Chapter 75
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: I Won't Just Take It
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I won't just keep taking hits.
The cleaning tools had some seriously ominous power—I'd experienced that plenty of times already.
[High-Pressure Cleaner] could punch right through human skin like it was nothing.
[Grinder] had turned a 4-star hero, who boasted an invincible body, into minced meat.
Even something simple like the
[Ladder] could extend and contract at insane speeds with ridiculous durability, performing just like the magical staff from Journey to the West.
But the
[Insecticide] I'd pulled out just the day before hadn't been anything special. Sure, it had wiped out every bug in range in one shot, which was convenient, but it didn't feel overwhelmingly powerful or anything.
So... I might've jumped to conclusions and assumed the similarly named
[Bug Zapper] would be about the same.
"Ho... lightning, huh? Master, I knew you handled water and fire magic, but you can wield lightning too?"
"Ooooh... this is the power of the Dungeon Master who took down a 4-star hero...!"
Erzsebet, who had pulled back for a moment to avoid getting drained by the bugs, along with the elves, gathered around one by one, letting out exclamations of awe. But the one who wanted to shout the loudest was me.
What lightning...?
I knew the
[Bug Zapper] lured in bugs and then fried them with electricity.
But no matter how strong the electricity, I'd only expected something like a beefed-up electric fence at best. Instead, lightning bolts came crashing down from the sky like some thunder god swinging a hammer in a movie.
-Aaaieeeeeng...!!!
Even as thousands of bugs were incinerated by the striking lightning, the rest kept swarming toward the
[Bug Zapper] like they were mesmerized. And every time a new bug touched the electric grid, another bolt would strike, charring thousands more at a time.
By the time the lightning finally died down, all that remained were unrecognizable black husks, the only proof that bugs had ever been here.
Well... good is good, I guess.
The
[Bug Zapper]'s power was terrifying, but it had wiped out the bug swarm in one go. I cautiously approached to retrieve it, then—frozen in fear of getting zapped—stored it in my
[Inventory]
without touching it.
"Daddyyy..."
Once the
[Bug Zapper] was away, Dryad flung herself into my arms, her face a total picture of misery. I scooped her up and looked toward the forest where the bugs had invaded. Her roots, savagely gnawed everywhere, were scattered all over the place.
"Thanks to Dryad doing everything she could to protect the other trees, they're mostly unharmed... but ugh. Her roots took the brunt of it...!"
No wonder her roots, usually buried underground, had all come up and gotten devoured by the bugs... She'd been shielding the other trees? I could see why the elves revered dryads so much. Protecting other plants even at the cost of her own body...
"You did good, Dryad."
"Hee..."
I gently stroked the head of the limp Dryad in my arms. Then, fury toward the insect demons—presumed culprits of this mess—boiled up inside me.
I don't care who you are... you're dead.
Messing with someone minding their own business? And leaving my little girl in this state? You're not dying easy.
Status:Injured
I stroked Dryad's head and opened the
[Employee Management] window. Then I checked her
[Status]
section.
Without hesitation, I spent the points to restore her condition.
-Whoooosh!!!
"L-Light... from Dryad...?"
Starting from Dryad's tiny avatar, a brilliant light enveloped her roots stretching across the entire forest, all the way to her massive tree trunk in the distance. When the glow faded, every wound on her body was gone.
Man, that's pricey.
Maybe because her main body is so huge? I'd just earned a ton of points from killing all those bugs, but it wiped most of them out. Still, Dryad's miserable expression softened into one of relief.
"You okay now, Dryad?"
"Yeah. I don't hurt anymore."
"Ooooh...!!!"
The elves, witnessing the giant tree heal in an instant, had their loyalty surge past its limits. They now prostrated themselves before me like devotees greeting a god.
I gave Dryad's head one last pat, then asked the elves with an utterly icy expression.
"Do you know anything about the insect demons around here?"
"So devoted to your daughter, Master?"
"Shut it."
Even if she's just calling me Daddy, I can't sit idle when my kid's hurting.
"Kyaaaagh!! Guh...!!"
Deep within the dungeon "Nest of Solitude."
Belje writhed in agony, having failed to sever her link with the bugs in time. She felt every last one of them getting fried by lightning.
"Guh... that magic... what the hell is that guy?!"
She'd thought avoiding that ominous "something" would be enough. But this man had effortlessly dodged every attack from her bugs—however he'd done it. And then he'd unleashed massive magic that incinerated thousands in a blink. Thinking of him, Belje trembled in fear.
"...N-No way... a newborn dungeon?"
The hypothesis that had flashed in her mind just before witnessing the large-scale magic.
The structure in the forest where 4-star heroes had invaded recently. The haughty elves serving it reverently. Unfathomable power. And that black hair unique to half-breeds...
If so, it was certain. The new dungeon that had supposedly just appeared. The newborn one humans claimed they'd exterminated, even sacrificing a 4-star hero named Pollen.
"They said they exterminated it!!"
She cursed the humans spreading false rumors, but there was little she could do now. Instead, she thought ahead.
"Guh... I've lost most of my bugs."
The vast swarms of venomous insects she'd raised her whole life—most were dead now. She still had the ones left to guard her dungeon, but she could no longer command hordes on that scale.
And worse... this had put her at odds with that newborn dungeon. The one that had slain the 4-star hero southern demons like her feared.
"W-What do I do?"
Her burning desire to erase that hated "something" had made her act rashly. She should've held back the moment she spotted elves in that forest... no, that half-breed.
Now, with most bugs gone, if that newborn dungeon came for revenge, she'd be crushed. Hell, even if she hadn't lost them, that half-breed Dungeon Master with his horrific "something" would beat her single-handedly.
"I need a way... a way out...!"
The anxiety of losing her bugs. Fear of that unknown half-breed denying the very existence of insects with his "something." Despair at becoming enemies with such a being.
As she racked her brain desperately for a solution, she remembered the "Alliance."
"The Alliance... with the Alliance's power...!"
The other two dungeons of equal strength. Gathered to fight heroes, but now uniting to devour the south. Recalling them, Belje began plotting immediately.
A plan to drag the Alliance between her and that newborn dungeon.
Can't just blurt it out. They might ditch me.
Without her bugs, she was clearly weaker than the other two masters.
If they learned her situation, they wouldn't help—they'd devour her. Their alliance was only skin-deep, based on shared interests.
Fortunately, she knew the other two Dungeon Masters well. She focused on one in particular.
That shaman bastard... he really hates half-breeds.
Recalling the other Dungeon Master in the Alliance, she summoned the Dungeon Merchant. It was the easiest way to contact another dungeon.
She just needed to pull one to her side. Then she could move the Alliance.
"Alliance... the Alliance, huh..."
I mulled over the info the elves had given me on the insect demons... specifically, one of the core dungeons in the Southern Alliance: "Nest of Solitude."
They've already sniffed us out?
After taking in the elves at the ruins, I'd heard about the Southern Alliance from Alfred. Their origins, and their current movements.
Alfred had predicted that if the Alliance learned of my ruins, they'd make a move—either to recruit us or eliminate us as a threat.
"As far as I know, there's only one insect demon in the south who can command bugs on this scale."
"The master of 'Nest of Solitude'?"
"Yes... the ones who came to our old dungeon demanding we join the Alliance said they were acting on orders from that place's master, the Fly Queen Belje."
According to the elves, the bugs that swarmed the dungeon came from the Alliance's key figure: Fly Queen Belje.
How'd they find out?
The news that the heroes had actually failed shouldn't have spread yet. How'd they notice us? Were those scouting bugs flying around a few days ago?
"Whatever..."
Now my ruins had a solid crew, I'd taken down multiple heroes, and I'd gotten tribute from the elves—my wallet was fat. And they hit us first?
You're done for, for real.
I wasn't going to just sit here taking hits anymore. If I kept that up, other demons would learn of the ruins and start looking down on us. So...
You guys are the example.
Alliance or not, personal grudge from that Dungeon Master—didn't matter. I wasn't going to take it lying down. So first...
"Well, if it isn't our VIP customer? What brings you here?"
"Hand over the catalog."
Right now, the dungeon's coffers were fuller than ever.
Time to spend it all.