Ophelia’s question hung in the air of the living room. Ryan remained motionless, processing the flow of information he had just received.

While it was true that at some point the thought had crossed his mind that the deity who brought him to this world might have some hidden motive for doing so.

Ryan had always suspected that his transmigration wasn’t a simple system error, but rather a deliberate move by someone.

He had imagined that perhaps at some point that deity would appear before him to erase him for being a living bug.

Or perhaps they would recruit him to wipe out the demons once and for all, something Ryan had considered the only real threat since he first set foot in these lands.

No one in the room dared to speak after Iris’s revelation; the girls looked at each other with a mixture of horror and skepticism.

In the face of the deathly silence, it was Ryan who finally broke the ice with a voice devoid of emotion.

"The true purpose of the dungeons?" Ryan asked with a genuine interest that was reflected in the intensity of his gaze.

"Tell me what you know, Ophelia." He settled into his chair, bracing himself for an explanation that went beyond the religious myths of the human kingdom.

Ophelia nodded with an elegance that denoted she enjoyed having the full attention of such an analytical man.

"Perhaps you yourself experienced something strange the first time you entered a dungeon, isn’t that right?" the demon queen said, directing the question straight at Beatrice.

The demon girl flinched slightly at being the center of attention, but ultimately nodded slowly.

"Yes..." Beatrice responded as she recalled her first incursions alongside Ryan’s party.

"Some time ago, before Ryan enhanced me with his skill, I couldn’t stay in this dungeon without feeling a deep headache. It felt as if the air itself were trying to expel me from here, a constant pressure in my temples that prevented me from concentrating."

"Exactly," the demon queen commented with a smile.

"That is a repellent effect designed specifically against our race. But that is not the only effect, nor the most important of all. They have a very different effect on humans. Dungeons are charged with an extremely dense mana."

Ophelia gestured with her hands while explaining the hidden mechanics of the world.

"You humans could not access ambient mana naturally before the arrival of the system and the dungeons. But the longer you are exposed to that mana in constant struggle against monsters, the system strengthens you using that very same energy."

"That energy obtained through levels and statistics gradually makes you compatible with the power of those deities," the queen continued.

"Which is why the dungeons are actually greenhouses. It is what allows humans to get used to a divine magical load that their original bodies would reject."

"They are making you compatible so that, when the day comes, those entities can take your bodies just as if they were changing from old clothes into new ones," Ophelia declared coldly.

Mirian intervened at that moment, doubt etched on her face but lacking the ability to deny the internal logic of what she was hearing.

"I find it very hard to believe that everything you say is true; it sounds way too twisted."

Karol also intervened, though her reaction was much more visceral and charged with a rage that made sparks of electricity dance around her magic staff. The mage felt insulted to her very core as a scholar.

"From what you’re saying, you’re making humans and the deity out to be the real bad guys of this world!" Karol exclaimed.

"Then what are you guys supposed to be? Are the demons the saviors of humanity now? It’s a bad joke that has absolutely no backing."

Ophelia let out a clear laugh at the young mage’s question, a laugh that resonated with a hint of irony.

"Of course we aren’t the saviors, little mage. And I think thinking in terms of good and bad is just a petty fantasy for low-level people. You see... every single race in this world has its own selfish interests."

"I am not a good person, nor do I pretend to save the world in some heroic fashion," the demon queen clarified, looking at Ryan with honesty.

"But I don’t plan to sit idly by while I am destroyed by the long-term plans of those deities intent on wiping us out. If humans reach SSS-rank, our continent will be the first to burn under the power of those piece-of-shit deities."

Irina took a step forward from the threshold where she stood, her face serious and her eyes misted over with painful memories.

"I... I think what the demon queen says is true, at least regarding the cruelty part," the elf murmured.

"It wasn’t just Rigal’s demons who wiped out my people in the forest. Those damn holy knights from the church were the ones who killed my father without mercy."

Ryan finally intervened after analyzing every stance and contrasting Ophelia’s data with his own experience as a developer.

"You’re right, Irina. After all, we are in a war, and in war there are no absolute good guys or bad guys," Ryan said in a pragmatic tone.

"There are only sides with different objectives for victory. And there are those who simply cannot choose their side."

Ryan stood reflecting for a moment, connecting the dots of the military strategy the demons had maintained for decades.

’If dungeons are cultivation centers for vessels, then the behavior of the demon lords makes a lot more sense,’ Ryan analyzed internally.

"So that’s the real reason you all always try to seal the dungeons, isn’t it?" Ryan asked, staring intently at Ophelia.

"Are you trying to oppose that deity returning to this world and stop the preparation process of human bodies before anyone reaches SSS-rank?"

Ryan hoped his deduction was correct to finish putting the puzzle together.

"Of course. Since we have no way to kill that piece-of-shit deity, we don’t want it to keep interfering in this world either. Besides... there are already SSS-rank heroes."