Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Lullaby
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Dreamland Zone 3.
Mansion 3rd Floor, 23:00.
There had been a mishap with a monster appearing.
But it wasn't that much of a threat.
No others had shown up since it was taken down.
It's best to assume it's been eliminated.
Dragred had scouted the 2nd floor.
The food in the dining hall is safe to eat.
Unlike odd-numbered floors, even-numbered floors have no curfew.
And so on—he relayed the scouting results.
The group headed straight to the dining hall to quench their thirst and hunger.
Just as he said, the count didn't go up.
"This is pretty good."
"It's like a feast you'd see at a banquet."
The food was a veritable banquet.
As if rewarding them for their efforts so far.
The most precious meal in this world.
"There's nothing to fear for us now."
"So this is how you conquer Zone 3."
"Even if we don't clear it this time, the next attempt will start on much better terms."
"Yeah. Like that elevator the dwarves uncovered."
After sufficient rest,
they passed on all the intel they'd gathered to the record keeper.
The biggest issue was where exactly they could use the 'escape scroll.'
For that, they pinned their hopes on the elevator.
The zone they were in now was Zone 3.
No dungeon master would let them breeze through Zones 1 and 2 for free, so they were certain an elevator existed at the end of this one.
"The record keeper's waiting at the entrance anyway. We can just tell him to give it a shot."
"I fully agree."
They resumed their exploration.
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Mansion 4th Floor.
Mansion 5th Floor.
Mansion 6th Floor.
Mansion 7th Floor.
Mansion 8th Floor.
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...
The group pulled levers and smoothly ascended the stairs.
For odd-numbered floors: find the key, then unlock the parlor door.
For even-numbered floors: just smash the master bedroom door.
Nothing difficult about it.
Now that they knew everything.
It was a dungeon that felt utterly superfluous.
Still, they couldn't let their guard down.
There might be some unforeseen trick.
They advanced carefully, watching the corridor colors.
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Things were going remarkably smoothly.
Yet Crock's expression remained stern.
He couldn't shake the nagging unease.
Because there were still unresolved mysteries.
The first was the incident on the 1st floor.
Hector, Olivia, Bitters, Comfort, Leo, Crock, Dragred.
There had definitely been seven people on the 1st floor.
But the death count only rose by six.
Fine, whatever. Maybe someone didn't meet a certain condition.
It didn't matter much right now.
But then, why did the count rise when they killed the monster?
If the count went up, that meant it wasn't the right answer.
If not with a longsword, then how the hell were they supposed to deal with it?
Wait for the monster to vanish?
No. Absolutely not.
If they hadn't acted, Dragred would've met a gruesome end.
"What're you brooding over?"
"I was thinking about the monster."
"The monster, huh. Yeah, it could show up again, so it's a real headache. Even if we can bash it with longswords, the count still goes up..."
"The monster appeared right at 2 a.m., didn't it? What if we pause scouting beforehand... and hole up in a safe room like the library or guest room on an odd-numbered floor?"
Crock nodded.
During the initial 1st-floor scout, Crock had checked a guest room.
Dragred had apparently spent quite a while there.
The library was unknown, but the guest room was surely safe.
It was a reasonable idea.
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Mansion 9th Floor, 03:00.
Crock glanced at his watch.
It was well past 2 a.m., but no sign of the monster.
"False alarm, then..."
"Good either way."
The group exited the guest room to continue scouting.
Crock rose from the floor to follow,
but...
"Huh...?"
He froze for a moment.
This was the guest room.
A bed, chair and table, suspiciously large wardrobe—the usual stuff.
Or so it should be.
Yet something felt off.
Like he was missing something important.
Did I forget something?
"Crock. Hurry up."
"We'll leave you behind if you don't."
"Ah, yeah..."
Crock scanned the room,
then shook his head and followed the others.
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Mansion 10th Floor.
Mansion 11th Floor.
Mansion 12th Floor.
Mansion 13th Floor.
Mansion 14th Floor.
Mansion 15th Floor.
Mansion 16th Floor.
The group kept climbing the stairs relentlessly.
64 floors left ahead.
It was impressive progress compared to day one.
With ample rest time,
if they just hustled,
theoretically they could climb about 27 floors a day.
They could escape Zone 3 in three days.
"What'll you do once we're out?"
"Chug some beer first, then think."
"You'll forget you even wanted beer, so is this convo even worth it?"
"We can jot it in the log."
"True that."
Even though Olivia and Hector had sacrificed themselves,
and the academy scout team's situation wasn't great,
the fact they could get out
still offered some small comfort to the four knights.
Dragred glanced at his watch and muttered.
"Time to do it soon."
His voice was so soft, no one heard.
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Mansion 16th Floor, 07:30.
"Shall we rest here a bit?"
"Why am I so damn tired even after sleeping?"
"Blame the death count—everyone's been pulling all-nighters with eyes wide open."
The group took a break in the corridor.
Even after climbing this far in one go, the death count hadn't budged.
Everyone was finally relaxing.
"Just in case... I'll take first watch."
"You've been doing it solo since last time... you sure you're okay?"
"We'll rotate this time. I'll go first, then crash hard."
"Such a meticulous strategy..."
Watch duty: Dragred.
The rest sprawled out in the corridor like stars.
Too lazy to head to an odd-floor guest room.
These were guys who slept fine on dirt anyway.
Crock closed his eyes too.
Built-up fatigue dragged him to dreamland.
Dragred rummaged in his pack.
He pulled out something useful-looking.
It was incense.
The kind used for insomniacs depending on dosage,
or by killers to knock out targets.
He lit it.
So everyone could sleep soundly.
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「13」
Mansion 16th Floor, 08:00.
One person vanishes from the corridor.
Screams echo,
but the others just lie there.
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「12」
Mansion 16th Floor, 08:05.
Another one vanishes.
No one stirs.
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「9」
Mansion 16th Floor, 08:10.
"Beer..."
Like he was having a good dream.
Someone sleep-talks, scratches his belly, and vanishes.
Only two remain in the corridor now.
"Mm..."
Dragred plugs his ears.
Carefully avoiding Crock's twitching ones.
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「8」
Mansion 16th Floor, 08:25.
Crock woke from sleep.
He clutched his throat in agony.
'Hah...?'
The mansion gave him no time to react.
An invisible noose tightened.
An unknown force began dragging him to prison.
"Guhk..."
He couldn't even speak.
Breathing was hard enough; no way proper sounds came out.
What the hell was happening?
The others?
Did the count stack up?
Did Dragred get hit?
Drag drag drag—
Even as his body scraped the floor, Crock scanned around.
And he saw it.
Dragred looking down at him from his spot.
Crock understood.
What had happened to him.
What fate the others had met.
He understood it all.
So that's how it was.
That's how it was.
Now all the puzzle pieces fit.
The unease he'd felt in the 9th-floor guest room.
It was the full-length mirror.
The one from the 1st-floor room was gone.
The other floors' guest rooms were the same.
Mirrors existed only in the 1st-floor guest room.
Leo and Crock had gone to the guest room.
Because Dragred's comm magic cut out.
Info was limited then,
and a storm of events buried it soon after,
but that issue shouldn't have been glossed over.
The guy was fake.
Fake Dragred.
-D...o...l...l...y...e...o...
Then,
who was the one we killed with our swords...?
Crock's face twisted further.
The truth was too much to bear.
But
all negative emotions stem from thoughts.
From that angle,
maybe Crock was the lucky one.
Weeeeng—
A tool of a form he'd never seen before
would soon turn Crock into helpless meat.
He couldn't relay info to the record keeper.
Under this torture,
he'd become an idiot who could only scream.
"Aaah, aaah, aaah!"
Screams echoed through the 16th floor of the mansion.
Seemingly endless.
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The sole survivor on the 16th floor gazed at the ceiling.
The wave wasn't over yet.
She quietly waited for someone.
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Mansion 16th Floor, 09:00.
Thud thud.
Thud thud.
Someone appeared on the 16th floor.
She had the form of a woman melting like mud.
The real Dragred.
Exactly as she was before the knights butchered her yesterday.
The real Dragred knelt and begged.
"Give it back... give it back... give it back..."
"Should I?"
Dragred, repeating the same words like a parrot,
looked pathetically foolish.
"Give it back... give it back... give it back..."
"I'll give it back."
She smiled.
She intended to keep her promise.
Whoever now inhabited Dragred's body
had to go through the necessary process to return it.
Crack, crack.
Dragred's face contorted.
She began self-mutilation.
First, the wings she prided most.
Then, her legs, so she could never walk freely again.
Finally, the last remaining arm was severed.
"Aaah... aaaah... aaaaaah."
Blood loss suggested quick death,
but with each severed part, she chugged an advanced healing potion.
Once the wound sealed perfectly,
she started again.
The resulting Dragred flesh
looked like a pitiful doll.
"Take it."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah..."
She released her oppression of Dragred's freedom.
Satisfied expression.
Dragred got his body back.
Back in the body he'd so desperately wanted,
yet he showed no joy.
"Euuugh, uuuuugh... euaaa..."
Dragred no longer spoke coherently.
He just wailed like a newborn there.
"......"
Then,
she blinked.
Her eyes looked different from before.
She tried approaching the crying Dragred.
But
from some point, she stopped advancing.
Just gazed endlessly from that spot.
She tilted her head.
"Why?"
A moment later,
she moved her legs again.
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"Good boy. Good boy."
"......"
"Shh shh shh, there there."
Dragred returned to his mother's embrace.
She whispered softly, holding him.
Dragred stopped crying from that moment.
Gazing at the now-quiet him, she smiled.
She sang a lullaby.
So he could sleep peacefully, dream sweetly.
Just like when he was born a hatchling in the dungeon.
Quietly.
"My baby sleeps so well. Don't bark, puppy..."
Though it was just a limbless woman with melting flesh
singing alone while cradling a quadruple amputee.
The scene looked incredibly warm.
Like a snapshot from the past.
Familiar somehow to them.
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And then,
no one was left.
*This is an old comment.
Honestly, you can't help but hate it.
Not resenting it would be the real lie.
But y'know.
I'm dying here but...
Still...
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Successfully defended this wave too.
I stretched.
"Ahhh..."
The reactions from the old-timers who'd been around with Dragonling back then,
and me now scrolling through past posts,
What to say.
It didn't feel like real revenge Dragonling would pull.
"Kinda ironic."
Just a hypothetical,
but if Dragred hadn't betrayed Dragonling,
Dragred might've ended up in those posts too.
Like the Ant Queen bragging about her offspring.
"Ahh, tired."
Of course, the past is the past.
Dead is dead.
The living must think of the future.
Undeniable fact.
"Ack."
"Yeah yeah. Time to collect."
I tore my eyes from the monitor and stood.
Vigorously petted Squishy.
Extra energetic today.
"Squishy, let's stick together forever."
"Ack?"
I murmured low to the wriggling Squishy.
What to say.
As if sensing my bittersweet mood,
Squishy stretched a part to caress my hand.
"Comforting me?"
"Ack."
It looked just like offering a hand,
and my lips curved up unwittingly.
I took Squishy's hand.
And stepped forward.