Chapter 126

– Aaaah!

The tearing scream echoed through the cave.

Three of Arachne’s spider legs were easily ripped off like paper.

– Swoosh!

Arachne immediately retaliated.

A mass of web shot from its hand, rapidly flying towards the Gallery Doctor.

This was inside a dark cave.

Not being able to see the attack, it was obviously impossible to dodge.

– Huh?

But the Gallery Doctor effortlessly dodged it.

– Bang!

Once again, a bullet flew and accurately hit Arachne’s body.

Arachne simply could not comprehend it.

How did a human manage to evade that?

And what the heck was that?

– Aaaaah…!

No premonitory moves needed.

An attack that could not be dodged just by twitching a finger came flying in a fan-shaped arc.

Arachne writhed in pain as if its whole body was engulfed in flames.

– Thud!

The Gallery Doctor approached Arachne, who soon lost its balance and fell forward.

Arachne flailed its hands in a final desperate act, but there was no way it could succeed.

– Aaaah!

This game is ridiculous!

As it let out a scream filled with frustration, Arachne finally realized.

That human was different.

In front of it was a round piece of black metal, something that looked like a mirror at the end.

The man was staring straight at himself through it.

“Surprised?”

With a click, the Gallery Doctor finished reloading and smiled down at Arachne.

That was not prey.

The moment it wrapped that around its head and held out a fiery iron stick, the odds were against it.

At that moment, when the Gallery Doctor slowly removed his hood,

Arachne could see the expression of someone partially submerged in madness.

“I too agree with your surprise. This is like the artifact of a transcendent being.”

– Huh?

“and I also like the Head of the Gallery.”

– Bang!

The final gunshot rang out, and Arachne could no longer move.

*

“Is this even possible?”

As I looked at the post that appeared in the Gallery, I confirmed that the Arachne hunt had been successful.

Amazingly, the one that succeeded in the hunt was not a bounty hunter, but the Gallery Doctor.

[Title: This is an Excellent Artifact]

Writer: Excellent Doc

(Showing off biceps with a Gallery Doctor meme)

Hello, gallery assholes.

I am Excellent Doc.

Also, bounty hunting is a good side job.

(Evidence of Arachne hunt meme)

The Head of the Gallery is like the sky.

Thank you for always loving the gallery assholes.

[Recommended 9999+] [Not recommended 0]

– The recommendation ratio is truly amazing, lol.

– If anyone downvotes this post, I swear I’ll shoot a Tuna Can at you.

ㄴ Really?

ㄴ Yeah, try it.

ㄴ Haha;

ㄴ Oh, how do you even downvote this post?

– Just saying) So what’s it about?

ㄴ Look closely at the first meme.

ㄴ (Night vision goggles meme, small behind biceps)

ㄴ Damn, the arms are so thick I couldn’t even see it!

– But what’s Arachne… it’s something…

ㄴ Hehehe.

ㄴ ?

Arachne has been successfully hunted.

It only took a few hours.

I distributed additional night vision goggles to the participants based on previous failures.

Among them was the named Excellent Doc from the Gallery.

Head of the Gallery*: How did you catch it?

Even with the night vision goggles, I thought it would take several days.

Because Arachne wasn’t the only monster in the cave.

So Excellent Doc left a very polite response unlike in the Gallery.

Excellent Doc: Oh, are you curious? Of course, I’ll leave a reply.

Excellent Doc: I act like a civilian and enter the cave. And I never hunt monsters, never.

Head of the Gallery*: ? Is that even possible?

He entered the cave, pretending not to see anything, even with the inside visible.

He didn’t react even when a spider got close.

Excellent Doc: (Meme of spider monster retreating)

Excellent Doc: Of course. They lower their suspicions.

Then, like a lie, the spider monsters retreated.

Instead, the spider monsters began to guide him toward Arachne.

Standing in front of numerous forks in the road, they threatened and led him deeper down.

“Oh, could they be trying to curse me?”

Killing him would make cursing impossible.

So the spiders began to drive him toward Arachne’s direction.

Little did they know he could see everything.

The moment he was well led to the lowest level, he reverted to his original form.

– A trap within a trap within a trap, wow!

He had cleverly used the intelligence of the monsters against them.

“Well, now the Rift should calm down.”

Since the Variant Monster was dead, I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about the Rift activating for a while.

[Title: Problems Still Exist]

Writer: Excellent Doc

(Meme of a gigantic Rift pulsating)

– Why is it getting bigger and bigger?

But even after catching Arachne, the Rift showed no signs of stopping.

“Why?”

Normally, catching just the Variant Monster should have solved it.

The problem lay within the cave itself.

Excellent Doc: This is not a cave. It’s like a living organism.

After exploring the vicinity, Excellent Doc sent me a few memes.

(Internal area expanding meme)

(Cave occasionally moving and changing structure meme)

“Wait, it wasn’t a cave.”

I had assumed the Arachne and other monsters were intentionally expanding it, but I was mistaken.

I recalled how the Rift had lowered the temperature in Fron.

The Rift was changing the surrounding environment to fit its own environment.

– It’s not a cave; it’s a dungeon, haha!

– So what do we do about that?

– Just ignore it, yeah.

ㄴ Then that dungeon will keep expanding and probably swallow up the underground?

ㄴ Didn’t Gallum play land-grabbing games as a kid? If you leave it unattended, it will be destroyed.

“Well…”

If I just left it, that cave, no, dungeon will continue to grow the Rift.

It would go on until the Variant Monsters come out in waves.

If it were above ground, we could deal with it, but being underground made the problem twice as serious.

“Well, we’ve cleaned up the surroundings, so we just need to prepare in advance…”

The problem is who would do that.

– Then we can just go wait, haha.

ㄴ Yeah, that’ll work, haha.

ㄴ Haha…

ㄴ So who’s going?

Even in Elard, it was on the outskirts.

The Dwarves had natural difficulties due to the distance, and Adrian’s Kellierhton was also far away.

And expecting the Elves to block it was…

– My back, my back hurts…!

– Heeek, I’m even getting out of breath these days…

– Don’t worry, Head of the Gallery! Our Elves will keep guard over the Rift!

ㄴ Oh hell no, that stench.

ㄴ Ugh, those long-eared pests!

ㄴ Just the World Tree one-trick ponies… JOAT.

“They seem a bit off?”

The World Tree had departed from the Elves.

The World Tree had set up home with the Dark Elves now.

The Elves were languishing without the abundant mana they usually enjoyed.

They no longer stood in physical superiority.

“No wonder they haven’t been active in the Gallery recently.”

Lately, the Elves hadn’t left many chats.

Most seemed to be emojis, and I thought it was a trend, but they didn’t have the energy to leave comments.

[Title: If you can’t trust the Elves, downvote it, haha]

(Meme of an Elf leaning on a staff)

If I left the dungeon to them, it felt like Elard would be destroyed the moment the waves hit, downvote it, haha.

I’ll do it first, haha.

[Recommended 6421] [Not recommended 3121]

– For real, this makes sense.

– So who’s going to guard anything?

– I might tweak my back going down to the dungeon layers and just ascend to the afterlife.

ㄴ Damn, haha, for real.

– There are humans worse than that, right? ^^

ㄴ What are you doing now, stuffing comments?

ㄴ Now if we face off, I’d probably win, for real, haha.

“No, seriously, I can’t rely on them.”

Elves without the World Tree were just young and pretty ancestors.

I guess that’s why I’ve only used Elf Con in the Gallery lately.

At this rate, it’ll be faster to get to the Rift and hurt my back than it would be to deal with it.

– They really do suffer from delusions, huh? ^ ^ Even so, [00:13]

ㄴ Our Elves can deal with the haters, no problem. [00:14]

ㄴ We’ll win. No need for nonsense… ^^ [00:15]

ㄴ Ugh, when will I finish all these comments? [00:15]

ㄴ It’s so frustrating, haha! [00:15]

ㄴ Elven Elder had their staff confiscated for a month. [00:15]

ㄴ For real, just keep using Gallery Con. [00:15]

I entered the comments section where they were still fighting.

I felt sorry for the Elves, but if I got involved and the Gallums decreased in number, that would be a bigger disadvantage.

– Head of the Gallery*) I’m grateful for the sentiment, but Elves should just take care of the monsters around the surface, haha.

ㄴ Head of the Gallery…?

ㄴ (Elf meme shaking in betrayal)

ㄴ Are you saying the Elves are now just useless wretches without the World Tree?!!!

ㄴ Head of the Gallery*) No, that’s…

ㄴ Head of the Gallery*) ㅇㅇ That’s right, just defend the surface.

ㄴ !!!

ㄴ Heeek!!!

I said it firmly to avoid them getting any bright ideas about going into the dungeon.

Leaving behind the shocked Elves, I was plunged into thought.

“The only forces I can muster are the hunters… how do I bring them?”

Hunters roamed from place to place, hunting monsters to make a living.

Naturally, they were mainly hunting monsters that weren’t dangerous and had good Mana Pill yields.

However, dungeons were almost a new type and were dangerous with poor Mana Pill yields.

– Honestly, going there feels like… haha;

– But if Head of the Gallery says to go, I’ll go.

ㄴ Oh… what a cool guy.

ㄴ Isn’t that obvious? I’ve gotten a lot so far.

ㄴ Sounds good. Then should we go together? What kind of hunter are you?

ㄴ I’m a home security guard.

ㄴ ?

ㄴ Damn.

“A way to actively gather hunters… oh.”

At that moment, a revelation flashed in my head.

A method typically used by game companies to attract users.

I quickly wrote an announcement.

[Notice: We’re opening a double profit event]

Writer: Head of the Gallery*

You’ll receive double Mana Pills for every monster you catch inside the dungeon.

And who knows, there might even be treasure rooms in the dungeon?

Enjoy your looting!

[Recommended 9999+] [Not recommended 102]

– Double profits?

– Tuna Can… two?

– So if I catch one, I get an extra Mana Pill worth one more?

– Sacchiatou!!

I opened the double profit event.