Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Shura Field
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On the first floor, two prideful women crossed paths.
Belesa even smirked at the sight of Aletia and threw the first jab.
"Lord Balak, who's this woman?"
"Hah?"
Aletia felt like she'd been smashed with a hammer, her insides bubbling with rage.
But she quickly reined in her emotions and slipped on her mask of pretense.
"Long time no see, Balak."
"Meeting like this again—I'm thrilled, Demon King!"
Deciding to ignore the mysterious women for now, Aletia swiftly exchanged greetings with Balak.
She immediately began gathering intel.
"But... Balak, who are these ladies?"
"Ah, my manners. First, this is Belesa—she handles a major part of the dungeon merchants. And Belesa? This is Aletia Versien, who leads a faction of the demonkin."
"Oh my! Versien, it's such a pleasure!"
"Ha. Ha. Ha. The pleasure's mine."
"Uh... why are you two suddenly...?"
"It's nothing."
"Exactly! Nothing at all!"
And just like that, a bizarre war of nerves erupted between the two women.
Narin, caught in the crossfire of their clashing auras, broke out in a cold sweat.
Soon, both women's gazes turned to Narin.
"And this one is..."
"Changwol Narin. My newest recruit in the dungeon."
"Ah, hello! I'm Narin Changwol, learning combat techniques from my master."
"Heh... so you're the disciple..."
Aletia quickly assessed Narin's current state and her relationship with Balak.
A master-disciple bond?
That was practically like parent and child.
Plus, the way Narin looked at Balak was filled with respect.
She concluded the young white-haired woman was no threat.
But the problem was that purple-horned, tailed creature!
That race was infamous for their debauchery—the succubi!
'How... how dare that slut cling to Balak?!"
Faced with the sight of a female golden sun latching onto her boyfriend, Aletia confronted the situation, while Belesa—merely itching for some playful mischief—sparked their awkward first encounter.
***********
Balak was in a truly awkward spot right now.
'Tch... they just met today, so why are they getting along so poorly?'
Anyone could see they were locked in a staring contest!
Was it some ancient feud between the demonkin king and the dream demon king?
Or because the Demon King was an administrator?
Hm... too many possibilities.
For now, as planned, they'd dive into business talk, so he sent Changwol off to the training room.
"T-Then I'll be going, Master!"
"Yeah, train hard."
Somehow, with Changwol gone, the air grew even chillier.
This wasn't something icebreakers could fix, so he invited them both to his lounge-like room first.
As the saying goes, even Mount Geumgang looks the same after a meal.
He quickly brewed some tea and handed it over.
"For an occasion like this, this is perfect!"
"Belesa, is that... snacks?"
"They look delicious, don't they? Picked them up from that popular bakery lately."
Oh ho, as expected of a dungeon merchant's dream demon—pure business savvy.
Warm tea and sweet treats to ease the tension!
What a perfect combo.
With this, the mood would—
"........."
"Heh heh heh..."
Get even frostier!
Oof... the current vibe was straight out of that scenario.
You know how sometimes you meet someone and just click terribly?
Yeah, these two seemed incompatible from birth.
Getting advice from them together might create reverse synergy.
Better to meet them separately...
"Oh right! Lord Balak, didn't you want advice on this place last time?"
"Hm? Yeah, I did..."
"Then let's jump into that. Balak, what's the issue?"
As expected of faction leaders.
Even with the obvious discomfort, they pushed for business.
And he was the dungeon master!
Taking their lead, he dove straight into work.
"Actually, I've been thinking about a full dungeon remake."
"Re... make?"
"Eek?"
They didn't know the term, apparently.
He explained right away.
"You mean rebuilding everything from scratch?!"
"So, overhauling the current dungeon setup entirely?"
"Exactly."
"But how would you even do that here?"
"What if we went with a semi-open world?"
They'd surely not know that term either, so he explained.
"Hm... letting challengers roam freely in a limited space."
"And they overcome trials in each area to qualify for the boss room..."
His current concept drew from the city the dungeon merchants built.
Those bizarre spaghetti monsters that spawned at night, right?
Create a limited field where they spawn.
Then scatter the rooms he'd made so far throughout the field.
"Lord Balak, that's intriguing, but it'd mess up everything—room progression, ways to earn Abyss Coins, difficulty, all of it."
"That's why I wanted your advice."
"So it's just a rough idea."
Open worlds needed to be done right.
Screw it up, and you end up with those notoriously boring, pretentious big open worlds!
That's why he planned a semi-open world within a limited field.
"First off, ditch the linear structure—room one to room two—and split into core zones and exploration areas for farming?"
"...That sounds too complicated. All those issues you mentioned would pile up, and challengers used to the old dungeon wouldn't even attempt it."
"Plus, what goes in the core zones? What fills the exploration areas?"
"Then... portals from the entrance to mini-dungeons, and fields for events and farming?"
"You're not saying it goes back to linear after the field, right?"
"In my view..."
They kept brainstorming from there.
He'd worried since their first impressions were a disaster.
But luckily, on practical matters, they meshed perfectly!
As he soaked in the great advice...
"Balak, about those field mobs. What exactly are they?"
"Ah, you wouldn't know, Demon King. Belesa, got a specimen handy?"
"Oh dear... if Versien doesn't know, no helping it~"
When the talk turned to something only he and the dream demon knew, he saw muscles twitch on the Demon King's forehead.
But she chugged her tea and snapped back to normal.
Thud!!
"Very well... 'Succubus'? If you would."
"Hee hee, no worries, 'Demon King'. I've got all the samples collected."
Oh boy.
Round two of the staring contest was brewing.
Why were women like this?!
Even with his open mind, some things were innate.
What complicated creatures.
***********
Right now, Aletia found Belesa utterly grating.
But Balak was right there.
And Belesa was clearly on her level—or stronger—at a glance.
What floor boss was she that made her so powerful?
Enough to drive her mad already.
"Lord Balak, so what monsters should we summon? Big ones? Small ones? Or..."
"Something mid-sized..."
And Belesa was utterly relaxed with her right there!
What gave her that confidence?!!
Of course, Belesa had long since given up, enjoying her time with Balak in perfect comfort.
But Aletia, clueless, wanted to scream and jump.
Was it really wise to unleash that ultimate move from her nanny last time?!
—She pondered, but her sharp reason hit the brakes.
'No, wait! This is only our third meeting with Balak!'
Aletia imagined trying to pounce in something barely qualifying as underwear—and failing.
'Demon King, aren't we just 'friends'...?'
'Eh?'
Agh! What a colossal black history that would be!
Worse, Balak might see her as some floozy worse than a succubus.
Even if she kept a calm facade, jealousy churned her guts.
Belesa, seeing right through Aletia's solo meltdown, giggled inwardly.
Would Aletia prove her pure love to Belesa?
And if the pranks cracked her pretense—what would Aletia do?
First love was truly tough.
*************
The restarted staring contest ended abruptly when Belesa summoned the grotesque monster.
Squirm squirm.
Kieeeek!!!!
The disgustingly creepy thing thrashed in its specially sealed glass case.
"You're... putting these in the dungeon?"
"Isn't it perfect?!"
"Hmm..."
Aletia considered the strengthening mid-world and the Abyss's infamous pit.
Maybe these wouldn't be so bad in a dungeon.
But Balak wasn't satisfied.
"Demon King, can you tweak this spaghetti monster's appearance?"
"Eh...? Modify this?"
It was an infinite-spawning mob from the original 50th floor's weird floor.
And Aletia was the administrator who could adjust the dungeon interior, right?
Balak figured she could alter its look—and he was spot on.
"Hm... yeah, I can change it."
"Oooh! Perfect!"
"So how? It's already gross—tone it down a bit..."
"No, make it even more horrific."
"What?"
"L-Lord Balak?"
Balak recalled his past life's SF games.
That one where you sliced zombie limbs with tools on a sealed space station!
And the apocalypse world nuked to hell, with hyper-realistic, bulked-up bugs.
He described the mob looks he wanted.
""Ugh...""
The two women—oil and water to human creativity's endless horrors—grimaced in unison.