Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 136

Episode 136

[You have entered the Forest Containing the Imperial Palace's Secret.]

Making my bold declaration feel pointless, I was moved while crumpled inside Elaine's pocket.

In the first place, the reason I'd used a miniaturization potion was to avoid the eyes of the monitoring knights and get inside the dungeon.

Just how long had I been trapped in that stuffy pocket.

"Noona, we're inside the forest."

Suddenly, Elaine informed me that he had completely entered the dungeon, avoiding the knights' eyes.

Maybe because I was in a shrunken state, his voice, despite his whispering tone, sounded as loud as thunder.

At his words, I grabbed the fabric and quickly crawled up, poking my head out of the pocket.

"Hoo! It'th new clotheth, tho why'th it thmell like thith!"

It was because an indescribable, acrid smell in that bastard's pocket was stinging my nose, and I couldn't stand it any longer.

"You look just like a beetle hanging on."

As I was vigorously rubbing my stinging eyes, Elaine looked down at me dangling from the-end of his pocket and spouted bullshit.

I wanted to return to my original size and swing my fist, but I didn't have time for that, so I forced myself to ignore him.

Just as Elaine said, we must have come deep into the dungeon, as an unfamiliar landscape stretched out before us.

"What is this... a lake? But why is there a ritual altar?"

Of course, this landscape was only unfamiliar to Elaine.

For me, who knew the game, it was a familiar scene.

A large, full moon was shining near the lakeside, making the surroundings bright enough to distinguish.

In the center of the Imperial Palace's forest, where it seemed like dense trees would stretch on endlessly, a large lake existed all by itself.

In front of that lakeside, a small altar could be seen, holding extinguished candles, various treasures, and fresh chunks of meat.

'As expected, it was a good idea to prepare the miniaturization potion.'

No matter how much there was a rule that no one besides tournament participants could enter the dungeon, there was no way that would apply even inside the Imperial Palace.

Seeing the ritual altar, it was clear that regardless of the tournament, there were people who frequently visited the lake.

They, too, would ultimately become eyes and ears monitoring us.

It was then.

Swoooooooooosh.

Suddenly, a fierce wind swept once over the lake.

Because of that, the calm water's surface rippled, kicking up spray.

Charrrr, Splash!

Just as the clear sound of water echoed in succession.

Bwoooooooooo.

A massive shadow flickered beneath the water's surface, then vanished in an instant.

"Wh, what."

Elaine must have seen it too, as he blinked his eyes with a dumbfounded expression.

"Is that... the Imperial Palace dungeon monster you told me about, noona?"

"Uh-huh."

I answered nonchalantly.

It was because I had already given him a heads-up that the Imperial Palace dungeon only had one boss mob.

Elaine, who had been watching the gradually calming lake with tension, finally looked down at me with an indignant face.

"You didn't say it was that big!"

"We just can't catch it right now, it'th no big deal."

"What do you mean, no big deal..."

Rustle!

At that moment, a human presence was felt from the nearby bushes.

When I flinched and turned my head, I saw white text floating fairly close by.

[Imperial Mage 1]

Seeing only the text and no human figure, it was clear they were approaching us while cloaked.

Behind it, more text reading 'Imperial Mage' appeared: 2, 3, 4, 5...

They stretched out in a line.

"Leth go to a different dungeon for now, hurry!"

I urgently slapped Elaine's body with my ant-sized hands, pressing him.

Fortunately, he, being quick-witted at least, swiftly pulled out a movement scroll and tore it.

The space immediately distorted, and we arrived in a new dungeon.

[You have entered Southern Boundary 1.]

Since tournament participants had no restrictions on using magic tools, moving to other dungeons was free.

While I was recognizing our safe arrival by looking at the system window floating in the air.

Elaine let out a sigh of relief and muttered in displeasure.

"Agh. Who were those guys? They were definitely about to attack us."

He, too, seemed to have felt the presence, as well as the hostility pouring toward us.

"Monther guardianth."

"Monster guardians?"

"Uh-huh. Oof-cha!"

Answering briefly, I jumped out of Elaine's pocket.

Perhaps because that bastard's height was much taller than I thought, a dizzying sensation, as if I were bungee jumping, washed over me.

But thanks to my weight being lighter from being shrunken, I landed lightly on the grassy field without any trouble.

Elaine freaked out.

"What if you got hurt! And it's dark, so I can't even see you well, noona!"

That bastard shouted, bending his waist sharply toward the floor, perhaps to check on me.

He looked just like a giant peering into an ant hole, which made me chuckle.

"Huh? Didn't I just hear a sound from over there?"

"Shh, be quiet!"

Then, at the sound of voices from not far away, I hurriedly pinched that bastard's snout with my hand.

The mouth that had been mumbling something snapped shut.

Leaving him like that, I ran off.

Pitter-patter.

Parting a single giant bush in front of me and moving forward, I saw three men sitting around a campfire.

Naturally, they were tournament participants.

"What was that? A monster? We took care of all the ones around here..."

One of the men scanned the surroundings with quite a sharp gaze.

But even if he sensed a presence, there was no way he could immediately spot me, who was only the size of a thumb.

Thanks to that, I, who had been hiding in the bushes, approached the bastards a bit more boldly.

"Hey. It's your turn to stand watch this time."

"Aish, what a pain! If one shows up, I'll kill it in the blink of an eye, so don't worry!"

Perhaps because they had just formed a party today, the men still seemed awkward.

Besides, listening to their conversation, they seemed to be country bumpkins who still didn't know much.

In a tournament like this, one had to be warier of competitors who would stop at nothing for victory, rather than the monsters in the dungeon.

The reason for that was because the difficulty of the randomly assigned dungeons was not all the same.

Naturally, those who were assigned a relatively low-difficulty dungeon would start to covet other dungeons for the sake of rankings.

When that happens, guys like the following emerge.

Those who share items in exchange for helping to clear high-difficulty dungeons.

Or those who hide and then steal the boss mob's last hit, or steal things others have already acquired.

There were even crazy bastards who killed participants and took over the dungeon.

I contemplated how to raise Elaine's rank in this harsh and perilous tournament.

I even considered ordering him to steal the boss mob's last hit, just like in the original scenario, even if it was a bit dirty and despicable.

The current Elaine could handle Belisser's Eye, so he could do it much more easily.

However,

"It seems you've become able to use Belisser's Eye freely already."

Unlike the original scenario where he would suddenly rise and gain attention during the ranking aggregation after the tournament, Kassel was already paying close attention to Elaine.

Moreover, because of that damned temple quest, he had even seen through to the fact that he was skilled at handling Belisser's Eye.

In this situation, I couldn't tell if easily raising his rank by snatching last hits or stealing items would actually work out for the best.

'Kassel chose Elaine as a comrade because of his tenacity, trying to raise his rank and win in unexpected ways even in a harsh situation.'

Elaine in the original scenario was burning with a desire for revenge, to pay back in kind all those who killed his family and made him miserable.

To do that, he needed strength and power.

I didn't know if the current him had that kind of tenacity...

In any case, to be chosen by Kassel, an 'unexpected method' was necessary.

To do that, for now, we had to avoid doing anything that would draw attention during the tournament.

"Yaawn. Let's just sleep today and start the hunt in earnest tomorrow."

Watching the men, who were lazy as if clearing this dungeon was all that mattered, I eventually turned my head back.

'Start.'

Elaine, who had been watching me with bated breath, nodded with a grim face.

And then, he took a white object out of the pocket I had been in and rubbed it on his eyes.

Wondering what it was, I looked closely and saw it was an onion slice.

'That son of a bitch! He didn't tell me on purpose!'

No wonder it was so hard to breathe because of the acrid smell.

Just as I was grinding my teeth at that bastard who had put an onion in there without saying a word.

Suddenly, Pop! Elaine, who had been standing before my eyes, vanished completely.

I urgently turned back and looked at the men.

Just as expected. I don't know when he moved, but three bottles were floating above the men's heads.

"Huh? What is that..."

The man who had sensed my presence earlier was again the first to spot the bottles floating in mid-air.

But as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he just kept blinking his eyes.

It was understandable.

Plop!

It wasn't like there was a ghost, but the potion bottles' lids suddenly opened...

Splaaash!

Because the liquid inside the bottles poured down onto their heads.

"What...!"

"Ah, cold!"

"A, attack! An attack...!"

The men, who were hit squarely by the milky liquid suddenly scattered from mid-air, jumped up from their spots in shock.

But that, too, was brief.

'Three, two, one.'

Thud.

"Zzzzz! Pfffff... Zzzzz!"

As soon as exactly three seconds had passed, the men collapsed to the floor and fell asleep as if knocked out.

Crackle, crackle! Whoosh!

The three empty bottles, having completed their mission by pouring all their contents onto the men, were thrown into the campfire one by one.

The liquid sprinkled on the men, an advanced sleep-inducing potion, would gradually dry, so there was no more perfect way to destroy the evidence.

"Are we... really allowed to do this?"

Elaine, who had suddenly appeared in front of the campfire as if he'd sprung from the ground, asked as he looked at me with a slightly uneasy gaze.

It was absurd that the bastard who used to steal all the weapons and snatch the boss's last hit while pretending to be a helpful mercenary was getting anxious over something like this.

"Who careth? There'th no rule that thayth you can't put other parthithipanth to thleep."

I replied with a shrug.

And then I immediately scowled.

"Bethical... you wanna die?!"

"What? What are you suddenly..."

"How dare you put me in a pocket with an onion?! You wanna cry onion juith all day?!"

Elaine's face, finally understanding the situation, turned pale.

"Ah, no, noona! I didn't do it on purpose...!"

"Onslaught!"

But it was already too late.

Around the time that bastard threw the empty sleep-inducing potion bottle into the campfire.

I, too, had thrown the empty miniaturization antidote potion bottle...

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

[Lv.999 Onslaught skill has been activated.]

[You have defeated the Lv.70 Boss Werewolf!]

"Hoo..."

Perhaps because it was a mid-to-high-level monster at level 70, its resistance was quite fierce.

Looking down at the boss mob that had perished after being hit about three times by my rock-wielding fist, I soon tossed the stone I was holding aside and collected the essence.

You have acquired one Lv.70 Boss Werewolf's Essence.

"Huh..."

Elaine, who had been dealing with the minions nearby, stared at me with his jaw dropped.

"You're... really weird and eccentric."

[Elaine Griselda feels a sense of dread at your monstrous strength.]

[Elaine Griselda feels a glimmer of respect for you.]

As I was listlessly staring at the system windows floating above that bastard's head.

"Gr, grrrr..."

"Awoooooo!"

The pack of werewolves that had lost their leader milled about in confusion, then soon began to flee one by one.

'Did it take about 3 minutes to catch one boss mob?'

At this rate, I thought we could even go to two or three other people's dungeons in a day.

"Here, take it."

"Uh..."

"And you, stop talking nonsense and get ready to go."

I shoved the Boss Werewolf's Essence into the still-dumbfounded Elaine's hand.

And then, I took a miniaturization potion out of my pocket.

"You're not killing those?"

Elaine, who had taken the essence from me, looked at the fleeing werewolves with confusion.

Clearing a dungeon, literally, meant killing the entire horde of monsters inside the dungeon.

But I hadn't invaded someone else's dungeon with the intention of clearing it.

"We don't need the minionth."

I nimbly climbed Elaine's now-giant hand and slipped into his pocket.

And then I immediately opened the chat window.

Me: Requesting boss mob Respawn before the sleeping guys wake up.

The first day of the tournament, which I had entered with a strategy to raise our rank without that damn Male Lead knowing, was passing.