Chapter 46
Ahmad was kind enough to personally escort me all the way to Bordeaux.
In... a sightseeing bus.
It was a distance we'd normally fly, but Ahmad said it would be better to sightsee along the way, so we headed to Bordeaux in his vehicle.
It was more than eight hours by road, but it wasn't really a car so much as a house.
It might be tough for someone who couldn't stand lying around at home.
At least, it wasn't for me.
On the way, Ahmad began explaining the dungeon to me in a kind and thorough manner.
Looking at just this side of Ahmad, he could have been a nice big brother.
He should've gone crazy in a more respectable way...
“Are you listening?”
“Yeah. I am.”
“Right. To put it simply, it's a wave-defense dungeon.”
A type of dungeon where waves come after brief rest and preparation periods.
Usually, you succeed by defending something like a life stone in the central area for a set amount of time.
It's also a type of dungeon Hunters don't like.
Typically, the key to clearing a dungeon multiple times is shortening the run through an optimized strategy, commonly called a time attack. But with wave-defense dungeons, no matter how much you optimize, they inevitably take time.
On top of that, this place is a little unusual.
“The waves won't end unless you clear the gimmick. When I was at a level where clearing it was possible, I made it to Wave 78. Recently, I got as far as Wave 199. They just wouldn't end. People think the waves got so long that I got fed up and stormed out in a fit of anger.”
“That wasn't it?”
In a wave-defense dungeon, a necromancer was practically a god.
Bodies kept appearing, which only served to strengthen a necromancer's undead legion.
Even so, reaching Wave 200 must've taken at least a week in real time.
That's long enough to exhaust anyone's patience.
“Do you know what appears at Wave 200?”
“...What is it?”
“A dragon.”
“...There's a monster like that?”
I didn't think there were monsters like that even at Stage 70.
“Monster? That thing wasn't like a monster. Well, to put it simply, it was like... ‘That's enough. Get out of here.’”
“...So, unless you complete the gimmick, you can't clear it. In other words, stop wasting your time?”
“Exactly. That's it.”
Ahmad snapped his fingers and laughed.
“Even after I burned through my entire elite undead legion, I couldn't take it down. If I kept messing around, it'd probably kill me in one hit. How was I supposed to hold out? I ran immediately.”
“Forget the waves for now... what's the gimmick?”
“No idea.”
“Y-You don't know?”
“I can only make a rough guess. I don't know for sure. If I knew, I would've cleared it.”
“That's true.”
“Still, I do have a hint I can give you that nobody else can.”
If it was a hint nobody else could give...
“It must be a clue from the 200th wave.”
“Quick on the uptake. I like you even more, my brother.”
“......”
I told you, it seriously creeps me out when you say that.
“Ahem. The dragon said this.”
Ahmad lowered his voice as much as he could.
“I gave you so much time, and you couldn't make anything! As expected, you're beyond saving! You don't deserve to live!”
“...It said that?”
“Yeah.”
Was it waiting for them to... make something?
“Could this be a Gate intended for a production class?”
“Then there wouldn't be any waves.”
“That's true...”
But the key was making something?
Then... first, I should go inside and see what I could make.
**
[You are entering the Stage 27 Gate, ‘Trial of Pride.’]
When I arrived in Bordeaux and entered the Gate, what appeared before my eyes was a village.
It was definitely different from the Gates I'd seen so far.
Because there were NPCs there.
“Still, it's better than being alone.”
Being alone in a defense-type dungeon that could take days to clear might actually drive me insane.
To be precise, it was an individual-instance wave-defense dungeon.
Should I start by introducing myself to the NPCs?
“Hello.”
I bowed and spoke, and a short dwarf glanced up at me.
Just seeing that muscular, burly, bearded figure reminded me of Gimli from the Lord of the Rings movie I'd seen a long time ago.
So that's a dwarf.
I'd heard they sometimes appeared as friendly factions in high-stage Gates.
First time seeing one.
“A human?”
“...Yes.”
“How did a human get here...”
Before I could answer, the dwarf muttered, “Well, never mind,” then continued.
“Don't die for nothing. Run away while you still can. There's nothing you can do here anyway.”
“Maybe there is.”
“It's impossible from the outset. Unless you're a born craftsman like me, Dorin, you can't do it.”
Oh, that's a pretty good clue right from the start.
A craftsman in a dungeon where I was supposed to make something.
“What am I supposed to make? What is this village for?”
When I asked outright, Dorin laughed heartily and shook his head.
“It's nothing a human needs to know.”
“Why don't I need to know? I'm a member of this village now, too.”
He'd shut his mouth completely.
Ah, looks like there was no more information to get from him.
...or so I thought.
“If you're that curious, go ask the pointy-ears.”
“...Pointy-ears?”
Looking in the direction the NPC named Dorin pointed, I saw a small forest.
[Time remaining until the first wave: 13 minutes 11 seconds]
There was still some time before the wave, so should I go see what was in the forest?
I hadn't understood what he meant by pointy-ears at first, but a forest, ears, and a feud with dwarves...
What else could it be?
Elves. A fantasy cliché.
“Anyone there? I'm a human who just arrived in the village!”
When I called loudly from the forest entrance, a nearly naked beauty slowly emerged.
Whoa, damn.
The only thing that gave away that she wasn't human was her long, pointed ears.
“A human who just arrived? How did a human get here...”
“Well, I managed to get in somehow.”
Even if I told her I'd entered through a Gate, she wouldn't understand.
Plenty of other people besides me had already tested that.
Like characters in a game, the NPCs couldn't accept or understand that this was a world inside a Gate.
“Run away right now. This isn't a place a human can survive.”
“The dwarf named Dorin told me the same thing.”
At the mention of Dorin, the elf woman's brow furrowed sharply.
“It would be best not to talk about that little runt here.”
“Understood. Then...”
“I don't think I have anything else to say to a human.”
No, this woman—or rather, this elf—was just as damn irritating.
Maybe something would change if I cleared a wave?
After waiting a little, something started charging at the village wall.
A pack of goblins.
The mist from Unit One that I'd scattered in the air wiped them out in an instant, though.
[The goblin pack is startled by the overwhelming force and disbands.]
[The first wave has been cleared early.]
[Time remaining until the next wave: 59 minutes 58 seconds]
[The dwarves fear the unknown power you have displayed. They will be reluctant to talk with you.]
[The elves fear the unknown power you have displayed. They will be reluctant to talk with you.]
No, shit, that made things worse.
Now they were so scared they wouldn't even look me in the eye.
I'm screwed.
As I sighed, a message appeared.
[Your Follower, ‘Kkyu-Kkyu,’ wants to come out!]
Ah, walkies time.
Pets were different from undead; I couldn't keep them in subspace indefinitely.
I had to feed them, take them for walks (?), and take care of them.
I'd forgotten because I came to France.
“Summon Kkyu-Kkyu.”
─Kkyu?
Kkyu-Kkyu wriggled with its usual cute cry, then looked toward the forest and began wriggling in that direction at incredible speed.
“W-What? No, that's where the elves...”
She'd even warned me not to enter the forest. What should I do?
Just as it reached the very edge of the forest...
I met the eyes of the elf woman who had appeared.
Oh, I'm screwed...
“...C-Cute...”
Her face flushed red as the elf woman stared at me and asked,
“Are you its master?”
“That's right.”
“M-May I hold it?”
“...If it says it's okay.”
─Kkyu!
Good, it didn't seem to mind.
The elf woman held Kkyu-Kkyu and wore a blissful expression for a moment, then came to her senses and cleared her throat.
“...Ahem. To be the master of a Slime Lord... You aren't an ordinary human, after all.”
So is that really such a big deal?
“If a human has earned the loyalty of a Slime Lord, which doesn't choose a master easily, then we elves can trust them, too. I'm Ellain.”
“Kim Segyun.”
By the way, are you going to keep holding it?
It looked like it was wriggling because it was hungry.
When she reluctantly set Kkyu-Kkyu down, it happily crawled off to eat the fungi that filled the shaded parts of the forest.
“How did you come here?”
I came to clear the dungeon.
“That's what I'd like to ask you. What on earth are elves doing here with dwarves?”
“...Sigh. I didn't want to air my people's dirty laundry to a human, but I suppose I have no choice.”
To sum up what she told me...
A long time ago, the chief of the elf tribe and the chief of the dwarf tribe had gotten into an argument.
The dwarves had called the elves uncivilized fools who didn't even use fire, and the elves had called the dwarves ignorant louts who couldn't even use magic.
So they made a bet...
Unfortunately, a dragon that was ‘just passing by’ showed up, said it sounded fun, and locked them in here.
“And it keeps sending monsters, saying it's trying to hurry us along.”
Just like a fat lizard to be the source of all evil in fantasy.
I guess that was the dragon that appeared at Wave 200.
“At first, the monsters were simple, but they're gradually getting harder to deal with. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before we all die.”
“Why don't you work with the dwarves?”
“Each race has been given a different task.”
“What is it?”
“Our side has to brew liquor that could intoxicate even a dragon, without using fire...”
**
“...Our side has to forge a weapon that will amaze even a dragon, without using magic.”
So, liquor strong enough to get a dragon drunk, without fire.
A weapon impressive enough to amaze a dragon, without magic.
In other words, these were the two dungeon gimmicks.
“It's impossible.”
Ellain said with a sigh.
“No matter how well you brew, there's a clear limit to the alcohol content you can achieve through fermentation.”
That's true, isn't it?
I didn't know much about alcohol either, but I'd learned from hanging around with Zephyros the drunk.
Apparently, fermentation could only get you to a certain alcohol content.
Once the alcohol content got too high, the yeast died or something.
It drowned in the alcohol it had made itself.
So making high-proof liquor required ‘distillation’ using fire.
“It's impossible for our side, too. To make something that could astonish a dragon, we'd have to gather only the rarest metals and forge them, but rare metals can't be melted sufficiently without the heat of a magic furnace.”
“Hmm.”
Well, normally it would be impossible...
But for me...
“I can do that.”
It seemed way too easy, actually.
The first task was a piece of cake...
The problem was yeast dying in alcohol, but yeast normally died at around 18% alcohol...
Yeast were bacteria, too.
If they rose as undead under my magic, they'd get the durability boost from my control.
Eighteen percent was about soju strength, and there was no way my bacteria would die just from being submerged in soju.
They probably wouldn't even die in pure alcohol.
The dwarves' task was a little more of a problem...
It just had to be that magic wasn't applied directly, right?
If they didn't have enough heat without magic...
I could just make it for them, couldn't I?
“Dwarves have to poop, right... and elves do too, don't they?”
“W-What an impolite question!”
“I think that answers that. By the way, where's the bathroom?”
This medieval fantasy world doesn't have flush toilets, does it?