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Chapter 2
EP.2 Dungeon Subordinate Setting
– …Synchronization is complete at 100%. –
– The dungeon’s location will be randomly generated. –
– Remaining time: 1 hour –
What’s this again?
One hour?
I thought it was an in-game time when they said one hour at first.
But when I saw the remaining time on the screen decreasing by one second at a time just like in real life, I was dumbfounded.
“Huh…”
Unbelievable.
I changed the dungeon name to my liking, waited for synchronization, and now they want me to wait for another hour?
“This is a completely absurd management system!”
It was bewildering, but at least it gave me a chance to look around my chaotic surroundings.
My one-year-old bachelor apartment was like a living hell.
The refrigerator must have turned into a box of chaos that you shouldn’t open.
It’s scary to open it.
Moreover, appliances, furniture, and the floor were covered in dust.
If I continued like this, diseases might become my friends, reaching out to me with open arms.
Most of all, the clothes I was wearing now.
They hadn’t been washed properly, so they had a strange smell.
Of course, it was a world where washing magic existed, but there was no kind person to cast magic on me.
“Let’s take a shower first.”
After washing up, I thought I should cook something simple and do some cleaning.
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After finishing my tasks, a lot more time had passed than one hour.
Still, it felt refreshing to have completed the postponed homework.
I lay on the bed and clicked on the game on my smartphone.
– The dungeon ‘Nest of the Evil God’ has been generated in the Sael Kingdom. –
– The Sael Kingdom is a nation located at the northern end of the human’s reach. –
When I looked at the map closely, I found that even within the Sael Kingdom, the dungeon was located in the northern mountain range.
“This is a jackpot, isn’t it?”
Was it worth waiting for an hour?
It turned out quite well.
The Sael Kingdom was a kingdom located in the northern part of the El Dorad continent.
The only issue was that the northern limit was defined as the limit of human reach.
Above that, there was still land, but it was abandoned land.
It was not just abandoned land, but land infested with dungeons and monsters.
Humans called it the “Land of Death”, a place they dared not approach.
That’s why the Sael Kingdom was the place that hunters summoned to the El Dorad continent avoided the most.
If you were summoned to the Sael Kingdom, you would be constantly faced with monster waves.
Hunters summoned to the Sael Kingdom mainly took on the task of guarding the northern border.
Of course, that was for the hunters to worry about, not for me.
It was just a game, and it wasn’t even from a human perspective.
Being close to the demon world was not a disadvantage but a significant advantage, considering the game’s concept was managing a dungeon.
“I got lucky.”
What was regrettable was that the location of the White Order was in the southern region of the continent.
My plan to harass the church as soon as possible had become impossible.
First of all, because our positions were at opposite ends of the continent, the distance was too far.
It seemed like I would have to gradually work my way through the border.
Now that the location was decided, I touched the screen and waited for the next scene.
– From now on, as the Demon Lord, you must protect and grow the dungeon. –
– The position of the Servant in charge of the current dungeon has not been set. –
– Please set a Servant through a gacha draw. (Available deputies: 0/1) –
– Draw a candidate monster for Servant 10 times (First selection only, free) –
– Please choose carefully, as selections cannot be reversed. (No resummoning) –
Finally, it appeared.
I had expected a gacha system if it was a game.
The notice that resummoning was not possible caught my eye, but I didn’t mind it in the first place.
I immediately pressed the summon tab and executed the draw.
A magic circle filled with unreadable letters began to rotate and shine.
The light filled the smartphone screen, and soon, the candidates for the dungeon’s Servant began to appear.
The first one was a goblin. Wearing shabby clothes, it held an old sword in one hand.
Name: Wandering Goblin Swordsman, Gob (★)
Characteristics: A goblin swordsman driven out of the goblin village. He’s weakened due to illness.
– Would you like to set the Servant of the dungeon ‘Nest of the Evil God’? –
[Yes] [No]
Hmm. The description was just as expected based on its appearance.
Moreover, it has only one star, so it must be the lowest-grade monster.
I didn’t have high expectations.
The description mentioned it had been driven out of a group and was in a weakened state, which momentarily sparked sympathy in me, but the game was ruthless.
Without hesitation, I chose ‘No’ and touched the screen to see the next summoned candidate.
“Oh.”
The next summoned candidate had a noticeably unique appearance. She was a female demon dressed in a black dress with fair white skin.
Name: Blood Devour, Baalzerith (★★★★★)
Characteristics: A high-ranking demon descended from vampire royalty. She is skilled in manipulating blood and has overcome all weaknesses of vampires over time.
– Would you like to set her as the Servant of the dungeon ‘Nest of the Evil God’? –
[Yes] [No]
She’s a 5-star! And the description was impressive too.
It would be insane to discard this one.
I immediately chose ‘Yes’.
However, the situation took an unexpected turn.
A speech bubble appeared above the 5-star Baalzerith, who had just come out. “How dare you ask a noble like me to become your slave? Withdraw immediately!”
I was rejected.
What? I had clearly chosen a monster through the draw, but the character rejected me.
And “slave”? No, I was trying to set her as the Servant of the dungeon, so what was this talk about being a slave?
The name change and dungeon location selection were realistic enough, but this kind of unnecessary detail was unexpected.
‘The difficulty level seems quite high?’
The problem was that if things continued like this, even if good monsters came out in the remaining draws, there was a possibility that I couldn’t select them.
This was fatal.
I couldn’t do anything about what had already happened.
I immediately touched the screen to proceed with the next draw.
However, was it due to good luck that 5-star character appeared at second draw?
Slime (★★)
Ghoul (★)
Golem (★★★)
Lizardman (★★)
Orc (★★)
Baby Worm (★), and so on…
There were occasional 3-star ones, but there were no monsters with more than 3 stars.
I hesitated and pressed ‘No’ while hoping that something good would come in the last 10th draw.
In the end…
Name: Fragile Succubus, Celia Ishahar (★★★)
Characteristics: She was a disciple of the Succubus Queen. However, due to her fragile nature, she could not absorb human vitality like a succubus should and starved. Because of this, she was embroiled in controversies over her qualifications and was stripped of her status as a disciple and driven out.
– Would you like to set her as the Servant of the dungeon ‘Nest of the Evil God’? –
[Yes] [No]
It was a 3-star.
Not even a resummon, and the last one was a 3-star.
In fact, I didn’t know what a 3-star meant in this game.
It could be strong or maybe just a mediocre monster.
“Still, it’s a bit disappointing.”
I felt a bit disappointed since I had seen a 5-star monster before.
Moreover, the description didn’t help.
A succubus who couldn’t use succubus abilities? I even had doubts about whether she could handle her share of the work.
Hmm. Honestly, I wasn’t drawn to her, but I had no other options.
Besides, even if higher grades came out, there was no guarantee that I would choose them.
‘It was the last one, and I didn’t want to be rejected, did I?’
I immediately pressed ‘Yes’ and waited with bated breath.
‘……’
After a few seconds, the result was revealed.
– Celia Ishahar (★★★) has been assigned as the Servant of the dungeon ‘Nest of the Evil God’. –
Fortunately, it wasn’t a rejection.
– As the first Servant setting reward, you receive two ‘Demon Merchant Invitation Tickets’. –
– When you use Demon Merchant Invitation Tickets, a merchant will visit your dungeon. –
The rewards for setting the Servant weren’t immediately important.
Instead, I looked at the Servant’s stats right away.
<Celia Ishahar>
Grade: ★★★
[Basic Information]
Health: F+
Attack: E
Defense: F+
Magic: B
[Skills]
Nightmare (F): Inflicts a minor nightmare on the opponent.
Other skills locked.
Were these stats for a 3-star really?
Did 3-star monsters in this game have such low stats?
There was a difference in how strength was indicated between Earth and the El Dorad Continent.
Earth used alphabetic grades to indicate monster strength, from F to A, and the extremely rare S grade.
This same grading system was applied to monsters.
On the other hand, the El Dorad Continent used the number of stars to indicate the strength of monsters.
Typically, monsters with 1 to 5 stars were commonly seen on the continent.
“In the past, the one who terrorized the continent was said to be 7 stars, right?”
Additionally, on the continent, adventurer ranks, as well as mages and knights, were indicated separately, creating a more complex structure.
“Well, they probably wouldn’t use the same criteria in the game.”
I returned to the game and looked at the 3-star Succubus.
Did she get three stars just because her magic was high? As long as she didn’t let the dungeon fall, it was fine.
When I saw that her magic was relatively high, she seemed like a support-type monster.
Did the game sense my worries? The next screen appeared.
– First 3-star Servant, 4-star promotion special package! (5,900 KRW) –
Composition: 3-star Soul Stones x2, 10,000 Gold (Remaining Time: 24 hours)
Features: Combine 3-star monsters and 3-star Soul Stones x2 to create a 4-star monster.
The composition was enough to astonish me.
It seemed that the game developers were determined to make money like this.
“No wonder the system for monsters rejecting you felt strange…”
There must be some kind of hidden strategy like this.
I was actually curious about how far they had gone with such a system.
Despite my disappointment with getting a 3-star monster, I felt like trying it. 5,900 KRW wasn’t a huge amount, so I immediately clicked on the payment.
“If it’s 4-stars, it’s probably around B-grade monsters.”
– Payment completed! The item has been delivered to your mailbox. –
A window popped up, indicating that the payment was completed with a flashy effect.
At the same time, the game tutorial showed me where I could perform the synthesis.
“They really teach you this quickly.”
I immediately attempted to fuse Celia Ishahar and two 3-star Soul Stones.
– Synthesis successful! –
– Celia Ishahar (★★★★) –
< Celia Ishahar >
Grade: ★★★★
[Basic Information]
Health: E+
Attack: D-
Defense: E+
Magic: B+
[Skills]
Nightmare (E): Inflicts a spine-chilling nightmare on the opponent.
Other skills locked.
Upon successful synthesis, an alert appeared, and the changed stats were displayed.
The basic stats and skill grades had been slightly altered.
“Wow, even the stats increase when promoted.”
My admiration was short-lived as a new package popped up.
– First 4-star Servant, 5-star promotion special package! (15,900 KRW) –
Composition: 2x 4-star Soul Stones, 20,000 Gold (Remaining Time: 24 hours)
Features: Combine 4-star monsters and 2x 4-star Soul Stones to create a 5-star monster.
I muttered to myself, “Seriously?”
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***
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Baalzerith, the descendant of the vampire royal family and the predator of blood, was shaking a wine glass and savoring the fresh blood within.
“Hmm…”
She was enjoying peaceful days.
The area around her dungeon was filled with monsters who pledged loyalty to her.
Even if she just sat quietly, they would offer her fresh blood every day.
From her perspective, there was no need to refuse such a tribute.
Today, as she leisurely enjoyed the blood, the space-time in front of her suddenly distorted.
At the same time, an unfamiliar voice echoed.
[Become my slave. Receive my mercy.]
The voice had a deep and chilling resonance.
Who was this? Who would play such a prank? Moreover, a slave?
It was the most absurd thing she had heard in a while.
To ask someone as noble as the descendant of a royal family to become a slave?
Baalzerith couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the absurdity of it.
She wanted to find out immediately who the owner of this voice was, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t detect the owner of the voice.
When she tried to trace the voice, she couldn’t even sense its presence, as if it didn’t exist.
‘Could this be possible?’
If that was the case, there was only one answer.
‘They are of a much higher rank than me.’
The other party was someone she couldn’t comprehend. Baalzerith cautiously responded with a solemn voice.
“How dare you ask a noble like me to become your slave? Withdraw immediately!”
There was no need to antagonize someone of a much higher rank.
She responded politely, not being overly rude.
It was fortunate that she did so.
As she spoke, the distorted space-time began to return to normal, and the voice disappeared.
‘Did they just retreat so easily?’
It felt anticlimactic.
Perhaps the other party wasn’t as high-ranking as she had thought.
If she had known that she might have cursed them more harshly.
“Well, if they come back next time, I’ll have to kill them.”
To ask the descendant of a royal family to become a slave was an unforgivable offense.
So, she continued to savor the blood, as she did every day.
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