Chapter 98
Chapter 98
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Layer Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Born?"
It was a notification phrase I'd never seen before.
The alerts for acquiring new monsters had only appeared when I got them directly through gacha pulls.
Even then, it would say I'd drawn them, not that they'd been born. This was the first time I'd seen that.
Celia didn't trigger any alerts when she bought monsters from the merchant guild on her own, either.
To figure out what was going on, I tapped on the notification.
The smartphone screen switched to a view of the dungeon's interior, and I started scanning around.
"Half Goblin, huh..."
How long did I search?
I spotted three goblin whelps.
The location was the prison in the dungeon's central area, where an adventurer was cradling the three baby goblins.
"So that's what happened."
The situation became clear in an instant.
As I'd suspected, the Half Goblin was a monster born between an adventurer and a goblin.
I pinched my fingers to zoom in on the screen.
The baby goblins on display had a strangely different appearance from regular goblins.
They weren't fully goblin, with human facial features mixed in—a perfect uncanny valley vibe.
Their skin was goblin-like but not quite, more a pale green than full-on emerald.
Their ears were pointy but closer to human shape.
At least their nails and claws were sharp and long like other goblins'; otherwise, they looked a lot like human kids.
Come to think of it, they're bigger than I expected.
These Half Goblins were too large to have just been born.
In human terms, they looked about one or two years old.
"Three of those things born at once..."
I glanced at the adventurer tending to the Half Goblins.
She was doting on them with a bright, innocent smile—someone I vaguely remembered.
Probably one of the first adventurers who'd entered shortly after the dungeon formed.
She's lost her mind, huh.
The female adventurer was hugging the Half Goblins like they were her own babies.
No one in their right mind would do that.
A twinge of pity stirred in the corner of my heart.
But it didn't last long.
"No, the dungeon has to keep developing."
The moment the dungeon core was destroyed, I'd lose my life too.
So blocking intruders was only natural.
Going soft here wouldn't benefit me at all.
"I need more power."
A stronger dungeon meant a stronger me.
I clenched my fist, reflecting on my life so far.
How many disadvantages had I suffered from lacking strength?
The same went for now.
Without this power, I'd have died countless times already.
At least with the bare minimum, I'd managed to protect myself.
But it still wasn't enough.
"This isn't sufficient yet."
The world right now was nothing short of hell.
Twenty-five years ago, Earth faced a massive upheaval called the Great Cataclysm.
Dungeons and monsters sprang up everywhere, destroying human civilization.
People back then said humanity was on the path to extinction.
Thankfully, the emergence of Awakened saved us, letting civilization hang on—but it birthed a completely different system from the old world.
A more brutal survival-of-the-fittest society.
Where those with power became the absolute law.
Otherwise, how could statistics show more people dying at human hands than to monsters?
Most fell to those with overwhelming strength.
And even I didn't know when danger might strike next.
Kim Suho...
Someone that dangerous could show up again anytime.
Until then, building as much power as possible was my job.
And the first step was managing the dungeon.
"Even if I intervene in the dungeon, I can't manage everything."
The Eldorado Continent dungeons were mostly handled by Celia.
Earth-side ones were under Azmo's watch.
No matter how much I splurged on gacha pulls or assigned lieutenants, that didn't change.
In fact, they knew the systems and minutiae better than I did.
They handled every little detail.
"Yeah, I can't be involved in everything."
Of course, total neglect could lead to surprises like with Azmo.
But meddling too much risked unknown butterfly effects, and I couldn't micromanage every decision.
"This Half Goblin situation is the same."
For Celia, protecting the dungeon came first.
So creating more guardian monsters made sense.
Blocking all that would eventually hinder the on-site minions' judgment.
I couldn't issue orders for every single case.
What if danger hit when I was away?
"Can't be helped."
If they didn't want to die, they shouldn't enter my dungeon in the first place.
It's like a armed burglar breaking into your home—you either kill them or they kill you.
That happened all too often on Earth.
Failed dungeon raids left hunters in pathetic states, beyond description.
Some ended up as monsters' playthings, like that adventurer.
Male hunters were no exception.
News of miserable deaths inside dungeons was commonplace.
I quickly switched the screen elsewhere.
Still, that's unusual.
Shaking off the mood, I turned to a new question.
Why did a Half Goblin appear?
Having gone through four years at Hunter Academy, I knew my stuff.
The academy taught all about monster traits.
Goblins had very few females, so they bred using other species' females.
No matter the female's race, it always birthed goblins.
But these weren't normal goblins.
They were a human-goblin hybrid.
Why Half Goblins?
Is she not a regular adventurer?
My doubts didn't last, thanks to new notifications.
"Tch, not great rewards."
If it'd given something like a Transcendence Ticket to upgrade monster ranks, sure.
Just expanding the dungeon size and increasing minion range.
But the notifications didn't stop there.
"Lots of new notifications today?"
Asking me to choose the expansion method.
"Hmm."
I checked the current dungeon layout.
From the entrance, you go straight until it splits into three paths.
The leftmost path is [Layer 1 Zone 1].
Mid-boss there: Death Knight, filled with undead monsters.
The center path: [Layer 1 Zone 2], goblin territory.
Mid-boss: Goblin Lord, naturally.
Rightmost path: [Layer 1 Zone 3], home to Man-Eating Tentacle Plants.
The floor had soil and grass to mimic a field.
Vampire Butterflies fluttered above, giving a natural vibe.
At least, that was the concept.
Now it had two non-dungeon spiders drooling alongside.
"The whole concept's ruined here."
Still, it was bizarrely functional.
Guwaaaa—
Even now, a plump water spirit was sprinkling water on the plants via sprinkler.
After the spirit watered them, the other two tended the plants.
"Huh..."
A tiny kid had a wriggling worm beside it.
The lieutenant's still alive, huh.
The worm was the second lieutenant I'd summoned after Celia, but it seemed useless right now.
Did an earthworm gain value just by growing bigger?
Yeah, just keep chilling there.
"Well, if you call this a concept, it is one...?"
What a farm in a dungeon might look like?
Definitely a weird space no matter how you sliced it.
Naturally, no mid-boss here.
Mid-bosses required 4-star+ monsters, and Zone 3 had none.
The three paths reconverged into one: [Layer 1 Zone 4].
I'd placed a large lake there—pretty important spot.
Zone 2 goblins got their drinking water from it.
The water the spirit sprinkled in Zone 3 was replenished from this lake too.
Monsters lived here too.
A few naga at the lake bottom, but no mid-boss yet, like Zone 3.
Passing Zone 4 led straight to the [Dungeon Core].
The core area was vital; breaching it destroyed the dungeon.
No mid-boss, but Celia resided there as chief manager.
So my dungeon consisted of Zones 1-4 on Layer 1, plus the core.
I checked the notification again.
"Do I really need a Zone 5?"
Even a quick scan showed expanding Layer 1 further seemed pointless.
Might need it someday, but my eyes went to the next option.
Layer 2.
I selected it immediately.
With the alert, the dungeon on screen shook.
Simultaneously, a new space began forming below Layer 1 zones.
A full underground area.
"So every new layer digs deeper underground?"
Layer 2's addition brought big changes.
First, a new underground space below Layer 1—that was Layer 2.
The core's position shifted too.
Previously, [Layer 1 Zone 4] led directly to [Dungeon Core].
Now, it went [Layer 1 Zone 4] → [Layer 2 Zone 1] → [Dungeon Core].
"Way more complex now."
And that wasn't all.
A new system popped up.
"Guardian?"
It reminded me of the mid-boss system unlock before.
But this was Layer Guardian.
Huh.
The system was getting more complex, but it allowed for more efficient management.
Like mid-bosses, Layer Guardians had requirements.
"5-star, huh..."
Truth be told, there weren't many 5-star+ monsters in the dungeon right now. Almost none.
Promote the Death Knight or Goblin Lord to guardian?
No, that wouldn't work.
My dungeon had run smoothly so far.
Meaning the current mid-bosses were doing their jobs well.
No need to mess with it.
Same reason to skip Celia.
Only the Arc Lich left...
"......"
Should I assign it temporarily?
Even if I pulled a 5-star from gacha right now, it'd be problematic as a fresh guardian.
"The Arc Lich has lived in the dungeon longest, so it'll do fine."
The Arc Lich returned to the dungeon.
After reporting to Celia, it entered Zone 1.
The Death Knight, mid-boss of Zone 1, was nowhere in sight.
The Arc Lich pulled a pouch from its waist.
Inside were jewels and gold coins from high society.
With a satisfied expression, it opened its notebook.
Scribble—scribble—
In the quiet dungeon, only the sound of the Arc Lich's fountain pen echoed.
It was balancing the books.
In the midst of recording profits...
An unknown power was detected.
A powerful purple energy gathered around it.
The air nearby seemed swept up in the power's waves.
The notebook in the Arc Lich's hand began to unfurl gently in midair.
Sensing the change, the Arc Lich looked up.