Chapter 43
Life’s Best When It’s Easy (1)
1.
When I crawled into the charred remains of the columbarium, there was a strangely-shaped door.
I brought the Orb of Binding I had just eaten to the door, and immediately, an interaction began.
Vuuuuhhh—!
The orb glowed, and then:
[You have entered the Hidden Dungeon: <Necromancer’s Laboratory>.]
[This dungeon is a <Maze-type (Changing) Dungeon>. The dungeon changes every 10 minutes!]
[An evil plan is unfolding inside. Investigate it and acquire information related to the Immortal Army!]
“Maze-type? Changing?”
Maze-type dungeon… 😳
Wasn’t the Vampire Parasite Bath also maze-type? Why does this one have “changing” attached?
It’s the same type, but the difficulty is vastly different.
The rooms randomly change at set intervals.
Even the connecting passages keep changing.
Without a navigation trait, it’s insanely difficult.
The phase shifts every time you enter a new room, constantly disorienting north, south, east, and west.
The effect of Viewer GPT was incredibly powerful.
Even without the Abyss Encyclopedia president’s help, I could quickly understand this dungeon.
A dungeon that had never been cleared even once before.
At least here, I was the vanguard.
Inside, it was dark and gloomy, but thanks to the faintly glowing stones scattered around, it wasn’t completely pitch-black.
If you’re going to light it, at least light it properly.
“Definitely a different vibe than the Vampire Parasite Bath.”
Info: The official name is not Vampire Parasite Bath but Vampire Parasite Maze.
You can’t clear this dungeon without a navigation trait.
Surely he doesn’t even have navigation ability?
Yeah, just skip it and come back later.
The party will gather soon.
Time is money.
Time is money—unemployed life lol.
If time is money, I’d already be rich.
In the Abyss, players divide roles extremely efficiently.
It’s not just combat-focused players; there are also many with utility traits.
Exploration-type players are treated like nobles at higher levels.
I was, in fact, practically a noble.
“Though I don’t have the exploration trait.”
Then no time-wasting.
Quick surrender.
Skip dungeon exploration, just do gacha next?
Let’s go to the Supernatural Skills Department and pull some draws.
Kinda a shame.
No rush anyway.
“I said I don’t have the exploration trait. Did I say I don’t have exploration skills?”
Lebon is a legendary elf.
I can’t speak for elves in other worlds, but Avalon’s elves were all excellent guides.
Lebon even set the paths for the hero party.
Exploration skills? Of course he had them.
[Unique Trait <Skill Archive – God Slayer Lebon> activated]
[Skill: Eye of the World Tree]
This skill can precisely mark the destination even amidst any obstruction.
The skill’s principle is said to work via the roots of the World Tree spreading across the continent to identify destinations.
There shouldn’t be any roots of the World Tree in the Abyss, but somehow, the skill activated perfectly.
[The Eye of the World Tree is observing your destination.]
In the dim vision, a massive violet magic cluster was detected to the northeast.
I couldn’t calculate the exact distance, but judging by its small size, it seemed pretty far away.
The skill works similarly to detecting magic, but its true strength lies in visualization.
Magic detection is easily disturbed, but the Eye of the World Tree allows no interference—a true ultimate eye…! Lebon said.
“I see the path.”
As I stepped forward, the first room of the maze revealed itself.
Its structure was not particularly unusual.
A room about 4 meters high, with the musty smell typical of basements. It seemed worthy of the dungeon’s name:
[Necromancer’s trap activated.]
[Undead are flooding in from all directions!]
Ghouls with long claws emerged as walls crumbled.
Ghouls are generally higher-tier undead than zombies.
Being a 3rd-floor hidden dungeon, their level was:
[<Ghoul Lv. 100> appears!]
A three-digit level. Considering the 3rd-floor monster average is 65, this is a serious challenge. About thirty of them?
Ruuurrrr-!
As soon as the ghouls appeared, the passage I had entered through closed off.
Viewers freaked out again.
You can’t leave until clearing it?
Escape scrolls exist, so maybe we can use them.
Just punch our way through? That’s easy enough.
Or just use the bow?
Archery (melee).
Archery… huh. Not bad.
Today was Lebon Special Day.
But showing archery too often might bore the viewers.
A streamer’s pride wouldn’t allow it.
“Peanut, time for some cooperative play.”
『Yup!』
“Grenade in the hoop. You know the drill?”
『It’s been a while since we’ve synced with the master!』
Holding the precious almond, Peanut nodded.
The “Grenade in the Hoop” mission was our first cooperative operation.
Vuuuuhhh—!
As Peanut shook the almond, a thick dirt wall was summoned from the ground.
It instantly divided the space.
In the center of the wall, there was a fist-sized hole—my turn from here.
Craaaack—!
I aimed the bow through the hole, pulled the string, and called out confidently:
“Grenade.”
[Unique Trait <Skill Archive – God Slayer Lebon> activated]
[Skill: Lebon-Style Archery Variation 2 – Grenade]
A magical arrow transformed into a grenade—a variation of Lebon-style archery, the first technique of “Meteor Shower” style archery.
Shwoooosh—!
The arrow flew through the hole without a miss.
BOOOOM!
Babababoom!
Moments later, a tremendous explosion echoed, and shards embedded in Peanut’s wall could be heard.
Lol, now it’s called a grenade instead of a bow skill?
No effort at all, huh.
This counts as archery?
Breaking news: National Archers’ Association crying.
It’s archery anyway.
“You are now a bow,” Megat said, looking at a gun.
You learned archery from elves, lol, but they call everything archery? How is this archery lol
This is historically accurate. Don’t you know hwacha?
Ah, King Sejong, are you watching? Your descendants are recreating the hwacha.
All glory to Great King Sejong.
2.
“Grenade in the Hoop” was a huge success.
Of course, the first room was easily cleared.
I got several useful insights from the first room:
Monsters hide in walls or floors.
They appear naturally when I enter the room.
Clearing a room brings me closer to the final room, but the direction is random.
Ah, with this, I can practically perfect the dungeon strategy.
If monsters can even leap out of walls, there’s another way to handle them.
“If walls are weak enough for monsters to burst through, shouldn’t I be able to break them too?”
???
How do you even think like that?
Use the bow to break walls this time?
I kinda want to dissect that brain.
If breaking walls were that easy, why would dungeons even exist?
Easy-mode mindset approved.
Well, it’s mostly correct.
Breaking walls isn’t really the dungeon’s intended design.
Besides, no matter the archery style, smashing walls with a bow would definitely break the bow.
That wouldn’t complete a million-gold mission.
Sigh. This is so boring, I could die.
I wanted to enjoy the dungeon properly.
As a hidden dungeon, I expected some real difficulty.
But aside from being enclosed, it wasn’t that threatening.
Meaning, I had to extract content through Peanut and my feats.
No worries. The ultimate streaming cheat, Great Peanut, is with me.
Alright, new stream title:
[Title: Digging a Highway Through the Dungeon (For Real)]
World’s first.
A dungeon highway construction stream.
As soon as I changed the title, viewers spammed hooks as usual.
Highway?
What highway through a dungeon?
Sir, stop fooling around and clear the dungeon properly.
Ranked #1 streamer doing nonsense in the Abyss by FOMOS.
Hmm, kind of curious now.
We have the best construction company with years of experience.
“Peanut.”
『Yup!』
“Let’s start construction.”
Hamsters dig tunnels well.
So Peanut, hamster-shaped, digs tunnels well.
Even in Avalon, Peanut saved me several times from traps set by evil dragons.
I nicknamed him “Peanut Construction.”
Peanut pulled out something from his cheek pouches:
A yellow helmet perfectly fitted for a hamster’s head.
“Safety” was written in blue on the helmet.
After putting on the helmet, Peanut lightly landed on the floor and waved his short arms proudly.
Beep-beep!
『Safety! Safety! Safety!』
The easiest way to beat a maze changing every 10 minutes?
Reach the last room before the 10 minutes are up.
As Peanut warmed up with the helmet, viewers went wild.
A hamster wearing a helmet?
Wow.
Wow.
Release merch immediately.
Too cute.
This is why everyone watches pet YouTube.
Did you know? Seeing something this cute causes short-term memory loss.
From now on, this stream is Great Peanut’s stream.
What?
Too easy, lacking content?
Too one-patterned, not fun?
BOOOOM!
BOOOOM!
[Second room cleared.]
[Third room cleared.]
[Fourth room cleared.]
Then just go all the way with over-the-top antics.
Overdoing it becomes art.
Peanut dug through walls at incredible speed, and I cheerfully followed.
“Fun fact: hamsters love digging tunnels.”
????????????
How is that a tunnel?????
lol, they’re actually digging one.
With their hands?
Tunnel construction, Korea style.
Is the hamster Korean?
If it’s a Korean player pet, nationality is Korean, yes.
Great Peanut.
Mighty Peanut.
Serious AND digs tunnels—totally an engineer hamster.
Can we adopt one?
Viewers went wild, judging the value of Peanut Construction.
If I ever stop making money in the Abyss, maybe I can just tunnel with Peanut for a living.
I smiled contentedly and walked forward.
3.
After following Peanut’s tunnel for about five minutes, a message popped up.
[You have reached the final room.]
Exactly 7 minutes 30 seconds since entering the hidden dungeon.
Thanks to Peanut, we already reached the boss room.
Unlike other stone-only rooms, the final room was impressive.
A massive statue in the center.
Other statues lined the area, making it look like a temple.
Before one statue, something in a black robe clasped its hands and stared at me.
[Hidden Dungeon Boss Appears.]
[Quest progress updated.]
[Acquire useful clues from him.]
A red warning message appeared:
【…Was it you who destroyed my dungeon?】
A metallic scraping voice echoed.
Lich.
Lich on the 3rd floor?
Liches appear after floor 6, at least.
Wait, isn’t that a named Lich? Seen it before.
That’s the named Lich in the 6th-floor Immortal King’s Fortress.
[Through the Eye of the World Tree, the enemy’s hidden info is revealed to you.]
[<Lich Alberto Lv. ???> – Traits <Invincible>, <Immortal>]
“Oh.”
A really fun one appeared.
Conversation, huh.
I’m actually good at conversation.
I nodded contentedly and drew the bow:
“A bow is a fine tool for conversation.”
[Unique Trait <Skill Archive – God Slayer Lebon> activated]
[Skill: Lebon-Style Archery Technique 1 – Infernal Arrow]
Lebon’s secret technique.
Elf-style conversation.
Since we’re on friendly terms, shall I start by sticking an arrow between his brows?
