Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Warrior Surveys His Turf
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Velesa and Karian reached the 100th floor, where they found Zarkan coordinating the dungeon's various magics.
"Zarkan!"
"Hm? Velesa, what brings you here... and Karian too."
"Greetings, Zarkan."
Velesa soon explained they were heading to the first floor, and Zarkan nodded before speaking.
"Hmm... off to see the champion, eh?"
"Is there a problem, Zarkan?"
"Nothing like that, so don't worry. But Velesa, the city will be finished soon. What do you think about inviting the champion to the completion celebration?"
"The champion?"
"Even if we're just using each other, we should always keep the door open for better relations."
"I'm all for it! Have the others agreed?"
"The lich is fully on board, and the rest seem pretty supportive too."
"Then it's settled."
With Velesa's agreement to invite Valak to the city they'd built, Zarkan handed Karian an item and explained how to use it.
"So... this magic tool activates when the city is complete and the celebration starts?"
"And when it does, the dungeon sealing spell inside will activate too. Tell the champion not to worry about a thing."
"Understood, Zarkan. When did you make this dungeon sealing spell?"
"The lich developed it experimentally through the research guild. He couldn't fully seal a dungeon, but that guy's really hit his stride lately."
The lich leading the research guild inside the dungeon was conducting all sorts of experiments with his followers to seize the Abyss Pit.
And as a byproduct, this magic tool had been created.
It was clear the lich was more passionate about his work than anyone.
Karian couldn't even remember the last time his master had been this fired up.
But with a mental note to join the research guild when he had time, he finished preparing to meet Valak alongside Velesa.
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While the bosses and Karian were talking on the 100th floor,
Valak fell deep into thought in his boss room, pondering a dilemma.
That's when Ferguson showed up for the first time in ages, having noticed the boss room's seal lift, eager to see his big bro.
"Big bro Valak!"
"Oh, little bro Fer! Long time no see. You been good?"
"I'm always healthy. But what's up?"
"Well... I want to rearrange the order of the rooms in the dungeon because of how the difficulties are distributed."
"The room order?"
"Yeah."
Honestly, the rooms currently placed in the dungeon had been thrown together haphazardly based on my whims.
I hadn't thought about difficulty distribution at all.
Luckily though, the progression from the first room to the dungeon shelter was perfect.
Even if breaking through the first room was a total nightmare thanks to bad luck,
Once players cleared it and reached the Iron Labyrinth, it became a cakewalk if they'd grown properly.
Clear that, pass the mid-boss, and they hit the dungeon shelter.
It was the ideal "Hard-Easy-Normal-Reward" curve.
Even if players got stronger later, I could just upgrade everything in the rooms accordingly—no problem.
The issue was rooms 3 and 4 as they stood.
"Come to think of it, there was that hero who cleared the third room in one go, right?"
"That's the problem. If players meet the conditions, the current third and fourth rooms are as easy as the Iron Labyrinth."
No one had reached the fourth yet,
But with enough grit and focus, grinding it out was doable.
Screw that up, and we'd end up with an absurd "Easy-Easy-Boss" setup!
I didn't want a raid-style clusterfuck where they all swarm in and zerg me down!
That's why the room before my boss room needed to be something like the third room with its barrage of magic bullets—forcing players to spread out.
"Running a dungeon perfectly is no joke."
"But thanks to you thinking all this through, tons of heroes are challenging it. Don't worry."
"That's encouraging. Still, I should consult the skeleton merchant again later."
"Karian's seriously multitalented. Speaking of... how long has that orc been out cold?"
"Oh yeah. O-Salp! On your feet!!"
"Aaagh!! Orek! Rise!!"
"Man, seeing this takes me back. So his name's Orek, huh?"
"You... you!!"
"Whoa? Talking smack to your senior?"
"Guh?!"
Just like soldiers in his past life loosening up after boot camp, they all chilled out post-brainwashing.
Biology's a bitch, and since it's his first time, I'll let it slide—but if he pulls that on Perry again, he's done.
"Haha... Big bro Valak, I'm fine."
"Cut the nonsense. Anyway, O-Salp!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
"Tell little bro Fer your story."
"N-Now?!"
"Of course— you'll be hanging together from now on. Summarize in three lines, go!!"
"Eek!! I used to be a shaman!!! Then all the world's nature spirits left, stripping my powers!!! So I left the tribe and became a druid!!!"
"Yes!! Perfect summary!!"
See? Pump 'em up, and they shine!
So this O-Salp was originally a shaman but switched to druid for some reason.
Nature spirits were basically elementals.
Which means!!
"If you think about it, O-Salp's a victim of those damn pricks too."
The pricks' perversion drove the spirits from this world—yep, confirms most fantasy problems stem from those assholes.
"Impressive. Orek ditched everything he'd built and still reached that level?"
"Hm... yeah, now that you mention it, that's wild."
"Th-Thank you!"
Even switching to a similar job is brutally hard.
Why? The work looks the same but the guts are totally different.
That's why techies in his past life struggled to pivot fields—not just age, but starting from scratch.
Most quit.
But this O-Salp rebuilt his tower from the rubble, forging his own path.
Yet a solid guy like this ends up dungeon-trapped as a boss with us...
Life doesn't go how you want.
"So Orek, why'd you show up to face me all banged up?"
"Oh right, forgot about that. Spill."
"W-Well..."
Basically, O-Salp took a hidden portal like Perry to another dungeon.
And fought some boss there?
"The first one I met was a human male."
"Hold up—a dungeon boss who's human?"
"To be precise... half-human. The other half was a blood ghost."
"You mean vampire?"
"Blood ghosts get called that."
Fine, all bosses being dudes aside.
Half-human, half-vampire?
I could guess what that was.
"Dhampir."
"You know 'em, big bro?"
"More or less. Think half-vampire. So you fought the dhampir?"
"Nah. The dam... pir? Anyway, right after linking up, he seemed like he was in the same boat, so we teamed up briefly to figure out where the hell we were."
"Then?"
"We hit another hidden portal to a place with what looked like a human woman doll. She was nice at first. But the second I let my guard down... ambushed."
Huh? Attacked for no reason?
Maybe O-Salp triggered something, but
It was less than five minutes in.
"N-No clue. The doll said all fleshbags had to be purged. The dhampir ditched me and bolted. We crossed paths later but just went our ways."
"So that's why you didn't trust me and Karian. How'd you escape?"
"It was some huge old building. Turned into a tiny rat and slipped out."
So, psycho killer doll in a massive abandoned structure?
Common fantasy trope.
But one thing bugged me.
"Hang on, O-Salp. Describe every landscape you saw in the dungeons."
"Started in a deep forest crawling with beasts. Met the dhampir in a massive cave... Doll was in a creepy old mega-building."
"So you came here backwards."
"Yeah. Passed a wide blue grassland before arriving though..."
"Blue grassland? Feels like where I was..."
"No, little bro Fer. That's your spot O-Salp came from."
"Wait— all the dungeons are connected?!"
"High chance."
Who'd have thought each dungeon linked up!
And I knew this structure well.
If hidden portals zipped you boss-to-boss, ending at mine!!!
This was a Boss Rush!
I shared my game knowledge with Perry and O-Salp, and they got it.
"Sounds right, big bro. Otherwise, they wouldn't chain like this."
"A challenge where heroes smash bosses in sequence..."
"If true, explains why you haven't seen heroes."
"Other dungeons aren't cleared, so no one reaches us?"
Exactly! They were Boss Rush bosses!
This world's been live under a year.
If these talents didn't screw around,
They could've powered up in their originals before clears.
Grown to match the bosses they'd face pre-me.
And the final boss after the rush? Me!
Aah... pure感動.
Best choice ever, AIs.
"But us warping here wrecked the boss rush."
"Nope! Assume the entrance to my dungeon's outside as a backup!"
This world's NPCs seemed fully sapient.
Bosses like us too.
Would the ruling AIs fail to predict Boss Rush bosses portal-hopping via hidden gates?
Nah—countermeasure: plop my entrance near starter village, cliche-style.
Or unlock outsides once strong enough, like mine.
Tons of contingencies.
Even funneling here could be one!
"And there's a surefire way to confirm the structure."
"Ah, yeah."
"Uh... what do you mean?"
O-Salp, new to my dungeon, wouldn't know.
The method was!!!
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