The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie - Chapter 71

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 71: Haunted Mansion

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The seventh Dreamland Dungeon Raid was quickly organized under Count Wolfhauffen's leadership.

The lineup was different from the previous raid from the outset.

Instead of an army made up of ordinary soldiers and a handful of mages, they had recruited ten members of the Winter Wolf Knights, Wolfhauffen County's core fighting force.

That was fully one-fifth of the Winter Wolf Knights.

It showed just how valuable Count Wolfhauffen considered the Dreamland raid.

That wasn't all.

Dragrade, the dragon famed as a vassal, three mages from the Spatial School, and even the Count himself would be joining the raid.

Every participant had even been issued an Escape Scroll, despite how expensive they were.

It was a considerable investment.

They clearly intended to achieve significant results this time.

"Phew..."

Dragrade looked over the Dreamland Dungeon Walkthrough inside the carriage.

Information acquired through Railo's and the soldiers' sacrifices had been added to it.

【Area 2】

1. Area 2 is very similar to an Academy. It is a large building roughly eighty stories tall, mostly made up of classrooms, and there appears to be a place called the Faculty Office. Keeping track of the time is extremely important here. Based on what has been discovered so far, it is divided into class time, break time, lunch time, and After School. (The time can be checked by looking at a clock or listening for music.)

2. You must remain inside a classroom until After School begins. Otherwise, you die.

3. When you arrive in Area 2, the Faceless Girl asks for your belongings. You must refuse or run away. Otherwise, every item you have will be confiscated.

4. During class time, a Teacher sometimes enters, teaches an incomprehensible lesson, and asks questions. If you fail to answer properly, a body part breaks and you receive a warning. Accumulating warnings results in death.

【Dungeon Master】

1. Far stronger than a soldier, but weaker than a knight. (True)

2. Roams the dungeon freely and kills intruders weaker than them. (True)

【Elevator】

+ Using the Elevator does not send everyone to the same area.

Taking too much interest in something could lead to danger.

It was a well-known saying.

Dragrade turned over the walkthrough he had been reading whenever he had a spare moment since yesterday and let out a quiet sigh.

People said dungeons were unknown treasure vaults containing Magic Stones.

Just look at Count Wolfhauffen, staking everything on this.

Would he really be acting from nothing but a sense of duty to save the North Kingdom?

The value of Magic Stones.

Even a noble who lacked for nothing was this desperate for them, so it had to be true.

Still, things were a little different for Dragrade.

After all, he had been born in a dungeon.

He ate in a dungeon, slept in a dungeon, and grew up there.

Thinking back now...

Hadn't the dungeon been a prison to me, not a home I missed?

He had not always thought that way.

There had definitely been a time when simply serving his Dungeon Master made him happy.

Kill the intruders who came from outside.

Receive praise from his creator.

When he was a small, weak hatchling, that had been the joy of his life.

I won't deny that.

But people changed.

Dragrade was no exception.

The reason he changed was simple.

He had grown.

The more time passed and the larger the dungeon became...

Just as humans craved the unknown and sought Magic Stones, he too came to have a goal.

The outside, the intruders' homeland.

A world so vast it could not even be compared to a cramped dungeon.

A place with a sky where he could spread his wings freely.

At some point, it had become his destination.

Yes.

I longed for freedom.

I wanted to see the outside someday.

It was a dream he could never tell anyone about.

"I resurrect even if I die. But you, your companions, and the Dungeon Master don't. You may have the advantage now, but isn't this a fight with an ending already decided?"

His desire to fulfill that dream reached its peak when he first encountered a Blessed One.

One day, a Blessed One invaded the dungeon.

Her name was Ahn.

She was strong, ruthless, and chilling.

"Won't you take my hand? I'll give you freedom."

She lured Dragrade in.

Naturally, he ignored her at first.

There was no guarantee she would keep her promise.

Besides, Dragrade understood the concept of moral duty.

But...

People always valued themselves most.

The more Blessed Ones entered the dungeon, the worse things became.

Minions died, traps were destroyed, and structures were smashed apart.

The speed of repairs could not keep up with the destruction.

Maybe he would be the next to die.

The Blessed One named Ahn was that kind of enemy.

For the first time, Dragrade felt fear.

Perhaps she noticed what he was feeling.

"They'll reach their limit soon. You're doing very well. As expected, you're the only one I can rely on."

The Red Dragon King spoke of hope beside him.

Wearing the same smile as always.

She said she would do her best, so they only needed to hold on somehow.

But Dragrade thought differently.

He could not erase the thought of defeat from his mind.

He did not want to die.

Maybe it was because he had a dream.

Even if he had to die...

He wanted to see the outside at least once before he did.

That thought grew stronger over time.

His actions became more and more hesitant.

He could not even focus on fighting because he was too busy protecting his own life.

As if she had read his innermost thoughts, Ahn made him another offer.

"Rather than dying while fighting us, join hands with us.

"Wouldn't it be more reasonable to kill the Red Dragon King?

"I'll share the Magic Stone with you as compensation.

"I'll give you a new home.

"Do you intend to keep living in a dungeon like a slave?

"If you join hands with us, everything will work out easily."

Dragrade was forced to make a choice.

It was the sweet voice of a devil.

Would he fight for the dungeon and die?

Or would he betray his creator for his own safety and dream?

In the end, Dragrade chose the latter.

"..."

Dragrade clutched his necklace.

The Minion Dragrade had disappeared from the world.

The life he gained that way was miserable beyond words.

The Blessed One had kept her promise.

But it was not what he expected.

She put a pendant around Dragrade's neck that could explode at any moment, like a collar.

Then she sold him to the previous Count Wolfhauffen.

It was no different from the dungeon.

More people admired him than before.

His fame had risen too.

Yet he was still bound as the Count's dog.

Everything was an illusion.

There was no freedom in the sky he gained by betraying the Red Dragon King and joining hands with the Blessed One.

He had finally come to a place where he could fly to his heart's content.

But his wings were tied with ropes.

Dragrade thought to himself.

The Count wanted a Magic Stone anyway.

And he would order me to bring him one.

I cannot refuse that order.

Not unless I am willing to pay with my life.

And if I obtain Dreamland's Magic Stone, I may be able to avert that death.

It would be unfortunate if I died during the expedition.

But if I somehow made it to the Core Room alive...

If the Count did not discover my true intentions...

Could I not finally seize real freedom?

I had an Escape Scroll, after all.

And with an elite group, there was definitely a chance I would survive.

Dragrade had a new goal.

This was a slightly different matter, but he also wanted to see with his own eyes the end of this bizarre place, an incomprehensible and unknown space where a Dungeon Master could leave the dungeon.

Unlike himself and the Red Dragon King, he wanted to know why Dreamland's Dungeon Master could be free.

A snowy mountain somewhere in Fire Forge.

The seventh Dreamland raid party arrived at the dungeon entrance.

There were fifteen people in total, with eleven members in the expedition team, including Dragrade.

The remaining four were Count Wolfhauffen and three mages, who would remain in the safe zone to maintain communication and record information.

Every one of them was an elite.

Wolfhauffen's strongest, people even a Dungeon Master could not carelessly approach.

With this lineup, the expedition should proceed smoothly.

As they exhaled white breath, they each shared their thoughts.

"I'm nervous. It's a dungeon, after all."

"I feel the same. I never thought I'd be raiding a dungeon at my age."

"Haha, the same goes for me."

If Magic Stones had been their only goal, they would not have answered their lord's summons.

A newly formed dungeon where something unknown slept.

Raiding such a place meant putting their lives on the line.

Still...

Obtaining a Magic Stone also meant saving the North Kingdom.

"An existence from a dungeon can come outside. That will surely become a great danger."

"If the things inside this dungeon escape outside, it will become a disaster greater than the Mana Storm. This dungeon may even be the cause of the current Mana Storm."

It would not affect only the North Kingdom.

If this dungeon grew like the others, it would bring terrible consequences to the entire world.

arboralis had mentioned it before.

Dreamland's Dungeon Master was the Seed of a Demon King.

A Demon King did not exist in reality, yet ironically, many people knew of one.

It was a symbol of chaos found only in fiction.

It often appeared in bards' songs and authors' stories as a great evil that had to be defeated.

It was not a childish comparison.

It was only a possibility, but Dreamland could certainly become that.

Why would Dreamland become a disaster?

It was not simply because its Dungeon Master could come outside.

Dungeon Masters could communicate with one another.

Even ordinary people widely knew that fact.

Until now, every power, including the Four Kingdoms, had attempted Dungeon Raids countless times.

To obtain Magic Stones, amass wealth, gain power, and save the sick.

There were countless dungeons in the world.

Most of them had been destroyed and vanished into history.

There was no way Dreamland's Dungeon Master did not know this.

Living creatures instinctively hate seeing a member of their community killed.

Some called that vengeance.

Most were built that way.

It was advantageous for survival.

Dungeon Masters were no different.

They could wield their creators' authority.

But the Dungeon Masters recorded in history resembled us.

"One thing I can be sure of is that he is gathering power."

Even if that was not the case...

As long as Dreamland's Dungeon Master was a thinking being, the fact that he would become a danger did not change.

Being like us meant having an innate desire to rise.

Would someone with the power to control the world under the pretext of chaos not use it?

Strong people rose higher.

Countries with great strength possessed vast wealth and territory.

That was never a coincidence.

The moment he accumulated power and revealed his ambitions...

The world would truly be in danger.

"Now is the perfect opportunity."

Dreamland would someday become a disaster.

They had to cut off the seed of disaster. That was what everyone believed.

So...

At least here, they considered themselves heroes from a fairy tale.

To others, it might look like nothing more than a Dungeon Raid.

But perhaps this was a journey to save the world.

"Let's go."

Count Wolfhauffen gave the order.

Having steeled themselves, the raid party entered the dungeon with lively steps.

The seventh raid.

Day 1 of the Dungeon Raid.

In front of the entrance Elevator.

Count Wolfhauffen first used Communication Magic to connect the expedition team and the record-keeping team.

Communication Magic was a two-way connection, and its caster could normally link only one pair.

But multiple connections were possible by having another mage connect Communication Magic to a mage already using Communication Magic.

Of course, that did not mean three people could speak to one another at once.

It worked more like how Dragrade had previously communicated with both a soldier and Railo.

Detection Magic and Communication Magic were relatively easy to learn.

Most of the knights could use them, so every one of them connected to the record-keeping team.

"The communication link is established. Do you all remember what we discussed before coming in?"

"Yes. We remember."

"Those with poor memories should check the Dungeon Walkthrough regularly. You must also explain everything you encounter and experience in as much detail as possible."

Count Wolfhauffen explained the points the expedition team needed to be careful about right away.

「Using the Elevator does not send everyone to the same area.」

「Areas 2, 3, and 4 are likely environments where Escape Scrolls cannot be used.」

That was according to what Dragrade had revealed.

The information was likely fabricated, since the handwriting was different.

Still, Area 2 had a gimmick involving the confiscation of belongings.

There was no harm in being cautious.

Besides, there was a fifty percent chance it was correct.

"I have the spare Escape Scrolls. So focus only on not dying."

The expedition team nodded.

"We have arrived at the Academy."

One person was the first to transfer to Area 2.