The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 13: Dungeon

Dungeon. A mysterious place whose existence is unclear and that appears suddenly in the world, home to countless monsters and treasures.

At the deepest part of the dungeon lies something called the Dungeon Core, which controls and governs the dungeon.

This Dungeon Core cannot be destroyed or taken out.

So, does that mean dungeons will endlessly multiply? Not quite. It seems that there is a limit to how many dungeons can exist, and it’s possible for a dungeon to suddenly vanish one day.

Even so, such occurrences are rare, and past records mention them only as extraordinary incidents.

Interestingly, the monsters that appear inside the dungeon vanish, leaving only magic stones behind, with no other body parts remaining.

You might think it would be more profitable to defeat monsters outside, but the magic stones from the dungeon monsters are of high quality and infused with potent magic, fetching a good price in the markets.

And the main reason adventurers dive into dungeons is to obtain weapons, armor, and magical tomes that can sometimes drop when defeating monsters.

It’s unclear what causes it, but for some reason, monsters drop items on occasion when defeated.

What’s more, some of those items include magical swords, so everyone is eager to get their hands on them.

Moreover, the strength of the obtainable items seems to depend on the dungeon’s rank; higher-ranked dungeons yield stronger weapons.

The dungeon I’m currently in is one located in the Duke’s territory, known as the A Rank dungeon “Icy Fake.”

This place consists of an icy terrain throughout all its floors, with monsters resembling ice or snow to mimic the real thing.

With snow constantly piling up, mobility is hindered, and the low temperatures sap away body heat, making it a dangerous place where one can die in an instant if not prepared.

“Well, doesn’t concern me, though.”

As I stepped through the dungeon door, I conjured a barrier of fire magic to envelop my body.

Normally, doing this would drain my magic power quickly, rendering me unable to move, but my magical capacity has increased even more since defeating the Snow Wyvern.

So this level of consumption is hardly a problem.

“Alright, let’s get started.”

With my motivation slightly boosted, I deployed a locating spell to ascertain the monsters’ positions and entered deeper into the dungeon.

Every five floors of the dungeon features a room with a teleportation magic circle, where flashing your guild card at the magical tool allows you to teleport there for your next expedition.

Additionally, bosses appear every ten floors, and you cannot progress to the next level without defeating them.

“Oh, an Ice Golem.”

I had reached the first boss room about an hour after starting my dungeon exploration.

On my way here, I had taken down groups of ice monsters, such as Ice Wolves and Ice Orcs.

“Let’s see if fire magic works against it first. ‘Fire Spear!’”

I conjured ten spears of fire and hurled them at the Ice Golem in one swift motion.

However, it seemed my magic had little effect due to the Golem’s high ice density and the ambient low temperature; its defense was overwhelming compared to the Snow Wyvern.

“Hm. Ordinary fire magic isn’t cutting it. I should crank up the temperature, but that feels like it’d take the fun out of it.”

Smiling slyly, I decided to abandon magic and drew my sword for close combat.

Using body enhancement, I kicked off the ground with all my might and dove right into the Ice Golem’s space.

I swung my sword with force, but instead of slicing through, it only stopped about a third of the way.

I quickly pulled back to create some distance, but the Golem had no sense of pain and charged right at me without hesitation.

“Ugh!”

Not being able to dodge the Ice Golem’s tackle, I used my sword as a shield, but was still sent flying by the force.

“Tch. Guess doing it without magic is tougher than I thought.”

No matter how much I enhance myself, being tackled by something bigger than me naturally sends me flying.

“Now, what to do…”

The snowy plains made speedy movement challenging, and the weight of a single strike from the Golem was overwhelmingly greater.

“Haha. In this situation, there’s no way this isn’t fun!”

I let out a surge of fighting spirit that flowed out from me and lunged at the Golem once more.

With a lowered posture, I dashed close to the ground just as the Golem swung its right arm down at me.

I dodged, then drove my sword into its right arm, which crashed to the ground.

“‘Shattering Wave!’”

Fighting spirit is a form of power distinct from magic; while magic is the source of the miracles called spells, fighting spirit is a life energy used by masters of martial arts.

By using fighting spirit, one can launch slashes, boost their defense, or cloak their sword with it to increase its offensive power.

The Shattering Wave I used is a technique that coats the sword with fighting spirit, vibrating it to destroy the enemy from the inside.

Thus, the Golem’s arm, unable to withstand the shockwave it received, cracked spiderweb-like from the spot where my sword pierced, and the area beyond its elbow crumbled to the ground.

“Alright, now the real fun begins!”

After repeating the same process, I shattered the Golem’s limbs and finally smashed its head, causing the Ice Golem to vanish while leaving only the magic stone behind.

“Ah, that was a blast! Time to head back now.”

Having defeated it using only fighting spirit, I retrieved the magic stone, descended the stairs, and registered my location by flashing my guild card at the magical tool situated near the entrance to the 11th floor, then exited via the teleportation magic circle.

Back at the Adventurers’ Guild, I handed the magic stone to Sheila-san for selling and waited to collect my payment.

“Found you.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind and turned around to see a girl with silver hair reaching her waist, beautiful amethyst-like purple eyes, and a nicely shaped chest with a slender waist.

She looked like an equally stunning beauty on par with Iris, about the same age as me.

However, her most notable feature was the animal-like ears atop her head and the fluffy tail swaying behind her.

(A beastman, huh? Rare to see one here…)

In this world, there are three major races: humans, demi-humans, and demon kin, with demi-humans further divided into categories like elves, dwarves, and beastmen.

While some demi-humans live normally within human society, very few reside in the Valentine Duke’s territory due to the natural environment.

(How rare it is to encounter one of such a unique race right in front of me… fluffy ears and a tail. So, which type is she…?)

“…A dog?”

“Wolf. Don’t get it wrong.”

As soon as I murmured “dog,” she eagerly corrected me, clearly perturbed by being mistaken for a dog.

“My bad! So, what brings you here, Wolf lady?”

“My name is Fiera. To be blunt, I want to team up with you.”

“No way.”

“Why not?”

“Too much hassle.”

Despite her expression remaining unchanged, Fiera slightly winced when I refused her.

“…What would make you want to team up?”

“Like I said, I’m not interested. Why me, though?”

“You’re the strongest in this guild. I want to become stronger. So, I want to be by your side.”

From just that final part, it felt almost like a confession, but what intrigued me more was her desire to become strong.

“Why do you want to be strong?”

“If I get stronger, I can fight even stronger enemies. Then, I can become even stronger myself.”

“Hmm, I see.”

It seemed that Fiera, like me, only cared about becoming stronger in and of itself.

She’s willing to fight and risk death in pursuit of strength. Pursuing heights is more important to her than her own life; I could feel that determination in her eyes.

“I find myself a bit intrigued. So come fight me. If you can impress me, I’ll think about your party proposal.”

“Sounds good to me.”

With that, Fiera unexpectedly brightened her expression for the first time since we met and flashed a gleeful smile.