WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈
Chapter 15: Escape Scroll
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Dreamland Visitor Guidelines.
We sincerely welcome all intruders to Dreamland, a place filled with dreams and hope.
We would like to share a few notices with our precious guests who are about to reclaim the Magic Stone.
The creator accepts no responsibility for anything intruders may experience...
(Excerpt omitted)
Under these terms and conditions, you may not seek compensation of any kind, even if you lose your life.
Dreamland is currently under construction.
The only areas open to guests are Area 1 and the Core Room.
Due to circumstances on the creator's end, the remaining areas are unfinished. Regrettably, Area 1 is the only completed area, so please keep that in mind.
The following are guidelines and precautions for Area 1.
1. The paths in Area 1 are complicated. Keep one hand on the wall and proceed carefully. If you do, you will eventually find a passage leading to the next area. Never take your hand off the wall. Unless you have a special skill for navigating mazes, you may become trapped forever and die there.
2. In accordance with fire safety regulations, every passage is equipped with a fire-suppression device, otherwise known as a Sprinkler. Water may occasionally fall from it even when there is no fire. This means the Sprinklers are functioning normally.
3. Area 1 of Dreamland was designed with minimalism in mind, according to the creator's tastes.
4. Area 1 is hungry. It may beg intruders to play with it or crave their affection, but this is a natural phenomenon, so please do not panic.
5. You may occasionally find someone in Area 1 who looks exactly like you. They are also a person exactly like you. Please show them kindness and love.
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If I put this guide at the entrance,
anyone want to wager either a ten-day temporary ban or hiring ten human Minions on whether the next intruder can reach newbie's dungeon Core Room?
*Comments
humanluvr: I'm in, I'm in, I'm in! Let me do it!!
└no_minions_4_me: Sure? I'll bet they can't reach the Core Room.
└humanluvr: Huh? That's what I was going to bet on too...
└whaleyeah: LOL, you gave them plenty of hints at that point...
└anonbutcher: Guides like this are more fun when they contain a few lies.
└psychward_mvp: Would any intruder believe a guide posted inside a dungeon in the first place?
└antqueen: I think my children could clear it...
└squintychar: Are your children that smart?
└antqueen: No, no. They're cute, so the Dungeon Master wouldn't be able to kill them. T_T
└squintychar: Shut up.
└magichero: B-b-but if there's an Area 1, are you making an Area 2 too?
└skullbones: Probably? The longer and wider a dungeon like this is, the less anyone wants to challenge it.
└sealedconq: Agreed.
└dip: A yandere who snaps necks. T_T
└golemking: For real... Honestly, I'm really looking forward to the yandere.
└newbie: What about my say in this, fuck?
└orange★: Don't bet temporary bans, damn it. -_-
└no_minions_4_me: Hey, everyone. I wasn't watching the live feed for a bit, so what happened with the Manticore?
└newbie: (Shiver)
└sealedphilo: I feel like I'm going to lose my mind just watching...
└cowhead: Watching newbie's live feed is the only joy in my life these days.
└3mhamster: LOL, me too.
└tvhead: It's so laughable how they're tearing each other apart and blaming one another.
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no_minions_4_me: Looks like it's time for the highlight.
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* * *
The Manticore looked down at the fallen Copycat.
Or perhaps...
The Copycat that had won the fight was looking down at the Manticore.
As though it had just been through a brutal battle, it struggled to keep its blood-soaked body upright.
Its breathing trembled.
Horrifying.
Grotesque.
It never wanted to face that thing again.
Unless it erased that thing from the world completely, it felt like it could never remain sane.
No Mana, no Stock, and one leg gone.
How could it erase that thing completely?
The answer was simple.
The Manticore began moving its battered jaws.
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
The Manticore was not in a rational state.
Until now, it had always taken the lead in exploring the dungeon.
Watching it laboriously devour the corpse made it seem like a completely different creature.
The Dark Mages, trembling at the sight, began discussing things among themselves.
"We can't be sure that's really the Manticore."
"That's what I'm saying... But can we even beat the Manticore? You saw that fight just now. It was on a completely different level."
Whether it knew the Dark Mages were plotting or not, it focused only on its own task.
"But if we don't do it while it's injured, we'll never get another chance. And if that's a fake, it could ambush us while we're defenseless and kill us all..."
"We have to take care of it somehow, right now. If we want to live."
They had no loyalty between them.
They were people who did not hesitate to murder for their goals, so it was only natural.
The Manticore was strong.
But now, it had been reduced to an injured beast.
The Dark Mages looked at one another and nodded.
Everyone was in agreement.
Then...
"Die, you monster bastard!"
"Disappear!"
The battle began once more.
The Dark Mages charged in boldly.
Only the elderly Zeko hung back, pretending to join the attack.
Stock made from human lives was consumed, and Hellfire poured down.
The Manticore, which had been tearing into its own corpse, burned darkly.
Thud.
The Manticore fell.
Who could have imagined that the ruler of the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range would die like this?
"We got it!"
"I can't sense any sign of life. It's completely dead."
"I didn't like that bastard from the start. Acting like it was the leader just because it was some monster bastard, fuck."
The cold-blooded Dark Mages let out sighs.
It was not completely over yet.
They had not found an exit.
Still, the immediate crisis had passed, and joy showed on their faces.
Just as the Dark Mages were relaxing, the dead Manticore's eyes snapped open.
Corpse Explosion.
The dead creature's body exploded like a bomb.
Most of the Dark Mages were caught in the blast.
It happened so quickly that none of them had time to scream.
Corpse Explosion's power was overwhelming.
The Manticore stood two tiers above the Dark Mages currently in the dungeon.
Only Zeko, who had been furthest back, barely survived.
"Haa, haa, haa..."
Zeko barely managed to get back on his feet.
He leaned against the wall and bit his lip.
"Did they all die...?"
His fist trembled as he looked at the corpses.
His mind was already filled with thoughts of escape.
Had Zeko ever been this frightened in his life?
Finite, yet endless corridors.
Water that kept rising.
And a Copycat exactly like a person.
Anomaly.
A dungeon filled with unknowable things.
The name of this place, where nightmares became reality, was Dreamland.
Zeko bitterly regretted his choice.
He held the Escape Scroll close to his chest.
It was the only way out of this place.
It felt so lovely.
This dungeon was Hell.
A hell that lured him in with the Magic Stone, then made him pay the price.
Repenting for the actions he had taken after falling for the devil's temptation, Zeko tore the Escape Scroll.
Riiip──
Riiip──
Another sound rang out at the same time.
"Ah."
Zeko stared ahead, his face drained of all color.
Zeko was there.
Zeko was there.
There was Zeko, old, shabby, and wounded.
There was Zeko, old, shabby, and wounded.
That thing which resembled Zeko tore an Escape Scroll.
That thing which resembled Zeko tore an Escape Scroll.
The sight...
filled Zeko with indescribable terror and squeezed his heart.
It told Zeko that even if he escaped hell, the place he escaped to would also be hell.
It shattered their hope to pieces.
"Ah."
Get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now, get lost right now.
Just as Zeko was about to scream at the fake that looked like him, light enveloped both of them.
* * *
After that day, Zeko could no longer fall asleep easily.
Zeko had never once heard the strange rumor that a Minion remaining inside a dungeon could come outside.
But Zeko had seen it clearly with his own eyes.
That monster tearing an Escape Scroll.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the Escape Scroll's destination was random.
Zeko never encountered the monster again after that.
Afraid he might run into it outside, Zeko did not return to the laboratory, much less home.
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Zeko became a complete wreck.
Zeko told the people around him what had happened, but no one believed him.
Everyone said Zeko had completely lost his mind and hurried away.
Then one day.
Zeko could not take it anymore.
Whenever Zeko fell asleep, he had nightmares nearly every day where that thing came to kill him.
"I have to kill it before it kills me. I have to kill it before it kills me. I have to kill it before it kills me. Kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, I have to kill it..."
Zeko wanted to have happy dreams.
He did not have many days left to live, and now he just wanted to sleep peacefully.
Desperately wishing for that, Zeko gripped a knife and returned home.
The house Zeko had been away from for so long was filled with dust.
Muttering incomprehensible words to himself, Zeko wandered through the hallway.
And just as expected!
Zeko found it.
The Copycat that had come to kill Zeko, holding a knife in its right hand!
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Zeko had lost his mind.
Laughing like a madman, Zeko swung his knife at the Copycat.
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On the bloodstained floor, beneath the shattered window.
Zeko was finally able to fall asleep with a peaceful expression.
For the first time in a long while, Zeko's face looked truly at ease.
There was only one corpse.
* * *
There was no way to know what became of the intruder afterward, which was a little disappointing.
└newbie: He isn't going around spreading information about my dungeon, is he...?
└humanluvr: I think he lived like a madman and then killed himself?
└no_minions_4_me: I think so too. ._.
Come on, no way.
The Dark Mages' end had been horrifying, but was Dreamland really traumatic enough to give someone PTSD?
Well, I had to survive too, didn't I?
I had not meant to pass judgment, but if it was karma, then it was karma.
They were criminal bastards who made a living by killing people, so I did not feel sorry for them.
Anyway.
That aside.
【You have successfully defended the Wave.】
【Rewards will be calculated based on the difficulty.】
【Difficulty is calculated based on Points acquired, the level difference from the highest-level intruder, and the number of intruders.】
【Calculation complete.】
【This Wave has been rated Nightmare difficulty.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Points have been awarded.】
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LV. 30
Class - Dungeon Master
Dungeon Theme - Anomaly
Population - 2/50
Device count - 1/50
Points - 100000
STR - 33
DEX - 33
CON - 33
MP - 33
UN - newbie
UC - dm_6_666666666
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It was about time to start expanding the dungeon in earnest.
Footnotes:
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