Chapter 75
Golem King : Wow... This is the most brutal death I've seen so far, damn
Golem King : Most newbies censor it with mosaic blur, but it's still messed up somehow
ㄴDIP : Seriously, even without any gore, this is the first time something's made me feel nauseous
ㄴDIP : Just hearing the sounds of torture makes my whole body tremble...
ㄴDIP : Honestly, I thought the Death Count <<< gimmick was a lame mechanic
ㄴDIP : but if the price is like that
ㄴDIP : when the count gets high, you'd be too mentally wrecked to move around carelessly...
ㄴAnt Queen : The video is way too graphic to show my kids ㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴAnt Queen : But, Newbie-nim, could you send me the original photos and video in a private comment??
ㄴAnt Queen : I'll show them to my kids when they grow up, heh
ㄴNewbie : You'll get banned for violating community rules
ㄴNewbie : I put in a ton of effort for the livestream...
ㄴNewbie : Honestly, it wasn't easy for me to watch either lol
ㄴNewbie : (shiver)
ㄴCowhead : This is what a real dungeon livestream looks like, fuck
ㄴCowhead : Lately, more and more intruders have been coming into Newbie's dungeon again, and I'm happy...
ㄴI Have No Minions : So when is the fake Yongyonggari going to make a move???
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : Honestly, I'm just waiting for Yongyonggari to stab him in the back lol
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : How long are you going to keep me in suspense;;
ㄴSkeleton Bones : I mean, wasn't Yongyonggari kind of a patient, wait-and-catch type even when he was alive
ㄴSkeleton Bones : He was fiery, sure,
ㄴSkeleton Bones : but he usually preferred to hold back and go for the big score,
ㄴSkeleton Bones : unlike his subordinate, yeah.
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I was lying down on Malangi and bouncing up and down like it was a trampoline.
“Eek.”
For the record, this isn't abuse.
That's just the sound Malangi makes when it's excited, so don't get the wrong idea.
Lately, Malangi seemed to need a little stimulation too.
No matter how much I petted it, it still wasn't satisfied, so I changed tactics, and in more ways than one it was a huge success.
It really is doing this because it wants to.
It was having fun too, spreading itself out wide and using the rebound to launch me even higher.
Honestly, I couldn't help wondering if it was really okay to be doing this with intruders around.
The school side had no tension at all.
Because one of them got caught by a teacher while wandering off on their own.
Now there are only two left.
-Teacher, how the hell are we supposed to deal with the teacher?
There were originally four people in Zone 2.
Now there were only two left.
One of them was curled up, shaking so badly they looked completely broken.
They didn't seem to have any fighting spirit left.
Even the faculty office was on the 63rd floor.
Their fate ended right here.
How should I put it...
Even back with Max, I felt it, but the teacher was a true wall of despair.
Even though the teacher-related parts were correctly written in the intruder guide,
the unique atmosphere seemed to prevent the intruders from easily reaching a countermeasure.
On top of that, speaking during class got you a warning, so it was a difficult opponent in many ways.
“Then all that's left is the mansion…….”
“Eek.”
I stopped bouncing for a moment and sat down in a chair.
-Um, could we maybe postpone the search for a little while...?
Her name was definitely Olivia.
The woman with the brand on her forehead blocked the path of the group that was about to investigate.
Things were turning out rather interestingly.
***
Dreamland, Zone 3.
Mansion, 2nd floor, 20:30.
Led by Krok, the knights reported everything that had happened so far to the record team.
Though they had lost Hector, they couldn't keep standing still forever.
“Let's move.”
Each of them shook off their grief.
When Comfort, who had been closest to Hector, took the lead, the others nodded and started walking.
But.
Olivia was different.
She spread her arms and blocked the group's path.
“Please, let's postpone the search for a moment. Please...”“
…….
It's not that her actions were incomprehensible.
On her forehead
「6」
was engraved there.
If just one more count was added from now on, she would meet the same end as Hector.
“I-I don't want to die.”
“Olivia.”
“Didn't Krok say so? The thing on my forehead is the death count... There are rules in this mansion that we don't know about, and if we break them, the count goes up. Then, if any one of you makes a mistake, I'm the one who dies!”
Krok let out a sigh.
This wasn't a good turn of events.
“The same goes for everyone else's case. Remember why we came to this dungeon in the first place. Dreamland is the seed of the Demon King, a disaster that could go beyond the North Kingdom and become a calamity for the entire world. Didn't we enter this dungeon prepared to die?”
Krok tried to persuade her.
But Olivia only shook her head.
She continued in a voice that was almost sobbing.
“No. No. No. No. At the very least, I don't want to die in vain like Hector-nim. I didn't become a knight to die. I wasn't working this hard all this time just to die in a place like this, and on top of that because I couldn't solve some riddle...!”
Olivia's heart seemed firm.
No matter what they said, she probably wouldn't listen.
The fear of death paralyzes thinking.
Fear is the strongest instinct for survival.
Among the rookie knights, she had the weakest mentality.
It wasn't strange that she was reacting like this.
“A meaningless death, huh.”
Dragred, who had been keeping a passive stance until now, finally spoke.
“Did Hector really die in vain?”
At his words, Olivia shut her mouth.
She thought it was a slip of the tongue.
“Certainly, this place is bizarre beyond belief. It's a place where everything we've built so far becomes meaningless. Swords don't work, and with every step you take, you have to risk your life. I think your reaction is perfectly natural. To be honest, even I regret stepping in here.”
Dragred said.
He said it was okay to use an escape scroll right now.
It's not just Olivia.
Anyone else who no longer had the courage to keep exploring should use a scroll too.
He himself would remain here.
He would stay behind and take your place and Hector's too.
“If we don't do this now, Dreamland will never be cleared.”
Soldiers are taken down by the Dungeon Master the moment they step into a dungeon.
The same goes for ordinary people in the territory.
Ordinary people can't even try to clear it.
They die before they can even set foot in the mansion.
That would be the real meaningless death.
“Later on, it won't just be us. Countless Wolfhausen territory residents, including your precious family and friends, and beyond that the people living in the North Kingdom, maybe even everyone on this continent, could wind up facing Dreamland's bizarre phenomena. Would you still hesitate to challenge Dreamland then?”
“…….”
“Why did you become knights in the first place? If you wanted to make money, you could have become merchants. If you wanted to show off your strength, you could have become mercenaries or bandits. So why did you become members of Wolfhausen's Winter Wolf Knights? Wasn't it for honor and pride?”
Everyone fell silent.
Memories from a very long time ago came back to mind.
Protecting the territory and its people.
That was the vow everyone made before Count Wolfhausen at the investiture ceremony.
“Hector did not die meaninglessly. He gave us information. Facts about the death count, facts about how to move on to the next floor, and even as he was dying, he pointed toward the second floor, telling us to keep going. This is a noble sacrifice. He had the courage to fight and break through this absurd place head-on. At least that's what I think.”
Though it wasn't in the form of swinging swords and bringing down strong enemies, what the group was doing now was also a fight to protect.
It was what we, the knights of Wolfhausen, were supposed to do.
Dragred's speech.
It moved everyone's hearts.
Except for one person, Olivia.
“I-I don't want to die.”
“…….”
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't think I can go any farther like the rest of you. I know that makes me unfit to be a knight. I know I'm a cowardly, pathetic coward, but...”
She couldn't continue.
She seemed completely mentally shattered.
The knights fell silent.
Even so, rather than press her further,
they chose respect and comfort.
“Can't be helped. This is a matter of resolve.”
“Please don't feel too guilty.”
Unlike the school, the mansion doesn't confiscate your belongings.
Food, water, and escape scrolls all remained as they were.
She should definitely be able to get out.
Olivia, trembling, took the scroll from inside her clothes.
“I'm really sorry…….”
It seemed she had already finished making arrangements with the record team as well.
She bowed her head deeply.
“……I'm sorry.”
She apologized once more.
Feeling guilt, relief, and a jumble of complicated emotions, she tore the scroll.
But.
She couldn't get out.
Clutching the torn scroll in both hands,
she could only stare at everyone with a dazed expression.
“W-why?”
Was it a fake scroll?
No way.
She had definitely checked it before going in.
The seal of the School of Space was definitely marked on it too.
Why can't I get out?
「8」
The count went up.
“T-This is weird. Something's wrong. It's strange. It's strange. Why can't I get out...? D-does anyone have an extra escape scroll? Please. I'll get out and repay you twice...”“
Olivia couldn't go on.
Because she toppled forward.
Something invisible was tugging at her neck.
She started rolling on the floor like a dog being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
It was a death sentence.
Even as she was being strangled and dragged toward the prison, she flailed her hands around.
“Kheuk, I don't want to die, ah. I don't... want to... die...”
“…….”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...”
They had no choice but to watch helplessly.
.
.
.
.
.
Hector and Olivia died.
Now only five people remained.
Krok, Leo, Bitters, Comfort, Dragred.
「1」
The death count had moved back to Leo.
This confirmed that when the person with the brand died, it would transfer to someone else.
They began exploring the second floor.
“First, we need to find out what causes the death count to stack, so it'll take a bit more time, but it seems better to move as a group than to split up.”
“Good.”
As Hector had said, the first and second floors weren't all that different.
Like the first floor, there were two locked rooms, a dining room, a storage room, a study, guest rooms, and a prison.
The locked rooms were probably the master bedroom and the parlor.
For now, they planned to start by searching the storage room.
Because you'd need a key to open a locked door.
There was a key in the storage room.
“…….”
As they walked, the group came upon the prison.
The prison held what remained of Olivia.
It was a lump of flesh that was hard to even call a corpse.
Had Hector ended up like that too?
“Overall, the hallways and rooms feel darker than on the first floor.”
“Hmm...”
The first and second floors weren't exactly the same.
There also seemed to be some small differences.
And there was a reason for that.
The moment one of the group entered the storage room.
「3」
As if to show off.
Leo's forehead count increased.
“This is...”
“It seems the storage room is a forbidden area on the second floor.”
Everyone let out a low sigh.
The rules on the first and second floors are different.
That was a pretty serious issue.
.
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.
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The group investigated the second floor once more.
The storage room had become off-limits on the second floor.
So instead of going straight into the other rooms,
the search proceeded by looking inside from outside.
Except for the study, which had a lot of bookshelves, there were no blind spots where their view was blocked.
The interior was also small enough that they could inspect it that way.
However.
They couldn't find the lever.
Then it had to be in the study or the locked rooms.
The group thought the latter was more likely.
“The key won't fit.”
“This is troublesome.”
Clunk. Clunk.
Unfortunately, the locked door wouldn't open with the first-floor key.
“How about searching the storage room for a key, even if it means stacking up the death count?”
“If we explore that way with 78 floors left, we'll all die.”
“Should we try going into the study once?”
“What if all we get is death count and nothing else?”
“…….”
There were 78 floors left.
If every floor ahead has different rules, clearing this would be impossible.
The death count would inevitably build up.
And escape scrolls can't be used in here.
Without infinite lives, it would be impossible for anyone.
It was the moment their resolve began to crumble.
But.
Krok was different.
“There's definitely a way.”
Among the knights with hollow expressions, he stepped forward.
And then.
He kicked the locked door open and smashed it apart.
KWAANG!
The door was blown to pieces.
Krok looked back.
Sure enough, Leo's count hadn't gone up.
The people who found a locked room all said, 'Looks like I could just break the door.'
That was true on the second floor too.
If taking the key from the storage room wasn't the answer,
this was the only way.
“If this were a dungeon like Wallachia or Maharouba, maybe, but Dreamland is a new dungeon. There's no way it's a dungeon that's completely without an answer. This isn't a dungeon you solve by force.”
The master bedroom came into view.
On the first floor, it had definitely been a forbidden area.
Krok strode inside.
“Wait a second!”
“Isn't that way too reckless!?”
Even so, the count didn't go up.
Unlike on the first floor, the lever on the second floor was in the master bedroom.
Krok pulled it.
Kugugugung-
The mansion shook with a rumble.
“Look at Leo's forehead. We stacked as many as 13 death counts on the first floor, but now it's only gone up by 4.”
At first, they knew nothing.
But now things were different.
They knew the mansion pretty well now.
If they applied that, the way forward would surely appear.
“The way to the next floor is very simple: 'find the hidden lever and pull it.' Since both the first floor and the second floor had levers in locked rooms, the other floors are likely to be the same.”
“…….”
“Therefore, we don't need to go into every room. We don't need to figure out every rule. All we have to do is pull the lever without stacking any death count. Isn't that very simple?”
Krok's intuition was right.
So there was no need to despair.
Let's move on.
At Krok's words, everyone slowly nodded.
They headed for the third floor.