Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Where the Story Lingers (1)
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The 4th Floor, which had been swarming with ghouls just moments ago, was now a space of eerie silence.
Greg took a moment to catch his breath as he gazed at the red portal.
“You might not know this, but this red portal signifies a hidden space.”
“I’ve seen one before.”
“What? Already? Heh heh. No wonder you didn’t seem surprised.”
After checking his axe, Greg turned his gaze to Regin.
“Then that makes things quicker. As you know, once you enter a place like this, getting out becomes tricky.”
“……”
“It’s like another small tower within the Tower... In any case, it might turn out to be a longer and tougher journey than you think. Are you really set on going in?”
Regin nodded without hesitation.
“Of course.”
To be honest, if he were alone, he would have hesitated a lot.
Hidden stages generally had higher difficulty than their corresponding floors.
Among them, the Rabbit Hole was notorious for the sheer number of monsters.
“Let’s go in together.”
Now he had Greg, a dwarf with the power of the 11th Floor.
Through the battles they’d fought on the way here, Regin had gained some confidence.
He was sure they could tackle it.
“Alright. But I’m curious. Do you know exactly what the Rabbit Hole is like?”
“I don’t know it perfectly... but do I need to?”
Regin replied lightly.
“Isn’t visiting rare places the fate of an explorer?”
At those words, Greg burst into laughter and nodded.
“You’re right. What kind of exploration is it if you only go to common places...? Yeah, that’s the spirit this place needs.”
For the first time in a while, Greg pulled out some alcohol.
Regin remembered that before climbing the last tower, he’d drunk enough to get thoroughly wasted.
“I wanted to hold off since we’re almost there... Want a sip?”
“I’m good.”
“Alright. I’ll have a quick one. Like I said last time, the harder the mountain to climb, the greater its allure. No matter how tough...”
Gulp.
Greg continued as he downed the drink.
“I believe all of it will make me stronger.”
Greg’s eyes were resolute.
To put it plainly, they weren’t filled with passion or anticipation.
There was hesitation and fear mixed in as well.
‘I know the Rabbit Hole to some extent, but for Greg, it’s probably just something he’s heard rumors about.’
And yet, Greg was overcoming his fear of the unknown and steeling himself to enter.
It was the gaze befitting an explorer—and someone who lived for exploration.
‘He doesn’t seem like the type to betray me either.’
Honestly, Regin had still been considering the possibility that Greg might be some back-alley user.
But there was no need.
He was simply a pure soul craving strength to climb higher.
It was the face of an explorer Regin had seen countless times while playing DAT.
“If you’re ready, let’s go in.”
“Yes.”
Wooong—!
The portal opened, and red light enveloped Greg and Regin.
Regin stepped toward the portal.
‘Greg came all this way to verify a rumor he’d heard somewhere.’
Unlike what he’d said earlier, Regin had a clear goal.
If Greg was an explorer to his bones, Regin was a gamer.
Perhaps even more ruthlessly driven by profit than a kingdom.
‘There’s an item I need to get from in there.’
He planned to snag the Rabbit Hole’s key item through this run.
* * *
“...So this is the Rabbit Hole. Brighter than I expected.”
“There seem to be torches placed here and there.”
As soon as they entered, a space different from the outside unfolded before them.
A relatively bright cave compared to outside, with torches spaced around it.
“It’s like someone’s been here.”
“I’ve heard that red portals inside the Tower can take any form without it being strange.”
“Yeah. I’ve heard the same.”
Greg nodded and scanned the surroundings.
“But I don’t get why it’s called the Rabbit Hole. I’ve never heard of any rabbit-like monsters.”
Regin agreed on that point.
When he’d first entered in DAT, the map clearly labeled it as the Rabbit Hole.
But the monsters that appeared had nothing to do with rabbits.
Even if a rabbit was leading the way, Alice in Wonderland didn’t become “Alice of the Rabbit Hole,” right?
‘It’s a place where those dog-mole hybrids come out... gophers.’
They had nasty temperaments too.
Well, he wasn’t sure about that in reality, but to a gamer, mobs that struck first were always the nasty ones.
‘Hostile creatures, not neutral. They hunt explorers who enter their territory...’
And this entire tunnel was their territory.
Which meant they’d have to keep fighting these things in this cave-like space.
“But Regin.”
“Yes.”
“Why hasn’t the portal’s color changed? And why hasn’t it disappeared at all?”
The red portal that had let them in was still present inside.
“Does that mean we can leave right now?”
“We can’t leave. My guess is... it’s indicating that it’s still possible to enter.”
“Really?”
“I understood it that way when I studied portal magic.”
Since it was a guess from the mage Regin, Greg had no choice but to nod despite his doubts.
He had virtually no knowledge of magic anyway.
“So... we can’t leave, but someone else could come in.”
“Probably.”
Hidden stages usually had participant limits.
You didn’t always need to fill them, but sometimes they stayed open until the slots were full.
‘The Rabbit Hole’s portal stayed open for quite a while, I think.’
The good news was that the 4th Floor was dark and hard to navigate.
And since you had to find a rare rabbit there and come back, no one else would show up.
“Then we have to keep heading straight this way.”
“Yes.”
“Haha! The air’s stuffy, and the place gives off this uneasy vibe... but we can’t leave. What better exploration is there?”
Greg inhaled deeply and gripped his axe.
‘The other good thing is it’s not a place where you’re forced into constant combat.’
Regin recalled the Rabbit Hole’s layout.
There were spots midway where you could rest or avoid fights.
After walking along the tunnel for a bit, forks appeared on both sides.
“A fork...? Guess we pick one and go in.”
“You choose, Greg.”
“Hmm.”
Greg alternated his gaze between the right and left paths.
They looked identical enough that you could call them the same.
“Let’s go right. There’s a slight breeze coming from that way.”
“Sounds good.”
“And they say if you keep your hand on the right wall, you’ll find the exit. We can just stick to the right from now on.”
Regin smiled faintly.
Sorry, but that was a rule for mazes.
This wasn’t a maze; it was just a tunnel that felt like one.
Anyway, the moment they entered the right path...
A relatively wide plaza-like space appeared, larger than the previous passages.
—Grrrrowl!!
“Monster!”
One monster glared at Regin and Greg as they tried to enter the plaza, its eyes gleaming.
A large brown body with a dog-like snout.
“It’s a gopher!”
It was distinctly different from the gophers known in Korea.
Its appearance was aggressively fierce to begin with, and it actually had combat power surpassing goblins.
‘Four in total. Good pick.’
Regin gripped a scroll and prepared for battle.
—Grrrrowl!!
The gophers let out eerie cries as they charged at Greg.
One was already upon him, swinging its sharp forelegs.
Clang!
“Hup!”
Greg withstood the blow with his armor’s sturdiness and swung his axe.
A skull-cracking sound rang out, followed by a scream from the beast’s mouth.
As Greg wiped its blood off and swung at another gopher...
Clang—!
Because it was right at the passage entrance to the plaza, swinging the axe properly was difficult.
The axe hit the wall once and lost its momentum.
Giving another gopher an opening to attack Greg.
“Urgh...! Regin, light up the surroundings more!”
“Got it!”
At the same time, Regin tore a scroll to cast a level-1 light spell.
Even with torches scattered around the tunnel, it was still a bit too dim for unrestricted combat.
With the light spell securing full visibility, Greg realized just how narrow this passage was.
‘Fighting from the passage...’
Regin tore another scroll.
Level-1 magic arrow. He tore several in succession, and arrows shot out from the scroll’s magic circle.
‘Mages have the advantage here.’
Pew—!
The mana arrows began embedding into the gophers’ foreheads.
—Grrrowl!!
The beasts started losing balance and collapsing.
Greg rammed into them with his body, stacking damage.
‘Manageable.’
Though four gophers pushed in, with Greg tanking and Regin pouring out firepower, the fight wrapped up quickly.
“Phew.”
Thud—
The gophers all fell, and the familiar sensation of experience points flowed through his body.
‘As expected, the EXP gain is low.’
He judged it as EXP because of the distinct sensation whenever he killed monsters.
“Tricky. At this rate, I can’t swing my axe properly.”
“Next time we see a plaza, we should enter immediately.”
“So the structure keeps going like this?”
“That’s what I think.”
Leaving the passage, they entered the plaza.
It was a relatively spacious area, apparently where the gophers that had just attacked had lived.
‘The Rabbit Hole is a repeat of this pattern.’
You move through passages, hit forks, follow them to plazas.
Proceed through plazas, and the same pattern repeats in this dungeon.
‘...That’s why people gave up on the Rabbit Hole so quickly.’
It had gotten a lot of buzz from community users when it was first discovered.
But research ended surprisingly early for a reason.
Boring compared to the rewards.
That was the first impression.
“The combat’s tough, but there doesn’t seem to be much to show for it. These guys don’t drop anything either.”
Greg said as he instinctively checked his body’s condition.
He seemed to have noticed the EXP was lower than from other monsters.
Greg wouldn’t have a concept of levels, but he’d sense growth at least.
‘Gophers give low EXP. And they hardly drop items.’
It was the polar opposite of gamer-preferred dungeons.
Hard, boring, low leveling, no gear.
...Regin had thought that way once too.
“Regin.”
“Yes.”
They were progressing through more passages and plazas like this.
“...Why are there three forks here?”
As soon as he heard Greg’s words from ahead, Regin’s lips curved up.
‘Finally, it’s here.’
One reason Regin and a few users hadn’t abandoned Rabbit Hole research.
It wasn’t a huge reason, but gamers didn’t need massive rewards to get hooked.
“Up till now it’s been two forks, so why three all of a sudden?”
A pattern breaking from expectations.
That alone was enough to ignite a gamer’s passion.