Chapter 45

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 45

Chapter Title: Dwarf (2)

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A tremendous number of things had happened in the Forest of Life.

Dealing with intruders, reinforcing the dungeon, and all sorts of other stuff?

Anyway, if there's a beginning, there's an end.

Having grown fond of the Branded Elves' homeland, Dreamland had now set up shop in a new location: Fire Forge.

To explain briefly, Dreamland had hit its location shift cycle and crash-landed near the dwarves' city.

The dwarves were exactly as I'd imagined them.

Beer-loving, handy with their hands, stubborn and tough muscle-bound little earth-diggers.

Dwarves, much like humans, had various city-states, and Fire Forge was a dwarven nation hunkered down in the frigid north.

One thing I'd realized since becoming a Dungeon Master:

Seeing races straight out of legend was pretty damn surreal.

Well, the fact that a Dungeon Rapist had shown up to violate my dungeon remained unchanged.

These were the kind of pests I'd have to fend off tediously for a while.

Their faction was massive—unprecedented scale—and their individual fighters packed serious punch. Normally, I'd be whining on the gallery about how scary they were.

But right now, Dreamland was repelling the dwarves with historic ease.

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It was all thanks to this Tom and Jerry duo.

Memory erasure and info tampering.

No matter how I sliced it, this was straight-up bullshit cheat territory.

A way to make intruders doubt the very intel they'd risked their lives to gather?

Without memories, they have no clue what went down inside the dungeon.

Their only fallback is whatever notes they jotted down themselves—but if those get doctored too?

With these two minions in play, Dreamland had become an even trickier nightmare. I was damn proud of that.

Hell, even the blessed ones would be sweating bullets from here on out.

Of course, I wasn't claiming invincibility.

True invincibility would mean rendering all their intel worthless.

We couldn't fully seal off info leaks, and the Ink Rat could only tweak a portion anyway.

But even so, it was plenty.

At least, that's what I thought.

For the record, "portion" here didn't mean word count or data volume—it was closer to conceptual scope. Let me give an example.

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4. Occasionally, bug-humans board it, but ignore them.

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4. Occasionally, bug-humans board it, but you have to fight and beat them.

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The Ink Rat messes with info roughly like that, yeah?

Say an intruder figures out the tampering.

"It's just a tiny change, right? So if I write a massive wall of text, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like 5,700 characters?" Let's game that out.

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4. Bug-humans won't attack if you stay still. Their eyesight must suck—they don't spot you in the elevator. Stay put, and they sniff around your body before vanishing into the unlit hallway.

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4. Occasionally, bug-humans board it, but you have to fight and beat them.

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It "condenses" like that.

Adjusting to keep minion and trap info consistent on its own.

In other words, "can alter a portion" doesn't mean swapping some words in the text.

It's more like "can tweak portions of the conceptual rules of the anomalies as recorded by intruders."

As I said, it can't alter everything.

Some of the intel they carry out will be spot-on.

But think about it.

Say they nail "Don't go into the unlit hallway"—solid gold info.

But they also carry "The elevator is multi-person"—total bullshit.

Crunch crunch.

Watching your buddies get mulched.

Can they fully trust that mix of info?

I'm not saying it's flawless.

The Ink Rat's tweaks are definitely limited.

Still, downgrading "truth" to "hint" is huge.

Intruders might vaguely anticipate future anomalies.

But the real win? We can recycle the anomalies multi-run style.

These are fantastic minions, hands down.

If someone asked if I preferred country mouse or city mouse,

I'd proudly declare, "I love the Ink Rat, you bitch."

Thanks to them, Dreamland topped the Dungeon Gallery's poll for "Most Hated Dungeon to Raid."

What the hell is this nonsense? you ask?

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Dungeon Guard Cup or whatever they call it.

The Dungeon Gallery runs periodic polls like "TOP 10 Whatever Whatever."

This time, Dreamland claimed the #1 spot for "Most Hated Dungeon to Raid in the World." Quite the honor.

Sure, compared to the bigshots, I'm still a noob with peanuts for assets.

But in games, the most infuriating foes aren't the overwhelmingly skilled ones—they're the cheap-ass trolls.

I was that troll.

I didn't need to be the world's strongest dungeon.

My goal? Craft the world's most "fuck no, not going in there" dungeon.

Landing on the polls means I'm chugging along toward that goal nicely.

But with enemies sniffing out Newbie's horny scent and lining up to raid, the road's still long.

Maybe because it dropped in a dwarven city.

Biggest faction I'd faced yet.

Wave 1? Mulched at the elevator.

Wave 2? Same.

Even Wave 3? Obliterated right there.

Hmm. Felt like dwarves wouldn't quit on mana stones easily.

These weren't like past foes.

Disposable cannon fodder who off themselves on command? Nah, these were no joke.

Better stay cautious for a bit.

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▼ I

We sent the 3rd raid team, but no major gains.

Judging by the surviving commander's log, it felt like they got stonewalled at that suspicious "elevator" machine, just like the 2nd raid.

The 3rd raid entered with the guide.

There was definitely elevator info in it.

So why'd the 3rd get blocked too?

This raid's commander also kept a log.

Raiders targeting Dreamland lose all dungeon memories on exit, so documenting was mandatory.

The log's contents were ordinary.

White hallway, blocked at elevator.

Team consults guide and starts investigating.

However.

Comparing to the 2nd raid commander's log revealed blatant weirdness.

▼ Commander's Log

P.01

Team morale was generally high.

Unknown dungeon, but everyone was pumped.

Thanks to the 2nd raid's sacrifice, we knew the.

We had to make their deaths count.

Elevator right in front of us.

We steeled ourselves.

P.02

One raider down.

What went wrong last time?

Had to reinvestigate.

Elevator's definitely multi-person.

Just confirmed.

Need multiple riders for safety.

That way we can handle bug-humans.

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P.03

Thus, the intel we risked lives for:

1. Machine's called an elevator. Must use it for next zone.

2. Multi-person—load up as many as possible for smooth runs.

3. Never exit to unlit hallway.

4. Occasionally, bug-humans board it, but you have to fight and beat them.

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Chase paused his pen.

The log was self-contradictory.

If they had the guide and it was legit,

they should've breached the elevator and pushed on.

But they didn't even reach it.

Deeply suspicious.

"Ha, now I see—the handwriting's different..."

Chase spotted the smoking gun.

Pen flew across the page.

His eyes blazed like flames predators fear.

He'd cracked Dreamland's riddle.

Had to report to the mayor ASAP.