Skeletons ahead, iron ball behind—Hainis felt like she was going to die!
Although Feli could shoot energy slashes from her sword to destroy the skeletons, it slowed her down, and the iron ball was getting closer and closer. Then...
She had a revelation! The holes in the tunnel walls were actually useful!
"This way!"
She quickly pulled Hainis into one of the alcoves. The next second, the iron ball roared past, grinding the skeletons into pieces.
Feli was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily from the scare.
The young lady was trembling in her arms, then looked up with teary eyes and muttered:
"I... I peed my pants..."
Feli was speechless.
It took her a while to calm the frightened Hainis down. They stepped out of the alcove, but after just a few steps, they heard the iron ball rolling again from above!
"Again?!"
After a very, very long time, they finally reached the end of the tunnel, looking like total messes—especially Hainis, who looked on the verge of collapse.
"Finally... we're out..."
Feli had tears in her eyes. No one would understand what they had just gone through.
Every few steps, another iron ball would appear, forcing them to duck into alcoves to avoid being squashed.
To make matters worse, some alcoves had hidden skeletons that ambushed them!
Who the hell designed something so dirty!?
This isn't for beginners! If Feli wasn't at least a mid-level swordswoman, she'd be dead by now.
She swore that once she got out of the dungeon, she'd find the person who sold her false info and slice them in two.
Upon exiting the tunnel, they arrived at an open area. In front of them was an iron door. When they opened it...
"A cliff?"
Feli's expression changed dramatically. About 300-400 meters away, there were stairs leading up... but at their feet was only a dark abyss.
"Wait, Feli, I think there's something there," Hainis said, crawling between her legs and tossing a stone forward.
Surprisingly, the stone didn't fall. It bounced, as if hitting something, and stayed floating in midair.
"An invisible bridge!"
Feli reacted instantly. Using objects to test the way, she finally confirmed there was an invisible bridge about half a meter wide.
"Miss, you're amazing!"
Holding Hainis's hand, they carefully made their way across the bridge, taking short steps. And thank goodness! Because the bridge twisted a lot.
Slowly, they reached the middle.
"I just want to get out of here..." Hainis muttered, completely demoralized.
Feli gently patted her head with a forced smile. "Miss, once we get out of here—"
"Whizz!"
A short whistle interrupted her sentence. Feli dodged sideways, and a large arrow grazed her waist. If it had hit, it would've knocked her off the bridge!
Where did that come from!?
"Fe... Feli..."
A weak voice made her look down... and her eyes widened.
The arrow had pierced Hainis's chest. Its crooked tip stuck out, stained with flesh.
She looked at Feli in confusion, took a wrong step... and fell off the invisible bridge.
"Aaaah!"
Feli's mind went blank. Another arrow came flying, piercing her abdomen and pinning her to the bridge.
Before losing consciousness, she saw the source of the arrows.
On the ceiling, two goblins painted to blend in with the rock were laughing: "Hee hee hee..."
"Subjects number 88 and 89."
In the castle master's chamber, Gong Ji-young watched a huge floating orb showing multiple screens of adventurers inside the dungeon.
When he saw Feli's "corpse" turn into a light beam, he smiled.
"Everyone who enters carries a resurrection stone that teleports them to the revival room upon death. Perfect! I can place all the traps I want."
But revival isn't free.
Dying too many times in a short period causes "loss of humanity." At first just dizziness or fever. Then amnesia. If abused... worse things could happen.
On the very first morning since the new Sain dungeon opened, nearly 200 people had died. A death rate on par with the most dangerous dungeons!
Most were miners with pickaxes, searching for the dungeon's rare minerals.
"There's a lot to improve. Real life isn't the same as a game," Gong Ji-young muttered.
He had forgotten something important in his design: "Here, people can use magic. And there are really strange races."
A birdman flew over his poison swamp, a giant kicked down his sealed door, and a mage purified his skeletons with holy magic...
You can't break doors in games! But in real life? Yes!
He had so much to fix it overwhelmed him. But then a notification appeared:
[Spend 5,000 spirit energy to level up as dungeon master?]
"Yes."
[You have obtained Dungeon Master Level 2]
[Unlocked: Teleportation – you may appear anywhere in the dungeon at any time]
[Unlocked: Mimicry – change form using spirit energy; strength of disguise depends on energy spent]
[More features unlocked at higher levels]
[Updating available monsters and buildings...]
Gong Ji-young sighed in relief. Finally, he could leave that dark castle chamber!
His predecessor, Gedwin, was an undead. His intelligence had decayed over time, until he could barely function. That's why he lost all his privileges.
[Available Monsters (updated): Skeleton, minotaur, slime, rotting dog, blood mosquito, ghost, goblin group, low-level snake-man, berserk zombie]
Available monsters were based on what the dungeon master had seen and understood in-depth.
Each dungeon master was a monster expert!
But Gedwin... well, being undead ruined it all.
"Update."
Gong Ji-young was anxious. He only knew what Gedwin remembered, so he didn't expect anything new.
[Update complete]
[New monsters: Cursed frog, giant cursed frog]
"Huh?"
Gong Ji-young was puzzled. There shouldn't be cursed frogs in this world!
[New monsters: Black knight, silver knight, furnace knight, dead knight]
[New monsters: Rolling skeleton, giant bone ball, suicide skeleton...]
[New monsters: Zinogre, Mizutsune, Arzuros, Aknosom, Jaggi]
[New monsters: Pikachu, Gengar, Haunter, Weezing...]
[New monsters: Muzan Kibutsuji, Kokushibo, Doma, Akaza...]
[New monsters: Peashooter, Cherry Bomb, Fat Mushroom...]
[New monsters...]
Gong Ji-young stared at the endless list of over a hundred entries... and froze.
Finally, he muttered:
"What the hell is all this?"
"...This totally went off-style, didn't it?"