Chapter 25-26: Dungeon’s Internal Stability (1/2)

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.