Free Web Novel【Monster ID】: 22
【Name】: Paladin Gaile
【Type】: Independent Boss
【Reward】: 1600 points, choice of a Tier-5 weapon
【Boss Info】: In life, Gaile was a devout ascetic. Due to extreme hunger, he devoured the corpse of a companion and fell into corruption. Inside his stomach rests the ashes of his friend.
【Background Summary】: In legend, the firstborn of the primordial god, Tartarus—He brought famine upon the land in fury after His followers wasted food, the calamity sweeping across the four domains and eight wilds, producing one of the three greatest famines ever recorded in human history. Corpses everywhere, wails throughout the land, people eating people.
【Xiao Lü & Hint】: Uwaa... the power of Time in this dungeon is really strong. Could this be related to ■■...? ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
...
Vieya slowly scrolled through the monster info images Xiao Lü sent. After reading these lines, her brow twitched slightly.
This kind of existence—one whose name could not even be mentioned—gave her a subtle feeling. It also deepened her curiosity and vigilance toward this dungeon.
Her understanding of this world’s history wasn’t deep, but she knew that the history of this world was divided into several eras.
One was the current era she lived in—an era where gods could not manifest, and the highest combat power in the world was Demon Kings and Heroes.
The previous era was known as the Wild Era, the time after the disappearance of the gods when humans abandoned blind reverence toward divinity and began rebuilding, cultivating, and reforming civilization...
As for what lies before ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) that—that belonged to legends.
Legends were often exaggerated, and when Vieya had studied these things before, she treated them as mythological stories.
But now...
This dungeon seemed born out of those very legends.
“Hey, Mentor. You really don’t want a cookie?”
“I’m not hungry. I just ate...”
Wait!
Vieya suddenly froze. She had said those exact words just moments ago. She looked at the three girls sharing the cookies and frowned. “Where did you get that snack? I remember none of you brought any emergency rations.”
“Eh?”
Jasmine split a cookie, staring blankly at her mother. “The magician team we met earlier gave them to us as compensation. Mom... you forgot already?”
Magicians? Did we meet any...?
Vieya scratched her cheek, shook her head. “I was looking at the map while leading you. I wasn’t paying attention to the surroundings.”
“Wow, big sis, you’re so focused,” Maixi said in awe. “If I had your concentration, I wouldn’t be at the bottom of the class.”
“Tch. Bottom once, bottom for life,” Rorina hummed as she swayed her head. “Cowards who cling to life will never become strong.”
“Waooow, Lady Rorina is soooo brave~” Maixi sighed dramatically. “As for who cried twice already on the way because of monsters, I’m not naming names~”
“What did you say?!” Rorina rolled up her sleeves, flames bursting above her head. “Do you want a taste of this lady’s fist?!”
Maixi began wiping tears. “Uuu... I don’t want to die... someone save me.”
“Ah—! Enough! You walking hazard! Don’t use my voice to talk!!” Rorina wailed.
She swore—almost ten years of life, and she had never met anyone this annoying!
Youth truly was vigorous.
Vieya felt a faint sigh in her heart. While leading them through the intersecting passages, she thought: Since I already decided to help my daughter cheat, then I might as well go all the way. Do it thoroughly.
Take every boss I can, cash them in for points for my daughter. As for the other participants—well, sorry.
Hm, can’t blame me for being underhanded. Adults bullying kids.
I’m also pretty small now... still just a child.
Vieya couldn’t help thinking with smug enjoyment.
Ah, why are my ears getting hot...?
...
According to Xiao Lü’s information, Paladin Gaile resided in the ruins of a luxuriously decorated banquet hall on the second layer. To find him, they first needed to locate the hall.
Without a map, they would be headless flies running about. But now, with a map in hand, Vieya was confident.
“Mom, is this the sacred-attribute monster’s territory you mentioned?”
Jasmine’s small mouth parted slightly in awe.
Before them lay a hall far more magnificent than anything she had imagined.
Twenty chandeliers stretched from murals on the ceiling—murals that once depicted the goddess of harvest, now stained corpse-brown from centuries of smoke. Candle wax dripped down bronze grapevines, forming dark red patches on the faded golden velvet carpet—like dried scabs of blood.
Beeswax mixed with iris-root incense; beneath the sweetness lingered a rotten undertone, like someone had stuffed an entire rose garden into a coffin to ferment for ten years.
Jasmine’s temples throbbed. The scent came from the gilt incense burners in the hall’s four corners.
It was hard to imagine that these incense burners, hundreds of years old, could still emit curling threads of smoke.
What craftsmanship from hell!
The three little girls were dumbfounded. They had never imagined such grandeur inside a monster-infested dungeon.
Just as they were entranced, footsteps echoed behind them.
“Thanks for leading the way. I didn’t expect the boss of this layer to hide so deeply...”
Rehn stepped out from behind them, with Dolly scowling beside him and the thin dark-skinned man trailing along.
“You followed us?!” Rorina immediately jumped, outraged. In just these few days, fellow human magicians had shocked her repeatedly.
First it was the greedy trio who changed faces instantly and tried to use them as bait. Now it was another trio using them to find the boss room.
“A boss of this level isn’t something beginner magicians like you can handle,” Rehn said. “If we cooperate to take it down, we can distribute the rewards fairly based on contribution.”
“Tch... fair distribution...” Dolly clicked her tongue.
“See?”
Vieya planted a hand on her hip, turned, and swept her gaze over them.
“In the future, you won’t only have to guard against monsters—even human allies cannot be underestimated. If you meet someone who respects rules, that’s fine. If they don’t, you’ll end up like your first time—used as bait to lure monsters.”
She had sensed small shadows tailing them long ago, but since she didn’t know their purpose, she decided to use this as an opportunity to teach Jasmine’s group another lesson.
As the saying goes, humans teaching humans might fail—real lessons come from real events.
If they got tricked twice and still didn’t learn, even she couldn’t help them.
“Rest assured, Miss Magician. Even if you don’t contribute in the upcoming fight, we will still pay you some gold coins for guiding us,” Rehn said politely.
“And if we don’t need money?” Vieya asked. “Then are you planning to rely on us being easy to bully and use force?”
“You low-born thing, where do you get the right to speak so much?!” Dolly snapped. “Being able to serve me is your honor! Don’t be ungrateful!”
“Dolly! Silence!” Rehn barked.
Dolly grit her teeth but really didn’t speak again.
Suddenly Maixi asked curiously, “Are you two doing a good-cop-bad-cop act?”
The standoff turned dead silent, an audible pin-drop moment.
Rorina widened her eyes in realization. “I knew something felt off with you. So you’ve been acting in front of this lady?!”
Rehn paused, then said earnestly, “You are mistaken. There is no act. The points from this dungeon are very important to us. I truly want to cooperate.”
Even beginner magicians had to possess some ability to enter the dungeon at all.
Rehn was being sincere.
Vieya thought for a moment, then raised one finger. Her eyes lit up.
“You want to advance to High Magician, right? I can take you to fight stronger monsters!”
“Sorry. We have self-awareness. The hidden boss of Layer Two is already our limit,” Rehn said.
At the same time, he silently increased his vigilance toward this fluffy white-haired little girl.
He had seen very clearly who was leading the group and how accurately she navigated to the boss room while avoiding unnecessary fights. Their goal was always straight and precise.
Judging from everything, the 1.4-meter loli was the true decision-maker.
But... he could not read her strength.
The “Beginner-Level Determination Magic” he bought at a high price on the black market failed to work on her.
Her stats and race were completely unknown.
The atmosphere thickened. Under his heavy armor, cold sweat seeped down Rehn’s back. He began to hesitate.
Had he made the wrong decision?
“Uh, you’re all here just to steal this low-level monster?” Vieya asked in confusion. “You’re not planning to do anything to these kids? Kidnapping, interrogation? Torture?”
Jasmine: Mom, I beg you, please stop embarrassing me!!
“We are upright men,” Rehn said firmly—though black lines seemed to rise from his forehead. What did this little girl think they were?!
Even if they wanted to do something, who would be interested in flat, not-even-grown lolis? She ranked below sheep.
Rehn added, “If you’re unsatisfied, we can continue negotiating.”
“No need,” Vieya said, pointing behind him. “The boss you want has already appeared. Are you sure you don’t want to look back?”
“...”
The air grew thick. Just as Rehn turned—
Dolly’s scream pierced the air.
“Ahhhh—!”
A fat armored paladin stood behind Dolly, one hand gripping her beautiful long hair, slowly lifting her whole body off the ground.
Dolly’s pale arms beat frantically at the hand gripping her hair, her long legs kicking wildly in the air.
Her lovely face twisted with terror and pain, tears and snot smearing everywhere.
“Help—help me! Please, I was wrong...”
