Chapter: The Shackles of a Colossal Misunderstanding
“Gru, the car’s high, so I’ll carry you down.”
“Yesh.”
The manager picked Gru up and set him down on the ground.
“I’m fine.”
Velrark refused, but the manager would not take no for an answer.
Gru watched Velrark get carried down by the manager too, then checked the filming site.
‘They’re all stuck, unable to do anything……’
The numerous lead and supporting actors in zombie makeup were sitting huddled together.
The staff had gathered in twos and threes, exchanging words with worried expressions, and the director had left his seat.
Not far from the set, a Gate was pulsating.
If I don’t clear that thing quickly, all those people will come up empty-handed.
Seeing it directly, it felt like an even bigger problem than I thought.
Gru made eye contact with Uju and nodded.
Having received the signal, Uju made a face like he’d been struck by lightning, then promptly shook his head vigorously up and down.
“Gru, bathroom.”
Gru immediately headed to the portable toilet, taking Velrark and Mephisto with him.
[The skill ‘The Dungeon is an Open Door’ activates.]
The moment Gru opened the portable toilet door, instead of a toilet, the scenery inside a dungeon came into view.
Gru rummaged through his bag, pulled out a transformation rod, and stepped inside.
*Rumble—!*
The sound of lightning gathering within the clouds could be heard.
“It’s a thunder domain.”
Velrark narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin as if in deep thought.
“Could it be that bastard’s domain?”
In the meantime, having finished transforming into Jjapsso and placing Lucifer on his shoulder, Gru looked around the ruined temple.
“That guy?”
“Hmm, if it were him, things would get much easier, you see.”
While Gru was puzzled, he felt the gazes of monsters beyond the temple walls.
But he wasn’t afraid. Because of Mephisto’s fear immunity.
When Gru grinned, meeting eyes with Mephisto looking down from above his head, Mephisto pecked at the empty air with his beak.
At that moment.
The temple, which had been shrouded in thunderclouds, became a building shrouded in fluffy white clouds.
The lightning that had been rumbling within the steam now sounded like bubbling water droplets, and on a worn sign hanging precariously above the old building, the word “Bathhouse” was written.
The monsters trembling behind the walls had turned into bright red octopus dolls, poking their heads out furtively.
“An octopus?!”
As Gru was surprised, Velrark explained.
“Due to Mephisto’s influence, it only looks that way to you.”
“Hoo…… Mephisto, you possess a remarkable ability.”
“Cheep cheep cheep!”
Mephisto tucked his wings against his stubby waist and laughed triumphantly. His gaze was directed at Velrark.
It was a sly face, as if to say how different his position was from Velrark’s.
Why that little—! Velrark clenched his fist tight.
‘Does that Mephisto bastard truly wish to become the master’s pet?’
In any case, Mephisto was a being who had sealed Sayer and even become Emperor. It meant he was virtually the strongest.
Yet to have made such a being into a toady not just in body but in heart as well.
‘Just what in the world is the new master……’
As he realized anew how incredible his master was, Velrark thought ‘I don’t want to become like that,’ yet felt his heart growing increasingly impatient.
Between Mephisto’s smug expression and the sight of his master praising him non-stop…….
Velrark stood right up next to Gru, who was looking at Mephisto chatting amiably with the trembling octopus.
“……Nothing should go wrong since we’re here, but it’s still best to be careful. With low intelligence, they might cause an incident instead.”
Velrark took Gru’s teddy bear paw and pulled him to his side. At the same time, sensing the intimidation Velrark emanated, the monsters fled like a shot.
“Oh, I see.”
Velrark put his arm around Gru’s shoulders as if to protect him. Seeing Mephisto’s eyes tremble in an instant, Velrark curled his lips upward.
‘This is our standing. I am the master’s guardian, but no matter how much you struggle, you’re merely a pet playing the toady.’
‘You must have targeted Seo Uju, my prey, for that very reason.’
‘Trying to gain power and attain human form.’
Hmph! Velrark snorted.
‘Even I can only occasionally sample while gauging the master’s mood; there’s no way that toady could devour Seo Uju.’
‘Power, humanization, or the position of Gru’s first guardian—it’s all a pie in the sky for you!’
When Velrark said so with his eyes, Mephisto opened his eyes fiercely like never before.
*Snap crackle—*
The two were once again opening the prelude to war, sparks flying between them.
Gru gazed at the bathhouse sign shrouded in steam-like clouds, then stroked Lucifer as he rubbed his cheek against him and spoke.
“Velraaark, when are we practicing Yorang?”
“Ah, let’s head to the boss room first.”
Velrark pointed at the bathhouse building (the temple) with his thumb.
At this, Gru nodded and pulled a bicycle out from his inventory.
*Squeak— Squeak squeak—*
Before long, the old bicycle headed toward the center of the temple.
*
The negotiations with the film company ultimately ended in the guild’s victory.
Kim Inhan, guild master of Blue Lagoon, who had haggled up to four times the generally accepted price using all manner of bluster, smirked as he put on leather gloves in front of the Gate.
“Guys, skip everything and dive straight into the boss room raid. We gotta finish this quick for ’em.”
“Huh? What about farming?”
“Hey, it’s two whole contracts, two! If the client’s promised us this much, we ought to provide some service. Don’t be petty, Blue Lagoon.”
Laughter burst out here and there at Kim Inhan’s words.
“Everyone checked their weapons?”
“Yes!”
“Yessir!”
“Let’s get going already~”
While checking the team members answering one by one, he blinked as his eyes landed on one person.
“What the?”
“What is it?”
“Uh…… it’s just……”
Had there been a guy like this? An unfamiliar face was wedged among the team members. With such striking looks, he was hardly a face you’d forget, and yet…….
“You, what was your name again?”
“Ah.”
He moved his lips as if practicing how to speak—
“Ah…… Dominik. I’m Dominik.”
He barely managed to spit out the name.
“Ahh, right. It was Dominik. These days I’m such a blockhead.”
He smacked his forehead with his palm.
Right, Dominik. A newbie who joined recently?
But why did I put him in Team 1’s raid party? Was he that skilled?
He wasn’t the only one puzzled. The guild members were each bewildered, yet perhaps finding it difficult to speak up about a newcomer’s placement, they said nothing.
“Let’s move out!”
In the end, they began their departure toward the depths of the dungeon beyond the Gate, and from behind them, Dominik smiled faintly.
*Zzzt— Zzzzt!*
A massive temple and the thunderclouds surrounding it were revealed before their eyes.
“Spooky.”
“……But why are there so few mobs?”
The team members who checked their sparse surroundings were puzzled.
“I know, right? It’s like someone swept through here first…….”
“Like that could happen.”
“Right. We bid on this dungeon.”
“Well, days like this happen too. This is actually better. Let’s head straight to the boss room. Follow me.”
*Tap tap!*
As the guild master picked up speed first, the team members dashed after him.
Running toward the central part of the temple where the boss room should be, Kim Inhan’s eyes darted about.
‘Strange. Why isn’t any monster coming out? As if they’re terrified of something……’
Perhaps the guild members felt the same strangeness; the guys who had been chattering happily had fallen silent before anyone knew it.
“……”
Having smoothly arrived near the boss room, the team members checked their items and glanced at each other.
They were all experienced hunters. They knew that monsters weren’t afraid of them.
Which meant there might be something else here.
The moment they sharpened their senses.
*Rumble— Rumble!*
*Squeak— Squeak squeak—*
From beyond the thunderclouds, hair-raising sounds overlapped and rang out.
It was the sound of rusty hinges creaking endlessly.
Everyone turned their heads toward the sound, tense.
The one who opened his mouth in the silence was Guild Master Kim Inhan.
“That mana…….”
The team members all nodded as if they understood his meaning.
They could feel enormous mana from the one making that hinge-like sound.
‘A-rank?’
No…… One wouldn’t release their mana so openly unless they had considerable confidence.
‘Definitely S-rank.’
*Gulp.*
The sound of swallowing saliva was heard here and there from those who intuitively realized their opponent was S-rank.
Running into an S-rank hunter by chance in a dungeon?
They couldn’t have entered by mistake, and it was definitely not a good thing.
‘Did the film company send them?’
While Kim Inhan’s mind raced in all directions, the sound drew ever closer.
*Squeak— Squeak— Squeak—*
The first thing they saw was an adorable teddy bear foot pedaling a bicycle as it approached.
And soon, a pink teddy bear doll gradually revealed itself.
Like the Bremen Town Musicians, it had a hamster and a rabbit on either shoulder, and a baby bird perched on its head.
Its adorable appearance was enough to make their jaws drop in relief from the tension, but soon a solemn mechanical voice rang out—utterly at odds with it.
“Nameless guild, well met.”
“……”
Jjapsso?
Everyone let out hollow laughs, but soon their expressions turned to ones of incomprehension.
Isn’t Jjapsso a production-class? Why is a production-class here alone? And how can a production-class have such immense mana?
It was a moment when all sorts of questions floated among the guild members.
Perhaps reading the silence in its own way, Jjapsso opened its mouth again.
“Fear not. I shall take charge of this place!”
The voice boomed and echoed through the temple as if speaking from a cave.
*Rumble! BOOM!*
Inside the lightning-struck temple, what the solemn voice had uttered was unmistakably a declaration to seize the dungeon.
“……?”