Reverse Dungeon

The Demon Archduke’s butler, having arrived at the cave, bowed his head before his master.

“My lord, what shall we do with this human?”

“Do as you please.”

The Demon Archduke spoke with tears still glistening in his eyes. He was so overcome with grief at the loss of his slaves that he had no attention to spare for a single human.

Demons, whose madness had sunk all the way into their bones, tended to be insane in very particular ways.

In the case of the Southern Demon Archduke, that peculiarity was his extreme emotionalism.

The butler had expected such an answer from his master.

“Thank you, my lord. I shall feast well.”

The old butler’s mouth opened impossibly wide.

Then he swallowed Louise whole, from head to toe.

But Louise had known from the beginning that these demons would never let him leave so easily. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

His spirit split in two.

As the demon devoured the illusion, Louise ran without a single backward glance, sprinting toward the nearest escape route.

The cave.

“You’ve grown old, haven’t you?”

“Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“It’s fine. I suppose it hardly matters.”

After all, every human inside the cave was going to die.

The butler led the way, and the Demon Archduke followed him into the cave.

It was dark inside, but not dark enough to hinder a demon’s sight. What was unusual was the height of the ceiling. The Demon Archduke did not need to crouch. The passage was wide as well, spacious enough for him to move through the shallower sections with ease.

Before long, the Demon Archduke discovered a crude little trap.

The water spread across the ground # Nоvеlight # suddenly turned to oil.

It seemed someone had lit a fuse at the far end of the cave. The oil caught fire, and the flames rushed toward the Demon Archduke.

He opened his mouth.

Then he spat out a viscous fluid.

Strangely enough, the flames racing toward him were extinguished by the Demon Archduke’s spit.

His excitement faded.

Had someone truly believed they could trap him with something so petty?

He admired the courage of the Warrikka Tribe, but their stupidity remained a flaw.

After passing through the corridor and reaching the next area, the Demon Archduke could not help frowning in disbelief.

His slaves, the Warrikka warriors, were pointing their spears at him.

“What do you think you’re doing? How dare you!”

The butler roared.

But the Warrikka warriors merely hissed, spears still leveled at them.

Is this brainwashing?

Incredibly, it seemed these monsters had been brainwashed by humans.

The Warrikka warriors did not appear to have lost their minds. They still possessed the intelligence of warriors. Yet despite knowing they stood before a terrifying enemy, they showed open hostility toward the Demon Archduke.

“So that is why my slaves died.”

The Demon Archduke personally snapped their necks.

The monsters collapsed where they stood.

Among the humans he had come to capture, there had to be a skilled beast tamer. Someone capable of controlling monsters.

But before the Demon Archduke, that ability was meaningless.

“Is that all?”

The Demon Archduke raised his hand.

With a single gesture, he effortlessly cleared the narrow passage ahead.

It was as if someone had pressed a round mold into the cave with a massive compressor. The cross-section of the tunnel was carved smooth and clean.

The Demon Archduke advanced along the newly created path.

Then, all at once, he froze in shock.

This is...!

He could feel an enormous amount of magic coming from the direction ahead.

It was far beyond anything that could possibly belong to a human.

Was there truly such a human in my domain?

Cold sweat formed along his back.

It was a sensation he had not experienced since becoming a Demon Archduke.

Tension.

Fear.

Unable to accept it, the Demon Archduke raised his hand again and forced the path open.

I will erase that human from my land.

The tunnel was carved through.

The sturdy wall blocking the end was destroyed.

And in the next instant—

Kraaaarararara!

A dragon, sleeping deep beneath the cave, awakened.

“......!”

The young dragon had been asleep.

This was a dark and filthy place. Remaining awake here would only drain his strength.

Someone had told him that. freewёbnoνel.com

Or rather, the dragon had known it instinctively.

Just as the adult dragon who had hidden him deep within the cave had known.

This young dragon, not yet three hundred years old, understood that he had to remain asleep. He had to sink into a long slumber until he reached adulthood, conserving his magical power while purifying this place.

Only then could he awaken all of dragonkind.

The young dragons, himself included, had remained asleep, knowing they must stay within their eggs.

The adult dragons had chosen not to wake them, so that the future might be preserved.

Except for one.

This young dragon.

He had to awaken his kin.

He had to become an adult.

He was the strongest dragon of his generation.

That was his duty.

Then something warm began approaching him.

Mom?

It felt like the warmth his mother had given him before he fell asleep.

A warmth filled with affection.

A warmth that cleansed the filth away.

Slowly, slowly, it came closer.

Just a little more.

If it came just a little closer, he would open his eyes.

At last, he would be held in his mother’s embrace.

But the warmth came no closer.

It stopped, leaving only an aching distance between them.

The young dragon waited, half-conscious within his sleep.

But after a moment, what reached him was not the warmth he had been waiting for.

A violent, malicious energy engulfed him instead.

“Mom.”

The moment the dragon opened his eyes, the world shattered.

The demons’ foul magic dominated the space.

A huge black figure opened its mouth.

The dragon’s rage ignited.

There was no mother.

And—

That is the enemy.

Give me back my mother.

The young dragon roared in fury.

The cavern shook beneath the thunderous cry that burst from his scaled body.

Kraaaararararaaa!

I’m going to die...

Ian leaned against the wall, watching the Demon Archduke approach along the path they had dug in advance.

The people he had dragged down with him were huddled together in the shadows, crouched low.

If they were discovered, it would be over.

But Ian was confident they would not be found.

Would the demon even notice the presence of a few humans in front of a dragon’s magic?

In truth, Ian was almost certain the plan would work.

The important part was not merely luring the Demon Archduke here. It was making sure that Ian himself was not the one who woke the dragon.

The first being the dragon saw had to be the Demon Archduke.

A dragon, newly awakened from its slumber, would naturally consider any creature that had entered its dungeon an enemy.

Wasn’t that obvious?

If you closed your eyes and opened them to find a stranger standing inside your home, you would grab the nearest weapon and start swinging.

And since a dragon’s body was a weapon in itself, it was only natural for it to swing that.

Then, suddenly, a scream rang out from behind him.

An arrow shot through the air.

“Ugh!”

“What is that?!”

Are they insane?

Ian whipped around in shock.

If they kept making noise, they would draw the demon’s attention, and then everyone would die.

I warned them to do nothing but breathe quietly...!

Someone in the group had made a sudden move, but Ian could not tell who.

He had no time to find out.

The arrow flew past the Demon Archduke.

Ordinarily, he would have ignored such a powerless attack. But he was facing a dragon. When an unknown projectile came flying at him, he instinctively dodged.

That created an opening.

The dragon’s tail struck the Demon Archduke.

Bam!

The Demon Archduke slammed into the cave wall.

Crash!

The ground shook violently.

From where he sat, Ian saw chunks of debris falling from the ceiling. The roar of the beast and the Demon Archduke’s furious howls echoed through the chamber.

Ian activated <Purification>.

The demonic energy spreading from the Demon Archduke faded before it could reach the others.

The faces of the people who had been on the verge of suffocation eased, if only slightly.

It worked.

Ian checked his skill window.

His magical power had clearly decreased.

But how had the skill activated?

The area around the dragon’s dungeon had been filled with demonic energy. Whether it had been a precaution left by the dungeon’s creators or something else, Ian had needed to reach the dragon, so he had repeatedly used his level-four <Purification>.

Eventually, he had dug through to the spot he wanted.

The cost was that his magical power had been completely drained.

Is my magical power regenerating?

It was not as if Ian had any item that restored it.

At that moment, he began coughing.

“Ugh! Cough! Cough!”

He could not stop.

Ian quickly covered his mouth, trying to muffle the sound as much as possible.

Then he pulled his hand away.

No wonder my throat hurts...

It felt as if a sharp blade had scraped the inside of his throat.

Blood stained his palm.

Using too many skills drains my health.

Even in the game, HP would decrease.

It was insane how many tiny details they had implemented.

But the reactions around him were strange.

“Ian, did you just cough up blood? Could it be from the demon’s scream...?”

Sema was talking nonsense.

Ding!

[People think you are weak.]

Ding!

[People think you are terribly ill!]

Ding!

[Character]

‘Tyrant’ Ian (★★★★☆)

[Reputation]

Tyrant, Bastard, Playboy, Lavish, Hedonist, Strategist, Mentally Unstable, Sickly (+NEW)

[Skills]

Purification: LV.4

Horsemanship: LV.1

Archery: LV.1

“......”