Reverse Dungeon

Jeong Yiwon was playing a game.

There was almost nothing in his room—just a bed, a wardrobe, and a bathroom attached to the single-room flat. He did not live with family, so there was no one to complain when he stayed up gaming late into the night.

In truth, there was no one anywhere who could complain to him.

He had no family.

Jeong Yiwon could no longer remember how he had felt when his parents died while he was still young.

He had never been used to thinking about his own emotions in the first place. It had been a long time since he had even tried. He preferred to kill his feelings and kill time.

No need to think too deeply.

No need to look at anything except the thing right in front of him.

Gaming was his favorite way to kill time, so he lay on his bed with his eyes fixed only on his phone.

He knew he had work the next day.

But just a little longer.

It was not as if anyone would contact him anyway—

Jeong Yiwon opened his eyes.

And the moment he pushed himself up, he was met with a special event.

RUMBLE...

The dungeon was shaking.

No.

It was collapsing.

Ian let out a startled shout.

“What the hell?!”

“Lord Ian! You’re awake! Thank goodness!”

“Lie back down! You mustn’t get up!”

“The cave is collapsing!”

No way.

This was a dungeon. There was no way a dungeon would collapse without some kind of event.

People were crouched on the floor, clutching their heads. Ignoring their frantic gestures telling him to lie down, Ian opened the blinking system notification window.

Ding!

[Emergency!]

The dragon Actus, sleeping beneath the dungeon, has awakened!

Why now?!

The thought flashed through Ian’s mind, but there was no need to think hard about the reason. Hadn’t he been wandering around right in front of the dragon not long ago?

Damn it. I shouldn’t have gone in there!

It seemed he had woken it up then.

Ian regretted his past choice, but it was far too late now.

KRRRRRRRRR!

The dragon’s roar tore through the dungeon. Something was forcing its way up from the lower floors, breaking through level after level, and the walls on every side shook as if they could no longer withstand the impact.

Ian’s body pitched from side to side.

Contacca caught him just before he fell. The werewolf had one thick arm braced like a pillar while the other held Momisia protectively against him.

“Defensive formation!”

He shouted at the soldiers. His growling wolf’s voice cut cleanly through the chaos.

The soldiers, however, were trembling, overwhelmed by the powerful magical energy rising from below.

“Argh!”

“Mom!”

Exposure to magical energy ate away at a character’s mental strength. It could inflict all kinds of status ailments, from depression to lethargy, but the soldiers seemed to have been hit with the worst possible symptoms. They began attacking one another, trapped in hallucinations.

“Stop!”

Contacca tore the fighting humans apart with his massive arms.

Even then, they kept trying to lunge at each other, so Contacca seized them by the heads and slammed them together like cymbals.

They lost consciousness and collapsed.

Seeing that, Ian felt as if he might faint too.

Damn it...

Ian cursed inwardly and poured all his experience points into .

I can’t fight that.

Then he at least had to run.

And to run, he first needed these sobbing, fainting, screaming people to stand up.

Ding!

[The level of the skill has increased.]

[Purification LV.5 → LV.7]

After driving a demon duke out of the coliseum, his Purification level shot straight into the upper tiers in an instant.

Ian did not even have time to feel embarrassed like usual before he shouted.

“!”

Purification, released at maximum output, flooded the space.

For a moment, Ian felt as if the entire dungeon had been filled with light.

A blinding radiance that made his eyes sting drove away the dungeon’s chill and brought warmth in its place. For an instant, it felt as though the season itself had changed to spring, and even the noise made by the dragon stopped.

Before anyone realized it, the dragon had broken through to where Ian and the others were.

Its head was shoved into the passageway.

Its yellow reptilian eyes blinked.

Then it asked,

“Mom?”

“What?”

“Mom?”

The reptile asked again, this time in a doubtful tone.

Ian reflexively used the skill once more.

.

WHOOSH—!

As the light spread, the reptile cried out.

“Mom!”

Does this thing only know one word?

Ian was curious.

But that was not the important part.

The important part was that this monster was not attacking him.

It recognized Ian as “Mom”... or something along those lines.

Could this be a hidden event?

Ian analyzed the situation in an instant.

It seemed the game had been designed so that if a character with Purification at level 7 or higher woke the dragon, it would not turn hostile.

Ian thought to himself.

Crazy developers. Who the hell levels Purification all the way to 7? Are they perverts? If it weren’t for a good player like me, everyone would just abandon the dungeon and run...

But this was worth putting in a strategy guide.

Ian was the first to discover it!

...After thinking that far, Ian calmed down.

Oh.

There’s no internet here.

But that was not important either.

Ian grew excited again.

Can I tame a dragon?

He cautiously reached out toward the dragon, keeping his body ready to flee at any moment.

The dragon did not attack him, even with its eyes wide open.

“Lord Ian, no!” Louise shouted from behind him.

Ian placed his hand on the dragon’s forehead.

.

The system window did not respond.

“...”

Ian’s excitement cooled instantly.

At the same time, he became fully awake.

If it isn’t taming, then what kind of event is this?

The dragon’s scales were hard on the outside, yet faintly damp and soft beneath, like touching a living reptile.

Ian began to sweat.

“Lord Ian tamed the dragon.”

“The dragon isn’t attacking...”

People whispered behind him.

Ian did not agree.

“Shh. Be quiet. It seems to understand us.”

Ian spoke as calmly as he could.

He had dealt with barking dogs before.

Was it when he was in fifth grade? After he beat up a kid who had mocked him for being an orphan, that kid had brought a dog from home.

The dog had barked like mad and frightened Ian.

But showing fear in front of that kid would have been too humiliating.

Ian had threatened the dog’s owner as quietly as possible, in a voice only he could hear.

If you don’t leave right now, I’ll kill you myself...

Why was he remembering that now?

Besides, the people behind him were not even the dragon’s owners. They could not do anything about the dragon, so why would it matter whether they stayed quiet?

Then the dragon spoke.

“I understand. Why wouldn’t I understand my mom’s words? I was sleeping properly, just like you told me to.”

The dragon spoke like a child, and Ian was startled.

Could this dragon—the one Ian had killed dozens, if not hundreds, of times in the game—actually be a baby dragon?

He felt a little guilty.

Or maybe not.

After all, this dragon was far more likely to kill him.

Ian was curious about something else too.

Should I correct what it calls me?

If he told it to call him Ian instead of Mom, would the dragon kill him?

Unable to tell, Ian decided to keep quiet for now.

The dragon yawned.

Ian was almost blown away.

“When I woke up from the egg... there was something unpleasant there. It wasn’t Mom. I got rid of it, and then I got sleepy again. It was too dark and unpleasant, so I went back to sleep. But now Mom came looking for me... Can I wake up now?”

The dragon rubbed its scales against Ian’s face.

Ian felt as if his cheeks might be scraped off.

“Uh... That’s fine and all. What was your name again?”

“Mom? You forgot my name?”

Tears began to well up in the dragon’s enormous eyes.

The moment those tears struck him, Ian snapped back to reality.

He called up the system window again.

“Of course not. It’s Actus, right? How could I forget your name?”

Thank goodness the system window has a log function.

Ding!

At that moment, the status window appeared.

[Character]

‘The Last Dragon’ Actus (★★★★★)

Reputation

The Last Dragon

Skills

Flame: LV.7

Enhancement: LV.7

Majesty: LV.6

⁝

[Due to the status ailment ‘Fatigue’, stats are reduced by 50%. Easily falls into a sleep state.]

[Due to the status ailment ‘Magic Addiction’, stats are reduced by 70%.]

[You ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) have achieved the feat of awakening ‘The Last Dragon’.]

[Hidden Quest]

Help ‘The Last Dragon’ Actus wake the other dragons who have fallen into eternal sleep.

【 Yes / No 】

A chill ran through Ian.

Just like “The Last Werewolf” Contacca, this dragon was also a character.

Contacca could move together with Momisia as a hero, but because he operated on default settings, he was closer to an NPC.

The dragon was the same.

An NPC that slept because of magical energy and awakened through Purification.

If Purification was too low, it recognized the player as an “intruder.”

If Purification was high, it recognized the player as “Mom.”

This was definitely a hidden quest.

And the game company was definitely full of bastards.

How was any player supposed to raise Purification to level 7 before the dragon woke up?

Unless you were insane, it was impossible.