“No, it’s a total luck-based game.”
The Monster Coliseum system opened a while ago.
I was looking forward to it because a portion of the profits earned from the coliseum was given in jewels, but the results were not good at all.
“Hmph.”
The Monster Coliseum system was simple.
You could bet gold coins on the challenger who seemed likely to win.
If the candidate you bet on became the final winner, your profits would multiply by the odds.
Furthermore, I set the rules of the coliseum myself, so there was no foul play in this process.
The problem wasn’t the rules, but the monsters’ behavior.
It was as if they were manipulating the matches; the challengers I picked and bet on all died without even putting up a fight.
What’s more, they were challengers with high survival rates, which only increased my suspicion.
“Haa… This is strange. Something is wrong.”
Perhaps I was just unlucky.
Not a single one of my bets had been correct since the coliseum opened.
Especially on the first day the coliseum opened.
I had bet on an adventurer of Silver Rank.
– Baedan: A Silver Rank adventurer with extensive experience hunting monsters. He came to participate in this coliseum, driven by debt.
– Kale: A teenage sole provider who barely makes a living doing odd jobs.
The other challengers were ordinary people who couldn’t even properly handle weapons, or young teenagers.
Wouldn’t an adventurer be much stronger than those guys?
So I confidently bet my gold coins on him…
– The final winner is ‘Kale’!
The boy I thought would die first survived until the end.
What’s funny is that the goblins didn’t attack Kale specifically.
It was an unbelievable situation.
Moreover, the situation was the same in the next match and the match after that.
All the promising contenders died, and challengers who seemed unlikely to survive became the winners.
In the end, I’ve never seen a player I bet on win, ever.
“It’s not just a simple game, is it?”
Although I was watching the match through my smartphone screen, the world beyond was undeniably reality.
Perhaps I shouldn’t just simply analyze the challengers’ career information.
I was starting to lose my pride.
‘What on earth do I need to look at to make winning bets?’
Are there even people who win money there in the first place?
I fell into deep thought again, meticulously reading the profiles of the challengers for the next match.
As I stared for a long time, an alarm rang.
– Congratulations! ‘Kazel von Rosenberg’ has pledged voluntary loyalty, for the first time in human history.
“Huh?”
What is this?
Pledged loyalty to the dungeon voluntarily?
– As a reward, you can strengthen ‘Kazel von Rosenberg’, who pledged loyalty.
Not only that, but I can even strengthen humans.
It was unexpected news, but it wasn’t bad for me.
‘This way, I gain more options to use!’
If there were more talented individuals like Kazel von Rosenberg, I might have been able to handle the recent incident in the Sail Kingdom more smoothly.
Strengthening and utilizing not only monsters but also people would be a great help in the future.
So, this reward was quite satisfying.
However, the next alarm that followed was very abrupt.
– Baalcherit has visited the dungeon of Kanghyeon Lee.
What is this now?
‘Baalcherit.’
It was a name I couldn’t easily forget.
Baalcherit was the first 5-star monster I got through the subordinate recruitment.
But Baalcherit refused my choice.
Why did she refuse and then come to my dungeon?
Now was not the time to focus on the Monster Coliseum.
‘Something is definitely happening.’
I immediately closed the notification window and looked at the dungeon’s appearance.
* * *
Riche.
That was the alias Baalcherit used to hide her identity.
Once, as a descendant of the Vampire King’s bloodline, she commanded numerous subordinates and exerted her influence.
However, everything disappeared due to a surprise attack by the White Church.
The Vampire dungeons belonging to her faction collapsed, and her subordinates died or scattered.
To resolve the situation, she incurred a great debt from the Underworld Merchant Guild, but she couldn’t repay it and was being chased.
In the end, having lost everything, she wandered repeatedly and finally reached the Sail Kingdom.
One hope she had was to find the owner of the voice that had once come to her.
And she had come all this way with the speculation that the owner of that voice must be in the Sail Kingdom.
“Are we really supposed to go up here?”
Baalcherit asked Dambi and Rills in horror.
They were adventurers who had helped her when she was in trouble.
Of course, they were adventurers only in appearance; in reality, they were monsters. Especially Dambi, who, despite having mixed blood, was a vampire like herself, making her trustworthy.
But the place in front of them now was the Silent Mountain Range.
If they crossed this, the Demonic Realm would appear, but that wasn’t the problem.
The Underworld Merchant Guild surely had stationed troops throughout the mountain range to capture her, the one they were owed a debt by.
“Don’t worry, Riche. Our Master’s dungeon is here.”
When Rills spoke, Dambi nodded as well.
Although the Underworld Merchant Guild weighed on her mind, upon seeing Dambi, who was a fellow vampire, nodding, Baalcherit finally took a step forward.
“Ugh… Alright. I’ll go up for now.”
Originally, she intended to go to the kingdom’s royal capital first, but Baalcherit had no plan, so she needed a place to stay for the moment.
In such a situation, she thought of staying at Dambi and Rills’ dungeon for a few days.
‘It might be of lower quality than my own dungeon, but what can I do?’
Baalcherit, who was once the owner of a brilliant dungeon.
However, after the dungeon’s management rights were transferred to the Merchant Guild, she became penniless.
For now, she urgently needed a place to stay, so even a seemingly insignificant dungeon was something to be grateful for.
“Gwoo?”
The only thing she had now was a Stew Slime.
Holding the Stew Slime in her arms, she followed Dambi and Rills up the mountain range.
Even if the Underworld Merchant Guild’s pawns appeared, Baalcherit possessed the power to deal with them.
How far had they climbed?
A vast forest spread out.
And a presence was felt from within the forest.
“……!”
“Gwoo-eo?”
Could it be those sent by the Merchant Guild?
As Baalcherit hugged the Stew Slime tightly and became wary.
“Kruu, you’ve come.”
A goblin sprang out.
The problem was, it wasn’t just one.
Behind the goblins that first sprang out, numerous goblins revealed themselves.
More importantly, their equipment was different.
‘Is that a goblin?’
The goblins Baalcherit knew were lower-class monsters wearing ragged clothes and carrying rusty weapons.
But the goblins before her were different.
They wore armor made of high-quality leather and carried intricately crafted weapons.
“What’s going on? The number of scouts seems to have increased compared to usual.”
Dambi said, looking at the goblins.
There seemed to be an excessive increase in the number of scouts compared to normal.
“Krueu, we’ll catch one monster! That’s the order from the Chief Administrator! Kuel. But who is that?”
The goblin at the front pointed at Baalcherit and asked.
“Ah, I’m late with the introduction. This is Riche. She’s someone who lost her way, so we were hoping to get permission for her to stay here for a while.”
“I see.”
In response to Rills’ answer, the goblins nodded. Then, as if they lost interest, they went back into the forest, maintaining their combat readiness.
“Haa, that’s amazing…!”
Baalcherit marveled at the impeccably organized goblins.
Judging by the number and equipment of the goblins alone, it was certainly a decent dungeon.
Moreover, she assumed it was a goblin dungeon.
She didn’t know how Dambi and Rills came to live in a goblin dungeon, but she was quite surprised by the goblins’ fighting power.
That level of organization meant the dungeon master put considerable effort into defense.
They were surely more meticulous than her in the past.
“By the way, is it alright for me to be here? From the looks of it, you seem to be preparing for a battle.”
She mulled over what the goblin had just said.
The goblin clearly said they were going to catch one monster.
It seemed to be a tense situation, and she wondered if it was okay for her, who wasn’t even a member of the dungeon, to stay comfortably.
To Baalcherit’s worries, Rills waved her hand.
“It’s okay, Riche. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Baalcherit nodded.
Now that she saw it, not only the goblins but also Dambi and Rills seemed to have immense loyalty to the dungeon.
She could feel their confidence that their dungeon would absolutely not be breached.
“Th-that’s right!”
At this point, she was a little curious.
Who on earth were they trying to catch?
Whoever it was, they were probably in a similar situation to herself, being chased by the Merchant Guild.
‘That guy must be quite pitiful.’
Baalcherit felt a sense of kinship with the unknown opponent.
* * *
After passing the goblin scout team, they finally arrived at the dungeon entrance.
“Huh? Is this really a dungeon? I don’t feel any energy from it.”
Baalcherit, having lived for many years, prided herself on her knowledge of dungeons.
Dungeons emitted a dark and ominous aura. Although there were degrees of this, it was her first time encountering a dungeon that emitted no aura at all.
It was as quiet and peaceful as an ordinary cave.
“Surprisingly, yes, this is it. Riche. Please follow me carefully.”
Baalcherit was surprised many times today.
The ability to hide the dungeon’s aura.
Baalcherit followed Dambi and Rills into the dungeon.
Upon entering, the interior of the dungeon was unbelievably clean.
Not only the floor but also the walls were spotless.
As they moved further, they encountered three paths.
Dambi didn’t hesitate and immediately entered the central path.
‘The rest must be places with traps.’
Since this was her first time here, she followed Dambi wordlessly from behind.
And the sight that unfolded before her eyes left Baalcherit speechless once again.
Goblins of all kinds filled a large hall.
Among them, there was also a Goblin Lord, who appeared to be the leader.
“Could he be the owner of the dungeon?”
The Goblin Lord was also a 5-star entity.
Even if the actual power was unknown, in terms of rank, he was on the same level as her, so Baalcherit assumed the Goblin Lord was the dungeon master.
Moreover, in addition to goblins, there were also Goblin Shamans and Hobgoblins here.
Everyone was diligently training with weapons.
But Dambi and Rills passed by those goblins.
“?”
Baalcherit moved forward with a bewildered expression at their actions.
After passing the place where the goblins were, the next area revealed a massive lake.
“This…”.
Now, she was too surprised to even speak properly.
A huge lake existing underground.
Nearby, ghouls and humans were intensely working with shovels and pickaxes.
And the being supervising them.
“Could it be that a Death Knight is the owner here!”
A 5-star Death Knight was staring intently at the humans.
Yes, that must be the owner.
Although her mind was in chaos, Baalcherit was convinced of this.
She didn’t know why a Goblin Lord and a Death Knight coexisted, but there must be some reason.
“Just what… what kind of dungeon do you live in…”
Baalcherit couldn’t help but click her tongue at the sight before her.
Based on what she had seen so far, she could gauge the dungeon’s immense scale and power.
Wouldn’t the Underworld Merchant Guild bow their heads first for such a dungeon?
In the first place, there was no possibility of this dungeon being conquered, but even if a dangerous situation arose, wouldn’t the Guild proactively step in?
“Haa…”
The current dungeon was inexplicably absurd.
But Dambi moved towards the next area without a word.
“……?”
Come to think of it, there was another passage opposite them.
This time it was a section going down, and Rills opened her mouth.
“If you go down here, it’s the second floor. The place we were just at was the first floor. Please descend carefully.”
Upon reaching the bottom, a drastically different landscape unfolded.
“Kyaaaak! I told you everything! Stop it now!”
Constant screams of pain could be heard from there.
An Ogre was torturing humans without rest.
“Left, should we stop now?”
“No. Right. Said. The manager. Keep torturing. This time, use water.”
“Good idea. Left. Water knows. The answer.”
Moreover, it was an ogre with two heads. And beside it, a water spirit was wailing.
“Pyuu! Pyuu!”
The Ogre grabbed the human’s head and brought it directly to the Water Spirit’s body.
The scene was so brutal that Baalcherit involuntarily squeezed her eyes shut.
What was the identity of this dungeon?
‘Not to mention a Goblin Lord and a Death Knight…’
It was a dungeon created by various monsters gathering.
She was confused.
But this time too, Dambi walked forward without a word.
‘Could it be….’
Could it be that there was something else beyond this?
Wanting to escape this place, she quickly followed.
Finally, they reached the core of the dungeon.
The core was very quiet.
The Dungeon Core revealed itself, but unidentified beings in robes guarded it on both sides.
Upon walking further, she saw humans trapped in cages.
There were even three goblins that looked like humans.
As she continued to walk, Skeleton Knights came into view.
The Skeleton Knights stood still in their positions, waiting.
Next to them stood a human, diligently shuffling papers.
They looked busy, but their expression conveyed satisfaction.
And Dambi, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
“This is the office of the person who manages the dungeon.”
As Dambi said, it was indeed an office, and the door was tightly closed.
Baalcherit tensed up as she looked at the office door.
Given what she had seen so far, she couldn’t even guess how powerful the dungeon’s owner might be.
Who could be the owner who commanded two 5-star entities?
A Skeleton Knight knocked on the office door.
A moment later, the tightly closed door opened.
