Dungeon Hunter

Chapter 25-26: Dungeon’s Internal Stability

The kobold and goblin bosses.

At first there was 9 but now only 5 remained. 4 had died during the war. And the 1,700 troops had decreased by more than half. The war was that violent.

Of course, I took care of most of the Awakened alone but a promise was a promise. I considered the number of creatures left and presented them with some females.

The just summoned female kobolds and goblins were frightened but I didn’t worry about it and placed a fixed number with each unit.

“Kiek! Dungeon Master! Thank you!”

“Increase the number! Make the kobolds strong!”

“I worked hard. Now I won’t be alone!”

The ones that survived until the end.

I sent them away and looked at the points.

-Points Remaining: 1,174,357

I felt more comfortable looking at the message window floating in the air. I gathered a million points so I could achieve my purpose at the Demon World auction.

‘The power of advertising......’

To be honest, I hadn’t expected so many Awakened to flock here. I simply promoted about the treasure for the growth of the Awakened.

It was unexpected that I would get such a fervent response from overseas. I was always happy to receive an unexpected gift.

I firmly pressed my index finger to my forehead.

‘Should I increase my investment a little more?’

It was definitely tempting.

At this time, one million points was a massive amount. No, that amount of points couldn’t be ignored even in my previous life.

I could even summon the high class creature, a griffin. Of course, the level of the griffin was low compared to other high class creatures but the flames and lightning could be enough to cause a disaster.

The current level of the Awakened was low so letting it loose would wipe out hundreds or thousands of humans. One alone would be enough to destroy a small country.

There were not any demons at the moment with one million points. I could definitely get an advantage in the Demon World auction.

In addition to Krasla, I could obtain several other things. If so, using a lot of points on the dungeon would be bad.

‘So far, I’ve placed 40,000 points on the treasures in this dungeon. If I increase it to 100,000 points...the hidden items will be found by others outside the Heaven’s Will guild. I can’t just intentionally leave things for the Heaven’s Will guild.’

I’ve received news from Kim Yong-woo that the other 4 large guilds were recruiting members to raid the dungeon.

They would obtain some of the final benefits.

Some of the Awakened would die from the creatures in the dungeon but others would obtain the treasure.

It was a sacrifice I was willing to take.

‘I have to do it before the other demons notice...they might decide to follow my dungeon. I have to eat everything up.’

The 72 dungeons were different depending on the nature of the demons. It was the early days so they were guarding against being too strong. Little by little, they would learn the important of points and start to raise the awareness with the Awakened.

My dungeon was highly likely to be their role model. Then I needed to maximize the benefits before that.

I planned to use the colourful treasures to entice the Awakened. Items as well as gold and silver valuables were placed all over.

“Phew~ it is hard! I thought I would die because of these heads.

Yihi wiped the sweat from her forehead.

I had Yihi collect and count the heads of the Awakened after the battle ended. Thanks to that, Yihi was exhausted. If the numbers didn’t match then she had to start again.

I listened to her manner of speech.

I said with a smile.

“Yihi. Did you decorate a garden?”

Jjikkum!

Yihi was startled.

I heard that Yihi was decorating a garden for me. But she didn’t understand why I decided to mention it.

“Y-Yihi determined that it is good...t-this is the modern world. Yihi thinks a dungeon should be bright and beautiful. This dingy dungeon doesn’t fit Dungeon Master’s style! Dungeon Master is great so the dungeon also needs to look great!”

Despite stammering, Yihi spoke with utter conviction.

I lightly nodded.

“I’m not blaming you.”

“...Yes, really?” You really aren’t punishing me?”

Yihi’s eyes became wide. Her wings started to flap again. She had spoken loudly to hide her sins. It was easy to understand her reaction.

Yihi’s mind was better than the kobold and goblin bosses. But that didn’t mean that Yihi was smart. Her brain was frantically stuck in a corner until I coughed.

“Hrmm! Can you make it so that creatures don’t enter the garden?”

“Of course. A safety zone setting? It isn’t large so Yihi can easily set this part. It would be sad if creatures came in and broke the trees.”

Safety zone setting. He had heard of it before but never used it.

But now it seemed necessary. The Awakened needed a place to relax. It was a great base to encourage being stronger in dungeons.

It was time to earnestly lay out his dungeon.

“First, bring me to the garden that you made.”

“Huh? I-I haven’t finished yet.”

“No. Let’s talk after seeing it.”

“Hing......”

Yihi turned with a long face. It was an attitude that stated she didn’t want to.

However, I did not withdraw my decision. Yihi seemed to realize this and her shoulders slumped.

“I understand. Follow me Dungeon Master. Don’t expect a lot.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t have any expectations.

Yihi pouted and muttered ‘it would be good if you have some expectations’ to herself. Of course, I just ignored it.

I started to move along after Yihi.

In fact, the 3rd floor was too wide to walk. A magic circle could be used to move quite a distance.

There was a magic circle inscribed in each floor of the dungeon for the Dungeon Master to move. It was invisible to human eyes and only the Dungeon Master and spirit of the Dungeon Core could use it to move through the large dungeon.

I had a terrible thought.

‘The size of the dungeon is several times larger than what can be seen with the naked eye. My dungeon is location on the Bukhan Mountain but the size that humans reported is much smaller.’

The size was awesome when looking at the dungeon with the naked eye.

An area of 21 square kilometers and a height of 4733 meters. It was the size of a major city and had a similar width to Nauru in the Republic of Oceania. In addition, 4700 metres was twice the size of the Baekdu Mountain.

Yet not all of it was visible. It was actually much greater than that. It would be crazy to walk around a large place like this.

Some Awakened had actually starved to death. The dungeon jammed most equipment of modern civilization so those lost would end up dying.

Syuk!

The patterned red light of the magic circle wrapped all over the place. Soon I could confirm that the surroundings had changed. They were moved to the place that Yihi wanted.

Kaaang!

Kaaang!

The sound of hammers tickled my ears as soon as I arrived.

‘...This is staggering.’

I was overwhelmed by the view.

First, there was the appearance of five dwarves hammering eagerly.

Yihi was authorized to create the dungeon environment and she could give that authority to others. In particular, building features was too strenuous for Yihi so she was allowed to use the dwarves.

The problem was the appearance of the garden. It looked more like a strange structure than a garden. At first glance, it seemed like a palace of poo......

No, it was the shape of poo.

It far transcended my imagination of a lovely garden.

“Eh, Noonim has come?”

“What? Noonim came? Where?”

“Who is that man?”

Yihi permitted the dwarves to see her. The five dwarves stopped working and came running over as soon as they saw Yihi.

‘Noonim?’

But the nickname was strange.

I could roughly understand the situation from Yihi’s expression.

“You guys! Didn’t Yihi tell you to work hard?”

“We did!”

The dwarves lined up and replied at the same time.

Yihi’s expression still wasn’t good. She placed both hands on her waist and said.

“But why are you still not finished?”

“Time......”

“Materials......”

“Uh huh. Excuses! You haven’t finished making it! Didn’t Yihi tell you to reduce the time you spent sleeping and eating?”

Humans would call this a vicious employer. The dwarves made a tearful face.

“That is realistically impossible Noonim.”

“Spare us. I haven’t even eaten one meal today.”

“I really am going to die under these circumstances.”

And Yihi bluffed.

“I guess you haven’t suffered enough? Recently the orcs have been worrying about food. Do you want to become the orc’s rice?”

“T-that....”

The dwarves closed their mouths with an expression indicating they thought it was still unfair.

My eyes noticed the blisters on the dwarves’ hands.

“Yihi. Stop.”

I finally spoke up.

Yihi seemed to be very strict to other people. Then Yihi clapped her hands.

“Ah, greet him as quickly as possible! This is the Dungeon Master. Your real master! Treat him more politely than you treat Yihi! Do you understand?”

“Heok! Dungeon Master!”

“Quickly. Don’t you understand what I mean? Do you really want to be chewed up?”

“M-Master-nim!”

The dwarves immediately dropped to the ground and bowed.

I was at a loss for words at the sight.

The dwarves had suffered so much under Yihi that they looked at me like I was a monster.

“...Rise.”

“No! How can we dare look the Dungeon Master in the eye?”

“You are excused from meeting my eyes. Rise.”

“I-I see.”

The dwarves were small. They were larger than a fairy but only reached up to my navel. Even if they were excused, there was no chance they could meet my eyes.

I convinced the dwarves to stand up. Then something caught my eyes and I flinched. I couldn’t hold my tongue and said.

“What on earth are you making now?”

The dwarf in the middle who seemed to be the leader spoke.

“Noonim said that Dungeon Master wanted to create a resort for a break.”

The structure that was in the shape of a poo was supposed to be a retreat.

I didn’t dare think deeply about how Yihi visualized the design. It would be interesting if I ever got the chance to look inside Yihi’s brain.

The wrinkles......

“How long will it take before it is completed?”

The dwarf peeked at Yihi and said.

“I-If there are sufficient materials than 5 days.”

“Pretty fast.”

“We are good at making things.”

Their faces were full of pride.

I nodded.

“I want to install one that is half the size on floors 1~5. The deadline is one month. Yihi, provide the necessary materials for the dwarves. And you don’t have to work like you are now.”

“R-really?”

“You will get 3 meals a day and 10 minutes to rest every hour. And in the future, you will get at least 6 hours sleep.”

I didn’t want the dwarves to die before they finished.

These conditions couldn’t be allowed to continue. At a minimum, I needed to maintain their lives.

“Ohh! Dungeon Master! My master!”

“I believe. I truly believe it!”

They shed tears of joy.

They were genuine tears.

The dwarves kneeled down and started sobbing.

I looked at Yihi. My eyes asked ‘did you bully them?’ but Yihi just pretended ignorance as she turned her head and hummed.

‘Hrmm. Did Yihi have this talent?’

It was slightly embarrassing but it wasn’t bad.

The sight in front of me was still surprising. I never entrusted points to Yihi in my previous life. The dungeon was quickly lost so I never discovered Yihi’s talent.

But come to think of it, it was a great whip and carrot.

Yihi squeezed the people like a vicious owner and then I would walk in. The environment improved only a little bit but they would cry tears of joy.

It would be good once Yihi’s talent matured a little more. It would be difficult if the workers kept dying. Yihi needed to gain a little more experience in this area.

They were summoned with points so I needed to squeeze every drop of blood from their flesh and bones.

Three meals a day, a rest for 10 minutes every hour and 6 hours of sleep would be enough for them to survive.

‘The design is a bit strange...but I’m not planning to rest here.’

The Awakened wouldn’t care as long as they were safe. They would willingly enter the palace of poo if it meant a place to escape the horrible creatures.

So it didn’t matter how good the design was.

“M-Master. How is it? Isn’t it beautiful?”

Yihi asked shyly.

Yihi and I had moved from the 3rd floor to the vicinity of the Dungeon Core. The Dungeon Core was emitting more light, exposing Yihi’s nerves.

I lightly nodded.

“It is beautiful in several senses.”

“Yihihi.”

Yihi smiled widely.

Fortunately, she didn’t inquire about the multiple meanings.

“Yihi. Comply with what I just said.”

“I understand.”

“However, you don’t need to change your behaviour. Make sure they work hard like you did up to now. I’ll leave it entirely to you.”

“But is that okay?”

“I don’t have much time to be present in the dungeon. I will temporarily entrust the dungeon to you.”

Yihi’s eyes shone at the trust I put in her.

“Can I really have such a huge responsibility?”

“Yihi. I will be fairly busy in the future. I don’t have time for a pile of work. And I will continue to entrust important things to you in the future. If you act like this every time then I will be quite disappointed.”

“No! Yihi would never disappoint Master!”

Yihi quickly shook her head and clenched her fists. I was confident that I could leave the ecology of the dungeon and the dwarf workers to her.

“I trust you.”

“Yihi~”

“Yihi. Enter Domestic Mode. This will be an opportunity to bring the orcs on the 3rd floor to the 5th floor.”

“I understand Master!”

Syuong!

The Dungeon Core played a hologram.

I was looking at the status of the 100 orcs on the 3rd floor. Many orcs had been lost. Their numbers needed to be multiplied.

The first 50 had increased to 200 in 9 months so these were nasty damages.

The orcs had a gestation period of 3 months and gave birth to 5 babies. And they became adults after just 6 months.

In fact, normally it would be 1 and a half years but the peculiar mana of the dungeon stimulated growth. The original numbers would be restored after 4 months.

‘It is a little too long.’

One orc cost 700 pt. The goblins and kobolds were 35pt so the orcs were expensive compared to them.

‘However, it is necessary to add them up to the 5th floor.’

It couldn’t continue like this. I didn’t mind the Awakened clearing every floor up to the 4th floor. They needed to feel despair once they reached the 5th floor.

I looked at the list of creatures that could be purchased.

[Lowest Grade Creatures]

Goblin 2Lv- 35 pt

Goblin 2Lv- 35 pt

Ale Snake 1Lv- 20pt

Meat Bat 1Lv- 20pt

Slime 3Lv- 200 pt

Skeleton 4Lv- 500pt

Zombie 4Lv- 450pt

Mimic 5Lv- 1200pt

Gnoll 2Lv- 80pt

Crazy Hound 2Lv- 120pt

.......

[Low Grade Creatures]

Orc 2Lv – 700pt

Mud Golem 5Lv- 2,000pt

Puppet Doll 2Lv – 900pt

Snowman 3Lv- 999pt

Giant Man-eating Flower 4Lv- 1,400pt

Sleep Moth 3Lv- 1,100pt

Gargoyle 5Lv- 1,900pt

Harpy 5Lv- 1,200pt

.......

Several windows simultaneously emerged. A significant amount of time was spent cleaning it up and finding the desired creatures.

And the universal strength was divided into Lv, with the highest level being 5. The lowest of the Low Grade creatures were the 2Lv orcs.

This was a universal value. But it couldn’t be trusted unconditionally. I needed to look at the good points.

“I should start with the mud golems.”

The 5th floor would be the place where the Awakened experienced despair. There would be such a tremendous rise in difficulty from the 4th floor that the Awakened would have no choice but to reverse their path.

Or be killed.

There were two entrances to the 5th floor. I bought mud golems and placed them at the entrances to the 5th floor. 30 puppets were also placed in the surroundings to assist.

The puppets were scavenger tools in the Demon World. Various metals, drugs, magic and witchcraft were used to make the puppets only follow the commands of the owner. Despite not being agile, they were very powerful and better in combat than the orcs.

‘The harpies breeding are okay.’

Each floor needed at least one species that could breed.

The kobolds, goblins and rocs needed to be balanced properly by natural predators but the harpy’s breeding rate was far slower.

While the mud golems and puppet dolls were defending the entrance, at least 50 harpies were necessary. I placed 80 harpies on the 5th floor.

A total of 260,000 points was used on the internal affairs. The remaining points were a little over 910,000. This was further reduced by increasing the treasures in the dungeon.

‘This much will recover soon. The amount of treasure in this dungeon means that the Awakened will swarm like moths.’

Numerous Awakened in South Korea wouldn’t take the risk. This was the impact of the guilds and the website. This narrow land was controlled.

On the other hand, it was different regarding those from overseas. The Awakened sneaked into the dungeon. They were the ones who would replenish the points consumed.

“This much is fine.”

“Have you finished?”

“Yes.”

I nodded and Yihi shut off Domestic Mode while staring at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Yihihi. No reason.”

I couldn’t understand the fairy sometimes.

“Now I will go. I will leave the rest of the work to you.”

“Please leave it to me!!”

Yihi answered quickly but her face was grouchy. The Dungeon Core was connected to me but the fairy Yihi was tied to the Dungeon Core. It was natural that she would be upset whenever I left.

Yihi was a fairy but she was a fairy who liked chatting. She needed someone to converse with.

“By the way...it seems like you need a means to communicate with me.”

I said with a laugh.

I was sure there would be a magic to communicate with Yihi if I browsed the store.

“Ah! T-then do you mind if I inscribe a magic spell on Dungeon Master’s body?”

“You can use magic?”

In my previous life, I never heard that the fairies of the Dungeon Core could use magic.

They were only helpers. Their bodies had no physical impact and the role of the fairy was to give advice on dungeon management.

I couldn’t help feeling interested.

Yihi wriggled her fingers.

“There isn’t a lot available. I don’t like to use it. But Dungeon Master has been very good to Yihi. So I asked the question.”

“Go ahead. Where will you inscribe it?”

“That......”

“That?”

“The lips......”

“I understand. Come and inscribe it.”

It wasn’t a big deal. I also wanted to see the magic of the fairies.

Yihi flapped her wings as her cheeks turned red.

“T-then I’ll...?”

“I hate to say it twice. Do it.”

“Please close your eyes.”

“Do I have to?”

I wanted to see the magic with my own eyes. Therefore I was puzzled when she asked me to close my eyes. She told me.

“The magic works better that way.”

“Weird.”

Fairy magic?

However, this was the first time I knew the fairies from the Dungeon Core could use magic. It was enough to allow her some free range.

I closed my eyes.

Yihi stopped and flew in front of my face for a while......

Jjuk!

Then something collided with my lips. I frowned slightly and opened my eyes to see a message window floating in the air.

-A remarkable achievement! The first person to receive the blessing of the Dungeon Core’s fairy.

The title ‘First to Receive a Fairy’s Blessing’ has been given.

‘This.....’

A title!

I had the Indomitable Warrior title. But now I obtained a second title.

I forgot Yihi’s actions as I hurriedly checked the status window.

Name: Randalph Brigsiel

Occupation Demon Earl (Dungeon Master) Title * Indomitable Warrior (Ex U, all stats +2)

* First to Receive a Fairy’s Blessing (U, Magic Power +6)

Stats

Strength 79 (+2) Intelligence 64 (+2)

Agility 74 (+2) Stamina 80 (+2)

Magic Power 82 (+8)

Potential: (382+16/500)

Uniqueness: Heart of the Hell Monarch has been transplanted (Full strength hasn’t been fully opened).

Skill: Skill Combination (R), Mind’s Eye (U)

[Before and After Comparison]

Strength 79 Intelligence 65 Agility 75 Stamina 82 Magic 84 Potential (375+10/500)

Strength 81 Intelligence 66 Agility 76 Stamina 82 Magic 90 Potential (379+16/500)

The rating was also unusual.

Unique. A unique title!

It was a precious title that increased magic power by 6. The effect of both titles increased my magic power from 82 to 90.

Once the stats reached 90 points, it was an entirely different world. Magic power had a deep connection to the power of the magic and control over the surrounding environment.

Once magic power was opened up, the demons would be able to feel my majesty. They would shrink back in surprise. In my previous life, I struggled with low magic power and intelligence but now magic power was the highest.

I swallowed and smiled at Yihi.

Yihi had wrapped herself into a ball as she felt shamed. She seemed to be waiting for my anger.

But the blessing gave me a title so I couldn’t bring myself to be angry.

“Thank you.”

The words were strange in my mouth.

It was awkward. I never thought that I would one day be sincerely thanking someone. But now was the time to share my gratitude. I couldn’t keep quiet just because it was awkward.

Yihi sensed my sincerity and laughed.

“Yihihi. It was nothing. Now I can talk to Dungeon Master when I want to. Yihi likes this!”

“Please refrain unless it is an emergency.”

But a fairy was talkative.

If I let her talk freely then she wouldn’t stop attempting contact.

“...Yes.”

“Now I am really going. Take good care of the dungeon.”

“Don’t worry. And go carefully Dungeon Master.”

Yihi humbly lowered her head.

I waved my hand as a reply and left the top floors of the dungeon.