Chapter 92
Cowhead : Hahahahahahahahahaha
Cowhead : This is seriously insanely brutal lol
Cowhead : In my opinion, this village is the craziest one yet
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : What the hell are you even supposed to do to clear a village like this...
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Even knowing the strategy, this would be tough...?
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : In the end, sound and living things are inseparably linked.
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : It’s not just clearing it; just attempting the strategy alone would be incredibly stressful.
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : There are way too many things you have to be careful about.
ㄴAnonymous Butcher : Seeing it accurately devour targets even at long range...
ㄴAnonymous Butcher : How should I put this? That minion is exceptional.
ㄴAnonymous Butcher : I want that ability too.
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : This is the ultimate in absurdity...
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : Those knights were lucky this time, at least.
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : I think if it hadn’t been Dorlind or whatever
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : they would've died such a pointless death and that would've been it;;
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Put a Death Alien in my dungeon too...
ㄴNewbie : For free??
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Ngh...
ㄴThe World Is Cold : What are you plotting to make me do...
ㄴNewbie : Hehe
ㄴKongKong : Newbie, you like men?
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ㄴNewbie : I'm not gay... ㅠㅠ
ㄴNewbie : It's a misunderstanding...
ㄴOrange★ : But that minion
ㄴOrange★ : would be pretty damn useful in our dungeon.
ㄴNewbie : Too bad, the Village of Silence would have to spawn first.
ㄴNewbie : Since it's an active minion, it probably wouldn't work outside ㅠ
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"Hmm."
Count Wolfhaupen's 3,512th Dreamland clear attempt of the season ended in failure.
It was all thanks to the newly added anomalies.
The Death Alien and Silence Village combo.
I think Zone 5 is a terribly annoying place even if you know the rules.
As the intruders discovered, it was a place where you had to be extremely careful with sound.
That is the absolute first rule.
If you don't follow it, you're very likely to lose your life.
Honestly, even knowing the rules, I think this place is rough.
For good reason—the thing that appears every time you move is sound, after all.
If you know nothing on your first time, you'd be dead for sure.
It's probably the place closest to death in Dreamland.
In Zone 5, there exists an anomaly minion called the "Death Alien."
You can think of it as some kind of monster that kills intruders once they make a certain amount of noise.
Isn't that ridiculously blatant?
I think it's a zone with even more impact than the school.
Even communication magic used to exchange information has restrictions.
In many ways, I think this must be the most stressful place for intruders.
Well, as the Dungeon Master, I can only feel relieved.
Dreamland has become even more hellish.
"They won't come back in, right?"
The clear attempt had been a total failure.
What they took with them was exactly one line of information.
And that information may have been fabricated.
Honestly, their hearts probably broke.
The count's expression on the monitor looked exactly like that.
At least on the last attempt they brought back meaningful information, but not this time.
Every action has to be weighed in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Unless you're a madman, you wouldn't waste your precious life
throwing yourself into a dungeon.
Whether it's to save his daughter, protect his country, or whatever, with the count's means it's impossible to even try.
He must be realizing by now that it's impossible.
If he's a sane person who values his own life and everyone else's, he won't come back in.
"Hmm."
The part I was worried about was the female mage standing next to the count.
"I should go check on something for a bit."
I left the Core Room and headed toward the area near the spawn point.
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"Um."
I folded my arms.
-You said the Dreamland Dungeon Master could go outside, remember? I set this up so you'd have a rough time when you leave.
A brand-like mark had appeared on the dungeon wall.
It was a spell Lorencia had set up in the spawn area before leaving.
According to MagicHero, it was a Fire School spell called “Remote Detonation,” a kind of time bomb the caster could set off whenever they wanted.
At first, I thought it was a land mine.
But Remote Detonation didn’t have that kind of function, and even if it did, Malang would just step on it anyway.
Anyway, she even bothered to throw a cheap bluff at me.
She must have some kind of scheme in mind.
It’s not like I have surveillance cameras inside my dungeon, so unless I’m standing right in front of it, the spell is practically meaningless.
Newbie : How do I remove this?
ㄴMagic Hero : You can fix it easily with jamming...
ㄴMagic Hero : But Newbie doesn’t have any mana at all...
ㄴMagic Hero : So for now, it can’t be dispelled.
It was oddly unpleasant.
Having traces of an intruder left in my dungeon.
Newbie : By any chance, there isn’t some kind of land-mine trap spell that only detects the Dungeon Master and blows up, is there?
ㄴMagic Hero : There’s no way something like that exists...
ㄴMagic Hero : If there were a spell like that...
ㄴMagic Hero : we’d just be playing a turf war with the intruders in the dungeon...
That’s true enough.
ㄴMagic Hero : Since you can just tank it with Malang anyway,
ㄴMagic Hero : you can think of those ambush spells as useless against Newbie...
ㄴMagic Hero : A-and besides, unlike the traps used by Dungeon Masters...
ㄴMagic Hero : they aren't that lethal...
ㄴMagic Hero : Honestly, at Newbie's current level...
ㄴMagic Hero : you can just ignore them...
Hearing that, I felt relieved.
But the intruder probably doesn't know that either, so maybe I should just think of it as a simple check.
Magic, huh. I can roughly guess what they're going for.
For now, should I just leave it alone?
"Malang, want to try eating it once?"
"Eek."
What a shame.
Even you can't eat magic, huh.
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About half a month after the wave ended, Lorencia entered Dreamland again.
It wasn't for the clear.
It seemed she had simply come to check whether the ambush spell was okay.
The “Remote Detonation” spell lasts for quite a long time.
According to MagicHero, it's at least on the scale of years.
Dreamland doesn't have any jamming.
So I just left it alone.
There was nothing I could do about it.
-As expected....
I didn’t think she’d come in alone.
Brave, or just dangerously oblivious.
At the very least, I thought she’d come in with her friends.
"Hmm."
Should I eliminate that woman now?
Maybe this is my chance while she's here alone.
I wanted to deploy an anomaly, but...
Unfortunately, the place where the spell was set up was the spawn area.
So I can’t get near it during the wave.
Maybe I should use the escape scroll first.
Then wait outside and ambush her.
Since I don't have a minion to trigger the 'start'...
using an anomaly would be impossible.
But maybe, somehow, with the dagger skills I've honed with Sarangi up to now...
Shibgan Love Dog : No no no no no no no
Shibgan Love Dog : No no no no no no no
Shibgan Love Dog : No... don’t...
Shibgan Love Dog : You absolutely should not pick a fight with a 5th-tier mage...
ㄴThe World Is Cold : For real...
ㄴThe World Is Cold : From 5th tier on, they’re beyond human
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : The manticore that came into your dungeon before was 4th tier
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : No way, don’t do it
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : Your combat ability is still weak...
ㄴMagic Hero : From 5th tier on, the kinds of magic you can use are different, and...
ㄴMagic Hero : you’d be better off not approaching directly...
Maybe it’d be better to just let her go like this after all.
I can’t use an anomaly right now anyway.
There was nothing I could do right now.
If even the veteran is trying to dissuade me.
Then that 5th-tier mage’s combat ability must be considerable.
Let’s not act rashly.
My life is precious.
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And so I sent Lorencia back.
"Malang."
"Eek."
"I’m going inside for a bit."
I had something I wanted to test for a moment.
After mounting Malang, I told it to fly as hard as it could into the dungeon wall.
"Eek?"
"It’s fine. It’s a durability test. You won't die from this anyway."
Bang!
Malang rammed its body into the wall with all its strength.
In return, I had to endure a tingling shock and the sensation of the world spinning.
So Malang’s body isn’t invincible either.
Sure enough, even when the branded elf had wildly swung a sword at it before, it hadn’t died, but its body had split open.
If I got intercepted outside, I might end up turning from Newbie into New/bie, so I should probably avoid going to crowded places after all.
Even if people don't know my face, the fact that I have no mana stands out way too much.
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Newbie : Ah
Newbie : This is kind of bothering me
ㄴKongKong : Why??
ㄴKongKong : What happened??
ㄴNewbie : No, I didn’t think she’d come in alone.
ㄴNewbie : I figured next time she came in, it’d be with her friends.
ㄴNewbie : I just thought it was meaningless.
ㄴNewbie : So I'd been deliberately ignoring it.
ㄴNewbie : Feels like I missed my chance somehow...
ㄴNewbie : Shit lol
ㄴOrange★ : If only we could foresee and deal with every single thing in the world.
ㄴOrange★ : That would make you Oblivion, not a Dungeon Master.
ㄴOrange★ : Why are you regretting something like that?
ㄴOrange★ : It’s not like you made any real mistake this time.
ㄴOrange★ : Leave the past in the past.
ㄴOrange★ : What matters is what comes next ㅇㅇ
That was true enough.
By the way, big bro’s hearty headpats are gourmet too.
I felt a little better.
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : Maybe it’s just shadow boxing.
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : It’s good to prepare,
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : but don’t overthink it
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : and stress yourself out, okay?
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Wave defense is an endurance battle.
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Your damn dungeon has been invincible so far.
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient : Don’t worry too much.
ㄴNewbie : Phew
ㄴNewbie : Thanks, everyone...
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Newbie-yam!
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Don’t use such cute words!
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : It sounds lewd...
ㄴNewbie : What on earth are you talking about
Anyway.
"Malang."
"Eek."
"Scout, please."
I should probably keep watch on it.