WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈
Chapter 68: Reversed Hierarchy
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The Extermination Command. The Five-Colored Mage Tower. The Solari Church.
It was unprecedented for the Empire's leadership to gather in one place.
Dozens of people sat around the vast Round Table.
Not a word was spoken, as though only people incapable of speaking had been seated there.
The only sounds were repeated sighs and groans, faintly revealing their despair.
Even the Emperor’s funeral could not have been more grim than this.
In the silence, a cardinal turned to the Purple Mage Tower Master.
“Still no word from the Great Sage?”
“...Yes.”
“Then it's certain.”
The Great Sage had last been with the Margrave of Astoria.
That Margrave of Astoria now served Faith’s Tomb as undead.
It was as good as certain that the Great Sage had become a Lich as well.
Even the Five-Colored Mage Tower Masters, who had dismissed it as nonsense until now, could no longer deny it.
Every circumstance confirmed the Great Sage's death.
“Say something.”
As the cardinal spoke, the cardinal's gaze remained fixed on Commander Macdmill.
This might not have been the time to assign blame, but if they had to, the responsibility clearly lay with Macdmill.
It had all begun with Balm Monk's death. To avenge Balm Monk, Wilhelm and the Holy Knight Order had been deployed.
Macdmill bitterly regretted that decision.
The cardinal let out a deep sigh and scrubbed their face with both hands.
It was no illusion. Over the past few days, the cardinal had visibly aged.
“The Four Heroes and the Great Sage were all killed by that bastard Lucas. The rising star you people bragged about has gone over to him. Don't you all know? It wouldn't be strange to take this as a sign of the Empire's destruction.”
“Your Eminence, please calm yourself.”
“How can I calm down now? The Solari Sun Holy Sword and the Moonlight Sword. We've lost all of Solari's grace. No, we haven't even lost them. They've fallen into the hands of an Abyssal Palace.”
“....”
“Am I wrong? If we keep taking this lying down, humanity will soon be destroyed.”
Agreeing with the cardinal would only further damage morale.
Still, everyone there secretly agreed.
The Heroes responsible for the Empire had all died.
Even the next generation's greatest hope had turned its back on the Empire and sided with the Abyss.
To make matters worse, after the Holy Sword, even a Holy Relic had fallen into the Abyss’s grasp.
Faith’s Tomb, the Rank 7 Abyssal Palace.
It was an undeniable fact that the Empire faced destruction because of a single dungeon.
“We have no choice but to admit it now. That bastard Lucas's curse is coming true.”
That monster of the Abyss was Lucas, a former Hero of the Empire.
Lucas's curse echoed through everyone's minds.
You are not human. You are the children of the Abyss. God will punish you, humanity.
It was an age when Witches had officially been declared enemies of humanity.
Lucas's execution for sheltering a Witch had seemed like the natural course of action.
But it should never have happened. Lucas's death had come back to drive humanity toward death.
The execution ten years ago had been the source of every disaster, but regretting it now would change nothing.
The leadership had gathered not to determine the cause, but to find a solution.
Macdmill slowly closed their troubled eyes.
“We can't cover this defeat with further extermination.”
Doing so would only hasten their destruction.
There was no elite force left that could be deployed to conquer an Abyssal Palace.
“Our first priority must be calming the unrest among the people.”
“How?”
“Before that, there is something you need to understand. The people's attention is fixed on Rank 7. The Empire has suffered repeated defeats against the Rank 7 Abyssal Palace. Then what of the higher ranks...?”
A single Rank 7 Abyssal Palace had driven humanity to the brink of destruction.
That meant even if they dealt with Faith’s Tomb, the current threat of destruction would remain.
As long as the higher-ranked Abyssal Palaces remained, the people would tremble in fear.
What was more, conquering Faith’s Tomb would create a New Seven Palaces of the Abyss.
The Empire had continued to develop in order to oppose that cycle, using dungeon byproducts as the foundation of its growth.
Humanity had grown strong enough to gradually challenge the Abyssal Palaces.
The gap between them had narrowed, and they had even conquered Shadow of Pangu.
But that had been nothing more than an illusion.
“This is what people are saying. They say the Abyssal Palaces treat humanity as entertainment. That once they grow tired of us, they will destroy humanity. And they say that moment is now.”
Maybe it was true.
If the Seven Palaces of the Abyss wanted to destroy humanity, humanity would vanish from history in an instant.
That did not mean they could simply sit back and accept it.
“For now, we must do what we can. We need to tell the world that the Abyssal Palace we faced, Faith’s Tomb, was not truly Rank 7.”
Faith’s Tomb was a Single-Entity Dungeon.
The 72 Dungeons were ranked according to a dungeon's total strength, but for a Single-Entity Dungeon, only the Boss's strength counted toward its rank.
The Faith’s Tomb they had faced included not only Lucas, but the children of the Abyss as well.
That meant they could not say they had simply faced a Rank 7 dungeon.
There was a clear reason for it, so it was far from a convenient excuse.
“Of course, it won't erase the people's fears, but it will improve things somewhat.”
Their unrest was focused on the reality that the Abyssal Palace responsible for all this chaos was Rank 7.
If they used its status as a Single-Entity Dungeon as grounds to revise and announce the ranking, they could at least address that concern.
“So what you're saying is... we should justify our failure?”
The Abyssal Palace we faced was not actually Rank 7.
It was clearly ranked much higher, so our defeat was inevitable.
That was how some people might hear it.
“Your Eminence, this is not difficult. We need to begin with this small change and seek further measures.”
“....”
“We should publicly announce a revised ranking based on the dungeon's total strength.”
Humanity had only ever named the 72 Dungeons.
This was the first time they had arbitrarily revised and announced their rankings.
Faith’s Tomb was that far beyond the norm, an Abyssal Palace that could be considered an entirely different class.
The people gathered there showed their agreement with Macdmill's words.
Before long, they were all discussing the rankings of the Abyssal Palaces.
Soon, a majority opinion established the revised ranking.
It would serve as justification for their failure, but having fully realized the enormity of that evil, it was also a reasonable ranking.
“Then it's decided. Faith’s Tomb will become the Rank 2 Abyssal Palace.”
* * *
The news of humanity arbitrarily revising the rankings of the 72 Dungeons reached Roxanne, the Lord of the Tenfold Abyss.
Bang!
Only thunderous impacts rang through the Tenfold Abyss's Boss Room.
Roxanne's small fists carried overwhelming force.
From the sound alone, it would have been easy to mistake them for explosions.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With every punch, gold, silver, and jewels crumpled and scattered through the air.
“Insignificant!”
Bang!
“Vermin!”
Bang!
“Me!”
Bang!
“What do they take me for?!”
Bang!
Roxanne stopped punching and panted furiously.
Humans setting the rankings did not actually change her rank.
But it was proof that humanity feared Faith’s Tomb more than the Tenfold Abyss.
Whoosh!
Roxanne spewed Breath in every direction.
The treasures melted like ice the moment they touched the ink-black flames.
Among them was an amethyst tiara she treasured.
“Ah!”
Roxanne realized it too late and rushed over, but the tiara had already melted away.
She stood there blankly, as though frozen.
Soon, her expression twisted.
Bang!
With a single kick, the mountain of treasure collapsed.
Roxanne gaped at the cascading treasures.
Whoooosh!
Black Breath melted the falling treasure in an instant.
Roxanne dropped to the floor, panting furiously.
“Insignificant fools! Stupid fools! They don't even know who I am...!”
The rankings of the 72 Dungeons were not something humans had any right to decide.
Those fools clearly did not know how sensitive the subject of rankings was to the 72 Lords.
Much less how great a matter of pride it was to an Abyssal Palace.
And how much greater it was to Roxanne herself.
...Not another Lord, but that Death Knight is above me.
Bang!
“Every last one of them...!”
The gathering of the 72 Lords rose in her mind like smoke.
A mere Rank 7 Lord had confidently claimed they could kill me. Me, Roxanne.
Not long afterward, even the humans had started pulling the same crap.
It was a ranking decided arbitrarily by insignificant humans.
There was no reason to be swayed by it, and a Lord's feelings were too precious to waste on it.
She wanted to slaughter every last human─
“Slaughter them all!?”
The Empire was not even worth calling entertainment. The Tenfold Abyss did not need to act.
Roxanne alone could easily bring about humanity's destruction.
Or, at least under the pretext of showing them what the true Rank 2 was, she wanted to slaughter them all.
Unable to contain her fury, Roxanne sprang to her feet.
“....”
Before long, she sat back down.
To think she’d act on such an impulse.
While the other Abyssal Palace Lords remained still, what would it look like if she alone acted?
She would look no different from a Hatchling being swayed by emotions.
Dragons were the apex of all things, possessing keen intellect.
Being ruled by her emotions like this was a disgrace to Dragonkind.
At that thought, Roxanne squeezed her eyes shut and suppressed her emotions.
The raging fire within her gradually cooled.
“For the pride of Dragonkind, if nothing else...”
I am a wise and intelligent Dragon Lord.
Roxanne comforted herself, telling herself that Dragonkind's keen intellect was an innate gift exclusive to them.
“....”
Bang!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
A Dragon could be killed by a mere Death Knight.
A Death Knight could be Rank 2 despite the existence of a Dragon Lord.
The throne at the apex of all things was one only Dragons could claim.
It was outrageous enough for a Death Knight to covet it, but could that Death Knight have already surpassed a Dragon?
Bang!
The Boss of the Tenfold Abyss. The Dragon Lord. The Immortal Dragon of Heavenly Tribulation.
The dignity that no mere Death Knight could ever covet had crumbled in an instant.
“Vargoer, you bastard...!”
Vargoer's face appeared before her like an illusion.
Roxanne punched toward it.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
For some time, the Tenfold Abyss was filled with nothing but thunderous impacts.
Footnotes:
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