Osgeelro....
“Osgeelro...”
“It appeared to you too!”
“Did you get the quest?”
“The whereabouts of the key!”
“That's right!”
“Uahaha! Haha!”
“Azaza!”
Han Ji-woo and Osgeelro embraced each other tightly.
It wasn't just Han Ji-woo who had achieved the feat. Osgeelro had accomplished the same one.
Developing the Orc Village hadn't been Han Ji-woo's doing alone—Osgeelro's influence had been immense too, so it was only natural.
“Turkan!”
“Yes!”
At Han Ji-woo's call, Turkan came rushing over, ripping into a piece of beef.
“Who's the strongest guy in the Dungeon Prison?”
Turkan's face went pale at the question. Just thinking of that someone made his limbs tremble.
“Th-that... that guy...”
Turkan pointed in one direction with a shaky finger.
“Keep going that way, and he'll show up.”
“Who's that?”
“We orcs... we can't even say his name.”
“Why not?”
“Three years ago, he hunted down orcs left and right. Kweeik! One orc said his name, that's all. Kweeik! So most of us died, and only a few survived. Kweeeeeik!”
Turkan's breathing grew ragged after he finished speaking. It seemed the trauma from the past made it impossible for him to even mention the name.
No wonder there seemed to be so few orcs.
Something had felt off. He'd unified all the orc tribes, yet there were only about 300 in total.
“Anyway, keep going that way, and you'll run into him?”
“Y-yes. Kweeik!”
Ideally, he'd have liked to bring an orc legion along.
“I-I thought of that guy! Kweeeeik!”
“Uwaaa! M-my appetite's gone! Kweeik!”
“Th-then why keep eating! Kweeeeik!”
“It's delicious! Kweeik!”
“That's a fair point! Kweeeeik!”
“...These guys are really something else.”
Han Ji-woo clicked his tongue at the orcs' back-and-forth. Sometimes, their antics weren't all that different from Pao's.
“Osgeelro. The orcs won't be much help coming along, huh?”
“I never intended to rely on those lowly beasts in the first place! Trembling at the mere thought of something not even here! What good would it do to drag them along? They'd just die. Tell 'em to stay put nice and quiet!”
To Han Ji-woo, those words strangely sounded like concern for the orcs' safety.
Whatever the strongest creature was, escaping this prison meant confronting it eventually. But before charging in blindly, they needed to test the waters.
“Turkan. What does that guy look like?”
“H-huge. As tall as that tree. Kweeik!”
The tree Turkan pointed to was about five meters high.
“Whoa, that's massive. And?”
“Skin's this color. Kweeik!”
Turkan's finger now pointed to a grayish rock.
“And with that giant body, its arms are super long. Kweeeeik!”
“Got it. That's enough. Osgeelro, let's watch from afar if something matching that description shows up.”
Osgeelro, already geared up to leave, nodded while chewing on a hunk of beef in one hand.
“Aye, let's do that.”
* * *
“What the hell is that human doing now?”
Ferrofero was observing the Dungeon Prison through a crystal orb—more precisely, watching Han Ji-woo.
He'd figured the guy would get chased by monsters and die after dropping into the prison. But he was still alive. Not only that, he was acting like the chief of the orcs?
“And why'd he go and develop the Orc Village like that!”
Thrown in there to die, and instead he'd turned it into a paradise, grilling beef and lounging around leisurely.
The orcs, whose quality of life had skyrocketed thanks to Han Ji-woo, were laughing and chatting happily. Ferrofero glared at the scene in fury.
But as he watched longer, the anger faded from his face, replaced by envy.
He'd been managing this dungeon alone for five years already. His only company had been the heroes kidnapped into it—briefly explaining the rules at the start. Otherwise, he just observed them through the crystal orb.
He hadn't thought his situation was all that bad. Better than the heroes marching to their deaths every time.
But this was different. Because of this human Han Ji-woo, he'd witnessed scenes in the dungeon he'd never seen before.
Everything Han Ji-woo shared made the heroes' dungeon-clearing environment far more comfortable. No food, no amenities—the previous waves of heroes had been on edge constantly. Tensions ran high, words were harsh. Even those who started cooperative turned selfish floor by floor, minds fraying as they focused on survival.
That's how it was supposed to be. That's how it should have been this time too.
Watching the harmonious dungeon folk for the first time, Ferrofero finally despaired at his own lot. He wanted to join them. Even now, seeing the laughing orcs, the desire to mingle crept up on him.
“N-no, I can't!”
Ferrofero snapped out of it, having unwittingly started purring. He shook his head vigorously.
“It's the 100th round! If we keep this survival game going for 100 rounds, it'll all end! Then I can save our princess too!”
Ferrofero's gaze drifted into the void.
“You promised me that! Even if it's not the Bryunak Continent, you'd provide a quiet home to live in!”
He shouted as if pleading to someone. But no answer came.
Ferrofero's ears drooped low.
“You have to keep that promise. Otherwise, I have no reason to do this work in your place...”
He tried to suppress the anxiety budding in his heart.
* * *
Han Ji-woo and Osgeelro set off on their journey to find the Dungeon Prison's strongest inhabitant.
Walking side by side, they chatted as they went.
“Not tired?”
“What do you take a dwarf's stamina for? This is a breeze.”
They'd been walking nonstop for two hours already. They'd encountered low-grade monsters along the way but dispatched them easily.
Han Ji-woo's base stats had all risen by 50 when his Basic Swordsmanship advanced to Intermediate. Low-grade monsters were barely a post-meal workout now.
Osgeelro's stats were lower than Han Ji-woo's, but he knew his way around a fight, so he wasn't a burden.
Then.
Groooooan.
Groooooan.
An ominous groan echoed from behind.
Han Ji-woo and Osgeelro whipped around and were shocked by the monsters in view.
“A cow head... and bipedal with that vibe...”
Han Ji-woo stammered, the name not coming to mind, but Osgeelro bellowed like thunder.
“Minotaur!”
Indeed. Two meters tall, bulging with muscle, wielding an axe as big as itself—the monster rampaging toward them!
A mid-grade monster, leagues above the low-grade ones they'd faced. And it was a minotaur.
The problem? There weren't just one or two. Over twenty were approaching, drooling at the sight of tasty prey.
“Osgeelro. How do those guys stack up to Turkan?”
“That pathetic orc chief would drop from one swing of that calf's axe!”
“Whoa.”
Turkan, empowered by Avatar of Rage, had been a tough matchup for Han Ji-woo. For one axe swing to take him down...
“Fighting them head-on now would be stupid.”
“What nonsense!”
Osgeelro snorted, raising his axe.
“A dwarf warrior never flees before the foe... Wh-what are you doing?!”
Han Ji-woo hoisted the battle-ready Osgeelro onto his back and bolted.
“How have we survived this long? You wanna die like idiots now?!”
“P-put me down! Better a shameful life than an honorable death!”
“That's some fresh bullshit!”
“You run if you want! I'll fight those bastards!”
“You're buying me time to escape, even a little?”
“What are you on about?!”
Osgeelro denied it vehemently, but his cheeks flushed slightly. Sneaky old softie—and a lousy liar too.
Han Ji-woo glanced back while running flat out. Fortunately, the distance from the minotaur pack was growing.
Those guys aren't that agile.
The moment he looked away, Osgeelro slipped free and ran alongside.
“I'll heed you this once out of necessity, but never again this humiliation!”
“Good call!”
The human and the dwarf focused solely on sprinting ahead after that, not looking back.
* * *
“Huff! Huff!”
“Heh! Heh!”
The situation grew dire. An hour of full sprint? Not just minotaurs now—trolls, ogres, dire wolves, werewolves, lizardmen, owl bears, and more piled on behind Han Ji-woo's group.
As Ferrofero had said, the Dungeon Prison teemed with all sorts of monsters. They joined the chase every time they spotted Han Ji-woo and company fleeing the minotaurs.
Luckily, Han Ji-woo and Osgeelro's agility kept them ahead so far. But stamina was the issue.
An hour at full tilt, and their breaths came to their chins. A metallic, bloody taste rose in their mouths, legs quaking madly.
“Osgeelro! Y-you okay?”
“D-don't talk!”
Han Ji-woo racked his brain for a way out. Nothing clever came.
Then.
“The heavens have abandoned us at last!”
Osgeelro wailed, spotting something ahead. Lost in thought, Han Ji-woo noticed a beat later.
That's...!
Not far off stood a five-meter giant with massive bulk, gray skin, and unusually long arms—straight and tall.
“That's the one the orc chief mentioned!”
The being gazed down at the fleeing human, dwarf, and pursuing monsters with eyes overlooking all.
So huge, it wielded a tree trunk like a weapon in one hand.
Caught between hammer and anvil. Forward meant death, backward too.
“What now! Keep running, or stop?!”
Osgeelro yelled, eyeing Han Ji-woo. Oddly, his eyes sparkled with hope.
“Keep going!”
“What?!”
Running straight would splatter them against the prison's strongest. Yet Han Ji-woo urged them on.
“Fine! If we're dying, better against the strong one! Uahaha!”
Osgeelro, embracing death, drew his axe. But Han Ji-woo said something else to the valiant dwarf warrior.
“This path isn't to death—it's to survival!”
“What do you mean?”
As they closed in on the strongest monster, Han Ji-woo shouted.
“If you're truly my friend! Help us, ogre!”
Ogre. A high-grade monster whose affinity he'd steadily raised to 'friend' by gazing at the stars.
In response to Han Ji-woo's plea.
“I... protect... you...!”
The ogre swung its tree trunk.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Kreeeeek!
Kyaaak!
Kroooar!
Grulk!
Dozens of monsters burst like crushed insects in a single blow.