Chapter 50

Amon was rolling around in the <Howling Darkness> dungeon for quite some time.

Exactly a month had passed since he had a big scuffle with the Cleaners.

In the corporate plaza located in California.

The forest of skyscrapers belonging to numerous large corporations and megacorps was peaceful as always today.

Even though countless people were dying in the alleys where no light reached, and unspeakable horrors were being committed inside the buildings, at least the illuminated plaza was peaceful.

Even the corporate executives, who were called predators by some, were living day by day, unable to die equally in this wild jungle where one wrong move could mean death.

And then, as usual.

Bang!

A middle-aged man with a nametag reading <Manager Grayson> on his chest met a meaningless death as a hole was blown through his forehead.

“Take the body away.”

At the command of the young man who fired the shot, two giants with six eyes each carried the manager’s body out of the office.

The man clenched the nameplate on his desk as if he wanted to crush it.

The nameplate read <Vice President - Shonrai Daito>, and it crumpled in his grip.

The man suppressed his anger by pressing a pen cap against his throbbing temple.

Only after calming down a bit did he pick up the phone.

[Yes. This is Kaiku, acting team leader of Beta Team in the Security Department.]

“Congratulations. You’re the manager now.”

The newly promoted manager couldn’t bring himself to smile.

If he didn’t produce the results the vice president wanted within a month, he’d be ‘honorably retired.’

Two managers before him had already been retired, and now it was his turn.

The chrome surface of the manager’s desk was wet with what could either be sweat or cold water.

Whether the vice president understood the manager’s feelings or not, he coldly vented into the phone.

“Your predecessor only reported the disappearance of the Cleaners sent to <Howling Darkness> a day after they went missing. By the time the investigation started, there was no evidence left.”

[…]

“He must have been tired from overtime. So, we let him retire as a gesture of goodwill. He was such an optimistic guy.”

[…]

“The manager before you was at least somewhat competent. He cross-referenced dungeon entry records with hospital records from day one and even figured out that a megacorp was behind this incident. But after figuring that out, he produced no results. What do you think about that?”

[I think it’s negligence.]

“Negligence, negligence… Right. Negligence is something that shouldn’t exist in our company. Don’t you agree?”

[Yes.]

“I hope you’re diligent.”

[I’ll keep that in mind.]

The vice president hung up.

Now promoted to manager, Kaiku wiped his face in frustration.

He had no idea where to even start.

There were no CCTV cameras in the dungeon, and even going down a few floors meant losing signal.

It was a place where people and explosives came and went, so there was no way to leave traces.

Hospital records? If the Cleaners weren’t injured, they might not have even gone to the hospital.

This was America, after all. A place where people would rather use folk remedies than go to the hospital, even if their leg was cut off.

Eyewitness accounts from explorers?

How many explorers get injured or die in dungeons? Filtering out eyewitness accounts from that is impossible.

It’s no wonder corporations love using dungeons to dispose of people.

At least the previous manager had made a plausible guess that if there was no evidence, a corporation must be behind it, but it didn’t lead to any results.

As a result, a month later, the manager was honorably retired, and Kaiku was promoted.

Manager Kaiku tore at his hair.

He had one month left to live.

He had to come up with something, anything.

‘That damn Daito bastard!’

Half-sobbing, the manager flipped through the meaningless manual list.

It was what the previous managers had done, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

However, there was one thing that none of the previous managers, including him, had considered: while a corporation was behind this incident, they hadn’t actively erased the evidence.

It’s just that Amon had been injured in the dungeon and was treated with money from the 3 Dollar Group via the Vatican, so the records didn’t match up.

The hospital records only showed that an <Unknown> Holy Knight from the Vatican had treated him, so they never even dreamed of cross-referencing Amon’s records.

Neither the Vatican nor the 3 Dollar Group had actively erased Amon’s traces, so there were no artificial traces left.

Fortunately for Amon, and unfortunately for the Shonrai Group, they hadn’t even noticed the traces of Amon’s party.

Still, the manager was narrowing down the candidates.

‘The party is hiding too perfectly. Like trained soldiers. There’s a high chance they’re sponsored by a corporation.’

Of course, it was a dead end.

And the fact that there were about 10 such parties was the problem.

But 10 was manageable.

‘Screw it. Let’s just kidnap and torture them?’

The manager only had a month left anyway.

He was in no position to be picky.

He might get killed by the party if things went wrong, but it didn’t matter how he died.

In the end, the manager chose a crude but surefire method.

*

A month and three weeks had passed since the Cleaners went missing.

During that time, the manager had kidnapped and tortured every party that seemed even slightly suspicious, including parties made up of former soldiers.

And through torture, he found a party that had encountered the Cleaners.

“Pleashe… I’ll do anythingsh…”

A young man with missing teeth begged, covered in tears and snot.

The young man who had encountered the Cleaners.

He was a blond, tanned explorer.

The manager checked the young man’s rank.

Gold rank.

The rank was a measure of trust, not skill, but a high trust rank still meant he had at least some skill.

He checked the brainwaves.

“Did you encounter the Cleaners?”

“Yessh…”

“Did you kill them?”

“Yessh… But I really don’t know anyshthing!”

“Quiet. That’s not important.”

The brainwaves showed he was telling the truth.

After checking all the alibis, it turned out this blond, tanned mercenary had encountered the Cleaners and actually defeated them.

What information he got from the Cleaners wasn’t important.

He had almost touched the Shonrai Group’s reverse scale, and the price for that was death.

“Dispose of him.”

– “Pleashe!!!”

The manager wiped the blood off his hands and reported the results.

The vice president, satisfied after reading the report, praised the manager’s hard work.

“Good job, Manager Kaiku.”

Only after hearing the vice president’s praise did the manager let out a sigh of relief.

It felt like the bomb necklace around his neck had been removed.

Only then could the manager enjoy the joy of his promotion.

The manager was young.

Perhaps this incident wasn’t misfortune but an opportunity.

No, it definitely was.

‘I seized that opportunity.’

There was no mourning for the previous managers who had died meaninglessly, no mourning for the subordinates who had been deployed to the field to find the culprit, and no mourning for the innocent explorers who had died under torture.

To the manager, they were nothing more than stepping stones for his promotion.

‘With this, becoming a department head, no, even a vice president isn’t a dream.’

He had plenty of time left. He was confident in his talent.

It wasn’t an absurd thought to imagine becoming a vice president by the time he reached middle age, having undergone anti-aging treatments.

The manager leaned back in his chair, satisfied.

*

And then, a week later.

On the day marking two months since the Cleaners’ disappearance.

[Intruders detected in the dungeon bunker!]

With this single sentence in the report.

The manager’s world turned upside down.

Dragged away by the six-eyed bodyguards, the manager was coldly watched by the vice president, who split the nameplate in half.

Despite the trembling in his hands, his voice was ice-cold.

“Send the security team. All of them.”

The two six-eyed giants nodded silently and left the room.

Alone in the room.

“Aaaah!!!”

Crash!

The vice president split the desk in half.

Then, with tearful eyes, he pulled out a red pill from his pocket.

A red pill with a warning label reading <Handle with Care>.

The red pill that would get him honorably retired.

The vice president looked at the pill with trembling hands and said.

“Not yet… I’ve come this far…”

He found the portfolio that had brought him to this position among the wreckage.

Hugging the file labeled <Top Secret - Dungeonization Project>, he muttered, half-sobbing.

“No… Not yet… Father-in-law… Just one more chance…”

The vice president, who reigned as the terror of the city, looked all too human, and the security chief watching him clicked his tongue and turned off the screen.

***

While the Shonrai Group’s security team hurried to the dungeon, Amon’s party was having a peaceful time in the Lich’s room.

“Kyaaaah!”

“I told you. One corpse, one finger.”

“Uh… Amon. The Lich doesn’t have fingers anymore.”

“Then we’ll just burn the stumps.”

“Kyaaaah!!!”

Despite the Bisexual Mage’s protests, Amon meticulously burned the Lich’s stumps.

Using the Lich’s screams as background music, Amon continued his work.

The Mute Sniper sent a telepathic message to Amon.

[We’ve already got all the info. Can’t we stop now? The Shonrai Group’s security team will be here soon. We should run.]

“It’s too late to run. They’ve probably already noticed us. It’s better to take them out here while they still don’t know who we are.”

If they left the dungeon, the information about Amon’s party would naturally update, and the enemies would get at least some info on them.

But if Amon’s party stayed in the dungeon, the security team would have to treat them as an ‘unknown explorer party.’

“Plus, we have the advantage of terrain and defense.”

The security team didn’t know the dungeon.

Sure, they might have data, but knowing a 3D map and actually running through it are worlds apart.

And the defending side could set up traps in advance.

“Look. Vox is already setting up mines nearby.”

Of course, the security team wasn’t stupid, and they’d probably neutralize most of the traps, but the mere existence of traps could wear down the enemy’s nerves.

Eventually, Amon stopped torturing the Lich and started preparing for the incoming security team.

A head-on fight was a bad idea.

They were outmatched in both firepower and tanking.

So, the fast-footed Amon and Cash decided to roam the dungeon and deal with the security team, while the rest of the party would hold out in the bunker.

“Will we make it back alive?”

Cash muttered as she roamed the dungeon with Amon, leaving the holding team in the bunker.

Amon silently held her hand.

Despite the cold touch of the gloves, it was strangely reassuring.

Soon, they sensed movement.

The Shonrai Group’s security department employees revealed themselves.

Carrying rifles, they cautiously advanced through the dungeon toward the lowest level.

They didn’t expect anyone to be hiding in the piles of undead corpses, so they passed by Amon and Cash.

The two remained silent until the team had completely passed.

Then the second team passed, and the third team followed.

After the third team, no more security teams passed.

Still, the two didn’t follow them.

After what felt like an eternity.

Thud!

A vibration was felt from the lower level.

Two more teams joined the first three.

Only then did Amon and Cash emerge from the pile of corpses.

The two headed down.

To act as the crude hammer.

*

Right after the security team arrived at the bunker.

Seeing the torn-off door, they nervously entered the room.

But inside, there was only the limbless Lich.

“Ugh…! Ugh!”

The gagged Lich tried to say something.

The Alpha Team leader had a subordinate check the Lich while focusing on searching the room.

An Alpha Team member mindlessly removed the Lich’s gag.

And the first thing the Lich said with its freed mouth was:

“It’s a trap!”

The Alpha Team’s attention immediately shifted to the Lich.

That split second was fatal.

Boom!

The claymore at the center of the bunker exploded.

The Alpha Team was wiped out in an instant.

Then, from the corner of the room, Amon’s party members emerged from behind shields covered in optical camouflage.

[Just six?]

“All the booby traps in the corridor have been neutralized.”

[Tch]

There was no time to complain.

The Beastman Tanker set up a barricade at the bunker entrance, while the heavy gunner and mage rained bullets and bombs down the corridor.

The straight corridor was perfect for holding out.

Occasionally, enemies who ignored the bullets were stopped by the Mute Sniper’s powerful shots.

Thanks to that, the holding team left in the bunker played the role of the anvil perfectly.

But that was only in the beginning.

While they were indeed exceptional among explorers, they were no match for the security team backed by a megacorp.

As time passed, Amon’s party’s situation grew dire.

“Dammit. What’s the hammer team doing?”

The Bisexual Mage broke decorum and cursed.

It had already been 30 minutes.

If the hammer team was hitting the rear, the enemy’s offensive wouldn’t be this strong.

The Bisexual Mage grumbled in frustration.

“Maybe they’re wiped out?”

The Water Buffalo Tanker pessimistically suggested.

[Or maybe they ditched us and ran.]

The Sniper sneered as he pulled the bolt to eject the empty shell.

“…”

The Ogre, who always emphasized loyalty, remained silent.

It was tacit agreement with the Sniper’s words.

The four left in the bunker grew grim.

They couldn’t deny it.

If the hammer team attacked the enemy’s rear, it would be ideal, but realistically, they had no reason to do so.

The tech they found on the way down was with the anvil team, and even that was all with Amon.

If the anvil team was wiped out, the Shonrai Group would consider the case closed, and Amon and Cash could live comfortably after laundering their identities.

Once the pessimistic thoughts started, they spread like a plague among them, growing larger.

Then,

[I should’ve just joined the hammer team and run away.]

The Sniper’s unspoken thoughts leaked through telepathy to the rest of the team.

The mental wavering soon led to physical wavering.

The Sniper, losing his cool, neglected cover and took a shot to the shoulder.

“Ugh!”

With the Sniper out, the Water Buffalo Tanker’s burden increased, and a hole in the barricade led to the Mage taking a critical hit.

“Ugh! Don’t worry about me…”

As attention shifted to the Mage clutching his stomach, a gap opened in the Ogre’s line of fire, and he lost an eye to an enemy sniper.

“I can’t see! Someone give me directions!”

The sturdiest of them, the Water Buffalo Tanker, continued to block the entrance, while the blind Ogre’s indiscriminate firing held the corridor, but running out of ammo was only a matter of time.

Just as the anvil team members were preparing for their demise.

“Cease fire!”

The Water Buffalo Beastman shouted.

The Ogre couldn’t see, and the injured Mage and Sniper were in cover, so they didn’t know why the Water Buffalo Beastman had shouted.

But they soon understood.

Right after the Water Buffalo Beastman shouted, the enemy’s offensive stopped.

Instead, from the end of the corridor, screams, roars, gunfire, and occasional

– Ameeeen!!!

Familiar battle cries could be heard.

Soon, all the noise died down, and the anvil team peeked out of the bunker.

At the end of the corridor, familiar faces appeared.

The Water Buffalo Beastman grinned widely and shouted.

“You’re late!”

Next to the battered Cash, Amon, with his left shoulder drooping, replied weakly.

“It’s not easy to assassinate without getting caught.”

Though they were caught in the end.

With that mutter, Amon’s body collapsed toward Cash.

Seeing that, the party members, as if feeling guilty, dragged their injured bodies over to support Amon.

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