A sudden burst of heat hit Jake as he stepped out of the gateway and appeared on the thirty-fifth floor. One thing was already different about this floor from any of those prior: there was no difficulty selection with Minaga. Instead, they had appeared already within the Demon Lord’s castle.

Before anything else, Jake released a Pulse of Perception to get a lay of the land. What he saw was probably the smallest floor they had encountered so far.

The entire floor was just one unrealistically giant castle. It consisted of three different sections of note: the massive central throne room, a large circular hallway surrounding it, and three towers that each had hallways extending from the large circular hallway. Jake also spotted a certain someone hidden in a room pretty much right next to where they appeared.

As Jake was still looking through the mental map from his Pulse, they got the usual welcome message to the floor.

Welcome to the Thirty-Fifth floor of Nevermore: Minaga’s Labyrinth (Demon Lord’s Castle)

Main objective: Reach the end of the Labyrinth.

Bonus objectives: Slay the three Tower Demons (0/3)

Current progress: Tower Demons (0/3). End reached (0/1)

Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.

Current Nevermore Points: 23123

Minaga had even bothered to name this floor and didn’t just call it part five. Using his mental map, it was easy to spot all three Tower Demons, as each was within their respective towers. Moreover, each Tower Demon seemed to be guarding something, and Jake couldn’t help but make the connection between the three Secret Scrolls and the three towers.

Speaking of the secret scrolls.

A small pedestal was right in front of them where they appeared. All three Secret Scrolls were stacked on top of each other, with a letter placed on top of them all.

“Ree?” Sylphie asked as she shuffled a bit on his shoulder, uncomfortable with the heavy fire affinity in the air.

“Yeah, sure,” Jake agreed. Sylphie released a small gust of wind that made the letter fly over to him, and they all looked at Jake as he cleared his voice and read it aloud.

“Dear heroes.

I hope you all have arrived at the Demon Lord’s castle safely, and I hope this letter reached you in time. Throughout the years of plotting to take down the Demon Lord, I managed to obtain the schematics of the Demon Lord’s castle and memorize them, and I wish to share my findings with you. For now, avoid the central throne room and, instead, head to the three outer towers. You must defeat the three Tower Demons atop each tower and gain access to each Sealstone up there. These Sealstones are attuned to the artifacts, and you need to read out the incarnation written on each corresponding Secret Scroll. Remember to read the correct phrase to sabotage the artifacts of the Demon Lord. If you read the other one, you may accidentally empower the Demon Lord, making beating Gubrothas nearly impossible.

May you succeed in your quest for righteousness.

- Second Mistress.”

Jake finished reading it, and just as he did, they heard shuffling footsteps and the sound of something impacting the tiled floors. Out of a small hidden room walked the old demon, now with a cane in hand, as he shuffled in their direction.

“Heroes! I could not help but hear you read the letter from the Second Mistress, and I came out as soon as I could. I am glad to see you arrived at the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas’ castle in one piece. You even managed to obtain all three Secret Scrolls! Truly impressive,” the old demon smiled at them.

Things were as expected, and Jake smiled at the old demon. “I found your message at your old residence. Say, how did you manage to find a secret entrance to the castle? Could you not have told us about it?”

the defenses right after I managed to sneak inside. Also, it may have interfered with your quest to obtain the Secret Scrolls. In the end, we all made it here safely and are united

not actually here to help us,” Dina

the sheltered Dina noticed how off the

say you? How

the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas is naturally imperative to ensuring his defeat. Of course, if you are truly confident in your victory, then you can simply choose to face the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas without weakening him first. However, not using the scrolls would be incredibly risky,” the demon said, looking deep in

us the highest chance of bringing the evil Demon Lord to justice,” Jake said, trying to sound as heroic

be allowed to offer my assistance as best I

we go,

course, but in what way?”

looked at them all suspiciously for no damn reason as he spoke. “Could you lend me the Secret Scrolls? I want to ensure their

back down as he turned to the party. “No complaints,

so far. No need to be suspicious,” the Sword Saint

be too safe,” Jake said,

worry,” the demon said as Jake handed him all the scrolls. His eyes were full of greed as the demon showed acting talent on par with the average child actor as he received the scrolls and smiled creepily as he

are real if that is alright with you all, right? I may need your slight assistance,” the old demon

damn pentagram, nearly identical to the one the Demon Lord had made when he teleported away during their first encounter. His insight into magic circles also instantly let him

a bit of mana as the old demon was not strong enough to do the ritual himself. Then, suddenly, to the surprise of absolutely everyone, the secret

and I have now managed to get the Secret Scrolls into the hands of the three Tower Demons! They shall now read the incantations to empower the

himself back from facepalming as he

muttered. “What

it! Of course, you can also face the Demon Lord in his strongest state possible in an impossible battle that you would only ever be able to overcome if you true talents sitting at the peak of the multiverse! And it isn’t like you have any methods to escape the castle

bamboozled,” Jake

your comprehension! Now that I have accomplished my goal, the Demon Lord will take over the entire multiverse, and unless you manage

him already?”the Fallen King

“Sure.”

“Go ahead.”

“Please do.”

“Ree.”

over backward, dead. He had barely been C-grade and was honestly so weak it wasn’t even worth mentioning. They stared at the corpse for a

“So…”

all of his power and ignore these Tower Demons,” the Fallen King said. “Perhaps we can hunt them down for the bonus objective after slaying the Demon Lord

don’t think that will be necessary. Video game logic dictates they will join the Demon Lord fight anyway, so

mean?” the

the final boss? What do you think will happen when you ignore them and allow them to fully empower the boss? Of course they will join in on the

believe it wise to make assumptions based on Earth’s video game industry?” the old

hundred percent,” Jake said,

well,” the

planning time. The general layout of the

Lord’s arena, they would adapt. Luckily for them, the throne room was utterly massive. It was a giant hall more than ten kilometers across, with four giant pillars around a hundred meters in diameter surrounding a

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