The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (39)

Alejandro’s sword sprayed blue blood.

When the last monster fell, the soldiers finally had time to look around.

They had finally come face to face with the real enemy.

The White Basin.

That is the name given to this Dungeon.

What stood before them was, precisely, the Dungeon’s entrance.

The scene the entrance presented was both mystical and grotesque.

A modern person might describe it like this.

As if a composite photo had been crudely stitched together without any retouching.

The Dungeon entrance that had “appeared” in one corner of the orchard looked as if someone had cut out that corner and pasted a painting of a completely different scene in its place.

In short, it was bizarre.

Yet it was intuitive.

You could tell at a glance where the Dungeon began.

The boundary formed by the orchard’s grass and the Dungeon entrance.

Beyond it, the first entrant stepped in.

-Splash

Clear, spotless water soaked Alejandro’s boots.

That’s why they called this Dungeon the “White Basin.”

There was an artificial pond there.

A shallow pond where the water barely reached the ankles.

Its floor and walls were made of marble-like white rock.

The basin’s diameter was roughly fifty meters.

All of it seemed like decoration for a real entrance.

“This way.”

Alejandro, standing in the middle of the pond, said.

Where he was looking down, a staircase led down into the Dungeon.

At the edge of the stairs there was a low lip preventing water from flowing in.

Because of that, the stairs appeared to descend beneath the water.

-Splash splash splash splash

Approaching Alejandro were Izack and his unit.

He said.

“I’ll take the lead. As planned.”

Denabi’s unit had been assigned to the vanguard for the operation’s start.

Because they were familiar with Dungeons.

Since yesterday’s meeting, Limone’s officers no longer objected to the plan.

Finally, Alejandro nodded.

In a voice neither loud nor soft, he proclaimed solemnly.

“Begin operation.”

At the signal, the troops moved.

Arenta’s unit formed four ranks with Izack at the front.

Then they began to descend toward the abyss beneath the basin.

It was dark below the stairs.

But as the Denabi warriors’ eyes adjusted to the darkness, a blue light guided them.

It was the glow of Mana crystals.

Parts of the Dungeon’s crystallized structure shone a blue hue.

Last night.

“Basically, a Dungeon is similar to a beehive.”

The staff at headquarters listened to Ronari.

Ronari drew a circle on parchment.

One corner of the circle was left empty.

She was depicting a beehive with an entrance.

“If you disturb it, the bees come out to defend their nest. And if you go into the nest, even more bees await. Of course, that’s not the only similarity between a beehive and a Dungeon.”

Ronari drew an arrow pointing into the hive.

She drew a smaller circle inside the hive.

She touched that circle with the tip of her pen.

“Just as there’s a queen in a beehive, there’s a queen in a Dungeon. We call it the ‘original.’”

“Original?”

One of Limone’s officers asked.

Ronari nodded.

“Yes. The original. The original is a small number of individuals capable of self-replication. The rest are copies. The foes we’ve been fighting all day are those copies.”

“Copies… so the Dungeon’s monsters reproduce on their own?”

“Exactly. For example, an original goblin that senses an intruder creates a copy every ten minutes. Larger creatures like trolls or manticore-types take much longer, though.”

“One every ten minutes…”

A simple calculation formed in the Limone officers’ heads upon hearing that.

Their expressions soon darkened.

The reason was simple.

‘One every ten minutes. If you start clearing the Dungeon, an original goblin would produce 144 copies in a day.’

But there was something more horrifying.

“However, a Dungeon doesn’t have only one original. Even among the copies we faced today, there were more than five types. That means there are at least five originals.”

“But in the end, we only need to eliminate those originals, right?”

“Right. That’s the crux of clearing a Dungeon: find and kill the originals as quickly as possible.”

“So the method of locating originals becomes the basis of our tactics. Tell us that first.”

Said the Limone officer.

-Haht…

Laughter and snorts came from various places at that remark.

The source of the derision was mainly Denabi’s staff.

The Limone officer glared at Denabi’s staff as if to ask what their problem was.

Ronari answered them.

“There is no such method.”

“What?”

“There’s no way to know exactly where an original is. At best, if a particular type of copy is concentrated in one area, it’s likely that the corresponding original is nearby. That’s all you can infer.”

“So what then? Are you saying we must search every room of the Dungeon?”

Ronari nodded.

“Yes.”

The Limone officers’ first reaction was disbelief.

Soon that disbelief turned into pity.

‘What kind of battles have you been fighting?’

Their eyes seemed to ask just that.

But the Denabi officers answered.

‘You’ll find out soon enough. It’s a fight you’ll be part of tomorrow.’

Pity turned into self-pity in an instant.

“….“

If he could have laughed, he would have done so right there.

All these people had the same expression, he thought.

On their faces, it read:

‘We shouldn’t have come.’

“…The story isn’t over, so keep listening.“

Ronari, continuing, looked like a host trying to salvage a dying talk show.

“There’s good news, though. As I mentioned, this ‘White Basin’ Dungeon is radial in structure.”

“Explain. What is a radial Dungeon?”

Vittorio spoke on behalf of his staff.

Ronari obliged readily.

“A Dungeon consists of many rooms. The format of the Dungeon depends on how those rooms are arranged.”

Ronari drew a line.

“Most Dungeons are linear, corridor-like, or labyrinthine. They’re arranged so you must pass nearly all rooms along a single path. That makes it hard to leverage numerical advantage and drags out the clearing.”

“So a radial one isn’t like that?”

“Exactly. A radial Dungeon has paths extending in all directions. Each room is square, and the square rooms all connect to one another.”

At that moment, an officer interjected.

“I see. You can move in four directions at once, so the speed of searching for originals should be multiplied several times.”

But Ronari shook her head.

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

Ronari spread both hands wide.

Then she looked at her hands.

“Two hands aren’t enough to count it. Imagine I have four hands.”

“???“

“We’ll clear the Dungeon twenty times faster.”

-Thud, thud, thud, thud

Several spears extended from the defensive formation.

When the spears’ sharp edges pierced in, the troll’s charge had no choice but to stop.

Then Izack‘s sword cut the troll’s neck.

Blue blood sprayed in all directions from the troll’s throat.

Then a phenomenon different from the surface occurred.

The blood did not vaporize.

Unlike on the surface, underground the blue blood solidified instantly into Mana crystals.

It was an anomaly caused by the Dungeon.

Mana in the Dungeon’s atmosphere condensed and crystallized in an instant.

Therefore, the mana concentration in the Dungeon’s air was close to zero.

Because it had all become solid Mana crystals.

The Dungeon, the cause of the Mana Plague.

Paradoxically, its interior was the safest place from the Mana Plague.

Arenta’s unit smoothly breached the Dungeon entrance.

The unit that descended into the Dungeon encountered a strange sight.

The Dungeon’s first chamber.

The room’s structure seemed like the entrance’s fixtures turned upside down.

The troops looked up at the ceiling.

Water had pooled on the ceiling.

One soldier commented.

“Pretty!”

“More than your daughter?”

“Not more than my daughter.”

“Anyway, I’m jealous of those with daughters.”

They chuckled.

That was all.

For Denabi warriors, fighting in a Dungeon was routine.

A Dungeon is a space where the rules of the surface break down.

Naturally, it’s grotesque,

Of course, unfamiliar,

And naturally, dangerous.

To them, the stranger the Dungeon’s scenery, the more familiar it felt.

Izack* was no different.*

He saw a shadow of the past in that unfamiliar sight.

He felt as if he’d taken a long route and returned home.

Of course, there was no time to indulge in sentiment.

He commanded.

“Vanguard four squads, prepare.”

Four squads of twenty men each split into four directions.

-Clack, clack. Click.

“Begin assault.”

At Izack’s signal, the four units advanced toward the doors in four directions.

Enemies in four places awaited them.

“Strike!”

The real battle began.

The soldiers stormed into four rooms at once.

Naturally, the rate at which rooms were cleared was quadrupled.

While the vanguard fought, the next units entered the first rooms.

Ronari, following them, looked up at the ceiling.

‘Wow.’

It was a sight unfamiliar to her.

Both the fight before her and the water pooled on the ceiling.

The unit surged forward in formation.

All members of the unit were seasoned warriors.

The monsters collapsed helplessly.

The fight lasted barely ten minutes.

It took only that long to clear the four rooms.

Vittorio assessed.

“Fast.”

“This is the usual starting pace. But it’s from now on that matters.”

Ronari’s words were accurate.

This was a radial Dungeon.

When you clear one room, three doors await again.

At any of those three places, enemies could open a door and rush out.

But the units didn’t wait for enemies to come.

The four vanguard squads advanced boldly through the front doors.

At the same time, Alejandro’s voice echoed through the first room.

“Rear eight squads, take positions.”

-Clack, clack, click.

“Begin assault.”

Eight squads, 160 men in total, spread out in four directions.

There was almost no delay from the vanguard’s assault.

Two squads were positioned in each room the vanguard had cleared.

With the vanguard already taking the front, two doors remained for them.

They charged toward them.

From above, the allied formation would have looked like a diamond.

Now the allied forces were clearing twelve rooms simultaneously.

Ronari muttered.

“Twelvefold.”

A speed far surpassing normal Dungeon-clearing rates.

Then an officer of one unit asked Ronari.

“Is this really okay?”

“Why? Don’t you like it being fast?”

“Breaking through one room is like leaving three doors beside you, isn’t it? What if enemies swarm from three places at once?”

Ronari’s answer was simple.

“I’ll show you now.”

At that moment, a shout came from beyond the northern room.

“Northern vanguard! Three-directional doors opened!”

“Retreat immediately!”

The unit retreated back into the room they’d been clearing.

They blocked the door and began to deal with the enemy.

“This is how it’s done.”

“Ah… then what about the other units?”

“No.”

Ronari shook her head.

“The northern vanguard was pushed from three directions in the room they entered second. Those three directional rooms must be empty, right?”

“Right?”

“Then the units that entered left and right into their rear only have to face the monsters in the single room before them. Besides, two units will be gathered in one room, so they can divide roles. If those monsters don’t open the door first, turn back into the empty room and strike the enemy’s rear.”

The officer busily painted that picture in his mind.

But at that moment another roar shattered the image in his head.

“Northeast heavy! Enter the northern vanguard’s rear! Charge!”

He felt like a fool.

Ronari said.

“Now the heavy units have entered, it’s your turn. Remember what I told you yesterday: enter, check which doors open, confirm roles, enter again… understood?”

The officer nodded.

“You don’t need to overthink it. Leave the thinking to me and focus on the fight.”

Ronari tapped her forehead.

“From there on, it’s the realm of mathematics.”

‘And mathematics will dominate the battlefield.’

At last, the sound of her talent taking flight could be heard.