"It's year 4346 right now… that's the actual truth old man… ten years have passed away in the outer world… people have even forgotten about your party's name too…" (Liam)
At Liam's shocking words, Damian felt his eyes blur in shock.
"Th-this!?" (Damian)
Damian's legs gave out and he slumped down on the ground with a face full of despair, his whole world seemed to have collapsed.
Liam showed Damian his wristwatch with a solemn look on his face:
"See, this is the current date…" (Liam)
With dead-fish-like eyes, Damian glanced at the date and he finally accepted that he had been stuck in this dungeon for more than ten years now.
"Th-then…. My daughter, my wife… what about them… they must have been extremely sad at my disappearance…" (Damian)
Tears appeared in Damian's eyes. He had promised his family that he would return safely and on time, but it seems he ended up breaking that promise long ago.
Just when Damian was in despair a cold voice entered his ears.
"Hmph, if you had been more careful, you could have avoided such an idiotic thing from happening altogether…" (Raji)
At Raji's sudden appearance, everyone was startled for a second but then accepted it with a look of awe on their faces. (She forced her way inside the dungeon and forcefully stabilized it from collapsing...)
Hearing Raji's voice, Damian raised his face and looked at Raji with his tear-filled eyes.
The moment his eyes landed on Raji's face, his eyes widened in disbelief.
He hurriedly got up from the ground and tried to stabilize himself. With a slight trembling voice, he asked:
"Is that you, my elder daughter?… Raji?… y-you have grown up…" (Damian)
At Damian's question, Raji nodded her head with the usual cold look on her face.
"It's me Raji Croft, an SS-ranker and the strongest Frost Mage of the current era…" (Raji)
Raji introduced herself as the pride and admiration icon of the whole human race.
Since the day she became an SS-ranker, she had become the guardian of the human race, and her duty comes first, her family is only secondary to her now.
Thus, she can't introduce herself as the daughter of just one human anymore. (These are her ideals, not a constraint to the SS-ranker's title, in fact, there are barely any constraints on an SS-ranker in the first place…)
At Raji's confirmation of her being his daughter, everything seems to have fallen into place.
Lia and everyone else standing around the bonfire had a shocked look on their faces, they seemed to have witnessed a very shocking truth today.
Everything that happened before and whatever Damian said seems to be making some sense now.
It's not that Damian had infiltrated this dungeon and there was no mistake on Raji's end too. The truth was that Damian was already stuck in this dungeon from the start.
Damian was not able to recognize Liam's academy uniform because it had been changed in the past ten years and he thought that there were only two SS-rankers in the current human race, because the other two only ascended after Damian got trapped in this dungeon.
…
Seeing Raji look at him with a cold face, Damian's head bowed in shame.
Damian wanted to go forward and hug his daughter like he used to do whenever he returned home, but now his body didn't move, he felt unworthy of calling himself a proper father.
"So you got accepted in the academy and even grew up beyond my wildest expectations…. You have made me extremely proud… Raji…" (Damian)
Raji shook her head and replied in her usual cold tone:
"Not only you but the whole human race become proud whenever a new SS-ranker ascends… I have nothing to talk to you...." (Raji)
Raji glanced at Riya and said in a calm tone:
"Riya this is the father you have been asking me about all along…" (Raji)
"…now you can see his pathetic self yourself, watch how this pathetic man spent his sweet time in this dungeon… while his wife worked herself to a coma just for the sake of her daughter's future…" (Raji)
Raji's harsh words made Damian feel even more worthless. He felt like dying at the moment.
From his perspective, it has only been less than a month and his both daughters had grown up into capable individuals who were capable of distinguishing wrong and right in this cruel world.
When Damian left home for this raid, he had never thought that his 6-year old daughter Riya would be coming to watch him make a fool out of himself in this dungeon.
The reason why Damian was seeing his daughter in Riya has now become clear. Now he knows why his body refused to abandon Riya and run away when that giant bear was rushing towards him.
It was all because Riya was his own daughter, Riya was his younger daughter that used to like sweets a lot.
All of this was beyond his comprehension.
In search of treasure, it seems that treasure caused him to make a great 'sacrifice'.
…
Damian mustered his courage and said in a trembling voice:
"F-forgive me, Riya, Raji…" (Damian)
Riya who had been standing still with a shocked expression finally came back to reality and realized what was happening. The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via n(0))vel(b)(j)(n).
Although she could feel the anger in her sister's voice, Riya couldn't hate Damian as much as Raji did.
Riya slowly walked towards Damian and said in an awkward tone:
"Uh… I don't hate you or anything… father… it's just this is the first time seeing you, which made me surprised…. Uh" (Riya)
Looking at Riya forgiving Damian so easily, Raji said in a cold tone:
"Don't talk to that pathetic man Riya, he doesn't deserve your forgiveness… get back and let me handle the situation!" (Raji)
Hearing Raji's angry voice Riya was startled, this was the first time Raji had shouted and scolded her.
Raji never scolded Riya before for anything, but today she was angry at Riya for showing kindness to Damian.
Surprisingly, Riya didn't fear Raji's anger at all, she faced Raji and spread her hands, as if to protect Damian from Raji's wrath.
"Riya you!" (Raji)
At Raji's anger-filled aura, the whole dungeon started to shake and the chaotic mana came to a standstill. The space itself seems to be trembling from Raji's anger.
Link immediately jumped in between and blocked the strong aura from harming Riya.
Although the situation seems to have suddenly taken an unexpected turn with Raji's sudden appearance in the dungeon, and Link had no right to meddle in the family business of the Croft family, he still couldn't let Riya suffer any harm.
Link stood in front of Riya with his arms crossed and blocked the aura. (Although it was just a little bit of Raji's true aura, it's still a remarkable feat to block it so effortlessly… like I said before, Link is built different…)
"You can't big sis! He's our father! If Mom knew about this she would be angry at you!" (Riya)
At Riya's retorts, Raji's anger increased even further, the pressure on Link increased several times and the ground under his feet cracked due to the pressure.
'F*ck! Is she planning on killing Riya!? If this pressure had landed on Riya, she would have broken her legs by now!' (Link)
Link put his hands in a fighting stance. He was ready to fight Raji if she showed even a little bit of killing intent towards Riya. (He can't even take one attack from Raji, but that's a different matter…)
"Mom would be disgusted if she knew that this pathetic man was still alive and well!" (Raji)
"No! She won't! You are wrong big sis! Mom always used to stare at the moon during the night! I know she missed father a lot!" (Riya)
Raji shook her head and stared at Damian with hatred in her eyes:
"You know nothing Riya! You are still too young! Stay out of my way!" (Raji)
A huge ice lance appeared in the sky, the clouds scattered and everything seemed insignificant in front of this lance. The ice lance was so big that it seemed to be covered the whole sky and it was pointed right at Damian.
The deadly aura of that lance alone caused Damian to fall to the ground and stare at it with a horrified look on his face.
The whole A-rank dungeon trembled uncontrollably due to Raji summoning that one lance.
'F*ck! This old hag has gone mad! She is really gonna kill us all today!!' (Link)
Lia and everyone walked backward slowly in the hope of avoiding Raji's wrath.
Although Link was also scared, he didn't even flinch and continued to block the aura for Riya.
If it was some other ordinary person who was trying to block Raji's aura, he would have fainted hundreds of times by now, but Link stood still as an indomitable mountain.
*Boom*
Just when Link was at his wit's end, a sudden loud sound woke up them all.
Everyone looked to the east and found a huge tornado of pure mana forming in the distance.
"This mana whirlpool… is someone breaking through to rank A! in this domain!?" (Liam)
The situation seems to have become more and more chaotic with every passing second.
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! It's quite surprising to see an SS-ranker getting angry for the first time…
Do you guys think Raji would be able to forgive Damian?
1.Yes (With Riya's subtle help, perhaps Damian would be able to win his daughter's heart back…)
2.No (A relation once broken can't be fully healed and love once forgotten can't be remembered in its true form…)
3.Others (Tell me in the comments)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.
"It's year 4346 right now… that's the actual truth old man… ten years have passed away in the outer world… people have even forgotten about your party's name too…" (Liam)
At Liam's shocking words, Damian felt his eyes blur in shock.
"Th-this!?" (Damian)
Damian's legs gave out and he slumped down on the ground with a face full of despair, his whole world seemed to have collapsed.
Liam showed Damian his wristwatch with a solemn look on his face:
"See, this is the current date…" (Liam)
With dead-fish-like eyes, Damian glanced at the date and he finally accepted that he had been stuck in this dungeon for more than ten years now.
"Th-then…. My daughter, my wife… what about them… they must have been extremely sad at my disappearance…" (Damian)
Tears appeared in Damian's eyes. He had promised his family that he would return safely and on time, but it seems he ended up breaking that promise long ago.
Just when Damian was in despair a cold voice entered his ears.
"Hmph, if you had been more careful, you could have avoided such an idiotic thing from happening altogether…" (Raji)
At Raji's sudden appearance, everyone was startled for a second but then accepted it with a look of awe on their faces. (She forced her way inside the dungeon and forcefully stabilized it from collapsing...)
Hearing Raji's voice, Damian raised his face and looked at Raji with his tear-filled eyes.
The moment his eyes landed on Raji's face, his eyes widened in disbelief.
He hurriedly got up from the ground and tried to stabilize himself. With a slight trembling voice, he asked:
"Is that you, my elder daughter?… Raji?… y-you have grown up…" (Damian)
At Damian's question, Raji nodded her head with the usual cold look on her face.
"It's me Raji Croft, an SS-ranker and the strongest Frost Mage of the current era…" (Raji)
Raji introduced herself as the pride and admiration icon of the whole human race.
Since the day she became an SS-ranker, she had become the guardian of the human race, and her duty comes first, her family is only secondary to her now.
Thus, she can't introduce herself as the daughter of just one human anymore. (These are her ideals, not a constraint to the SS-ranker's title, in fact, there are barely any constraints on an SS-ranker in the first place…)
At Raji's confirmation of her being his daughter, everything seems to have fallen into place.
Lia and everyone else standing around the bonfire had a shocked look on their faces, they seemed to have witnessed a very shocking truth today.
Everything that happened before and whatever Damian said seems to be making some sense now.
It's not that Damian had infiltrated this dungeon and there was no mistake on Raji's end too. The truth was that Damian was already stuck in this dungeon from the start.
Damian was not able to recognize Liam's academy uniform because it had been changed in the past ten years and he thought that there were only two SS-rankers in the current human race, because the other two only ascended after Damian got trapped in this dungeon.
…
Seeing Raji look at him with a cold face, Damian's head bowed in shame.
Damian wanted to go forward and hug his daughter like he used to do whenever he returned home, but now his body didn't move, he felt unworthy of calling himself a proper father.
"So you got accepted in the academy and even grew up beyond my wildest expectations…. You have made me extremely proud… Raji…" (Damian)
Raji shook her head and replied in her usual cold tone:
"Not only you but the whole human race become proud whenever a new SS-ranker ascends… I have nothing to talk to you...." (Raji)
Raji glanced at Riya and said in a calm tone:
"Riya this is the father you have been asking me about all along…" (Raji)
"…now you can see his pathetic self yourself, watch how this pathetic man spent his sweet time in this dungeon… while his wife worked herself to a coma just for the sake of her daughter's future…" (Raji)
Raji's harsh words made Damian feel even more worthless. He felt like dying at the moment.
From his perspective, it has only been less than a month and his both daughters had grown up into capable individuals who were capable of distinguishing wrong and right in this cruel world.
When Damian left home for this raid, he had never thought that his 6-year old daughter Riya would be coming to watch him make a fool out of himself in this dungeon.
The reason why Damian was seeing his daughter in Riya has now become clear. Now he knows why his body refused to abandon Riya and run away when that giant bear was rushing towards him.
It was all because Riya was his own daughter, Riya was his younger daughter that used to like sweets a lot.
All of this was beyond his comprehension.
In search of treasure, it seems that treasure caused him to make a great 'sacrifice'.
…
Damian mustered his courage and said in a trembling voice:
"F-forgive me, Riya, Raji…" (Damian)
Riya who had been standing still with a shocked expression finally came back to reality and realized what was happening. The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via n(0))vel(b)(j)(n).
Although she could feel the anger in her sister's voice, Riya couldn't hate Damian as much as Raji did.
Riya slowly walked towards Damian and said in an awkward tone:
"Uh… I don't hate you or anything… father… it's just this is the first time seeing you, which made me surprised…. Uh" (Riya)
Looking at Riya forgiving Damian so easily, Raji said in a cold tone:
"Don't talk to that pathetic man Riya, he doesn't deserve your forgiveness… get back and let me handle the situation!" (Raji)
Hearing Raji's angry voice Riya was startled, this was the first time Raji had shouted and scolded her.
Raji never scolded Riya before for anything, but today she was angry at Riya for showing kindness to Damian.
Surprisingly, Riya didn't fear Raji's anger at all, she faced Raji and spread her hands, as if to protect Damian from Raji's wrath.
"Riya you!" (Raji)
At Raji's anger-filled aura, the whole dungeon started to shake and the chaotic mana came to a standstill. The space itself seems to be trembling from Raji's anger.
Link immediately jumped in between and blocked the strong aura from harming Riya.
Although the situation seems to have suddenly taken an unexpected turn with Raji's sudden appearance in the dungeon, and Link had no right to meddle in the family business of the Croft family, he still couldn't let Riya suffer any harm.
Link stood in front of Riya with his arms crossed and blocked the aura. (Although it was just a little bit of Raji's true aura, it's still a remarkable feat to block it so effortlessly… like I said before, Link is built different…)
"You can't big sis! He's our father! If Mom knew about this she would be angry at you!" (Riya)
At Riya's retorts, Raji's anger increased even further, the pressure on Link increased several times and the ground under his feet cracked due to the pressure.
'F*ck! Is she planning on killing Riya!? If this pressure had landed on Riya, she would have broken her legs by now!' (Link)
Link put his hands in a fighting stance. He was ready to fight Raji if she showed even a little bit of killing intent towards Riya. (He can't even take one attack from Raji, but that's a different matter…)
"Mom would be disgusted if she knew that this pathetic man was still alive and well!" (Raji)
"No! She won't! You are wrong big sis! Mom always used to stare at the moon during the night! I know she missed father a lot!" (Riya)
Raji shook her head and stared at Damian with hatred in her eyes:
"You know nothing Riya! You are still too young! Stay out of my way!" (Raji)
A huge ice lance appeared in the sky, the clouds scattered and everything seemed insignificant in front of this lance. The ice lance was so big that it seemed to be covered the whole sky and it was pointed right at Damian.
The deadly aura of that lance alone caused Damian to fall to the ground and stare at it with a horrified look on his face.
The whole A-rank dungeon trembled uncontrollably due to Raji summoning that one lance.
'F*ck! This old hag has gone mad! She is really gonna kill us all today!!' (Link)
Lia and everyone walked backward slowly in the hope of avoiding Raji's wrath.
Although Link was also scared, he didn't even flinch and continued to block the aura for Riya.
If it was some other ordinary person who was trying to block Raji's aura, he would have fainted hundreds of times by now, but Link stood still as an indomitable mountain.
*Boom*
Just when Link was at his wit's end, a sudden loud sound woke up them all.
Everyone looked to the east and found a huge tornado of pure mana forming in the distance.
"This mana whirlpool… is someone breaking through to rank A! in this domain!?" (Liam)
The situation seems to have become more and more chaotic with every passing second.
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! It's quite surprising to see an SS-ranker getting angry for the first time…
Do you guys think Raji would be able to forgive Damian?
1.Yes (With Riya's subtle help, perhaps Damian would be able to win his daughter's heart back…)
2.No (A relation once broken can't be fully healed and love once forgotten can't be remembered in its true form…)
3.Others (Tell me in the comments)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.
