Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 47: Haru’s Illusion

Kira climbed the swamp trees with Aldric still lying in the mud, scaling the trunk of one of the tallest, and when she reached the top she began to scan the surrounding area looking for a safe path.

She sniffed the air trying to locate Isabela’s or Haru’s scent.

Nothing.

That place completely inhibited her sense of smell; everything smelled the same, as if the entire swamp were a homogeneous mass of rot and corrupted mana. She could only sense creatures, dozens of them scattered everywhere, but no human trace.

She looked further ahead searching for anything that stood out around her, and then she saw something ahead, the center of everything, where the giant tree stood. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, that area had no visible monsters, just peaceful green grass surrounding the base of the massive trunk.

Kira considered the possibility that this was the Core, and somehow the boss was inside or under that tree waiting.

"There’s a detail about dungeons..." she remembered what she’d heard adventurers say when she was younger. "If you never enter the boss chamber or somehow awaken him... he never wakes up. He just stays there sleeping until someone invades his territory."

He climbed down from the tree, his decision made.

So he would go to the tree, rest there, and see if he could treat Aldric, who was bleeding profusely and delirious, babbling nonsense as his body went into shock.

"Maybe the master and Isabella will come there too..." he thought, tearing a bit of Aldric’s clothes, the bottom part of his shirt that was still somewhat intact, and tying it tightly where he was bleeding, just above the stump of his shoulder, tightening the fabric until it formed an improvised tourniquet that reduced the bleeding to a slow drip.

The objective was simple: get there and don’t awaken the boss.

She carefully placed Aldric on her back, adjusting his weight evenly across her shoulders, and began running towards the center.

The path there was nothing but tree-creatures, nothing else, but they didn’t attack, branches that bent with her movement but didn’t reach down to grab her. None of them did harm, they only observed as they had done with Aldric before.

She encountered more Xius, the multi-armed creatures, three of them standing among the trees conversing amongst themselves in that distorted childlike voice, but they didn’t spot Kira because she had hidden herself well, moving silently through the shadows, taking advantage of the fact that Aldric had fainted and wasn’t screaming anymore.

She managed to pass the Xius undetected and finally reached the center.

A beautiful lawn, completely out of context with the rest of the dungeon, vibrant green grass with no trees around, no creatures, nothing but open and peaceful space that looked like a well-kept garden.

The grass glowed where they stepped, a soft, pale green shimmer spreading in waves from her feet as if the grass had a life of its own, responding to her touch.

In front, dominating everything, stood the giant black tree.

Up close it was even more impressive, black bark with shimmering veins pulsing slowly, and right there at the base, directly in front...

There was an entrance.

It wasn’t a natural hole. It was an opening carved into the living wood, forming a perfect arch about three meters high, complete darkness inside, revealing what lay deeper.

Kira stopped about ten meters from the entrance, still carrying Aldric on her back, and just looking at that dark opening sent shivers down her spine.

Something inside was waiting.

Something big.

Something that shouldn’t be awakened.

Kira preferred to stay there, without moving any closer to the dark entrance.

She climbed the nearest trees, those that bordered the bright grass and the dead forest, searching for Isabela again, sniffing the air, looking in every direction.

Nothing.

When she climbed down frustrated, she looked back almost by chance and saw Haru in the distance, running out of the giant tree, his clothes torn, limping heavily but still moving at speed.

"Kira!" he shouted.

"MASTER!" Kira replied happily, his tail wagging automatically, relief exploding in his chest.

"Kira!..." Haru ran fast even limping, one hand on his left side as if holding a wound. "GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT, KIRA!"

Kira froze, confused. "What!?"

She looked down at the unconscious Aldric she had left lying on the grass.

"GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!!" Haru shouted louder, his voice full of desperate urgency.

Kira picked Aldric up without further question and started running towards where Haru was.

They drew closer to each other. Haru was completely messed up, his clothes torn in several places revealing wounds underneath, dried blood on his face and arms, fallen to his knees trying to catch his breath.

"Master, what happened!?" Kira asked, kneeling beside him, still holding Aldric.

"I’ll explain... inside..." he said between heavy breaths, struggling to his feet and starting to walk back into the tree.

"And the dungeon boss!?" Kira asked, following him.

"I defeated him..." Haru replied without looking back. "I need help, Kira. I did something..."

"What!?"

"Yes, I kind of killed him but... the dungeon is all wrong, Kira. This isn’t normal... Vandris, he... he..."

They arrived inside the tree.

There, in the center of the hollow chamber, was a cocoon, not organic, but a pulsating Core, bound with living roots that glowed faintly. It looked like a giant egg about to hatch.

"Kira, I did something... I..."

Haru disintegrated.

It didn’t explode, it didn’t fall, it simply ceased to exist from one moment to the next as if it had never been there, a perfect illusion unraveling.

The cocoon pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

These pulses spread throughout the dungeon like an invisible wave, the ground trembling slightly, leaving it completely frozen, processing what had just happened.

"What the hell is going on here..."

From the egg, a creature began to emerge. Hands first, skeletal hands with overly long fingers pushing the roots from the inside out.

"I... I fell into an illusion..."

Kira turned and picked up Aldric, still in her arms, and ran out of the tree as fast as she could, her feet hitting the grass that was now beginning to wither around her, vibrant green turning dark brown, spreading in waves from the tree. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Ahead of her, right in the middle of the escape route, something dark began to form, a dense shadow materializing out of nowhere, taking solid shape in seconds.

It was the boss.

He had teleported from inside the tree to that spot, blocking the exit.

A skeletal, demonic figure over three meters tall rose up, its skull exposed without any skin covering it, its flaming red eyes burning in empty sockets like live embers. Curved horns protruded from its forehead, rising and curving backward like those of a giant ram, and wild white hair fell in long strands down its back and shoulders.

It wore black armor, studded with spikes*

that protruded from its shoulders, elbows, and knees, pointing in all directions, and a dark cloak with a completely tattered red lining that dragged on the ground.

Around its neck were necklaces made of small skulls, macabre trophies of past victims.

In his right hand he wielded a colossal sword larger than himself, its corroded blade covered in jagged holes that seemed to have been eaten away by living rust, and the entire weapon radiated visible dark energy, black smoke rising from its surface.

...

On the other side, Haru sat atop a pile of bodies, tinkering with the system.

"Good, I think I’ve farmed enough XP to level up this skill..."

"Now it’s time to find which side of the tunnels they’re..."

He barely finished muttering when the system notified him:

[DUNGEON BOSS AWAKENED]

◊ Name: Vorath, the Eternal Warden

...

Vorath looked down at Kira with flaming eyes, tilting his head slightly as if assessing her.

And then he spoke in a voice that was multiple overlapping voices, deep and high-pitched at the same time, echoing unnaturally:

"Invaders... have awakened... Vorath."