Novel All
Chapter 275
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 275: The Strong and the Weak (1)
The equipment was unusable.
And it was a B-grade difficulty in an ancient level he had never seen before.
"......"
Every indicator was signalling 'danger'.
But.
"How could I not experience the dungeon the Chairman created!"
Yeongwoo exclaimed loudly, looking up at the sky, then bravely touched the 'anchor'.
Thunk.
Immediately, the problem anchor started vibrating lowly.
Drdrdrdr……
Like Golden Trail starting to move.
'I have to ride this up.'
Intuiting that this anchor would soon be pulled up, Yeongwoo quickly clung onto the anchor.
"See you later! Take care of yourselves!"
Waving at the two slaves and Negwig on the other side, Yeongwoo saw Pofu Tenta putting both hands on his bulging belly and bowing.
At that moment.
Chrrrr!
The chain connected to the anchor began to wind upwards into the sky.
'The time has come.'
And shortly after.
Whoosh!
The large anchor Yeongwoo was on shot up into the sky quickly.
"Ugh…!"
It felt like riding a high-altitude amusement ride without any safety measures, so Yeongwoo clung tightly to the anchor's shaft.
'This already feels ominous.'
Other participants ascending on anchors must have felt the same.
Thinking they had chosen the wrong dungeon this time.
Swoosh!
Piercing through the grey mist, a gigantic portal opened in the sky.
"......!"
The scene was very similar to when he dragged his father into the Temple of Valor.
'Seriously, the Chairman has the authority to create something like this?'
Yeongwoo gaped at the endlessly vast portal.
The Chairman's universal law level is 3rd grade.
That meant that those who created other dungeons were also close to 3rd-grade beings.
'What kind of things exist in the universe?'
While feeling a renewed awe for the vast world beyond Earth, Yeongwoo was pulled into the portal with the anchor.
Chrrrt!
The last sound of the chain's noisy friction stimulated Yeongwoo's hearing, and then.
Thud.
"......?"
All senses were cut off.
Sight, hearing, smell, and even touch.
Perhaps the mutants who had claimed they were in indefinite stasis in a dark space were in a place like this.
With only his consciousness awake, Yeongwoo stared into a completely dark space.
No, he thought he was in such a space since he couldn't perceive it at all.
‘Is this the void? The one that Mara governs?’
Without any external information coming in, all sorts of random thoughts occurred.
Then finally.
Flash!
The dungeon system appeared in Yeongwoo's consciousness.
「Welcome to the ancient level dungeon ‘Moral Lecture’.」
'Oh… this is the first dungeon with a welcome message.'
Whatever it was, seeing something was better than being immersed in darkness, so Yeongwoo read the next line with a sense of relief.
‘Before the full start of the dungeon… all equipment… does it include the body? What?’
「Before the full start of the dungeon, all equipment will be removed to cleanse the body and mind. Note that the term ‘equipment’ also includes the body.」
A shocking announcement.
When it said all equipment, he naturally thought it referred to the tools he was wearing, including the Bastard, but here, equipment also included his body.
In other words, for Yeongwoo, it meant the mutated cornea and the mutated stomach and……
‘Spine, heart? If these are included, that's truly insane, right?’
Yeongwoo was appalled, but the dungeon system in Dogo didn't care about individual circumstances.
「Commencing equipment removal.」
With a brief directive, warning alarms immediately began to appear in succession.
―Essential bodily component ‘stomach’ is absent. A rubber stomach is temporarily inserted.
―Essential bodily component ‘spine’ is absent. A spinal model is temporarily inserted.
‘What the, what?’
But it didn’t end there.
―Essential bodily component ‘heart’ is absent.
‘You……!’
―A wooden heart is temporarily inserted.
―All stats are reduced by 50% due to the incomplete state.
‘These bastards are turning me into a cripple?’
Yeongwoo was screaming in the pitch-black consciousness, when the final pre-notification appeared.
「Entering the dungeon in 5 seconds.」
‘Is this really starting like this?’
Yeongwoo questioned, but of course, there was no answer.
Instead.
「4」
「3」
Only the mechanical countdown filled his vision.
「2」
「1」
Finally, the countdown ended.
Then immediately.
Flash!
Yeongwoo's vision returned to normal.
“Hah……!”
Also, the fact that he could hear the sound of his own exhalation meant.
‘Hearing is back too. Has it already started?’
Regaining all his senses, Yeongwoo blinked a few times.
Although his vision was back, everything around was still shrouded in darkness.
However, seeing that the view in front felt like a ceiling.
‘I’m in a dark room.’
He was lying somewhere in what seemed to be a fairly large room.
‘It’s hard. Is it marble?’
He felt something cold and smooth against his back and palms.
So Yeongwoo tried to get up to examine the space more closely.
“Hup.”
But then.
“…Huh?”
His upper body wouldn't move.
To be precise, his waist and entire back wouldn’t respond.
‘No way.’
―Essential bodily component ‘spine’ is absent. A spinal model is temporarily inserted.
‘No, are you seriously crazy?’
Yeongwoo finally realized.
The ‘spinal model’ the dungeon system had inserted instead of his original spine was literally just a model.
Something with no operational function was essentially just a support.
‘So I have to complete the dungeon with a crippled waist?’
As Yeongwoo sensed impending doom, he noticed a presence near his feet.
Sss.
“Huh…?”
Yeongwoo tried to use his arms to lift his upper body.
‘Damn it.’
But his arms wouldn’t move either.
Of course, with the entire spine essentially gone, it made sense that his limbs wouldn’t function properly.
‘I’m screwed.’
Meanwhile, the number of presences near his feet quickly increased, and Yeongwoo finally understood.
◇ Upon waking, Dogo saw his bedroom filled with assassins.
That strange message he saw just before entering the dungeon.
The scenario described in that message was the opening of this dungeon.
‘No, the Chairman still had his spine intact at that time, right?’
In other words, the place where Yeongwoo was now lying was somewhere that replicated Dogo’s bedroom.
Naturally, the identity of those presences.
‘Assassins!’
As Yeongwoo widened his eyes, someone approached his side.
‘He…help.’
Yeongwoo rolled his eyes to look at the figure in the darkness.
He could vaguely make out their form.
-…….
The assassin prepared by Dogo's dungeon system was a tall figure in a black hood.
The person seemed to be at least 4 meters tall, implying that the room was equally large.
‘How big is this place?’
Just as Yeongwoo was starting to reimagine the layout of the room in his mind, the assassin raised a knife.
“Huh? Wait, wait!”
Clearly an attempt to assassinate.
“Wait! I am a disabled person who cannot use my limbs! Don’t you know morality?”
Yeongwoo desperately appealed his vulnerable state, but the assassin paid no mind and swung the knife.
Whoosh!
The blade headed straight for Yeongwoo’s chest.
And without hesitation.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
With an ugly groan, the blade pierced the centre of Yeongwoo’s chest.
“Aaah!”
Yeongwoo desperately lowered his eyes to look at the knife penetrating his chest and suddenly realized.
“What?”
It didn’t actually hurt.
“Huh?”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
As Yeongwoo blinked, starting to understand something.
Thud!
The assassin pulled the knife out of Yeongwoo's body.
They probably intended to stab again since Yeongwoo wasn’t dead.
Simultaneously, rough presences emerged from all directions of the bed.
The bedroom was indeed filled with assassins.
“Damn it!”
Yeongwoo cursed at the air, and immediately, a fountain of blood spurted from the hole in his chest.
Whoosh!
‘Excessive bleeding…!’
At the absurd amount of blood loss, Yeongwoo opened his mouth wide, and the assassin, who was preparing a second attack, suddenly staggered and fell backwards.
Sizzle!
As soon as the assassin was drenched in Yeongwoo’s blood, their body melted away.
【Corrosive Blood】
|The blood has become corrosive.
The effect of Yeongwoo's 'Poison Dragon's Heart' was still active.
‘No way.’
Only then did Yeongwoo notice the icon in his vision indicating excessive bleeding and maximum physical damage.
「Body Deficiency」 - Epic Chestplate
【Power increases up to 80% depending on the degree of limb damage.】
‘The saga! The epic still works!’
However, his body still wouldn’t move, and other assassins in the room rushed toward the bed.
Swoosh, swoosh!
Yeongwoo reflexively shouted.
“Don’t you know morality? There are too few of you; bring more...!”
For some reason, the Chairman's line popped into his head the moment he sensed numerous assassins presence.
As soon as Yeongwoo finished saying this.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a tremendous chill swept through the room, and all the assassins turned to smoke and disappeared.
“…Huh?”
Of course, Yeongwoo was still lying on the bed, unable to move.
“Chair… Chairman?”
Yeongwoo called out, hoping the Chairman might be watching, but instead, the system message appeared.
「Problem solved.」
‘Huh?’
「You solved the problem faster than anyone else, so you receive an additional 1 morality point.」
Then Yeongwoo saw the status of the score in his vision.
[Morality Points: 2]
So, he received 1 point for basic completion and an additional 1 point for solving the problem quickly.
「From now on, participants must form teams of up to 2 and escape from Vesedel Fortress.」
‘Vesedel….?’
A very familiar word, but attention shifted due to the crucial rule reveal.
「There are two main rules.」
「First, find the fortress exit and escape within 4 hours.」
「Second, secure as many morality points as possible for final settlement upon escape.」
‘Well, at least this is straightforward.’
Yeongwoo mentally nodded his head that wouldn’t physically nod.
In other words, they needed to gather as many morality points as possible and escape the dungeon within 4 hours.
「Ways to earn morality points include killing other participants, defeating elite monsters, and concealing the fortress exit.」
“…?”
「Participants who fail to escape within the time limit will die, so please be aware.」
With this somewhat ominous final warning, the door to the bedroom where Yeongwoo was lying opened.
Sssss, thud!
The thick stone door that occupied one side of the room slid open entirely.
‘Uh-oh, this is bad.’
One way to earn morality points was to kill other participants.
In other words, participants were bound to encounter each other within the dungeon.
Before earning points, the system mentioned that teams of up to two were allowed.
It implied that forming a duo would be beneficial since they were starting without any equipment.
‘It’s advantageous to team up, considering everyone’s starting without their gear.’
So, everyone would likely be cautious and try to meet other participants first.
‘…Which means I’ll obviously become a target for points.’
Yeongwoo tried again to move his body but to no avail.
At this rate, he’d be found and killed by another participant or die without moving an inch within the time limit.
‘Damn it.’
Yeongwoo clenched his teeth, and a blue light appeared near the doorway, showing a system message in his field of vision.
「The shop has opened. Touch the emblem to purchase items.」
‘Of course, there had to be more.’
Yeongwoo strained his eyes to the side to see the Dogo emblem appearing near the door.
That must be the ‘shop.’
And the currency used for purchases would be.
‘Morality points.’
Considering they might sell a proper spine there, Yeongwoo’s mind raced to devise a plan. It wasn’t the best plan but better than the worst scenario.
The plan was.
「Self-Destruct」 - Mutation Bracelet
【Causes a powerful explosion.】
【Durability +300.】
‘Cause an explosion to launch my body!’
This might alert all nearby participants to his location, but it was better than lying there helplessly waiting to die.
“Anyone with morality! Come to me! I’ll take on everyone!”
Half-mad, Yeongwoo activated the self-destruct function.
Boom!
As expected, the explosion from the self-destruct function bounced Yeongwoo off the sturdy bed.
“Whoa…!”
Yeongwoo’s cheer was as loud as the explosion.
Although he rolled in the opposite direction of the door, it was still encouraging.
Boom!
Boom!
Yeongwoo caused an explosion every time the self-destruct’s cooldown was up, and meanwhile.
Pop.
[Morality Lecture]
|Participants: 16
|Deaths: 1
The dungeon status was displayed.
One death.
One person had already died in the bedroom phase.
‘Well, coming in without any gear, facing all those assassins wouldn’t have been easy.’
They had to fight barehanded.
So, they must have allowed participants to buy weapons with morality points at that shop.
However, the reason the dungeon system showed the participant status was different.
「Four participants have entered the hallway.」
‘The hallway?’
No further explanation was needed.
There must be a hallway connected to each of the assigned bedrooms.
‘Oh, please.’
Cold sweat formed on his forehead.
As Yeongwoo looked at the open door, he activated self-destruct again.
Boom!
Then.
Whoosh!
“Whoa…!”
Miraculously, Yeongwoo’s body was propelled into the air, hit the wall, and rolled to the opposite side.
Right in front of the doorway.
‘I made it!’
Now, only 30 centimetres separated him from the Dogo emblem.
One more explosion, and he could touch it.
‘Most start with just 1 point, but I have 2, so I can buy quite a bit.’
And what he wanted most now was a new spine.
‘Just a little more time.’
As Yeongwoo waited for the next explosion’s activation, keeping an eye on the door, he heard footsteps from somewhere outside.
Step, step.
‘Yikes.’
One of the participants who entered the hallway was heading his way.
‘Time? How much time until the next explosion?’
Desperately trying to use self-destruct, Yeongwoo saw the message indicating 16 seconds remained.
But Yeongwoo didn’t have that much time.
Thud!
Two blunt feet and the tip of a sword entered his field of vision.
Another participant had discovered Yeongwoo’s room.
“Uh.”
The person seemed surprised, and Yeongwoo twisted his eyes to look up at them, also startled.
“Ottavio…?”
Ottavio Simorelli.
The Sicilian man who manned the harpoon on the boat Yeongwoo pulled in the first dungeon.
All titles were confiscated in this dungeon, so the title ‘Guardian Sword of Sicily’ that should have been above his head was not visible.
“Oh… Jeong Yeongwoo?”
Ottavio remembered Yeongwoo’s name.
“What are you doing there?”
Ottavio looked puzzled at Yeongwoo lying on the floor like a corpse.
Yeongwoo rolled his eyes to point at the Dogo emblem.
“You haven’t found a partner yet, have you?”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]