Chapter 9

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 9

Chapter Title: Overreaction

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Dungeon theme: Anomaly.

Worthy of its hidden rating, the performance was rock-solid.

I stared at the drowned hobgoblin corpse through the camera feed.

Could you even call that a corpse? It was a horrific end beyond description.

The surveillance camera had broadcast the whole thing live, but I'd ended up turning away from the screen at the last moment. Ugh. Just thinking about it turned my stomach.

"When the hell am I gonna clean that up..."

I let out a small sigh.

Before checking my rewards, I scanned the dungeon interior via the surveillance cameras.

"The debuff traps are completely smashed. Sigh."

The new anomaly theme traps I'd installed this time were still intact, at least.

But all the initial traps—the ones that had performed so well against those trolls before—were wrecked.

The higher their intelligence, the trickier they got. I could really feel it now.

The gallery folks had said intelligent beings like humans barely triggered traps at all.

If hobgoblins were already this bad... I really didn't want to run into them if I could help it.

The points I'd sunk into those early investments felt like such a waste.

Honestly, if you asked whether I regretted it that much? Nah.

For one thing, those rock-solid anomaly theme traps were still right there by my side, waiting.

The star of the show during this hobgoblin wave.

You could tell just from the tags, but it even had Immortal attached.

Immortal meant indestructible, plain and simple.

The veterans said it was a tag you only saw in high grades.

Kya.

As expected from a hidden pick.

To my past self who chose the anomaly theme:

You've got talent. Keep at the Dungeon Master gig.

Anyway.

"My precious debuff traps... rest easy in the afterlife now."

They'd gotten me this far. Those guys who were now off to dungeon heaven.

I clasped my hands together respectfully and prayed for their souls.

Bold trolls and goblins had crashed Dreamland as guests a few times without fear, and those debuff traps had pulled off some major saves every time.

I'd only managed to snag the anomaly traps right before this wave.

No idea why, but even though I got more rewards than average, the point costs for these things were insanely high.

And I'd never had a difficulty rating of "Very Hard" since the first time.

I tore my eyes from the monitor and stood up from my chair.

Time to tidy up the dungeon.

The sad truth was, dungeons didn't automatically clean up the trash intruders left behind.

With no minions, it was all on me.

Corpses, shit, ugh, fuck...

"Man, I wanna hire some minions..."

I hopped onto Buzzy—the anomaly-exclusive auto-bike cart I'd bought for 100 points.

My current spot was the Core Room. Y'know, that room with the purple metal embedded in it.

The dungeon was dotted with surveillance cameras.

And all the monitors linked to those cameras were right here in the Core Room.

I hadn't paid points for them separately.

They'd just popped up—ta-da!—once I picked the theme.

Before, I'd had to fiddle with holograms to check the interior. Now I could just glance at the monitors. Way more convenient.

I fired up the engine, and with a vroom-vroom, the bike shot forward.

No wave going on, so no maze, but the passages were still plenty long. Needed a ride.

"Without Buzzy, I wouldn't have finished cleaning before the next wave..."

Every time I drove through the dungeon interior, it hit me.

Even I, who knew the whole layout, felt a chill at how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠distant it seemed. For first-time intruders? Enough to drive anyone mad.

If I were an intruder, I'd never set foot in Dreamland.

Not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knocking other veterans' dungeons or anything, but even I had to admit this place gave me the creeps.

Anyway.

The dungeon layout was pretty straightforward. Just long.

│Core Room (Magic Stone & Computer Room)│
━━━━
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Passage│
│Maze Generator│
━━━━
│Entrance│

About midway through the passages, I spotted the hobgoblin corpses.

"Ah, I fucking hate this..."

I fiddled with the hologram.

Time to hit the gallery while cleaning. Soothe this miserable soul.

Today my dungeon got filthy.

Blocked the wave, but in a blink, it was all corpses.

Too annoying, gross, smelly—hate it.

Worried I'll puke while cleaning.

So, so, so tired. Take my life.

Please, someone clean my dungeon.

I held back from posting a photo, scared it'd get flagged as a gross image by the mods.

But.

Why are they reacting like this?

Excuse me?

No.

Brothers?

But still.

Newbie champ... I'd been busting my ass to clean up before every wave.

If someone asked why bother cleaning when intruders would just dirty it up again anyway.

I'd fire back: Why live if you're just gonna die?

Cleanliness was basic in life.

"Well, truth is, galing's pretty much the only thing I have to do..."

Today, my world came crashing down.

A pastime's a pastime. Wasted effort's wasted effort.

The revelation that one slime-click could clean this whole massive dungeon.

Ugh, my stomach suddenly hurts.