WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 49: Goblin Cave (2)

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"The cave's as big as a mountain, but the entrance is the size of a rat's reproductive organs."

"Just say rat dick. What's with 'rat reproductive organs'? It doesn't suit you."

Chase and Gronak found the entrance to the cave.

Naturally, there was no door.

When they peered inside, it did not feel like an ordinary cave.

How to put it?

"It feels like a building, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

Beyond the entrance was a massive lobby.

It looked carefully carved and shaped by someone, with obvious signs of artificial construction.

A statue of a strange-looking Goblin stood prominently in the center of the lobby.

There were also various pieces of furniture whose purposes they could not identify, a ceiling, and even stairs leading to the upper floors.

The interior was magnificent, like something Dwarves might have built.

"...But what the hell is that smell? It fucking reeks."

Still.

The stench was nearly unbearable.

It smelled like their lungs would rot.

Just breathing it in made their heads spin.

If the two Dwarves had weak stomachs, they would have vomited on the spot.

"I don't want to go in. Is it just me?"

"Then stay here and starve to death."

"I don't want that either."

"Then we have to go."

Chase took the lead, scolding the grimacing Gronak for being slower than a mayor's aide despite being a ranger.

"Quit nagging. That's why you're still unmarried."

"Don't start talking about marriage when you're no better."

They already knew from Detection Magic that the structure inside was anything but ordinary.

The cave stretched from the first floor to the eightieth.

Even considering that they were Dwarves, the ceilings were unusually high.

Now that they were seeing it in person, they could truly grasp its immense scale.

As the two observed their surroundings in the lobby...

Step. Step.

Step. Step.

They heard someone coming down the stairs.

Chase froze and went on guard.

He turned toward the entrance, ready to run at any moment.

"It's a Goblin."

Gronak spoke beside him.

As Gronak said, it was a Goblin.

It had green skin and a long, pointed nose.

Ears drooping like a dog's.

An ugly face that looked wicked and malicious at a glance.

A body smaller and thinner than a Dwarf's.

Thirty permanent teeth.

It was the image we generally imagine when we think of a Goblin.

The creature looked remarkably similar to that image.

But.

"What should we do? Kill it?"

Looking closer, something was wrong.

Its nose and mouth had switched places.

The mouth, which should have been above its jaw, was embedded in the middle of its face.

Its eyes looked like tiny button eyes on a teddy bear, lifeless accessories rather than actual eyes, making it all the more bizarre.

"■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■. ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■"

It sniffed the air and muttered.

Unlike ordinary Goblins that went keruk, keruk, this one spoke.

It shouted in a chilling language we could not understand.

"■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!"

The Goblin let out a scream-like roar.

They could not understand the words, but they understood the meaning behind them.

It was unmistakable killing intent.

If they stayed still, they would die.

It was instinct.

"Argh!"

"Run!"

Chase yanked Gronak by the beard.

The two stubby Dwarves began running outside.

Before leaving, Chase turned his head.

Then...

It was only a glimpse, but...

He witnessed the danger hidden within this place.

A tremor ran through his back.

Goblins were coming down the stairs.

No, more accurately, they were flowing down like a river.

What the hell was that?

How many Goblins were inside this cave?

Even if they gathered every Dwarf in Fire Forge...

Could they possibly form a crowd that grotesque and bizarre?

The number was impossible to estimate.

They formed a sea of bodies, crushing one another as they overflowed forward.

It was a wave made of Goblins.

"■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of hateful voices poured into the Dwarves' ears.

The sound would likely remain in their minds for a long time.

.

.

.

.

.

"Pant, pant..."

"What the fuck was that? What kind of place is this? Does that even make sense...?"

The two Dwarves stood far from the entrance, catching their breath.

Gronak was giving an extremely passionate review of the Anomaly he had just witnessed.

"It's not like every Goblin in the world is in this dungeon. Why are there so many...? Ugh, seriously. At my age, seeing Goblins made my heart hurt. No, those weren't Goblins in the first place! They were something wearing the shape of Goblins!"

Chase felt exactly the same way.

Dreamland was a strange dungeon.

He had expected something far beyond the realm of prediction to be lurking inside, but he never imagined it would be this bad.

His hands shook like those of a Dwarf with the shakes.

It was a mix of emotions, but fear was by far the strongest.

"Whoo..."

Chase took a deep breath to calm his racing heart.

'The dungeon is consistent. Don't forget that.'

Thinking of the Elevator, this dungeon was not about killing and destroying.

They had to find a way forward.

The Elevator killed everyone inside if they failed to meet its required number of passengers.

Put another way, despite having the power to kill everyone who boarded it, it did us no harm at all as long as we met the passenger requirement.

This cave was probably the same.

The answer could not be to subdue nearly infinite Goblins through combat.

'If fighting isn't the answer...'

Chase recalled what had just happened.

A Goblin came down the stairs, then screamed the instant it discovered us.

After that, countless Goblins had poured out.

Should they cut its throat before it could scream?

No.

There were clearly Goblins inside.

If they encountered another one, it would surely do the same thing.

That would not solve the root of the problem.

As Chase thought deeply about it...

"Ugh, I can still smell this disgusting stench from out here. What's causing it?!"

Gronak grumbled, covering his nose.

Noses were sensitive but adapted quickly, so by now they should have gotten used to it.

Yet the foul smell showed no sign of fading.

A realization struck Chase like lightning.

'The stench...?'

He shot to his feet.

Fine, it reeked inside. But why could they smell it outside too?

"This stench might be the clue that leads to the answer."

"Out of nowhere?"

"Quiet. Get up too. Let's look around."

Just as they were about to start walking...

Clink. Clink.

Clink. Clink.

A woman carrying a large backpack approached them.

Judging by her appearance, she was undoubtedly a Merchant.

She could not be an ordinary human.

This was a dungeon filled with unknown things.

That woman was probably a Minion of the dungeon.

Chase watched the Merchant carefully, staying on guard.

She was a beautiful human woman.

Dwarven standards of beauty differed from human ones, but...

She had a mysterious charm strong enough to captivate even a Dwarf.

Chase swallowed and pinched his own cheek.

'Don't be bewitched. She's the same kind of Anomaly as those Goblins.'

Unlike the wary Chase...

Gronak stared at the Merchant in a daze, like someone in love.

"H-hello..."

Why the hell was this idiot greeting a Dungeon Minion?

Chase sighed quietly.

He shook Gronak by the shoulder, telling him to get a grip.

"Ah, ah, ahem."

When his friend cursed at him with his eyes, Gronak scratched his head awkwardly.

It was not as though Chase could not understand.

He also felt like something was wrong with his head whenever he looked at the Merchant.

That was why he tried not to look directly at her face.

This woman was absolutely not an ally.

After experiencing that wave of Goblins, Chase's vigilance had reached its peak.

'Will we be able to run away this time?'

As Chase prepared for any possible danger...

The woman, almost embarrassingly, took a glass bottle from her bag.

Liquid sloshed inside it.

It was a bottle of perfume.

The scent was familiar.

It was identical to the stench currently assaulting Chase and Gronak's noses.

Chase had thought of it earlier.

Perhaps the Goblins were hostile to us because of the smell.

The Goblins were grotesque, but they did have noses and mouths.

Their eyes, however, were too abnormal to consider functional, so while it was only a suspicion, Chase believed they could not see.

Most importantly, the Goblin had sniffed the air before calling for its companions.

As if it were checking our scent.

They would need to test it, but...

Perhaps the creatures distinguished enemies from their own kind through smell.

That was why Chase had wanted to look around.

He was searching for something that could let us cover ourselves in the foul smell.

And although he had no way of knowing whether this unknown Merchant had seen through his thoughts...

She offered us a means to cover ourselves in that stench. Why?

There was an old saying.

Never even swallow medicine given to you by a stranger.

To Chase, that perfume looked like deadly poison.

"Thank you..."

"What?"

Gronak politely accepted the perfume with both hands.

'What the hell is wrong with him all of a sudden?'

Chase could not believe it.

Gronak could be a little scatterbrained, but he was not normally this careless.

Before Chase could dwell on it, the Merchant took out a small amount of food and water from her backpack.

They were the supplies we had brought.

'She's not a Merchant. She's a thief...'

While Chase sorted through his thoughts...

Gronak could only stare blankly at the Merchant.

The Merchant took a note from her clothes and showed it to the Dwarves.

【I am selling food and water. You need them, don't you?】

This was not right.

Something was dangerous.

His instincts warned him.

Chase's gaze naturally shifted to Gronak.

"Yes. I'll buy them."

Gronak's mouth opened far sooner than Chase expected.

The Merchant smiled.

She forcibly pulled Gronak's mouth open with both hands.

Gronak was speaking.

But with his mouth held in place, only meaningless sounds came out.

The Merchant grabbed Gronak's front teeth.

Then, one by one, she pulled out eight of them.

No blood spurted.

Gronak remained eerily calm even as his healthy teeth were pulled out.

After collecting Gronak's teeth...

The Merchant kept smiling as she waved the note.

【I am selling food and water. You need them, don't you?】

Gronak did not seem to feel any pain.

They had known each other for many years, yet...

It was the first time Chase had seen such a happy expression on Gronak's face.

At this rate, Gronak looked ready to give the Merchant everything he had.

Unable to watch any longer, Chase struck Gronak hard in the jaw.

Smack!

With a sharp sound, Gronak's body toppled to the side.

It was an impulsive act.

Perhaps Chase would have to pay for interfering with the Merchant's sales pitch.

But he could not let Gronak die like this.

"What a waste."

Unlike her pretty appearance, the Merchant's voice was horrifying, like metal scraping against metal.

The flesh on the Merchant's face writhed with a squelch.

Chase did not have the courage to look at her.

The best he could do was lower his eyes and maintain his composure as best he could.

"What a waste. Such a waste."

Fortunately, the Merchant took no further action.

After speaking, she gathered Gronak's teeth.

Then she calmly walked away, leaving behind the perfume, food, and water.

"..."

That voice would likely remain in Chase's mind for a long time too.

Footnotes:

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