss ever leave its own floor?

Obviously, the Dungeon would never allow that.

If it truly could leave the Dungeon, it wouldn’t have bothered painstakingly creating its own guardian, nor would it have needed to spawn so many duplicates.

Because it was unable to leave, its desire for vengeance against the gods and the surface-dwelling humans pushed it to project its duplicate "307" onto the surface.

With countless duplicates cleansing the surface world, as long as the seal above the Lower Floors was undone, He would be released by the Dungeon and return to the surface once more.

Originally, everything had been progressing perfectly.

By relying on its guardian, it managed to project its duplicates to the Upper Floors, granting them massive amounts of energy. When projecting its consciousness into those duplicates, it could unleash even greater power.

And during this entire process, it even cooperated with the Dungeon God.

Heh... a Spirit intent on destroying the surface world actually cooperating with its own targets. Truly ironic.

But it gladly accepted the collaboration.

As long as its plan could proceed more smoothly—as long as it could project stronger avatars into the surface world—everything was worth it.

But then, it encountered a roadblock.

Whenever the Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus recalled that man, its teeth clenched with hatred.

If not for that man, its plan would have already succeeded.

As long as it captured that woman’s daughter and parasitized her body, it could have easily invaded the surface world.

And given that both were Spirits, the woman’s daughter and its avatar would certainly have excellent compatibility, enabling even greater power.

Unfortunately, that man ruined everything.

"Why must you oppose me!"

If not for him, the plan would have succeeded. It might have already infiltrated the mortal realm by now.

But now, everything had turned to smoke.

Its Guardian was toyed with and killed by that man.

Its carefully crafted plan was taken advantage of by that man.

Everything was destroyed by that man—he was its natural enemy!

And recently, that man contacted it again through the torn fragment of a soul. Ever since then, an unending sense of "danger" and "impending doom" lingered in its heart.

...

In the temporary shelter on the 79th floor.

At dawn, Ais opened her eyes and sat up from the infirmary bed.

Her gaze instinctively turned toward Bell, who happened to sit up at the same moment.

"Good morning, Teacher."

"Morning."

Seeing Bell’s faintly exhausted appearance, Ais couldn’t help but ask:

"Teacher, did you not sleep well last night?"

Bell yawned before answering.

"Not really. I struggled until very late just to barely stabilize my control over the Authority. It drained quite a lot of energy."

Ais had no experience with controlling Authority, but judging from Bell’s worn-out state, it was clear Authority was nothing like magic—far harder to control.

So she made a suggestion:

"Teacher, then you should sleep a little longer."

"You’re going to deal with the ’Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus’ today. If you don’t rest well, it will affect the battle."

Bell, who had been about to stand, paused.

His condition wasn’t terrible, but mentally he was undeniably fatigued. Facing the Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus like this wasn’t impossible, but fighting in poor condition was never ideal.

Against an important opponent, there could be no carelessness. One must adjust to peak condition.

Remembering the very lessons he had taught Ais, Bell set aside his earlier plans.

"Then I’ll sleep a bit more."

Bell didn’t insist.

"Ais, I’ll enter deep sleep. During this time, you’re free to do as you like."

"Mm."

Bell lay back on the ice bed, and under the effect of Runes, he quickly fell into deep sleep.

Watching Bell drift off, Ais got out of bed.

She needed to prepare herself for the morning as well.

Washing her face and brushing her teeth were essential.

Outside was a frozen world—finding unprocessed water was impossible. Every use of water required some preparation...

But Ais never found the daily repetition bothersome.

Wind wrapped around her fingers as she traced a circle on the ice surface.

The concentrated wind sliced the ice cleanly, completing the cut.

"Shh!"

Ais’s hand slipped easily into the cut, and she lifted out a cylindrical ice column.

She examined it.

"Good."

It could be used as clean washing water.

Ais carried the ice column outside the shelter.

The shelter was designed to prevent monster intrusion, surrounded by several Barrier. As long as she stayed within the protected perimeter, monsters posed no trouble.

Taking a wooden basin and towel from her waist pouch, Ais cut out the center section of the ice pillar and placed it in the basin. With practiced ease, she wrapped it in magic power to heat it.

The pillar melted into steaming hot water.

Ais soaked the towel, wrung it gently, and pressed the warm cloth to her face.

"Huu..."

Her early-morning drowsiness vanished instantly, leaving her refreshed.

She still worried a little about Bell.

"Authority really isn’t something humans can control so easily."

"But Teacher is incredible. Even though he’s an adventurer just like us, he’s already able to wield Authority."

Ais still hadn’t fully grasped the nature of Authority.

The truth was: the total number of Authorities in the world was fixed. Gods could not relinquish their own Authorities. Only when a god truly died would an Authority become vacant.

This was the fundamental reason the Falna System had no hope of upward progression. The ceiling was absolute—mortals could at best become Demigods. Every other path forward was blocked. What future could such a road have?

"Next comes Teacher’s promotion battle... but the opponent is that ’Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus’."

Ais firmly believed her teacher would win. Yet the Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus had left a deep impression in her heart.

"It should be fine, right?"

"If Teacher allowed me to watch, then he definitely won’t lose to the ’Corrupted Spirit’s Fetus’."

...

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