Chapter 37 – Dungeons

After safely recruiting Elise, we finally became a party of four. I never recruit a party of 5. Because if there are five humans together, one must be trash.

“Now, now. Greetings. This is Sister Elise of the Light and Star Cross.”

We introduced ourselves to each other. Meria seemed very satisfied with the appearance of a nun who looked quite strong. Copson seemed a little suspicious. In my neighborhood, the Kwangmyeong Star Cross Society is a bit like that. Something like that.

Anyway, looking at the positions, it’s a miraculous combination of tank, dealer, dealer tank, and healer in one party.

It might be nice to have one AD or Mage as the finale here, but as I said, if you do that, one person will definitely be trash, so let’s not do that. The four of us are enough.

“Nice to meet you. This is Elise. Our God will guide you.”
“I’m Meria. Please take good care of me, Sister.”
“My name is Copson. I have heard of the evil, or rather the great name, of the Light and Star Cross.”
“Don’t lower your voice, weirdo.”

Copson cleared his throat and lowered his voice again. It wouldn’t look cool even if I did, so please don’t do that. No, where did the trend of looking cool with a good voice come from?

“You keep saying that when did I put my voice down? Barbarian Shack.”
“I put it on again.”
“Damn.”

It was not even lunchtime yet. Meria and I have finished our preparations, so let’s move on. Today, I think we can start early tomorrow morning after preparing for the departure of the rest of the party and getting a rough outline. I thought so and tried to say so.

“Then can we leave right away?”
“Yes?”
“For anything, the sooner the better. It will take time to get there anyway, so I think it’s better to leave now and go and camp.”

However, Elise was one step faster. The tone of his speech was calm, but it was reported that the moth was sore from wanting to move at once.

“Hmm…”

Leave now It’s a little different from what I thought, but Elise’s words were right. After all, dungeon exploration is not something that can be done in a day or two. Rather, there was nothing wrong with setting out now, setting up camp after arriving, and starting exploration early in the morning. I drank some alcohol… But honestly, I can’t stand this much. It doesn’t matter if you leave immediately.

“Hey, I’m ready.”

Elise said so. Meria and I are definitely ready. But I don’t know if Copson did it or not.

“Hey, Copson. Do you have anything else to prepare?”
“I haven’t done it yet. But it won’t matter if I stop by a general store on the way.”

There is one shop on the way out of the city anyway, so it doesn’t matter. All I could buy was miscellaneous goods anyway, so I didn’t have to go anywhere in particular.

“Meria. What about you? Is it okay to drink?”
“It doesn’t matter. Because that much is not a problem.”

The opinions of the party gathered to leave immediately.

“Then let’s get going.”

So we set off for the dungeon.

According to Meria, the ossuary Orkota Catacomb is a recently discovered dungeon near Isvant.

Of course, just because it’s nearby doesn’t mean it’s just a subway stop or two away. I had to travel by carriage. Since we had to go to the gate of the castle to take the carriage anyway, we decided to walk there and buy the necessary items.

“It’s a lantern… It’s dark inside the dungeon, so it’d be nice to have one.”

Having said that, Copson picked up a lantern and bought it. In a dark dungeon, there was a clear limit to the torch and Elise’s light spell. Since it’s something we’ll be using together anyway, I was going to cover the cost, but Copson shook his hand.

“If you have it, I’ll keep using it, so there’s no need for that. Let’s just share the gas. Bavarian Shack.”
“Huh. Look at this son of a knife. Yes. Yes. You have to share the gas. Sister Elise. Meria. Did you hear that?”

The lantern belongs to this bastard, but the oil used to light the dungeon must be consumed jointly.

“All right.”
“Do it.”

Elise and Meria nodded, and I bought a few more bottles of oil with the money I saved. After shopping like that, go back to the castle gate. Several wagons were waiting in front of the gate. It will take several hours to go, so it would be better to choose something more comfortable to preserve your stamina.

“How about that?”

What Meria chose was a wagon with a roof covered with a yellowish white cloth. She asked the coachman what her price range was her and he said she was okay with it so she decided to ride it. It wasn’t until after noon that we started our journey in earnest.

“Please go to Isvant territory jungle area. I’m thinking of heading to the Ossuary Palace.”
“Yeah.”

Elise, who took out her map, said to the driver. I heard that the ossuary was located inside the jungle zone, so neither I, Mereria, nor Copson knew the way properly, so I entrusted this part to Elise. Elise’s map had many questionable parts, but anyway.

“There are a lot of adventurers heading to dungeons these days.”
“Coachman? You know the road, right?”
“Yes. I’ve been there several times, so don’t worry.”

Transportation was good, perhaps because it was a dungeon frequented by adventurers. We each put our money together, paid the fare, and got on the carriage. We sat together and briefly discussed strategies, listening to advice from Elise, who seemed to know the most about dungeons.

“So… Are you saying there are undead?”
“That’s right.”

Unlike me who asked in shock, Elise was calm.

Undead… Really? It? Even in a different world, it didn’t seem that the story of the dead reviving and moving was very credible. There is also a possibility that it is a mistaken common sense or belief, or an illusion of something.

There is a possibility that monsters that look ugly enough to be called undead will appear.

I have never seen the undead with my own eyes.

“They are all poor souls who were originally human. My mission includes investigating the truth of the dungeon and saving the souls that roam this world.”
“Hmm… Copson. Have you ever seen an undead?”
“Because my hometown is a bit remote, zombies often appeared. I regularly joined forces with the vigilantes to subdue them.”
“What? What the fuck is that.”

Have you ever heard of such a story? Dude, why do zombies come out of your hometown in a remote place? Copson’s expression did not change at all, as if to say that it was natural. I felt a kind of culture shock. Are zombies natural?

“That zombie. Are you referring to the person who lost track and came back alive?”
“Looks like what else exists in the hometown of barbarians besides zombies? If you look historically, it’s no wonder that corpses reanimated by the evil magic that occurred during the Idol Wars are wandering around the world. They wandered every night and arrived at the village led by the light. Wouldn’t that be?”
“Fuck. What is this?”

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

That’s how I arrived at the jungle zone in the late afternoon with my common sense completely denied. Well, there is actually magic. It wouldn’t be strange if there were undead in a world with monsters. If you think deeply, you will lose.

There are also undead in this world. Come to think of it, there are gods, but those who fell behind could rise again.

“We have to walk from here.”

What greeted us when we got off the wagon was a vast jungle area that literally stretched out. The Ossuary Palace is said to be a type of ancient structure found in the depths of this jungle. It’s an ancient building, but since it’s been abandoned for a long time, it’s probably filled with all sorts of things inside. That’s why it’s called a dungeon.

We made our way through the jungle.

“Keuheugh…! The bugs are disgusting.”

I hated bugs.

I liked them when I was young, but as people get older, they hate bugs.

It was my first time coming to a jungle area like this, so I couldn’t adapt to the sticky bugs at all. Standing in the foreground and breaking through the vines with Copson as you enter, a caterpillar falls like crazy on your shoulder. Suddenly, a moan escaped from my mouth.

“Ginger!”

As I shuddered, Copson looked at me and said,

“Crazy. You’re disgusting, you barbarian shack.”
“Hey. Take this caterpillar.”
“Ohhh! Fuck! Don’t throw it! Crazy barbarian shack!”
Hehe, you coward.”
“Keugh!”

There was a lot of visitors, so what looked like a road was formed on the floor, but it was also a jungle, so the vegetation that grew up above it obstructed the path. In case a monster might jump out, Meria put her rear on guard.

“Huh, I can’t seem to speed it up. This is why the mace is inconvenient.”

Elise’s heart seemed to be racing, so she started pounding her trees with her mace. As she befits a religion for humans, she was ruthless against Mother Nature. However, it was next to impossible for her to knock down a tree with her mace unless she was a superhuman.

ㅡPeruk!

Breaking through the vines with the mace seemed very difficult.

She sighed, perhaps tired of grappling with her vines.

“Move out of the way. We must burn them all. Light bolts…”
“Save your order.”

He dissuaded Elise, who was aiming at Morning Star with a serious expression. It wasn’t until the sun went down that she reached the entrance of the dungeon.

“Haha, we’ve finally arrived. Wow, look at the sweat. Can’t I smell it?”

Said Meria, throwing off her cloak of her. She was blinded by the sight, but alas, there were proper clothes under her overcoat.

“Not at all.”

Anyway, it’s exhaustion. It was fucking hard. Will it be the same when you return?

There were several places around the entrance of the dungeon that looked like other adventurers’ camps. Traces of simple tents and campfires.

In this way, we set up a campsite in front of the dungeon and explored it over several days.

We didn’t bring any equipment like that, but it was enough to procure that kind of equipment locally. All you have to do is spread fallen leaves on the ground and collect trees and large leaves to make walls and roofs. Adventurers are masters of biking and homelessness.

If that’s not the case, you can just go inside and set a night watch and sleep. That side would be warmer. It’s indoors I made a point at a suitable place a little away from the tents of other adventurers and said.

“Here, let’s prepare Ayoung.”

I looked around. The entrance to the faded dungeon made of bricks caught my eye. It seemed that there was a pattern drawn around the entrance, but it was so old that I couldn’t tell if it was a letter or a picture. Somehow it seems to be both.

The entrance to the dungeon, surrounded by all sorts of vegetation and vines, was very dark, as if it were a hole leading into an abyss. That is what leads underground. It’s the charnel house of the ancients… I guess I’ll go into that place tomorrow.

Nothing is known about the scale of this underground dungeon. That is Mary’s explanation. However, she says, there is only speculation that even if any building in the kingdom were buried intact, it would not reach the size of this ossuary palace.

“It’s a little late, but it’s good to look inside in advance.”

Elise moved her steps towards the entrance of the dungeon. I grabbed her by the shoulder of her.

Let’s rest today…

“I’ll go in tomorrow anyway, so I think it’s better to camp right away. When the sun goes down, it’s going to take a lot of time to prepare for camping. Let’s get up early and start exploring right away.”
“Is that so? Then let’s do that.”

We set up camp. As expected, they were masters of survival, so everyone acted skillfully, and a campsite was created in an instant. The sun has completely gone down. We lit a fire, heated up the food we had brought, and ate.