Guild Growth – 4
When I conquered the Black Palace, no such notification popped up. But this time was different. As soon as the boss died, this notification window appeared in front of me, and the dungeon began to distort and collapse. Why was it different? I already knew. At that time, I hadn’t been a parent entity and didn’t have the castle. I was just fighting to survive.
But now I was in the position of a leader. This dungeon was originally from the underground, which meant that I, after defeating the boss, was naturally subjugating the underground fortress just like I had during the Devil’s Night. Knowing the circumstances, it was simple to deduce, even if I didn’t expect it. The mana that composed the dungeon was sucked into a dark shade that floated in the air. Intuitively, I realized what it was. After all, I could create a similar passage to my fortress and the underground.
“What the hell is happening?!” As we bolted through the dungeon, my sister cried out.
“I don’t know!” Of course, I couldn’t tell her that it was me. If Rain had informed me this might happen in advance, I would’ve never brought her down here.
‘Damn, I’m trying to rely on him again.’ I clicked my tongue. He knew everything, but he couldn’t tell me all about it. It was pathetic when I thought about it, the way I relied upon him. I was deeply related to the Great Fusion and these dungeons, so I had to anticipate that unexpected events would occur. It would be better to learn how to cope with what happened without panicking rather than thinking about unrealistic things.
The dungeon completely collapsed as we escaped outside, barely making it out with the stealth magic I had used on us. In mere moments, it was gone as if it had never existed.
[The dungeon ‘Slime Cave’ has been completely absorbed into the underground area.]
[Level up!]
[New Magic increased by 1.]
[Soul Magic increased by 2.]
I quietly closed the notification window that only I could see. I confirmed that my experience and status had increased in the process of accepting the dungeon into my own realm, the power welling inside of me proved it. If there wasn’t anyone around, I would’ve been unable to stop laughing. Wasn’t this too good? By conquering the dungeons, it expanded my area and made me – and my subordinates in extension – stronger. Perhaps this could serve as the foundation of my counterattack to overcome the current situation.
“Nonsense…” My sister was frozen in place, muttering as she watched the dungeon disappear.
“I think so too.”
“Do you? It’s gone. One of the deadliest factors that has threatened the planet since the Great Fusion. How can you be so calm?” She cried out, embarrassed by her emotions warring inside of her. I had been thinking of her as a little kid since learning about the formation of Erkindra, but now that I knew of her ability to think logically, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Why are you laughing?!”
“I’m calm because you’re too excited.” I went ahead and used magic to shield us from the commotion. There weren’t any people around, but I could never be too vigilant.
“There’s nothing you can do by standing in a panic. I don’t know why the dungeon was destroyed, but it’s not a bad thing, right?”
“That’s…but…”
“What’s more, just knowing that the dungeon is gone won’t change what we need to do.”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s move on quickly.”
“Yeah…” She seemed to be convinced but looked at me with a strange expression.
“Hm?”
“No, just…you, sometimes…” I felt fear grip my heart. ‘What other mistake did I make?’ Fortunately, Han Jia put a hand on her shoulder before she could continue talking.
“Si-yeon, what’s that?”
“Never mind…also don’t call me by name when we’re working…” I left the two girls to grumble as Lee Chan-yu gave me a thumbs up. I knew what he wanted to say, and briefly considered breaking his thumb, but I decided to just put up with it. We continued on our dungeon exploration, following the optimal route provided by Erkindra to destroy each dungeon in turn.
It didn’t matter if it were single or double-layered; taking care of the boss would destroy it. Fortunately, most of them had the right level for my companions to confront, so there was no issue in acquiring experience. Since defeating the first dungeon, I resolved to hide what was happening. People would notice us destroying dungeon after dungeon, but I didn’t care about them. What I was worried about was the Elakatra, not the humans. But my camouflage was so perfect that I felt no problem even if they showed up.
“Elf?”
“Yeah.” As we spent the whole night clearing dungeons, I had been trying to convince my younger sister about the elves while we cleared the sixth dungeon. Han Jia was able to back me up, as she had been there when the elves had confronted Alec and the other dwarves, but my sister wasn’t convinced.
“Since only the dungeons we clear are vanishing, I agree with hiding that we’re doing it. But why do you think the elves would attack us if we’re caught?”
“Dungeons are a threat to humanity, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s because we’re removing that threat.”
“…” It wasn’t really that simple of a reason, although that was part of it. If the head of the Elakatra heard of it, they would assume that the demons were interfering with their plans. In such a situation, if they became aware of us, they would naturally conclude that I was related to the underground. I didn’t know how many of the Elakatra were stronger than me, so it was best not to get caught. Of course, I couldn’t just stop absorbing the dungeons and surrender to a threat I had yet to encounter, either. I couldn’t explain that to her, so I decided to approach her with a simple argument.
“If you had watched their actions, you could see that they were never on the side of humans.”
“I’ve had my doubts, but…”
“Si-yeon, I told you. The elves were really weird, they seemed to hate the dwarves for just breathing.”
“I see you’ve given up on pretending not to be friends with me.” I reflected on the long night as they conversed.
“Elves hate all living things other than their own. Their attitude toward fallen, monsters, and dwarves has always been the same. Would it be any different just for humans?”
“…No.”
“I can’t say I don’t understand how they feel, I just hide it.”
“Why? Are you scared of humans?” She was in the right direction, but her answer was a bit off.
“They’re too many of them, and that is worrisome. So, until they have an unshakable advantage over humans, they have to hide their hostility.”
“…It sounds like they’re preparing for a war against humanity.”
“Perhaps.” This wasn’t the only thing we were preparing for, though. As if they realized the weight of their words, my sister and Han Jia became quiet. Mireina filled the new silence, speaking vigorously to them. I went ahead and smacked Lee Chan-yu in the back of the head for nodding at the three women conversing together.
“Let’s finish the next dungeon quickly.”
Two weeks later, we succeeded in clearing up most of the dungeons menacing Seoul and Korea as a whole. My level had risen to 40, and both Lee Chan-yu and Mireina had reached a point where entry into the higher level was possible. After clearing the ninety-eighth dungeon, my sister and Han Jia experienced a class change. It was a change specific to humans, like evolution for monsters. All existing abilities were reinforced, and new abilities would be created, so it was only really different in name from evolution.
“I thought this would be impossible.”
“Yeah. Our first classes were bandit and apprentice mercenary, right?”
“It must be because we defeated all those dungeons in succession.” It sounded like they had already undergone three-class changes in the past. With this new one, it was easy to see how my younger sister was able to hide her age so well. As her class changed, her body physically grew. Feeling a bit awkward at watching it, I immediately turned my attention elsewhere.
“Thank you, Fate. This wouldn’t have been possible without your protection.”
“Thank you!”
“You helped us too.” Erkindra was vital in giving us the information to reach all those dungeons as quickly as we had.
“But now, there are no dungeons in Korea that we can touch.”
“There is no information network beyond Korea. Actually, we didn’t even think we could make it this far.” My sister rebuked Han Jia for her honest remarks.
“I now fully understand what you were thinking in creating a guild.”
“If you know, please respond to us sooner.” I considered her words.
“Lee Chan-yu.”
“Here.” He handed me an artifact with the communication function, the same one we shared. I gave it to my sister, who tilted her head.
“In the future, contact me with that. It’s possible to exchange messages with it.”
“Really?” She put on the artifact and tried sending me a message. When I responded, her fish-eyed response was cute.
“Really.”
“Si-yeon, that’s cool…”
“Shall we go ahead and disband? If you learn more, contact us again.”
“I’ll contact you regularly from now on about cases of the fallen.”
“Stick to when there’s business. You’ll be busy too.” I cut her off a bit colder than necessary, but I felt like I was already acting suspicious. She looked sad, but I ignored it.
“Then we’re off.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Captain, what are you going to do now?”
Only
“Fate, I want to sleep first!”
There were still a few dungeons left in Korea, but most of them were under the control of guilds such as One Flag. I wasn’t afraid of them, but I had a different plan to make things annoying for them.
“Shall we look into foreign countries soon?”
“When do I sleep?”
“Stay up until you gain resistance to it.”
“Yeah, will do…are you saying that I can’t sleep?!”
According to Rain, we had a month and a half until the next Devil’s Night. How many dungeons could I destroy and absorb before that time?
I lifted my head high, ignoring the crying Mireina and Lee Chan-yu, who was regretting that we split off from the two girls and left.
Comments