After finishing a grand meal, everyone took a nap.
It was a peaceful and calm time, so much so that it was hard to believe we were inside a 9th-level dungeon.
The gnolls were particularly affectionate, and even when they slept, they insisted on squeezing next to me.
Because of this, a sleepy Ara, feeling jealous, stretched out in my arms.
“Adorable.”
Even Ras, who usually spoke in a gruff manner, was snuggling next to me without hesitation as he slept.
Since things had already turned out this way, I thought, why not count them all now?
Earlier, when I was preparing the food, Ras and the children gathered all the gnolls from other areas as well.
Thanks to that, all of them were now napping together.
“One, two, three, four…?”
I stopped counting after I passed 100.
Precisely 101.
Huh? This is totally like 101 Dalmatians…
Thinking it must be a coincidence, I counted the cute little gnolls again, which seemed fewer than I expected.
There were exactly 101 gnolls here.
More than enough to handle.
After playing this counting game alone for a while, I eventually fell asleep as well.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong?”
“Hmm?”
A voice tickled my ears, and when I opened my eyes, Ara was looking at me with her round eyes.
“Oh, I fell asleep. What time is it?”
Wait, I slept quite a bit!
I had only meant to nap for a bit, but I ended up sleeping soundly.
I had slept for nine hours.
Still, it was fine, since I had to wait for the cooldown of the Master of Gluttony’s power before moving the gnolls.
Now, there were about 12 hours left.
In the meantime, I thought I should try persuading Ras again.
-Keng!
Noticing I had woken up, some of the gnolls wagged their tails and approached me, as if they might fly any second from all the tail-wagging.
I petted them all, picked up Ara, and looked around.
“Where are Mammon and Ras?”
“They went to play.”
“Play?”
For some reason, Ara’s cheeks were puffed out, making her look sulky.
She must have stayed behind to be with me.
Feeling both grateful and a bit sorry for her, I patted her head.
How could she look so cute, even when she’s sulking?
Maybe it’s because I’m such a doting father.
“Shall we go too?”
“Yes!”
I packed Bokkeum and got up.
We headed toward the inner part of the village where we first met Ras.
The deeper part meant underground.
We descended further into the depths of the earth.
“Indeed…”
Mammon had mentioned that the gnolls were good at digging, but it was truly impressive.
The fact that they had dug enough to form a village and create a tunnel this wide and large seemed like quite a challenge, even for modern heavy machinery.
Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible, but look at those cute gnolls.
-Keng?
It was hard to imagine that those tiny creatures had worked so hard to dig this place.
But at the same time, it also seemed fitting in a way?
Holding Ara’s hand, we continued down the tunnel until we were greeted by some gnolls coming up from the other side, warmly welcoming us.
They were pulling carts full of dirt.
I wondered if they weren’t too heavy, but the gnolls were cheerfully hauling the dirt out.
“Are they still digging?”
“They’re digging a lot, a lot.”
Ara and I encountered a few more gnolls as we made our way and finally arrived at the place where Ras and Mammon were.
Thwack! Thwack!
Several gnolls were busily working with pickaxes and shovels, while Ras was inspecting something beside them.
-Great Lord! Did you sleep well?
“Oh, yes. Mammon, what were you doing?”
-I was just looking around, taking in the sights. Wow, this place is completely different from the dungeon we lived in.
“The Dungeon of Avarice?”
-That’s right. Our dungeon was a barren wasteland, always accompanied by drought and famine.
I realized once again that it was a good decision to bring Mammon along. That was the whole reason Mammon and the goblins had ventured out into the world in the first place.
Thunk!
At that moment, one of the gnolls who had been swinging a pickaxe started trembling, reacting as if the pickaxe had hit something solid.
-We’ve found it.
“Found it? Ah! Could it be that fruit—no, the root?”
-Exactly.
Ras approached the trembling gnoll and dug out some of the dirt. Soon, the massive root of the plant we had seen earlier emerged.
The thought of how they must have uprooted and moved this thing every time made it seem like an incredible feat of hard labor. Even just digging it out seemed like a monumental task.
‘Did Ras’s immense strength solve this?’
As I watched, Ras began to move busily, just as I expected. The other gnolls, who had been digging nearby, quickly coordinated and joined in once the root was found.
Clang, clang, clang.
The dirt piled up quickly, and the gnolls hauling the carts became busier.
‘They seem to be enjoying this?’
Perhaps I was seeing it too much from a human perspective. The gnolls didn’t seem to be struggling at all; instead, they looked excited as they shoveled dirt and dug up the root.
“Wow.”
Finally, almost the entire massive root of the Rapipi plant was revealed. Ara’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at its grandeur, swallowing hard.
Do you want to eat it, Ara?
-Haah!
With a loud shout, Ras yanked the root out, and a faint tremor spread through the surroundings. Just how strong is he to cause an earthquake?
In the end, the root was completely pulled out by Ras’s strength.
-It’s huge!
“It really is huge!”
Mammon and Ara exclaimed as they looked at the enormous Rapipi root, almost as big as a house. Ras let out a puff of air and slung the root over his back. It looked surreal to see a figure, barely reaching my waist, carry something as big as a house.
-I’ll be back!
“I’m coming too!”
-Me too!
With everyone going, I had to follow along.
Even with the massive root on his back, Ras walked up lightly as if it was no big deal.
-I’ve always thought this, but that strength is truly unbelievable. Why don’t I have strength like that?
“You already have an overpowered ability.”
-But that looks cooler, don’t you think?
Even the fortunate ones want more.
Listening to Mammon’s grumbles, we steadily climbed upward. Finally, we reached the false wall, and the gnoll gatekeepers quickly broke it down. The wall crumbled in just the right size, as if it had been designed with this transport in mind.
“Heave ho! Heave ho!”
With Ara cheering him on, we finally arrived at the place where the ancient serpent lay dormant.
Thunk!
Ras dropped the root.
Then, he made a show of wiping sweat from his brow.
Though from what I could tell, he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
-We need to prepare one root each day like this. That’s my job.
“Wow! That’s amazing!”
At that moment, on a whim, I asked Ras something.
“Ras, just out of curiosity, do you like doing this kind of work?”
-Hmm? Like it? I’m just fulfilling my duty. If I don’t work, that serpent will cause trouble, and my subordinates will have a hard time living, so I have no choice but to do it.
“Is that so?”
Not a bad response, from my point of view.
Then I asked another question.
“How was the meal today?”
-It was fantastic! I was even moved, realizing there’s such food in this world. You should be proud. It’s rare for me to react this way!
Ras began drooling again.
I took out a dog treat from Bokkeum and handed it to him, along with some food for Ara and Mammon.
Munch munch.
Ras began chewing on the dog treat enthusiastically.
He looked very satisfied.
“Ras, I have a suggestion for you.”
-Suggestion?
Ras tilted his head while chewing on the treat.
Ara and Mammon watched our conversation with eager expressions, holding their breath.
“How about moving together to our dungeon?”
-Move?!
Surprised by the unexpected suggestion, Ras even spat out the treat he was chewing, but quickly picked it back up and continued chewing.
-Hmm, I’ll need to think about that. I should ask what my subordinates think first.
“Sure, go ahead.”
-When are you planning to leave, Ara’s father?
“I can’t stay long, just under a day.”
-Hmm, then let’s gather opinions right away.
We returned to the tunnel as Ras continued chewing his treat.
Ras immediately began gathering all the gnolls.
“Heh, heh.”
“I-Is Kyu-seong planning something strange again?”
While Ras was busy gathering the gnolls, I started preparing another meal.
It had been ten hours, so it was time for another meal, wasn’t it?
I definitely wasn’t trying to tempt them with food. No way, of course not.
-Sniff, sniff. Huh? What’s that smell?!
“Oh, don’t mind it. Just share your opinions. I’m just preparing food since it’s mealtime again.”
Ras’s eyes began to waver.
***
Almost 24 hours had passed since Kyu-seong had gone missing.
The atmosphere at the base was grim.
They had searched every corner of the base, hoping he might have returned, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
“Did you really assign him to a room with a broken bathroom door?”
“Well, it was fine before…”
“Fine before? Are you saying that Kyu-seong, the awakened one, broke the door to the bathroom? The perfectly fine door?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Michael was currently storming around, venting his frustration.
But even that soon came to an end.
With no other options left, Michael began preparing to enter the dungeon again.
“Get ready, everyone! We have to find some trace of him, no matter what!”
“…”
“Do you know why we’re in this situation? It’s because of you lot, puffing your chests out like you’re something special just because you’re awakened, but running away when things get serious!”
Everyone silently cursed Michael, but they had no choice.
Though his demands and behavior were unreasonable, they had indeed panicked and fled, as he said.
“Uh, Michael, sir.”
“What is it?”
“Do we really need to go back in?”
“What? What are you saying?”
“Well, I mean, it’s the dungeon of the Seven Deadly Sins. As far as I know, Kyu-seong is just a low-level, 1st-ranked awakened. There wouldn’t be anything left of him… maybe a monster already swallowed him whole…”
“You little—!”
Enraged, Michael used his ability.
The ground rose up, and he slapped the awakened one who had suggested not going.
Slap!
“Ow!”
“Even if that happened, I want you to go retrieve him from the monster’s stomach!”
“B-but…”
The morale of the awakened ones plummeted even further at the absurd demand.
In truth, the suggestion wasn’t entirely wrong.
If an ordinary 1st-ranked awakened had gone missing, they would’ve been devoured or disappeared without a trace by now.
Besides, almost 24 hours had passed since the disappearance, so even if there had been a trace, it would’ve disappeared by now.
“Stop complaining and get ready!”
“Ugh.”
At that moment, a security officer came running in, waving his arms frantically.
The commander noticed and asked, “What’s going on?”
“We-we’ve got an unexpected visitor!”
“Visitors?”
“Yes, it’s the Ara Hongryeon Guild from Korea. The guild master and several high-ranking members are here.”
“…Th-this is bad.”
The commander glanced anxiously at Michael. Michael’s expression hardened as well.
“Don’t let them in.”
“Well, uh, they already know that Kyu-seong, the awakened one, came here…”
“I said don’t let them in!”
Michael was starting to panic.
He hurriedly positioned the awakened ones at the entrance of the dungeon and prepared to leave.
“Get inside! I’ll go in last. This time, I’m watching closely to make sure things go right.”
As Michael rushed back into the dungeon, blocking the entrance, the Ara Hongryeon party, denied entry, started reaching out to all their contacts, asking for help.
‘Something doesn’t feel right. If all we needed to do was let them know Kyu-seong is here, why are they trying so desperately to stop us?’
It seemed like they were up to something.
Or perhaps something had happened to Kyu-seong.
Filled with a growing sense of unease, the Ara Hongryeon group anxiously awaited reinforcements to arrive.
Time was running out.
Cliche Novel 