Chapter 21

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 21

Chapter Title: Location Shift (2)

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Creak— creak—

Reverio and Gius stood stock-still in front of the rickety old elevator.

"Hey. You said this was a straight-shot corridor with no traps or obstacles ahead. Look at the map you drew. It's wide open, but fuck, what the hell is this...?"

Gius made no effort to hide his irritation.

It was only natural for someone who'd blindly trusted Reverio's words to feel this way.

"This can't be right..."

Reverio felt wronged.

And understandably so. His detection magic had worked perfectly, with no interference whatsoever—he knew that firsthand.

Yet the elevator before them blocked the passage like a wall.

He tried detection magic again, but the results were the same as before.

'A weird obstacle...'

The detection magic showed nothing there at all, like empty space, but it stood there plain as day to the naked eye. It was enough to make a ghost weep.

"Fuck, stop saying it can't be right and come up with some excuse already."

"Whoa, why so angry?"

"You think I shouldn't be pissed right now? We can't even turn back outside now!"

Reverio let out a small sigh.

Then, with a friendly face, he tried to soothe Gius.

"Gius, I told you. This is just a newborn dungeon. Calm down a bit. No matter what fancy tricks it pulls, it's only been half a year since this Dungeon Master was born!? Hey! Friend! Chill out! Okay!? We're gonna win anyway. To a Dungeon Master, from an elf's—or human's—perspective, it's just a damn infant."

It worked pretty well.

Gius clicked his tongue and glared at the elevator.

"That thing's blocking the path, right?"

"For now, yeah."

He drew the sword from his belt.

Gius, who possessed superior physical abilities and combat sense even among the elves,

figured he could easily slice it apart.

Not even a ferocious troll could stand up to him.

Slashes that could cleave rocks rained down on the elevator.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

But.

It didn't budge an inch.

"Tough one. Enchant it."

"Okay."

Even with Reverio's support, nothing changed.

He sensed it instinctively.

"......"

The elevator couldn't be destroyed.

At least not with anything they could do right now.

"Not a magic trap, right?"

"Yeah. No mana at all."

"What a headache. Sigh."

"More than that time you raped a woman and it turned out she was a South Kingdom noble lady?"

"You cracking jokes in this situation?"

"Sorry, sorry."

The two branded elves crossed their arms.

Reverio stroked his chin and spoke.

"No other paths. It's a straight corridor from the start... so this has to be it. Dungeon walls can't be broken, normally. But I've never heard of, or read in any history books about, using a dungeon wall to block a passage like this crazy stunt. So that device itself must be a trap set by the Dungeon Master."

It was something they could physically touch.

But even Gius's enchanted sword couldn't dent it.

And Gius wasn't some weakling swordsman to begin with.

It couldn't be made of that famous star metal like the master of the Automata Dungeon.

As Reverio pondered,

Gius strode right into the elevator.

"There's a button here?"

"Don't just barge in like that. Who knows what's inside."

"It's safe, so it's fine."

Reverio sighed.

Well, he'd confirmed it was okay, so entering should be...

Bam!

It happened in an instant.

Reverio blinked.

"Hey, Gius! Gius! You okay!?"

Bang bang bang bang!!

Reverio pounded on the closed door.

But no response from Gius came.

"Fuck!"

He cast detection magic right away to check on Gius's status.

But got no meaningful results.

"No mana...?"

This couldn't be—he'd clearly seen Gius enter the elevator.

Had some spatial transfer happened suddenly?

"No."

Assuming it wasn't an escape scroll,

somewhere in the dungeon, Gius's mana should have been detectable.

Gius had vanished.

As if he'd merged with that bizarre elevator.

.

.

.

.

.

A moment later.

The elevator doors opened.

Reverio collapsed to the floor right there.

"Hah, hah..."

Blood flowed from the elevator, staining the corridor.

At its center was Gius.

Like every fluid in his body had been sucked dry.

Shriveled and blackened like a mummy.

An inexplicable phenomenon right before his eyes.

Creak, creak.

The old elevator let out an unpleasant groan.

Reverio gulped down some water.

To cool his head.

"Fuck, fuck..."

His mind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wouldn't settle.

If Gius had just died right in front of him, maybe.

But he'd been dragged into that unknown machine, died without a trace, and his corpse dumped back out.

People fear what they can't understand.

Even Reverio, a branded elf, was no exception.

How could he even begin to classify what he'd just witnessed?

Even if he came back with more magical knowledge, he doubted it would help.

If it was magic, impossible.

His instincts and knowledge screamed that this wasn't magic at all.

The elevator doors remained open.

The inside was spotless now—a slime that doesn't die had appeared midway, devoured Gius and the blood, and leisurely departed.

Under Reverio's feet lay a note.

Left by the slime—he hadn't dared check it yet, fearing trouble.

A moment later.

With trembling hands, Reverio picked up the note and unfolded it.

-lol

Reverio

ground his teeth.

"You fucking Dungeon Master bastard!"

He was being utterly toyed with by this dungeon's master.

Watching him cower and shake.

The guy was surely laughing at him.

And that grated on Reverio sharply.

"You piece of shit! Fuck you! Get your ass out here right now!"

Daring to humiliate me like this?

It reeked of a dungeon lord.

He knew exactly how to sour a person's mood.

"Do you know who I am!? You worthless worm who can't even speak in front of me! Scrounging by with these shady, suspicious traps, fuck!"

Reverio vented his rage.

Once he'd spewed it all out,

the trembling finally stopped.

"I'll kill you no matter what! With my own hands! And I'll take that precious magic stone of yours!"

Reverio strode into the elevator.

He was the one with the greatest magical talent from the Forest of Life.

Sure, a criminal now, but destined to become a dark overlord and make his name known— he couldn't die in some gloomy hole like this.

He resolved to kill the Dungeon Master and seize the magic stone.

Bam!

.

.

.

Inside the closed elevator, Reverio thought.

There were buttons.

Open, close, and numbers from one to ten.

"Hoo..."

Gius had died in here.

"That idiot wasn't careful, so he probably mashed random buttons and died."

The open button didn't work.

Close was pointless now. Left with numbers.

The elevator display showed "1".

Meaning this spot was floor 1?

"No hidden buttons... So within the given conditions, one of these number buttons is the key to the puzzle."

He'd try them in order.

Too few clues for now.

Reverio prepared all his spells, ready to cast anytime,

and tensely pressed button 2.

Rumble, thud—

The elevator shook briefly.

Vrooom—

A floating sensation, like rising upward.

Reverio blinked.

Detection magic showed the dungeon wasn't that tall.

But the elevator was definitely ascending.

No illusion.

What the hell was going on?

Before him appeared the scene of a pitch-black corridor.

Just like a passage with the lights off.

Reverio swallowed hard.

And slowly stepped forward.

Step step.

Step step.

Bam!

In that moment,

Reverio realized he'd made a mistake.

"Ah."

You idiot!

Reverio clawed at his hair in regret.

Too tensed up preparing for potential combat.

He hurriedly tried to cast detection magic, but

tatatatatatatata—!

An unignorable sound rang out.

When he shone light on it, Reverio's face stiffened.

And hot liquid trickled down his pants.

What the hell was that thing?

Regret, curiosity, even fighting spirit—none registered for Reverio.

And understandably.

Because

that thing bipedally sprinting toward him at full speed

was far too terrifying for any other thoughts.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

.

.

.

Swish.

It dragged the corpse toward the elevator.

.

.

.

In the elevator,

only the withered corpse remained.

.

.

.

-......

I watched the chilled intruder through the surveillance camera.

Branded elves, the ones veteran players especially despise.

A guy who'd soon be devoured and vanish by Squishy.

Having Squishy provoke him with cheap bait scratched his nerves perfectly.

He lost his reason so easily.

Well, I never planned to let him live anyway.

Would've been nice if he'd pushed a bit farther.

More data is always better.

"Psycho elves."

Of course,

didn't look like a full invasion.

Just two showing up.

Probably curiosity.

Can't let guard down just 'cause they died at the entrance.

"......"

Anyway, if you're coming, hurry up.

The real anomaly hasn't even started yet.