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Chapter 5
E-Rank Dungeon: Den of the Hidden Ghouls (4)
“Do you understand now?”
Marlin thought for a moment before replying.
“There’s one part I don’t quite get.”
“Which part?”
“The dungeon’s clear condition is to survive for eight hours, right? But how can your method make us leave earlier than that?”
“Ah… I must have forgotten you’re the kind of kid who’s seriously lacking in dungeon common sense.”
“……”
Facing the tiger beast-girl’s unimpressed stare, I smiled kindly and added an explanation.
“Every dungeon hides a secret known as a Hidden Piece.”
It was the so-called “endgame content” designed to encourage multiple playthroughs.
Since no clues were ever given, explorers had to literally die trying to uncover them.
Hidden conditions, items, NPCs, quests—
they came in all forms, but every one of them shared a single trait: they were painfully hard to find.
“Even priests of the Church of Harmony can’t reveal them?”
“Generally, no.”
“As secretive as a dungeon… Huh. Other thieves used to say the same thing when talking about my housebreaking skills. Maybe that’s where the phrase came from.”
A common saying in the City of Dungeons indeed—one I’d often heard in the companion dialogue of the game.
“So this ghoul dungeon has a Hidden Piece too, and that’s what you meant by the special clear method?”
“Exactly.”
Marlin nodded slightly, then frowned.
“But to fulfill a hidden condition… do we always have to take such risks? It feels like one mistake could get us all killed.”
“Don’t worry. Of all the plans I could come up with, this is the safest.”
“So… you mean they’re all dangerous, but this one is just less dangerous?”
Sharp.
That must be the power of her Perception stat: 19.
“Anyway, this is the best we’ve got. Can you handle it?”
“Ugh… I guess I have to, don’t I?”
She nodded firmly.
“I’ll trust you—just please don’t let me die.”
Different tone, same line I’d heard countless times in the game.
[Marlin: I’ll obey your orders, just please don’t kill me…]
That infamous dialogue line that screamed the developer’s intent:
“These companions exist to be used.”
In the game, no matter what choice you made, you ended up in a forced master–servant relationship.
Affection never rose, even after countless battles.
But here—this was reality.
If I could earn their trust, maybe I could eliminate the cultist’s greatest weakness: the risk of betrayal during every dungeon run.
My heart’s racing already.
What was the true upper limit of a cultist’s potential, stripped of all penalties?
Could this finally be the dawn of the “Supreme Deity lardney” meta—something once deemed impossible?
Maybe it’s not impossible after all.
Still, the future belonged to the living.
For now, I had to survive first.
Even an evil god couldn’t be served by a corpse.
“Shall we begin? We’re ready.”
Marlin forced Abel awake, helping him stand.
Leaning against a twisted tree trunk, I nodded at the siblings.
“Abel.”
“Yeah.”
The young siblings took a deep breath—
“Aaaaaah——!!”
A roar.
Not quite enough to be called a lion’s roar—more like a cub mewling at the sky.
Still, volume wasn’t the point.
What mattered was luring the ghouls.
《The stench of rot spreads from all directions.》
They took the bait.
Their hearing wasn’t great, but the noise had caught their attention.
That was all I needed.
Now, it was my turn.
Slash.
I drew my dagger across my palm.
Blood welled up instantly, dripping to the ground.
Fresh human blood—
the perfect lure for ghouls, creatures drawn to the scent of life.
《Countless ghouls are racing toward the natural aroma of your spilled blood. Are you dreaming of a grand group suicide?》
“Natural aroma,” huh…
That phrasing would probably bother me later, but I didn’t have time to overthink it now.
After letting enough blood spill, I tore a strip from my clothes to wrap my hand.
“Mister—it’s here!”
Marlin’s whisper came a moment before the stench hit—
the unbearable odor that always preceded their arrival.
“Intruders—!!”
“Kihihihi—!”
“Fresh meat…”
They emerged from the dark—
grotesque silhouettes darting through the gaps of the forest like shadows.
The same creatures we’d fought the night before—only faster, more vicious.
They were the bane of all beginner cultists, infamous for their inhuman agility.
《Warning: Three ghouls are charging toward you!》
The first wave was already upon me.
As ravenous predators, they couldn’t resist the scent of my blood.
Instead of fleeing, I waved at them—using the same bloodstained left hand.
“Intruderrrr—!!”
“Kihihihit—!”
Blinded by frenzy, they lunged.
Claws and teeth bared—
“Goodbye.”
Shhhhkk!
Their bodies split cleanly in two mid-leap, collapsing in a shower of gore.
The law of inertia sent their remains tumbling forward—
right into the intricate web I’d woven overnight.
“In…tru…der…”
Even severed and twitching, the ghouls weren’t dead.
Chunks of flesh squirmed and reattached themselves, reforming grotesquely.
Their regenerative power rivaled high-tier monsters.
Even a bisected skull began to fuse back together.
But then—
Slice.
The moment they reformed, they were cut apart again.
《:O》
More ghouls charged in—only to share the same fate.
Drawn by the smell of my blood, they hurled themselves straight into the invisible web of blades.
Each resurrection ended in another death.
An endless, looping carnage.
“Grrruhh…”
One of them even managed to crawl up the tree toward me.
I drove my dagger through its forehead and shoved it back into the writhing pile below.
By now, even these half-sentient monsters must have realized—
they were trapped.
Their own blood sprayed wildly, dyeing the once-invisible threads a deep, gleaming red.
《Thread That Binds All Things: By refining the threads to extreme thinness and sharpness, you’ve created a masterpiece of lethality. Surely this is your first time using this Mystery—so why is your proficiency so absurdly high?》
Normally, the ghouls would have noticed the threads shimmering in the air.
But the thick scent of my blood had drowned their instincts.
“Th-this easily…?”
Peeking from the foliage, Marlin’s eyes went wide.
She looked at me as though I’d just performed a miracle.
I understood her reaction—
I’d been just as stunned the first time I pulled it off.
This was a strategy born from countless deaths, refined through experience and analysis.
A method so efficient that players across foreign communities had started copying it.
“Mister, is it over now?”
“Almost.”
The dungeon had two clear conditions.
Primary Condition:
Survive for eight hours.
Hidden Condition:
Render all ghouls incapable of combat.
The moment the last twitching flesh finally stopped moving—
Bzzzt.
A red glow rose from the center of the clearing where the siblings had been hiding.
《Gate to the Outside World》
《The dungeon has been successfully cleared! The Seer of Twisted Truth offers his praise upon your feat.》
E-Rank Dungeon — Den of the Hidden Ghouls.
Cleared.
“I didn’t think it’d end this easily…”
“Easy? I almost died.”
My head throbbed—drained of mental energy after maintaining the web for so long.
As I carefully climbed down, a severed ghoul’s hand at my feet began to glow—
then transformed into a silver-bound book.
A hidden reward.
《Mystery Codex, Tier 1 – Ghoul’s Agility》
《Temporarily grants the agility of a ghoul. Such an excellent Mystery from an E-Rank dungeon! Even the Wise One is impressed.》
“This… this is it!”
A powerful, high-efficiency ability—even at Tier 1.
The developers’ creed, “Great reward for great pain,” embodied perfectly.
I tucked the silver book into my coat and turned to the siblings, who were still gaping at the shredded remains.
“Come on, kids. Let’s go.”
Our business in this foul-smelling dungeon was done.
When we stepped through the crimson gate, our vision blurred—
then steadied.
We were back.
Inside a tavern.
《The ill-fated tavern that was forcibly sealed after the appearance of the E-Rank dungeon [Den of the Hidden Ghouls]. Later acquired by the Church of Harmony and converted into a facility for explorers.》
“…We’re back.”
“I’m so tired…”
The siblings collapsed onto the nearest table.
Marlin pressed her forehead against the wood, groaning.
“Mister, can we go home now?”
“No. We still need to complete the post-expedition process.”
“Ugh…”
“Just rest for a bit.”
I was about to wake the priest snoring in the corner when I paused to look around.
It was surreal, seeing this tavern in reality after only ever viewing it as pixels.
A true pilgrimage site for veterans—
how could I not take a look around?
I strolled like a tourist, opening a window.
Outside, it was night.
Cool wind brushed my face as I gazed upon the city’s lights.
《Dungeon City — platica.》
《The paradise of explorers, where thousands of dungeons lie hidden. Are you prepared to spread the glory of the Wise One?》
platica—
the setting of the game, the nexus of all adventures.
And now, my new home.
Part of me wanted to wander its streets and admire the view.
But I didn’t have that kind of time.
I took a deep breath, like a man about to begin a ritual, and looked up at the night sky.
“The constellations… they’re the same.”
The moon and stars glimmered softly above.
A beautiful sight—
marred only by a floating message aligned perfectly to the moon’s right.
《S-Rank Dungeon — Nightmare Dungeon》
《If it is not conquered within five years, the great beast dwelling in its uppermost layer will break free and trample all life, setting the continent ablaze.》
Five years.
That’s how long this world has left.
If I don’t reach the ending before then—
The world ends.
