WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈

Chapter 39: The Secret Dungeon and the Secret of the Coin

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The first thing I felt was a suffocating pressure clogging my nose and mouth.

We came to our senses amid an unpleasant stickiness, as if we were standing in a swamp.

“This is...”

“Fog?”

What I had mistaken for a swamp was fog spreading in every direction.

The pale mist surrounded us as we stood in a place like an overgrown garden.

“It feels wrong to call this ordinary fog...”

“It’s no ordinary fog. We should be careful.”

Hans waved the torch in his hand.

The fog retreated, but at the same time, the torchlight grew weaker.

He was right.

This was no ordinary fog. It gnawed at the mind and led people astray.

Without a torch or another light source, its ominous penalty would grow even stronger.

Whoooooo.

A broad garden appeared through the fog.

Thick weeds, as though no one had tended to them in ages, covered the ground. An old well stood nearby, and beyond it rose a strange structure.

‘So this is the place.’

The Prisoner’s Tower, a Secret Dungeon accessible through the Ruined Prison, First Floor.

“It’s hard to breathe...”

“Uncle Hans, do you know anything about this place?”

“A labyrinth within the Labyrinth. I knew outer dimensions existed, but little more than that... Information like this is precious enough that money can’t buy it.”

Hans looked at me incredulously, as if asking, ‘Could it be?’

Of course, I knew what hidden piece lay within the Prisoner’s Tower, what monsters appeared here, and what gimmicks it held.

“No way...”

“I’m a genius mage, after all.”

“Ian really is amazing!”

‘Should’ve taught them about this beforehand too.’

I clicked my tongue.

I had thought it was too soon to enter a Secret Dungeon, so I hadn’t explained it to Elena or Daisy. I would have to give orders on the spot as we explored.

Things would be rough until they adjusted.

“Don’t let your guard down just because it’s a first-floor Secret Dungeon. It’s far more dangerous than it looks.”

“Everyone, check your equipment...”

Just as we were about to prepare for the exploration...

Bzzzzzz!

A portal suddenly opened in midair.

“A portal?!”

As soon as we went on guard, a group of people emerged from it.

‘They came in after all.’

I gripped my staff.

Secret Dungeons were dangerous.

Even though this was on the first floor, the monsters here were as strong as third-floor monsters. The Dimensional Guardian, the boss, surpassed even most high-ranking fourth-floor monsters.

Still, the Labyrinth never created a situation that couldn’t be cleared.

Outer dimensions were meant for cooperative play.

‘Though I don’t know whether they’ll become allies or enemies.’

Even with my vast knowledge of this world, I hadn’t expected this.

“You people...”

“...?”

What kind of coincidence was this?

The people who emerged from the portal were familiar faces.

“Darnen, Dainen?”

It was the male and female Dark Kkanp pair we had encountered in the swamp before.

I hid my surprise and played it off.

“Wow, good to see you. Fancy meeting you in a place like this.”

“Do you want that mouth of yours torn apart? It’s Drian, not Dainen, lowborn.”

The slaves serving as guards and porters stood beside them as well, though for some reason, their numbers had dropped from three to two.

“Ian... This...”

“Hmm...”

My companions were wary, while I wore an awkward expression.

That woman was as strong as a fourth-floor Expedition Party member.

She was powerful enough to clear this Secret Dungeon alone.

Which meant our odds of survival had just risen.

But it wasn’t all good.

‘Dark elves are trash by nature.’

Their oath not to stab us in the back had only been valid until we left the Rotting Swamp. They could become hostile again at any time.

‘They might decide to slaughter us.’

Honestly, what I had been as wary of as the monsters during this expedition was the possibility that the Expedition Party members traveling with us would turn into Marauders. Secret Dungeons offered rewards as enormous as their difficulty.

‘What if that woman entered the Prisoner’s Tower, a first-floor Secret Dungeon, to obtain that item?’

Even a good person like me could be blinded by greed.

Could dark elves, known to be scum, be trusted any more?

Not a chance.

Darnen was decent, for a dark elf, but that was only by dark elf standards.

“Good. Let’s kill them while we have the chance. We weren’t planning to share the rewards from this outer dimension anyway, were we?”

Drian, the dark elf assassin in light clothing, glared at us and drew a dagger.

He must have felt humiliated after getting scared by my Lightning Arrow last time.

“...”

Gimlius gripped his axe tightly.

“At last, you show your filthy true colors! You pitch-black pointy-eared bastards!”

“Come at us, you fuckers!”

Just as the tension was about to boil over...

Bzzzzzz!

A new variable appeared.

Another portal opened.

And what emerged from it was...

“Elves?”

“White elves! It’s a bunch of white elves!”

They were elves.

By coincidence, the green-haired male elf mage in robes, the one who had warned us to beware of dark elves, and his party had entered this place.

* * *

Whether it was true or not, the dark elves had supposedly stolen an important item from the long-established tribe, and the elves had been pursuing them to recover it.

In short, bitter enemies had met in the same place, inside an outer dimension that was dangerous beyond measure.

What a fucked-up situation.

‘This is a complete mess.’

“You bastards!”

As I ran a hand over my face, the elf mage’s party saw Darnen’s group and drew their weapons.

“Ha, those annoying half-breeds chased us all the way here!”

The elf mage’s party had also lost one member, making it four against four.

“...”

Darnen, the dark elf mage who had remained silent, took a stance and prepared to fight upon seeing the elves.

The elf mage might not have been on the level of Darnen, a mid-ranking Expedition Party member, but he was still quite skilled. The elf swordsman beside him didn’t look easy to deal with either.

Whichever side won, both would suffer heavy losses.

Then only we would be left, and exploring the Secret Dungeon would become much harder.

The decision I had to make here was obvious.

‘If you’re going to fight, at least wait until the boss is nearly dead, you pointy-eared bastards!’

Whirrr.

The Coin of Fate spun.

[Heads/Tails]

[Side with the elves]

[Side with the dark elves]

“Wait!”

Without tossing the coin, I stepped between the two groups facing each other.

“I understand that you can’t leave an outer dimension until the exploration is complete and the Dimensional Guardian has been killed. The monsters here are stronger than those in ordinary Labyrinth areas as well. Is this really the time for us to fight among ourselves?”

But whether their skin was black or white, these pointy-eared bastards were an intelligent and rational race.

“You’re Ian, correct? If your side helps us, wouldn’t this situation be easily resolved?”

“You, lowborn. Join our side. Then we’ll spare you.”

“Surely you don’t intend to believe the words of that cursed race? Every last one of them is vile and cunning. They’ll use you and cast you aside.”

“Do you think those weaklings can defeat Darnen and me? We can make another promise, like before. Choose wisely.”

Hmm, this really was a complete mess.

There was too much bad blood between them. No matter what I said, these bastards looked determined to spill blood here.

‘Is there no helping it?’

As I thought, I narrowed my eyes.

‘Wait.’

Judging by where the coin was spinning and my veteran knowledge, I felt those were not the only choices.

The coin did not want something as simple as choosing sides.

This was...

[Insight]

[And Awakening]

[The Coin of Fate carves out a new destiny.]

Ting!

As excitement rose within me and I realized something, the coin that had been falling to the ground bounced once more and changed position.

[Heads/Tails]

‘Please come up.’

‘Heads.’

[Heads]

‘Good!’

The moment I won the coin toss, the fog writhed ominously.

At the same time...

Beyond the fog came the sound of feet striking the ground and chilling howls.

Grrr-woof! Woof! Woof!

Soon, the source of those ominous cries emerged through the fog.

Their rotting bodies exposed patches of bone, and malformed bony spikes ran along their spines. Unfocused blood-red light glimmered where their eyes should have been, while their jaws split open beneath their ears.

Layers of saw-like teeth dripped saliva and grated together with a grotesque scraping sound.

Twisted Hounds.

They had once been military dogs raised by the Jailers who managed this prison to catch escaped prisoners.

They weren’t especially troublesome monsters, but there were quite a lot of them.

There had to be more than twenty.

“M-monsters?!”

“Monsters in the fog!!!”

‘This is it!’

‘The solution to this situation!’

I secretly curled my lips into a smile, then turned with my robe fluttering behind me.

“We won’t take anyone’s side. Decide whether you’ll fight each other and destroy yourselves here, or focus on the exploration first.”

I needed to put on a performance.

Burning a spell parchment, I pointed my staff at the pack of monsters.

Crash!

Yelp!

Ice Spike, sharper and stronger than before, pierced through three Twisted Hounds and announced its presence.

...

The two groups glared at each other before turning their weapons toward the monsters.

[Ian summoned monsters and drew their aggro!]

Hmm. The coin had been useful for the first time in a while.

Footnotes:

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