Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: A Journey in Search of New Undead
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Leyzon, who had rented a carriage all the way to the outskirts of the capital, got off in a sparsely populated forest.
"Are you sure it's okay to walk from here? This forest is crawling with bandits."
"If there are that many bandits, it must be a good place for people to live. Thanks. Here's your fare."
"...You're no ordinary fellow."
Leyzon paid the worried coachman and sent him on his way.
After the coachman left, the quiet forest came into view.
As the coachman had said, the rugged forest was perfect for bandits to set up camp.
They usually claimed spots along good roads.
And when things turned against them, they fled into forests like this.
Of course, Leyzon wasn't worried about bandits in the slightest.
"Syria."
His ultimate weapon was right beside him.
"Yes!"
Syria raised her arm high and replied.
She then groped around on the ground before nodding.
"Leyzon, let's go into the shadow!"
Leyzon looked at Syria's shadow.
Maybe because he'd nearly died falling into a shadow not long ago.
Honestly, it felt a bit creepy.
Hanok, standing nearby, seemed to feel the same, his body trembling faintly.
But Leyzon was the one who had asked Syria.
Anything but a carriage would do.
Leyzon stepped into the shadow.
"Ughhh."
Eventually, Hanok followed suit.
A moment later, a black space appeared inside the shadow.
Thanks to Syria, he'd been in here quite often.
But that inexplicable stickiness was still hard to get used to.
How long did they wait like that?
"All set!"
Suddenly, his field of view cleared up.
Leyzon blinked, and the forest from before came into sight.
It felt just like looking out a carriage window.
Hanok perked up his tail, scanning the surroundings.
The area around them swayed subtly.
Like a beast breathing in and out.
"Syria, this is..."
"A wolf made from shadows. Perfect for travel, right?"
Syria approached Leyzon with a beaming smile.
Who knew this was possible?
It definitely wouldn't attract attention, and it seemed pretty great.
'Plus.'
Unlike a carriage, there were no spatial constraints like roads.
"That's not all, Leyzon."
Syria raised her index finger with a swipe.
At that moment, his view began to shift.
The shadow wolf had started running.
'Fast.'
It was incomparably faster than any carriage.
And the ride was incredibly smooth.
'Feels just like being in a car.'
He should have used this ages ago.
"You'll be able to do it in no time too, Leyzon!"
"My rank isn't high enough yet, and my proficiency is still lacking."
Now that it was reality instead of a game,
skills required proficiency to use.
'Blood is similar to poison, so that's fine.'
But handling shadow magic was trickier than expected.
"It's okay. You made me, after all. You can definitely do it!"
Syria was all infinite positivity.
Leyzon shook off his negative thoughts, following her lead.
A smile even crept onto his face.
"You're right. Just like you said, Syria."
When had he ever given up just because it was tough?
Leyzon always managed to pull through in the end.
"Of course I can do it."
"That's my Leyzon!"
Leyzon and Syria cheered each other on.
"...Isn't the direction of that positivity a bit off?"
Hanok muttered softly, but Leyzon had already tuned him out.
Leyzon was gradually being swept up in Syria's barrage of praise.
Hanok felt like someone needed to rein those two in.
But he lacked the confidence.
"Exactly, because it's you, Leyzon."
So he gave up cleanly and joined in.
The Ged Mountain Range was two months away by travel.
Given the distance, even Syria's wolf took quite a while.
In the meantime, Leyzon practiced new magic inside the shadow.
He made considerable progress.
With multiple attributes at his command, his magical spectrum had widened dramatically.
He also steadily supplied Syria with blood.
She'd grown so accustomed to drinking his blood now.
When it was time, she naturally came over and bit his arm.
'Iron is essential.'
Leyzon munched diligently on the iron-rich vegetables he'd prepared the day before.
With Syria draining his blood constantly,
steady iron intake was a must.
"Any progress on stage 3?"
"Hmm, it's iffy. Still a long way to go on the total amount."
So, one person's blood alone wasn't enough, after all.
He'd probably need to absorb Phantasmal Beast blood in a dungeon too.
Stages 1 and 2 were easy, but hitting stage 3 would be the real hurdle.
"Leyzon, something's over there."
At that moment, Hanok perked up his ears and called Leyzon over.
Leyzon looked in the direction Hanok indicated and saw a cave.
The eerie aura emanating from it.
That was definitely a dungeon.
The problem was,
'A dungeon here?'
Leyzon checked the geography map he'd bought in advance.
The magic-made map showed their current position in detail.
But nowhere on the map was there any mention of a dungeon.
Which meant this dungeon had appeared recently.
'A new dungeon.'
New dungeons had one key feature.
Special rewards.
'On first clear, Ascension EXP gain and reward rates increase.'
So Leyzon had all the new dungeons memorized.
Under the dim green light, the dungeon's interior revealed itself.
A dust-filled corridor.
Leyzon scanned the surroundings.
Though covered in dust,
high-class murals peeked through beyond it.
The decorations lining the corridor midway were also quite luxurious.
They'd fetch a good price if sold.
Leyzon's eyes narrowed.
'This style shows up often in pretty high-grade dungeons.'
Dungeons changed appearance based on difficulty.
Corridors like this, looking so opulent, were unlike regular dungeons—full of dangerous traps.
That naturally raised the grade.
'But it came out as mid-tier.'
He'd have to check in person.
"Syria, can you take point?"
"Yes, of course!"
Syria cheerfully led the way.
Her legs and arms stretching straight ahead looked reliable.
"Hanok, you guard the rear."
"Got it."
Hanok's once-soft eyes sharpened.
He was trustworthy in combat.
The corridor stretched longer than expected.
Contrary to his assumption of traps,
it continued without any.
"Hmm, that's unexpected."
As confirmed, maybe because it was mid-tier.
Less dangerous than the dungeons he usually ran.
'Ascension EXP efficiency will be lower.'
Ascension EXP came mostly from hunting new Phantasmal Beasts.
No new ones in a new dungeon?
That was disappointing.
"It's pretty long."
As Syria said, the corridor kept going.
He'd suspected illusion magic or something midway,
but according to Syria, no such traces.
It was just a real corridor.
Finally, an end came into view after a long stretch.
"A door."
A single door stood tall at the corridor's end.
Something about it gave Leyzon a strange feeling.
"Syria, open it?"
"Yes."
Syria casually swung it open.
Inside was an empty space.
Opulent walls like outside,
but just ordinary walls big enough for one person.
'This structure is one I've almost never seen.'
Every dungeon had Phantasmal Beasts.
Except once.
Leyzon had seen a dungeon devoid of them in-game.
'Bug dungeon.'
A completely empty dungeon, no Phantasmal Beasts.
Players called it the bug dungeon.
There was truly nothing there.
Players just spun their characters in circles and left.
Every game had bugs.
The problem was, the devs patched discovered bugs immediately—except this one.
'Players thought they left it because fixing it caused other bugs.'
Now that it was reality.
He wondered if Dungeon Replay was truly just a normal game.
This dungeon felt off.
'Maybe.'
Overly hidden settings.
Untied plot threads left dangling.
Back then, he'd thought they were detailed for immersion.
But with it all becoming real, his mind changed.
Leyzon eyed the dungeon again, identical to that bug one.
Was this dungeon really empty?
'No way.'
He couldn't check as a game character.
But now he could.
"Syria, Hanok, we're searching this room top to bottom from now on."
Never ignore a gamer's instincts.
And they found nothing.
"There's really nothing here~."
As Syria said, the dungeon was empty.
Leyzon felt a deep sense of defeat.
His gamer instincts had failed him.
With a gloomy face, he headed for the exit.
No matter how much they searched, nothing turned up.
So they decided to leave.
"Sorry, wasted our time."
"No! It was fun!"
"Felt like an adventure."
Syria and Hanok didn't mind at all.
'I'll mark this location and check it again later.'
For now, nothing made sense.
"Leyzon, we're almost there."
The entrance reappeared in Leyzon's view.
The black space distorting hazily.
They could exit like this.
As Leyzon moved to give up and leave,
thud—.
His footsteps halted.
Leyzon stared blankly at the black space for a moment.
"Leyzon?"
Syria and Hanok, about to exit, turned back.
"...Syria, can you use your shadow to get us out beyond that exit right in front of us?"
Syria blinked.
Then she looked at the space and—
"Ah."
Her eyes widened; she'd never thought of it either.
Pioneers always pushed forward upon entering a dungeon entrance.
That was natural.
But that meant the flip side of the natural assumption existed.
Beyond the exit for leaving the dungeon.
There might be space.
"Let's try!"
Intrigued, Syria showed enthusiasm.
She slipped into the shadow immediately.
Leyzon and Hanok followed.
Syria began moving the shadow in that state.
Her shadow interior was a separate space.
So it might bypass the dungeon's spatial distortion
and cross beyond the exit.
Leyzon believed that and waited quietly inside.
[Leyzon!]
Syria's excited voice rang in his ears.
[We made it through!]
Leyzon emerged from the shadow upon hearing that.
What appeared was a completely different corridor.
Not a speck of dust on the floors or decorations.
And bright lights shining clearly.
A corridor radiating well-maintained warmth lay there.
Leyzon grinned, baring his teeth.
'That's a change in perspective for you.'
Jackpot.