For thousands of years, it was known that no living creature could survive beyond the city walls due to the witch’s curse.
Beyond that, I don’t know much either.
On the day the royal army descended underground to annihilate Noark,
a mysterious wizard suddenly appeared, rescuing the Noark forces and helping them escape outside the walls.
And that very day was...
‘Year 154 of the Great Renewal, June 2nd.’
Players mixed within the Noark faction first announced the news inside the community, and it quickly spread throughout the city.
However, there are two curious points here.
It spread at an unnaturally fast speed, as if hoping the rumor would spread.
Yet amidst this, there was not a single piece of substantial information.
There are reasonable suspicions of systematic information control.
Even the loose-lipped jester revealed almost no information about beyond the walls in the round table.
Hmm, if I were to pick at least one thing—
[After coming out beyond the city and visiting various places, I realized: although the terrain and structure may differ slightly, this land closely resembles the 7th-floor Dark Continent!]
According to the jester, the continent where the last stronghold Lapdonia stands has terrain very similar to the 7th-floor Dark Continent...
[If that’s true, then the hypothesis might also be true.]
[A hypothesis that the labyrinth is not a passage connected to another dinsion, but a dinsion created by soone?]
[The Crystal Cave, the Rock Desert... maybe they were created based on places that actually existed.]
The round table mbers voiced various opinions upon hearing this, and so of those guesses turned out to be true.
After all, it was uncovered through direct exploration.
‘Most of the places inside the labyrinth were modeled after real locations.’
Having witnessed countless circumstantial and physical evidence during adventures close to exploration, I have no doubt about this premise.
But...
‘That makes it all the more strange.’
All ancient continental maps have been lost; no data remains.
However, there are still so records.
[We are one of the few families still insisting on Central Naming conventions.]
[It’s natural to feel unfamiliar. Families like ours with blood from the Eastern Continent remaining this strongly are now rare in this city.]
[...It’s Southern-Central style naming.]
Among Lapdonia residents, there are still those who rember their ancestors and family history to maintain their identity.
No need to look far; even our barbarians are like that.
According to records, the barbarian race lived fighting monsters in the rugged northern and southern parts of the continent.
However, the problem is...
‘They said it took over two years to get from the north to Lapdonia.’
That’s the distance conveyed in the records.
Yet in the labyrinth’s Dark Continent, it takes only one or two months to cross from end to end.
Then where does this discrepancy co from?
‘Well, that’s actually the lesser issue.’
The vampire uncle on basent 1 told ,
[There were only humans in that era...?]
There were no other races in ancient tis.
And if that is true, all history and records of this world are fabricated.
What on earth is the truth?
What secrets are hidden in this world?
Until now, I just thought I had to do my own work, so I didn’t try to uncover much.
But now, the situation has changed.
The Noark bastards have invaded desperately and even occupied one district inside the walls.
The royal family’s response is also sohow suspicious.
‘...Now I must know.’
I must have the information they have to prepare for the future.
Isn’t it the sa when playing a ga?
If you don’t know, you can only get hit unfairly...
“...Yandel?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking.”
Ending my thoughts there, I headed back to where the others were.
“Wahaha! Did you see that? My spear is stronger than arrows!!”
“...I pulled it back cautiously because I was worried you’d get hurt! Again! Let’s do it again!”
“Huh? Where did you go, sir?”
Alright, let’s rest for today.
The day after the welco party that lasted until late at night,
I woke up near sunset and led three guides to the sewer.
Ah, by the way, the guides were Alia, Elwen, and Versil...
“Wow... it’s really been a while since I was in the sewer. So, sir, why are we here?”
“We ca to find sothing.”
“Ah! So that’s why you called the three of us!”
Among the Anabada mbers, Alia and Elwen are most specialized in searching, and Versil is the only mage.
“May I ask what you are looking for? Knowing that will help assist actively.”
At Versil’s question, I honestly revealed the reason we ca.
“Today we will search here for a path connected to beyond the city walls.”
“Beyond the city walls...?”
I nodded to confirm, and the previously flustered Versil cald down and asked cautiously.
“...Are you planning to go outside the city walls?”
“Yes. I thought if I go out once, I might be able to judge what is true and what is not.”
“Ah...”
“For now, only you three know. Understand?”
Since they weren’t people to spread rumors around, I gave a brief warning and continued.
There’s no way the hidden path connecting to the outside world would be in the sewers where vagrants hide.
First, we must go deeper in the sewer to the old Noark underground fortress—
Thunk.
Alia, who led the way, silently signaled to stop.
Elwen also nodded slightly while looking at , seeming to feel the sa.
‘Slowly.’
‘Step back.’
‘This way.’
Following Alia’s signal, we slipped into a side path and hid.
Soon, even my dulled ears sensed footsteps.
Plop, plop—
At least two people were roaming the sewer, and the sounds grew louder.
‘Vagrants?’
At first, that’s what I thought, but if that were true, Alia wouldn’t have tried to hide.
We waited silently.
Finally, they passed the spot where we hid.
‘...Knights?’
Not just ordinary knights.
Two fully ard knights, not belonging to any specific family, bearing the royal crest on their chests.
“Emily, what’s going on? Why are those guys roaming the sewers at this hour?”
“Oh, didn’t you know? Since that incident a few months ago, guards have intensified, and knights patrol the sewers regularly.”
“Now that you ntion it, I think I read in the paper. Thanks to that, the number of vagrants living in the sewers has dwindled...”
Hmm, have I been neglecting the news too much lately?
Anyway, I was really surprised by the knights suddenly patrolling.
Like thieves who feel guilty.
I wondered if they had prepared for our arrival by posting patrols.
“Let’s keep moving. The patrol here is small and doesn’t seem to search thoroughly, so we probably won’t get caught.”
“...That’s a relief.”
Although it was unexpected, I wasn’t particularly nervous seeing the patrolling knights.
Not just trusting Alia’s stealth skills.
Now it’s different from long ago.
If sothing goes wrong, we can make even two knights blink and forget what they saw.
In fact, if we don’t want trouble, they should be more careful than us...
“There’s a device here too. Wait a mont.”
Arriving at the path to Noark, Alia squatted by the entrance and fiddled with sothing.
And then...
“You may enter now. I carefully dismantled it so no trace remains.”
Ah, so that was the device.
Like in movies, where they put a small paper in the door gap to check if soone entered.
Step, step.
Going down the stairs, a vast underground space unlike the sewer appeared.
The varying ceiling heights and wall structures made it feel like entering a three-dinsional maze.
‘Ah, this is where it was... where I fought that Karui priest.’
What was her na... Elisa?
It was so long ago, around when I had just consud the Orc Hero Essence, I barely rember.
Anyway.
She was a formidable foe, but with the overall spec increase of team Half-Pint, we were able to defeat her...
‘No one from back then is here.’
Should I have brought ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Misha too?
Then I could have chatted while telling that story—
‘Ah, wait, Alia was there too.’
Of course, back then she wasn’t an ally, more like an enemy.
Well, she was kind enough(?) to let us all survive after losing the fight.
“Tersia, do you sense anyone’s presence?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief. Sa here. It seems they don’t patrol past here, so let’s speed up.”
After increasing our pace, we soon ended the maze section and finally arrived.
“This is Noark...!”
The vast hall was hard to believe was underground.
Versil admired the massive stone gate, much larger than the palace gates.
“Is this your first ti coming here, Gouland?”
“It’s my first ti coming this deep. I participated in the first raid, but as you know, we had to retreat without reaching this far.”
“Ah... I heard many died then...”
Hearing their conversation, I suddenly rembered a Canadian player I t in the community.
He was pulled into the community the mont he got a knife in his neck during battle.
‘When I return... I promised to give news.’
Funny how, despite forgetting for a while, I still clearly rember the address and words he left.
Maybe because it was so impressive?
“What’s wrong? Not coming?”
“Ah, I’ll co...”
Lost in old mories for a mont, Alia quietly opened the side door beside the huge gate.
Versil, who was unfamiliar, tilted his head.
“Huh? Aren’t we entering through that door?”
“There’s no gatekeeper, so it doesn’t matter. Why choose the easier path?”
“...That’s true. But was there originally a gatekeeper?”
“There was. Though not famous to Lapdonia, he was one of the strongest in Noark—”
Just as Alia said this and was about to enter through the side door,
“Hahaha! I appreciate your high opinion of !!”
Suddenly, a loud hearty laugh erupted from behind.
“...!”
Elwen and Alia, who didn’t sense the presence, turned around in surprise, and so did I.
“I never imagined eting other guests here, especially such famous people!”
Turning around, I saw a man as sturdy as a barbarian.
His appearance was clearly far from stealthy.
But the reason he approached without a sound was simple.
Because Dungeon and Stone is a team ga.
“They say even passing by is fate, so greetings! Forr Noark gatekeeper, Rek Aures!”
The man, standing at the frontline tank position, was followed by his comrades, one by one revealing themselves.
“Ah, and these are my comrades...”
‘One, two, three, four...’
Five in total.
They outnumbered us, but the qualitative advantage seed negligible.
Though it seems strange that our team is losing in quality...
Thump-thump!
The world is all relative.
“Huh? Baekho! Why so quiet today? Didn’t you say you were close to that Baron Yandel over there?”
...I never thought I’d run into these bastards here.
User Comments
0 comments from readers