Chapter 11: Uncovering the Truth

A Town in Ruins

The battle had ended, but its scars remained.

Fires still smoldered in the wreckage of homes. The once-lively marketplace was now a graveyard of broken stalls, crushed by the rampaging monsters.

The streets were filled with the scent of blood, smoke, and burning wood.

Survivors gathered in small groups, whispering amongst themselves.

Some sat on the ground, staring blankly at the ruins of their homes. Others knelt beside the fallen, mourning their losses.

Despite the devastation, there was one name that spread through the town like wildfire.

Ainz.

The man who had single-handedly defeated the Tyrant Warlord.

Some looked at him with awe.

Others with fear.

But all of them knew one thing—

This battle should have been impossible to win.

Ainz walked through the rubble, feeling the weight of their gazes.

He clenched his fists.

"This wasn't just a normal outbreak..."

Something was wrong.

Something had caused this.

And he needed to find out what.

Investigating the Dungeon Core

The entrance to the dungeon had partially collapsed, but the core was still intact—buried beneath layers of rubble and unnatural darkness.

A team of guild officials, scholars, and elite adventurers had gathered around the site.

Ainz approached, but a guard in heavy armor raised a hand.

"No unauthorized personnel beyond this point," the guard said firmly.

Ainz pulled out his Guild ID.

"I was the one who stopped the outbreak," he said, his voice calm but firm. "I need to see the core."

The guards hesitated.

Then, a deep voice came from behind them.

"Let him through."

Ainz turned.

The Guildmaster stood there, arms crossed, his face unreadable.

"If anyone has the right to be here, it's him."

The guards stepped aside.

Ainz followed the Guildmaster down into the darkened ruins of the dungeon.

The Core's Disturbance

The core chamber was unsettlingly quiet.

Usually, dungeon cores emitted a steady hum of magical energy—a sign of their stability.

But this one...

It flickered.

Like a dying heartbeat.

Scholars scribbled frantically in their notes, murmuring amongst themselves. Some looked outright terrified.

Ainz stepped forward.

The moment he got close, he felt it—

A twisted, unnatural force lingering in the air.

The Guildmaster's expression darkened.

"Something's off, isn't it?"

Ainz nodded.

"This dungeon... it wasn't supposed to behave like this."

One of the scholars, an elderly man with trembling hands, spoke up.

"This is unlike anything we've ever seen," he said. "It's as if the dungeon was... forcibly altered."

Ainz's eyes narrowed.

"Altered?"

The scholar adjusted his glasses.

"Yes. Someone—or something—tampered with the core, overloading it with unstable mana. That's why the outbreak was so severe. That's why the Tyrant Warlord appeared."

Ainz felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Dungeons were self-contained ecosystems.

They shouldn't be able to be manipulated like this.

"Who could do something like this?" he asked.

The scholar hesitated.

"That's just it," he whispered. "No human should have this kind of power."

The room fell silent.

Ainz exchanged a glance with the Guildmaster.

The old warrior's face was grim.

"If this is true," the Guildmaster muttered, "then this isn't just a dungeon outbreak."

"This is a declaration of war."

The Hidden Truth

That night, Ainz sat in his rented room, staring at the night sky through his window.

The town was still recovering, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.

His mind replayed the battle.

The Tyrant Warlord—a creature far beyond the dungeon's expected difficulty.

The core's instability—something that should be impossible.

And the fear in the scholars' voices—as if they had just uncovered something that wasn't meant to be known.

Ainz exhaled slowly.

"Someone was behind this."

And if they had the power to alter dungeons…

Then they were far more dangerous than anything he had faced before.

For now, he would continue to hide his true strength.

If the enemy was watching, he couldn't afford to reveal his abilities too soon.

But one thing was certain—

His peaceful life was over.

And the world was about to change forever.