Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Escape Scroll
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We sincerely welcome all intruders visiting Dreamland, filled with dreams and hope.
Ahead of the mana stone reclamation, we have a few announcements for our precious guests.
The creator bears no responsibility for any incidents you may encounter...
(Omitted)
Per these terms, you waive any right to claim damages even if you lose your life.
Dreamland is currently under construction.
Guests may only access Zone 1 and the Core Room.
Due to the creator's circumstances, the remaining zones are incomplete. Regrettably, only Zone 1 is finished, so please keep this in mind.
Next, guidelines and precautions for Zone 1:
1. Zone 1 has a complex layout. Keep one hand on the wall and proceed carefully. Eventually, you'll find the passage to the next zone. Never let go. Without special maze-solving skills, you could get trapped forever and die.
2. Per fire safety regulations, each passage has fire suppression devices—sprinklers. Water may drop even without a fire, indicating normal operation.
3. Dreamland Zone 1 was designed with minimalism to suit the creator's taste.
4. Zone 1 is starving. It may beg intruders to play or crave affection, but this is natural—don't panic.
5. You might encounter someone identical to yourself in Zone 1, but they are just like you. Show them kindness and love.
If I post this guide at the entrance...
The next intruder won't be able to reach Newbie's dungeon core room. Wanna bet? 10-day temp ban or hire 10 trash minions. Who's in?
ggg let's do it!!
Should I? I'm betting they can't reach the core room.
Wait, me too...
lololol that's a ton of hints...
Guides like this need a bit of lies mixed in to be fun.
Would any intruder actually believe a guide posted in a dungeon?
My kids could crack it...
Are your kids that smart?
Nah, Dungeon Master can't bring himself to kill them cuz they're cute ㅠㅠ
Shut up.
Btw, if there's Zone 1, do you make Zone 2 too?
Probably? Dungeons like this get less appealing the bigger they are.
Agreed.
Neck-snapping yandere ㅠㅠ
Fr... honestly hyped for the yandere...
What about my opinion ffs
Don't bet on temp bans ㅡㅡ
Hey everyone, been away from the live feed—how's the manticore doing?
(shivering)
Watching it made me feel like I was going insane...
Watching Newbie's live feed is my only joy in life these days.
lmao same
Seeing them tear into each other and curse one another is just pathetic.
Highlight time soon?
The manticore gazed at the fallen follower.
Or perhaps...
It was the victorious follower from the fight, staring at the manticore.
Its body was drenched in blood from the brutal clash, barely holding itself up.
Its breath came in shudders.
Horrifying.
Grotesque.
I never want to face it again.
The creature felt an overwhelming urge to erase that thing completely from existence to retain any sanity.
No mana, no stocks, one leg gone.
So how could it utterly annihilate that abomination?
The answer was simple.
The manticore began moving its mangled mouth.
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
The manticore's state was beyond rational.
It had always led the dungeon exploration at the forefront.
Now, devouring the corpse with such effort, it seemed like an entirely different beast.
The black mages, trembling at the sight, began whispering among themselves.
"We can't be sure that's really the manticore."
"Exactly... But could we even beat the manticore? We saw that fight—it was on another level entirely."
Oblivious or indifferent to the black mages' plotting, it focused solely on its task.
"But if not now while it's wounded, we won't get another chance. If it's a fake, it'll ambush us while we're exposed and kill us all..."
"We have to deal with it now. If we want to live."
They felt no loyalty.
These were killers who hesitated at nothing for their goals—it was only natural.
The manticore was strong.
But now, it had been reduced to a wounded beast.
The black mages exchanged nods.
Their minds aligned.
And then.
"Die, you monster bastard!"
"Vanish!"
The battle reignited.
The black mages charged boldly.
Only the elderly Jeco hung back, pretending to join.
Stocks made from human lives were expended, unleashing hellfire.
The manticore, tearing into its own corpse, erupted in dark flames.
Thud.
The manticore collapsed.
Who could have imagined the ruler of the Rohjinrat Mountains would perish like this?
"Got it!"
"No life signs. It's truly dead."
"That bastard rubbed me wrong from the start, strutting like the leader. Fuck."
The ruthless black mages sighed in relief.
It wasn't fully over yet.
They hadn't found the exit.
Still, the crisis had eased, and joy crept into their expressions.
Just as the black mages relaxed...
The dead manticore's eyes snapped open.
Corpse Explosion.
The corpse detonated like a bomb.
Most black mages were caught in the blast.
No chance even to scream.
The explosion's power was immense.
The manticore had been two tiers above these black mages, after all.
Only Jeco, farthest back, barely survived.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
Jeco staggered to his feet.
Leaning against the wall, he bit his lip.
"Did... did they all die...?"
He stared at the corpses, fists trembling violently.
His mind screamed to flee.
Had he ever been this terrified?
The finite yet infinite passages.
The rising water.
The follower identical to a human.
Anomaly.
A dungeon brimming with the unknown.
Dreamland, where nightmares became reality.
Jeco bitterly regretted his choice.
He clutched the escape scroll dearly.
The only way out of this place.
It felt so precious.
This dungeon was hell.
It lured with mana stones, then exacted the price.
Repenting his devilish deeds, he tore the escape scroll.
Riiip──
Riiip──
Another sound echoed simultaneously.
"Ah."
Jeco's face drained of color as he stared ahead.
There I was.
There I was.
A haggard, injured, aged version of me.
A haggard, injured, aged version of me.
The thing resembling me tore its escape scroll.
The thing resembling me tore its escape scroll.
That sight...
Filled him with indescribable terror, squeezing his heart.
He escaped hell, only for his escape to lead to another hell.
Shattering all hope.
"Ah."
Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out.
The moment he tried to scream at the fake resembling him...
Light enveloped them both.
After that day, Jeco couldn't sleep easily.
No rumors of dungeon minions emerging outside had ever circulated.
But he saw it with his own eyes.
That monster tearing an escape scroll.
Regrettably, and fortunately, escape scroll locations were random.
He never encountered the monster again after.
Fearing he might outside...
Jeco didn't even return to his lab, let alone home.
Jeco became a complete wreck.
He told everyone his story, but no one believed him.
They called him utterly mad and avoided him.
One day, he couldn't take it anymore.
Every time he slept, nightmares of the creature coming to kill him plagued him relentlessly.
"Kill it before it kills me. Kill it before it kills me. Kill it before it kills me. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, must kill..."
He wanted sweet dreams.
With few days left to live, he just wanted peaceful sleep.
Desperately wishing for that, Jeco gripped a knife and returned home.
The long-vacant house was thick with dust.
He wandered the halls, muttering to himself.
And sure enough!
Jeco spotted it.
The follower coming to kill me, knife in right hand!
"Hahahahahahaha!"
He had lost his mind.
Laughing like a madman, he swung the knife at the follower.
Blood-soaked floor, shattered window below.
Finally, Jeco slept peacefully.
His face looked serene for the first time in ages.
There was only one corpse.
I have no way to know what became of the intruder's aftermath. It's a shame.
He's not spreading my dungeon info around, is he...
IMHO he lived like a madman and suicided?
I think so too ㅇㅅㅇ
Psh, no way.
The black mages met gruesome ends, but is Dreamland really PTSD material?
Well, I gotta survive too, right?
I had no intent to judge, but karma's karma.
Criminal scum living off murder—no pity there.
Anyway.
Moving on.
Wave defense successful.
Settling rewards based on difficulty.
Difficulty measured by points earned, level difference with highest-level intruder, and number of intruders.
Calculation complete.
This wave's difficulty: Nightmare
It was time to seriously expand the dungeon.