Chapter 156: Sealed Dungeon Core

Qiu Nuoya hurried after him and stopped at the doorway.

However, he hesitated to step inside. Just as he was standing there uncertainly, Igor came up beside him, put an arm around his shoulders, and peered into the room.

"Wow, so this is a dungeon core. It’s my first time seeing a real one."

"Nuoya, stay back. I’ll go first."

"Eh? But..."

"When it comes to things like this, the toughest guy goes first."

It was true that Igor was unquestionably the most physically durable member of their current group. But just because someone had a sturdy body did not mean they could not be injured by an attack. And if the attack happened to be magical, physical toughness might not mean anything at all.

"There is no need to show off, Igor." Viktor had somehow moved to the opposite side of Igor. He crouched down and ran his hand over the floor.

Like the walls, the floor was pure white. However, a magic circle had been drawn across the entire floor, glowing brightly.

"Nothing in particular will happen if you enter."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because this dungeon core has been sealed." Viktor stood up smoothly and stepped into the room without changing his expression.

Qiu Nuoya’s heart jumped, expecting something to happen the moment he entered. However, just as Viktor had said, nothing unusual happened when he stepped inside.

But what does he mean by saying the dungeon core has been sealed?

Qiu Nuoya had been told that the core of Dungeon Castle had neither been destroyed nor sealed, which was precisely why the dungeon had continued growing and become such a problem.

This did not match what they had been told at all.

"I thought something about this situation was strange from the very beginning. One of my former companions had the ability to seal dungeon cores, yet for some reason, they had never done anything about this dungeon. Not only that, they had apparently demanded an outrageous price and refused the request. It simply did not make sense."

"There certainly were some of my former companions who might have done something like that. But there were also several researchers among them who were absolutely determined to see dungeon cores throughout the world with their own eyes. The fact that even people like that collectively refused the request never quite sat right with me."

"Viktor, what are you getting at?"

"Exactly what I said. They already knew that this dungeon’s core had been sealed. Or perhaps someone had told them not to interfere with this dungeon..."

"Someone? Who? And the Adventurer’s Guild Master clearly seemed to have no idea about any of this, did he?"

Viktor closed his eyes, folded his arms, and fell into thought.

"The Guild Master apparently challenged this dungeon once before. The deepest his party managed to reach at the time was the 45th floor, and no adventurers had ever ventured any deeper than that. Naturally, he would assume that the dungeon had continued to grow."

"Several decades have passed since that expedition. If the dungeon had continued developing at a normal rate, there would be nothing strange about it having more than fifty floors by now. So it would not be unreasonable for him to feel that the situation posed a threat."

"So?"

"The dungeon core was secretly sealed by someone, but whoever sealed it never told anyone about it. They may even have ordered their companions to keep quiet, or perhaps some kind of pressure was brought to bear on them..." Viktor shrugged. "Of course, that is only my speculation. But I have absolutely no idea why anyone would go to such lengths."

"However, I don’t understand it either," Viktor said with another shrug. "There is something else that has been bothering me. That island on the 48th floor felt strangely artificial, didn’t it? The dungeons created by dungeon cores are essentially natural environments. They are not usually anything particularly complicated. Yet the mechanisms on that island clearly gave off the feeling that someone had deliberately created them."

Indeed, the mural someone had drawn inside the cave, the room Qiu Nuoya had been led to, and even the mechanisms within the shrine all seemed impossible to explain as things that had formed in. Someone had clearly left them there intentionally.

Qiu Nuoya looked up at the dungeon core, which continued to spin slowly in place, glowing brilliantly.

"Well, regardless, my job is essentially finished now. My request was to seal the dungeon core, but since the dungeon core was already sealed, this turned out to be much easier than expected. All that remains is to install a teleportation magic circle in that other room. Once that is done, this dungeon core will probably be turned into a tourist attraction."

"Turning a dungeon core into a tourist attraction...?"

"That Guild Master would certainly do it, wouldn’t he? After all, there do not seem to be any monsters on this floor, and he is quite the enterprising businessman."

Ah, Qiu Nuoya had to admit that the Guild Master really did seem like the kind of person who would do exactly that.

"So, does this mean we’ve officially conquered the dungeon?"

"Well, I suppose you could put it that way."

"Ah... that’s a little anticlimactic. I thought a tougher dungeon boss might show up or something."

"Please go somewhere else if you want to seek romance in risking your life. I want no part of it."

Igor and Viktor continued their matter-of-fact exchange.

Qiu Nuoya certainly had no desire to risk his life either, but personally, he was closer to Igor’s feelings. Even so, he had expected there to be something more hidden within this dungeon.

[ Master, are you not going to destroy this dungeon core? ]

"No. It seems to have already been sealed."

[ I see. What a shame. ]

Long looked up at the dungeon core as he spoke.

"Long, what do you mean by ’what a shame’?"

[ Hm? I only thought I might get a share if we destroyed it. The dungeon core’s magic power is high quality. I thought absorbing it might increase my rank. ]