YMDR 02

Chapter 2 

 E-Rank Dungeon: Den of the Hidden Ghouls (1)

《Useful Information for You, No. 1: The claws of a Hidden Ghoul are sharp enough to slice human flesh into bite-sized pieces in a single stroke.》

I brushed away the intrusive text blocking my right eye and kept running.

Stopping, even for a second, meant death.

The drunken mercenary behind us was—unintentionally—buying us time, but not for long.
Ten seconds, maybe.

Hidden Ghouls were notorious for their inhuman speed, and no cultist or beastkin child could hope to outrun them for long.

“Intruders—!”

The shrill screech echoed through the forest.
The mercenary must’ve been ripped apart by now.
The stench of rot was already catching up—fast.

If we’d all started running at the same time, the ghouls would’ve caught us within seconds. We’d be food by now.

I didn’t dare look back, but the changing expressions of the tiger siblings told me everything I needed to know. The distance was closing.

《Useful Information for You, No. 2: A human’s respiratory system isn’t so fragile. Keep running!》

“Thanks for the tip…!” I muttered between ragged breaths.

Scanning the trees ahead, I saw them grow thinner, straighter, less twisted.

Almost there.

The forest was changing—proof we were heading the right way.

“Are we just going to keep running forever?!”
The tiger girl, Marlin, shouted over her shoulder as she ran beside her younger brother.

“They’re catching up! We can’t keep this up!”
“Yeah! Why are we acting like cowards?” the boy, Abel, yelled. “There are only two of them! If we all fight together, we might win!”

Marlin looked at me—hesitant, searching for my answer.
Can’t we just fight?

I stared back silently.
How could they even think of that, after watching a full-grown orc’s chest burst open like a watermelon?

《Useful Information for You, No. 3: If you wish to become a ghoul’s next meal, by all means, take the beastlings’ advice.》

I sighed and shook my head.

“Impossible. We can’t win.”
“But we’re tiger beastkin! We’re not like humans!”
“I know. Still, we can’t.”
“If we keep running, we’ll—!”

Marlin stopped mid-sentence. Her ears twitched.
Then she froze.

“Kihihihi…”
“Come here…!”

The ghouls were upon us.

“Abel, faster!”
“…”

The siblings surged ahead, leaving me behind in seconds.

Ungrateful little brats.

Still, I couldn’t help but smile.
They’ll live long. Kids who know when to run tend to survive.

“Intru-ders!”

The ghouls’ screeches drew close. Their first target was obvious—the slow, helpless cultist.

《Fatal Threat Detected: A ghoul’s claws are slashing toward your back.》

The black letters flared before my eyes.

I dove forward—rolling gracelessly across the dirt.
The ghoul’s claws swept through the space my spine had just occupied.

A hair’s breadth.
One second slower, and I’d be joining my dead comrades for a tearful reunion.

《No need to thank me ;)》

“Noted…” I muttered, brushing dust off my robe.

The ghoul’s face twisted in rage.
It lifted its arms for another strike—offended that its easiest prey had dodged.

My back screamed in pain. There was no way to move fast enough again.
But that was fine. I’d already planned for this.

Crack!

A rock slammed into the ghoul’s face.

“Get away from him!”

Abel.

The boy’s raw strength shattered the creature’s nose. Dark, viscous blood oozed down its face.

The wound healed in seconds—but pain still lingered.
The ghouls recoiled as more stones came flying.

Then Marlin appeared, panting, and hoisted me onto her back.

“Are you okay?”
“Why did you come back? You could’ve died.”
“How could I just leave you? Even if you’re… a cultist.”

Kind girl. Too kind for this world.

She’d have made a fine hero—if this weren’t hell.

“Let’s go! We can still run!”
“No need.”
“…You mean… leave you here?”
“No. I mean, we’ve already run far enough.”

I tilted my head up.

The dark canopy had thinned, giving way to the pale, open sky.
A full moon shone down on us.

“Ghouls are weak to moonlight.”

Crack!

Another rock hit its mark.
The ghouls hissed, staggering, their bodies trembling violently before they turned and fled—retreating into the shadows.

《Reference: Ghouls were once elves, cursed by the petty moon and the god of the hunt for their betrayal. Thus, they became undead—forever weakened by lunar light. Proof that the so-called gods of virtue are, in truth, vain hypocrites!》

Marlin slowly set me down.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Are… are we safe now?”

She didn’t understand. Few beginners ever did.

“Don’t relax yet,” I said flatly. “The real danger hasn’t even started.”

This was a dungeon, after all.
A Nightmare Dungeon—a world completely sealed off from the outside.
Miss a single condition, and even a veteran would die here.

Marlin trembled.
“But… if ghouls hate moonlight, can’t we just wait until morning? The priest who manages this dungeon said survivors can escape after sunrise!”

That was the official method: survive eight hours.
Sounds easy enough—until you realize the dungeon itself isn’t your friend.

“Morning’s coming soon,” I said. “This dungeon’s night cycle is short.”
“Then that’s good, right?”
“Not really. They’re only weak to moonlight. Sunlight does nothing. In fact, they love basking in it.”

Her face went pale. So did her brother’s.

Marlin tried to smile as she stroked Abel’s back.
He was trembling too.

“Sir Cultist… what do we do now?”

“What else?”

I looked up at the fading moonlight and said quietly:

“We survive. No matter what.”

After all—it was just a tutorial.
No matter how twisted, the tutorial was never truly impossible.

E-Rank.
The lowest of the low.

If I couldn’t clear this, then what were those 20,000 hours of playtime even for?

“Will you help us?”
“…Yes.”

Marlin nodded firmly, and Abel reluctantly followed.

“What do we do first?”

I smiled faintly.

“First, we need corpses.”

The siblings scattered across the moonlit plains surrounding the forest.

Five minutes until dawn.
Plenty of time—if we hurried.

Just like before. Stick to the route. Don’t mess up, and we’ll live.

I’d already perfected this path after countless failed runs.
No safer strategy existed.

Sure, there was a faster method—but one that required a… particular kind of resolve.
The kind I didn’t want to have.

《Core Advice: If you sacrifice the two beastlings, you’ll clear this dungeon much faster.》

“Shut it.”

《If you wish to turn off my advice, simply cover your right eye with an eyepatch. But do note, the All-Seeing Eye gets rather lonely when ignored.》

The text floating in my vision wasn’t mere interface—it was alive.
Annoying, but invaluable.
It saw threats before I did. It whispered survival.

《For the weak-hearted who cannot bear to harm children: the dagger you carry will pierce your own heart cleanly.》

“Thanks for the info,” I muttered dryly.

I must’ve looked insane, talking to myself.
That’s when I heard footsteps—light and hurried.

“Mr. Cultist!”

Marlin appeared, dragging three rotting corpses behind her.

《The corpses of dead explorers. They discovered ghouls’ weakness to moonlight but died before realizing sunlight does nothing.》

“Just like you said, there were bodies everywhere,” she said, wiping sweat from her brow. “Probably the last party that came here…”

“Good work.”

《Showing a child rotting corpses! Truly exemplary behavior for a cultist of lardnay》

Marlin’s nose wrinkled. Her face was pale.

“I’ve… done corpse disposal jobs for money before,” she said quietly. “These aren’t too bad. About halfway decomposed.”

I blinked. The girl spoke like a coroner.
What a remarkable education.

Truly, early learning is everything.

“What now?”
“Line them up. Nicely.”

We laid the bodies in a neat row—each one bearing deep, ugly gashes across the neck and chest.

Marlin frowned. “What… are you planning to do?”

I looked at her, eyes gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

“What do you think a cultist uses corpses for?”

The answer was obvious.
The beginning and end of all unholy rites.

“We offer them to lardney.”

And thus began—
The Sacrifice.