The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices

The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices – 174

EP.174 Maru and Death Knight’s Dungeon Conquest (2)

The Stone Golem dungeon was absolute chaos.

“It’s so dark, it’s even hard to walk.”

Rocks of various sizes were scattered haphazardly across the floor.

There were so many that one wrong step could easily lead to a fall.

It was so dark that even the lanterns we had couldn’t illuminate the path clearly.

“Maru, light up the surroundings a bit.”

What we needed now was Maru’s divine power.

Maru held up his demon sword and began to emit divine power.

A soft light started to emanate from around the demon sword, enveloping the surroundings in a gentle glow.

‘What a strange combination.’

Maru’s abilities never ceased to amaze me.

‘Skeleton Holy Knight.’

Even the name itself seemed like a contradiction.

A bizarre race where the undead of death coexists with the divine power of a Holy Knight.

And now, he was even imbuing his demon sword with divine power to light our way.

Thanks to this, the once-dark dungeon became as bright as day.

“Good, that’s much better.”

Thanks to Maru, our walking speed increased significantly.

Normally, we should have been cautiously advancing without lowering our guard, but we moved forward without hesitation.

There was one reason why such behavior was possible.

“I wonder if Death Knight is doing well on his own by now?”

“Clack Clack!”

It was because of Death Knight’s presence.

We had dispatched Death Knight before entering the dungeon.

Although he was sent alone, I wasn’t particularly worried.

The Stone Golem dungeon was C-rank.

Even by El Dorad continent standards, it was only 3-star.

On the other hand, Death Knight was 5-star.

No matter how many Stone Golems there were, the undead Death Knight could hunt tirelessly.

And my prediction was spot on.

Bang- Crack- Thud-

Sharp metallic sounds echoed from afar as stones crumbled.

It was definitely Death Knight’s presence.

“Maru, let’s hurry and take a look!”

It was fine for Death Knight to cause chaos, but it wouldn’t be good if he destroyed the dungeon’s core.

If the core is destroyed, the dungeon automatically disappears.

But guilds conquer dungeons to gain benefits.

Monster corpses and magic stones obtained from dungeons are widely used in various fields such as equipment and potion production.

Also, since rare resources not found on Earth might appear, it was better to leave the dungeon intact unless it was an emergency situation.

‘Come to think of it, is this the second time I’m meeting Death Knight?’

When Azmo caused the monster wave, Maru and I had appeared wearing masks.

‘Thanks to that, the media went crazy for a while.’

Death Knight and Necros became a hot topic as they pretended to be blown away by Maru’s attack.

To me, it looked like nothing more than acting, but apparently not to others.

The existence of the summoned creature (Maru) and summoner (me) who simultaneously defeated Death Knight and Arch Lich had once been extensively covered in the media.

This was the second time meeting Death Knight since that encounter.

This time, in the position of conquering the dungeon together.

As we quickened our pace a bit more, a huge cavern appeared.

“That’s the stone tomb…”

A pile of stones loomed before us.

No, it was too massive to be called a pile of stones.

It would be more accurate to call it a small mountain made of stone.

And on top of it.

“Death Knight!”

We could see Death Knight facing off against numerous Stone Golems.

“……”

Death Knight noticed me and bowed his head.

Then he immediately swung the pickaxe he was holding in both hands at the Stone Golems.

Crack- Boom-

With a single strike of the pickaxe, the Golems made of stone chunks shattered into pieces.

Bang- Crash-!

At the same time, the maid uniform on the shield strapped to his back fluttered with each swing of the pickaxe.

“……”

He still has that?

I was at a loss for words at the unnatural sight.

“…But he fights well.”

Despite the maid uniform skirt fluttering about, Death Knight’s skills were top-notch.

Watching his pickaxe swings, I could understand why Celia kept assigning him to work.

With each swing of the pickaxe, the Stone Golems crumbled and were pushed back.

“Huh…”

That level of skill was pure talent.

Death Knight was swinging with all his might, to the point where I wondered if he actually enjoyed using the pickaxe.

Usually, if someone dislikes doing something, they don’t put in much effort.

‘Is this a case where effort meets talent?’

Today, I discovered Death Knight’s talent.

Originally, I wanted to minimize Maru’s involvement and let Death Knight swing his pickaxe to his heart’s content, but the Stone Golems weren’t fools either.

“Kuuuuu!!”

Realizing they couldn’t handle Death Knight, the Stone Golems turned towards Maru and me with their blue eyes flashing.

“Kuuu!”

And the Stone Golems charged at us.

But their judgment was a complete miscalculation.

Maru here was also 5-star, just like Death Knight.

In fact, with his demon sword, he could be considered even more powerful.

“Maru, take care of them.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Maru swung his demon sword forward.

The divine power mixed with the unique magical energy of the demon sword, slicing the Stone Golems’ bodies in half.

“Oh.”

They were cut so cleanly.

While Death Knight crushed the Stone Golems, Maru sliced them neatly.

“Kuu?”

The Stone Golems began to panic as they realized the situation was not going as they had expected.

They had avoided Death Knight only to find another formidable opponent here.

“Kuuu…”

In the end, the Stone Golems lost their will to fight and raised their stone arms in surrender.

– You have conquered the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’. –

– You can dispatch and appoint a manager to the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’. –

====

***

====

As the situation concluded, Death Knight approached me.

Since I had been wearing a mask during our first meeting, this was the first time we met face to face.

My worry about whether he would recognize me proved unnecessary as Death Knight knelt before me and bowed his head.

“……”

He maintained his posture without saying a word.

The problem was.

“Why are they kneeling too?”

“Thud.”

The Stone Golems were also kneeling, following Death Knight’s lead.

There were so many that even after Death Knight had defeated so many, dozens of golems still remained.

It’s not like I could deal with these guys who had already surrendered.

And another problem was the alert message.

– You can dispatch and appoint a manager to the dungeon ‘Tomb of Stones’. –

The content stated that I could dispatch or appoint a manager here after conquering the Stone Golem dungeon.

But this dungeon was unnecessary for me.

Even if I dominated this dungeon, it was already under the management of the Phoenix Guild.

Even if I appointed a manager and developed it, it was a place that could be subjugated at any time.

‘I wonder if I could just take the Stone Golems with me?’

Leaving them here would just mean they’d be swept away by the Phoenix Guild hunters eventually.

However, my concerns could be resolved with the next alert.

– You can move the monsters in the dungeon to the following list of dungeons. –

– [Nest of Evil Gods] –

– General Manager: Celia (★★★★★★) –

– [Temptation of Illusion] –

– Manager: Azmo (★★★★) –

– [Nest of Corruption] –

– Owner: Necros (★★★★★) –

– [Red-Headed Tribe] –

– Manager: Squall (★★★★) –

– [Sticky Puddle] –

– Manager: King Slime (★★★) –

– [Remnants of the Abyss] –

– Manager: Skeleton Knight (★★★) –

– [Village Shrouded in Mist] –

– Manager: ??? –

At the same time, the dungeons I owned came to mind.

It wasn’t a bad idea.

If the Stone Golems had to be subjugated anyway, it would be better to put them in my own dungeons.

It was a good option for me as I could also strengthen the dungeon’s forces at the same time.

Still, since I wasn’t a cruel master, I decided to ask the golems for their opinion first.

“Hey, do you want to go to a different dungeon instead of staying here?”

“Kuu, kuu.”

Fortunately, the golems nodded and followed my words well.

For them too, starting anew in another dungeon was a better option than staying here.

‘Stone Golems are no different from undead.’

They didn’t need to consume nutrients or take rest separately.

They could adapt quickly to most environments, so changing their affiliated dungeon wasn’t a problem at all.

“Let’s see…”

First, I decided to send just one golem to the dungeon where Celia was.

‘That place is sufficient as it is, so just one should do…’

It would probably be perfect for a worker role, right?

Following Celia’s dungeon, I sent four Stone Golems to Azmo’s dungeon.

‘Didn’t Azmo say he was short-handed?’

Since returning from the El Dorad continent, Azmo had been creating and running a dungeon corporation.

At first, I sent Maru to help out, but now it seemed stable enough to operate on its own.

‘I should visit Azmo’s dungeon soon too.’

So far, only Maru had been there, but as the owner, I needed to check it out as well.

To see how he’s running the corporation, that is.

After finishing with Celia and Azmo’s dungeons, I looked over the other dungeons.

‘The rest are a bit tricky…’

The satellite dungeon where Necros was the owner didn’t seem to need golems particularly.

“Hmm.”

The dungeons managed by the orc Squall, King Slime, or the Skeleton Knight didn’t seem to need Stone Golems either, given their established concepts.

“Should I put them here?”

The dungeon ‘Village Shrouded in Mist’, which was the only one with a question mark for its manager, caught my eye.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never seen this place before?’

I’m not sure what kind of place it is, but from the dungeon name alone, it’s a village shrouded in mist.

Wouldn’t it have a much larger area than the other places?

There should be plenty of room to place the golems.

‘It hasn’t caused any problems so far, right?’

It should be fine.

I immediately started sending the Stone Golems to the ‘Village Shrouded in Mist’ dungeon.

– Stone Golem(★★★) affiliation changed to ‘Village Shrouded in Mist’ dungeon. –

A moment later, the dungeon interior that had been full of golems was empty.

All that remained were huge piles of stones and my monsters.

I turned to Death Knight.

“Death Knight, you’ve worked hard.”

Death Knight bowed his head at my words.

Though his appearance might be terrifying, he had a kind heart.

‘And he’s diligent to boot.’

I wanted to give Death Knight a gift for his hard work, but I didn’t have anything suitable on hand.

“I’ll give you something nice when I get a good draw later.”

Since even the dress Celia was wearing came from a draw, I promised to give something to Death Knight when something good comes up later.

With that brief encounter over, Death Knight departed for his original dungeon.

With the Stone Golems gone and Death Knight leaving as well, the dungeon became completely empty.

All tasks here were finished.

There was no need to stay any longer.

“Let’s head back too.”

It was time to exit the dungeon.

====

***

====

An ominous bell sound echoed throughout.

The bell sound ringing from the top of the building standing tall in the center of the village was eerie and creepy.

As the bell rang, mist began to envelop the village simultaneously.

Through the mist, the village’s appearance came vaguely into view.

Old buildings stood in ruins, looking grotesque, and broken windows and rattling door panels evoked a sense of desolate fear.

A village shrouded in mist.

All that could be heard cutting through the bell sound were faint laments and groans drifting through the mist.

The figure of something swaying was caught in the mist.

“Kirik, kiririk-”

It was something that could never be considered human.

As it approached, a nauseating smell of decay wafted over.

“Kirik, kirik!”

The skin was already blackened with rot, and boils covered the face and body in layers.

With every step, all joints bent unnaturally.

They were all beings who had become monsters due to the curse of the mist.

As they wandered the village as usual, they suddenly heard a thunderous sound.

Thud-!

The sound of something falling echoed throughout the village.

“…Kik?”

Turning their heads, they saw golems made of stone.

“Kirik?”

“Kuu?”

The Stone Golems were unaffected by the mist.

And so began the uncomfortable coexistence between the monsters and the Stone Golems.