Raising the Daughters to Overcome My Failure

Chapter 73. The Entrance to Hell (5)

It was 5 years ago.

Boom-!

Out of nowhere, a human girl appeared alone and mercilessly smashed through the traps I had painstakingly designed for a long time.

Crash, clang.

Sharp pieces of metal were ground down.

Rumble, boom.

Rocks and earth shattered as they split the air.

Thud, thud, thud.

And even the exquisitely designed traps were no obstacle for her.

‘I have to stop it. I have to stop that!’

There had been many challengers until now, but this was the first time something like this had happened.

Unable to watch any longer, Kaliditas poured all his magical power into reinforcing the middle layer.

He increased the number of monsters inhabiting the area and greatly enhanced the performance of the fog that sapped stamina.

Did the plan work?

In the end, the human girl took only a few items and left.

But now, that nightmare was about to be revived.

‘That monster has returned. And not alone, but with companions.’

His whole body trembled with fear.

The girl alone was terrifying, but this time was worse.

He didn’t know what kind of party composition this was, but there was a demon and a dragon.

‘They’re insane. They intend to completely wipe this place out.’

A demon, a dragon, and humans holding hands and coming together.

The humans other than the girl were no pushovers either.

The adult male was making calm judgments, and the woman with the twin swords was swift.

Kaliditas stomped his feet and pondered countermeasures.

‘This is not the time for this. I must come up with a plan.’

A sudden change of attitude.

Just a moment ago, he had been intoxicated with excitement.

Because a demon had fearlessly entered this place alone.

The fellow looked strong, but he was still clumsy.

Seeing him get flustered after being caught in a trap made him burst out laughing.

‘Hehe. It won’t be easy. I’ve put all my time and effort into strengthening the traps at the entrance.’

After the human girl’s intrusion, Kaliditas had dedicated his entire soul to strengthening the security of this place.

He especially focused on reinforcing the entrance, so the traps in the upper layer were more elaborate and numerous than those in the lowest layer where he was.

He could not suffer the same humiliation as before.

Will he be able to reach this place?

While savoring the fellow’s suffering with great anticipation.

Suddenly, an unusual aura teleported to the middle layer.

They had skipped the traps of the upper layer, which he had poured all his effort into, and appeared directly in the middle layer.

Kaliditas no longer had the luxury of watching the demon with a mixture of anticipation and ridicule.

Given the strength of those who had appeared in the middle layer, they would reach this place soon.

‘This is a big problem. I already used a considerable amount of power because of the human girl, can I reinforce the ruins even more now?’

Even if he did reinforce it, it wouldn’t be very noticeable, and it was clear that he would only exhaust the magic power he had painstakingly gathered.

The Entrance to Hell was a pre-existing place, but he was the one who had decorated it to its current state.

It was the culmination of his efforts, created using all his remaining magical power.

He had created it using the power of the Dungeon Core, which was like his own life, but since there were rarely any visitors, it was difficult to replenish the Dungeon Core’s magical power.

The Dungeon Core grew stronger by feeding on the souls of the challengers who entered this place.

Naturally, the Dungeon Core’s power had weakened considerably, and since he had used most of the remaining power because of the human wench, his magical power was now depleted.

To make matters worse, they were advancing forward, breaking the painstakingly made traps at a terrifying speed.

“Stop! I said stop! Please stop!”

Kaliditas' scream echoed through the dark space.

But there was no one to hear it.

Because that place was the deepest, lowest layer within the Entrance to Hell.

And, at that moment.

Another trap helplessly crumbled.

It felt as if Kaliditas' heart was collapsing along with it.

***

Meanwhile, at that moment.

Nox was panting roughly and suffering.

“Damn it. These traps are a headache.”

This wasn’t the first time he had entered a ruin.

There were quite a few places he had conquered to the end and obtained tremendous rewards.

But this place was different.

There were so many traps that a new one would appear less than a minute after breaking through another.

And this was just the beginning.

Nox gritted his teeth and muttered.

“The saying that this is the worst ruin was no bluff. It’s not easy from the start.”

Can I conquer this place to the end?

When he first set foot here, he was full of anticipation that he would definitely conquer this place, but now it was difficult to say for sure.

It felt like he wouldn’t even be able to reach the middle layer, let alone the lowest.

“Should I just give up and go back? But if I do that, I’ll only be ridiculed by others…”

Why is nothing going my way.

He even felt that he was incompetent for repeatedly failing.

After much deliberation, Nox moved his body forward again.

He was the man recognized by Primus.

If he couldn’t overcome a trial of this level, he would not be able to stand at the pinnacle of the Demon Tribe.

“No one can stand in my way. Whether it’s the Hero or the one who calls himself the Demon King.”

Nevertheless.

The Entrance to Hell showed him a series of unexpected traps, as if this was just a taste of what was to come.

“Kuaaaah!!”

Out of nowhere, a slime struck his face.

His skin felt as hot as if it were burning.

It was a slime covered in poison.

Nox flailed and struggled to remove the slime from his face, but the more he did, the more the slime stuck to his face like a leech and spewed out a noxious poison mist.

Will Nox be able to endure all this suffering and reach the lowest layer?

At least for now, it seemed like a difficult task.

***

Life is like that.

If there are those who have it hard, there are also those who have it easy.

If a veteran player were to appear in a beginner’s village and wreak havoc, wouldn’t it look just like this?

Frank’s party was showing the very textbook example of a veteran player.

Swish.

A Death Knight is slashed to pieces by Adel’s sword and collapses.

Kaboom!

A lich disappears without a trace due to Noemi’s purification magic.

Thud.

A golem collapses powerlessly, its heart containing its core pierced. Dıscover more novels at novèlfire.net

It was because Anonymous had gathered magical power at her fingertips and launched it without hesitation.

Traps?

It was difficult to call them traps anymore.

“Tsk. I shouldn’t have come. The quality is terrible, isn’t it? And it’s not like there are many of them either.”

She grumbled ceaselessly as she dismantled trap after trap.

The traps that fell into her hands stopped working as if they had become gentle lambs and met their end.

Isn’t this the comfort of a boss with competent subordinates?

on their own without me having to lift a finger, so it feels like I’m on a bus driven by a veteran player.

This must be why everyone enjoys idle games so much.

Because the game progresses automatically without me giving any instructions.

Then, suddenly, Mammon looked at me and frowned.

“This is worse than the traps I made when I was seven. You said there were amazing traps, did you get something wrong?”

“This is just the middle layer. It might be different when we get to the end.”

“Instead of learning anything, I’m just teaching them a lesson. I feel like I’m at a loss…”

“Stop grumbling and just remove the traps.”

He moved his hands diligently with a look of resignation.

Every time he waved his hands around, the traps were easily removed.

Ah, this is comfortable. Too comfortable.

How nice would it be if it continued like this.

After walking like that for about 30 minutes.

The end of the cave came into view, and a huge pit appeared.

The width alone looked to be well over 100 meters, and the depth was impossible to guess.

‘I can’t see the end at all. How deep is it?’

A spiral staircase stretched long along the outer edge of the pit, and if I were to walk down that, I don’t know when I would reach the lowest layer.

While I was peeking down.

Adel opened her mouth, saying she finally felt alive.

“Phew. I don’t feel that unpleasant sensation anymore, and my strength isn’t draining.”

Noemi chimed in.

“I know, right? There’s no fog either, so I can see clearly.”

It was because the fog that had been chipping away at our health disappeared as soon as we left the cave.

Noemi moved first and was about to go down the stairs.

“Wait.”

“You scared me. Why?”

“Let’s go all at once.”

“What?”

I ordered Anonymous to turn into a dragon.

Anonymous nodded and jumped towards the pit.

Then, she soon appeared as a huge dragon.

She was so huge that the pit felt full.

Nevertheless, the pit was bigger, so it didn’t seem to be a problem for flying.

“Everyone get on Anonymous' back and we’ll go down all at once.”

If we walked down, we would have to visit countless places like the cave from before.

Was it because I had experienced convenience once?

I didn’t want to go through any more hardship.

Once everyone, including Noemi, was on board, Anonymous descended downwards at a high speed.

After descending for over an hour, Anonymous suddenly began to slow down.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s something ahead.”

Oh ho. The anti-air barrier I saw in the game.

A device that prevents species like dragons from approaching by flying through the air.

I asked Adel to lend me Ceps.

Adel looked down at Ceps and gave a bitter smile.

“Ceps says she doesn’t want to. She says she doesn’t have very good memories of when you sparred with Noemi, Father.”

“Then give me An.”

At that, Adel flinched and hugged An, shaking her head.

“I’ll just lend you Ceps.”

Ceps moved towards Adel as if she didn’t want to, but I wasn’t one to let that happen.

I snatched Ceps away and poured all my magical power into her.

Woooooong.

A huge pillar of light shot up, and Ceps trembled.

I swung the sword downwards as it was.

Whoosh.

By the time the sword energy that left Ceps had fallen at a high speed and was no longer visible.

I heard something breaking.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

At the same time, Anonymous' lips curled up.

“It’s been taken care of. Hold on tight.”

Did you see that, everyone?

I’m not just getting a free ride either.

A man who gets things done when he needs to.

That’s me, Frank.

***

At that time, at the Demon King's Castle.

A demon runs towards Desiderius, panting.

He prostrates himself before Desiderius and shouts loudly.

“Demon King! Someone has entered the Entrance to Hell!”

“Tsk. Who is it this time?”

“I don’t know who it is. No one seems to be missing, but the guards who were guarding the entrance were all knocked down.”

Desiderius was perplexed.

He couldn’t understand this situation well.

He narrowed his eyes and slowly opened his mouth.

“Is there an intruder?”

“It seems highly likely. What should we do?”

Desiderius smiled vilely and waved his hand.

“Just leave them be. I don’t know what kind of fool has entered, but that place is the worst ruin that has never been conquered by anyone. If we leave them alone, they will self-destruct.”

“But our comrades have lost their lives.”

“Comrades? Ha, I don’t care what happens to someone who loses their life to a mere intruder. Block the entrance and seal it off so that not even an ant can get out.”

The subordinates repeatedly exclaimed in admiration at Desiderius' cruelty.

“As expected of the Demon King!”

“What truly outstanding insight!”

Desiderius listened to his subordinates’ praise as if it were natural and no longer paid any attention to it.

Because finding the treasure hidden in the Demon King's Castle was a more urgent matter.

“We need more wealth to strengthen our internal affairs. Do not miss a single spot and find it thoroughly!”

At Desiderius' stern command, his subordinates began to move diligently.

The deepest part of the Demon King's Castle. In other words, without knowing what was happening at the Entrance to Hell.