episode_0090

“Slowly switching to night watch—”

Eve, having finished her shift, stopped dead in her tracks.

“Welcome back.”

“…”

Why is she like that?

Is something wrong?

Completely unable to understand her distorted expression, I tilted my head.

Nix and Yuri put down what they were eating and greeted me cheerfully.

“Eung-oop-boo-bip-”

“Boo-heu-eung-boop-”

Oh my, these guys.

They’re not even kids, do I really have to tell them this?

“You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Eung-oop- bwaa-”

Yuri savored the thick, sticky juice she’d been holding in her mouth before swallowing it down.

She opened her mouth, showing me her throat.

The sight of her pink tongue and uvula was enough to bring the dead back to life.

Suddenly—

“Eve, want a bite?”

“…No, just hurry up and switch.”

“Eung~”

As I got up and adjusted my clothes, Eve approached unguardedly.

Supporting her weary shoulders, I helped her sit in the pre-warmed spot.

“Good night.”

“…Yeah.”

Lying down in the empty space and turning her back, Eve quickly fell asleep.

This girl must have been pretty tired.

Leaving behind her soft breathing, I went a little distance away from the camp.

I, the last one on night watch duty, volunteered to do a little more than the others.

I hadn’t been able to rest enough, but I had things to think about.

And I figured I should show more consideration for anyone who might wake up in the meantime.

I climbed onto a rock that looked to be at a suitable height, settled down, and sat cross-legged.

And as always, I calmly circulated my mana and exuded it from my whole body.

[Mana Curtain], effect: Detection.

This will allow me to hear even the sound of an ant’s footsteps, making it perfect for night watch duty.

Now then, first… concerning the final boss of Dungeon Break, the Shadow Wolf.

Why it evolved into a Shadow Wolf instead of an ordinary Dark Wolf has been bothering me.

Then I heard Eve’s warning.

‘That guy… he seems suspicious.’

If what she said is true, every single action that Leif has taken so far becomes questionable.

Therefore, although it’s just a hunch, I’ve decided to consider the things that feel certain first.

First of all, I think Leif is behind the Beast’s evolution.

Beast evolution proceeds broadly in two ways; either way, it’s difficult.

They either absorb and internalize the abilities of an enemy who had pressed them hard, or if that’s impossible, they adapt to those abilities.

To summarize, it’s either copy or counter.

Taking the slime, which has the widest range of evolution, as an example, if you use ice magic against one but fail to completely finish it off?

Then it evolves into an Ice Slime to nullify the cold, or into a Fire Slime to exploit the elemental weakness.

In the Empire’s [Forest of Chaos], beasts that evolve in this way are everywhere.

In fact, the method of inducing evolution in a specific direction and then exterminating them is often used.

We got off track, but.

So, in the end, the reason why the leader who was about to evolve into a Dark Wolf evolved into a Shadow Wolf?

Frankly, only one thing comes to mind right now.

Because Leif used ‘shadow’ to secretly slaughter the Gray Wolves, it copied that ability to become a ‘Shadow Wolf.’

Of course, I don’t know the reason or have concrete evidence.

It may have simply absorbed the shadow in the cave and evolved ‘by chance.’

However, what remained in my memory is Eve’s statement that “he seems like a different person.”

Even I, who can accurately read mana waves, can’t guarantee this.

Because I don’t know Leif’s original wave.

Frankly… there’s nothing I can do but watch.

Even if someone were impersonating Leif through some method.

Hiding so perfectly, he must have almost perfect knowledge of us.

Therefore, rashly informing the Fourth Sacred Order is out of the question.

It might even give him a chance to escape.

My conclusion is to maintain the status quo.

Because I was lost in thought, morning came before I knew it, and everyone woke up.

Just in case, I informed Nix of the situation and decided to keep watch with her.

We packed up our things and headed further down.

.

.

.

The lower level of the Artemis Ruins.

This is where special stone golems form a defensive line.

In Evermore Guild Master Gruenhilt’s explanation, it was described as an ultimate stronghold that no one could overcome.

But I don’t think so.

Most of them were attacked by Gray Wolf packs in the comfortable communal areas of the middle layer.

They suffered heavy casualties due to their carelessness and fled to the lower layer.

Naturally, they didn’t have time to rest and were quite depleted both physically and mentally.

In that state, half gave up and turned back, while half challenged the lower level.

It’s only natural that the results weren’t good.

On the other hand, how are we doing now?

We clearly had a major battle with the beasts on the middle level, but we completely annihilated them.

Naturally, we were able to rest much more comfortably without the threat of being attacked.

To exaggerate a little, our condition was even better than when we broke through the upper levels.

The stronger you are, the easier it is to pass.

The weaker you are, the easier it is to be stopped.

That’s how the dungeon works.

Complaining to an irrational labyrinth only brings back an echo.

Using the experience of those who had failed before as a stepping stone, we were fully prepared and reached this point.

Naturally, things like stone golems were no match.

“Haap—!”

Crack—!!

Similar to the principle of Nix’s physical body creation magic.

A technique that weaves together existing matter to make it move on its own, a so-called ‘automatic puppet’.

At the golem’s core, there’s a magic stone containing that technique.

It’s like a power source in a machine.

In other words, a weakness.

However, being a ‘Stone’ golem, its body is made of rock, so no matter how sharp you sharpen your blade, a clumsy attack won’t penetrate.

So the best weapon I thought of is a skull-cracking hammer.

A hammer version of [Muryong Sword], with mana densely gathered to make the head strong.

It’s called ‘Oham-ma’ (a colloquialism for a sledgehammer).

Kwaang- Kukung- Ku-gwang—!!

“Gruu-rru-rru-ruk-”

As a weapon that delivers great force to one side, it has a slow trajectory change after attack resulting in a large delay,

and a considerable recoil.

However, against slow golems, all these weaknesses vanish.

One by one.

With each swing of the hammer, one of their limbs was smashed.

Was it because of the Gray Wolf pack right before?

Even though dozens were rushing, they didn’t feel particularly outmatched numerically.

I smashed ten of the vanguard and rested the hammer on my shoulder.

“Who said to set up shop here, huh—?!”

Then, slightly askew, I lowered my eyes to them.

Those who followed from the dusty haze also held heavy blunt weapons made of magic.

Slowly raising my arm, I gestured to the golems still filling the lower corridor.

“Get your tools ready, guys—”

“Yes, unni!”

“Let’s go—!!”

Yuri and Nix started exuding a vibe resembling yakuza thugs, following my lead.

Standing with legs crossed, chewing mana gum,

they walked out, dragging tools along the ground.

“Call your boss right now!!”

“If you can’t pay up, you’re dead… huh?!”

Bang- Kwaang—!

I went ahead and smashed them appropriately.

Nix cut off their limbs, and Yuri destroyed the magic stones.

Even though it was a rampage, dividing tasks made things easier than expected,

It’s much easier for us to stick together and just attack, rather than follow some half-baked tank/damage/heal/support combination.

Someone was missing?

Eve said that she couldn’t keep up with our tension and slowly followed from behind.

I assigned her to check again to see if any of the destroyed golems were still alive, and carefully inspect them.

“Little sister, look carefully. If we get caught off guard…”

“I’ll cut off all your fingers.”

“…”

She remained silent at this playful threat.

Only letting out a long sigh while steadfastly performing her duties.

“That’s it—?”

“It’s over.”

“Alright, let’s wrap this up~”

And that’s how we proceeded for a while pushing back all the golems.

They stopped coming.

We dispelled our magic and wiped the sweat from our foreheads.

“This was fun!”

Nix laughed cheerfully first, and Yuri followed with a gentle smile.

However, Eve’s expression wasn’t bright.

.

.

.

Taking a moment to rest, I took out the map to check our current location.

The Artemis Ruins have different security systems on each floor.

The upper level has traps and puzzles; the middle level has natural beasts.

The lower level where we are now has golems and a maze.

Even placing guarding stone golems along a straight path won’t be very effective.

So as a supplementary system, they made the path complicated to make it harder to break through.

I stopped suddenly among the shattered golem fragments for that reason.

Because we had reached the first crossroads.

But the map was so complicated that my eyes were spinning.

I handed the worn piece of paper to Nix, who was stretching beside me.

“Nix, look at this. We’re probably around here, can you find the optimal route?”

“Hmm… give me five minutes.”

Rolling up her sleeves, she examined the map with wide eyes.

I leaned my back against the corridor wall and caught my breath for a moment.

Then Eve suddenly approached.

“…Don’t you feel anything strange?”

Her serious expression was usual, but today, it felt different.

It was as if something had gone terribly wrong.

I quietly shrugged.

“What is it?”

Then Eve handed me the magic stone she was holding.

With bits of rock sticking to it, it appeared to be the core magic stone of a golem,

but the feeling was somehow different from a normal golem’s magic stone.

“It’s… heavy?”

“It feels strange… I don’t know what it is. I brought it to you thinking you might know.”

At first, I didn’t understand what she was saying.

But after taking a slow, deep breath and calming my racing heart,

I thought I saw something.

But what I felt even more strongly was.

Something else I had on me.

‘…?’

With a strange feeling, I took out the [?? Magic Stone] from my inner pocket.

It was emitting a blinding white light.