Chapter 7
Anomaly.
A term for strange, inexplicable phenomena.
ㄴSealed Philosopher : A newbie equipped with Anomaly... Nobody can stop this ㄷㄷ
ㄴCowhead : Judging from your performance last time, it feels like you'd make better use of it than most vets lol
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : Honestly, it gave off more evil-spirit vibes than I do ㅇㅇ Let's go Anomaly
Was it because of the method I'd used to fend off the trolls and goblins?
The people in the gallery who had watched the live broadcast seemed to think of me as some kind of horror expert.
The truth is, I don't actually like scary things.
If anything, I'm a coward, so I'm weak to jump scares; I really hate so-called sudden pop-ups, and horror movies are basically poison to me, and anomalies usually fall into that category, don't they?
Honestly, this wave was just supposed to be me making the dungeon ridiculously long and using debuff traps to starve the trolls and goblins to death.
Something...
It felt kind of weird, having my image cemented as someone who makes good use of terrifying situations.
"Hmm."
Anyway, the Hidden Theme was just too tempting.
The words that drive people crazy have always been the special-sounding ones like hidden, limited, and unique.
【Dungeon Theme – Anomaly】
【Protect the dungeon using things you cannot understand.】
Even the description feels insanely cool to me.
How could I resist that?
Even the vets were recommending choosing the Hidden Theme over the existing ones.
ㄴSly Dog : Newbie... by any chance, does the theme description have any warning like "the Dungeon Master's body changes"? ㅠㅠ
Huh?
ㄴㄴ, nothing like that
ㄴSly Dog : !!!!!!!!
ㄴSly Dog : Anomaly, go go go!!
Come to think of it.
I had said that sometimes selecting a theme could change your body.
If I picked a specific theme and got reborn in the body of a TS ant girl, laying eggs like Ant Ham, or turned into Sans, that would be troublesome in its own way.
Anyway, the fact that my body wouldn't change was a pretty big plus.
Golem King : Your purpose is so transparent it's ridiculous, you fucker lol
ㄴDIP : I can't even
ㄴChief Patient at the Mental Hospital : Humanity-crazed bitch lol
ㄴAnt Queen : You do a great job living up to your nickname, so I'm fond of you, yeah
ㄴSly Dog : 凸
It wasn't all good, though.
There were countless veterans in Dungeon Gallery who had chosen specific themes.
Why, even in games, following a guide is way more efficient, right?
There would definitely be efficient routes the vets had hammered out by bashing their heads against the wall, but if I chose the Anomaly theme, I wouldn't be able to use them.
Of course, it was a bit hard to call that purely a drawback.
There'd probably be quite a difference in difficulty between blazing your own path and following one.
And I couldn't exactly guarantee that the ceiling was any higher on the Anomaly side either.
Anonymous Butcher : Let's go with Anomaly.
Anonymous Butcher : You'd probably use it well.
Still.
My heart had already tilted this way.
Newbie : Thanks for all the good advice, everyone
Newbie : This time, I'll go with my gut ㅇㅇ
【50,000P has been paid.】
【System processing…….】
【…….】
【Remodeling begins with the selected theme.】
【…….】
A dazzling light suddenly blocked my vision.
After a moment, the cave was gone without a trace.
A pure white corridor appeared.
It was a scene reminiscent of a laboratory corridor, so as a modern person it felt familiar.
A hologram asked me.
【Please name the dungeon.】
【…….】
A name, huh.
A good idea came to mind.
【The dungeon's name is 'Dreamland'.】
【Defend your dungeon from intruders and become a legend.】
I looked over the newly added gimmicks.
The features marked 【New!】, along with the traps and minions.
I stroked my chin.
As expected, choosing the Hidden Theme was the standard move.
***
Strange rumors were circulating in the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range.
Namely, the trolls belonging to the upper-predator tier were disappearing one after another.
For the prey, this was tremendous good news, and an ominous sign.
Most of the races living in Lowjinrat, including goblins, lacked the killing power to take down a troll.
They were huge, heavy, and solid.
A goblin's crude spear, an orc's mediocre axe, and the weapons of other races could never easily pierce a troll's hide.
Even if you were lucky enough to wound one, it would regenerate immediately.
Any race with a body inferior to its had no choice but to become prey.
Of course, trolls weren't invincible.
They were only predators within Lowjinrat to begin with.
Humans and other intelligent beings could use fire and magic to stop their regeneration and kill them.
And because there were plenty of races in this world bigger and stronger than trolls, it was like a textbook example of "when there's no tiger, the fox becomes king."
Anyway.
Though trolls got the cold shoulder outside...
In the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range, there was no doubt they were powerful.
An existence with the power to make such trolls disappear.
The prey had no choice but to be afraid.
It wasn't that a new predator had appeared.
【Dreamland】
Dungeon.
A place where the treasure called mana stones lay dormant.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say everyone in this world coveted it.
The trolls all entered Dreamland, each and every one blindly trusting their own strength.
To get the treasure.
And then they all disappeared.
In other words, this dungeon was a terrifying place that could reduce trolls to mere nobodies.
Even the most primitive race could understand that much by now.
This dungeon that had suddenly appeared one day wasn't a place they could handle.
Trolls weren't the only ones who entered the dungeon.
Orcs, goblins, and others who coveted the treasure also went in without fear, but the price they paid was disappearance without a trace.
After witnessing the fate of their kin, the residents of Lowjinrat no longer went anywhere near the dungeon.
Even the arrogant trolls wouldn't even piss toward the west, where the dungeon was.
Fear beat instinct.
No, since fear itself is also an instinct, that sounds a little weird.
It would be better to say survival instinct mercilessly trampled the urge to rise higher.
Avoid Dreamland.
That was the new rule of the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range.
…….
Even so, there were guys who refused to give up on the dungeon.
They were hobgoblins.
Hobgoblins are an advanced goblin species.
The gap was as deep as the difference between a monkey and a gorilla.
Superior height, innate strength, and physical ability went without saying.
And while not quite on the level of sapient beings, they were born with intelligence as well.
Hobgoblins, which lived in groups, were such that even predatory trolls had no choice but to respect them.
"Let's go!"
"Yeah! Yeah!"
Now.
Among the hobgoblin groups in the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range,
Hob, the chief of the Rotten Teeth Clan, the strongest faction, arrived at the entrance to Dreamland with sturdy warriors.
"Mana stones, find them!"
"Find them!"
They knew Dreamland's infamous reputation.
Seeing even those powerful trolls get helplessly taken down, it had to be a dangerous place.
That's precisely why it was worth challenging.
High risk, high return.
Dangerous places are where enormous treasures are hidden.
Dreamland would be no different.
That was what Hob's instincts were telling him.
"Dungeon Master, kill!"
"Kill!"
"We'll become great!"
"Become great!"
Hob rallied the warriors in front of the dungeon.
As he shouted, the loyal warriors' morale shot through the roof.
The hobgoblins swaggered into Dreamland.
…….
…….
Just like the trolls,
the hobgoblins also fell asleep in the unidentified space and soon woke up.
However, there was one difference.
"Hm?"
The place they woke up in was not a dark cave,
but a corridor of a kind they had never seen before.
It was an unfamiliar design.
Hob ran his hand over the pure-white corridor wall.
It had a smooth feel, like the white porcelain humans liked.
The faint smell of antiseptic was oddly unpleasant.
The hobgoblins gripped their mediocre weapons (more refined than goblin weapons, yet still of little value) and watched their surroundings warily.
"From now on, pay attention! Dungeon, dangerous!"
"Pay attention! Dangerous!"
Led by Hob, the hobgoblins began to walk.
And how much time had passed?
They realized Dreamland was not a simple corridor running in a straight line,
but a single, complex maze.
"Another fork!"
"Complicated! Complicated!"
All the paths branched wildly, making it hard to get back out once you went in.
Amid countless forks, the hobgoblins were at a loss.
Still, they were lucky.
One sharp-minded fellow used his head and somehow found a way back toward the entrance they'd come from.
After a lot of twists and turns, they returned to the starting point.
They had fought enemies many times before, but never had a maze as an enemy.
It was troublesome from the very start.
It was easy to see why the stupid goblins and trolls had gone missing.
The dungeon entrance still hadn't closed.
According to the wisest lion-faced man in Lowjinrat, after entering,
you could still get back out for up to half a day.
This was a crossroads for the hobgoblins.
They had to choose here whether to turn back or press on.
Unlike trolls and goblins, they had even brought supplies in preparation for a long expedition.
They had food, water, camping gear, and all the materials needed for survival.
The left-hand rule (左手法).
Left-hand rule? Left-hand rule!?
When Hob opened his mouth, the hobgoblins all turned to him.
Stick one hand to the wall from the entrance.
Stick it?
Keep walking.
Walk?
Then you'll eventually find the exit.
Find it!
Of course, the hobgoblins didn't know anything about topology.
They had only gotten various bits of advice from the lion-faced man, who had a great deal of knowledge, before entering the dungeon.
Hob said that if you used the left-hand rule, you could find the exit no matter how huge the maze was.
And that wasn't a wrong claim.
It was the most widely known way to solve a maze in this world as well.
Hob had long enjoyed the trust of his subordinates.
When the dependable leader said that, the hobgoblins nodded.
"We'll become great!"
"Become great!"
The hobgoblins chose to press on.
Their willingness to keep challenging despite not giving up deserved praise, but...
The owner of the tiny camera mounted on the corridor ceiling
was only silently watching the hobgoblins.