It had been a long time since Seero last saw a corrupted dungeon; both her understanding of dungeon mechanisms and sensing capabilities had grown tremendously in that time. She utilized her Dungeon Field and Divination to gather data on the dungeon not from the Material Plane, but from the boundary separating it from the Source and the Realms of Mana, utilizing relevant data from Shilanor as a guide.

A normal dungeon appeared as a coherent structure built into the boundary. Mana flowed through it at a controlled and consistent pace. It was like a valve in the solid wall of the boundary that could be adjusted as necessary to manage the flow.

The corrupted dungeon, on the other hand, was a hole, and a growing one. The mana flowing through it was a torrent, breaking down the very structure of the dungeon itself, and flowing into the boundary around it, tearing the hole even wider. Seero could also detect the Realm of Mana connecting directly to the dungeon. Or in this case…she noticed the absence of detection signifying the Realm of Eternal Night, its obscuring mana covering over the dungeon and assaulting the boundaries of the world.

Seero predicted that her previous remote dungeon subjugation protocol would not be effective here. The sheer quantity of mana pouring through the dungeon was make such an attempt even less time-efficient than with a regular dungeon. And since the current hypothesis was that these dungeons were created by the hostile Heralds of the New Dawn, she had no confidence that the dungeon master would be willing to surrender in any case, and would resist in any way they could. Beyond that…given that the Realm of Eternal Night itself was reaching in through the dungeon, and the mana flow was of such magnitude it covered the dungeon itself, Seero predicted that subjugating the dungeon itself would not suffice at this stage to purify the corruption.

From the looks of things, subjugating or terminating the dungeon would require a conventional dungeon assault.

Or…

Seero could attempt to design a new protocol, tailored to the current situation. Which is what she decided to do. Seero had, after all, already encountered scenarios not unlike this one before. She had closed two separate Rifts in the past at Castra Turannia and Corvanus. Likewise, she had escaped from the Realm of Eternal Night itself. And she had broken through the boundary between the Material Plane and the Source once before…and had observed a similar boundary expanding during the growth of the Primary Home Base. She therefore had a great deal of data relevant to the situation, and predicted it should be possible to come up with a solution.

Her robotic eye flickered rapidly as she put all of her processing power to work.

A short while later, Ateia approached her.

“Hey, Seero, everyone’s ready to go, just waiting on you. Are you ready?”

“Statement: This unit has just completed calculations on an alternative termination protocol. Request: All units should defer engaging dungeon termination or subjugation protocols until completion of the experimental protocol. This unit will require friend Ateia’s assistance. Please standby, transferring protocols.”

Before Ateia could respond, data started to fill her head. She frowned.

“Seero…are you sure? This seems…kind of dangerous for you.”

“Answer: This unit is 64.51% certain in the effectiveness of the overall protocol, and 97.97% certain in this unit’s ability to avoid termination or relocation to a position she cannot return from. Potential risks have been factored in and accounted for, and judged acceptable given the potential benefits.”

Ateia still frowned, but nodded.

“Ok, if you say so. Just…promise me you’ll come back, ok?”

“Affirmative.”

At this point, the others walked over. Amulius looked worried.

“Ateia, Your Majesty, everything ok?”

Ateia nodded.

“Yes, just…wait a second.”

Nolnyth narrowed her eyes.

“Not possible, girl. Every moment we delay increases the risk we will be discovered by either the monsters or a patrol. If that happens, the whole might of the Empire of the Sun will come crashing down on us, along with the hordes those fools have unleashed upon the world. We must go now.”Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Ateia just smiled at her.

“Just give Seero some time to try something. I have a feeling you’ll be surprised…”

Nolnyth frowned, but at that point Seero was already putting her plan into action. She opened a portal to the Primary Home Base and stepped in. And at the moment she touched the portal…she cast a Blink spell. Seero had used both entrances to her Primary Home Base and Spatial magic quite extensively over the course of the dungeon crisis and the war, and so had gathered a great deal of data on both. As Colleöne had once warned her, Spatial Magic could not be used to move beyond the Material Plane. Spatial Magic within the Aesdes’ system utilized the Material Plane as an anchor and its boundary as a safety net. If one attempted to move beyond there, the spell would lose both its means of navigation and its safety measures. No one could predict what would happen in that case, only that it most certainly would not be what the caster intended.

But for Seero, it was a different story. Seero, as a dungeon core, was already partially present in the boundary of the Material Plane, and had created a direct connection to the base Source during her time in the Realm of Eternal Night. As a hero, she had a connection to the Holy mana of the Material Plane. And, thanks to the Primary Home Base, she had a connection to a separate realm from the Material Plane, as well as a method to establish a connection between them via her entrances. She therefore had multiple reference points to triangulate her position and an example means of transit through the boundary.

So she used Divination and her Dungeon Field to determine the coordinates within the boundary, and an entrance to the Primary Home Base to open a path into it. Once inside the boundary, she utilized a modified Blink spell to move outside of the direct path. She originally lost contact with the Material Plane, as it was specifically cut off from the Source, but her connection to Ateia allowed her an alternative route to reestablish the connection. She then used her connections to keep track of her position, while using AI-driven iterations on the Blink magic circle to reimplement the safeguards based on her new navigation method.

And so, Seero ended up in the Realm of Eternal Night once again, right in between the Realm proper and the dungeon it was pouring into. Once there, Seero tossed an Anti-Mana Bomb forward and detonated it at a safe distance, while flooding her surroundings with as much Holy Mana as she could produce.

As she had predicted, the Realm of Eternal Night’s attribute was cleansed by the Anti-Mana Bomb, allowing Holy mana to contact the base Source as before. And as before, the Holy mana started to convert the Source into a Material Plane…

As soon as Seero disappeared, Ateia got to work, and gathered as much Holy mana as she could. Everyone took a step back and shielded their eyes as the tunnel lit up like the sun. Ateia’s entire body was glowing with golden and silver light, to the extent that she appeared to be formed directly from it. Nolnyth hissed.

“What is she doing?! We’ll be caught for sure!”

But Amulius stepped in front of her.

“Whatever it is, it’s important. Don’t interrupt.”

Ateia then reached out and connected to the Holy mana in the world around her. She frowned.

The world was hurt, bleeding. It cried out in pain as a Realm of Mana tore at its boundary. The Holy mana was trying to respond but the corruption of a dungeon gave the hostile Realm a way past its defenses. The boundary was being torn up from the inside, and the pathways for the Holy mana disrupted. The Holy mana attempting to repair the boundary was instead leaking out before it arrived.

The Holy mana ceased its flow at her touch, and began to gather around her. It remained there, inert, as if waiting for a command. She guessed that the Aesdes were normally supposed to do something here. Unfortunately, this was not a situation Colleöne had ever taught her about, so she had no idea how to proceed.

Fortunately, though, she wouldn’t have to do it alone.

She felt it even before Seero reported it. Something new touched the boundary of the Material Plane. She recognized it as another Material Plane, similar to Seero’s Primary Home Base. And at that moment, Ateia knew what to do.

She commanded the Holy mana that had gathered to her to flow towards the new contact. She guided it as Colleöne had shown her how to guide the mana of the Primary Home Base. And when it reached the end of the boundary…she ordered it to expand the Material Plane, as she had helped expand Seero’s.

The Holy mana of the world contacted the Holy mana generated by Seero. It reached forward into it arrived at the place where Seero’s mana was contacting the base Source…and where a new Material Plane was being born. It reached into the new plane, and to where a new boundary was being established…and then pulled it back. The new boundary followed until it made contact with the jagged and broken edges of the old.

And then…the two boundaries began to fuse.

Ateia wasn’t sure where the actual land of the new plane went, she only perceived that it moved elsewhere in the world. But the boundary, on the other hand, remained in place. The new boundary spread over the hole, sealing it up. And since Seero was also blocking the Realm of Eternal Night from applying any more mana…the boundary covered over the hole in peace and fused together.

In one fell swoop, the boundary was repaired.

And as for the dungeon…it was suddenly cut off from the Realm of Eternal Night. And since its valve had been opened beyond full…it could not stop pouring out what mana it had left. The dungeon core emptied itself of mana in seconds.

And since the boundary had been repaired…the Holy mana of the world could once again flow to the dungeon. Emptied of mana, the dungeon could not resist.

Out above the ground, a pitch-black area began to recede, revealing the sun above and the sand below. Eventually, the darkness pulled back into a swirling, black vortex. The vortex began to slow down, and shrink. Eventually, it faded without a trace.

And so the first corrupted dungeon was purified…without anyone taking a single step inside.