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CHAPTER 219: THE LABYRINTH CITY OF WISLO

CHAPTER 219: THE LABYRINTH CITY OF WISLO

After taking off from Plainne Weld, we arrived in Wislo after about a day of journey. Thanks to Luna’s help, we were able to enter the country without any problems, and the airship we were on was scheduled to take a few days to recharge its Magical Power before returning to Plainne Weld.

After completing some simple formalities and leaving the landing area, we saw a cityscape that was thriving in a different way from that of the Imperial capital of Ibrand. The main street was lined with buildings over three stories high, and there were stalls lined up on the side of the road, making it look like a market day. Looking left and right, there were not only inns and taverns, but also many shops and workshops selling weapons, armor, and accessories, and we could hear the lively noises from all over the place.

The people passing by were not only human, but also a mixture of various races such as Demi-Humans and Beastmen, and many of them were dressed in equipment for exploring the labyrinth. That alone made it clear that this place, called the “Labyrinth City,” was like a “Holy Land for Adventurers.” The entire town was built for the purpose of conquering the labyrinth, and not only Adventurers but also ordinary citizens lived their lives here centered around the labyrinth.

The atmosphere here was so unique that even though it was just one city in the Ibuldia Empire, it felt like it was an entirely different country altogether.

「This is…… Even more amazing than I initially expected.」

「Mhm. I heard about it from Aun before, but I did not think it would be this bad.」

「You’re right. It’s quite impressive.」

「This isn’t my first time visiting Wislo, but I’m still overwhelmed by the liveliness of this place. How much do Aun and the others know about this labyrinth city, anyways?」

「I don’t actually know that much about it…… Do you know much about this city and its dungeon, Nelphie?」

「What can I actually say about this…… It’s so typical of Aun to come to Wislo completely on a whim. I stayed here for a while about twenty years ago while looking for my brother. The town has not changed much since then. That’s about it, but I can also tell everyone the basics of the place, like the outline of its dungeon, perhaps.」

「Oh! That would actually be a great help! Can you share what you know with all of us tonight?」

「If so, I need about half a day to prepare the information. I would like to gather even more information about this town and the current progress of the dungeon exploration, and then I will be able to explain it to everyone in even greater detail.」

「Of course, that’s fine with me. Then we will look for an inn to stay at in the meantime. Let’s meet there after dinner and share information! I will let you know by telepathy when we have decided on an inn, so you can do as you like until then, Nelfie.」

After that, we looked for an inn where we could stay for a long time, and made the “Playful Little Bear Inn” our base of operations for a while. By the way, this inn seemed to be run by the same company as Alline’s “Singing Little Dog Inn” and Miralda’s “Dancing Clown Inn,” and it seemed to be run by relatives. When you think about it, it does seem to have a similar atmosphere to all those other places, huh? The food here was delicious, just like the inns we have stayed at so far, so it seemed like we have found the best possible place to stay at.

「Alright! Now that dinner is over, can you share some information about this town and the Wislo Dungeon with us, Nelphie?」

「Understood. First of all, let me explain about the Wislo Dungeon itself. That will make the rest of the information easier to understand.」

When Nelfie said “it will make it easier to understand,” she means that the dungeon itself must have been closely related to the origins of this town, and that the town’s unique rules would be easier to understand if we heard the outline of the dungeon’s story first.

The next explanation from Nelfie was quite unexpected.

First of all, the labyrinth known as the “Wislo Dungeon” was a collective name for the four dungeons inside the town itself. Furthermore, these four dungeons were linked to each other, and the order in which they were being conquered was apparently determined by the level of difficulty of each section.

That’s because if you have not conquered the weaker portion of the dungeons first, you would be teleported back to the town even if you were to enter the higher level dungeon right off the bat.

The names and difficulty levels of the four dungeons were: Beginner “Snake Tower”, Intermediate “Wolf Tower”, Advanced “Lion Tower”, and the Extreme “Dragon Tower”. In other countries, the dungeon commonly referred to as the “Wislo Dungeon” referred to the Extreme-level “Dragon Tower”, but technically the “Wislo Dungeon” referred to all four of these dungeons together.

And so, after hearing this explanation, those of us who actually ran dungeons came to the same conclusion.

「…… But I’m sure that this Wyslo dungeon was clearly a dungeon the system of which someone has purposefully created.」

「Yes, that’s right. It would be impossible for anyone other than a Dungeon Master like Aun to link the four dungeons together like that.」

「Nnh. And the fact that they even specify the order in which you should conquer them makes it seem like there’s some clear purpose behind it.」

「Exactly. It’s a well-known story in Wyslo, but this dungeon was created by a person who became a Dungeon Master a long time ago, and I have heard that it was full of elements to help Adventurers grow stronger. That’s why it seems like there are some gimmicks that make it difficult to conquer it right off the bat.」

「…… What do you mean?」

「In order to unlock the Boss Room, you need to collect a certain number of specified materials. Especially within the “Dragon Tower”. It seems like they will specify some pretty rare materials.」

「Really now?! So that means they are assuming that you will have to go around each floor one after another, right?!」

「Yes, that’s right. In higher dungeons, it’s pretty hard to get the required number of items dropped by monsters, and Rare Items are actually quite expensive to obtain at the auction houses. Because of this, it’s pretty difficult to complete the dungeon with one party, so it seems like the current situation is that each Clan decides on a strategy and works together to conquer it. In addition, I heard that the limit on the number of people who can enter the Boss Room of the highest dungeon, the Dragon’s Tower, has been relaxed to a certain extent, and it’s now possible for up to thirty people to enter it at the same time. That’s proof that there are really strong monsters in the Boss Room itself.」

It was as if the system itself was assuming that you will be conquering the place as a Clan. It can be seen as a mechanism to naturally encourage not only the growth of individual Adventurers and parties, but also the maturity of Clans as well.

In that case, you could say that it was a disadvantage for us, who were currently trying to conquer it with just one party.

「This is going to be much more difficult to conquer than I had initially expected……」