Reverse Dungeon

“A poster that only humans can read.”

“Only humans can read...?”

Momisia tilted her head.

“Why only humans?”

“Because we’re going to write this place’s location on it. I want to invite people here. But I don’t want demons being able to follow the directions.”

“But then someone like Mr. Contacca wouldn’t be able to see it either.”

Ian was slightly surprised.

“That’s true. Momisia, you’re smart.”

Momisia flinched, then smiled when she realized Ian wasn’t angry.

Pleased, Ian placed the flyers he had taken from the coliseum in front of her.

Good thing I kept these.

Ian had a habit of shoving everything he saw into his inventory whenever he visited a new place.

Of course, the inventory in <Reverse Dungeon> was too small for him to do that properly.

Even so, it was hard to walk past anything that looked useful.

“Then make it a poster only demons can’t see.”

Ian drew Momisia a map showing the dungeon’s location.

A few days later, Momisia returned covered in paint, carrying a stack of posters.

Or rather, the one carrying the stack was not the tiny Momisia, but the werewolf Contacca.

The original flyers advertised “Come to the Coliseum,” but Momisia had enchanted them so that only non-demons could see the map drawn over them.

“Should we put them up here? But how are you going to attach these posters?”

At some point, Contacca had begun speaking to Ian respectfully.

Ian did not pay much attention to it.

Looks like his loyalty went up, so his way of addressing me changed.

Maybe this only happened on Momisia’s route. If so, there had been no way to confirm loyalty-based changes before.

Ian felt both delighted and irritated by these tiny details of the game world.

He could only conclude that the game company had no interest whatsoever in attracting new players and had instead poured all its energy into uselessly elaborate details.

“Mamools don’t move much during the day, so we should be all right if we put them up then.”

“Wouldn’t that still be dangerous?” Contacca asked politely.

Sema had been kidnapped in broad daylight.

Momisia had also been handed over to the human hunters by her own villagers during the day.

Mamools did not avoid daylight completely.

They simply moved less than they did at night.

That was what Contacca’s question implied.

Ian scratched his chin.

“Then, just to be safe.”

He turned to Momisia.

“Momi, can you make ‘Demon Masks’?”

“What are those?”

“Something like this.”

Ian used Momisia’s experience points to purchase a crafting guide.

He pulled a book from his pocket as if by magic, and Momisia laughed in delight.

“It’s magic! Magic!”

“Learn it and make a few. They’ll make us look like demons. They might save our lives.”

“Make us into demons?”

Momisia seemed amused.

“I think I can help with that.”

Contacca, who had just finished close-combat training with the soldiers, announced that he would join the crafting effort.

He brought over a chair and sat beside Momisia, carving knife in hand.

Since he had the <Sculpting> skill, his hands moved with practiced ease as he carved.

Ian had once read a game fantasy novel where a sculptor played a major role, so his fingers itched.

But he did not ask Contacca to teach him the <Sculpting> skill.

Learning miscellaneous skills was the fastest way to turn himself into a jack of all trades and master of none.

Instead, Ian went to where the soldiers were practicing archery with real arrows made by Contacca and joined in the skill training.

Momisia watched Ian curiously.

“Do arrows usually fly like that? Wobbling?”

Contacca replied calmly, “I doubt they normally do. It must be some kind of master technique. And you can’t carve while looking elsewhere. You’ll lose a finger.”

“Nag, nag.”

......

Ian pretended not to hear.

The territory of the Western Demon Duke.

A village in the wasteland.

The people who lived there in hiding found a certain poster.

It had not been posted there deliberately. The wind had blown it in.

Its original content was an advertisement for a human coliseum.

However, there was one strange thing about the poster.

A large image had been drawn over the coliseum advertisement, so large that it nearly covered the original text.

It was a map.

The place marked on the map was labeled “Village.”

All races welcome. Demons excluded.

Plenty of work and food.

That was the explanation written beneath it.

A few people who knew about the poster gathered in the temporary meeting hall.

The hall where they held discussions had been made from large rocks to block the sunlight. It was not suited for living in, since it offered little protection from enemies.

However, the shadows cast by the rocks could conceal them from aerial threats.

More importantly, it was neither too close nor too far from the place where they actually lived.

Here, they could talk about things they could not discuss with everyone else.

One person pulled the poster from his pocket.

The others nodded and sat down on the ground.

Once they confirmed that they had all come for the same reason, the discussion began.

“The chief opposed this.”

“He’d lose his mind if he knew I took it. He’d say we can’t endanger the villagers. That it’s a trap.”

“He’s a conservative. There’s no talking to him.”

“You and your fancy words. But yes. He never takes risks. He’s the kind of man who thinks we should all just starve to death here.”

“The real problem is that someone like that became chief in the first place.”

A short silence followed.

Then someone spoke.

“Have you heard the rumors?”

“They say the human kingdom has been revived.”

“They say the king of that kingdom defeated the Demon Duke and destroyed the coliseum. That he saved the humans.”

“Right. Why else would there be a map drawn on a coliseum advertisement?”

“But what if it’s a trap?”

“......”

The room fell silent again.

“That’s the problem with this map being on a coliseum advertisement. That place was crawling with human hunters. What if they’re trying to catch people foolish enough to follow the rumors and turn them into slaves?”

“That could be true.”

“That’s why the chief says we shouldn’t go.”

“Is everyone going to obey the chief?”

“That’s what we’re here to discuss, isn’t it?”

“Oh, everyone, quiet down. Let’s sort this out.”

“Aren’t we sorting it out right now? Is this a trap or not?”

“How should I know?”

The gathered people began arguing.

A woman who had been silent until then finally spoke.

“My daughter is starving to death.”

The argument stopped.

“I have no milk. There’s nothing to feed my baby. She can’t even chew.”

“We know. Who wouldn’t understand how you feel?”

Someone tried to console her.

“No. None of you understand how I feel. Don’t you get it? What is the point of this meeting? I thought we had gathered so we could leave immediately. If I had known it would be nothing but useless chatter, I never would have come.”

A frustrated man asked, “What did you expect? Some grand adventure?”

“I expect nothing from you. I’m going.”

“Going where?”

“Give me the poster.”

“What? This? No way.”

The man who had stolen the poster clutched it defensively.

“Why not? None of you are going anyway. I need that map.”

“Wait. Calm down.”

“You calm down. I need to save my daughter. Whether we starve to death here or fall into a trap, it’s all the same to me.”

“......”

That was true for all of them. freёwebnoѵel.com

There was no food left in the wasteland village.

The man holding the map sighed.

“Fine. I understand. Then let’s all go together. We’ve got nothing left to lose anyway, do we?”

In the territory of the Western Demon Duke, a noble caught a human who was trying to flee and hurled him into the air.

As the human spun upward like a toy, his spine shattered.

“Too weak.”

The noble did not even wait for a death scream.

He threw the human aside and grabbed another.

This time, it was a woman holding a child in her arms.

She struggled desperately to protect her baby.

The noble pressed a finger hard against the woman’s head.

Again.

And again.

With each press, her skull caved in, blood and cerebrospinal fluid leaking out.

Bloody tears streamed from her eyes.

As she died, she used the last of her strength to throw her child into the bushes.

Another human caught the swaddled baby.

The noble paid it no mind.

He simply continued his game of boring holes into the woman’s head.

Then something fell from her clothes.

“No!”

Someone shouted.

The noble, who enjoyed “human hunting” as a hobby, suddenly became interested and picked up the fallen object.

It was a poster.

A poster advertising the southern coliseum.

The problem was that the coliseum had collapsed not long ago.

And yet, this poster looked relatively new.

Interesting.

“Do you know something?”

The noble asked in a melodious voice.

The humans shook their heads.

They tried not to speak.

But when the noble’s claws dug into their bellies, the words spilled out against their will.

“The south—the Demon Duke... hasn’t appeared anymore! It’s safe, safe! We were going... somewhere safe...”

The noble listened that far, then burst the human’s head.

No Demon Duke?

The noble had visited the coliseum not long ago.

There, he had witnessed the disgraceful behavior of the southern nobles.

He had assumed the Southern Demon Duke did not interfere because he was always sunk in depression or lethargy.

But could it be that the sentimental ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Demon Duke was not even present in his own territory anymore?

Intrigued, the noble turned to the demons under his command.

“Shall we do something more fun than human hunting? How about a massacre?”

His red lips curved into a smile.

“Yaaaay!”

The demons cheered, waving arms smeared with blood and flesh.