CH 43

Chapter 43 – We Entered the Dungeon!

“I never would have thought…”

Iria muttered as she looked down at the stairs that led underground.

The Golems must have uncovered it while they were cutting out the rocks.

“It is clearly not a cave… Perhaps this is a dungeon?”

“A dungeon?”

“Aye. A place where monsters live.”

About one thousand years ago, there were fewer humans.

And they did not have complete control of the northern regions of the continent, as they did now.

At the same time, the Demon King’s army also didn’t exist.

However, that didn’t mean that humans and monsters never fought each other.

Scattered across the north, there were monster colonies…known as dungeons. And it was there that humans fought monsters.

This was an age where humans who traveled from dungeon to dungeon across the land to kill monsters were called Adventurers.

Iria looked amazed.

“Indeed, it does appear to be a place that was made by someone. But how do you know that monsters live here?”

“Because dungeons with a lot of monsters typically had Golems placed near the entrance for security. And so the possibility of this place being a dungeon is very high.”

About six hundred years ago, humans had succeeded in driving out the denizens of all the northern dungeons.

Seeing the danger, the monsters all gathered to the south, and it was there that they united under the leader of the demons, Demon King Goshe.

It was said that this was the beginning of the Demon King army.

And so dungeons like these would have been abandoned a very long time ago.

Besides, this place had been sealed by rock. If there was something inside at one time, they would be dead now. If they could not get out, then they would not be able to secure food.

As dungeons were homes for the monsters, they usually kept their most valuable things in the farthest depths.

Aside from monster materials, Adventurers would earn gold by selling any treasures they found.

Iria then asked me,

“What should we do, Sir Joshua?”

“We cannot just leave it like this. More Golems might come out. We will have to search through it.”

“In that case… I could go in and clean it out?”

“N-no… That’s too dangerous.”

And yet, I had a suspicion that Iria would be capable of doing just that.

“So, should I call the others then?”

“No, it’s fine. Since we just acquired some good Doll Stones, I think I’ll make an especially strong Golem.”

And so I checked the Doll Stone fragments and iron in my Magic Workshop.

“Craft… Iron Golem.”

Unlike Golems made of stone, an Iron Golem was a monster that had a body made of iron.

The melted iron transformed so that it took on the shape of human limbs, torso and neck. Only the joints were spherical.

There was no need for these parts to be actually connected.

Then I just used the power of the Doll Stone, and the rest of the transformation was complete.

It didn’t even take half a minute. And before my eyes, stood a shining giant of iron.

“It is…iron? It does look very strong.”

Iria said as she looked up at the Iron Golem.

It was slightly taller than the average human.

I could have enveloped it in more iron, but I decided to make it on the smaller side, so that it would be able to move freely within a dungeon.

“Aye, it is more durable than a normal Golem. And since there may be traps, I’ll let it walk ahead of us. Iron Golem. Go down the steps.”

Upon hearing my order, the Iron Golem started to walk down the dungeon staircase.

“Now let’s follow after it. I’ll give you a torch.”

“Yes!”

I handed Iria a torch and ignited it. And then we followed the Iron Golem into the dungeon.

Inside, there was nothing but stone walls and a hallway that stretched out in one direction.

As we advanced, just as I had anticipated, dark red stones, the Doll Stones, appeared… But Iria moved in front of the Iron Golem and cut the stones in half.

She dealt with them before they could draw rocks towards them.

After that, we found Doll Stones five more times, but Iria dealt with them each time. And so I was able to take them.

Her speed really was impressive. Not only that, but she cut them so cleanly so that I would be able to use the stones afterwards.

Thanks to that, I would be able to make even more Golems… Oh.

Up ahead, I could see that the passage opened up.

“It looks like a room. Iria, we’ll send the Iron Golem first. Also, even if there are Doll Stones, it would be best to wait before doing anything. There might be a trap.”

“I understand. We’ll watch first.”

And so we watched carefully as the Iron Golem entered the room.

However, nothing in particular happened.

Iria and I nodded to each other and entered the room.

Then I raised my torch and looked towards the back.

It was a square room that was about ten beters across.

“This place…”

“There isn’t anything here. Only an altar…”

An altar was standing against the wall in the back.

And on top of it, I saw something that looked like rolled up paper.

“It’s a scroll.”

“A scroll?”

“Aye. It can be used to record magic.”

It wasn’t just some rolled up paper, but it was special, in that it kept records of magic.

And anyone who opened the scroll would be able to learn that magic.

As the words would glow, you would know what kind of magic it was.

And so you could just close it and not use it at all.

However, it could also be a blank scroll with no magic recorded.

Of course, that was still something valuable. As it would allow you to easily teach someone else magic.

“I don’t know if this holds any magic, but it’s a good find.”

And so I started to walk towards it.

However, just then, a black mist appeared right in front of me.