Chapter 77
Chapter 77
Ch. 77 .｡.:✧ The Clockwork City (4) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Asking me to use a curse on a dungeon. Mister, do people often tell you that you have wild ideas?”
“No? I’m often told I’m an extremely ordinary and innocent young man.”
“You’re lying…”
Though she kept grumbling, the centipede nun prepared the curse, gathering demonic energy at her fingertips.
Still, she did what she was told quite well.
She even had talent.
It seemed the Four Heavenly Kings had an impressively large talent pool.
“Hmm…”
The centipede nun placed her hand on the dungeon’s stone door.
Soon she was sweating profusely and making a troubled expression.
Then she turned around and said,
“I don’t think it’s possible…”
“There’s nothing that can’t be done. Everything becomes possible if you just do it.”
“Are you really an old geezer? What kind of nonsense is that! Even the Four Heavenly Kings don’t say such ridiculous things these days!”
“Ah. Try it and then talk.”
“There’s nothing to try! The dungeon is too big for the curse to cover it! I don’t have nearly enough demonic energy.”
“Hmm…”
That made sense.
It was already an enormous scale to spread a curse over an entire train.
How much demonic energy would be needed to lay a curse over an entire dungeon as complex and vast as a labyrinth?
“Then we’ll just have to replenish your energy. I’ll specially give you Undecided. Suck energy from her.”
“…Huh? Me?”
“What energy could there be in this corpse! Even if I sucked all the energy from her, it would only be enough for one hypnosis curse.”
“What? There’s such a thing as a hypnosis curse?!”
“Your eyes are full of desire. How vulgar, as expected of a human…”
Wait, there was such a thing as a hypnosis curse?
If I had known that, I would have focused entirely on curses instead of wasting time learning trash skills like swordsmanship or magic.
I could have just hypnotized and enthralled the main heroine trio.
I regretted it immensely.
“My 12 years were really…”
“Anyway, what’s impossible is impossible.”
“Then try using my magical power. You know how to convert magical power to demonic energy, right?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t be a curse caster if I couldn’t do that.”
Magical power and demonic energy were like half-siblings.
They were both made of mana, just with different properties.
So theoretically, both magical power and demonic energy could be converted into each other.
Of course, that was just in theory.
Curse casters were mainly skilled at converting magical power to demonic energy.
Among magicians, those who knew how to convert demonic energy to magical power were extremely rare.
It wasn’t particularly that there was a difference in difficulty.
It was a difference in experience.
Since curse casters were far rarer than magicians.
Curse casters were so starved for demonic energy that they had to convert and use the abundantly available magical power.
Meanwhile, magicians rarely had the opportunity to encounter demonic energy.
It was similar to how baseball batters struggled against left-handed pitchers.
“Still, the magical power possessed by a mere human is nowhere near enough. Maybe if it was a holy knight covered head to toe in holy relics. But how much magical power could a bare human have?”
“Just try absorbing it first. Would this be enough?”
“Hmph. I told you it won’t be enough, why do you keep… Huh?”
Gently.
I took her hand that she had grudgingly offered me.
Slowly, carefully, so as not to spill the magical power amplified by Guardian Knight.
I let it all flow into the centipede nun.
Having circulated through my entire body and passed through the mana stone, the magical power was in its purest state ever.
It was in the perfect state for conversion.
The centipede nun’s eyes gradually widened as she received that magical power, until they became as big as saucers.
“Mister, what are you? What kind of person are you? You’re not really human, are you?”
Her eyes trembled as she couldn’t take her gaze off me.
Somehow, her eyes seemed to have become a little kinder.
It was as if her rebellious spirit had completely disappeared.
“Is this amount enough?”
“It might be just barely enough… Should I use a weakening curse?”
“Yes.”
So it was an amount that could just barely cover the entire dungeon.
If I poured out all my magical power, it would hinder my fighting inside.
I left just enough to deal with small fry monsters and gave the rest to the centipede nun.
I didn’t need a large amount of magical power anyway since there was no boss in this dungeon.
“I beseech you…”
Instantly, the magical power was converted to demonic energy, spreading an eerie aura around.
The moment the centipede nun, who had been gathering demonic energy at her fingertips, placed her hand on the stone door,
Black energy flowed along the patterns engraved on the door, emitting light.
“Deprive the wicked ones of their strength…”
“Is it okay for a monster to call other monsters wicked?”
“Be quiet… I’m concentrating…”
Was she using the stone door itself as a totem?
That was quite clever.
Soon the entire stone door began to emit an ominous light.
After a while, that light gradually faded.
I could no longer feel the powerful demonic energy from earlier.
It seemed to have spread throughout the entire dungeon, diluting to a concentration I could no longer detect.
“It’s done for now. I’ve placed a curse on the entire dungeon… but its power is very weak. Even though I cast a weakening curse, its effect will be extremely minimal.”
“That’s fine.”
I had only tried it to check if curses could be placed on dungeons.
It wasn’t because conquering the dungeon was difficult, so it didn’t matter.
Still, I should go in and see how much it had been weakened.
“Alright. Let’s go in now. We’ll quickly grab the dungeon core and come out to eat and sleep.”
“What? Why are you telling me that? I’m not going in.”
“Who decided that?”
“Why again! Let me go now!”
“What if you suddenly change the curse to strengthen monsters while you’re outside?”
“I won’t do that! Really! I swear! On Lady Kali’s… no, the Great Druid is already dead… On Lord Draken’s name!”
“How can I trust that? Just come along.”
“No, no! I said no! Why are you doing this only to me? Do you have some grudge against me? What did I do wrong!”
“The Clockwork City guards are in an uproar looking for you right now. Should I just hand you over to them? Do you want to know how the guards treat monsters?”
“Ugh! You’re vicious! A brute! A bad guy! Human!”
“That last one isn’t even an insult…”
Though she spewed out curses with tears in her eyes, her feet didn’t stop following me.
It seemed she didn’t want to die.
She followed quite well despite complaining.
I really wanted to just put a leash on her and use her like this…
‘That would backfire.’
Even a mouse will bite when cornered.
If I kept repeating the deception that I’d release her after just this one task, eventually she’d act up prepared to die.
It would be better to let her go and control her from a distance.
How could I control her after letting her go, you ask?
There were ways.
“…Give up. It gets easier.”
“So you were also captured like this and became a slave. Let’s join forces as fellow sufferers-”
“…What. Don’t act. Friendly.”
“Eh?”
Undecided stepped back, brushing off the centipede nun’s hand as she approached affectionately.
Then she scurried to my side and clung to me.
Well, from Undecided’s perspective, being associated with a dungeon-born monster would be unpleasant too.
Undecided was once human after all.
It seemed she felt more kinship with me than with the centipede nun.
⚙ System Notification ⚙
› The dungeon’s monsters are weakened by the Giant Centipede’s curse.
The moment we entered through the stone door,
A system window popped up, informing us of the curse’s effect.
At least she hadn’t lied.
[…And the sleeping boss awakens.]
What?
What did that mean?
Originally, this dungeon had no boss.
It was a dungeon where you just had to pass through small fry monsters and traps, and in the last room there was only the dungeon core, so conquering it ended once you grabbed the core and left.
I had known it to be that way throughout 12 rounds…
A boss I didn’t know about had appeared.
It seemed the system had made modifications again to maintain plausibility.
So this time, what was it unsatisfied so it made such a major modification of adding a non-existent boss?
I had no idea.
Was there such an implausible aspect in the Clockwork City?
‘I have no clue…’
There were too many things to worry about.
I had to minimize my traces to prepare for Yerina’s pursuit, and I didn’t even know what the distorted plausibility in the Clockwork City was…
There was no other way.
I had to quickly complete the magic tool and leave the Clockwork City.
I didn’t know what kind of boss had awakened inside.
I’d have to face it to make a judgment.
If it seemed too difficult, I could always retreat.
“…Human. Sounds.”
In the dark dungeon.
Undecided, who had been walking ahead lighting the way as a human torch, stopped abruptly.
She seemed to have sensed a presence.
Focusing on the sound Undecided mentioned, I could faintly hear voices coming from further inside.
Not monsters…
People?
“You’re right, they are people.”
White bones were scattered here and there in the dungeon corridor.
They were the remains of skeletons.
Ah, since they were undead, would it be incorrect to call them remains?
Anyway, looking at the cross-sections of the broken bones, they seemed to have been struck by swords or shields.
The weapons the skeletons had been holding, like swords, bows, and shields, had been thoroughly looted.
Someone who accidentally wandered into a Black Star Dungeon wouldn’t loot so actively.
They must be professional mercenaries.
Who on earth would dare challenge a Black Star Dungeon that no one else would even consider…
Worry started creeping up.
“Let’s hurry.”
“…Okay.”
“Ah, my feet are starting to hurt. I want to stop walking.”
“Should I carry you?”
“Eek! No! That sounds perverted!”
“Hey…”
We quickened our pace, advancing rapidly.
Soon, bright light leaked in from the end of the narrow corridor, beyond it, chattering voices could be heard loudly.
“Alright! Is everything ready?”
“Yes, Vice Captain. Smoke bombs, explosives, potions, spare weapons, and even food and water in case of emergencies. It’s perfect.”
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down!”
“Aw, it’ll be fine! We confirmed through local investigation that there’s no boss in this dungeon, right? We’ll beat up any strong small fry ourselves!”
Those guys.
They were the mercenaries I had seen on the train.
Several mercenaries gathered in groups of three or five, equipped with various armaments and armor, were preparing themselves.
When I saw them on the train, I thought they were just a ragtag bunch, but seeing them fully armed, it became clear.
These guys were top-class veterans among mercenaries.
“They’re all going to die…”
Of course, my worry wasn’t about possibly losing the dungeon core to them.
If left alone like this, these guys…
They would all die.
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