Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster - Chapter 21

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈

Chapter 21: The Awakening of the Holy Sword

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After the First Emperor's Great Unification War, the Tumanist Empire was founded, and the nations that had divided the continent united beneath the Imperial banner.

Thanks to the Emperor's noble spirit, wars between humans finally faded into history.

Humanity entered an age of peace and underwent many changes.

First, the cultivation of black soil stabilized agricultural society, naturally increasing food production.

Advances in papermaking also spread literacy, and newspapers were no longer the exclusive property of nobles.

Children received a basic education at school, and those with talent sometimes learned magic and swordsmanship.

Sick Imperial citizens received treatment at hospitals, and with the Imperial family leading urbanization, humanity became more civilized in every respect.

Rapid development, however, always came with side effects.

As food production increased, the population exploded. Then, as if heaven itself had willed it, an unexpected great famine struck agricultural society.

Worse, hasty and poorly organized urbanization caused crime to spread throughout the Empire.

As cities set up markets and declared themselves free cities, tenant farmers bound to their lands often fled to those cities in the dead of night, desperate to survive.

Cities did not merely produce runaways and criminals. They also brought about the Black Death, which caused more casualties than the Great Unification War.

Slums where beggars and the poor gathered were, in the most literal sense, shit pits. Mice naturally infested them, and those beasts caused the Black Death.

As if dealing with humanity's own problems was not enough, the military also had to endure the hardship of exterminating nonhuman peoples that crossed over from the Demon Realm.

Chaos worse than war. At this rate, it was obvious the Empire would fall before reaching even a hundred years since its founding.

Wherever there was a great problem, a solution was hidden somewhere.

The answer lay in the 72 Dungeons.

The cure for the Black Death, believed to be incurable, was surprisingly the Labyrinth Plant.

After hearing that news, the poor of the slums all sought out dungeons, giving them a chance to find work.

Dungeons were solutions to humanity's problems, but they also bestowed an incomparable blessing upon them.

Dungeon byproducts became revolutionary pillars of human advancement.

Now that the war had ended, the Empire's attention turned to dungeons.

When humanity became one, it needed a common enemy. If there was none, they had to make one and divert everyone's attention.

The Imperial family knew humanity would remain united only if it had a common enemy.

If that enemy also brought immense profit, there was no reason to hesitate.

People said that the Empire's enemies were the nonhuman peoples and the Demon Realm, but that was wrong.

The military's true declared enemy was the 72 Dungeons.

The Demon Realm arose from nonhuman peoples, and nonhuman peoples arose from dungeons.

Dungeons were dens of evil that gave birth to the entire Nonhuman Demon Realm.

Therefore, humanity's final task lay in the 72 Dungeons.

Humanity's will united behind the Imperial declaration, allowing the Empire to gain both justification and profit.

Even if a dungeon from the 72 Dungeons was cleared, another dungeon of the same rank would be born.

In other words, humanity had gained infinite resources.

After declaring the 72 Dungeons its enemy, the Empire's military reorganized itself as the Extermination Command.

They dismantled and remade all existing conventional anti-personnel weapons, then mass-produced weapons designed solely for killing monsters.

Wandering knights no longer sought lords. They sought dungeons.

Soldiers were no longer mobilized for war. They were mobilized for dungeons.

Mercenaries no longer chose employers. They chose dungeons.

Nobles, knights, soldiers, mercenaries, beggars. Everyone threw themselves into the 72 Dungeons, and every Imperial citizen fixated on them.

It was the age of dungeon raids.

With the changing times behind it, the Empire's Extermination Command also acted aggressively.

Each dungeon they cleared made humanity stronger and more united.

As time passed, the Empire poured every effort into raiding dungeons.

Yet despite countless attempts, there were seven labyrinths that could never be cleared.

Dungeons beyond all standards. The Empire's public enemies. Humanity's unsolved problem.

People called those dungeons the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.

The Seven Palaces of the Abyss could not be left as unknown dungeons forever.

'The Four Heroes will clear the uncharted Seven Palaces of the Abyss!'

The Extermination Command attempted to clear the Seven Palaces of the Abyss with the Four Heroes at the forefront.

Having mobilized all Four Heroes, it was a challenge that had to succeed, even if the Seven Palaces of the Abyss had been provisionally deemed impossible for humanity to clear.

Some said that if they succeeded, humanity would rise one step, no, one level higher from that moment onward.

'The Four Heroes did it! They cleared the Seven Palaces of the Abyss!'

'The Monster of Soot from Shadow of Pangu has died!'

'Long live the Four Heroes! The Empire did it! Humanity did it!'

The large-scale raid on the Seven Palaces of the Abyss could only be called a tremendous success.

All Four Heroes had returned alive, and that became the foundation for raiding the next of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.

Bang!

"Fuck, why did he have to die!"

Empire's Extermination Command.

Though it was an emergency committee where officials and generals had been urgently assembled, Commander Macdmill slammed a fist onto the Round Table without a care.

None of the generals present could criticize Macdmill's outburst.

They felt the same way and wanted to vent their anger like Macdmill.

"Balm Monk. How the hell did he suddenly die...?"

Balm Monk, the Hero of Faith, had died suddenly.

A Hero who had safely returned after clearing the Seven Palaces of the Abyss had died in the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss.

It had not even happened during a raid attempt. The fact that he had died so suddenly made the shock twice as great.

By the time they tried to cover up the incident, it had already been printed as a newspaper headline, and every Imperial citizen knew.

Macdmill truly could not believe it.

For humanity's prosperity, everyone had to work together for the Empire.

Even before such a grand cause, were petty self-interests really more important?

"Someone say something. Isn't that why we're all gathered here? A Hero is dead. A Hero who was a champion to every Imperial citizen. And he died in the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss, reborn after a successful raid."

"...."

"Fuck. The racket from those dogs and pigs is getting bad enough to give me tinnitus."

"We need to raid the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss."

At one general's words, everyone's attention turned toward him.

"What are we most concerned about right now? The people's attention and anxiety. The problem isn't the Hero's death itself, but the confusion it has caused. The current situation proves that."

Some muttered to themselves while others nodded.

Everyone present agreed with the young general's view.

Reading the room, the general continued, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Do you know what novels and plays are popular in the capital these days? Revenge dramas. The public thirsts for revenge. Isn't the situation before us just like one of those plays? If we show the Imperial citizens a satisfying revenge, everything will be resolved."

"What nonsense... You mean to say we should do this just for revenge?"

"No. That's the justification. It would simply be another useful justification. Now then, let me ask you all. When is a dungeon at its weakest?"

It was hardly a question worth asking. Anyone would say when it was newly born.

"Are you saying that since it's a new dungeon, we should strike now?"

"That isn't enough reason. It's true that new dungeons have many weaknesses, but we lack information. General, our opponent is one of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss. Why do you think we succeeded in clearing Shadow of Pangu?"

The advantage of information.

Unlike the other Seven Palaces of the Abyss, which constantly changed in preparation for raids, every structure in Shadow of Pangu, including its traps and monsters, remained the same.

No one had said it aloud, but everyone here knew they had succeeded because the dungeon itself was weak.

"We know very little about the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss. The only thing we know is that its boss is an Irregular Death Knight."

"Exactly. If the boss is undead, then most of its monsters will be undead as well. Is there anyone more suitable than Solari's Hero?"

Everyone doubted their ears at those words.

"So you're saying... we should dispatch Solari's Hero?"

"That's correct."

"Hah!"

The boss was undead, so they should send someone with a favorable matchup?

A one-dimensional idea fit for a child had come from a general's mouth.

Most of them lamented it, but the expressions of those who understood the general's true intention were different.

"Come to think of it, Solari's Hero..."

"That's right! Didn't they say he awakened the Holy Sword two days ago?"

"Yes."

Wilhelm, Solari's Hero, possessed the Holy Sword, but until its awakening, he had only been its owner.

Only the truly noble could wield the Holy Sword, and only one who received a revelation from Solari could awaken it.

Two days ago, Wilhelm's Holy Sword had awakened.

The awakened Holy Sword's power, with only a little exaggeration, might erase one of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss from history.

Its power had already shone during the Great Unification War, leaving no room for doubt.

"The two Heroes were the closest of friends. I believe Solari's revelation was a blessing given so Wilhelm could avenge his friend."

Balm Monk and Wilhelm were Heroes with similar yet different values.

They followed the same religion, but the direction of their faith differed. The way they expressed it was also completely opposite.

Balm Monk looked down on Wilhelm for praying at every moment, while Wilhelm frowned at Balm Monk for pursuing nothing but training.

When people constantly bickered, they were bound to grow attached.

The two gradually became close, and after owing each other their lives in Shadow of Pangu, they became inseparable friends.

That made it entirely possible to interpret Solari's revelation as a blade of vengeance.

"Everyone knows that Elder Balm Monk and Sir Wilhelm were close friends. One theater troupe in the capital even made a play about their comradeship. What if Sir Wilhelm, and no one else, were to take revenge for him?"

"But it'll take quite some time to dispatch the three Heroes. If the dungeon notices our movements in the meantime, won't that make things even more troublesome?"

"That's right. Everyone knows defense is much easier than offense. If we delay and they read our intentions, the raid will be ruined from the start."

"Then what about a minimal elite force?"

If they formed a large Extermination Party, their movements would inevitably be exposed, which was no different from declaring war on the dungeon.

Unless it was a foolish dungeon like Shadow of Pangu, it would naturally prepare defenses accordingly.

A dungeon used its defensive advantage to stop an Extermination Party.

An Extermination Party used its advantage in information to clear a dungeon.

That was the basic principle of dungeon raids, something everyone knew.

Knowing that, if they formed a large Extermination Party and leaked information, it could backfire.

Therefore, the Command's dungeon raids were divided into two types.

Large Extermination Parties that could force their way through even after exposing their movements.

Extermination Parties made up of only a small elite force, striking where the enemy least expected it.

"Hmm..."

"Urgh."

Everyone at the table racked their brains.

The raid on the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss had already been decided without anyone saying it outright.

The question now was whether to form a large Extermination Party or send only a small Holy Knight Order.

"If we consider the possibility of failure, the latter is right. If we pour in money and time only to fail, the damage will be large as well."

"I agree. Even if we fail, can't we cover up a small operation? We can't disappoint the people twice. We need to attempt the raid in secret and take on only minimal risk."

The generals who had remained silent also supported that opinion.

"They say the new dungeon's full of undead. Its defenses aren't fully prepared, and undead are weak against holy power, so I believe the chances are good. Didn't they say the Holy Sword awakened? Wouldn't an awakened Holy Sword make this force comparable to the Extermination Party that cleared Shadow of Pangu?"

"I think the same way, General. More than anything, why else would Solari have given this revelation if not so Wilhelm could avenge his friend?"

"Haha! That's right! Even God is on our side!"

For many reasons, everyone's opinions leaned toward the latter.

Commander Macdmill, who had been coordinating their opinions, made the final decision.

"It's decided, then. Sir Wilhelm will lead the Holy Knight Order."

They had no doubt that the new Seven Palaces of the Abyss would soon be cleared.

* * *

The bone throne in the Boss Room always made me uncomfortable.

Charlotte had designed it for me, but I was still human at heart.

"I still can't get used to this."

I only endured it because throwing it out and replacing it with something else would make Charlotte's efforts meaningless.

Letting out a sigh-like breath of cold air, I opened the newspaper.

Since there was no internet, I had to pass the time with newspapers Charlotte brought back from the outside world.

If I went outside, the Insects and Vampires would be making a racket everywhere.

I felt bad for Charlotte, but I wanted to spend quiet time somewhere quiet.

"They found out fast."

No, perhaps that was fast for a medieval era.

Flip. I turned the page without interest.

An event that formed an important pillar of this world's story immediately seized my attention.

"...The Holy Sword's awakening."

Wilhelm, Solari's Hero, had awakened the Holy Sword.

Thinking back, I remembered that this was around the time Wilhelm, a named NPC, awakened the Holy Sword.

It had been a passing line from an NPC, but I remembered every single one. That was what happened after I had played for thirty thousand hours.

"What did he say again?"

'At first, I didn't know the reason for the revelation. But only now, with destruction right before us, I understand.'

He said that during the chapter about Kalandas's invasion.

The Holy Sword's awakening was a revelation from Solari.

It was directly tied to the fact that Kalandas was seriously planning humanity's destruction.

'That fucking Kalandas. Your personal bully has appeared.'

In the game, the Rotting Hollow, where death bred, could not be cleared by a player alone.

I absolutely had to keep Wilhelm alive and receive his help to clear it.

You're dead twice over now, you corpse bastard.

Even if I was a dungeon boss, humanity's destruction would be a huge blow to me. And if Kalandas's forces grew stronger, I would only suffer for it.

Wilhelm still didn't know the meaning of the revelation.

But what if I leaked information about Kalandas's evil scheme?

"I might be able to replace the Rank 5."

It would be nice if I could reap the benefits and swipe the Necronomicon. Then I could strengthen Charlotte.

Footnotes:

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