Chapter 40: Buffalo Dungeon (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: Buffalo Dungeon (4)
"What the hell!"
Shock was written all over the checkpoint employee’s face as he surveyed the carnage. The air was thick with a mist of blood. In a passage nearly fifty meters wide, a mountain of magical beasts rose like a barricade.
The employee’s mouth hung open, gasping like a fish, before he managed to pull his unfocused eyes together. His mind, jolted awake a beat too late, finally began to grasp the gravity of the situation.
"F-fuck. I’m in deep shit if this goes wrong."
His face turned pale as he bit his nails. His bones seemed to rattle from the sheer terror flooding his system.
Something had gone wrong. That single thought dominated his mind. He had thought they were just a bunch of snot-nosed brats.
His trembling eyelids twitched upward, and his anxiety deepened. Within minutes, the deep furrows on his frog-like face grew even more pronounced.
"I’m screwed."
Despite his grand boasts to the female instructor, the dozens of buffaloes he had driven into a frenzy using a mana stone were all dead.
He had ten years of experience working at the Buffalo Dungeon. No one knew this place better than he did. That was why he had been so certain...
The employee grimaced savagely and clutched his head. He pulled so hard that a clump of hair came away in his fist.
"Fuuuuuuck!"
He was already suffering from hereditary hair loss, and now, under this extreme stress, his hairline and the bald spot on his crown were on the verge of a hostile merger.
He owed two billion won in gambling debts from the tables at Cheorwon Land, South Korea’s largest casino.
His personal assets had vanished long ago, and debt collectors frequently showed up at his house with death threats.
It was while he was in that abyss of debt that a woman calling herself an instructor from Joaquin Academy had approached him with an offer.
‘Do me one favor, and I’ll clear your debts.’
She was a woman with deep navy hair and the height of a model. Her violet eyes, tinged with a slight coldness, made his knees knock just by looking at them.
He knew instinctively that if he crossed her, his head would no longer be attached to his shoulders. Furthermore, her proposal was suspicious as could be.
She handed him a mana stone of unknown origin and told him to drive the buffaloes into a frenzy. Then, he was to tame them and release them all at once when a specific student named ‘Kang Geomma’ passed by.
The second part was to use that mana stone to open the stone gate that remained firmly shut in the deepest part of the dungeon.
It was essentially a contract for an assassination, but as someone crawling at the absolute rock bottom of life, he had no other choice.
The deal was that his two-billion-won debt would be settled, and if he finished the job properly, he could keep the mana stone. If he put it up for auction on the black market, he could pocket a tidy sum of cash. It was a rare and valuable item, after all.
"...Then... I can aim for one more big score, hehe."
The situation was still salvageable. Though his treacherous face was still clouded with worry, he began to force a sneer to deny the reality of his situation.
Bloody footprints were stamped into the floor. From a certain point, they stretched toward the stone gate in long streaks, as if something had been dragged.
"You little shits, I’ll make sure you’re finished."
The employee spat into his palms and slicked back his hair. A few strands, unable to bear the weight of his cold sweat, slid down along with the droplets.
He gripped his single-edged axe—an anti-personnel armament—and began to stagger toward the center of the dungeon. His footsteps were driven by a twisted sense of desperation.
* * *
I should have known things were going too smoothly.
...Fuck.
To think that the place we were swept into by that swirling current of magic power was a hidden dungeon. At this point, I wasn't even surprised; I was just annoyed.
I mean, why was the stone gate, which was supposed to be firmly shut according to the game’s setting, open in the first place? Why was it gaping wide as if it had been waiting for us?
And the moment my teammates and I crossed the threshold, the gate slammed shut as if on cue.
I’d felt a prickle of unease from the checkpoint employee’s suspicious gaze even before we entered the dungeon, but who could have known things would turn out like this? It’s not like I’m a god.
That employee bastard...
I couldn't be certain, but I could guess based on the way he’d been eyeing me. The buffaloes’ temperament being so different from the game, and the fact that this damn hidden dungeon was open—it had to be his doing.
But a sudden question flickered in my mind.
The stone gate of this hidden dungeon was only supposed to be opened using the ‘Gigant’s Mana Stone,’ a quest reward from around the mid-game.
In Miracle Blessing M, that was the first mana stone dropped from a player’s perspective.
It was an ore item dropped upon defeating the final boss of the ‘Gigant Dungeon,’ which served as the turning point between the early and middle stages of the story.
However, the players' sense of accomplishment upon entering the mid-game was short-lived. Those who obtained the Gigant’s Mana Stone soon found themselves in an absurd situation.
Despite being a 7-star item—the second highest of the seven rarity tiers—it had no special description in the info window. Consequently, users who didn't check walkthroughs ended up using it as enhancement material.
Only later did those players realize that the seemingly useless mana stone was actually the key to a hidden dungeon.
Since the ‘Gigant’s Mana Stone’ was one of the few one-time drops, the betrayal felt by the players must have been quite stinging.
If it had been a mediocre hidden dungeon, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the reward for this dungeon was none other than a unique blessing: the ‘Blessing of Transfer.’
It was a blessing that allowed the user to transfer one of their other blessings onto an armament or an object. On its own, it was practically useless, but its synergy was astronomical.
By using the Blessing of Transfer to imbue ‘Balmung’—which would eventually become Leon’s weapon—with the appropriate blessing for the situation, one could literally mow down enemies.
It was the means to control Balmung, which possessed both Yin and Yang properties, and amplifying the power inherent in the sword was incredibly difficult without the Blessing of Transfer.
Since such an important blessing was tucked away in a hidden dungeon, the outcry from players who had ground up their Gigant’s Mana Stone for enhancement was easy to imagine.
Naturally, the developers of Miracle Blessing M responded with their usual silence, taking the lead in demonstrating an exemplary case of grand K-style management.
Fortunately, I had been busy with my actual job at the time, so I had just shoved it in my inventory and forgotten about it, managing to avoid that disaster.
"Haa."
As I let out a hollow sigh, a puff of white mist escaped my lips.
I understood the temperature being low since it was a cave-style dungeon, but the air here was exceptionally cold, chilling me to the bone.
The atmosphere was heavy, too. Not just figuratively, but physically. My skin pricked from the magi that stabbed at my body like needles.
I quickly turned my head to scan the surroundings. My teammates were picking themselves up one by one, clutching their foreheads and nursing nauseous stomachs.
Luckily, it seemed no one was seriously injured during the trip here.
Only Saki Ryozo’s school skirt had been torn up to her thigh, as if it had been slit, from scraping against the floor. It seemed to be because her skirt was on the longer side.
She brushed the dirt off her skirt with a look of displeasure.
The tear made it look somewhat like a qipao from the neighboring country. Her straight, bare leg was visible through the slit. Looking closely, only the skirt was torn; there were no scratches.
Lucky.
After confirming my teammates were in good condition, I assessed the situation.
The ceiling was a hemispherical dome, at least thirty meters high. The cavern was a vast hollow, about the size of the academy’s training grounds. Torches lined the walls like ribbons, flickering low.
Meanwhile, the very center of the hollow was shrouded in shadow. I focused my vision and stared into the darkness. Thanks to the Blessing of the Sword God, my night vision had improved significantly at some point.
As I narrowed my eyes, a silhouette shrouded in darkness began to emerge on my retinas.
A massive figure sat hunched over, using a large rock as a throne.
The hidden boss of the Buffalo Dungeon. An A-rank magical beast, the Minotauros.
Among players, it was a beast familiarly known as the ‘Cow King,’ a name borrowed from another game.
Despite the friendly nickname, its actual appearance was anything but.
Its head was that of a magical beast buffalo, but below the shoulders, it had a body similar to a human’s. It leaned on a long, double-edged axe like a staff.
Due to its nature as a hidden boss, the Minotauros possessed martial prowess comparable to a Majin, unlike the fodder beasts that were merely field mobs.
In fact, aside from being unable to use magic, it was a powerful beast treated as a Majin within the story.
Furthermore, on either side of it stood a pair of twin beasts that looked like degraded versions of the Minotauros, like ministers attending a king.
These were B-rank magical beasts known in the community as Zuoujeong and Uoujeong.
The martial power of each twin wasn't particularly threatening on its own, but when the two forces combined, they became incredibly troublesome.
Taking on all three alone is impossible.
Even though my eyes were closed, I swallowed hard at the aura seeping into the floor.
"...Geomma-kun, what on earth is that?"
Chloe approached me and spoke quietly, tugging at my sleeve.
It seemed she, with her specialization in presence detection, had noticed as well. I placed my index finger against Chloe’s lips to silence her. She nodded wordlessly in understanding.
Weapon and Saki were still blinking, their eyes not yet adjusted to the darkness, but they remained on high alert.
Still, seeing me silently tensing up, the two of them kept their mouths shut. I turned my head back to look at the stone gate. It was so hard that no ordinary blade could even leave a scratch.
A single red line was engraved diagonally across the solid stone door. It was definitely the ‘Line of 【???】’ mentioned in the status window.
Let’s just leave quietly.
I’d used up all forty seconds of my Blessing of Painlessness catching the buffaloes. There was no way I could face the Minotauros now.
If I could get materials from that guy, enhancing my armaments would be easy, but my life was more important.
If I gripped the Daixo Sashimi and activated the Blessing of the Sword God, I’d be screaming my head off instead of cutting the door. If I used the Murasame, it would hurt like hell, but I might be able to endure it.
After a moment of deliberation, I put one Daixo Sashimi in my mouth. It wasn't for use as a weapon, but as a gag to endure the pain.
Next, I pulled out the Murasame I had been carefully saving. Immediately, a chilling sensation washed over me from behind. Reflexively, I looked back.
One of the Minotauros’s ears flicked. Then, its tightly closed eyes slowly began to open before snapping wide. It started to lift its rear from the rock it had been sitting on.
Thump!
The Minotauros slammed the butt of its double-edged axe hard against the floor.
The magical beasts standing beside it also roared in a violent frenzy, as if paying homage to the Cow King.
"Mmoooooooooooooooo—!!"
"What?!"
Weapon, who had been trying to keep quiet, gasped.
Thump!
As the Minotauros struck the floor once more, the flickering of the torches grew violent. Soon, the blazing flames illuminated the entire interior of the hollow.
Only then did my teammates see the Minotauros and the two beasts. The creature was just standing there with its massive double-edged axe, but cold sweat broke out down their spines.
The moment that thing woke up, escaping with all our limbs intact was out of the question.
Even if I cut through the door and we headed outside, I couldn't guarantee everyone’s life.
In the end...
I gritted my teeth and changed my stance. My cold logic and perception began to rapidly search for a solution.
This wasn't like the midterm exam. Back then, I had zero information on the Majin Mermaid, but I had hunted the Minotauros before.
If I were at full strength, I could easily take those three down alone. But right now, I couldn't because I’d exceeded the time limit for the Blessing of Painlessness.
Therefore, I had to use everything at my disposal. Even if it was a bit of a gamble. I spat out the Daixo Sashimi and moved my dry lips.
"Weapon, can you give me a pain-reduction buff?"
"Uh, yeah, I can."
After looking at my face, some color returned to Weapon’s pale complexion.
Meanwhile, the Minotauros was slowly advancing toward us. I wiped the urgency from my expression and spoke one word at a time.
"How many minutes can you hold it?"
"Two minutes at most."
"That’s enough. But don't stop for a second while I’m fighting that thing. If you slip up for even a second, I’ll probably..."
I made a slicing motion across my throat with the side of my hand. Weapon’s lips quivered in panic. I gave a thin smile to ease his tension.
"Agh, fine. I got it. Since it’s you saying it, Geomma."
"Saki, Chloe, I’ll leave the small fry to you."
With a face clearly full of tension, Saki nodded. Her fingers, gripping her bow tightly, were trembling slightly.
"Don't be so nervous."
I gave a faint smile and stepped toward the approaching Minotauros.
Saki just blinked at me. The agitation filling her face melted away in an instant.
I scanned the faces of my teammates. They gave me small nods. Resolve was reflected in their eyes.
"Let’s do it just like before."