Chapter 397 – 35. Saving Adlen Party

Kismega Adlen.

SS-class warrior of the Glaser Empire.

“Joo Woong is currently missing…”

“Are you okay?”

The half-orc monk, Otan, asked Adlen, who looked somewhat pitiful.

She usually gets angry uniquely that is different from others.

But today was different.

“Ugh… It’s okay…”

“Hmm. Your condition is serious.”

Otan groaned and looked at Adlen.

The person who was more dishonest than anyone he had ever seen was Adlen, the leader of the party he belonged to.

I can’t believe a woman like that would answer normally without complaining.

This was not good.

“Noisy, loud…”

“Please wait a moment. I will fetch water soon.”

Otan got up from his seat and came out of the cave.

What you see is a vast sandy desert with an endless, dark yellow color.

And there is a small oasis, a waterhole, visible not far away.

‘I was lucky.’

He thought as he walked toward the oasis.

It was two days ago that the two discovered water and a cave.

From what I feel, it’s been almost a month since I was shipwrecked here.

It is inevitable that we do not know the exact date.

There is no night in the desert here in the dungeon, so there is always scorching heat.

Thanks to this, there was no pain due to the extreme temperature difference, but instead, it was difficult due to the dry heat that could easily exceed 60 degrees.

‘If the discovery had been a little later…’

Otan unconsciously turned his head and glanced back.

I knew the condition was bad, but it was worse than I thought.

Of course it may be work.

No matter how strong Adlen’s physical abilities were as an SS-class warrior, the Dolumuz Dungeon is a rough terrain of the highest difficulty level that put such people in danger time and again. It was not an ordinary desert, but a space with its own strange laws that seemed to deny the very existence of living things.

‘The same goes for water issues.’

Otan filled the bottles he brought with him with water from the oasis.

If this dungeon did not occur naturally but was created by someone, he must have a very terrible personality.

There is no problem drinking the water itself, but once you leave the oasis, it evaporates within half a day.

The same applies even if you somehow block the heat with magic or artifacts.

Therefore, I had to go back and forth to the oasis once in a while to get drinking water.

Fortunately, it was not far from the cave, so something like this was possible.

‘If the two places were far away, it would have been difficult no matter where I stayed.’

You can’t get drinking water in the cave, which has run out.

In an oasis, you can’t escape the oppressive heat.

The worst environment where you can’t help but miss one no matter which one you choose.

‘We were lucky, but I don’t know if the rest will be okay.’

As he scooped up water and returned to Adlen, Otan thought of the other party members for the first time in a while.

The total number of members of the Adlen Party is six.

They have at least some support thanks to the two of them being together, but what about the other four people?

Maybe they are together, maybe all four are scattered.

What is certain is that it will be hard for everyone either way.

The six of us carried the supplies evenly without a porter, but it has been a month since the shipwreck.

The original duration for conquering the dungeon was about a month.

This includes the time to defeat the boss, resolve the cause of the dungeon, or return.

If you saved the supplies, there may still be some left, but in some cases, they may have been lost.

I hope everyone is safe, but maybe it’s a vain hope.

“Whew. The frequency is still immature. Such useless thoughts.”

Otan shakes his head and shakes off his anxious worries.

I entered the cave, moistening my mouth, which had become stuffy from muttering to myself, with water.

“Ugh…”

Her son, Ren, is lying on a sleeping bag, tossing and turning in pain.

He said, holding the water bottle to her mouth.

“Please eat, Miss Adlen.”

“Ugh…? Gulp, gulp. … Gulp.”

Perhaps she was asleep or unconscious, but she followed his words and swallowed little by little the water that came into her mouth.

But she didn’t open her eyes. Maybe I couldn’t do it.

Her guilt has continued to weigh on her since she lost her way.

It was eating away at her son Ren’s spirit and depleting her in real time.

“Aren’t you going to wake up?”

“…”

Adlen had no answer.

Maybe I don’t want to do it.

Otan shook his head and walked away from her and sat down in her corner.

I want to stay by her side, but it’s obvious that my son Ren will have a hard time for no reason.

‘A month missing. A rescue team will soon be formed. No, maybe they already sent it.’

What kind of people will the rescue team be made up of?

Since this is the 4th dungeon and not any other place, the rescue team will be comprised of a few elites.

So Han So-young, an SS-class hero like Adlen, or many S-class heroes.

Perhaps Han Si-woo, a saint from the Kingdom of Palania, is also a possibility.

“Anyone… I hope you come as soon as possible.”

While keeping his distance from Adlen, Otan muttered honest words to himself.

She endures it because her son Ren is having a harder time by her side, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get tired.

The way of capital is to push oneself to the limit, castrate one’s desires, and reach a state of perfection.

But this is different.

Endless heat. Anxiety about the future. Dryness, as if there is no moisture at all. Materials showing signs of decline little by little.

Even colleagues who are suffering with no way to help.

The only consolation was that there were no suitable organisms.

Maybe it’s because there are no creatures that can live here.

‘It’s such a strange thing. It would take a huge amount of magic attribute to maintain this size of space and this size of environment. How on earth can a place like this be maintained for more than several decades?’

Although common sense does not apply to the four major dungeons, it is definitely puzzling.

Otan is not the type of person to care about such things, but since he has nothing to do here, he has a lot of idle thoughts.

“There may be some special power source.”

A monologue muttered without much thought.

But his prediction was correct.

“What are these? Does anyone live here?”

Thaum shook his head at the Succubus Queen’s words.

“Is that possible?”

“Then what are they?”

The people in the direction her fingertips are pointing are two men and women.

The two, both looking haggard, were resting under the oasis.

Considering their skills, it wasn’t something that would go unnoticed, but the men and women’s senses were dulled perhaps because they were exhausted.

Moreover, they never thought that there would be anyone here other than their party.

“Hmm. These are faces I’ve seen before.”

“What? Really?”

The Succubus Queen was startled and made a fuss.

Although she asked, she didn’t think she would know.

I was just asking for fun, but it turned out to be a familiar face.

“Where did I see that?”

“Maybe… Yes, you probably saw it too.”

“Huh?”

“I am a party member of SS-class hero Adlen.”

“Ah…! That’s right!”

She couldn’t remember the woman at all, but she could recall the man’s face.

I heard that the Adlen party included two men, which was rare, so I looked closely to remember it.

One of them was a eunuch, and the other one didn’t have a good face, so I quickly passed on the information.

“It’s an SS-class hero party. Interesting.”

“They must have come to attack. But since there are only two of us, there’s no way they’re wandering around in a desert like this, so they must be in trouble.”

“Kyahaha! That’s fun!”

The Succubus Queen giggled and laughed frivolously.

Among her demons, there are many with dirty personalities, and she doesn’t have a very good personality either.

Heroes and humans are enemies anyway.

So there was nothing wrong with openly enjoying their misfortune.

“What should we do? If it were just the two of us, we would die if we just lightly swiped.”

“There’s no need to do that. You’ll die on your own in a few more days anyway. Let’s not put any effort into it.”

“Yeah, well. Well, it’s still a shame…”

The Succubus Queen quenched her appetite as she looked at the man in the distance.

It’s not her taste at all, but she’s starving right now.

She saw the man several times on the way here, but she had no choice but to restrain herself.

That’s because the succubus’ energy absorption is so unique and powerful that it is well known, at least in the southern part of the empire, close to the front lines. If you absorb the vital energy for no reason and your traces are discovered, not only will your original goal of capturing the saint, but even Taum’s mission, will fail.

‘And the woman next to him looks like a lover, huh. Stealing someone else’s man is quite a special seasoning♡’

The thoughts of the succubus queen clearly visible on her face.

Thaum shook her head and said clearly.

“No.”

“Tch.”

“Instead, if you are still alive after the job is over, do it yourself.”

“Oh, good, good.”

She was happily clapping her doctor and then tilted her head.

“Huh? But how are we going to find those guys?”

“Don’t worry about that. Once I get my hands on the item… This dungeon will disappear.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Come to think of it, you haven’t said anything yet. Tell me straight!”

“You’re being annoying.”

Thaum, King of Gashiz, clicked his tongue but opened his mouth to explain.

The Gashizu, a demon whose entire body is made of flame, had one treasure of their race.

A small bead called the seed of the sun.

However, there is enormous flame energy within it.

Due to its nature, Gashizu does not reproduce through sexual intercourse like other living creatures.

Similar to some cnidarians, they take off part of their own body and use it to create offspring.

However, the energy that made up Gashizu’s body was a kind of life force.

In other words, a considerable amount of life force is expended to have children.

And that too in a way that cannot be recovered.

What can help with that is the clan’s treasure, the Seed of the Sun.

Although their bodies are made of energy, they have a long lifespan and difficult reproduction methods, so the seeds of the sun were absolutely necessary.

In order to track down the long-lost treasure, Thaum followed the trail for a long time and finally found out.

The Seed of the Sun is the source of Dolumuz, the four major dungeons.

“That’s roughly how it happened.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. But can you tell me? That seems like a pretty important fact.”

“Anyway, it’s a secret known to everyone. The same goes for the existence of treasure. Anyway, if it gets into my hands, who will steal it?”

“Well, anyway, it’s hard to turn one clan into an enemy.”

“I don’t really trust you, but the survival methods of succubi and us Gashizus have little overlap.”

“Ah. So let’s cooperate so that we can all live well.”

“Huh. That’s the correct answer.”

“It’s not bad.”

The Succubus Queen and Taum looked at each other and grinned.

And left.

To find Gashizu’s treasure, the Seed of the Sun.