Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Mid-boss 5★ Death Knight
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Adventurer's Guild in the Sail Kingdom.
The guild office was bustling with adventurers today as well.
Though they were all gathered in the same place, each harbored different dreams.
Some adventurers wanted to raise their rank and gain fame.
Others dreamed of striking it rich with gold and jewels, turning their lives around.
A very small minority had simply become adventurers because they enjoyed wandering around.
As everyone chased their unique dreams and envisioned hopeful futures,
one person sat in the corner with a gloomy expression.
It was the guild receptionist, Rally.
To understand why she was so down, one had to go back a week.
A week ago, three adventurers had approached her, the receptionist.
All three were Iron-rank rookies who had just become adventurers.
They asked if there were any available dungeons...
Was her judgment wrong?
She had recommended an Iron-rank dungeon—technically Copper-rank at the moment, but scheduled to be downgraded to Iron in a few days.
It was going to drop to Iron-rank soon anyway, and since the adventurers were also Iron-rank, she had assigned it without hesitation.
But that hadn't been the right call.
A week had passed, and there was still no word from those adventurers.
'No way they died inside the dungeon, right?'
Typically, a week was the benchmark after accepting a dungeon commission.
If there was no contact by then, the guild would dispatch its own investigation team.
This wasn't because the guild had time to spare.
There had been an incident with a dungeon in the past.
A dungeon that grew by feasting on the blood of failed adventurers.
It kept expanding until it unleashed the worst monster wave imaginable.
This policy stemmed from a vigilant commitment to manage every dungeon without neglect.
But this only applied to formal commissions.
The problem was that those three were Iron-rank, and the dungeon she assigned was still Copper-rank.
Rally regretted it.
'If I'd known, I should've just listened to the branch chief!'
She never imagined something like this could happen.
If only they hadn't entered the dungeon...
'Wait, hold on. Maybe they never even went in?'
Rally suddenly had a flash of insight.
The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
Adventurers often accepted commissions and then quietly gave up without a word.
There had been plenty of cases where the guild's investigation after a week turned out to be a false alarm.
Maybe those three had done the same after taking the commission from her?
'They were rookies, after all.'
Rookie adventurers were bound to be timid.
They might have abandoned the commission midway. No, they definitely did.
If they quit, it made sense why there was no contact.
'They were probably too embarrassed to say anything.'
Rally convinced herself.
Maybe thinking that way would ease her uncomfortable feelings.
Her expression lightened as she stood up from her seat, when the branch chief's voice rang out.
"Rally, what about that dungeon I mentioned before? The one we planned to downgrade."
Rally flinched for a moment but replied as if nothing was wrong.
"Oh, that one? It's still available. No one's taken it."
In truth, someone had.
But since they abandoned it (according to Rally), it was as good as untaken.
The branch chief nodded at her smooth lie.
"Good. That's fortunate."
He handed her a document.
"Official orders from headquarters to downgrade it to Iron-rank."
"Got it, Chief."
Now officially Iron-rank, it would be snapped up in no time.
There were plenty of new adventurers these days, and low-rank dungeons like this were always popular. If anything, there weren't enough to go around.
'Forget those guys. They're probably doing fine somewhere.'
If they were too scared to even complete a dungeon commission, adventuring wasn't for them anyway.
The three of them probably wouldn't last as adventurers.
She silently cheered them on to find something else.
'I hope everything works out for them.'
Things had been really busy.
Porter jobs kept coming one after another without a break.
"Having a Status Window definitely makes it easier to land gigs."
The difference with and without one was huge.
Thanks to it, I'd worked every day for a week straight.
It was exhausting, but the pay was decent.
Whenever I felt worn out, checking my fattening wallet brought a smile.
"Will my stats go up at all?"
On top of that, experience led to level-ups.
Of course, "level-up" was just a figure of speech.
Experience points worked the same way—they weren't even visible in the Status Window.
But since stats sometimes rose slightly with consistent activity, that's how it was phrased.
If you were lucky, skill or trait ranks might inch up a tiny bit.
Even just a + after the rank was something to be grateful for.
That was one reason I kept working—to see if my stats would budge.
Without the Status Window, I wouldn't have had such chances, but now things were different.
Eventually, it'd pay off beyond porter work.
With that in mind, I planned to keep at it for a while.
"...Should I join a guild soon?"
Before heading to the Eldorado Continent, I'd joined a small guild as an exclusive porter.
But now, I had no fixed affiliation and just took jobs as they came, entering dungeons accordingly.
Still, I shook my head.
"Nah. Let's stick to this for now."
Back then, it was because I lacked a Status Window.
No one would hire a half-baked Awakener without one, so I'd settled for a small guild.
But now? I had one.
And my goal had never been porter work in the first place.
I dreamed of entering dungeons as a proper Hunter.
For now, this setup would do.
I headed straight home.
Quick shower to freshen up, something to eat for my hunger.
Then, for the first time in a while, I launched the game.
Too busy moving around lately to pay it any mind.
"The intruders should've been taken care of by now, right?"
Last time, I'd deployed the Death Knight and ordered it to make them regret entering.
Celia should've handled that part well.
If not, she'd be demoted from lieutenant.
"Right, there were a ton of alerts before..."
A few days ago, after exiting a dungeon, game notifications had piled up.
Too busy to check, I'd cleared them all.
"Might as well look now."
As soon as the game loaded, I checked the alert list.
The first one: intruders successfully repelled.
"Oh yeah! No way those punks could take us down."
I nodded and moved to the next alerts.
"Mid-boss?"
Well, the dungeon had grown pretty big.
It'd keep expanding, and managing it all with just the lieutenant would be tough.
Especially with that loyalty system—who knows how it works, but higher is probably better.
"As if they'd revolt or something."
Since it came up, I decided to pick a mid-boss.
Detailed conditions for becoming a mid-boss, huh.
"Only one choice, then."
Even without the conditions, there was only one option.
I clicked the Death Knight and appointed it as mid-boss.
"Solid."
With a lieutenant and now a mid-boss, it finally felt like a proper dungeon.
After selecting the mid-boss, I checked the next alert.
"Dungeon support?"
Supporting other dungeons?
Do I really need to bother with that?
As the question popped up, the TV screen changed.
- Breaking news. A B-rank dungeon has appeared in downtown Jeju Island. The government and Hunter Management Bureau have begun the raid, but cooperation from other guilds is desperately needed...
"Fair enough."
They request support from other guilds for easier clears.
The game dungeons probably worked the same way.
But I had no intention of supporting others yet.
One reason.
"No monsters to send."
Celia, the 6★ lieutenant monster.
Death Knight, the 5★ mid-boss of Zone 1.
No other forces worth sending besides those two.
And I couldn't spare them.
Without them, my dungeon would be wide open.
No way I'd send 1★ skeletons either.
"I'd be pissed if skeletons showed up as 'support' when my dungeon was in danger."
I tapped the screen.
"Huh?"
Unique monster?
And not a species name like the others.
"Unique monsters have individual names, huh?"
Come to think of it, this Denver was listed as a Ghoul too.
Normal Ghouls are 2★, but he's 3★, so yeah, unique.
"What's this eternal loyalty to Celia?"
Looking at the screen, something was trailing right behind Celia.
"That's Denver?"
Charmed, they said.
Celia's taste in undead? Well, same species and all.
A human like me can't judge monster preferences.
Maybe she just needed extra hands.
"Makes me sound like a shady boss working her to the bone."
It felt too much like dumping everything on the lieutenant.
Though true, I was overthinking it.
The game wasn't alive; no need for that depth.
"Probably just an event."
Next came some handy unlocks.
"Nice!"
I Kept getting surprised today...
Now it really felt like a game.
Yeah, this was what made it fun—and tempting to whale on.
Finally, I could customize my dungeon.
I tapped Facilities.
A bunch more, but all locked.
"More varieties than I thought."
Lieutenant's Quarters and Huts seemed worth building.
Me, working for my monsters!
Had to pat myself on the back for that.
As I pondered what to build first, a new alert popped up.
Adventurer's Guild adjusted this dungeon's rank.
The rank of the dungeon "Nest of the Evil God" is being downgraded from Bronze rank to Iron rank.
"...?"
What the hell?
Why downgrade the dungeon rank?
"Why's the dungeon rank dropping?"
We repelled the intruders cleanly.
And the dungeon now had a 6★ lieutenant plus a 5★ Death Knight.
Instead of rising, the rank dropped?
"Ugh..."
How high do they want the difficulty?
Wait, maybe...
Because I didn't kill the intruders fast enough?
Honestly, I'd dragged it out to test the monsters' performance, even though I could've ended it quick.
Does kill speed factor into some score?
If so, nothing to say.
"Next intruders get insta-killed."
I vowed to finish the next ones fast.