The World Is Cold (2)

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Title : From the Very Beginning, No One Was Standing in the Sky.

Author : Newbie

Dungeon Master, Blessed One, or even god.

But even that unbearable vacancy atop the heavenly seat is over now.

From here on out...... I will stand in the sky.

*Comments

Golem King : Stop with the bullshit, Newbie.

ㄴDIP : Quite...... a comically grotesque sight.

ㄴKongkong : This guy is literally flying in the sky lol

ㄴPsychiatric Hospital's Chief Patient : Is he flying around on Malrang right now??

ㄴPsychiatric Hospital's Chief Patient : Malrang is an S-rank minion...

ㄴPsychiatric Hospital's Chief Patient : How is that even a slime...

ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : I kind of want to swap our dungeon slime for that one, yeah

ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : The indisputable king of slimes

ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : The flying is honestly absurd too, though

ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : Look at him putting Newbie inside his body so he won't be cold lol

ㄴI Have No Subordinates : The sky scenery is freaking beautiful

ㄴI Have No Subordinates : Look at it snowing

ㄴAnonymous Butcher : Such an atmospheric view.

ㄴAnonymous Butcher : It feels different from a winter-theme dungeon.

ㄴThe World Is Cold : Newbie-nim, aren't you cold??

ㄴNewbie : I'm warm because I'm inside Malrang's body

ㄴNewbie : I'll be there soon hehe

ㄴShibgansa Lovegae : Newbie-yam!

ㄴShibgansa Lovegae : You have to raise Malrang nice and big and make it a two-seater!

ㄴShibgansa Lovegae : You have to ride with me later!

ㄴNewbie : I'll try...

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I was flying through the sky.

And not figuratively either—I was flying through the sky for real.

Malrang could fly well even outside Dreamland.

In fact, maybe because there was no ceiling limiting it, it got excited and soared high into the sky.

You know that thing, right.

The way dogs suddenly go absolutely nuts and start sprinting when you take them out for a walk.

Malrang was exactly in that state.

Thanks to that, I could now look down at the world from between the clouds.

This is probably exactly how it feels to ride in a hot-air balloon.

Like someone on a Ferris wheel at an amusement park, I killed time on the gallery while enjoying the scenery outside.

ㄴNewbie : They still haven't entered the dungeon, right?

ㄴThe World Is Cold : Yeah, there's been no news since the last dungeon scouting

ㄴThe World Is Cold : I'm guessing they're making various preparations

Thankfully, by the time I reached Frostthorn Mountain.

No intruders had arrived at Dino World.

Dino World is Secha's dungeon name.

The theme is ancient, with lizardmen, drakes, and the like.

It feels like they're running a dragon-kin branch or something.

Secha rarely uploads photos of themself to the gallery.

At most, they would post pictures of their minions or wave updates.

Do they not like having their picture taken?

I can understand that.

Before I became a dungeon master, I was an introvert too.

I never posted face photos or anything like that on social media.

Though I do take commemorative photos sometimes.

It's just to commemorate and remember things by myself.

I never took them for the purpose of showing other people.

I probably would've acted like Secha if this weren't a live broadcast.

Who would've known that the posts I uploaded at first just to get advice would turn into regular updates?

I also found that sharing daily life through photos was fun, and anyway.

I've rambled on long enough.

So what I'm trying to say is.

I was pretty damn curious what Secha looked like.

Skeleton Bones : Everyone's been assuming they're a dragon

ㄴSkeleton Bones : It's not like they're some fucking wimp, either

ㄴSkeleton Bones : They still haven't said a single word about what their face actually looks like

ㄴSkeleton Bones : The day that mask finally comes off is here at last, huh

ㄴKing Jjang Evil Spirit : He's the only one who picked an ancient theme, lol

ㄴKing Jjang Evil Spirit : Anyway, Newbie, I've got a wish...

ㄴKing Jjang Evil Spirit : Please take a picture of that bastard's face and post it in the gallery...

That'd be a bit much for portrait rights, though.

Well, maybe we'll know once I get to the dungeon.

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I arrived at Frostthorn Mountain.

From here on, I got a little tense.

If I happened to run into elves or a Sword Master or something.

I'd end up in a pretty troublesome situation.

One thing that was fortunate was.

Malrang and I don't have anything called mana at all.

Which means.

Unless I'm detected by the naked eye, there's no chance my appearance will be exposed.

Magic Hero : Even if it doesn't get caught by that ta-ta detection spell...

Magic Hero vouched for that part.

I could breathe easy.

And I'm in the sky right now.

Frostthorn Mountain had something called frost trees.

They were said to be trees whose leaves stay green and dense even in winter, like camellias.

They weren't packed together like a forest.

It wasn't a good place to observe the sky from the ground.

If all went well, I probably wouldn't get caught.

'Looks like they don't know, thankfully.'

There was a camp at the foot of Frostthorn Mountain.

The distance was too great to confirm with the naked eye.

Judging by the smoke rising there, it was certain people were there.

The kind of people who'd even set up camp in this dreary, crappy place were obvious.

World Tree Forest elves + Sword Master.

It had to be those bastards.

By the way, don't elves cherish plants?

I vaguely remembered seeing something like that in a post by Chongchong Sage before.

I know the elves in this world are insanely zealous, like European environmental activists.

They'd obviously need firewood to light a fire, though.

ㄴShibgansa Lovegae : Looks like elves can't do anything about the cold either

ㄴNewbie : lolololol, seems like it

As expected, if you don't count special cases.

there's no faith or conviction in the face of death.

"Let's head down soon."

"Eek."

I found the entrance to Dino World.

After landing safely, I got out of Malrang's body and stood in front of the entrance.

It was fucking cold.

I have pain reduction as a skill.

At this level of cold, I could see why dwarves are so hairy.

If I didn't have Malrang, I'd have frozen to death on the way here.

So this is what seasoned players' dungeon entrances look like.

It's the same as Dreamland's entrance, but much older and more worn.

Magic Hero... that's annoying, so from now on I'll just call them Mahiro.

According to Mahiro, some kind of magic can tell a dungeon's age.

Seeing it directly, Dreamland looks brand-new at a glance.

Now the final gate remained.

Could I really enter Dino World?

Anyone who enters a dungeon from the outside is treated as an intruder, after all.

But I can communicate with the owner here through the gallery.

And since I'm technically a dungeon master, I wonder how Oblivion will judge it.

I don't know.

Since I don't know, I have no choice but to try it myself.

Newbie : Whew... here I go then.

That’s how I went into the dungeon with Malrang.

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I blinked.

The cold vanished in an instant.

The cozy warmth meant dungeon entry had apparently succeeded.

The scenery had changed too.

From a snow-covered mountain to a jungle full of rough, hardy grasses and trees.

The majestic natural scenery I'd only seen in photos or videos spread out before my eyes.

It was the kind of place you'd never believe was a dungeon.

The sun sparkled brilliantly.

Small plants and animals existed too.

This was yet another world.

How should I put it.

Seeing Dino World made me realize Dreamland really is a weird dungeon.

Most other dungeons seem to feel like this, too—like natural scenery.

Even though I'm the dungeon master, it's really dreary, gloomy, and creepy.

'It kind of feels like an Amazon jungle, so it's really cool...'

While I was making that little observation and fiddling with the grass.

A booming tremor rumbled up from the ground.

Someone was approaching from beyond there.

When I slowly turned my head to check... huh?

"Oh. It really is Newbie-nim."

I blinked.

Then I gave a small nod.

"I never thought I'd see another dungeon master with my own two eyes······."

Yeah, exactly.

Somehow it ended up like this.

"Then that means you're..."

"That's right. I'm the Dungeon Gallery user Newbie-nim was thinking of."

The World Is Cold was truly enormous.

I had to tilt my head up just to barely see its face.

It wasn't humanoid.

If anything, it was closer to a monster, and tiny shadows formed between its thick skin covered in rough scales and protrusions, making it look even more threatening.

But.

Waving its hand with those tiny forelegs on such a massive body looked absurdly puny.

I blurted out my honest impression.

"You're a dinosaur?"

"Yeah, a little bit, huh?"

"You look cool, like a Tyrannosaurus."

"I can polymorph, but I thought it'd be better to show you my true form first."

"You can polymorph too?"

Secha nodded.

"You look like your neck hurts, Newbie-nim, so I'll change form for you."

The enormous monster began to shrink.

And then its entire body was wrapped from head to toe in light, transforming into a human form.

It had been huge just a second ago, but now it had become much smaller than me.

Its green twin-tails and the way its tail swayed back and forth were pretty cute.

Is this what they call gap moe?

I already thought its voice was soft for a monster, too.

"......Was it female?"

"It has a dick."

Ah, fuck.

I take back the word cute.

"......A trap?"

"Ah, fuck, seriously."

Secha pressed a hand to their forehead, as if their head hurt.

"Polymorph doesn't mean I get to become whatever I want. It's just random... Haa, anyway, I didn't style these fucking twin-tails because I wanted to look cute and pretty, so don't get the wrong idea, okay?"

"Then can I maybe touch your dick..."

"I'll just kill myself. Get out of my dungeon."

"I'm sorry."

That reaction was definitely Secha.

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We could've gone inside, though.

The conversation just kept going nonstop, so we ended up talking at the entrance.

"Feel free to speak casually, hyung."

"Really? I can?"

"I'm a lot younger than you, so of course you can. And the other hyungs already talk casually to me anyway."

"Got it. Newbie."

"So am I being classified as an intruder?"

"No, I guess you're being treated as an ally."

Is this what they call instant rapport?

Honestly, I'm not very good at small talk, so I thought it'd be awkward, but thankfully it wasn't.

We immediately discussed countermeasures to break through the current situation.

"Did you see the post?"

"The one where you posted the entrance photos? Of course I saw it. Ugh, fuck... what kind of camp did they set up there."

"How's the dungeon situation?"

"Like I said before... honestly, there's no answer as-is. This jungle originally had poison traps lined all over it, but the elves were tearing them down faster than I could buy and install them. The other areas are the same..."

Secha's Dino World, tormented by elves, was a complete and utter wreck.

From what I heard, almost all the traps were destroyed, and there were a lot of injured minions too.

It was really fortunate that Dino World's coordinates weren't near the World Tree Forest.

The number of elves currently stationed at Frostthorn Mountain is limited.

That meant if they could somehow get through this wave, they'd have some breathing room.

Because the World Tree Forest and this Frostthorn Mountain were very far apart.

Coming back would take a lot of time, money, and manpower.

But here's the problem.

"Sword Master... that bastard is hopeless. I'd lose even in a one-on-one fight, and just thinking about them storming in with the elves all at once is making my head spin."

Secha's level was almost three times higher than mine.

And yet if Secha is saying they'll lose for sure, that means the enemy called Sword Master is incredibly strong.

There was only one method after all.

I asked Secha.

"Can I test something for a second?"

"Something?"

"You told me before to let you know if I could set up minions and traps. Let me try it once."

"I did say that, but there's no way it would actually..."

I manipulated the hologram.

I went into the minion purchase window just like when I was in Dreamland.

And when I clicked a familiar-faced minion, ta-da!

An Anomaly minion appeared.

A freshly bought one from just now.

"...It works?"

I figured it had to work.

Because Malrang was right beside me.

If a dungeon master and a slime can get in.

what reason would there be for another Anomaly minion not to come?

Still, this is really amazing.

So you can buy minions in other dungeons too, not just my own.

Well, if it didn't work.

I'd just buy it in Dreamland and have Malrang carry it over.

"The problem is the activation tag, though—this tag says, 'the minion moves when the wave starts.' I don't know whether that also applies to your dungeon's waves, hyung."

Anomaly minions only move during waves.

But I don't know whether the start of a wave in another dungeon also counts as 'initiation'.

Without data, there's nothing I can do.

Dungeon masters are, by default, isolated people.

A dungeon master helping another dungeon.

What I'm doing now is an act that has far transcended all common sense up to now.

"I'm going to believe it works."

"......"

Still, we have to test it, don't we?

It'd be a shame if Secha's 'I'll kill myself' comment disappeared from my post.

"Yeah. If I'm going to die anyway, I'd rather die from jealousy over your bragging. I'll really survive this time, write your name in my suicide note, and definitely kill myself."

"No, but I've never even bragged..."

It's unfair, so unfair.