Reverse Dungeon

Ding!

[Elf Ranger Vice Commander Hiikan believes you are a pyromaniac!]

Ding!

[Elf Citya believes you are the ruler of evil dragons!]

Ding!

[Elf Elder Poliana believes you are a schemer!]

Ding!

[Elf Genea believes you are a pyromaniac!]

...

Ian furiously dismissed the endless flood of notifications.

“Wait. Genea?”

A suspicious name had slipped in there somewhere, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it.

At that moment, a horrifying wave of mana erupted from the enormous crater that had once been the village. If left alone, it would spread through the entire forest before long.

“!”

Ian immediately drew and fired arrow after arrow.

His target was the boundary between the mana pit and the untouched forest beyond it.

A ring of arrows embedded itself around the destroyed village, forming a barrier in moments. Infused with the power of Purification, the arrows faithfully carried out their purpose.

Wooooong!

The thick, dark mana rising from the crater visibly recoiled against the barrier. The moment it touched the wall of arrows, it trembled violently before collapsing back down.

Unable to spread outward, the mana sought the only remaining path.

Up.

Ian had no intention of allowing it to scatter across the world on the wind currents.

Sreung—

He drew another arrow.

One hand pulled the bowstring taut while the other held the bow perfectly steady. The string brushed lightly against his lips.

Ian held his breath.

His heartbeat became strangely calm.

Deceptively calm.

The arrow remained perfectly still, without the slightest tremor, aimed directly at its target.

He loved moments like this.

Everything else seemed to stop. His mind emptied completely, leaving only concentration behind.

Ian released the arrow.

It flew exactly where he intended.

Whoooooosh!

Thud!

Radiant light burst from the arrowhead as it tore through the concentrated mana like a falling star. The moment it struck the center of the barrier, Purification exploded outward in every direction, erasing the corrupted mana entirely.

The sinister energy vanished as though swept away by a clean breeze.

Ding!

[Genea believes you are a benevolent ruler!]

Ding!

[Shocking Achievement Unlocked!]

[Achievement: King of Destruction]

You have successfully erased an ancient elf village from the map forever.

Your majesty spreads throughout the world!

“Shut up!”

Ian snapped furiously.

He had never asked for any of this.

“What are you all standing around for? Do you want to die? Move!”

He decided it was time to deal with morale first.

The bewildered elves stared blankly at him.

“Lord Ian. The elves are resilient, but they cannot exactly run with broken limbs.”

Genea spoke up in their defense.

“Why are their limbs broken?”

Had the swamp monsters crushed them?

“...You threw them.”

Someone muttered it under their breath.

Ian had absolutely no memory of doing that.

How was he supposed to know Keith would start hurling people around to show off his strength?

Still, saying, “That was Keith, not me,” probably wouldn’t go over well.

So Ian immediately changed the subject.

“Anyway, this place is dangerous. We’re leaving. The uninjured will carry the wounded.”

“What’s dangerous about a village that’s already been completely obliterated...?”

“If you make this much noise, more monsters will gather! Move already!”

Terror-based leadership worked surprisingly well.

The elves reluctantly began moving. Rangers who were [N O V E L I G H T] still relatively unharmed started carrying the injured.

Ian’s own party couldn’t even help much. Every wounded elf visibly flinched away from them, so they were forced to keep their distance and move lightly on their own.

Ding!

[Elf Citya believes you are the incarnation of a great demon!]

Ding!

[Elf Ranger Vice Commander Hiikan believes you are a tyrant!]

...

Ian no longer wanted to look at his reputation notifications.

The surviving elves followed behind the dragon Ian rode in a daze. Their minds were too numb to even question where they were heading.

They were probably thinking things like:

‘What just happened?’

‘Was that divine punishment?’

‘Am I dreaming?’

But the agony in their broken limbs told them it was no dream.

Eventually, they arrived somewhere else.

Dark trees blocked out the sky overhead.

Hidden monsters lurked everywhere.

And the mana—

It was so dense that even the younger elves began complaining of dizziness.

Hiikan finally snapped back to his senses.

“This is the Dark Forest!”

“So?”

“So why did you bring us here?!”

“When did I bring you? You followed me on your own.”

The dark-haired human hero—

Or perhaps the demon incarnate.

Or perhaps the ruler of evil dragons.

—frowned irritably.

Hiikan was clearly terrified, but he still forced himself to speak.

“Did you summon those monsters?”

“How would I do that?”

“There must be some method! You brainwashed an evil dragon—what can’t you do?!”

At those words, the other elves also grew alarmed and instinctively prepared themselves.

Then Actus grumbled unhappily.

“Why am I an evil dragon? I’m not evil. I’m just a dragon. Mom, why do these people hate me? Did I do something wrong? I did everything Mom told me to do...”

‘Mom?!’

‘The human... did what with a dragon?!’

The elves entered an entirely different state of shock.

Rumors regarding this human hero’s scandalous private life had already spread before.

But surely not to the point of crossing species boundaries...?

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

...

“Enough already.”

Ian swatted away the exploding notifications hard enough to make his ears ring.

“No. You did well. They’re the weird ones.”

“Weird? Should I punish them?”

“Not that much.”

After calming the dragon, Ian slid down from Actus’s back.

The dragon remained airborne because landing would have flattened half the forest, making Ian’s dismount resemble a controlled fall from the sky.

Thump!

Thanks to his Agility stat and fall-damage reduction effects, Ian landed lightly in the bushes.

Why Agility reduced fall damage was beyond him, but this game seemed convinced that high agility justified every flashy movement imaginable.

Ian folded his arms after the stylish landing.

Originally, he had planned to show the elves the World Tree and naturally form an alliance with them.

That plan had clearly collapsed beyond repair.

His reputation as a tyrant had risen far too much.

Still...

There was another method.

Hadn’t he already succeeded once in Louise’s village?

“So this is how elves show gratitude? I save you from certain death, and suddenly I’m the servant of some demon king.”

“Not a servant. More like the Demon Archduke himself...”

Ian immediately cut off whoever had muttered that.

Hiikan took a breath and finally spoke.

“...Thank you for saving our lives. Because of you, both we and the villagers survived. I truly am grateful. But our village...”

“The monster nest your village was turning into? Yeah. That place needed rebuilding anyway.”

Ian very deliberately ignored the fact that the dragon had vaporized it.

He planned to erase that memory from existence entirely.

Besides, the village had originally been doomed to fall to monsters anyway. Ian could confidently say so as someone who had completely cleared Genea’s route.

“To begin with, the village location was terrible. Wouldn’t it be better to start over somewhere safer? The young elves born in the future deserve a better home.”

“Terrible? Rebuild?! Don’t speak so casually about things you know nothing about! Genea—that traitor—killed the Guardian Tree! We have no hope left!”

Veins bulged across Hiikan’s neck.

The surrounding elves, finally beginning to process reality, started quietly weeping.

Perfect atmosphere.

Ian immediately brought out his trump card.

“Genea. Step forward.”

“...Yes.”

Genea stepped forward with a tense expression.

Instantly, curses and accusations exploded from every direction. Dozens of furious voices overlapped into chaos. Genea tried to speak, but her words drowned beneath the shouting.

Ian hadn’t called her forward to use her as a scapegoat.

She didn’t need to explain herself at all.

“Quiet down for a second.”

The moment Ian spoke coldly, silence fell.

The elves clearly hated obeying him, but none dared openly defy him anymore.

Maybe the tyrant reputation was useful after all.

Ian revised his opinion on the matter for roughly the twenty-seventh time.

“Genea. Show them.” 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“...Ah.”

Genea carefully lifted what she had been holding protectively in her arms.

The elves instinctively focused on it.

Hiikan gasped.

“The branch of the World Tree...!”

“How is that possible...?!”

Fresh green leaves trembled softly upon the branch.

This was not the dying World Tree they had watched wither inside their village.

It was alive.

Beautiful.

Radiant with vitality.

Genea displayed the branch before everyone—

Then planted it into the ground.

‘I didn’t mean literally right here.’

Even Ian was startled.

Granted, anywhere within the Dark Forest would work, but still.

The branch trembled the moment it touched the soil. Its small leaves fluttered gently.

Then—

The World Tree took root.

Brilliant light erupted outward.

Whoooooosh!

Ding!

[You have planted a new World Tree under the influence of another World Tree.]

[It resonates with the World Tree of the First Dungeon.]

Purification: +100%

Growth: +100%

Protection: +100%

These effects stack cumulatively.

‘Perfect.’

Ian clenched his fist tightly.

Once the World Tree was rooted here, the elves would have no choice but to rebuild their village nearby.

Which also meant the Elf Rangers would naturally become guardians of the Dark Forest entrance.

The elves, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea what Ian was plotting.

Their legs gave out beneath them.

Those already kneeling simply stared upward in shock.

The Dark Forest was changing.

Dim, twisted trees surrounding the World Tree slowly began sprouting fresh green leaves.

Resonating with the World Tree inside the dungeon, the newly planted World Tree purified the surrounding land.

A refreshing wind swept through the forest.

It drove away the mana.

It drove away despair.

And in its place—

It brought hope.