Chapter 12
Newbie : Minions?
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : Yup.
ㄴI’m the Only One Without Minions : Yeah.
ㄴGolem King : If it were me, I’d have recruited a minion right now.
The veterans all answered in unison: minions.
Didn’t they say not to recruit one at first because it might lead to a revolution?
When I asked why they were suddenly saying that,
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : The anomalous minions have the 'Active' tag!
ㄴNewbie : What does 'Active' mean??
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : It means they only operate during waves.
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : To put it in human terms so Newbie can understand, they only move when intruders come in and sleep the rest of the time?
ㄴNewbie : Ahh.
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : Minions with the Active tag usually have a high chance of having a purpose like 'take down intruders'... so they don't harm the dungeon master.
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : So you don't have to worry about getting overthrown.
ㄴNewbie : Love, thanks for telling me haha
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : If you're grateful, give me a kiss when we meet later >_<
ㄴNewbie : Huh?
ㄴGolem King : I’ve got some like that among my automatons, and they work really well, yeah.
ㄴGolem King : But why are the minion descriptions so savage... there's even one that says it'll snap your neck if you look away from it lololol. What is this, some kind of yandere...?
ㄴDIP : Sounds exactly like Badass-Loving Dog-nim ㅇㅇ...
ㄴTop Patient of the Mental Hospital : Badass-Loving Dog is more menhera than yandere...
Hmm.
But thinking about it, these bastards really do talk like internet ghouls.
ㄴNewbie : But how do you guys know words like menhera and yandere?? Didn’t you say you have no memories at all??
ㄴGolem King : Newbie-ya
ㄴNewbie : Yeah.
ㄴGolem King : When you’re born, do you need someone to teach you how to breathe before you can do it?
ㄴNewbie : Nope.
ㄴGolem King : Community slang is like that for us... we just naturally know it...
Really?
To make me realize such high-level, beautiful words... just what kind of guy is Oblivion?
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : Newbie-ya, I’m not a menhera ㅠㅠ
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : I really am...
ㄴNewbie : lol okay
Anyway, that was a long digression.
Back to the main point.
ㄴNewbie : What do you guys think looks good? I can just barely afford something right now.
ㄴTheWorldIsCold : When did you earn that many points, Newbie-nim???
ㄴNewbie : I earned them last time by killing hobgoblins and goblins haha...
The chat went silent.
ㄴTheWorldIsCold : I’m going to kill myself.
ㄴEvil Spirit King : O-okay, breathe, breathe.
ㄴOrange★ : Honestly, seeing how many points and how much EXP Newbie earns makes me pretty jealous...
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : A guy so amazing he can make even the head mod jealous...
No.
It wasn’t intentional baiting, though.
Don’t just say you’re jealous—also recommend a minion.
ㄴI’m the Only One Without Minions : I think the Guide looks good. Just reading the description makes me feel like I’d go insane...
ㄴTop Patient of the Mental Hospital : I vote for that one too.
ㄴAnonymous Butcher : I think this one looks better to me too, since it seems to be able to do more.
ㄴGolem King : Yandere, go go go!
ㄴDIP : How could you resist a neck-snapping yandere lol.
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : For real lol.
ㄴSkull Bones : Game Master, go go go. I like poker.
ㄴSealed Philosopher : ?
ㄴSealed Conqueror : ?
ㄴEvil Spirit King : Dude, can you even pick up cards with your own hands? lol
ㄴSkull Bones : Everyone, shut up and quit bickering.
Actually, I’d already decided on the answer.
And it was also the minion that suited this maze best.
But.
Cross-checking is always necessary.
So I asked on purpose.
They might call me the kind of guy who asks while already having the answer in mind.
Well, whatever.
As long as nobody finds out, it doesn’t matter.
ㄴBadass-Loving Dog : I...
...
...
ㄴOrange★ : I think this one looks a little better to me too.
ㄴOrange★ : Of course, I think the others’ opinions are reasonable too.
Good.
I had my justification.
Newbie : Then I’ll go with the head mod’s and Love’s advice and try setting something up.
ㄴGolem King : Too bad.
ㄴDIP : You’ll do yandere next time, right?
Hmm.
Probably?
***
The human-faced lion, ruler of the Roujinrat Great Mountain Range, a Dark School mage corrupted into a lion.
He had no faction and wasn’t especially powerful, and some would say his influence in this world was trivial.
And yet the reason so many epithets clung to him was surely Manticore’s grotesque, oppressive appearance.
Its body length was roughly four meters, and its height at the shoulder was about 1.5 meters.
The monster walked on all fours, and while it looked more like a beast than a human,
if anything, it belonged in the uncanny valley.
Its head was exactly that of a human.
Instead of a mane it had hair, wrinkles covered its face, dark circles sat under its eyes, and it had twenty-eight teeth.
It looked just like the face of a forty-year-old middle-aged mage overworked in a magic tower.
"Even goblins, hobgoblins, and trolls are no match for me."
It muttered in human speech.
Its intelligence was no different as well.
Manticore had once been human.
His way of thinking was simply more cruel and selfish than the norm.
After all, drunk on the sweet desire for power and wisdom, he had sacrificed twenty-seven children and transformed into a monster.
"Dreamland...."
A dungeon that had appeared in Roujinrat despite it not being the time for a location shift.
Unfortunately, although Manticore was a mage, he didn’t know all that much about dungeons.
Even when he had been human, he had spent all his time in the magic tower.
So he might have been no different from ordinary people, but he was by no means a dungeon expert.
"It clearly seems to be a newborn dungeon, so how is it holding them off?"
He had figured out at least that Dreamland was a newly born dungeon, unlike the others.
You could tell from the entrance.
A dungeon entrance was bizarre.
It resembled the legendary Black Gate passed down in tales.
A round, arch-shaped gate made of obsidian.
At its center was a flickering fissure.
As time passed, foreign matter invisible to the naked eye accumulated on the outside of the gate.
Only mages or those sensitive to mana could sense it, and it could not be removed by any means. The gate itself could likewise never be destroyed.
There was no foreign matter at all on Dreamland’s entrance.
It was clear proof that this was a newborn dungeon.
"It certainly had looked like an insignificant dungeon."
Manticore had glimpsed the dungeon master’s appearance through the goblin.
He had thought there must be some special trick to it, but the fighting style had been nothing more than swinging a crude knife.
"There must be something hidden, though...."
It should be fine.
Unlike goblins and trolls, Manticore wasn’t stupid, and he also had magical knowledge.
But.
It was better to prepare thoroughly.
No matter how new it was, it was still a dungeon.
"I need to make preparations."
He was a monster now, but in the past he had been a mage of the Dark School.
He still had human connections left.
Mana stones were the most precious treasure in this world.
Even a fragment weighing only a few hundred grams traded for absurd sums—that was a mana stone.
If he absorbed the power contained in that dungeon’s mana stone.
he would gain far greater power than he had now.
And so Manticore left the dungeon entrance.
Meanwhile.
The master of Dreamland, who had sensed something suspicious while taking a brief stroll outside and had hidden his presence,
"It looks fucking gross."
left a brief comment from afar.
──────
Title : This Is the Real Anomalous Phenomenon
Author : Newbie
He looks insanely disgusting—what the hell is that guy?
I thought I’d lose if I fought him head-on, so I just hid and watched...
*Comments
SealedPhilosopher : He really does look fucking gross lololol
Evil Spirit King : It’s Manticore ㅇㅇ Why is that guy over there?
──────
Manticore.
So that was the name of that terrifying lion-faced man.
ㄴNewbie : Evil Spirit King, who the hell is that guy??
ㄴEvil Spirit King : He used to be a total scrub of a Dark School mage, but he killed a child and turned into a monster.
ㄴEvil Spirit King : I heard he’s pretty notorious as a criminal.
Huh?
He really was a heinous bastard.
ㄴNewbie : Anyway, since he’s loitering at the dungeon entrance and all, he must be the culprit, right?
ㄴEvil Spirit King : I’d say it’s basically 99% lol
ㄴEvil Spirit King : We should be extra careful this time too... he might bring other Dark School mages with him ㅇㅇ
ㄴNewbie : What’s the Dark School?
ㄴEvil Spirit King : Black mages. A group that uses human lives as sacrifices to cast magic.
ㄴEvil Spirit King : I’ve fought them a few times too, and they’re even nastier than I am lol
Hmm.
Looks like this time I’d probably be facing humans.
And not just any humans—ones who could use magic.
ㄴNewbie : What if they come to kill me ㅠㅠ What if they suddenly teleport over and stab me to death?
ㄴEvil Spirit King : What kind of childish nonsense is that...
ㄴEvil Spirit King : Inside a dungeon, no space-movement magic can be used except escape scrolls for getting out, so don’t worry about that part.
ㄴEvil Spirit King : Blessed Ones don’t do that crap either ㅇㅇ
ㄴNewbie : What are Blessed Ones now...
ㄴI’m the Only One Without Minions : People who can see status windows like us.
Is that for real?
That’s seriously shocking.
There are people who can see status windows besides us dungeon masters?
ㄴNewbie : For real?
ㄴI’m the Only One Without Minions : Yeah. And even if they die, they revive at the temple.
ㄴNewbie : That’s broken as hell...
ㄴI’m the Only One Without Minions : Unless they die of old age, there’s basically no way to kill them, so everyone hates dealing with them. They’re not that common among intruders, so don’t worry.
Anyway.
The enemy for now was Manticore.
I’d deal with the rest afterward.
I took my eyes off the hologram.
And looked at the lump of liquid sitting motionless in the core room.
It wasn’t Mallangi.
Because that one was on my lap right now.
It was a newly purchased minion.
"I’m counting on you."
Please, against those vicious black mages...
show me a good performance.
notes
Removed a couple of awkward repetitions and smoothed the Dreamland-master phrasing; kept neutral wording where the subject context is not explicit.