Chapter 037
The dungeon monsters keep offering sacrifices – 037
EP.37 Evaluation by Inspector Lich
A deep and secretive space.
There, a dark and chilly atmosphere lingered.
Candles placed around faintly pushed back the darkness, casting shadows on the walls.
And the shadows were busily moving.
“Ah, it’s time to begin.”
It was none other than Celia.
“It’s time to genuinely spread the master’s will.”
Recently, the master reorganized the organization within the dungeon.
Each was given a mission, creating an environment to work for the master.
However, the reorganization wasn’t merely for the sake of operational efficiency.
Clearly, the master was testing us.
It meant adapting to the current situation and preparing for future goals.
“The master undoubtedly envisions a bigger world.”
No matter how many other dungeons enter the master’s embrace, they are too insignificant in size.
If he is a great being, he wouldn’t be satisfied here.
The esteemed master, undoubtedly harboring such grand plans for a long time.
“Celia here is just struggling to follow the master’s guidance.”
The current organization restructuring wasn’t merely a part of the future plans.
Ultimately, the current objective was to prepare the minimum necessary measures for establishing the master’s power and founding a nation.
“Ah, it’s exhilarating, master!”
Everyone will prostrate themselves before the master.
Celia was genuinely pleased, smiling.
Then, she quickly controlled her expression.
“This, too, is a test. It’s too early to be pleased.”
The broad framework was set by the master.
Lich was inspecting the dungeon and nearby forest, while Death Knight focused on guarding the dungeon in the role of a knight commander.
Moreover, she had many tasks assigned to herself.
As the general manager, she handled diplomacy and rectified discipline.
Just from this, celia could understand how highly the master regarded her.
This was also a sign for her to achieve more success.
Simultaneously, she thought.
While the master set the stage, she herself had to fill in the details.
“Let’s start by seizing the mountain range.”
For that, information was crucial.
Currently, only a portion of the mountain range’s dungeons were merged.
Now, there was a need for information about the entire range, and even beyond, into the human world.
“A department to handle information would be necessary.”
However, those bound with the master had restrictions on movement.
Eventually, these restrictions would be lifted, but it was impractical right now.
However, that didn’t mean there was no solution.
There was a good alternative.
Using those recently brought under the master.
Unlike those who had been under the master from the beginning, they had no restrictions on movement.
Of course, they were beings whose souls were bound to the dungeon.
But still, by leveraging their unrestricted movement, she could fill in some gaps in the required information.
Their capabilities might be an issue, but that was something she would handle well.
“Please watch over us, master!”
With a clenched fist, celia prepared herself.
From now on, it was her time.
====
***
====
“Hah… ha…”
Baren was currently experiencing the taste of death.
“Damn it!”
The strength of the orc was much stronger than he had anticipated.
Whoever he was.
Leading the ‘Red Fang’ mercenary group, he had been through many battlefields.
A mercenary who survived in battlefields filled with blood and despair.
But now, he couldn’t even capture a single orc and was instead being pushed back.
‘Does the difference in strength make this much of a difference?’
Fortunately, the skeletons around were staying still.
Of course, there were a few members trying to break through the skeletons, but they all left this world.
They exploded as they tried to break through the skeletons, taking away their lives.
At first, it was puzzling, but soon he understood the reason.
It was none other than the presence of Lich.
No matter how ignorant he was about monsters, he didn’t know everything.
In fact, he knew a lot about this talkative monster.
For Baren, that was none other than Lich.
Lich was one of the monsters known for being difficult to deal with.
It was all about his skill, the one that supposedly detonated the skeletons around him. And that was true.
With many skeletons around like now, there would hardly be a more challenging enemy than Lich.
Baren could vaguely recall information about him, even though it was too late.
Of course, this guy, Lich, did nothing else but detonate skeletons.
Instead, he seemed to be quietly observing this side, scribbling something down.
It was humiliating.
Come to think of it, the orc he was facing didn’t seem to be going all out either.
“Argh.”
He couldn’t believe he was being pushed by a monster.
In a fit of anger, he continued swinging his weapon, only to be blocked by the orc’s weapon.
There was one fact Baren wasn’t aware of.
If he had the knowledge about dungeons and monsters like an adventurer, he might have realized that the orc in front of him wasn’t an ordinary monster.
But Baren had only faced the same people on battlefields until now, this was his first real confrontation with monsters, so he didn’t know that fact.
Thus, he blamed his own skill and pushed even harder.
Ironically, that was the worst choice he could make.
In his relentless attack, he began to show openings in his stance.
The orc warrior, squall, who effortlessly blocked all of Baren’s attacks, was aware of this.
At any slight opening in Baren’s posture, squall swiftly wielded his sword, inflicting shallow wounds.
It seemed like he was just playing around.
“Tsk.”
Squall lightly clicked his tongue.
He thought a worthy warrior had appeared after a long time, but the human in front of him didn’t have that capability.
He was even self-destructive.
In battles, the most important thing was to calmly observe the opponent, but the human in front of him was just swinging his weapon in a rush.
Of course, squall understood why.
With skeletons surrounding them and no chance of fleeing, the subordinates who tried to break through had already died.
Squall casually deflected Baren’s weapon and glanced to the side.
He saw Lich.
Lich was observing his own battle and jotting something down on paper.
‘How about that? Chwiik!’
Undoubtedly, he was trying to inform the master about his great battle.
Squall confidently increased the pressure on Baren.
He had shown enough.
As he planned to end this tedious battle, he increased the intensity.
– Thud.
–
Lich, watching the scene, nodded.
Then he began writing on the paper.
– Diverted attention during battle, deduction for this.
–
Lich was a pragmatic inspector.
At the same time, he looked towards Death Knight, who was standing by and watching.
Looking at Death Knight, Lich nodded.
– Neglecting dungeon defense, negligence in duty and leaving the post, deduction for this.
–
Lich was truly a pragmatic inspector.
====
***
====
Someone far away was observing the current situation.
It was Gurlon, a manager of the Demon Merchant Internal Audit Team.
He was using a telescope to keenly observe the ongoing situation.
And his frog-like face was shaking at what he saw.
“Insane.”
He inadvertently cursed.
What he witnessed was monsters currently overpowering humans.
But it wasn’t just that simple.
‘Lich and Death Knight are there too?!’
Even if they were each a dungeon’s owner, they were forces that one wouldn’t doubt, even believing them to be capable of at least 3-star power.
But handling such power so nonchalantly was what surprised him.
Gurlon had broken into a sweat after facing the boss.
Most dungeon owners nearby were mostly 1 or 2-star at best.
He was well aware that even 3-star orcs were the maximum among them.
So, he didn’t ponder much on whether Death Knight and Lich belonged to any dungeon.
‘Were they hiding their strength?’
When Gurlon visited the dungeon, he didn’t sense this level of power.
At best, there were only skeleton knights.
Gurlon’s entire body trembled.
The fact that there was this level of power was probably unknown even to the Internal Audit Team.
No, the merchant in charge might have known.
But the fact that the Internal Audit didn’t know meant they intentionally didn’t report it.
‘She was a fearsome one.’
To even roast the responsible merchant.
Above all, what sent chills was that they hadn’t revealed their full power.
‘But what now?’
Gurlon pondered for a moment.
Four shadows behind him.
They were monsters attached to him by the Internal Audit.
Since they were pure shadows, they had no exact form.
Specialized in information gathering and assassination as beings that could go anywhere as long as there was darkness and shadow.
Hence, they were monsters with no identity, no name, simply unidentified beings.
The reason Internal Audit assigned them was obvious.
To resolve the current situation.
In short, it meant to sabotage before the influence expanded further.
But look at that scene.
Can’t you see Death Knight and Lich?
‘Clearly, they’ve hidden more power.’
It was a valid thought.
How shattered was the report he hastily put together?
If he couldn’t solve the issue, Gurlon would be expelled from the Internal Audit.
“…
”
The problem was that a solution didn’t come to mind immediately.
No matter how many shadows there were, as specialized as they were in information gathering and assassination, dealing with not just Death Knight but even Lich would be overwhelming.
The opponent had to be reasonably strong, this is self-destructive behavior.
“Phew…”
Gurlon sighed deeply.
He was filled with the desire to run away.
But he was concerned about the shadows behind him.
If he abandoned his mission and left, they would target him first.
By the time Gurlon’s thoughts lingered,
‘Come to think of it…’
One good idea suddenly popped into his mind.
As soon as the thought came, Gurlon turned his body towards the shadows behind him.
“It’s been said that to destroy an enemy, you need to get inside their ranks.”
He didn’t know if such a saying existed.
It was just Gurlon muttering as things came to his mind.
“We, as representatives of the Internal Audit, will enter the enemy dungeon.”
Gurlon began explaining the plan to the shadows.
“If we just enter the dungeon….”
Of course, his inner thoughts were different from what he said.
‘Let’s Surrender. This is suicidal.’
Internal Audit that abandoned him was no longer in his mind.
Even if he lacked sensitivity, he knew the atmosphere was turning, so he had a choice.
The immediate issue was to distance himself from the shadows.
‘Yes, if only I could enter the dungeon….’
Gurlon thought of Celia.
Considering her abilities, he believed she could handle the shadows well and even survive.
If he rushed to her dungeon, begged and prostrated himself, at least she might save his own life.
‘Please…’
He had learned that in a ruthless world, sometimes one must be quick-witted.
====
***
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– Ding –
– Ding –
Once again, the smartphone rang just like yesterday.
The content was probably predictable even without reading it.
“Celia will handle it on her own. Let’s quickly get this over with.”
There was work to be done now.
Beside me is a skeleton named Maru.
To officially have this guy, I needed to report to the Awakening Center.
It wasn’t a grand report, just a notification stating that I possessed abilities related to summoning like summoners or spirit callers.
This was a law set by the government for crime prevention among hunters, and not reporting it meant that carrying a skeleton like now was illegal.
“Let’s just register and be done with it.”
I’ll probably have to register as a necromancer.
It’s a shame, it would have been great if this guy was powerful, but he’s just a 1-star skeleton soldier.
By local standards, it’s weak enough to be hunted even by F-rank hunters.
“Well, it’s convenient in many ways.”
At least all the household chores are taken care of by this guy.
And anyway, this guy isn’t the main event.
“The day to receive the Demon Sword is approaching quickly.”
That Demon sword offered as sacrifice by Celia was the real deal.