Death at Mirror Fate Lake

Damn it.

This was the absolute worst possible outcome.

Without even the slightest warning, he had suddenly entered a death route!

Ye Yousheng was genuinely stunned.

He never expected things to develop like this.

This Water Demon God called Undine had shown no hostility toward him from beginning to end.

She had even isolated him from the water to protect him from the aftermath of her magic…

No matter how he looked at it, she had been protecting him.

And yet now she suddenly smiled and said:

“How would you like to die?”

He could tell with certainty that she was not joking.

His instincts toward “death” were extremely accurate.

Which meant—

Undine truly intended to kill him.

One moment she protected him.

The next moment she wanted to personally execute him.

He simply could not understand the thought processes of these inhuman beings.

There was no logic to them whatsoever!

And he did not even have the slightest chance to resist…

Wait.

No—

There was still a way!

The cooldown for the Goddess Form was almost over!

As long as he could properly stall for time until he could transform into the Goddess of Life again, then he would have a chance to reverse everything!

So right now, he absolutely had to buy time.

Ye Yousheng immediately understood the urgency of the situation.

The only viable option left was to talk.

Anything was fine.

As long as he could drag things out a little longer…

Seeing Ye Yousheng remain silent, Undine assumed he was still hesitating and casually offered him several choices.

“Well, although I said you could choose your death…”

“In this environment, your options are pretty much limited to either drowning or being pierced to death.”

“Ah, right.”

“I could also drain all the water from your body and let you ‘dry out’ to death.”

“Would you like to try that?”

“…May I ask why you want to kill me?”

“Aren’t you the Guardian of the Labyrinth?”

“The barriers near the stairways were created by you too, right?”

“And the Safe Rooms as well…”

He lowered his posture and used the gentlest, most respectful tone possible.

The goal was to avoid provoking hostility.

After all, there was a saying:

You don’t slap a smiling face.

There was no reasoning with a flesh-eating lunatic like Avisotel.

But perhaps this Undine, who had appeared in the form of a woman, could still be persuaded.

Undine casually raised her hand and formed several rotating spheres of water.

“You seem to have misunderstood something.”

“I’m the guardian of the labyrinth.”

“Not the guardian of humanity.”

“Those barriers exist to prevent monsters from escaping the labyrinth.”

“They were never meant to protect humans.”

“You weak humans merely started using them on your own.”

“As for the Safe Rooms…”

“Which rooms are you talking about?”

“The isolated rooms that only appear on Floors 1, 11, and 21.”

“I saw your emblem there…”

“Ah, those.”

Undine revealed an expression of sudden realization.

Tilting her head, she thought for a moment before continuing.

“Those rooms were temporary resting spots I used while patrolling the labyrinth back when I was awake.”

“I remember when the dungeon labyrinth was first constructed, this place was a complete mess.”

“The monsters weren’t separated by strength levels, and monsters frequently escaped to the surface.”

“It took a very long time to properly organize the labyrinth’s food chain and ecosystem.”

Another mystery of the labyrinth had finally been solved.

Just as Lulu had speculated, the labyrinth really had been artificially created by someone.

Now the only unanswered questions remaining were:

Why had someone built the labyrinth?

And where exactly had all these monsters come from?

At the same time, another question surfaced in Ye Yousheng’s mind.

Undine did not seem to harbor any obvious hatred toward humanity.

But neither did she possess any special kindness.

Ye Yousheng realized that this Water Demon God stood firmly in the neutral camp.

The type who would not initiate conflict so long as nobody provoked her.

If that was the case, then he truly did not understand.

He had not done anything to her.

So why did she insist on killing him?

As though reading straight through his thoughts, Undine smiled and asked:

“You don’t understand why I want to kill you, do you?”

“…No.”

“It’s very simple.”

“Because this Guardian Region, Mirror Fate Lake, was never a place you were supposed to enter.”

The answer was unexpectedly simple.

Ye Yousheng had merely trespassed into forbidden territory.

That was all.

“Judging from that monkey’s reaction, you were the one who lured it here, weren’t you?”

“I don’t know how you learned about this floor.”

“But as long as you never entered this place and never woke me up, I naturally would not have taken your life.”

“However…”

“Since you entered this place, then you must die once.”

Undine pushed the water cube imprisoning Ye Yousheng farther away, maintaining a certain distance between them.

Meanwhile, the water spheres gathered beside her lined up neatly before her like bullets waiting to be fired.

Ye Yousheng struggled violently and shouted:

“If that’s the case, then I won’t tell anyone about this place—!”

Undine interrupted him mercilessly.

“That still won’t work.”

“Leaving aside the fact that I cannot fully trust you…”

“What if someone peers into your memories?”

“So killing you is simply the easiest solution.”

“Therefore…”

“Gh…!”

There was no possibility of negotiation anymore.

An attack was imminent, yet he lacked the strength to break free from the water prison.

Most importantly—

The Goddess Form still had three minutes remaining on its cooldown!

And his near-death state had already ended.

The HP accumulated through Life Drain had long since returned to the Goddess Form.

In other words—

At this moment, he was truly defenseless.

No trump cards.

No protection.

No escape.

“Please die here just once.”

There was no saving this situation.

Ye Yousheng closed his eyes helplessly.

The moment the attack struck, he would say goodbye to this world.

After brushing against death countless times, he would finally be embraced by it here, in this unfamiliar otherworld.

Whoosh…

There was barely any sound at all.

A thick liquid involuntarily spilled from his mouth.

Blood.

Looking downward, he saw that his chest had become hollow.

His heart was gone.

His body had been pierced through.

Blood gushed outward.

Death descended.

Ye Yousheng died at Mirror Fate Lake.