Chapter 27
Kingjjang Evil Spirit : He's holding out better than expected?? Is he finally heading to the next area??
ㄴSealed Philosopher : Hmm... It's possible a trickier opponent than expected has entered...
ㄴSealed Conqueror : The escape scrolls probably aren't infinite... But this Julius bastard's ideas are downright demonic, so he might even bring human slaves and experiment on them. Yeah.
ㄴShoutShoutYeah : He's the kind of bastard who thinks escape scrolls >>>>>> human lives, so in a way, he's perfectly suited to Newbie's dungeon. Yeah...
Golem King : Julius has more guts than I expected. He probably has escape scrolls too... Could he really break through the other areas later?
ㄴDIP : Are you Newbie? Getting completely wrecked by an elf? LOL
ㄴGolem King : Ah, this fucking bastard is picking a fight again...
ㄴDIP : LOL
Golem King : @DIP Where do you live, you bastard? Want me to snap every one of your bones into tiny pieces??
ㄴDIP : If I tell you, can you even come? You fucking amateur?
ㄴGolem King : You're seriously fucking dead.
ㄴAnt Queen : Don't fight, have sex and spawn instead;;
Ant Queen : Honestly, it is kind of scary to think of Newbie-nim taking the dungeon information outside...
ㄴSkeleton Bones : If this gets out, someone might make a rulebook and negatively affect the next wave, so... hmm.
Magic Hero : D-d-don't overreact... Twenty-three people have died so far, and they still haven't even broken through the entrance...
ㄴNight Raven : Wow... Seeing the number laid out like this, I guess it could feel pretty unfair to someone who knows nothing about it...
ㄴTV Head : Yeah, they've only just broken through the entrance.
Orange★ : Judging by my estimate, Julius probably only has about two escape scrolls left. He's not the kind of guy who'd enter without escape scrolls, so if we stop him twice, Newbie wins. The information leak can't be helped... He can replenish them easily anyway, so he'll probably make up that amount later.
Orange★ : So how's it going?
ㄴI Have No Minions : It's not dangerous, is it?
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I chewed on a strip of jerky.
Thanks for worrying, but... I don't know.
Newbie : I'm fine. Just watch.
I was quite certain Julius wouldn't be able to return alive.
"Hmm."
Still, nothing is absolute.
The chance of him returning alive is about 5%?
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : New bie-nim!
ㄴNewbie : What???
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : I might have just fallen for you a little ㅠㅠ
ㄴNewbie : Eeeeeek
***
6. Elevators like numbers.
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Julius had learned 'how not to die inside the machine' through his companions' sacrifices.
Then all that remained was 'using the machine to move on to the next area.'
In fact, the latter was much easier than the former.
As long as they followed the rules, they could explore the machine freely.
The only part we could manipulate was the number buttons from 1 to 10.
Then the answer must lie there.
When a number button was pressed, an announcement said, 'Going up.' Or 'Going down.' Along with it came a feeling of floating or falling.
Then they heard that the floor had changed, and when the doors opened, an unlit corridor came into view.
Every floor from the 1st to the 10th was an unlit corridor.
Julius looked at the elevator's display.
It clearly showed the number 1.
Even so, when they pressed 1 in the elevator, what appeared was not the corridor where they were standing.
It was an unlit corridor—in other words, a fake 1st floor.
"……."
They had a total of three chances to press the buttons in the machine.
In other words, they could change floors up to three times in a single cycle.
After that, they returned to this corridor.
I will call this process a cycle from now on.
In one cycle, they were guaranteed to encounter an unlit corridor, and occasionally they encountered the bug person.
Julius thought.
Why did pressing 1 lead to the fake 1st floor instead of here?
Why did the cycle exist?
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"…Wait a moment."
Julius set down his water bottle.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he abruptly rose to his feet.
"Elder, what's wrong?"
After changing into fresh trousers, Madeleine asked.
"It occurred to me that it's like a safe."
"A safe?"
"It could be a reset, too."
"A reset?"
Madeleine stared blankly at Julius like a fool.
Julius sighed with an exasperated expression.
"This dungeon has absolute rules. If we figure out the rules and follow them, it doesn't harm us. You know that much, don't you?"
"How could I not, after nearly dying just now?"
"Then there must also be a rule that lets us move to another area using this machine, right? Since it's a passage?"
Madeleine nodded.
"We have exactly three chances to operate this machine in one cycle. After that, it returns to its original location. I don't think this is a meaningless phenomenon."
Every floor from the 1st to the 10th was an unlit corridor.
A place where something lurked that might even be impossible for him to defeat.
Dreamland was not a place one could simply smash through like an ordinary dungeon.
This Dreamland stood at the opposite pole from other dungeons.
It was a place made according to laws different from those of the world we lived in.
It was a deadly place where trying to solve things with magic and physical force led straight to death.
They must never try to understand it through an intruder's common sense.
If they wanted to seize the mana stone in this place, they first had to understand the place itself.
"If tackling the unlit corridor isn't the way... then this is what I think."
The process of a cycle was as follows.
Press a number button.
The floor changes with an announcement that they are moving.
Then repeat that two more times.
Julius insisted that they needed to focus on the fact that they could press the number buttons a maximum of 'three times.'
Since they couldn't find a floor that led to another area, the only choice available to them was exceedingly simple.
Within one cycle, press a specific combination of numbers.
As if entering a password to open a safe.
Of course, they couldn't move from one floor to the same floor.
So those combinations were excluded.
"For example, 234, 345, and so on... So, in simple terms, Elder, you're saying that pressing numbers on the machine isn't moving between floors, but entering a password?"
"That's right."
Of course, that might not be the case.
But.
It was worth trying.
The other two nodded as well.
They had learned a great deal about the machine.
There might still be rules they hadn't uncovered.
But for now, it wasn't quite so frightening.
Assuming Julius's theory was correct.
If there was a three-digit password that could take them to the next area, there were about 810 possible combinations.
It was doable.
It would have been completely doable, if not for the bug person suddenly appearing and licking their faces with its antennae.
***
Dungeon Exploration Day 6.
Madeleine grumbled about having to keep entering the machine.
But he had gotten used to the bug person by now.
If someone else went in, they might die absurdly.
And they couldn't exactly tell Julius to go in again.
"Fucking elevator."
With no other choice, he pressed the buttons.
Starting with the ones place.
10 9 1.
10 9 2.
Then he changed the tens place.
One step at a time.
10 8 1.
10 8 2.
Once he'd changed through every tens-place number.
He changed the hundreds place and started again.
9 10 1.
9 10 2.
The tedious process continued.
***
Dungeon Exploration Day 7.
Madeleine sighed.
At first, the bug person had been utterly terrifying.
Now, he could say he was used to it.
He was even at the point where, if it asked him for a kiss, he could close his eyes and do it.
-Nothing unusual, right?
"Of course. Nothing unusual."
Today as well, Madeleine pressed the buttons.
And.
4 3 1.
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4 3 10.
The moment Madeleine entered a particular number.
Clunk!
The elevator shook.
Then it felt as if it were plummeting at tremendous speed.
His body grew light, and he felt as though he were floating upward.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
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"Madeleine? Madeleine?"
Julius urgently called Madeleine's name.
He wondered if Madeleine had died, but.
-I can hear you. I'm alive.
Five minutes later.
Despite the screams, Madeleine spoke calmly.
"This is absurd."
-Elder. I think I've made it to the next area.
"What do you see?"
-I can see corridors and rooms. There are signs in front of the room doors, with things like 2-2 and 2-3 written on them. I don't see anything else unusual. At least this place seems safe.
Julius immediately used detection magic.
Madeleine's words were true.
He had moved to Area 2, located beyond the long passage.
'But.'
Area 2 had definitely been empty space.
Now it was different.
Starting with a long corridor, countless rooms branched off from it.
And floors and staircases had suddenly appeared.
It looked like the interior of a gigantic building.
Was the Dungeon Master of Dreamland a god or something?
What kind of magic was he using?
Julius pondered.
Whether to use communication magic to control his subordinates from a distance.
Or whether to inspect Area 2 with his own eyes.
'Still, it would be better to see it with my own eyes. If it's dangerous, I can use the escape scroll immediately.'
If he could see it with his own eyes.
It was better to see it with his own eyes.
Entering Area 2 felt different from entering that machine to investigate it.
"Go in. I'll follow."
"Understood."
For the moment, he sent a subordinate in first.
One could only feel at ease after verifying their safety several times.
-No abnormalities.
Only then.
Julius also used the machine to move to Area 2.
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Julius stared down the unnaturally quiet corridor.
Old posters clung to the walls, half torn away.
The edges of the paper were ragged from the dampness.
The windows stretched far down the hall.
Outside the windows was dark.
That did not mean it was nighttime.
"……."
The outside was closer to a void where nothing existed.
There was no wind, no stars, and no clouds.
The bizarre scenery naturally raised goosebumps on his skin.
'The machine isn't visible.'
Julius used detection magic.
'Is the spawn location random?'
He couldn't see the ones who had entered first.
But they weren't all that far away.
'First, I need to join up with my subordinates.'
Julius started to move.
Then.
Tap tap.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder.
His expression hardened.
He had just checked the locations of his subordinates.
Then who on earth was this?
He wanted to use the escape scroll in his pocket immediately, but.
After experiencing the bizarre phenomenon known as the elevator, Julius couldn't act recklessly.
Dreamland was a place where you died before you could even react.
When he turned his head.
Julius swallowed hard.
A girl stood behind him.
She wore a yellow armband, and her long, dark hair was distinctive.
She was wearing what looked like a school uniform an academy student might wear.
But.
She had no eyes, nose, or mouth.
Her strange face looked like an apricot-colored egg.
"Hey... It's troublesome when you bring dangerous items to school."
School?
Dangerous items?
Julius took a deep breath,
and tried to remain as calm as possible.
If he made a mistake, he would die.
One mistake would mean death.
A single error would kill him.
"Give it to me."
The girl held out all eight of her arms.
"……."
He considered pretending to be crazy and using the escape scroll, but.
It was impossible after all.
Julius inferred what he needed to do from the conversation he'd just had with the girl.
If she meant a dangerous object, it had to be one of his possessions.
He slowly held out the staff in his hand, and the girl snatched it away.
That was the correct answer.
Even so, she did not leave.
The girl was probably greedy.
"Ha."
Julius let out a hollow laugh.
Only now did he realize.
Why those bastards he called subordinates
had not told him about this phenomenon.
Julius obediently handed over everything except his clothes, starting with his weapons.
Then.
"I'll leave them in the teachers' office, so come pick them up after school."
The faceless girl finished speaking.
Then she calmly disappeared with Julius's belongings.
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"You fucking bastards…."
His escape scroll had been stolen.
Julius had to find it.