WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈
Chapter 51: Goblin Cave (4)
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Chase and Gronak investigated the first floor.
Assuming they each searched every corner thoroughly, it would take about an hour.
Unfortunately, there was no Elevator on the first floor.
Of course there wasn't.
Unless the Dungeon Master was an idiot, there was no reason to willingly send intruders to the next floor.
'It's probably somewhere close to the eightieth floor...'
They couldn't skip the other floors, either.
If the Dungeon Master had decided to get clever and placed the Elevator on a middle floor instead, that would be a disaster in its own way.
It was a no-win situation.
The situation was suffocating, but there was no other option.
They just had to grit their teeth and endure.
The first floor was almost entirely empty.
Other than the stairs leading upward, it was bare except for statues and decorations.
Still, one place caught their attention.
The storage rooms.
There were three of them at the end of the first floor.
Each had a large window that allowed them to see inside, but their doors were locked.
The contents differed from room to room. One appeared to hold rotten meat gathered that morning, while two seemed to store the corpses of Goblins killed in the cave so far.
And then...
The last storage room contained...
"Ah..."
Chase drew in a breath.
Gronak approached, puzzled by his friend's reaction.
Then his expression stiffened as well.
There were corpses inside.
They weren't Goblin corpses.
They were human corpses.
Faces Chase recognized.
The bodies belonged to the North Kingdom mercenaries he had lured into the dungeon under the alias Chaide during the sixth Dungeon Raid.
Gronak looked around.
After confirming no one was nearby, he asked, "Do you know them?"
Chase nodded.
"They're human mercenaries who joined the last Dungeon Raid. I don't remember what happened, though."
"I see."
Chase studied the bodies closely.
He couldn't tell how they had died, but despite having been dead for some time, their corpses hadn't decayed.
There were several strange things about them.
Their ears concerned him the most.
Human ears were round and blunt by nature.
Yet these looked pointed, like Elven ears. They didn't look human at all.
And...
A journal that seemed to have been used during the sixth Dungeon Raid sat on a shelf in the storage room.
"......"
Chase tried the handle, but unfortunately, the door was locked just like the others.
It was strange.
It didn't make sense for his past self to have hidden it here in case of an emergency.
Why not just bring the journal outside the dungeon?
Still...
Since he had no memories, he couldn't simply conclude it was a trap.
"It might be worth finding a way to open these storage rooms."
"All right."
They continued their investigation.
The cave was quieter than expected.
Several Goblins passed through the corridors, but considering the enormous number that had suddenly poured down the stairs, there should have been hundreds of times more than this.
'It can't be invisibility magic. Teleportation magic, maybe?'
Chase decided not to think too deeply about it.
He would skip over anything he couldn't understand.
It was better for his mental health.
They kept searching.
Starting from the second floor, the place felt almost like an inn.
Rooms that appeared to be Goblin quarters lined both sides of a long corridor.
Most of them were empty.
They searched up to the eighth floor but found nothing worthwhile.
Chase and Gronak entered an empty room.
"Let's rest here for now. If we're going to search all the way to the eightieth floor quickly, resting inside is essential."
"All right. Just in case, let's take two-hour watches. Do you want to go first, or should I?"
"Either is fine."
"Then you go first."
There was a table in the room, and on it sat a glass bottle filled with cloudy water mixed with dirt.
He was thirsty, but there was no way he could drink that.
'Food is one thing, but do we need to get drinking water from the Merchant somehow?'
Chase barely suppressed his thirst.
As always, he rested with the ever-present snoring as his music.
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.
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Day 3 of Dungeon Exploration
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"
Chase, who had been sleeping on the floor, urgently sprang to his feet.
It was Gronak screaming.
"What? What happened!?"
"Ch-Chase, I, I, I, I can't see..."
The moment Chase saw Gronak's face, he was horrified.
Gronak couldn't see.
It didn't simply mean he had gone blind.
"Ah... Ah..."
Gronak's eyes had changed into something bizarre.
They were exactly like the eyes of the Goblins that lived in this cave.
Gronak's eyes could no longer be called eyes.
If he had to describe them in one word, they looked more like black beans.
"You..."
The muddy water on the table was gone.
Had he really drunk that filthy water?
"You fucking idiot. I know you were thirsty, but how could you just drink that!?"
"I-I didn't drink it because I wanted to..."
Gronak continued, sounding wronged.
"At first, I didn't want to drink it either. The color was strange, and it smelled awful. But... but then, all of a sudden, it started smelling sweet. Yeah. It looked just like beer, I swear. After that, I couldn't hold myself back..."
Chase bit his lip.
Of all things, Gronak had lost his vision.
There were mountains of places left to explore.
Not just because they needed to reach the next area.
Vision was necessary if they wanted to buy an Escape Scroll from the Merchant.
If Gronak had gone blind, he wouldn't even be able to read that damned Merchant's notes.
We still hadn't fully figured this place out.
To make matters worse, they had to work for a certain amount of time each day if they wanted to continue exploring smoothly.
If they didn't receive Coins, they could experience terrible pain, or perhaps even death.
"I'm sorry. I came to help, but I'm only getting in your way..."
Chase pressed a hand to his forehead.
His head hurt.
It was hard to see this as Gronak's mistake alone.
This fucking dungeon threw explorers into the pit of despair the moment they gave it the slightest opening.
Chase hadn't stayed safe so far because he was especially capable.
He had simply been lucky.
If he had stood around in a daze in the corridor at the start...
If he had kept staring at the Merchant's face like Gronak...
If he hadn't worked...
Every one of those situations could easily have led to death.
They had survived by the narrowest of margins.
And...
'I shouldn't have come in here in the first place, Dungeon Raid or no Dungeon Raid.'
If there had been a mistake from the beginning...
It was his carelessness in bringing Gronak into this dungeon.
If only he had remembered.
If only the sheer danger and horror of this dungeon had been etched deep into his soul.
He wouldn't have brought his friend here for such a pathetic reason.
Could Gronak's eyes return to normal?
What if they remained that way even after they escaped?
"......"
Then life as a ranger wouldn't be the only thing that became difficult.
Even ordinary life would become difficult.
Guilt rose within him.
Gronak wasn't the one who needed to apologize.
Chase was.
"There has to be a way. Once we get out, drinks are on me. Just hang in there a little longer."
"All right..."
Chase took a deep breath and organized his thoughts.
For now, he needed to think as optimistically as possible.
When he had left the dungeon before, his condition had returned to normal.
Therefore, if they could just escape the dungeon...
There was a good chance Gronak would return to normal too.
The problem was what came next.
Judging by the bustle in the corridor, it was clearly morning.
It was Work Hours for the Goblins.
There was a way for Gronak to avoid working.
He just had to leave the cave.
The Goblins couldn't come outside in the evening.
In other words, even if he didn't work...
As long as he got outside in the evening, he wouldn't have to worry about getting beaten.
Would it be all right for him to remain in the room like this?
Going outside was a little uncertain.
The Goblins could smell him and recognize him.
What would happen if he ignored them?
He had a bad feeling about it.
It couldn't be helped.
For now, they could only test it.
Chase waited inside the room with Gronak for a full hour.
Fortunately, no bizarre situation occurred where huge Goblins flung open the door and barged inside.
There was a reason to think it would be safe.
Yesterday, he had seen Goblins who didn't work getting the crap beaten out of them.
It seemed there was no monitoring during Work Hours.
Chase carefully led Gronak to the second floor.
There were no Goblins in the corridor.
Not that there were none at all. One occasionally appeared here and there, but perhaps because they were slacking off, they showed no particular reaction.
"The room seems safe. I think if you come outside a little before inspection time and hide, you might be able to avoid working..."
Chase opened a communications link.
Then he slowly led Gronak into a room.
"I'll give you a signal. Can you get out of the cave by yourself?"
"...I'll manage somehow."
Chase nodded and closed the door.
Without question, this was the best option.
He had to keep exploring, even if he had to do it alone.
After all, the Merchant had the Escape Scroll.
It might seem unrelated.
This was only a hypothesis, but...
The Merchant took payment when selling goods.
And the price of food and water had been eight front teeth.
Chase thought about it.
What if he took front teeth from the corpses in the storage room...
And offered them to the Merchant instead?
Perhaps they could serve as payment.
To test that hypothesis, he needed to open the corpse storage room.
To open the door, he needed a key, and to get the key, he needed to keep investigating.
'Let's go work. I'll gather some sweet fruit, eat a little, then continue searching... I'm thirsty too, so I'll have a drink from the bottle in the room...'
Chase stopped walking.
What am I thinking?
Come to think of it...
There was something strange.
From the moment he woke up today, he hadn't smelled the stench at all.
The smell he had never been able to get used to had suddenly stopped bothering him.
It wasn't something he could dismiss as simply growing accustomed to it.
Chase looked into a mirror set in the corridor.
His expression was stiff, and his eyes, nose, and mouth all looked normal.
But...
There was one decisive difference from his usual self.
The color of his facial skin.
His complexion was strange.
He couldn't possibly be seeing things.
His face was green.
That wasn't all.
His nails had grown longer, and his face had become narrower.
He looked closer to a Goblin than a Dwarf.
* * *
golemking: It's here! Area 3's special combo────!!
└ golemking: ※ What is the special combo golemking is talking about here!?
└ golemking: First, the Merchant confiscates your food and water to make you thirsty and hungry.
└ golemking: Then comes the terrifying finishing move that makes you eat muddy water and rotten corpses.
└ golemking: Ah, GG────!!
magichero: H-H-H-H-H-H-Honestly, becoming a Goblin with its eyes, nose, and mouth in the normal places would be one thing... But if you're becoming one with its mouth and nose switched around, I think suicide is the right choice...
└ worldiscold: Bros, I've been busy with a Wave, so I'm only watching newbie's stream now;;
└ worldiscold: So what the hell is going on right now??
└ worldiscold: Why did that Dwarf drink muddy water and end up with eyes like that?
└ worldiscold: And why is that Dwarf's face turning green??
└ worldiscold: Sorry for commenting without seeing the full picture.
└ no_minions_4_me: I'll explain just this once.
└ no_minions_4_me: It's easiest to think of Goblin Cave as a stage with a time limit.
└ no_minions_4_me: The longer intruders stay, the more they start resembling Goblins.
└ no_minions_4_me: Not just their appearance and bodies. Eventually, their habits and brains all become Goblin-like too.
└ no_minions_4_me: Eating muddy water and rotten meat speeds it up.
└ no_minions_4_me: It seems their appetites start changing to match a Goblin's after about two days in the cave??
└ no_minions_4_me: The Merchant confiscated their food and water, right?
└ no_minions_4_me: So they're starving and thirsty as hell.
└ no_minions_4_me: Imagine waving Pepsi and pizza bread in front of someone like that o_o
└ no_minions_4_me: Wouldn't it take incredible willpower to resist??
└ worldiscold: Thx for explaining.
└ worldiscold: Then what happens if a Blessed One becomes a Goblin??
└ psychward_mvp: Since the Wave ends, the System probably judges it as death, so I think there's a high chance they would revive at a Shrine.
└ psychward_mvp: But if not, Dreamland could become the one and only counter dungeon for Blessed Ones.
└ cowhead: Chase was pretty far along with the Goblin Transformation last time too.
└ cowhead: He was fine when he came back in, so it probably goes away once you leave the cave LOL.
└ cowhead: Though I don't know about someone who becomes a complete Goblin.
└ worldiscold: This is kind of interesting...
sealedconq: In the end, it's taking a pretty similar turn to the last Wave.
└ sealedphilo: No, that's wrong.
└ sealedphilo: Last Wave, that bastard threw hard at exactly this point.
└ sealedconq: Ah, true. He's a lot calmer this time??
└ sealedconq: Is this that muscle memory thing or whatever? Yeah.
└ sealedphilo: He's calm because they have two Escape Scrolls LOL.
└ sealedphilo: If they had only brought one, a deathmatch would be happening right now. Yeah.
└ cowhead: Honestly, becoming a Goblin is fucking insane LOLLLLL.
└ cowhead: Anyway, that bastard was the king of throwing last time.
└ cowhead: But this time, watching him help his friend is quite a treat... Yeah...
Footnotes:
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