Ch.288Welcoming the Financier

After making our way through the swarm of venomous insects, we arrived at a massive wooden barrier. It was a natural wall formed by enormous trees growing so densely that not even a sliver of space remained between them.

In the center of this gigantic wall stood a large wooden door with ivy vines clinging to it in an antique fashion.

Any adventurer who had ever conquered a dungeon would easily guess where that door led.

“We’re here.”

“Here? This is the door to the boss room.”

“Why did you bring us to a place like this?”

“So you were deceiving us after all?”

Despite Jessica and Phyllis’s sharp accusations, the Gentleman maintained his composure, merely shrugging his shoulders.

“Don’t get excited. I’m not stupid enough to trick seasoned adventurers and feed them to a dungeon boss.”

“True. If you tried something like that, you’d be beaten to death right here before we even entered the boss room. So?”

“My people’s hideout is much deeper than this boss room. It’s a chamber where no monster, including the boss, ever sets foot… Does that ring a bell?”

“You mean where the dungeon core is kept? But the door to that room won’t appear unless we defeat the boss, right?”

As Jessica said, the room where the dungeon core is stored—the “Core Room”—could be considered the heart of the dungeon.

The door to that room only appears after defeating the boss, and when adventurers reach that room and destroy the dungeon core, the dungeon vanishes without a trace.

In other words, if the Third Eye clan was occupying the Core Room, it would mean this dungeon’s boss had already been defeated…

“That would normally be the case. But we defeated this dungeon’s boss long ago, and now someone from our clan with special abilities has taken the boss’s position. That’s the person I want to introduce you to.”

“A person… a Third Eye has become the dungeon boss? Is that even possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? I heard something similar happened in that dungeon where the Overflow occurred.”

Come to think of it, in the previous dungeon, the demon subordinates had betrayed the boss known as the Tyrant Emperor, and a new boss called the Cunning Usurper had taken his place.

After that, the Tyrant Emperor was revived, and just when it seemed the Usurper would be executed, he nearly stole the Emperor’s body completely, only to fail due to a trap Jessica had prepared…

In any case, that incident proved that a dungeon boss’s position could indeed change hands.

“It’s not a common occurrence, of course. It was only possible because this person has truly exceptional talents, even among us Third Eyes who belong to the demon race. Anyway, this person… we call them the ‘Reformer’… has lived for over 40 years, which is extraordinary for a Third Eye, thanks to transforming their body to become a dungeon boss.”

“More than twice the average lifespan… Indeed, someone with such experience must be quite knowledgeable.”

The fact that they describe a mere 40 years as “living long” makes me acutely aware that the Third Eye clan is fundamentally different from pioneers or other natives.

At any rate, if we want to learn about the Third Eye clan, we need to grill this Reformer character, which means we have no choice but to enter the boss room.

Of course, all of this could be the Gentleman’s lie, and he might really be planning to feed us to the dungeon boss.

But right now, we’re not only at full strength but also accompanied by a seventh member the Gentleman doesn’t know about.

If the worst happens, it won’t be us who are caught off guard but the Gentleman himself. If we’re gambling, now is our chance while our hand remains hidden.

“OK. Let’s meet this Reformer fellow. Open the door, Gentleman.”

“I should warn you—don’t draw your weapons just because his appearance is bizarre. He’s very cautious—”

The Gentleman couldn’t finish his warning as he opened the door with a creak.

Several tentacle-like wooden branches extended from the doorway, wrapping around the Gentleman’s face and limbs, and instantly dragged him inside.

“Mmph!? Mmmmmph!! Urgh… AAAAARGH—!!”

*Crackle… SNAP!*

Then came the Gentleman’s death cry.

I don’t even want to think about what caused that horrible tearing sound that followed.

As we stood frozen in shock at the sudden turn of events, a dry, cracked elderly voice called out from behind the door.

“You lot outside. Show yourselves if you have business here, or drop everything and get lost.”

We were caught off guard again, not expecting to be addressed, but we couldn’t just stand there dumbfounded in front of the door.

We exchanged glances, formed a battle formation, and entered the boss room.

What greeted us inside was a withered, twisted wooden puppet-like creature with two heads.

The strange thing was that each of the two featureless heads wore a different mask.

And one of them—the one on the left face—was the mask the Gentleman had been wearing until moments ago.

“…Are you the ‘Reformer’ of the Third Eye clan?”

“I am. I am the Reformer and Guardian, ruler of this dungeon. My mission is to protect my clan’s peace from all intruding life forms.”

“How can you claim to protect peace when you’ve just killed one of your own kind!?”

Phyllis rebuked the self-proclaimed Guardian, but the creature briefly turned its two expressionless faces toward each other before answering calmly.

“Protecting the clan and disposing of the incompetent are separate matters. In the history of the Third Eye clan, there is no record of anyone being forgiven after failing to complete their mission—especially not after failing twice.”

“Even so, executing him without hearing his side seems excessive, don’t you think? Isn’t your discipline too strict?”

“Do not judge us by the standards of other species. Even if it hadn’t been me, Ul=Ga=Han was destined to be disposed of by someone else’s hand. Considering his talent, killing him here myself was the best choice for our clan.”

Ul=Ga=Han—so that was the Gentleman’s real name.

More importantly, there was something in the Reformer’s words that couldn’t be overlooked.

“What do you mean he had to die here because of his talent? Is the Third Eye clan’s definition of ‘talent’ different from what I understand?”

“Hmm. You ask questions even in this situation. How fitting for humans who travel to uncover secrets.”

“How did you know that…”

“That too is related to the realm of our ‘talents.’ If you wish to know more… you’d better struggle hard to keep your lives. Hmm—!!”

*Boom—*

As the Reformer let out a battle cry, the boss room door firmly closed behind us. The wooden puppet-like Reformer had transformed—its arms now wings, with sharp talons sprouting from its feet—into a bird-human hybrid, a harpy.

“I won’t let you!”

*BANG—!!*

I drew my gun and fired, aiming to hit both wings and prevent the Reformer from taking flight, but a heavy impact erupted in my hand as red stains bloomed across the barrel.

It was similar to what happened when I was experimenting with improving my revolver’s performance and it temporarily became unusable due to magical overload.

“Diamond Dust… Eek!?”

*Crackle!*

The magical anomaly occurred at Jessica’s fingertips as well.

The advantage of a Codex Mage was supposed to be that spells never fail once successfully cast, but the cold energy gathering at Jessica’s fingertips exploded before reaching its target, freezing her right hand solid.

“Jessica!”

“I’m fine, only the surface is frozen—no damage. But more importantly…”

“Ugh! What is this? The entire area is filled with high-concentration magical energy! And it’s extremely reactive!”

As these anomalies continued to occur, Mina hurriedly put on her Magiascope and identified the cause of the problem.

It seems the magical energy filling the boss room was interfering with our magical guns and spells, causing them to go haywire.

Having lost our chance for a preemptive strike, we watched as the transformed Reformer spread its large wings, soared into the air, and shouted:

“Let’s see how long you can survive in this hopeless situation where you can neither attack nor defend! Feel the power of the ‘Shadow Tamer’ mask I inherited from Ul=Ga=Han to your very bones!”

As the Reformer shouted, the eyes behind the mask glowed red, and black beasts began to emerge one by one from the shadows.

They were undoubtedly the same creatures the Gentleman had commanded during his ambush.

“This is bad. We can’t use guns or magic, and we’re outnumbered…”

“It’s alright. I couldn’t manage alone, but with two of us, we can protect them. Let’s back toward the wall while guarding Mina.”

Even in this situation, Seth remained calm and suggested the tactics our party should take.

Right… if they’re deploying unexpected forces, we should bring out our joker too.

“Ancestor, I’m counting on you!”

*Neeeigh~!!*

With an energetic whinny, Ancestor instantly transformed into human form.

Although we can’t cast enhancement magic on him, making it impossible to defeat the shadow beasts, they would likely be replenished endlessly anyway, so there’s no need to fixate on defeating them.

“Jessica, Mina. I know it’s a lot to ask, but please find a way to turn this situation around.”

“Got it. I’ll try everything possible.”

“Don’t worry about us getting hurt, okay? I’ll definitely find a solution!”

Jessica knocked her frozen hand against the wall to break off the ice, while Mina pressed her Magiascope firmly against her face, scanning the surroundings.

The key to this battle is whether we can hold out and protect them until those two find a solution.