As users started gathering in the dwarf village, the excavation of the elite dungeon entrance progressed faster.
The skilled dwarf miners’ delicate touch, trying to reveal the ancient dwarf heritage in the most intact state possible, was opening the way to this elite dungeon, ‘Berbeia Ancient Temple’. Like ‘Demon King’s Army Outpost’ and ‘Aspero’s Fortress’, it’s a kind of content pacing control.
Now that the dwarves have accepted adventurers from the stars into their village and actively stepped to the forefront of the world, the weapons made from minerals they mined, and the items they craft will be a great help to the people of this world.
The ‘Friend of Dwarves’ achievement that I easily obtained. The ‘amity work’ for it seemed more difficult than expected. Simple mineral mining quests couldn’t raise amity above 40. Probably when this elite dungeon opens, additional amity can be raised through its exploration and conquest.
So after some time passed, many advance party users achieved the minimum amity condition for elite dungeon entry.
Finally, the day ‘Berbeia Ancient Temple’ would open approached.
I, who didn’t need to do amity work, didn’t have much to do during that time.
I just did one round of daily quests, helped Chris unnie level up, then went around sightseeing here and there in the rocky mountains or Berbeia Plains with her.
And at the end, I hole up in one place.
I thought I had forgotten everything, thought it had nothing to do with me anymore.
But as long as I stay in this world, I can’t help but be reminded of the old days.
Moreover, if I’m sitting in a cave corner looking at such rock carvings.
[Dwarf Hero ‘Ein’]
Uncle Ein.
Honestly, I don’t know.
Why I’m still here.
Is it telling me to do after-service protecting the Astria continent? Hehe. Even though it didn’t properly after-service even my one body.
There are many excellent adventurers in this world now.
It doesn’t have to be me, right?
I just want to feel the sensation of a body that moves as I wish, enjoy the scenery of this world, and enjoy adventures with peace of mind.
But.
I stood up while looking at my old companion’s face.
Anyway, it’s what we protected together.
As long as I’m still here, I have the duty to watch over it on behalf of companions who aren’t here now.
And make money on the side too.
Sunlight, and the red that received it, fell on my face as I came out of the cave.
I squinted and looked up at that reddish thing.
“Rain, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Still, there’s a precious relationship I gained by coming here.
A person I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t found the Astria continent again.
A grateful person who pulled me out of the pit of the past.
“Unnie, I like red.”
“Huhu, is that so? Unnie likes white.”
I held Chris’s hand and headed towards the stage of the next adventure.
Murmur murmur.
Many users were gathered in front of the ancient temple entrance that finally revealed itself.
Compared to Aspero’s Fortress, the number of users is clearly less. The condition of 40 amity with the dwarf village was tighter than expected.
Of course, other users will enter here as time passes, but for now, the users here are about the only ones who have achieved the entry condition.
“No time for the arena, and had to do amity work holding a pickaxe too. It’s just unpleasant.”
Deathly Death grumbled.
“Death oppa seems to be doing the arena hard these days? Is Rain doing the arena too?”
“I only do daily quests.”
“Really? I think I saw a nickname Rain on the first page of the arena rankings. Of course, except for ranks 1-3, only the last two letters of nicknames are shown, so it must be a similar nickname.”
I blushed slightly at Bae Merong’s question.
Since I had no losses in the arena, my ranking went up a lot. Even though I only did daily quests, my nickname was exposed unexpectedly.
Should I deliberately lose by surrendering to lower my ranking? The ranking rewards are a shame though.
Still, it would be hard to identify me unless I meet someone I know in the arena.
…Probably?
“No, I started amity work first in our party, but it won’t go up after 40!? How much effort did I put in to do even one more chore bowing to dwarves! I even helped them scrub their backs, can you imagine?”
“I’d rather not imagine that.”
This time Cherni poured out complaints. Bae Merong snickered.
Woong.
Rumble rumble.
While we were chatting, the seal on the elite dungeon entrance was released.
The huge temple door split left and right, opening its mouth.
Chris, who was holding my hand tightly, slightly lowered her head and met my eyes.
Memories of hiding in corners avoiding people’s eyes in the past flashed by.
Thanks to her sticking close to me, I could gather courage to wait in front.
“Rain, let’s do our best together today too.”
Chris’s eyes looked left and right. As if trying to check if my party members were nearby.
Is it like the feeling of parents entrusting their child to unfamiliar friends?
I squeezed her hand once, gently let go, and created distance.
I stood alone in front of the dungeon entrance.
“Fighting to unnie too.”
A bit of question arose on Chris’s face.
“Rain, your party members…”
Hop.
My body that jumped slightly backwards entered the dungeon. Soon, Chris’s face was no longer visible.
* * *
“Wow.”
The temple interior was absurdly wide. The ceiling was also incredibly high.
A dungeon structure that keeps going down. It seemed to be using space not only under the rocky mountain but below it too. Rather than a temple, wouldn’t it be better to call it a labyrinth?
Truly an ancient labyrinth.
It’s a dungeon containing the essence of ancient dwarf architectural technology that seems to have been built far before the time period I was active in the past.
The smoothly polished walls on all sides, engraved with strange patterns, were glowing with a soft blue color.
Minerals that emit such light are not common. I lightly touched the wall inside the temple.
“Magic stone.”
A mineral that naturally absorbs mana and can use the contained mana. These expensive things are being used just for lighting inside the dungeon.
I want to take it all, but it seems I can’t take it because it’s judged as dungeon structure.
I licked my lips and continued going down.
Thump thump.
I arrived at the first room of Area 1.
Inside the room made in the shape of a huge cube, four strangely shaped stone statues were placed.
Gargoyle statues. A type of golem.
Is it a dungeon where the mob section is in puzzle form?
I recalled the cave we went through when entering the dwarf village. That was a dungeon composed of basic mazes and puzzles, but this labyrinth, an elite dungeon, is a dungeon properly made to kill users. The specs of the golems will also be on a different level.
Woong woong woong.
As I fully entered the room, starting from under my feet, square blue lights rose from various places on the connected floor. That light didn’t fill the entire floor, but formed some kind of shape. And its end was connected to the exit on the opposite side of this room.
Tap.
As I took one step, the blue light where I stepped disappeared.
“Aha.”
I could understand the puzzle structure of this room.
It’s a puzzle in the form of drawing with one stroke. You have to step on all the blue light platforms to turn them off, and finally reach the exit on the opposite side.
If you step on the same place twice or step on a place where light hasn’t risen, the golems will immediately rise and attack.
“Umm, hmm.”
I’m not particularly good at puzzles.
Should I try it anyway?
Rumble rumble.
“Haah.”
I sighed looking at the open door after defeating the last gargoyle.
Each time I made a mistake, one gargoyle golem attacked. As gimmick monsters, they had quite a lot of HP too.
In the end, I had to defeat all the gargoyles because I used up all 4 chances.
As expected, puzzles don’t suit me. No choice but to smash everything.
After going through a few more puzzle-type rooms, I faced a room with a different shape.
Different from the cube-shaped rooms so far.
A long corridor structure.
But the path is cut off. I can see a door on the opposite side, but the floor leading there is open below.
I approached the edge of the cut-off path and looked down.
“Oh.”
Below are lots of gargoyle golems I saw earlier. It’s not high enough to die if you fall, but you’ll probably have to kill them all to come back up.
Woong.
Then, along with a resonant sound, blue platforms started generating from the cliff edge where I was standing.
Woong, woong, woong.
The platforms generated irregularly at some distance were all floating in the air.
And the end of the dotted platforms was connected to the opposite side of the corridor.
The platforms are narrow. The distance between platforms is quite far too.
But if you move by stepping on these platforms floating in the air, you don’t have to fight the golems below.
I grinned.
This is a structure that requires physical ability. It’s my forte.
Tap.
My body that lightly bounced up stepped on the first platform.
Woong woong.
The platform flickered as if about to disappear. I immediately moved to the next platform.
Tap, tap, tap.
After repeating that action a few times, my body had already arrived at the opposite side of the corridor.
Tap.
As I landed in front of the exit lastly, I spread both arms left and right.
If it were gymnastics or such, it was a perfect landing that would make all judges give 10 points.
“Arrived!”
I spent quite some time in the puzzle gimmick rooms, but I could zip through the platform corridor rooms.
After crossing a few more such rooms, I was able to arrive at a cube-shaped room twice as big as the rooms I had passed through so far.
This is the 1st named boss room.
As if to prove that, there was a huge golem statue in the center.
A golem with a bull’s head.
It was standing firmly on two feet like a human.
A bipedal bull? Since it’s a fantasy world, it seems better to call it Mr. Minotaur.
The minerals forming the golem’s body were emitting a soft blue light. It’s all high-purity magic stone chunks. How much would all that cost?
As I fully entered the room, the golem’s head started moving.
Creak, rumble.
The movement that started from the neck spread throughout that huge body.
Thud.
And finally it took one step towards me.
Oooooh-!
A resonant sound as if the entire body made of magic stones was ringing, that bull’s roar spread throughout the room.
[1st Named]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]
[HP 8,600,000/8,600,000]