It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

‘What is this? And where am I?’

An incomprehensible situation.

Elias rolled his eyes in all directions and turned his body while being vigilant, only relaxing his tension after being certain there was no immediate threat.

‘I’ve never heard of a situation like this. Entering a mansion and suddenly entering… But this is…’

Though only high-rank, he is a knight.

He had gone through most battles in his parents’ territory, and had entered high-rank dungeons several times.

Thanks to that, he could tell.

-Ooooh…

‘This is clearly the presence of a dungeon. One undergoing demonification. Probably… undead type.’

Though it looks like just a somewhat gloomy mansion on the outside, the true identity of this place now is a dungeon undergoing ‘demonification’.

The Ironfield Marquis family didn’t give him a succession rank, but they weren’t stingy in giving experiences to survive and advance.

‘Could it be… I’ve crossed over to a demon realm? But how far is the distance? I’ve never heard of such a spatial transfer magic.’

Long-distance teleportation or large-scale spatial transfer magic were grand magics that inevitably required precursors and signs.

So that possibility didn’t make sense.

However, even if he excluded that thought and accepted the situation, there was something incomprehensible.

“It hasn’t been long since a high-rank dungeon was subjugated inland, yet there’s still another high-rank dungeon?”

Elias, who voiced those words, felt goosebumps rising up his back.

A high-rank dungeon is the beginning of ‘demonification’.

And that meant it was just one step away from nurturing seeds that could become a great threat.

The elite stage where it starts full-scale continental invasion by drawing in other surrounding dungeons.

Until there.

The reason why the Kingdom of Heisen frantically mobilized reserves as soon as the dungeon in Copzerin was discovered last time was for this reason.

Since they didn’t know how long it had been high-rank, they had to subjugate it quickly.

Before it became an elite-grade dungeon and reached the point of having to call adventurers at the border with the magical realm.

Yet to think another high-rank dungeon exists inland, without even being discovered.

That’s…

“No. There’s a possibility this is the demilitarized zone at the border. Luckily… no, unluckily, the signs of demonification might not have reached the army… Then…”

‘It should be within a range that can be moved by spatial transfer.’

The boundary between countries, the point where fortresses face each other.

Just inside that, it’s easier for dungeons to grow.

Because human armies focus their reconnaissance only on the border, the vigilance relatively weakens inside that.

In some sense, it could be seen as military negligence, but it hasn’t been a problem until now.

‘Well, because it’s the border.’

A place where any country’s forces are always on standby.

The dungeon detection magic of the adventurers’ guild doesn’t have an effect there, but when a dungeon grows to high-rank, it inevitably gets detected.

The signs of demonification are so large that they can be detected from anywhere unless it’s a really sparsely populated area.

Then, forces that can subjugate it immediately gather.

There was such knowledge background to why Libertas limited the aura so that the signs of demonification were confined internally as soon as it started inside the dungeon.

However, even if this place is near the border, while the situation might be better than being inside a demon realm, it’s still not good for him.

‘Another high-rank dungeon. And I’m now… in that dungeon…?’

It was then.

Tack tack tack…!

Elias raised his sword that he hadn’t yet drawn to be wary of the sudden noise, then…

“Damn it.”

And a moment later, he lowered his sword again sheepishly.

Because he realized that sound was his own teeth chattering.

‘I’m afraid.’

An ordinary knight would have scolded his stiffened body while denying it here, leading to an even bigger mistake.

But Elias was different.

He was someone who could face his own fear.

The experience of acting more as an administrator than a knight.

And the experience of standing on the battlefield.

Plus the experience of being jealous seeing family peers and knights younger than him who had become elite-rank.

In the end, all those experiences that made him recognize his own ‘weakness’ made him like this now.

The reason he’s acting like this now is precisely because of those things.

“A torch… there.”

Crack! Rustle…!

After discovering a large wooden lamp hanging on the mansion wall, he immediately twisted it off the wall.

Then he rubbed the ash with his gauntleted hand onto his armor, and started to scorch his armor by bringing another torch.

‘It’s a shame.’

Though it’s half plate, the act of actively damaging an expensive plate armor.

However, this was a survival strategy.

Though shameful as a knight, his armor could sparkle even with minimal light in this darkness because it had few ‘scratches’, traces of the battlefield.

‘Though undead detect the presence of life, it’s too naive to believe there will only be undead if this dungeon is high-rank.’

In case of encountering a species that relies on ‘sight’.

Performing this minor action believing it will help.

“Well… Good. There really is everything here.”

Creek…

After completing one task like that, Elias got up and opened a door visible to the side while drawing his sword.

Fortunately, there was nothing inside.

Not even a room at all.

In fact, this was because the dungeon wasn’t completed, but he understood it differently.

“As expected, it’s not a real mansion… Is it to deceive the eyes?”

He immediately put his sword away, then removed the door panel he had opened and picked it up.

Of course, its purpose was as a shield.

He had no intention of overestimating his abilities.

‘I’m much weaker than usual now. And this place is dangerous.’

With a sword that’s not even his main weapon, a short spear. Moreover, since he came with a decorative sword, not a practical one, his combat power is less than half of normal.

And the place is a high-rank dungeon.

It’s literally a state where he should move thinking only about escaping from here.

If there’s anything fortunate, it’s that the current state of this dungeon is ‘alpha testing’, so proper forces aren’t deployed inside the dungeon, but that was information he couldn’t know now.

“…Let’s go.”

Right after, he started moving.

He didn’t know yet, but this was the beginning of the most terrifying and desperate week he would experience in his life.

* * *

“Phew… Where is this…?”

Elias, who had been walking out after opening the largest door he had seen so far, opened his eyes wide recognizing someone sitting on a throne in the distance.

It was because the person there was familiar to his eyes, and also because a banquet he hadn’t seen for the past week was spread out in front of that person.

“Miss Angelita…”

“Welcome, Elias.”

That someone was me.

During the time he was wandering in the dungeon, I had returned to the dungeon and done what I needed to do, then came out to greet him here upon hearing he had broken through the labyrinth.

Along with an appropriate banquet to give as a reward.

“So you were the lord of this dungeon after all.”

“Yes. It was me.”

During the week he had been wandering in the dungeon, his appearance had changed a lot.

His handsome face had completely dried up due to poor diet and looked even gloomy, and his half plate was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a strange armor that looked like it was hastily patched together with orc leather.

Of course, all the clothes he wore underneath were ruined.

“I wonder if you enjoyed the past week.”

“Enjoyed, you say? Yes. It was fucking enjoyable. You… no, since you’re the master of this dungeon, you’d know well.”

Above all, what changed the most was his expression.

The haughty air despite being full of inferiority complex and jealousy had disappeared, and the superficial manners he had thickly plastered on with pretense had also vanished somewhere.

‘It seems I did well telling Eve to roll him around ‘moderately’.’

What remained was a survival instinct filled with venom.

Putting aside personal likes or dislikes about him, it was quite a pleasing expression.

Starting from the fact that he survived a week in this dungeon.

“How did you return to the dungeon? Since I disappeared, my soldiers and my family’s knights would have tried to attack you.”

Of course, they tried.

But with the person in question gone, it was easy to make a fake of a knight who was only high-rank.

Even now, some nameless knight with changed appearance and an undead information soldier implanted in his head would be taking his place.

It can’t be deceived for long, but that’s for then.

With the person himself already in my hands, fabricating circumstances is no big deal.

However, I didn’t bother to say such things, and just raised my hand to point at the meal.

“Is that so important? You must have been hungry, have some food first.”

“Ha… It’s pathetic that I can’t say it’s more important.”

“Start with the soup. You’ll get indigestion if you eat meat first.”

“Thank you very much.”

The meal began.

As I advised, he immediately emptied the soup first, then started to devour all the food prepared for about four people over time.

“Damn. It’s delicious…”

“Eat slowly. I’ll do some work.”

“I was planning to anyway.”

His expression of having deeply realized the preciousness of meals over the past week and the action of chewing thoroughly were a bonus.

While he was eating, I drank tea, read books, or processed documents brought by other skeletons.

The time I was away from the dungeon was quite long to invest all time in him alone.

‘Still, thanks to him testing, I learned quite a lot of points to improve.’

He was a more experienced and smarter knight than expected, and did his best to survive in every situation.

As a result, he had discovered 10 weaknesses of the newly arranged dungeon. This will turn into thoroughness for the next victim.

Though Elias certainly wouldn’t be happy to know that.

“So. What the hell is all this nonsense? If you wanted to kill me, it would have been much simpler.”

“That’s right.”

“…Perhaps, is this a test? To see if I’m suitable for you?”

Words spoken with desire burning in his eyes, having stripped away all flowery language.

Though I didn’t like that his affection for me had completely turned into lust…

Considering the usefulness he would have later, it was a positive change.

“You’re not wrong.”

“…Then.”

The man gets up and approaches me.

The sight of a large man approaching with an extremely gloomy face might have been somewhat intimidating to an ordinary woman.

But of course, I didn’t feel such emotions.

Nothing but some satisfaction and displeasure.

‘Well, I guess it’s not incomprehensible.’

Isn’t it common for humans who have survived a life-threatening crisis to burn with reproductive desire?

“That I’m suitable for you-“

Crack!

“Cough!”

Still, if you have intelligence, you should know the time and place.

The jaw of the man who had completely approached me turned, and his large body fell towards the floor.

It was due to a punch delivered by a hand with only bones.

-Tack.

“You, bitch…”

The leaking pronunciation is funny.

His eyes shook greatly as he regained his senses and discovered Evangeline standing beside me, wiping off the blood on her fist.

“There was no need to get blood on you.”

-Clatter.

“Yes. You must have been displeased. But the blood on your hand is more unpleasant to me.”

-Tack.

“There’s no need to be sorry. You worked hard for the past week.”

Because it was Eve who tormented him for the past week.

Eve had appropriately pushed him to his limits to make him enjoy all the ‘content’ in the dungeon.

While doing so, she even intervened appropriately to adjust the intensity of the trials when he seemed about to die, so she was also a lifesaver at the same time.

Of course, he doesn’t know about the latter part.

“Sit there and listen. Elias.”

“Ah, alright…”

As if he had finally properly recognized reality, the lust had already disappeared from the man’s eyes, which had become polite.

Not only that, his eyes were already lowered, and amidst that, questions and anger he hadn’t yet resolved were still wavering in his pupils.

A wretchedness that washed away the remaining unpleasantness towards the man who had tried to force himself on me.

“First… Yes. Let’s hear what you felt during the past week.”

“Uh, I, I…”

As if knowing that the questions and answers from now on would determine his fate, his voice was trembling a lot but also serious.

As he guesses, this is the final test to determine his survival.

“I…”

And that answer was relatively satisfactory.

__

Miscellaneous talk about settings that won’t be mentioned in the text.

Among specialization characteristics, those with wide ranges like ‘sword’ or ‘swordsmanship’ are characteristics that start at high-grade when they’re specializations,

Narrower ranges like ‘two-handed sword’ or ‘one-handed sword’, ‘dagger’ etc. start at normal,

And even narrower ranges like ‘stiletto’ or ‘broadsword’ are normal characteristics even at high-rank.

On the other hand, in cases of establishing a special ancestral technique or self-style technique, there are also cases where it starts at rare grade, replacing specialization.