Ch.54The Queen of Mice

“Break Enchant!”

“Come forth! Servants of the labyrinth, my children! Tear those insolent intruders to pieces!”

The fire-attribute Break Enchant signaled the start of the battle, and the black energy gathering around the dungeon boss transformed into more than ten Flag Rats that charged at us all at once.

The filthy disease-carrying rats tried to block Seti’s path as she leaped toward the boss with her flaming spear, but behind her were the three of us who had finished preparing for a coordinated attack.

“Tatatatatata-tang!”

“Ta-ang!!”

“Diamond Dust!”

The dead-accurate fanning shot took down six rats, while Diamond Dust eliminated two more.

Mina’s single-shot pistol narrowly missed its target, but the remaining two rats couldn’t even flee from the swinging flame spear, let alone block Seti’s path.

“Hiyah!”

“Ugh! You damn cat!”

After cutting down the attacking rats with a single strike, Seti brought her spear down on the boss, who barely dodged it before launching a counterattack.

The boss’s fingernails, extended twice the length of normal fingers, were surrounded by an ominous black energy.

Testing whether that black energy was plague, curse, or dark magic itself by allowing an attack to hit would be too risky a gamble.

But no matter how threatening an attack might be, it means nothing if it doesn’t connect.

Seti, fighting at polearm distance, didn’t even need to retreat or dodge—simply extending her blazing flame spear was enough to easily block the boss’s attacks.

“Tata-tang!”

My single-action revolver, freshly reloaded, fired three magic bullets at the boss who was hesitating, unable to close the distance with Seti.

Distracted by Seti’s aggressive advance, the boss couldn’t even assume a defensive stance and took all three magic bullets directly in the side.

“Ugh… what is that weapon!? How many shots can it fire?”

“Hmm? This?”

“That’s right, 38 years ago, neither repeating pistols nor engraved cylinder loading had been developed.”

“Ah… I see.”

So in Mary Grant’s time, only single-shot firearms existed?

If that’s the case, my single-action revolver that fires six bullets at once and can be reloaded in an instant must be an unknown superweapon to this dungeon boss.

Learning this fact through Mina’s explanation, I raised my single-action revolver proudly, touching the magic bullet engraving with my finger as I replied:

“Don’t you know… this is called a ‘revolver’.”

That classic line every Earth person who crosses into another world wants to say at least once.

To think the day would come when I, who was on the listening end in Mothertown, would get to use this line.

“I don’t know how many more of those rats you can summon, but calling forth just about ten at a time won’t help you much.”

“Eek… you irritating man!”

The boss’s eyes glowed red, and another ten Flag Rats were summoned.

This time, they appeared directly to the right of our rear line where the three of us stood.

It seemed the boss intended to attack our backline by spawning them at close range, giving us no time to intercept.

“Well, it’s a wasted effort.”

“Tatatatatata-tang!”

“Diamond Dust!”

While I was taunting the boss, I finished reloading my single-action revolver and pierced six of the Flag Rats before they could even land on the ground, turning them to dust.

With Diamond Dust joining in, focused to increase the number of targets, even if Seti and Mina were left completely idle, ten small fry wouldn’t be a match for us.

Weak monsters in manageable numbers that can be dispatched with one-shot-one-kill in a wide area with no risk of ricochets.

This was a situation where the Gunslinger Championship winner’s true value shined 100%.

“Ta-ang!”

“Kuk!”

Needless to say, I wasn’t the only opponent the dungeon boss needed to worry about.

There was Seti, constantly pressuring the boss at close range and driving it into a corner; Jessica, capable of handling both mob control and turret roles; and Mina with her large-caliber pistol that, while unable to fire rapidly and inferior in aiming precision and reload speed, packed undeniable power in each shot.

‘This one… is weaker than I thought.’

It was clear that this dungeon’s boss wasn’t the type to fight with overwhelming physical abilities like a Tyrant Worm.

Originally, poison, disease, and schemes are means for the weak to defeat the strong—unnecessary for powerful beasts with sufficient strength.

Moreover, how pathetic must it be to not even leave treasures to lure adventurers, instead hiding the path to the deeper levels while only preying on powerless girls?

Of course, as a dungeon boss, it was undoubtedly an opponent that couldn’t be taken lightly, but seeing the boss cornered by Seti’s spear, unable to launch a proper counterattack, was so anticlimactic it was almost disappointing.

“Stone Bullet!”

“Haaah!”

“Thwack!”

“AAAAARGH!!”

After taking Jessica’s Stone Bullet and losing balance, the boss was pierced in the chest by Seti’s flame-wrapped spear, causing it to scream in agony.

What flowed from the wound wasn’t red blood but something black.

This black substance, liquid-like yet dispersing like smoke in an instant, proved that the white-haired girl with Mary Grant’s appearance was certainly not human.

“Gack, cough… as expected, I couldn’t win.”

“Is it really ending like this? A dungeon boss?”

“What did you expect…? A transformation, or that the real boss was somewhere else…? Kheuk…”

As Seti pulled her spear from its chest, the dungeon boss collapsed weakly onto the cold stone floor and gave us a self-deprecating smile.

“If I had… such power… I wouldn’t have been, cough… stuck here from the beginning, feeding on scraps.”

“……”

“Queen of the plague-carrying rats… that’s all the power I was given… Absorbing the intelligence of intruders, learning magic, squeezing out nonexistent power to create artifacts… KEEAAK!”

The dungeon boss couldn’t finish speaking before it began vomiting black energy like blood.

With each spasm, we could see the once snow-white skin of the girl turning black from the feet up.

After writhing in pain for a while, the boss lay down weakly and continued in a trembling voice:

“…Kheh, huu… as I said earlier, I have… nothing to give you. The artifact I barely managed to create… that man destroyed it…”

“We also said earlier that we came for the peace of the Western City and to settle historical accounts. We don’t care about artifacts.”

“From beginning to end… you’re all so annoying. Bringing a cat into a rat’s nest… How did you make magic that blocks the plague… My dungeon is ruined… com…pletely…”

With those final words, the white-haired girl closed her eyes, and her body instantly lost vitality, shriveling into the insignificant corpse of a rat.

Shortly after, even that corpse dispersed like smoke, and a new passage appeared on the wall opposite the entrance through which we had come.

It undoubtedly led to the final room where the dungeon’s core was kept.

“That’s the end of the Plague Dungeon. Let’s go destroy the core.”

“It would have been better if we could have recovered Mary Grant’s body and given her a proper burial.”

“It can’t be helped. By simple calculation, she was left in the influence of dark magic for 38 years. The fact that she maintained her living appearance was probably due to the dark magic supplied from the core.”

“I see… I hope she rests in peace at least. Mary Grant and the other girls too.”

“The other girls… that’s right. Even before the pioneers crossed over to Grantis, how many girls were sacrificed to this dungeon?”

The cries of curses and resentment we heard on the stairs belonged to girls who had been sacrificed in the past.

Perhaps even that was just an act by the dungeon boss to deceive us, but if it was real, I can only hope that their souls will be liberated along with the demolition of this dungeon.

With emptiness and regret in our hearts, we passed through the final corridor and arrived at the room where the dungeon core was placed.

In a small room about 3 meters square, without any lighting or decoration, a crystal orb about the size of a baseball was floating, and inside it, streams of five-colored light were intertwined and swirling.

It was a light so mysterious and awe-inspiring that it was hard to believe it was the heart of such a terrifying place as a dungeon.

“Is this crystal orb the dungeon core?”

“Yes. If we destroy it, we’ll be forcibly teleported outside the dungeon, and the Plague Dungeon will disappear forever.”

“How do we destroy it?”

“It breaks easily with impact, so no special method is needed. Will, would you like to break it to commemorate your first dungeon conquest?”

“That sounds good, but would you mind lending your gun to Seti? This is the first dungeon conquest for both of us, so I’d like to count to three and fire simultaneously.”

“Good idea. Here, Seti, do you know how to shoot?”

“Yes. I’ve seen Will and Jessica shoot several times.”

With Seti borrowing Jessica’s derringer and standing to my right, and Mina on my left, we all aimed our guns at the dungeon core as Jessica began counting.

“Ready then? One, two, three.”

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Ta-ang!”

The shots from my single-action revolver, Seti’s borrowed derringer, and Mina’s single-shot pistol created a clean harmony as they shattered the beautiful dungeon core.

The colorful streams of light that had been swirling in the center of the core spread in all directions, filling the room with blinding light, and when I opened my tightly shut eyes again, instead of the familiar dungeon walls, the dark outdoor scenery entered my view.

A.S. 101, March 23rd, Day of Earth, 2:10 AM.

It was the moment when the Plague Dungeon, which had left a deep wound on the Third Western City, vanished into history.