Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: The Black Castle Dungeon
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Sunset Desert Zone.
True to its name, the sky had already begun to dim as the sun dipped low, painting the horizon in brilliant hues of sunset.
Crimson sand gleamed under the fading light, sparkling like jewels.
It was as if the desert itself were a red gem absorbing the sunlight and shining brightly.
A star slowly drew closer to the earth above the sunset.
In Dungeon Replay, where modern civilization did not exist,
that star could shine brighter than anything in the world.
There were even those who lived in the Sunset Desert Zone, entranced by such mesmerizing beauty.
The sight was worth it.
As the sunset faded,
Leyzon set foot inside the Black Castle.
Smooth stone tiles packed tightly together pressed against the soles of his feet.
Houses built within the fortress came into view.
Yet not a trace of human warmth could be felt.
Even in a fortress this massive.
The Black Castle had never once sheltered a single soul.
"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps."
Hanok rubbed his arms.
Such a colossal fortress filled only with silence and stillness.
The unknown sensation it evoked was utterly chilling.
"Eek."
Just then,
Lebon awoke from his nap atop the shrunken shadow wolf that Syria had prepared.
He rolled his eyes around from between his thick brows,
then suddenly widened them both.
"The Floating Continent!"
"No, it's not."
"I... I've finally... reached the Floating Continent!"
"I said it's not."
This old man—is he really a Floating Continent observer?
Even as Leyzon denied it, Lebon shuddered to himself in excitement.
Leyzon stopped bothering with Lebon.
Instead, he began stepping deeper into the Black Castle.
'Where the hell is Pauli?'
The moving Black Castle.
To be precise, the true force moving the Black Castle was someone else.
The master of the Black Castle, whom Leyzon called Pauli.
Leyzon didn't know how Pauli had expanded the fortress to this extent.
But he needed to meet him in person and talk.
[Leyzon, something's coming.]
At that moment, Syria called out to him.
Leyzon turned his head in the direction she indicated.
Then, Eden rose from Leyzon's embrace in her doll form.
[This feeling... it's weird.]
Eden sensed something off.
As Leyzon raised a questioning brow,
a chill ran down his body on the incoming breeze.
"L-Leyzon."
At the same time, the fur on Hanok's tail stood on end all at once.
Both Hanok and Leyzon knew what this sensation was.
After all, they'd felt it countless times before.
'This is...'
The feeling of entering a dungeon.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Something began charging from the distance.
They were knights clad in black armor.
A horde of knights radiating pitch-black killing intent rushed toward them.
This was no friendly welcome.
They evoked the Phantasmal Beasts that guarded dungeons.
No.
They truly were Phantasmal Beasts.
The Black Castle had become a dungeon.
To Leyzon, this was incredibly disorienting.
But before confusion, he had to deal with the immediate threat.
"Syria, Eden."
The Black Castle could originally produce undead on its own.
So Leyzon wasn't too surprised to see undead.
"Take care of them."
After all, he had two of the strongest undead at his side.
Straw infused with curses surged from Leyzon's left.
Droplets of Syria's blood rained down from his right.
Boom crash shatter!
The charging black knights shattered under the fierce assault from Eden and Syria.
"Don't destroy them all—leave a couple intact."
[Got it!]
[Okay!]
The two undead demolished the foes in an instant.
More black knights followed,
but they stood no chance against the onslaught.
Moments later, Eden and Syria each presented a black knight before Leyzon.
The knights' limbs were all shattered.
"Hanok."
Leyzon called, and Hanok turned around.
He was busy restraining Lebon, who was trying to dash off shouting about the Floating Continent.
"Take one each and handle them."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Hanok dragged Lebon over.
Then Lebon's eyes widened.
He had somehow picked up a piece of undead debris.
"...This must be the herb that heals Bonde's body."
"It's undead."
What does this guy plan to feed his grandson?
Dementia geezer giving me a headache.
"Kiiing."
Just then, Haron poked his head out from Hanok's armor and smacked his lips.
He'd devoured plenty of armor recently.
Apparently, the black knight looked tasty too.
Right then, tentacles wriggled from between the limbs.
"Kiiing!"
Haron freaked out and retracted his head.
The black knight was an undead covered in armor like a hermit crab, with tentacles.
Even Haron couldn't eat that.
Leyzon raised his staff.
Time to test the skill he'd learned from Haron recently.
Haron had gained two skills upon evolving.
One was Rigidity [Special], as mentioned before.
The other was
Camouflage [C].
Transformation, simply put, was a skill that changed one's appearance.
But Camouflage had one special trait.
Leyzon lifted his staff.
"Shadow Form, Fierce Poison Emission, Attribute Fusion."
Fierce poison infused the shadows.
Leyzon thrust his staff into the venomous shadows.
"Camouflage."
And activated Camouflage here.
The staff's outer appearance, now filled with shadow and fierce poison, transformed.
What emerged was a single sword.
"Syria, how does it look?"
[Like a normal sword!]
Even to Syria's eyes, the staff appeared as an ordinary sword.
Haron's skill Camouflage changed one's outer form to any desired shape.
This held true even if magic was active.
This could be applied in countless ways going forward.
Endless ideas came to mind immediately.
'Got something useful.'
Leyzon strode toward the black knight.
He swung the sword down.
Sizzle hiss!
The black knight melted and crumbled under the sword's venom.
At that moment, Leyzon felt something seep into his body.
'Ascension EXP.'
Leyzon looked up.
Just then, Hanok smashed a black knight with his spear.
"Hanok, getting EXP?"
"Y-Yes, I am!"
Hanok felt the Ascension EXP flowing in too.
For final confirmation, Leyzon rummaged in his bag.
He pulled out a dungeon scroll.
A scroll that revealed dungeon difficulty.
Leyzon tore it toward the Black Castle's center.
This was surely the Corruption Level of Pauli, the Black Castle's master.
Leyzon's eyes narrowed oddly.
'The Black Castle really turned into a dungeon.'
He couldn't hide his bewilderment.
He'd vaguely thought dungeons were relics of the Kaltura Empire.
But no.
His own undead, Pauli, had suddenly become a dungeon master.
Which meant
'There must be specific conditions to turn something into a dungeon?'
Dungeons had been appearing anew all this time.
What if they were born by natural law?
Or perhaps the Kaltura Empire had embedded some law?
'Then what about the skills Phantasmal Beasts possess?'
Skills were talents extracted from humans in the distant past.
That's what Leyzon had believed.
But this world might operate on even more absurd principles.
'Suppose dungeons are created by natural law.'
The bosses born in dungeons possess skills.
If he could uncover the conditions to create a dungeon,
he might artificially generate them to farm skills at will.
Did the Empire know this method?
If they already did,
'Can we even stand against the Empire?'
A Platinum Hero at 20 Ascensions, with all skills at EX rank.
Just imagining such a foe as an enemy made his breath catch.
The Empire's Knight Commander might surpass all imagination.
Leyzon shook his head to clear it.
'No rash judgments.'
He knew the Empire wasn't invincible.
Evidence showed they couldn't fully control Kaltura's legacy.
Just look at their research to suppress other races' talents.
'Above all, the Empire's downfall scenario is still in progress.'
He didn't know why the Empire would fall,
despite their overwhelming power.
No need to overthink yet.
The answers were close by anyway.
"Gotta find Pauli quick."
The Black Castle's master.
Leyzon resolved to find Pauli and ask about the dungeon.
Maybe it would unravel some mysteries.
Dungeon: Black Castle.
Leyzon had ended up tackling his own undead's dungeon.
Syria and Eden were with him, sure.
But dungeons were full of unknowns.
Especially since this was Leyzon's first time conquering the Black Castle.
'Ended up tackling a new dungeon.'
Leyzon proceeded cautiously.
The village roads in the Black Castle twisted like a natural labyrinth.
To reach the depths, he had to wind around endlessly.
To avoid getting lost, he scattered Syria's shadow bats.
The shadow bats flapped about, patrolling the skies above the Black Castle.
"Caw!"
Just then, a flock of black birds swarmed from afar.
Birds with four eyes, their bodies decayed.
Undead, corpse birds.
The corpse birds dove straight at the shadow bats.
But they'd picked the wrong foes.
As the corpse birds appeared, the shadow bats bared their fangs.
They tore into the corpse birds in an instant.
Unless it was Pauli himself, the Black Castle's master,
its mass-produced undead were no match.
'Entrance difficulty is still upper-tier dungeon level.'
The problem was, this was just the entrance.
Dungeons ramped up in difficulty the deeper you went.
The dungeonized Black Castle followed the same structure.
If the scroll's Silver Hero grade was accurate,
it would rival top dungeons deeper in.
'A Silver Hero-grade dungeon—among the world's elite.'
He'd ended up tackling an absurd dungeon.
Still, thanks to Syria and Eden, progress through the Black Castle was smooth.
Then, at some point, buildings grew dense, and an eerie aura thickened.
Darkness blanketed the area like fog.
A grotesque scraping of metal echoed steadily from somewhere.
Hanok instinctively shrank back.
He sensed the atmosphere wasn't right.
Snap!
In that instant, one of the shadow bats flying overhead shattered to pieces.
[...Leyzon.]
Syria quietly called to him.
Signaling danger.
Snap! Snap!
Her shadow bats began exploding one after another.
This meant
an opponent had appeared that even basic shadow bats couldn't handle.
Whoosh!
Something flew from the darkness.
Straw burst from Leyzon's clothes like arrows.
Thwack!
Eden caught the incoming projectile.
Wrapped in the straw was a curled-up pill bug-like thing.
The tiny pill bug writhed with countless legs.
"Bug sniper, huh."
Leyzon identified the undead.
Undead from 15-Ascension Hero-grade corpse dungeons.
Bug snipers.
Hero-grade made sense for shredding shadow bats.
[How dare it... not recognize its master.]
Syria's voice dripped with thick fury at the undead targeting Leyzon.
"Yeah, exactly."
Crunch!
Eden's straw pulverized the pill bug.
Eden seemed pissed off too.
Clatter—
And it wasn't just the bug snipers that appeared.
From alleys between buildings,
Hero-grade-equivalent undead began emerging one by one.
Beings that would be walls to any pioneer.
They appeared here to exterminate the intruder.
The Black Castle had been confirmed as Silver Hero-grade.
Hero-grade undead showing up was no surprise.
[This should be fun.]
Syria smirked.
She slowly rose from the shadows.
Her black-and-white hair whipped in the air.
Beneath it, Syria flashed a bewitching smile.
"Leyzon, we can't hide anymore."
"Yeah."
Silver Hero-grade dungeon.
Even if Syria was Gold Hero-grade,
limiting herself to shadows was too restrictive.
"Guess I'll join too."
Eden soon humanized and stepped out.
Wearing the suit his daughter had gifted him, Eden stood beside Leyzon.
It had been a while since Leyzon last saw Eden's human form.
As the two revealed their true selves, the atmosphere shifted.
The oppressive gloom that had squeezed Leyzon moments ago
now fled in terror.
Leyzon glanced at Lebon.
He hadn't unleashed the two undead fully because of the new team member.
"Pffft, my body's all shivery."
But Lebon ignored it entirely.
He was just a senile old man anyway.
No one would believe his tales.
Besides, this wasn't a place to babysit Lebon.
"Go wild."
Leyzon gave permission.
Their auras flipped in an instant.
Crimson-black killing intent took form around Syria and poured out.
A thick curse scent from Eden filled the air densely.
"Eek!"
Hanok yelped in surprise.
19 Corruption and 18 Corruption.
Nearly peak for undead—and both vanished at once.
Snap! Roll roll—
Soon, a pitch-black skull rolled to Leyzon's feet.
A Hero-grade undead called the Black Skeleton General.
In other dungeons, it would be a boss.
But it wasn't the only skull.
Shattered undead pieces rolled from the darkness.
Sounds of undead exploding echoed from afar.
The moment Syria and Eden got serious,
Hero-grade undead couldn't stop them.
"Eek, eek."
Hanok, with sharp ears, seemed to grasp the carnage and freaked out.
Lebon, oblivious, picked up undead bits.
"As expected, the Floating Continent yields abundant byproducts."
I told you it's not.
Leyzon exhaled and looked up.
"Hanok, if we fall behind them, we're dead."
"H-Hurry, catch up!"
"Eung."
Hanok scooped up the debris-collecting Lebon and shouted.
Right, gotta keep up.
Leyzon had no intention of dying in a dungeon.
Especially since
'Hero-grade Ascension EXP farm opportunity.'
Time to reap it all.