The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie - Chapter 20

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 20: Position Shift

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Dreamland was quiet again today.

I passed the time browsing the Gallery and playing with Malrang.

Ever since I fixed up Area 1, Area 2, and the entrance, there was genuinely nothing left to do. I spent all my time lounging in front of the Surveillance Camera.

Things felt a little empty after Restia left.

When I stared at her blankly while I ate, the way she would go, "Eek!" had been fucking hilarious.

Hah.

I hadn't realized it before she was gone, but I guess I was the type to get lonely too.

"Ahem."

There was a very simple solution for times like this.

I could sing my heart out and shake off these feelings.

Maybe I should become a singer someday?

Now that I thought about it, this world didn't have any of the J-POP hits that were popular back in the modern world, right?

A plagiarist singer in another world.

I Thought I Was an Anomaly Theme Dungeon Master, but It Turns Out I Was a Genius Composer?

This was guaranteed to work.

It had to work.

Certain of that, I uploaded a recording to the Gallery.

newbie: newbie tried singing today, pls rate hehe

└ golemking: Sorry for getting serious, but do you actually want to die, newbie?

└ dip: Why does it sound like a pig getting slaughtered in your throat?

└ sealedphilo: My ears are bleeding, fuck. What are you going to do about this? Can you take responsibility?

└ sealedconq: Fuuuck, haaah!! newbie!!

└ anonbutcher: ???

└ psychward_mvp: Mattaku... newbie's singing wrecked my ears, didn't it?

└ kingslayer: This is seriously legendary.

└ worldiscold: The world is fair!

└ antqueen: (Bowing deeply to newbie) newbie, this is fucking awful, but can I block you??

└ orange★: I've lived a long time, but I've never seen someone destroy both the pitch and rhythm this badly...

└ no_minions_4_me: You really can't sing at all...

└ newbie: T_T...

└ humanluvr: New bie! It’s o kay! Let's practice singing together with big sis later!!

The Veterans who usually adored me turned ice-cold in an instant, and my world fell apart today.

Haaah.

Just wait. When I see these fuckers later, I'll see how well they can sing.

Anyway.

The fact that I was getting roasted for my singing wasn't important.

There was one topic that had been circulating as the Gallery's biggest discussion lately.

└ orange★: Everyone's preparing well, right?

└ op_ghost: YES!!!!!! YES!!!!!! CAPTAIN!!!!!!

└ antqueen: (Standing on her hands and clapping her feet for newbie) Of course I am, hehe.

└ kingslayer: Yeah.

└ nightraven: Where do you think we'll end up this time...?

└ worldiscold: PLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRATPLEASELOWJINRAT

It was the Position Shift.

I thought I'd heard it explained when I first entered the Dungeon Gallery.

Dungeons weren't fixed in place.

Their coordinates changed at set intervals, and that was called a Position Shift.

In other words, Dreamland couldn't stay in the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range forever.

It was completely random, so if I was unlucky, I could end up near the World Tree like worldiscold.

If I was lucky, though, I could keep having it easy while dealing with Trolls and Goblins like I had until now.

└ humanluvr: Newbie, are you done preparing for the Position Shift??

└ newbie: Yep yep.

└ humanluvr: You checked all the data on dangerous areas, right??

└ newbie: Of course.

The Dungeon Gallery was a place for communication, but it was also packed with information Dungeon Masters had gathered to survive.

There was even a neatly organized sheet listing each race's location and bases, dangerous individuals, weapons, magic used, and more.

Apparently, I just had to look through it and prepare accordingly...

I might have been armed with powerful Anomalies, but unlike the Veterans, I was low-level.

This weak newbie needed levels and Points.

Honestly, I was a little scared.

If I ended up near the World Tree like worldiscold, I might really have to kill myself.

Sometimes, I saw pictures and videos on the Gallery of Veterans fighting intruders. No lie, those places felt like they belonged to a completely different genre.

There was one fortunate thing, though.

My dungeon wasn't something you could clear by charging in and smashing everything. It was more of a solve-the-puzzle kind of place, so it wasn't hopeless.

Since the System treated an Escape Scroll activation as repelling an intruder, this could even be an opportunity to level up like crazy.

└ worldiscold: Fuck you Elf bastards, I'm getting out of here LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

└ magichero: Y-y-you've worked hard all this time...

└ golemking: You really, really did...

└ newbie: Seriously... Now you can live a relaxing dungeon life...

└ antqueen: (Tears of joy streaming down while looking at newbie) What a shame, hehe.

└ worldiscold: Shut up.

There was one day left until the Position Shift.

I gave the dungeon one last inspection.

Good. No problems.

Everything was perfect.

"Malrang, it's finally time to eat."

"Ugh."

Bring it on, world.

This newbie Dungeon Master was coming!

The next day, the dungeon teleported with a rumble.

Let's see. I checked the dungeon's address and...

Hmm.

Hmmm.

└ newbie: Guys, I'm... in the Forest of Life?

└ humanluvr: ??????

└ no_minions_4_me: Um...

"At least it's not near the World Tree, but..."

Heh heh.

This time, I had landed in an Elf den.

And not just any Elves.

A den full of psychopath Elves.

* * *

This is an old post.

─────

Title: Explanation of Elves (Long post, beware)

Author: chongchong_sage

First, Elves are a Long-Lived Species with pointed ears.

Long-Lived Species tend to have superior physical abilities, but a lot of these bastards are even good with magic.

Some truly exceptional Elves are as strong as Blessed Ones. Speaking from experience...

The best-known and largest faction is the World Tree Forest near the West Kingdom.

You don't need to worry much about the rest because they're small fry, but there is one exception.

Has everyone heard of the Forest of Life?

It might sound unfamiliar... To put it simply, it's where Elf criminals live...

When ordinary Elves commit seriously fucked-up crimes, they get exiled from the territory where they lived.

Strangely enough, they don't get prison sentences or executions like humans do... Elf laws are fucking weird.

Anyway, all those vicious criminals gather in a place called the Forest of Life.

The Forest of Life's history can be summed up in one line.

Those criminal bastards beat the shit out of everyone there and made it their home like parasites.

Think of it as an Elf slum, hehe.

Anyway... the Forest of Life Elves are vicious.

They sell drugs, traffic people, and commit every crime you can imagine...

The easy way to tell them apart is to check for a brand on their body. If they have one, you can assume they're Forest of Life Elves LOL.

People call them Branded Elves.

Anyway, I wrote down the information I just got...

Good luck with your dungeon lives, everyone!!

Let's all survive for a long time!!

*Comments

└ orange★: Thank you for the helpful information.

└ antqueen: As expected, our sage is the best!

└ worldiscold: If I ran into those Elves as a Level 30 Dungeon Master, I'd just have to kill myself...

└ dip: Why are you still only Level 30...?

└ golemking: I'm a Level 100 Steampunk Dungeon Master, so if a Forest of Life Elf entered my dungeon, I could just go nom.

└ no_minions_4_me: I miss chongchong_sage.

└ orange★: What are you doing here?

└ no_minions_4_me: You scared me LOL. I just suddenly thought of them, LOL.

└ orange★: What the hell... Go prepare for the Wave.

└ no_minions_4_me: Then what are you doing here?

└ orange★: I suddenly thought of them too, LOL.

└ no_minions_4_me: Hey, you asshole.

─────

* * *

A dungeon had appeared in the Forest of Life.

The Elves living there, commonly called Branded Elves, rubbed their chins as they looked at the dungeon sitting openly before them.

"Why the hell would a dungeon appear right on the edge of the forest?"

"I knew about the Position Shift Cycle... Check the dungeon's name first."

"It's called Dreamland. Have you heard of it? You hang around the South Kingdom underworld crowd a lot."

"What the hell does that have to do with a dungeon's name? I can't even go around there lately because the South Kingdom's been making a fuss about wiping out Branded Elves."

The two Branded Elves were named Jius and Reberio.

Every Elf affiliated with the Forest of Life was assigned a position by the Elder. These two currently served as action leaders.

"Could this be a new dungeon?"

"A new dungeon? What makes you think that?"

"Seriously... This is why people who can't use magic are no good."

Reberio was a highly talented mage, at least within the Forest of Life.

Reberio immediately noticed that no residue had accumulated at the dungeon entrance and let out a small gasp.

"This is huge... It hasn't even been half a year yet."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you? This could be an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

Reberio grabbed Jius by the shoulder.

"Yeah. You know how expensive the Magic Stone in a dungeon is, right?"

"I know that much."

"No! If you did, why are you standing there like an idiot?"

Looking frustrated, Reberio continued.

"Listen carefully. Magic Stones are precious treasures that can change our lives. It depends on the size, but if we swallow even a small piece of a Magic Stone above a certain size, we can become at least dozens of times stronger than the Elves living here. If we use it as a magic ingredient, we can blow up a simple Fireball into something on the level of a Meteor. If we sell it on the black market, we'll get so much money that we couldn't spend it all even if we lived lavishly until the day we die. If that isn't an opportunity, what is!?"

Reberio had a way with words.

After listing more reasons they needed to enter the dungeon, Jius's expression went slack, as though entranced.

"The forest's situation hasn't been good lately... If we can get it."

"Exactly! We can live much better than we do now. Honestly, weren't you sick of being the Elder's lackey?"

They were probably the first ones to discover the dungeon.

The mood around the forest was already unsettled.

This was an opportunity.

"Still, is it okay for just us to go in without Escape Scrolls?"

"We can leave without scrolls for the first half day anyway. If anything seems strange, we'll come right back out. We can look around inside with Detection Magic too, and if there's Jamming, we'll leave immediately. Okay?"

Jius eventually nodded.

The two Elves promised to keep their discovery of the dungeon secret.

They were the only ones patrolling this outer area that week, so there was no danger of being found out.

If things went badly, they could always come back out and report that they had found the dungeon, so there was no real risk.

They packed food, water, and supplies.

Then they entered the dungeon.

An unpleasant, gloomy corridor appeared before them.

But blinded by greed, the two walked straight ahead.

"Hmm. Thankfully, there's no Jamming. The passage continues straight ahead, then there's a large square space, followed by a path leading to the Core Room. The passage is strangely long and wide, but I think we can explore everything within three days."

After finishing the detection, Reberio roughly sketched out a map of the dungeon.

│Passage│

│ │

── ──

│ Space │

│ │

── ──

│Core Room│

───────

"What about Minions and traps?"

"At least, I can't sense anything with Detection Magic. It doesn't seem to be a magical trap. Since the space is suspiciously large, we'd better watch out for poison traps or something. Thankfully, we brought antidotes. The one thing bothering me is that I can't sense the Dungeon Master's Mana..."

The dungeon's tiny camera shifted.

Things were playing out exactly as they had during the Manticore Wave.

But unlike back then, there was no maze.

All Reberio and Jius saw before them was a straight passage.

They began walking with confidence.

Normally, dungeons were places they would not even dream of entering.

Unless stupid Trolls or Goblins were the ones entering, the dungeons remaining on the continent were terrifying places that required serious resolve to enter.

But.

The story changed if it was a new Dungeon Master's dungeon.

They said there had once been far more dungeons than there were now.

Unlike the dungeons that had survived until today, ordinary humans could apparently kill Dungeon Masters and Minions in those old dungeons with wooden swords and take their Magic Stones.

They were special.

Even dozens of ordinary humans were nothing more than moving toys to us.

Three hours passed as they kept walking.

Reberio and Jius had to choose whether to turn back or keep going.

A crossroads.

The two met each other's eyes and nodded.

Their thoughts aligned.

They would keep going.

More than half a day passed.

There was no turning back until they had the Magic Stone.

A little later.

They stopped walking.