Reverse Dungeon

Ian was still floating in ecstasy when someone suddenly spoke.

“Hey, isn’t that the guy who shot the arrow?”

“Yeah! He was trying to signal our position! To the demons!”

“Typical Traitor Clan filth. Betraying his own kind.”

Who’s making all that noise?

Ian wanted to find the idiots spouting nonsense and rip them out by the roots, but there were too many to deal with. Everyone was glaring at Louis. Some had even drawn their weapons.

Amid all that, Ian had only one thought.

I have to get him.

Anyone who had ever played a Korean mobile game knew one simple fact: useful characters started at four stars. Five stars were the jackpot. Some games had six-star characters, but in , five stars were the highest tier.

Either way, games had rules like that, and followed the same principle by granting special abilities starting from four-star characters.

In Ian’s case, it was . Keith had .

And Louis had .

[Skill]

Deadly Poison LV.5

Inflicts poison damage that ignores .

It does not reduce resistance. It ignores it.

Everyone knew how absurdly powerful that was, so Ian had not even bothered writing an explanation in his Louis route strategy guide.

Louis was also looking at the people with uneasy eyes.

“I... I didn’t mean to do that. I was trying to attack the demons...”

“How did you know where we were hiding?”

“Wait, how did you know there were demons here in the first place?”

“Isn’t he the one who led the demons here?”

Open hostility was written across the people’s faces.

In the end, Louis’s hand moved toward his bow. Seeing the resolve on his face, Ian realized something.

This bastard really did guide them here.

But even if Louis had not done it, the Demon Archduke would have found the dungeon eventually, and Ian would still have had to awaken the dragon.

Before things got out of hand, Ian stepped in front of Louis.

“Lord Ian! It’s dangerous!”

Sema was being a nuisance even now, so Ian brushed his hand away.

“Fine. Let’s ask him. You shot that arrow, didn’t you?”

“...Yes. But I really shot it to attack him! If I wanted to signal them, I could have just shouted. Why would I shoot an arrow at the Demon Archduke?”

“Demon Archduke?”

The people began to stir.

Ian glared at them until they fell silent, then looked back at Louis. Despite defending himself, Louis already looked half-resigned, as if he had accepted that no one would believe him.

Ian could not let him give # Nоvеlight # up.

Because Louis had the skills to kill everyone here and escape.

“Everyone, be quiet. You all saw him fire that arrow to distract the Demon Archduke. Thanks to that, the two monsters began fighting each other.”

“......?”

“If not for that arrow, we would all be dead. Since when is it proper to insult someone who has performed a great deed?”

“......!”

Louis’s eyes widened.

Ian watched tensely as Louis’s hand hesitated near the arrow.

Then Louis slowly lowered his arm.

Good.

But someone shouted.

“But, Lord Ian! The fact that he came here at all is suspicious! If he didn’t bring the demons here, why would he be in this cave?”

“That’s right!”

“You mustn’t be deceived, Lord Ian!”

The people began murmuring again.

Ian closed his eyes, then opened them.

Louis’s arm moved at a speed almost impossible to see, setting an arrow against the bowstring.

If he fired now, wouldn’t Ian, standing right in front of him, be the first to die?

Ignoring that possibility, Ian spoke calmly.

“No. The fact that he came here proves he is not on the demons’ side.”

“What?”

“Why...?”

“You saw how the demons stormed into the cave. They came here to kill everyone. If he were on the demons’ side, why would he enter a den of people doomed to die? He must have come here to hide from them.”

Whether that was true or not did not matter.

Ian looked at Louis, silently urging him to agree.

“H-How did you know what I was thinking...?”

Louis looked startled.

Ian grew impatient.

Why was he not continuing his own defense?

“How did you end up here? Explain it yourself.”

You had better explain this properly.

Ian wanted to keep Louis alive, but he was also curious about why Louis had come here.

When a player chose the Louis route, the tutorial began in the now-destroyed settlement of the Traitor Clan. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Traitors had been allowed to live like parasites in demon territory by connecting the human world and the demon world through a “Sphere,” but they were wiped out by the Demon Archduke over a minor fault.

The game began with the survivors who had escaped crying out, “Louis, do something!”

Is there a Traitor Clan settlement near here?

Ian was curious.

He wanted to know whether this was before or after the start of the Louis route.

Keith coming to save him from the Vatican proved that the Keith route had not started yet, but...

Louis swallowed hard.

“Uh... the Demon Archduke suddenly came to our village. They demanded a guide to lead them through the forest. I was brought here as that guide. I swear I didn’t know they were after all of you! If I had known, I never would have guided them! Please believe me!”

He threw himself at Ian’s feet.

Ian immediately realized it was an act.

Louis was not the type to sincerely beg anyone. He was cunning and good at protecting himself.

Of course, whether it was genuine or not did not matter to Ian.

So the village still exists? That’s a problem if this is before his route starts.

There was a risk that Louis might return to the Traitor Clan village.

“See? He did guide them here!”

“Kill him! Kill him!”

The enraged crowd jeered.

Ian turned to look at them.

“Who is raising their voice in front of whom?”

Everyone fell silent.

“But...!”

Ian looked at the man who had spoken.

Under Ian’s piercing gaze, the man shut his mouth.

“Being oppressed by a tyrant is not the fault of the people. I understand that you were forced to come here. I forgive you.”

“......!”

The people murmured, but no one dared say anything outright.

No one wanted to become Ian’s target.

Being a tyrant has its uses.

Ian was not finished.

He helped Louis to his feet and gently dusted off his clothes.

“......?”

The people watched in confusion.

What was their fearsome master doing?

Ian asked, “By the way, did no one from your village try to help you? They must have known what happens to someone taken by the Demon Archduke.”

“Yes... No one... No one helped me.”

Louis seemed to choke up and bit his lip.

His shoulders trembled.

“If I go back to the village, no one will want me. I really... I’m sorry. Thank you for sparing me. I should have greeted you properly first...”

Louis wiped away his tears and hurriedly bowed.

He seemed to think he had revealed too much of himself.

Ian had no intention of giving him time to regain his composure.

Even so, he only has one place to go. It’ll be a huge problem if he decides to return to the village.

Ian put on a gentle voice.

“You can’t go back to your village? Then you have nowhere to go.”

“Ugh...”

“Then stay here. For your role in killing the demon, I will accept you as one of my subjects.”

“......!”

Not only Louis, but everyone looked at Ian in shock.

As long as there’s a proper reason, loyalty shouldn’t drop too much.

Ian looked around at the people.

“Any objections? Does anyone think we should kill this poor child who saved us?”

No one answered.

Ian nodded in satisfaction.

“Become my subject. What do you say?”

“I... I...”

Louis nodded faintly, still dazed.

Ding!

[Four-star hero ‘Louis’ has joined the dungeon.]

[The dungeon level increases.]

[Dungeon LV.1 → LV.5]

Got him!

Ian was just about to clench his fist when another notification sounded.

Ding!

[The people now regard you as a tyrant!]

“......”

Why the hell?

He had made sure to justify his actions...

Still, reputation mattered less than a four-star hero and a dungeon level increase, so Ian decided not to care.

He clenched his fist in satisfaction.

At that moment, a sound came from behind him.

Grrrr...

It was the growl of a beast.

The sound of the dragon waking up.

Ah, right. The dragon.

“......”

It’s not dead yet?