Chapter 44
A dungeon may be the most famous word in this world.
After all, it's a treasure vault where the most valuable treasures sleep.
Even those stupid goblins and trolls take an interest in it.
Who could ignore a dungeon with such devilish charm?
In the northern reaches of the continent, where winter never ends,
there is a city-state called Fire Forge.
The dwarves hammering iron there as well
were also showing great interest in dungeons.
【Dreamland】
About two weeks ago.
This unfamiliar dungeon appeared near Fire Forge.
"It's a dungeon. A real dungeon!"
"This is my first time seeing a dungeon in person. So this is what the entrance looks like."
"Don't get any closer. What if you accidentally go in?"
"Don't worry, idiot. You can still leave freely for another half day anyway. And Dreamland...? I've never even heard that name before."
Dungeons shift locations on a set cycle.
Since it had recently gone through a relocation cycle, it was, in a way, only natural.
The unknown dungeon called Dreamland had settled into dwarven territory.
There had already been quite a few dungeons appearing near Fire Forge,
but Dreamland was the first dungeon to draw this much attention from the dwarves.
"This is a newborn dungeon."
"Is that really true?"
The reason was simple.
It was because Dreamland was a newborn dungeon.
It was an unfamiliar name.
That was probably true not only for dwarves, but for other sentient races as well.
Perhaps in the distant past, when many dungeons existed.
But by the present day, the name "newborn dungeon" was like an extinct ancient creature.
No one knew why new dungeons no longer appeared.
How could dwarves know what only the God of Forgetfulness knew?
However.
It wasn't important to the dwarves of Fire Forge.
A newborn dungeon, like any other dungeon, was a place where mana stones lay dormant.
That fact was the most important one.
The news even spread to Goldhand, the ruler of Fire Forge.
"We'll clear it before the Blessed Ones do."
Mayor Goldhand made that decision the moment he faced Dreamland.
Other dungeons had existed in this world for hundreds of years,
and after facing countless intruders, those dungeons had grown so powerful that conquering them was nearly impossible,
but conquering Dreamland, which was still only newborn, would be relatively simple.
Dwarves needed money.
The urge to climb higher wasn't just a human thing.
To accumulate more gold, to hammer more iron, to drink more beer, they couldn't help but covet mana stones.
Goldhand's way of thinking wasn't much different from that of everyone who had invaded Dreamland so far.
He summoned the soldiers and chose the bravest and strongest among them to form the First Dreamland Assault Team.
"For the mayor! For Fire Forge!"
The dwarves were full of confidence.
It was only a newborn dungeon; brave dwarf warriors would be more than enough.
They all must have thought the same.
The first assault began.
Goldhand watched the backs of the warriors striding proudly into the dungeon.
He waited for the result.
It was surely a happy wait.
In Goldhand's mind, only a dazzling future already existed.
'We can devour the mana stones to gain power, or sell them for Fire Forge's benefit to raise funds... This is truly a great stroke of luck for Fire Forge.'
He was quite intoxicated by the joy of obtaining mana stones.
He lived his daily life with a smile always on his face.
However.
news of the assault team's return never came.
"It seems the assault team was wiped out inside the dungeon."
When two weeks had already passed since the assault team set out for Dreamland,
the aide delivered the worst possible news as he watched Goldhand's reaction.
…….
His expression had frozen stiff.
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【First Assault Results】
【Author : Chase】
Number of entrants : 12
Exploration result : total wipeout.
▼ I
Before the full-scale exploration began, the team spent the half day they were free to leave observing the area around the entrance and its surroundings with detection magic.
As a result, no minions or traps were detected.
And the same went for the dungeon master's presence; the chance of jamming was 0%.
Starting from the entrance, there is one very long corridor.
Two cavern-like areas, then the core room.
There is a white corridor lit by white light.
Other than that, nothing could be confirmed because the assault team was wiped out.
.
.
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The First Assault Team never made it back to Fire Forge.
A snow-covered mountain.
A bizarre crack is making its presence known behind the rugged trees.
Snow like white powder had piled high on the arch surrounding the crack.
Goldhand looked at the report written by his aide and exhaled.
His breath, like steam from an internal combustion engine, appeared in the air and vanished.
"I can't believe it."
The assault team even had a skilled mage.
He used detection magic and confirmed the layout.
This was the foundation of dungeon conquest established by the Blessed Ones of old.
Figuring out the locations of traps and minions.
That was something detection magic could easily do. There was no jamming either.
Jamming is, quite literally, close to magical interference.
It's a kind of anti-magic that makes the mana of the space itself unstable, preventing detection magic from reading the flow.
To say it twice for emphasis, there is no jamming in this dungeon.
That much is certain.
"Then why in the world was the assault team wiped out?"
The fact that we couldn't confirm the dungeon master's presence aside, it's obvious that something is there.
"Then it'd be better to figure out the reason first. We'll have to form a Second Assault Team."
Goldhand decided to buy escape scrolls.
If they couldn't succeed all at once.
It made sense to gather information on the dungeon step by step, identify its weaknesses, and then conquer it.
There had been no gains from the First Assault.
The only gain was checking the entrance during the half day they could still leave freely.
The expenditure was a bit steep, but it couldn't be helped.
It would be better to think of it as an investment for the future.
After all, it was only a newborn dungeon.
.
.
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"Weren't escape scrolls originally more expensive than this?"
"Ah, this time the Tower Lord developed a much more efficient escape spell formula, you see. The production time was cut in half, so labor costs dropped a lot. The quantity also increased quite a bit."
"Was demand really that high for escape scrolls to still be researched? I thought they were now something only the Blessed Ones buy."
"There are still plenty of factions interested in dungeons, like the East Kingdom, the elves of the World Tree Forest, and Diamond Forge, and so on. Escape scrolls have always had demand, whether people knew it or not."
Goldhand invited a mage from the spatial school he knew well to his mansion.
And, as luck would have it, he heard good news.
The price of escape scrolls had gone down.
They weren't cheap, though.
However, he was able to obtain far more scrolls than originally planned.
Goldhand bought a total of seven scrolls.
The expense was a bit steep, but as mentioned earlier, it was necessary spending.
After promising to buy more later if needed.
Goldhand assembled the Second Assault Team in earnest.
Escape scrolls were limited.
Unfortunately, they couldn't be distributed to everyone in the expedition.
So the manpower had to be adjusted.
Two dwarf prisoners, two dwarf warriors, and one trustworthy dwarf mage commander.
That was the newly assembled assault team.
The warriors were brave and loyal.
They were the kind who would obey if their leader told them to die.
They would probably gladly give their lives for Fire Forge.
Goldhand promised the warriors a reward.
He said he'd give their families a decent amount even if they died in the dungeon.
The prisoners were, as they say, meat shields.
He had put proper measures in place, so they wouldn't cause any trouble inside the dungeon.
This assault team was, in many ways, closer to an expedition.
It was assumed that everyone except the commander would die.
The members probably had a vague idea of that, too.
Goldhand waited quietly for the outcome.
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【Second Assault Results】
【Author : Chase】
Number of entrants : 5
Exploration result : 4 dead, warrior survived, 1 escape scroll used.
▼ I
Although the escape scroll was definitely with the commander,
it was the warrior Tord who escaped Dreamland.
When asked why, the normally loyal and stalwart Tord said,
he remembered nothing that had happened inside the dungeon.
Tord really did look like someone suffering from short-term memory loss.
There were no contradictions in his words or actions, and no hint of falsehood could be felt.
At the very least, unless Tord had spent all those years acting like a loyal, sturdy dwarf,
and unless all the dwarves of Fire Forge had sensed no inconsistency in that performance,
and unless he was the kind of villain who felt no moral responsibility at all,
Tord's memory loss can be judged 100% genuine.
However, there is one thing that bothers me.
Tord said he had dreamed something before coming out.
In the dream, he came face to face with a bizarre-looking cat,
and it was a nightmare in which that cat pulled out his brain and ate it.
During the first expedition, the expedition team's memories were intact.
At least during the half day when they could freely enter and leave the dungeon.
We'll need to look into it a little more, though.
Dreamland might have a special trap that can erase the memory of having been inside the dungeon.
Or maybe it has a minion that can do that?
Below is the commander's journal.
It was found among Tord's belongings after he escaped.
▼ Commander's Journal
-P.01
We walked down the corridor while looking at the map.
At first, I was puzzled.
Could a dungeon without minions or traps really exist?
There must be a clear reason the First Expedition failed.
Invisible minions, or manually operated traps, perhaps.
I ordered the others to keep watch around us.
Fortunately, the thing I was worried about didn't happen.
When we reached a certain point, a machine blocked the path.
We couldn't break it.
The machine looked impossible to destroy even with bombs.
There was only one choice available.
We had no choice but to investigate the machine.
-P.02
Below are the facts we discovered while risking our lives to investigate the machine.
I hope they help with the next assault.
1. The machine is called an elevator. We have to use it to reach the next area.
2. The elevator is for multiple people, and for smooth exploration, as many people as possible should board it.
3. Never go out into a corridor without lights.
4. Sometimes insect men board it, and you have to fight and beat them.
...
...
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"Chase."
Goldhand called out the name of the aide who had written the report as he read it.
"Yes, Mayor."
"My thought is, this dungeon seems completely different from a normal dungeon... What do you think?"
Chase stroked his carefully groomed beard.
"I think so too. Honestly, I've been thinking it might be better to stop trying to clear this dungeon here, but what do you think, Mayor?"
"If a dwarf picks up a hammer, he should at least strike a rock with it. How could we stop here? Even if it feels strange, it's still a newborn dungeon. With a treasure called mana stones right in front of us, giving up doesn't suit our rough lives."
"If that's your will, I will follow it as well. Still, it seems we need to change our exploration method a little."
Goldhand nodded.
"This time, prepare a force as large as the First Assault Team. We're going to unravel this dungeon's mysteries. They don't even have to be soldiers. Let's put together people who want money and are full of courage."
The dwarves didn't stop.
Dreamland's impregnable nature may have stirred the mayor's competitive spirit.
So, in Fire Forge,
recruitment for the Third Dreamland Assault Team began.
***
Today, Dreamland's surveillance cameras are observing the intruders as well.
I'm sitting at my desk, quietly staring at the monitor,
how should I put this.
Of course, as the dungeon master, I think this is a good situation,
and the same was true in the last wave.
and the same is true in this wave too.
When I see several of them charging the elevator so boldly, it's, it's...
-Aaaaaaaaah!!
-Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...
Even I can't help but feel pity.
They're getting beaten so helplessly. This is just...
"......Fuck, what the hell did you turn it into?"
I looked at the bizarre animal statues.
Those terrifying bastards.
notes":"Aligned the chapter title to the Dwarf title sequence used by the surrounding chapters. I also tightened a few awkward lines for natural English and kept the ambiguous subject references neutral where the source context was unclear."}