Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1645 - 1643: A Headache-Inducing Adventure (What the Heck Is Kimchi Beef Burger?)

Fang Zheng swore, he had never, never, never in an adventure expended so much mental energy.

In Fang Zheng’s memory, the most mentally exhausting time when he went on an adventure was when he escorted a little thief, who had learned zero presence by himself, back home. At that time, the little guy was cursed, and then various unfortunate events occurred frequently along the way, and they didn’t encounter any good things from start to finish.

But at least those were just unfortunate events, and they could get through as long as they mustered their spirit.

But now... Fang Zheng only felt a headache.

"Fang Zheng, Fang Zheng, can I blow that up?"

"No!"

"Fang Zheng, Fang Zheng, there’s a Minotaur coming! The others definitely can’t hold it off!"

"Shut up!"

"Fang Zheng, Fang Zheng, as long as I fire one shot, this maze..."

"If you call out again, I’ll knock you out and throw you into the Abyss."

Looking at Megumin, who was screaming and bouncing around beside him, Fang Zheng completely regretted letting the Priestess of the Goddess choose this guy to join the team.

Currently, Fang Zheng’s group was not on a mission; on the contrary, they were engaging in the most orthodox adventure that all players imagine.

That is, dungeon conquering.

It was only after this that Fang Zheng learned about it. On this continent, there are locations everywhere that are called "the deepest maze." No one knows when they were formed, but according to legend, this maze seems to cover the entire continent, as vast as an anthill. Since recorded history, no one has ever reached the deepest part of the maze, nor does anyone know what is there.

Rumor has it that it’s the gateway to the Demon Realm, and some say that at the deepest part of the deepest maze is a sealed Demon God. There was even a time when adventurers flocked in, trying to unearth the treasures and secrets within.

However, unfortunately, this frenzy disappeared after a while.

After all, being an adventurer is also a profession that needs to make a living. Like the Priestess of the Goddess, registering at the Adventurers’ Guild, taking tasks, completing them, and getting paid is the true job of an adventurer.

The romance of exploring underground and the fun of treasure hunting are just plot points in novels and stories.

Truly venturing into dungeons for an adventure is tedious, dangerous, and without any support. There are no laws, no order, nothing except greedy desires and death.

Gradually, more and more adventurers gave up exploring the deepest maze, which became like a large RAID instance forgotten after a version upgrade, overlooked by most adventurers.

However, for Fang Zheng and the others, it was just right.

Fang Zheng himself didn’t care about money, and Ais just wanted to become stronger. Megumin just wanted to release one Burst Magic a day, and nothing else mattered. As for the Priestess of the Goddess, she was currently diligently honing her skills, and in Fang Zheng’s view, building a strong foundation and adapting to combat was the most important, so there was no need to take on specific tasks.

The Priestess of the Goddess and Ais were obedient, but Megumin, this chuunibyou Great Mage, gave Fang Zheng a headache. This girl wanted to blow up everything she saw, so Fang Zheng had to bind her to himself to prevent her from causing trouble. After all, they were underground now, not on the surface. If an explosion went off recklessly, who knows if the creatures would get blown up—they might end up getting buried alive.

Fang Zheng was starting to suspect that it might have been better to go on an adventure with Lina Inverse... After all, this explosion maniac with a problematic brain is... a headache.

Speaking of which...

"There’s really nothing good in here after all."

Fang Zheng kicked away the rusted greatsword in the hand of the Skeleton Warrior in front of him. The maze in reality was far more tedious than those in games. Fang Zheng and his team had descended three levels and still hadn’t found anything that could be considered spoils of war.

Instead, there were countless creatures, and most of them were worthless.

No wonder adventurers were unwilling to come anymore.

Were it not for Fang Zheng intending to train the team, he wouldn’t want to come either.

The Priestess of the Goddess was obedient, which was a relief. But Ais was different. At first, Fang Zheng thought Ais, with her expressionless face, was an ice goddess, but after a few days, he was speechless to find that she was not an ice goddess at all—she was a natural airhead!

Adding Megumin, the chuunibyou Great Mage... what kind of people were on this team?

If Fang Zheng had another chance, he would definitely choose different people.

Unfortunately, there was no chance for regret now.

Even so, the current situation made Fang Zheng’s head ache.

"Ais, pull all those creatures over here, watch me give them a big one!"

"Okay."

Upon hearing Megumin’s words, Ais nodded her head and immediately rushed forward to battle the Minotaur Warriors wandering not far away. Seeing this, the Priestess of the Goddess hurriedly tried to intervene.

"Wait, Megumin, it’s too dangerous here. Don’t use Burst Magic here!"

"It’s too late! My seal has been undone, pitch-black energy gathers at my fingertips, yearning to destroy everything! Come, ruler of flames, destruction of everything, in the name of the Red Demon Clan, I summon here, reveal the power from the Land of Apocalypse’s Origin before me———Explosion!"

In the next moment, fiery light flashed instantly, the ground began to tremble, and debris poured down like torrential rain. Immediately afterward, wild magical flames burst open.

Seeing this, the Priestess of the Goddess was also shocked, quickly raising her hands.

"Merciful Earth Mother Goddess, please protect us from harm———Holy Shield!"

A golden Holy Shield instantly appeared, blocking in front of the group. At the same time, with the impact of the Burst Magic, everything around seemed to collapse. Rocks, soil, and sand surged down, completely burying the passage in front of them.

After a while, Ais emerged from it, covered in dust, looked around.

"Did they all get taken care of?"

"That’s not the issue here."

Fang Zheng, who followed out next, was already speechless.

"If you were half a step slower, you’d have been blown away!"

"But, it was effective."

"Yes, it was effective. Besides us, nothing else on this level will be moving anymore."

Fang Zheng, while complaining, looked around, only to see that this layer of the dungeon had been blasted to pieces by Megumin’s Burst Magic, almost on the verge of collapsing...... To be honest, this brainless girl from the Red Demon Clan really is a genius with only Burst Magic.

This is also the main reason why Fang Zheng tolerates Megumin. Truth be told, in other teams, almost no one would accept someone like Megumin. But here it’s different, Ais doesn’t care if Burst Magic suddenly appears in front of her, and the Priestess of the Goddess is exhausted just trying to shield herself from Megumin’s Burst Magic aftermath.

Although it looked absurd and funny, under such intense training, the two of them indeed improved rapidly. The Priestess of the Goddess acquired a third Divine Art, "Holy Shield," besides "Little Healer" and "Holy Light," finally qualifying her as a core member of the team.

Hmm...... the fact that she can use this Holy Shield so skillfully can be said to be forced out by Megumin from a certain perspective.

As for Ais, she has learned to observe and predict the release and direction of magic through the flow of magic power in the air. This gives her a significant advantage in the upcoming battles against demon beasts. Of course, at first, she did it just to run further away when Megumin cast Burst Magic.

In a way, these are the benefits brought by Megumin’s Burst Magic.

Well, forcibly seeing the benefits... Fang Zheng could only console himself this way.

As for the prime culprit herself...

"Are you okay, Megumin?"

"Huff... I feel so good........."

When the Priestess of the Goddess dug Megumin out of the dirt, she was flushed, utterly satisfied, and shut her eyes like someone who had just enjoyed ultimate pleasure.

Every time Fang Zheng saw Megumin like this, it made his teeth itch. He wished to let her truly experience what flying to the clouds’ summit felt like.

By that time, let’s see if this crazy explosive girl will ever think of casting Burst Magic impulsively again!

"Let’s call it a day for now. Tomorrow we need to return to the Adventurers’ Guild and take up a task."

"Eh? We’re taking on a task?"

"That’s right. The reason for dungeon explorations was just for training. You can’t seriously think of spending your life in this dark place, right?"

"As long as I can cast Burst Magic, I don’t care where I am!"

Megumin mustered her strength and raised her hand, shouting.

And Ais nodded in agreement.

"As long as I can become stronger, I don’t care."

"That’s why neither of your levels is improving."

Hearing their replies, Fang Zheng rolled his eyes helplessly. The level at the Adventurers’ Guild doesn’t equate to personal strength. Judging by personal capability, just Megumin’s Burst Magic alone would be at least Golden Rank. Ais should at least reach Silver. But in reality, the two are still at the White Porcelain Rank in the Adventurers’ Guild—the same level as the Priestess of the Goddess, who only joined the guild from the temple a month ago.

The reason Megumin can’t upgrade is simple: no one wants a Great Mage who only casts Burst Magic.

Ais’s reason for not leveling up is rather funny. Raised in the temple, she developed the habit of waiting for assignments there even after becoming an adventurer... obviously, there are none.

This is also why the Priestess of the Goddess met Ais at the temple of the Earth Mother Goddess...

Fang Zheng’s decision to have the three take on a task wasn’t just for leveling up their adventurer rank but because his surveillance revealed Lina and the others had contacted Red Mage Reizo. Fang Zheng predicted Reizo would soon obtain the Philosopher’s Stone to unseal the Demon King within him... well, that’s not the crux of the matter.

The focus is that after the Demon King’s seal is lifted, he would immediately release miasma, turning people in nearby cities to stone and manipulating demon beasts to attack. Fang Zheng wouldn’t mess with this but needed to ensure the three girls kept a safe distance... to avoid trouble.

After all, though the anime makes it seem like Demon King Shabranigdo was easily killed by Lina, in reality, he could be considered the top combat power ceiling of this world. Judging by strength, even the King of the Underworld, Phibrizzo, was not as strong as Shabranigdo.

Now, let’s dive into the "setting" of this world.

Like many fantasy realms, there are gods and demons, thus divine arts and magic exist too. But unlike the Main World, magic here isn’t drawn from solely personal power but from "borrowed" strength.

For instance, all spells in Black Magic derive their power from Demon Lord Shabranigdo, meaning the most potent Black Magic is immune to him.

After all, using someone’s strength against them is... rather foolish, wouldn’t you agree?

Divine arts in this world divide into two kinds: simple ones like the Priestess of the Goddess, praying to the Earth Mother Goddess for strength.

The other is known as "Gifts," blessings granted by deities but unlike divine arts, it’s more about unlocking the latent power within humans through divine strength. Once someone becomes an enchanted of a deity, they can gain their Gift to unleash their internal power.

Ais belongs to this category. According to the Priestess of the Goddess, she is an enchanted of the deity Loki, with the "Gift" resembling stigmata on her back.

The Wind Spirit Dash magic Ais accesses to amplify herself is due to the power from her Gift.

Meanwhile, Megumin’s Burst Magic falls under Elf Magic. Though name-dropped as Elf Magic, in Chinese online novels, it matches Elemental Magic of wind, water, fire, and earth. And Megumin’s Burst Magic counts as one of the most formidable among these — naturally, Burst Magic power levels can’t compete with the ace of Black Magic, Dragon Break Slash.

Yet, this crazy explosive girl put all her power into Burst Magic... it represents extreme bias in specialization.

Having clarified this, it now makes sense why others couldn’t defeat Shabranigdo, only Lina Inverse could.

Firstly, Black Magic holds the highest combat attack power, but its strength is borrowed from Shabranigdo, so using it against him is futile. Facing Shabranigdo renders Black Magic null.

Then, Collapse Spirit Slash in Elf Magic equals Dragon Break Slash in power, but alas... alas, it’s a Psychic System spell handling Shabranigdo, who is who?

Among the top four Great Demon Lords under the Golden Nightmare King, his spiritual power is unmatched by ordinary humans!

Thus, Dragon Break Slash and Collapse Spirit Slash were ineffective. The Water Dragon King who sealed Shabranigdo is dead; without its nemesis, it’s said Shabranigdo, when unsealed—even just a fraction—had no opponents.

But then there came Lina Inverse with her Heavy Break Slash.

The Heavy Break Slash drew power from the Golden Nightmare King, essentially calling mom to discipline her son, and no matter how mighty Shabranigdo was, a slap from mom meant doom.

That Lina is claimed as the Golden Nightmare King’s true daughter relates to this. Per the anime, when Lina fought Shabranigdo, her Heavy Break Slash was incomplete; she didn’t get harnessed until she learned her power’s true origin through the Otherworld Apocalypses.

So here’s the question: While Otherworld Apocalypses was omniscient, how did Lina get the unfinished Heavy Break Slash Spell Text beforehand? She claimed it was self-created, but there must’ve been some inspiration, right? It couldn’t have been from dreaming of the Golden King and attempting such during a whim?

What’s more, per the anime, Lina is the only one worldwide who knows the spell text of the Golden Nightmare King. Apart from her being the true daughter of the Golden Nightmare King, no other explanation suffices.

So, without a doubt, facing Shabranigdo, unless one is the protagonist with a plot armor like Lina Inverse — the true daughter of the Golden Nightmare King — it’s unfeasible.

Thus... Fang Zheng decided to take the girls and slip away to a quiet place for tasks, only returning after Lina Inverse and Shabranigdo resolve their battle!