The Wizard's Dungeon
The dungeon. “This is the place.”
Right in front of the dungeon entrance that Carlo, the company commander, had pointed out. The dense green of the forest vanished in an instant, replaced by a prickling scent of death that washed over Tae-oh. Having already experienced countless deaths, sensing the aroma of mortality wasn’t particularly difficult for him. Just how many humans must have died here….
Tae-oh glanced around at his squad members and clicked his tongue. “Tsk. Looks like I need to change my words.”
The one following closest behind, Kyle, immediately echoed, “R-right, Captain? This place feels… off, doesn’t it?”
Tae-oh looked down at him. Kyle had good instincts. Maybe it came from being like a small animal—exceptionally sharp at detecting danger. Even though he’d never experienced death before, the fact that he instinctively realized how perilous this place was proved he possessed that kind of talent.
But the others weren’t the same.
“Hmm… it doesn’t look like much, does it? The entrance seems pretty ordinary,” Rian said. She was brave. Even in unsettling situations, she always tried not to lose her nerve, which was why she constantly spat out such blustery lines.
Tae-oh let out a small chuckle at the sight. “That’s not what I meant. Now that I’ve seen it in person, I don’t think you guys can handle this. It’s dangerous here.”
At his words, everyone’s eyes wavered.
“Th-then… are we turning back?” Licia asked, but Tae-oh shook his head.
“No. From here on, only me and Rolls will go in.”
It was Tae-oh’s way of showing consideration. According to his memories, this wasn’t an ordinary monster dungeon. It was a meticulously designed ‘wizard’s dungeon.’ The thick scent of mana wafting from the entrance proved it.
“Hell no, you bastard! I’m not going either! Go by yourself!” Rolls grumbled, shuddering in disgust.
‘Did that guy get badly burned by a dungeon before…?’ Seeing him fear dungeons so much despite his usual cynical personality, it wouldn’t be strange if he had some traumatic history.
But then—
“I don’t like it… but I’ll go with you.”
The one who stepped forward with those words was, surprisingly, Bruce.
“Hmm?”
Bruce was usually quiet and simply carried out his duties without fuss. Tae-oh hadn’t expected him to volunteer.
“Did you hear me? It’s dangerous. If it were just a normal monster dungeon, maybe. But this is a wizard’s dungeon. It’s full of weird traps.”
Yet even Nestler chimed in. “So you’re planning to handle everything alone again, Captain?”
The sly Nestler. On the surface he seemed like a lazy flirt who only joked around and hit on the female squad members, but in truth he was more diligent than anyone, secretly training hard every night.
“That’s not what I’m saying. At your current level, your lives…”
“Then when exactly are we supposed to grow?”
Nestler’s blunt question made one of Tae-oh’s eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Even this time. I thought we were comrades who crossed the line of death together with you, Captain. But it doesn’t look like you see us that way at all. One day I wake up and suddenly you’re the company commander’s right-hand man?”
“Hey, that’s…”
“I know you don’t trust us yet. But at least give us a chance to grow. If you keep handling everything yourself, are you basically telling us to just sit back and suck on honey?”
“Huh?”
Tae-oh was slightly taken aback. He hadn’t realized his squad members felt this way. He’d been so caught up in bizarre incidents lately that he hadn’t paid attention.
‘A little touching, actually.’
He had no idea when they’d come to trust him like this. But those feelings definitely weren’t bad. In fact, they were good. It meant he was gaining trustworthy comrades.
‘Haa… what should I do…?’
Tae-oh glanced at the heart icon in his status window.
‘Yeah. I can afford to use one for these guys.’
If someone died while clearing the dungeon, he could simply kill himself and loop back to fix everything. Thinking that way eased his mind a little. He could always bring them back by returning to the past.
“You all really want to go together?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah.”
“Obviously.”
“I’d rather not.”
With everyone except Rolls answering resolutely, Tae-oh sighed in defeat. “I already warned you. You could die.”
“If you fear death, you can never become strong. I learned that by watching you, Captain,” Bruce said, clenching his fist as he stepped forward.
‘What a reliable guy…’
“Fine. Once we’re inside, listen to me carefully. Never touch anything you don’t understand. Got it?”
“Yes, Captain!”
And so, they decided to enter the dungeon together.
Step—
As they passed through the dim cave entrance where even sunlight barely reached, the air temperature plummeted sharply. A completely isolated space, severed from the outside world, ruled by death and silence.
“We can’t go back anymore. This dungeon has a barrier too.”
“What?”
Kyle spun around, searching for the cave entrance. But all he saw was a solid rock wall blocking the way.
“N-no way!?”
Yet Tae-oh stood at the front with perfect composure, holding the torch high. The red flames flickered, faintly illuminating the dungeon’s interior hidden in darkness.
Artificially smooth-cut stone walls. Geometric magic circles carved at regular intervals. And scattered everywhere across the floor—white bones and rusted weapons.
Taking in the familiar scenery, a faint smile spread across Tae-oh’s lips.
‘Varshute’s Dungeon. So this is it? This whole area was the Roselion region?’
When he played the game, he hadn’t paid much attention to place names. He’d only memorized dungeon names, item names, skills—that sort of thing. He never bothered studying geography. Still, the rough shape of the map remained in his head.
‘Tsk, this is dangerous…’
Varshute’s Dungeon appeared around the mid-game. Well, since dungeons in general tended to show up in the middle stages, it was actually considered one of the easier ones. A classic wizard’s dungeon designed by some eccentric mage from the ancient magic empire to hide his research results and treasures.
But while it was easy, it was also tricky. The raw combat difficulty wasn’t high, yet it was packed with traps, gimmicks, puzzles, and hazards. In a game, you could just chug potions and brute-force through the traps, but this was reality. A single trap could easily take a life.
Tae-oh turned to check on his squad. Rolls was gripping his spear so tightly his knuckles were white. The usually boisterous Nestler and the large-framed Bruce were both tense, warily scanning their surroundings. Even Rian—who had acted so confident in front of him—along with Lcheni, who normally clung to him with her tail wagging, and Licia, who quietly took care of everyone, were now pale-faced and huddled shoulder-to-shoulder.
The primal fear radiating from this unknown space called a dungeon was shrinking them all down.
“Don’t get too scared, everyone. I’ll take the lead, so just step exactly where I step. Watch out for any protruding bricks on the walls or floor tiles too. Can you do that?”
When Tae-oh gave the order in a calm voice, Kyle answered with a trembling tone.
“Y-yes. C-Captain.”
Tae-oh adjusted his grip on the torch and began walking deeper into the dungeon.
The early section went smoothly. Tae-oh traced the map structure engraved in his memory, leisurely avoiding the hidden poison arrow traps and pitfall traps that opened underfoot.
Watching him, Rolls asked, “What the hell are you? These are traps, right?”
“Yeah. Step on them and something will probably fly at you. Not sure what, though.”
“You had a guide talent too?”
“I told you I was a hunter. Finding paths is basic stuff.”
“Ha, if it were that easy everyone would’ve become a guide! What the hell were you in the past, really?”
In games, navigation was always the hardest part. Games had the convenient minimap feature, but if that disappeared, the difficulty shot straight up. Of course, Tae-oh was a veteran who could clear the game even without looking at the minimap, so it didn’t matter to him.
“Why are you so interested in someone else’s past? You never tell me yours either.”
“T-that’s…”
“Later, if you tell me about your past with your own mouth, I’ll tell you about mine too.”
“Tch, acting all high and mighty.”
Tae-oh chuckled and continued pressing forward.
How long had they been walking?
“Prepare for combat.”
At the words “prepare for combat,” the sound of the squad members swallowing hard echoed through the dungeon.
“Don’t get too tense. The enemy’s still weak.”
“W-what the hell is that?”
The monster that appeared before them was a perfectly ordinary ‘skeleton soldier.’
“Why are you all so surprised? It’s just a skeleton soldier.”
But the squad’s reaction was strange.
“U-uwaaaaah!! Th-the skeleton is moving!! U-undead!! Gh-ghost!!”
“Huh?”
Tae-oh stared blankly at his squad members.
“What’s so scary about that?”
It was a basic low-tier monster that showed up all the time in the game. But apparently it wasn’t the same for everyone else.
“C-Captain, you’re really not scared of that thing!?” Kyle asked, horrified, but Tae-oh simply shrugged.
No… he’d killed tens of thousands of them. The game and reality were different, but the visual itself hadn’t changed much. Modern game graphics were pretty good, after all. Though being in reality did give it a much more oppressive, overwhelming presence.
Clang—!
Tae-oh casually blocked the sword strike the skeleton soldier swung down. In truth, plenty of people still died to these things. The danger of letting your guard down and dying to even a weak monster—that was the charm of souls-like games.
Crack—!
Tae-oh leisurely took down two skeleton soldiers, then looked at his squad members who were hugging each other and trembling. He spoke with a hint of exasperation.
“Guys… if you’re scared of something like this, we won’t get any further…”
“B-but… it’s a g-ghost. A d-dead person is moving…”
Ah… so that’s what they were afraid of.
“Just think of them as magic soldiers created by a wizard.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. Stop saying nonsense like ‘a dead person is moving.’”
Well, undead would appear later too, but there was no need to mention that now.
And so, they continued progressing smoothly through the dungeon.
‘Tsk, I don’t remember everything perfectly.’
It was a beginner dungeon by Tae-oh’s standards, who had graduated from it long ago. There was no way he could still perfectly recall every single gimmick. Nevertheless, Tae-oh relied on his fragmented memories to clear the dungeon.
The occasional low-tier skeletons or slime groups that leaped out of the darkness were now easily shattered by the newly courageous strikes from Bruce, Nestler, and Kyle.
“C-Captain! I killed a skeleton!!”
“Nice work~”
‘Good. At this pace, it’s not bad at all.’