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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“As you can see, this is what happens. I can’t enter the dungeon.”
“Ah…”
Mia sighed.
The frost that had been spreading across the stone gate receded as I removed my hand. If I entered a dungeon, no one else could.
I was probably the only one with resistance to this level of cold, Yerina’s resentment made manifest. Undecided, as a blood ghoul, could endure it for a while, but a living person would freeze to death in minutes.
Then could I clear the dungeon alone?
No.
Not ‘unlikely,’ but ‘impossible.’
Even with my resistance, I couldn’t endure the cold for more than thirty minutes. And Luna’s unique dungeon was a long, vertical shaft, taking at least an hour to descend, with no shortcuts.
I could probably reach the bottom alive, but I would be too frozen to fight. And even if I somehow managed to destroy the dungeon, I wouldn’t be able to return. It was a suicide mission.
“Th-Then what do we do?”
“What do you mean? You clear the dungeon without me.”
“But we can’t…!”
Mia slumped to the ground, despairing.
What were the chances of the mercenaries clearing this dungeon without me? Considering that even Archmages had died in Kali’s dungeon, the chances were slim.
They needed superhumans, multiple superhumans, to clear a dungeon like this.
Three days passed.
The number of mercenaries seeking Elvenguard territory continued to grow, and soon, Elvenguard was overflowing with three thousand mercenaries. Many entered the dungeon, and many returned injured or dead.
Those who emerged repeated the same words, it’s hell down there.
The dungeon’s structure wasn’t just unfriendly, it was a death trap designed specifically for humans.
Normal dungeons had some semblance of a clearable path, otherwise, no one would enter, and the dungeons couldn’t send the energy harvested from dead adventurers to the other world. But this dungeon was different.
It seemed to reject all intruders from the very beginning. They hadn’t even passed the first room, yet they were faced with a sheer cliff, tough undead monsters, and countless traps.
No one who entered attempted it a second time. Even the curious mercenaries turned away. Those who tried to force their way to the second room returned severely injured or dead.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone leaving?”
“How difficult can it be?”
Rumors of the dungeon’s difficulty spread quickly. Veteran mercenaries, renowned for their skills, left Elvenguard, either dead or looking like they were about to die. Mercenary groups, having lost their main forces, withdrew.
More mercenaries were leaving Elvenguard than arriving.
A week later, only four hundred mercenaries remained. It was still a large number, far more than necessary for a single dungeon raid, but few were willing to enter.
They were waiting for other parties to clear the path and disarm the traps. The dungeon raid had effectively stalled.
“The dungeon has three levels. The first level is a vertical shaft. The second level is slightly sloped, and the third level is the boss room.”
“And the second level is…?”
“Even more dangerous than the first. The path widens from there.”
“Wouldn’t that make it easier to pass through?”
“More powerful undead will appear on the second level. And if you haven’t cleared all the undead on the first level, you’ll be surrounded.”
Mia’s face hardened as she listened to the explanation. She was probably thinking that it was a good thing the mercenaries hadn’t reached the second level. And she was right.
If they had, they wouldn’t have even been able to recover their bodies. And even if they somehow reached the third level…
‘If they’ve created a unique dungeon, that means… ‘it’ is complete, too.’
There was no hope.
This dungeon was impossible to clear with conventional methods. It required overwhelming force.
‘Or is that a trap, too?’
As I examined the map created by the mercenaries, I noticed something strange.
I had only entered Luna’s unique dungeon once, and even then, I had been too focused on escaping to pay attention to the details, but I remembered one thing.
‘That wall shouldn’t be there.’
The dungeon’s structure had changed.
Normally, a dungeon’s layout remained the same, even after multiple regressions. There was no reason for it to change. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t change.
Someone had deliberately altered the dungeon. And their intention was clear.
‘It’s a trap.’
This wasn’t a dungeon for raising an undead army. I was momentarily stunned by the realization.
Mia nudged me.
She could have just called my name…
“Here’s the data you requested.”
“Thank you.”
She handed me a small crystal ball. It displayed a video of our battle against Kali at the World Tree’s roots.
“What are you going to use this for?”
“Someone doesn’t remember what happened. I’m going to jog her memory.”
“Ah…”
Mia looked at Undecided, as if realizing something. It was actually Kali, but Mia wouldn’t know that this little girl was the spider monster.
‘I’ve gathered almost all the ingredients.’
Restoring Kali’s memories might seem pointless, but it was a necessary step.
‘With this, I can erase Luna from this world.’
Luna, as a spirit, couldn’t be physically harmed or killed. But there was a way to kill him, or rather, to seal him away.
I could permanently prevent Luna and Kali from resurrecting, and if I was lucky, I could even neutralize Belphegor.
“Oracle, they’ve arrived.”
A servant’s voice called out from outside. It was time.
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Deep within the dungeon on the outskirts of Elvenguard, heavily guarded and sealed, undead resurrected by Luna’s necromancy swarmed.
Their primary strategy was to attack in hordes, hiding or fleeing when at a disadvantage.
They even learned and adapted over time, empowered by demonic energy.
Their true terror lay in their infectious nature. Anyone killed by them would be resurrected and join their ranks.
The undead army grew in number and strength over time, an unstoppable force that would not rest until all sentient life was eradicated.
It was Necromancer Luna’s ultimate weapon.
But the third level of the unique dungeon, designed to cultivate this undead army, was deceptively ordinary.
It looked like a typical boss room, but the glowing object embedded in the wall wasn’t a dungeon core, but an ordinary magical stone.
And beneath it, there was another tunnel leading further down. A dungeon within a dungeon.
|You didn’t expect a double dungeon, did you…?|
Luna’s spirit chuckled.
It was a perfect trap. They would assume the outer dungeon was all there was, especially considering its high difficulty.
They would believe that the intelligent, ever-evolving undead horde was the greatest threat. But they were wrong.
The undead army was powerful, but it was too late to unleash it as his ultimate weapon.
They might be the most fearsome creatures within this dungeon, but outside, they would be slaughtered.
The newly resurrected undead couldn’t form a powerful army.
What was the point of being strong in the future if they were hunted down by the Papal Office and the mages the moment they emerged?
|I abandon the undead army!|
Luna had decided to use the undead army as sacrifices. The price of abandoning his theoretically infinite, self-sustaining army was immense.
|And I will finally obtain the Transcendent Body!|
In exchange, he would gain a body that transcended the limitations of living beings, a body free from the constraints of lifespan and basic needs.
Its creation was nearing completion.
He would soon dismantle the undead army and use its demonic energy to complete the Transcendent Body.
|Magic, swordsmanship, martial arts… this body surpasses all superhumans! It’s invincible! Hee hee hee…|
A chilling laughter echoed through the dungeon.
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