episode_0162

“As you can see, this is the situation. I can’t enter the dungeon.”

“Ah…”

Mia sighed.

As soon as I let go, the cold that seemed to freeze the entire stone gate subsided.

If I enter the dungeon, no one else can come in.

Perhaps I am the only one with immunity to this cold, confident in facing Yuri’s grudge.

While a mysterious vampire like Mia can endure for a long time, a living person will not last even five minutes and will die.

So, is there a chance of success if I go in alone?

There isn’t.

Not “a little,” but “none.”

Although I have immunity to the cold, it’s not easy for me to endure for more than 30 minutes.

But Luna’s unique dungeon goes straight down vertically.

It’s disgustingly long, and it takes at least an hour to go down, with no shortcut available.

If it’s an hour, I might somehow survive and arrive, but I’ll be in no condition to fight properly, frozen all over.

No, even if I somehow manage to destroy the dungeon with brute force, it’s impossible to come back.

It’s a reckless act of risking your life regardless of success.

“What… what should we do?”

“What can we do? You have to conquer the dungeon without me.”

“But that’s…!”

Mia sat down in despair.

What are the chances of mercenaries defeating this dungeon without me?

Hmm.

Considering how the Archmage died in Kali’s dungeon, it’s highly unlikely.

To conquer a dungeon of this level, a transcendent being is needed.

And not just one, but several transcendent beings…

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

The mercenaries aiming for Elvengard’s territory gradually increased.

Before they knew it, Elvengard was filled with over three thousand mercenaries.

Countless mercenaries entered the dungeon.

Many of them died or got injured.

Those who escaped the dungeon repeated the same words.

Below here is hell.

The structure of the dungeon was not just unfriendly but seemed to be shaped like a human trap.

The dungeons the mercenaries had experienced until now left some possibility of conquest.

That way, people would step into the dungeon for conquest.

And by killing them, they could transfer the energy gained to the underworld.

But this time, the dungeon was different.

The dungeon seemed to refuse entry from the very beginning.

Even though they hadn’t passed the first room yet, the steep cliff path, solid undead monsters, and traps filling every inch of space…

Among those who had entered the dungeon once, no one tried again.

Even the mercenaries who were curious turned away with stern expressions.

Those who tried to see the second room ended up with severe injuries or turned into corpses.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone leaving?”

“How difficult is the dungeon?”

Rumors about the difficulty of the dungeon spread quickly.

All the so-called veteran mercenaries either turned into corpses or left Elvengard with faces no different from corpses.

Several main mercenary groups lost their main forces and withdrew.

The number of mercenaries leaving Elvengard outnumbered those arriving.

And on the seventh day.

The remaining mercenaries in Elvengard numbered only 400.

Of course, this was still a significant number.

An absurdly large number of troops to conquer a single dungeon.

But only a very small fraction of them actually entered the dungeon.

Everyone was just watching and waiting for another party to pave the way and remove traps.

In reality, the dungeon conquest had come to a halt.

“The rough structure of the dungeon consists of a vertical underground first floor, a slightly sloping underground second floor, and the final boss room on the underground third floor.”

“Is the underground second floor…?”

“The path ahead is more treacherous than the first floor. From here, the narrow passage widens.”

“Doesn’t that make it easier to pass through?”

“From the second floor onwards, even stronger undead will pour out. If we couldn’t eliminate all the undead hidden on the first floor, we might end up surrounded.”

“······.”

As Mia listened to the detailed explanation, her expression hardened.

It was clear what she was thinking.

The mercenaries were probably relieved they hadn’t reached the second floor yet.

And it was true.

If they had reached the second floor, they wouldn’t even be able to retrieve the bodies of the mercenaries.

Even if they managed to break through to the third floor······.

‘Creating a unique dungeon means ‘it’ has been completed as well.’

There was no answer.

A dungeon that couldn’t be solved through normal means.

A dungeon that required unconventional power to break through.

‘No. Is that a trap as well?’

The map the mercenaries had created as they made their way through.

As I looked at the big picture, something seemed off.

I had only entered Luna’s unique dungeon once.

Back then, I was in such a rush to escape that my mind was in chaos, but at least one thing stuck in my memory.

‘There shouldn’t be a wall here, right?’

This dungeon.

Its structure had changed.

Normally, a dungeon’s structure remains the same no matter how many times you go through it.

It’s always the same and there’s no reason for it to change.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t change.

For some unusual reason.

It was clear that the dungeon had been intentionally altered.

The intention behind it was clear.

‘A trap.’

This.

It wasn’t a dungeon designed to summon an undead army.

In the moment of realization, Mia nudged me from the side.

She could have called me by name.

“I brought the materials you requested.”

“Thank you.”

A small crystal orb in my hand.

Inside, a scene was reflected.

The moment we faced off against Kali at the roots of the World Tree.

It was a recording of that situation.

“Yes······. But where are you going to use this?”

“There’s someone who can’t remember what happened back then. I’ll use this to jog their memory.”

“I see······.”

As Mia clapped her hands in realization and looked towards Mijung.

In reality, it was Kali, not Mijung, but as Mia, she couldn’t possibly know that the little girl was the spider monster from back then.

‘With this, we have almost all the ingredients we need.’

Helping Kali regain her memories.

It might seem useless at first glance, but in reality, it was a crucial step in preparation.

‘With this, we can erase Luna from this world.’

Until now, Luna had been an ethereal being, impossible to physically touch or kill.

But there was a way to kill her, or rather, seal her.

We could definitively prevent Luna and Kali from ever resurrecting.

And if we were lucky, we could even neutralize Velfegor.

“High Priestess, we have arrived.”

“Yes······!”

At that moment, an alert came from outside.

It seemed that the expected guests had arrived.

.

.

.

The dungeon on the outskirts of Elvengard.

Under strict guard, the underground dungeon sealed by Luna’s sorcery was teeming with undead resurrected by her.

Forming an army and moving as their basic strategy.

When called, they would hide or flee.

As time passed, they even learned and enhanced themselves with magic.

The fear of these undead lay in their infectious nature.

Corpses devoured by them would automatically resurrect and join the undead army.

As this army of undead grew in number and strength over time, it became an unstoppable juggernaut, intent on slaughtering all intellectual life in the world.

It was Luna’s ultimate weapon as a sorceress.

However, the underground third floor of the unique dungeon for training the undead legion was not as it seemed.

On the surface, it appeared to be a normal boss room.

But what gleamed on the walls were not dungeon cores, but ordinary mana stones.

Instead, below them was another passage leading underground.

Within the dungeon, there was another dungeon.

|They couldn’t have expected a dual dungeon······!|

Luna, in her ethereal form, chuckled.

It was a perfect trap.

They would think that the outer dungeon was all there was.

Especially with the high difficulty level, they would be even more convinced of that.

They would believe that the intelligent, evolving undead legion they would face would be their greatest enemy.

But they were wrong.

The undead legion was certainly powerful, but it was too late to bring out the ultimate weapon now.

While they might reign as the worst monsters within this dungeon, once they stepped outside, they would be slaughtered in an instant and be busy fleeing.

It was impossible for the newly resurrected undead to create a powerful legion.

No matter how strong they became in the distant future, what good would it do?

The moment they were recognized as beings from another realm, the Holy See and the mages would immediately try to exterminate them.

|We give up on the undead legion!|

That’s why Luna chose.

To use the undead legion as a sacrifice.

The price of giving up on a legion with theoretically infinite power that never stops until its destruction is immense.

|And! I finally obtain the transcendent body!|

In return, what Luna obtained was a transcendent body that surpassed the limits of living beings.

Alive, but transcending the limits of lifespan, basic desires, and so on that all living beings inevitably have.

Now, the production of that body was in its final stages.

Soon, Luna planned to disband the undead legion and use its magic to complete the transcendent body.

|Magic, swordsmanship, martial arts, and more······! This body is a superhuman in every aspect! It’s impossible to lose, impossible! Ehehehe······!|

A creepy laughter echoed through the dungeon.