Chapter 102
Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Fly Hell
Dungeon conquest, day 6.
The count transported the collected fuel canisters to the south.
They had all been gathered from the western forest and the northern river.
Visually, the amount seemed substantial.
His instincts told him it would be enough, even without passing through the eastern forest.
The party had been completely wiped out.
Only the count remained.
In the meantime, the aberrant lifeforms had multiplied further.
He needed to act cautiously and carefully.
Naturally, he couldn't hurry.
Time was short, but he only had one life.
Thus, he had only one chance.
The count did not act impatiently.
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Dungeon conquest, day 7.
South side, abandoned power plant.
The count had spent a full day transporting the fuel.
All that remained was to activate the generator.
This part seemed doable somehow.
However.
A fundamental problem lingered.
'It's definitely going to make noise.'
Everything inevitably produces sound.
And tools are no exception.
Look at a pen—even that tiny thing makes a scratching sound like stone on stone when writing.
Magic tools are the same.
And this incomprehensible device called a generator is no different.
The larger the scale of a tool, the louder the noise it makes.
The generator was the largest device in this place.
It would surely produce noise when activated.
Of course, that didn't mean the aberrant lifeforms would unconditionally react to the generator's noise.
For example, if they didn't perceive the generator's noise as 'the sound of prey,' it wouldn't matter.
If they dismissed it as something like the sound of a flowing river, falling rain, or grass rustling in the wind, the problem could be easily overcome.
The same if there were no aberrant lifeforms nearby.
Just an assumption, but the only sounds they heard abnormally well were human voices.
However, this village was far from kind to the count.
He had already experienced far too many things to think so optimistically.
The aberrant lifeforms had already multiplied to their limit.
There were already a considerable number in the south.
"……."
Thus, the best the count could do here was to artificially create a massive noise to drown out the generator's sound.
If he could produce something like the black mage's 'Soul Explosion' from before, it would resolve all his worries in one go.
The count thought.
He knew how to use aura like a knight, but not complex magic.
Was there no way?
'Ah. Right. What about that?'
The count moved.
His footsteps led to a place with scorch marks.
'It's still here.'
A magic circle drawn by the black mage remained here.
Previously, as insurance, the guy had performed a black magic ritual here.
It had saved the count's life once.
Couldn't he somehow use this?
The magic circle was still faintly glowing.
It seemed to be the same type as the persistent magic that Lorensia claimed to have installed in Dreamland for verification purposes.
'He swung his arms wide when casting the spell.'
It could have been a signal to the party to hurry.
Or perhaps a direct signal.
It might even be the activation trigger.
'But the corpse is surely in the dangerous eastern forest... Ah.'
He absolutely shouldn't approach the eastern forest.
It was a danger zone with alarm traps that killed the knight and pitfalls that killed the black mage.
However.
He thought the black mage's corpse might not necessarily be in the eastern forest.
'The PTSD knight died in the eastern forest, but the black mage said the knight's corpse wasn't there.'
The reason was simple.
The aberrant lifeforms' infinitely multiplying tentacles had dragged him toward them.
Of course, there hadn't been any massive noise like the alarm.
The corpse was definitely somewhere around the eastern forest.
That had been his destination.
Also, he might not have died in the eastern forest itself.
He could have been discovered and killed by an aberrant lifeform en route.
They only ate the heads, he said.
So the body should be intact.
At the time of the black mage's death,
the number of aberrant lifeforms was far fewer than now.
It was worth checking.
The count moved.
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The count had always thought himself unfortunate.
However.
In this dungeon, at least, luck was on his side.
The Village of Silence was vast.
Thick fog obstructed visibility.
The corpse wouldn't trigger detection magic,
and he couldn't pinpoint the black mage's corpse precisely.
How could he find it alone?
He wasn't even an expert—honestly, the odds were low.
As he pondered other methods in his mind,
luckily, a head-eaten corpse appeared right before him.
There were no traps nearby.
Whether simple carelessness or a noisier trap beyond—louder than alarms but smaller.
Whatever. It didn't matter now.
After a brief mourning, the count hoisted the black mage's corpse onto his back.
"……."
He passed a yellow sign reading 'High Voltage Caution' and slipped into the power plant, avoiding the aberrant lifeforms' ears.
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"……."
There were aberrant lifeforms inside the power plant too.
But only one or two, far from the generator's central location.
The count moved his legs slowly, very slowly.
He reached the center where the generator was.
The count carefully laid down the black mage's corpse.
Then he unrolled the blueprint.
'Open the fuel inlet, fill with sufficient fuel. Then close it, turn the valve to ON, and move the lever to the closed position.'
He alternated between the log's recorded explanation and the blueprint.
So unfamiliar and complex.
'I have to do it.'
He moved his hands.
Clumsy skills he'd be embarrassed to show anyone.
One by one, step by step, carefully, in order, he began executing it.
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Now, all that remained was flipping the switch.
He hoped it would work.
Before that, the count lifted the black mage's corpse.
And swung its arms vigorously.
Then.
An explosion echoed from the entrance.
It sounded just like fireworks.
Followed by additional noises resounding.
Probably the striking sounds of the aberrant lifeforms' tentacles.
Fortunately, the explosion at the entrance seemed to continue for a while.
The tentacles of nearby aberrant lifeforms were busily at work too, solving the noise issue.
The generator activated.
Its noise was naturally buried under those sounds.
Lights came on in the silent ruins.
Illumination sequentially lit up along the ceiling.
Things buried in darkness gradually revealed themselves.
The count cautiously advanced.
At his destination was an elevator with its fluorescent panel lit.
He pressed the button.
Then, the numbers began to change.
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「10」
「9」
「8」
Finally, the door to the next zone opened.
The situation was desperate.
Yet the count's expression remained the same as before.
His gaze had been fixed on the fluorescent panel since pressing the button.
And.
That was his complacency—his mistake.
Thud. Thud.
Thud. Thud.
Amid the massive noise, clear footsteps rang out.
The count instinctively turned his gaze.
There stood an aberrant lifeform.
It was different from the others.
Ignoring the entrance noise,
it scanned the surroundings, certain prey was here.
Ah, of course it was familiar.
It was the one that killed the half-ogre.
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「7」
「6」
「5」
The count remembered.
The voice the elevator made when opening.
"……."
Definitely, an inorganic voice would say 'The doors are opening.'
And then the tentacles would fly toward the elevator.
「4」
Could he move now?
What if the movement sound reached it?
Wouldn't the outside noise cover it somehow?
But why wasn't it reacting to that noise now?
It might not react to the elevator sound?
But what if it did?
「3」
Time flowed slowly.
Thoughts raced, but no conclusion came.
Only one answer remained.
What should he do?
「2」
An ending formed in the count's mind.
The fates of all intruders who had entered Dreamland until now surfaced.
They had all died.
So it wouldn't be strange for him to die too.
Death was scary after all.
His own death, and his daughter's.
「1」
The elevator arrived.
As the count's eyes filled with despair.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sounds rang out.
The count's pupils dilated.
There was Anemone.
Pounding the wall with her tiny, fern-like fists.
'No...'
At that moment, the aberrant lifeform's gaze turned.
Its thirty tentacles moved simultaneously.
Pierce. Pierce. Pierce.
It brutally impaled Anemone.
Yet even in her dying moment,
she pointed at the elevator with her fingertips.
The doors opened.
The sound was buried.
It was the final chance created by his dead wife.
Using it was up to the count.
He moved his legs.
Desperately entering the elevator.
"……."
He frantically pressed the button, and the doors began to close.
Through the narrowing gap, the count saw many things.
The aberrant lifeform panicked.
As if it wasn't this, stroking its split mushroom-cap face.
Anemone smiled.
As if trying to convey something with her lips.
「The doors are closing.」
It cut off abruptly.
The count understood.
It was what she said to him every day in life.
"Me too..."
The count murmured emptily.
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Finally, he could make noise.
This place was a safe zone.
Because it was disguised as an anomaly phenomenon.
No other anomaly could interfere.
"Aaaah..."
He felt terrible.
His insides burned, his mind fraying.
"Aaaah, aaaah..."
The count clutched his head.
He knelt and wailed.
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Inside the elevator.
Now, the count had two choices left.
Use the escape scroll in his pocket.
Or press on alone.
"……."
It was already decided.
Perhaps from the moment he set foot in Dreamland.
But it was a grave matter, pondered countless times midway.
"I..."
After agonizing, he finally entered the code.
The final decision came from the last written exchange with the noble slayer.
-This is Fly Hell.
-A Fly Hell that gives off a sweet scent to meager flies like us with desires... lures them... and devours them all at once.
No.
That was wrong.
I was the one who stimulated their desires.
Not the dungeon, but Count Wolphausen.
My desire was the Fly Hell that devoured them.
The sweet pheromones luring them to the dungeon.
The black mage, the half-ogre, the PTSD knight, the noble slayer, Anemone, hundreds of soldiers, knights—all led to death by me.
So, enough selling out others.
If he truly wanted to save Ei, he had to.
To gain what he wanted, he had to obtain it himself.
The count discarded the escape scroll.
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Dungeon conquest, day 8.
The count arrived in Zone 1.
He advanced undaunted through the disorienting maze.
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Dungeon conquest, day 10.
The count encountered a stalker midway through conquering the maze.
He didn't draw his sword.
Instead, he chose dialogue.
"I won't fight you. Whether we fight or you stab me in the back while I sleep, death is the same either way. Judge and choose for yourself."
The stalker nodded.
"Alright. Then how about we form a cooperative relationship, chalking it up to being fooled?"
Thus, they became comrades.
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Dungeon conquest, day 11.
"The maze is moving—how do we handle this?"
"Stay calm. There must be a way forward."
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Dungeon conquest, day 14.
"Come here. I found something that looks like lips. This might be the clue to proceed."
"Let's share hypotheses that come to mind. Also, water's starting to fill the floor. Better hurry."
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Dungeon conquest, day 15.
"That was close. I didn't expect it to have such a voracious appetite. Is your right arm okay?"
The stalker nodded.
"I'm really glad you were here. When I suggested cutting and sharing the arm..."
"You might be real, or I might be. Something like that."
The one-armed pair walked the maze.
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Dungeon conquest, day 16.
"The elevator's just ahead."
"Good luck. Achieve your goal."
"Yeah. Whoever it is."
As the count entered the elevator, the stalker vanished.
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Dungeon conquest, day 17.
The count arrived in Zone 2.
Conquering here left two zones remaining.
As per the log, the student council president greeted him.
"Don't bring dangerous items—no, even trivial ones—to school."
"Take them."
There was hardly anything worth calling possessions anyway.
If anything, rations and drinking water.
Not much left.
No regrets.
"After school, come to the staff room on your own..."
The count moved.
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"This problem is..."
"Teacher, I'm truly sorry, but... I'm trying hard to focus, yet I just can't understand. Could you explain it a bit more simply?"
"Hmm, alright. Listen carefully from now."
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Dungeon conquest, day 18.
He found the staff room.
The count recovered his remaining rations and water.
And devoured them all there.
He took the empty canteen to the bathroom.
And filled it with water.
Thus, thirst was perfectly solved.
Hunger was unavoidable, but still bearable.
The yellow-banded ones lunged at the count upon seeing the canteen.
But like darkness spreading in the hallway, they couldn't enter the classroom.
He could do it.
Don't give up.
The count repeated to himself.
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Dungeon conquest, day 21.
"Hey..."
"Yeah."
The count encountered an ordinary girl.
She spoke to him, and he nodded.
"Don't you think this school is so weird...?"
"Yeah."
This girl had a face.
So he decided to think oppositely.
"I know a way out... but I'm scared to go alone. Would you come with me?"
"Sure."
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Dungeon conquest, day 23.
They arrived before the elevator.
The girl smiled and bowed her head.
"Thanks for helping."
"...No, thank you."
The count bowed too.
They bid farewell.
"Let's meet outside school."
"...That won't happen."
The count headed to the elevator.
Two zones left ahead.
His condition was the worst.
Yet his mind and senses were sharper than ever.
The count's eyes gleamed with a strange light.
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Dungeon conquest, day 24.
The count arrived in Zone 4.
This time, a massive cave appeared.
A place not in the guide.
"……."
Like the dwarves he met before, the count had his possessions taken by a merchant.
She brazenly reappeared and sold his own items back to him.
"How much?"
"I'll buy later."
The count spotted a goblin in dwarf clothes eating relatively normal rations.
That peculiar goblin stared at him intently—what did it want? Troubling.
Anyway, maybe he could scavenge food or water inside, like at school.
That was the count's thought.
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All those moments were captured by a miniature camera.
The wave was still ongoing.
But the live stream had ended.
They told the deadweights the count died in the school.
The deadweights' reactions varied.
We had watched the count's tale for quite a while.
Some pitied him.
Others felt relieved he died.
Interest, disgust, mourning, anticipation—the count gifted us many emotions.
However.
The deadweights' conclusion was unanimous.
Glad no info leaked this wave.
Glad the dangerous intruder died.
"……."
Fear is contagious.
Even Count Wolphausen couldn't clear it.
Dreamland's infamy growing was good.
Not as top-priority removal target.
But as an annoying minefield.
In that sense, this wave was quite successful.
Of course, not over till it's over.
Every time death loomed, the count showed grit.
Escaping despair's pit, crawling forward.
Suddenly, a line from an old novel came to mind.
Momentum draws heavenly luck.
An amazing person.
Had to admit it.
Territory ordinary people couldn't touch.
Overcoming death's terror isn't easy.
Not knowing when to quit, pushing on—truly peculiar.
Newbie...
No word in the gallery lately...
The live stream really ended safely, right...?
Still.
I couldn't let you die for me.
You cherish your daughter.
Everyone has someone like that.
I too cherish those around me and my life.
So if you keep conquering, sorry.
"Malang, I'm heading out."
"Huh."
Win rate 100% on my side. Odds calculated.
The count's state: starved, exhausted, thirsty.
Right arm severed, beaten by goblin, no healing potions—total wreck.
Even if knight-grade.
In that state, couldn't exert proper strength.
This wave was the longest in my dungeon.
Time to settle it.
Dungeon conquest, day 30.
Dreamland Zone 3.
Ghost Mansion, garden entrance.
The count finally reached the last zone.
The advanced goblinization lifted in an instant.
However.
He couldn't advance.
Before him stood the Dungeon Master.
He blocked the way.
"Nice to meet you."
He greeted.
The count blinked and opened his mouth.
"Are you this dungeon's master?"
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"Give up now."
"……."
No chance of victory.
The count was battered.
I could easily dispatch such an injured foe.
So said the Dungeon Master.
Curious why.
Why choose talk with an intruder, pull an escape scroll not a dagger.
And he spoke.
"Throw me the log you wrote. I'll help you leave."
"……."
Yes.
This was the final ultimatum.
"Ah..."
The Dungeon Master stared at the count.
Eye-to-eye, persuading him.
In that moment, the count realized.
-Invasion, calamity, curse, symbol of chaos defying order. Will you not subdue the Demon King's seed...
You're not some grand being like the blesser said.
Just someone with special power.
Just like me.
"……."
Your eyes reflect pity, clearly.
Giving an intruder an escape scroll means that.
You too were dragged into this by me.
Fly Hell wasn't Dreamland—it was me.
"Sorry, Dungeon Master."
Yet the count couldn't stop.
He had walked too far.
They say Fly Hell expends much energy opening and closing its mouth.
To replenish, it must somehow absorb bugs.
"Seems I can't stop."
Before his eyes was a magic stone.
Kill that man, and he could have it.
The count needed the prize.
For his paltry, ugly desire, he'd gladly become a serial killer.
"I see this as an opportunity instead."
"...Is that so."
The count drew his sword with one arm.
"……."
The Dungeon Master gripped a knife.
"Regrettable."
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The match was decided from the start.
Initially, the count pressed the Dungeon Master.
However.
The exhausted count, unable to use aura, gradually lost control completely.
The count's sword moved sharply, but the Dungeon Master's wasn't novice movements.
As if trained in dagger arts by someone smaller than him.
Things conveyed without words.
In this fight, they felt much from each other.
The Dungeon Master's knife reflected moonlight.
In that instant, a flash pierced the count's opening.
"Guhk..."
The sharp dagger stabbed his heart.
Victory and defeat decided.
The count spat blood and knelt.
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Silence flowed.
It was over.
"...Last words?"
The Dungeon Master looked down and asked.
The nearly unconscious count murmured faintly.
It was long if long, short if short.
Wind blew.
Branches shook, a leaf fell to the ground.
Final whisper.
The Dungeon Master gently closed his eyes.
"...Understood."
As if he got it, he nodded.
Then.
No one was there.
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Wolphausen County.
In place of the absent Count Wolphausen, Belluga handled territory affairs as acting lord.
She also managed Ei's matters; currently, Time Faction mages visited the county.
They proposed using Ei as subject for their ongoing experiment project.
Normally, grounds for blasphemy charges.
However.
Their project wasn't bad for Ei—no, it might be essential.
"So, you're saying to turn Ei into a comatose plant human?"
"Precisely, preservation."
Their claim was as follows.
Ei was in a critical state, unavoidable death.
Without a magic stone at present,
overcoming it was impossible.
But the future might differ.
Medical tech might advance, or Wolphausen might acquire a magic stone.
Their project was part of a life-extension experiment inspired by bear hibernation.
Extremely slow Ei's metabolism to sustain deep coma. That would dramatically slow disease progression.
If Ei couldn't be saved now,
save her in a distant future.
Such was the experiment.
"……."
Success rate about 3%.
No matter how long, brother won't return.
'Is this the best?'
Belluga ultimately accepted their proposal.
It was a chance, a miracle.
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For the child enduring painful days daily, the only solace was gazing outside.
Ei awoke from sleep.
Pain was less today—fortunate.
In the dead of night when all slept, she looked out the window.
Soon, she'd leave Wolphausen County.
Head to the Time Faction's mage tower for a long slumber.
She wanted to breathe this air one last time.
So she arduously opened the window.
"Cold, but refreshing."
A cool breeze blew.
With winter tree leaves, something entered Ei's room.
Dancing ethereally in the air like snow was a pure white paper.
Words were written on it.
A letter to Ei from someone.
"Do people usually send letters like this? From the mages?"
Ei read it.
Her eyes widened.
"……."
Dad must be too busy.
Looks like Dad's friend wrote and sent it instead.
The letter brimmed with hopeful words.
Updates on Dad's busy efforts, messages cheering her to beat the illness.
Whoever it was, so grateful.
"Wanted to see him before going."
Can't be helped. Dad's busy searching for a cure.
Someday Dad will heal her, so wait without worry.
Ei decided to understand Dad.
She smiled faintly.
It resembled the count a bit more than Anemone.
「They said to tell you they love you.」
Ei carefully clutched the letter.
"Me too."