Chapter 72
I watched the situation through the security cameras.
The intruders are currently split up as follows.
Four at the entrance elevator, four at the school, and seven at the mansion.
The reason for splitting the intruders up is simple.
After seeing the mercenary group’s example before, I figured it would be more efficient to split up a team with good teamwork than to keep them together.
There had been sacrifices, of course.
Even so, they had conquered the goblin cave at impressive speed.
If it hadn’t been for Chase’s trolling, they would have advanced to the next area just fine.
The more bullets they have, the more unfavorable the anomaly becomes.
The reason I made the zones so large was mostly to starve them out, but the more people there are, the shorter the exploration time becomes and the faster countermeasures are established.
So unless there are strong signs that they’re about to fall apart.
I think this is a little more reasonable.
Besides, isn’t that even written in Sun Tzu’s Art of War?
It says dividing your forces is the inferior strategy and something you must not do.
Though I doubt that line was meant to be applied in a situation like this.
Still, there are already so few people; wouldn’t it be even more horrifying if they start dying one by one around them?
Anyway.
Knights, as high-value assets, don’t come in unlimited numbers like ordinary soldiers.
No matter how much of an earl he is, there are limits.
Buying escape scrolls would also cost quite a lot.
This was good news in many ways.
If I set up the risk of “no entry below knight rank.”
The number of people who could even attempt the conquest would be limited.
And since you’d need several knights like that.
For most people, it wouldn’t even dare to try.
Business also needs money.
Dungeon raiding is no different.
Up until now, any Tom, Dick, or Harry—from the disgraced helper, branded elf, baron, dwarf, and so on—could enter, but from here on out, things would be different.
However, that also means the intruders’ overall level will rise just as much.
In addition, strategy guides can be shared.
In other words, the next intruder can pick up where the previous one left off in their exploration.
They’ll need to stay on guard.
Even so, from the intruders’ perspective, it probably won’t be easy to clear.
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ㄴCowhead : This new intruder really is on a different level from the start
ㄴCowhead : Walks in and immediately goes after the disciplinary captain lol
ㄴCowhead : “Get lost. I’ve got no belongings to give you, you wench.” lmao
ㄴAnt Queen : Rest in peace, action beam ㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴGolem King : Straight into disciplinary captain Ashura mode
ㄴGolem King : Honestly, twisting his neck right off with eight arms is true physical therapy, damn lolololololololol
ㄴDIP :
“Disciplinary captain...? That’s the anomaly written about in the strategy guide, lol.”
ㄴDIP :
Dungeon bro who knows the truth
=
💀
ㄴKongKong : Wasso besso~
ㄴThe World Is Cold : lolololol
ㄴThe World Is Cold : So the school starts its exploration with just three people?
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Guys, this is a real emergency bulletin, emergency bulletin
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Earl Wolfhaupen, age 32, startled so badly he ripped off the third button on his shirt!
ㄴKongKong : Honestly, isn’t he the only intruder who got killed by the disciplinary captain at that timing??
ㄴTV Head : Yeah, he’s the first one.
ㄴTV Head : This is why fake information is so scary.
ㄴTV Head : A rip-off gacha with a 50% chance where you have to bet your life, lol.
ㄴMagic Hero : Even so, you’re still going to try to conquer Dreamland...?
ㄴMagic Hero : Cruel. So cruel...
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“I get it now. So this is your level…….”
It’s not exactly that I want to die because this is boring.
Let’s see how much they figure out this time.
Shibgan Love Dog : Newbie-yam!
ㄴNewbie : Why??
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Show us the mansion too, not just the school ㅠㅠ
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : Seriously holding my breath waiting here.
ㄴSkeleton Bones : How’s it going???
Ah, splitting the intruders up makes live updates kind of a pain.
ㄴNewbie : Because Newbie-chan only has two arms ㅈㅁ
ㄴNewbie : I’ll upload it soon, yeah
Still, what the veterans want more is the mansion side, rather than the school.
Everyone was curious about the situation in Dragred.
This livestream should focus on this side then.
“Ack.”
“I don’t think there’ll be any need to move for now, but I’ll let you know if it becomes necessary later.”
I set the shrunken Malangie on my lap and petted it like crazy.
You’re unusually motivated today.
Keeping my eyes on the monitor.
I uploaded the backlog of photos, videos, and posts to the gallery.
***
Dreamland, Area 3.
In front of the mansion entrance, 16
:00.
-Ignore the school side and focus on exploring Area 3.
“Understood.”
There were a total of seven people gathered in front of the mansion entrance.
Dragred, Hector, Comfort, Bitters, Olivia, Leo, and Croc.
Dragred was, needless to say, Count Wolfhaupen’s famous retainer.
The rest were knights of the Winter Wolf Knight Order.
“I always dreamed of living in a mansion like a palace, but damn, a mountain-sized mansion? Dreamland’s actually making that dream come true today.”
Hector cracked a joke.
He was the oldest of the knights, cheerful and foul-mouthed to a fault.
Beyond that, he was simply a veteran with a knack for monster-slaying missions.
“What a shame. If I’d been transferred to the Academy like the people who went in before us, I would’ve achieved my dream too, just like you, Hector.”
Comfort picked up the joke.
As if trying to loosen the stiff atmosphere, he was deliberately acting lighthearted.
He wasn’t as seasoned as Hector, but he too was one of the senior knights.
“…….”
“I’m nervous.”
Unlike them, who were giving off a carefree vibe, the other four seemed a little tense.
Understandably so, since they were fresh new recruits who had just joined.
“Phew. At last, the real conquest begins. Please, let this calamity be cleared without incident.”
Even so.
The rookies were burning with determination.
Having the courage to move forward was enough on its own.
The knights looked toward Dragred.
Dragred’s reputation was well known.
Even proud nobles would back down a notch before him.
“Right.”
At that moment, the leader was naturally decided.
“As you can tell from the strategy guide, keep your guard up. What lies ahead is a place where death lurks. We came here for the sake of the world, but we must return alive no matter what. Our territory is full of people who need our protection, and death would be a disgrace to both the territory and the kingdom. Do you all understand?”
Everyone nodded.
They had finished preparing to move out.
They headed toward the massive mansion.
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The inside of the mansion was bright.
Brilliant lights were installed on the walls and ceiling.
“It’s cleaner inside than I expected.”
As if someone were maintaining the place, there was no dust to be seen despite the old exterior.
The group looked somewhat disappointed.
They had expected a vast, grand central hall.
But the scene before their eyes was a corridor that stretched endlessly.
“This feels more like a maze than a mansion….”
At Volaris’s words, Dragred nodded.
He used detection magic.
It was to examine the overall structure.
“It seems to have floors 1 through 80, just like the Academy. There are dozens of narrow corridors stretching vertically, and rooms are scattered sparsely between them. I’m not sure what they’re for. And strangely, I can’t see any stairs leading to the upper floors?”
If Count Wolfhaupen’s grand mansion had been built like this.
The architect who made it would have been buried alive.
“Even the entrance is like this—does the Dreamland Dungeon Master have no sense of aesthetics?”
“I agree. And if it’s about art, I could teach him a thing or two. Hey, Dungeon Master. If you’re listening to this, come down to the mansion’s first floor.”
“Heh, what a lunatic.”
Watching Hector and Comfort joking around together.
And looking at the stiff, nervous rookie knights.
Dragred already had a rough idea of how to split the teams.
“Hector and Olivia, Comfort and Bitters, Leo and Croc—you’ll pair up two by two from now on and investigate the first floor of the mansion.”
Too light an atmosphere is bad, and too heavy an atmosphere is bad too.
Moderation matters in everything.
If you pair up the ones without tension with the ones who are tense, you’ll get a decent synergy.
Besides, this dungeon shouldn’t require drawing swords except when facing the Dungeon Master.
“Oh wow, investigating with the female rookie? Lucky me from the start?”
“Please switch with me. I can’t stand gloomy men.”
“…H-Hey, where do I look like a gloomy man.”
“Then are you a bright and cheerful man?”
Dragred shrugged and said.
“Hector likes men more than women. You’d probably be happier going with Comfort.”
“Haha, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“You all know detection magic, so you don’t need to worry about getting lost. Let’s gather back at this place in one hour. I said it before, but this is a dungeon where you can die easily. Stay sharp.”
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Dragred reported everything he had learned so far to the earl.
-There’s no passage leading upstairs… Is there a window on the exterior wall?
“There is. But it doesn’t feel connected to the inside of the mansion. I think there must definitely be some way to go upstairs. I’ll investigate and report back.”
-Good. Be careful not to die.
“Yes.”
He walked the mansion alone.
There was nothing in the corridor.
Then there was a high chance that the clue was inside a room.
“Hector’s team went north, and Comfort’s team and Leo’s team went east.”
The nearest room that didn’t overlap with the others.
Dragred headed south.
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Clunk, clunk.
No matter how he turned the handle, it wouldn’t open.
It seemed to be locked.
‘This door feels like it could be broken open with brute force…….’
Should I break it…?
What am I even saying.
That’s way too obvious a bait.
Up until now I’ve only seen things that couldn’t be broken by force.
And now there’s a door that can be forced open?
‘It’s a trap.’
Unless I could get a key or something later.
Opening this door right now would be a hasty move.
Dragred turned around.
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There was another room to the south.
Dragred walked toward it.
“This one isn’t locked.”
He turned the handle, and it moved smoothly.
He opened the door and went inside.
The room was a bedroom.
There was a luxurious bed, chairs and a table, a suspiciously large wardrobe, and a full-length mirror against the far wall.
Dragred searched the room.
He rummaged from under the bed to inside the wardrobe, but couldn’t find anything useful.
“Hm.”
Another dead end.
He let out a small sigh.
“I’d really be glad if the others found something…….”
It was a coincidence.
The fact that he ended up staring at the mirror, which he hadn’t even glanced at since entering the room, was truly a coincidence.
Dragred’s expression stiffened.
A mirror is an object that reflects an image.
So naturally, it should be reflecting my own image.
The person reflected in the mirror was not me.
It was a shape that should never have existed.
“…….”
Dragred’s breathing grew ragged.
The one who had died and vanished was staring back at him from inside the mirror.
She looked very much like Dragred’s own appearance.
A dragonkin—human, but with horns, a tail, and wings.
The woman, with blood tears streaming from her deeply bloodshot eyes, was
the Red Dragon King, Dragred’s creator.
“Ah....”
She reached out a hand.
The arm that pierced through the mirror grabbed Dragred by the nape of his neck.
Before he even had a chance to scream, he was sucked into the mirror.
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“Fuck, fuck!”
Dragred shouted the moment he came to his senses.
He was trapped inside the cramped mirror.
He couldn’t lie down, and he couldn’t stretch his arms out comfortably.
It felt like being locked in solitary confinement.
The communication magic had of course been cut off.
There was no way to explain his situation right now.
He stared at his own arm with a helpless expression.
There should clearly have been dark, scaly skin there.
So why had it turned so ghostly pale?
His voice was also thin and faint.
If that was the case, then could it be.
“Did I possess the master’s body…?”
Should I call this fortunate?
Or should I call it unfortunate?
At the very least, he wasn’t dead.
And he could also see outside through the mirror.
“……….”
My body is lying collapsed in front of the mirror.
The moment I come to my senses, I slowly get to my feet.
That isn’t me.
It’s my body, but it isn’t me.
Because I’m trapped inside the mirror.
Dragred had possessed the Red Dragon King’s body.
That meant the being originally inside the mirror had, with high probability, possessed Dragred’s body.
“…….”
The one in my body snickered.
Dragred had no idea a smile could feel this horrifying.
No wonder.
“Lord Dragred, are you all right!?”
“The earl said your communication with Lord Dragred had been cut off, so we rushed here in a panic… Anyway, I’m relieved you’re safe. What exactly happened inside this room?”
They don’t know.
They have no idea what happened.
It feels like I’m having a vicious nightmare.
“You idiots. That one’s fake. Fake, I say! Can’t you see me!? Look at the mirror! Look at the mirror! I’m trapped in here!”
He seemed to be thinking for a moment.
He weighed his words over and over.
Then he shrugged and answered them.
“I was worried too, since my communication with the earl had also been cut off. There seems to be some device interfering with the communication magic, or perhaps it’s one of the Dungeon Master’s tricks
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They left the room.
Left alone, Dragred bit his lip.
I betrayed the Red Dragon King.
I drove the dagger in with this very hand.
If the one trapped in the mirror is really her
there’s no way she’d just leave the knights alone.
“It feels different from the copycat in Area 1... There are clearly some sloppy parts.”
But.
Dragred’s expression only grew uglier and uglier.
Let’s say the others noticed that one was fake.
Even if they pooled their strength and destroyed it, there was no guarantee he’d return to his original body.
If that thing dies, do I die too?
What happens to me, trapped inside the mirror?
“Aaaaaaah!”
Dragred let out a scream.
And even when he tried to slam his head against it, an invisible wall blocked him.
There was nothing he could do here.
All he could do was painfully realize that fact.
He shouldn’t have looked in the mirror.
No matter what happened, he shouldn’t have looked.
At the very least, he should have looked away immediately.
Because it was a mirror that should never exist.
Dragred sat down where he was.
Fog slowly began to gather inside the mirror.
The more he breathed it in, the more his brain felt numb.
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Give me back my body.
Give me back my body.
Give me back my body.
With lifeless, vacant eyes.
He began to look outside.