Chapter: 137
Iris found herself wandering in a Dungeon. But this wasn’t just any dungeon; it was different from the Old Man’s dungeon.
While the Old Man’s dungeon was a traditional one that had existed since ancient times, the one Iris was in was an evolved version called the Illusion Dungeon.
The Illusion Dungeon enchanted the minds of its victims, drawing them into its depths. By the time they came to their senses, they would find themselves standing in the middle of a path that seemed to stretch infinitely in both directions.
With dozens of paths slicing through, random monsters popping up, mind-numbing mental debuffs, and a living maze that wouldn’t let them retrace their steps—this was the place where you could enter but never exit.
Typically, an Illusion Dungeon would charm all the “humans” passing nearby, but this one was different. A woman had changed its conditions with the Old Man’s help.
The new condition was as follows: Instead of just any “human” passing around the dungeon, it specifically targeted “beautiful maiden women who have recently come of age.”
Since the standard of beauty was set by this woman, only those who could rival Iris’s level of attractiveness would be lured into the dungeon.
“There’s nothing quite like the thrill of watching someone wander aimlessly in a maze with no exit until they give up and despair!”
With an ecstatic expression, she licked her lips as she watched Iris starting to stumble through the maze.
“Now, let’s see how long you can last…”
Everything seemed to be going according to her plan. Or at least, it looked that way.
“Sniff sniff? Huh? I was sure I was following the smell of that cute Little One… where am I?”
Jess, a Beastman with looks that could rival Iris, stumbled in.
“…? Where am I? I thought I was looking for Pia?”
Noah, who hadn’t had a haircut in a while and had tied his shoulder-length hair up into a messy bun, also ended up wandering into the dungeon.
No one could have imagined that there would be three stunning maidens like Iris in the same village, so neither Jess nor Noah noticed Iris’s presence.
The woman was too busy drooling over the crystal ball that only showed Iris, blissfully unaware of what was happening around her.
*
Now, the question is, what kind of behavior would a Beastman display when lost in a strange maze without their master?
1. Wait quietly for their master.
2. Use rational thinking to find a way out.
“Chael!”
Boom, crash!
3. Tear the walls apart brutally, turning the maze into a mess!
Jess was incredibly intelligent. However, due to her upbringing, she learned early on that wise Beastmen die young, so she either didn’t use her brain or pretended not to use it like a fox.
For someone like Jess, if she actively thought hard, it wasn’t too difficult to see through the maze and find an escape route. However, that would be time-consuming and inefficient.
Efficiency, speed.
Introducing those two conditions, the answer became clear.
BAM! CRASH!
All the walls in sight began to crumble before Jess’s might. The stone walls, at least a meter thick, were starting to break down like chalk in her grasp.
The Illusion Dungeon moved as though it were alive. Destroying the walls like Jess did was akin to ripping apart the organs of a living creature from the inside out.
As time passed, the movements within the dungeon began to slow down.
Moreover, Jess broke through various protective magic circles and debuff traps hidden within the dungeon, causing it to gradually lose its intended function.
The chaos didn’t end with Jess.
Slash—BAM!
With just one sweep, the wall was sliced like butter, leaving a clean cut behind.
“Pia! If you can hear me, answer!”
Noah, with a serious expression, stepped over the shattered wall. Chunks of rock crumbled beneath her feet, but she continued on, creating more walls as obstacles in front of her.
As time passed, the interior of the dungeon became a wreck, reminiscent of a Medsai artist’s robot with gears snagged in its workings.
“Big brother? Are you here?”
Consequently, paths that were not supposed to be revealed began to show themselves, and Iris stepped into them. Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she walked down a darkened path. Her patience was wearing thin after being apart from her brother for too long.
For some reason, it felt like her hair was darker than usual.
*
Above all this chaos, a middle-aged woman was looking down in a daze, her facial expression in shock.
“What the heck… how did this happen?!”
She was the one who had brought Iris into the dungeon. Biting her nails nervously, she paced back and forth.
“Who are those two?! Why are the monsters so weak?! Why aren’t the magic spells activating?!”
Seeing monsters be swept away as if hit by a wide-range spell with just a flick of Jess’s hand and lose their heads with a single swing of Noah’s sword, she felt like she was losing her mind.
This was akin to advanced players falling into a beginner dungeon!
Just when she thought she couldn’t lose her mind anymore, Iris stepped into the forbidden secret area, and she truly thought she’d faint.
“Oh… no! There are important magical tools in there!”
The “Treatment Room” that drove those who had completely lost their sanity like zombies was where Iris was currently walking in on her own.
In order for a path inside the dungeon to open, the mental state of those who had entered must be completely wrecked. So when someone entered, critical magical tools were left unprotected. If even one of those were destroyed, it would be impossible to draw the maiden’s blood to regain youth.
“Aah! If that breaks, I won’t be able to return to my youthful form for a long time!”
But magical tools are still just magical tools.
If she wanted to obtain them again, it wasn’t impossible. After all, there existed the Demon King’s Land, a place where all kinds of cruel items are created daily.
It wasn’t the worst-case scenario, but the human psyche always proceeded to think that even minor damage was the worst.
“I can’t let this happen! I have to stop her now!”
Completely unaware of the calamity she would face once she stepped on stage, she began to take action to prevent Iris from destroying the tools.
The cast of actors was on stage, and the Comedy Filter had sharpened its edge.
“There should definitely be a Guardian Golem underground, right? If I can control them, I’ll figure something out!”
Thus, the female hell of destroying innocence began.
*
The putrid smell of blood soaked into the walls and floor of the “Treatment Room.” Iris frowned as she scanned the area.
“Ugh… this feels bad. I need to get out of here fast.”
For someone from the Empire, it would be a horrifying sight that could haunt their nightmares, but since it was a common scene in the Demon King’s Land, she didn’t feel a significant shock.
As she glanced over the various magical tools reminiscent of torture devices, something caught her eye. There was a round handle attached to the middle section of the wall.
“Is it a door to get out?”
Crack.
Without a second thought, Iris twisted the handle-like object, only to shatter it into pieces. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a dense black ore resting on a pedestal.
“Hmm…”
Iris carelessly tossed the shattered ore to the ground. Little did she know she had just destroyed the core that allowed her to control the Guardian Golem. From that point onward, Iris began to smash various objects.
It wasn’t intentional.
It was like when participants in an escape room mindlessly think, “Is this something I can use to escape?” as they tear down the ceiling and mess with the fire extinguisher.
She was only poking around here and there, wondering if any of it might help her escape.
“Oh, found it.”
It was only after Iris had destroyed all the magical tools that she found a passage behind the bookshelf.
…It was a passage that could only appear when furniture was moved in a specific manner, but Iris had no way of knowing that.
“Big brother… you’re not with another girl, are you?”
Her eyes sparkled dangerously as she hurriedly stepped inside.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged woman was running for her life, sweat pouring down, past the point of tears. Although she felt a bit younger now, she wasn’t back to her youthful body yet, so her joints creaked as she ran. But she couldn’t slow down.
Boom! Crash!
She was being chased by a massive group of Golems over three meters tall.
“AHHH! I’m the owner of this dungeon!”
Even as she screamed her lungs out, the Golems didn’t respond to her commands. Because Iris had destroyed the gem that let her control the Guardian Golem, they began to see anyone coming close as an enemy.
Unbeknownst to her, the woman ran madly with her hair disheveled and makeup smeared across her face.
After running for what felt like another three minutes, she barely managed to slip into the secret passage, finally able to catch her breath.
“Huff, huff…!”
She dropped to the ground, haggard as if she were an old rag that had been out in the damp air.
“This can’t be happening… it must be a dream… all of it…”
Muttering to herself in disbelief, she buried her face in her hands.
“W-what?!”
Suddenly, she felt her face and let out a scream. She quickly pulled out a palm-sized mirror from her pocket.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHH!”
Even when she was about to be chased to death by Golems, she never screamed like this. The echo of her shriek rang through the secret passage like a wailing banshee.
“No! No! My beauty! My youth…!”
Where there once had been only faint wrinkles, her once-taut face now sagged with hollow cheeks and a mess of wrinkles. To top it all off, her hair was slowly turning white from the roots.
*
Author’s Note: A big thank you to Ilham Senjaya for reading! Have a happy day! :3
Next chapter coming soon! (Hurry up!)
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