My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin
Chapter 57
Entry into the dungeon took place at the exact same moment.
Signal flares emitting thick smoke into the sky rose from the four entrances, signaling everyone to enter the dungeon simultaneously.
Naturally, for the entrance where Irene was stationed, she and Michael took the lead.
True to its nature as an unstable dungeon, the entrance was constantly shifting its appearance.
Since she had experience entering before, Irene didn’t even close her eyes this time. She took Michael’s hand and stepped inside.
After passing through the multicolored lights that filled her vision, a slight dizziness washed over her, followed by the greeting of an entirely different atmosphere.
The other pairs continued to enter behind them.
Once she confirmed that everyone had safely made it inside the dungeon, Irene repeated the words she had spoken outside once more.
“Everyone remembers the map the Eye of Exploration drew before we came in, right? We’re going to move deep inside quickly starting now.”
Before she knew it, Irene was naturally commanding everyone at the front.
Initially, she had thought about entrusting this position to Michael, another knight, or perhaps Reina or Cynthia.
However, as if they couldn’t believe she was suggesting such a thing, they spoke with one voice, saying that this was Irene’s place.
She had tried to refuse, saying she couldn’t do it, but her refusal was met with a refusal to listen.
She thought she would just have to do it temporarily, but now, whenever anything happened, everyone naturally sought her out.
‘It feels good to be trusted, but it’s also a burden.’
The reason she could lead others with such confidence was because of her memories from her past life.
However, just as with the Ring of Invisibility, things had changed since then. If she couldn’t deliver the results everyone wanted…
Then they would be disappointed again….
“Irene.”
Just then, Michael called her name, tightening his grip on the hand he was holding.
“It will be alright. Do not worry.”
It was a strange thing.
She had kept her anxiety tucked away solely within her heart, yet he spoke the exact words she needed to hear as if he had read her mind.
Soon, the knights stood surrounding the purifiers, positioning them in the center.
The large knights specialized in defense were placed at the very front, while those skilled in swift attacks were positioned at the sides and rear.
“This way.”
Irene led them, following the map created by the Eye of Exploration.
The dungeon, which spanned across several mountain peaks, consisted of a space far vaster than anyone had anticipated.
“Is it just me… or does it feel even bigger inside than it looked from the outside?”
Reina looked up at the ceiling of the dungeon with eyes still full of wonder.
Irene had been skeptical at first, but the further they went inside, the more she agreed with those words.
It was too dark to accurately grasp where the dungeon ended, but no matter how she thought about it, it felt like they were walking a distance much longer than what she had estimated from the outside.
“Oh! Over there!”
Suddenly, a knight standing in front pointed toward a spot. A wooden chest, commonly seen in the Room of Reward, was sitting there.
“It’s a chest!”
To find a reward chest before even encountering a monster after entering; the knight, thinking they were off to a good start, excitedly ran toward the chest.
It was just as he was about to bend his waist to pick up the chest.
Swish!
A dagger embedded itself at his feet with the sound of slicing through the air.
The startled knight stopped in his tracks and turned to see where it had come from. In that moment, the chest that had been sitting quietly on the ground suddenly bounced up and opened its lid on its own.
If it were an ordinary chest, the interior and its contents should have been visible, but what lay inside was a set of terrifyingly sharp teeth.
“A Tooth Box!”
The moment Irene called out its name, Michael, who had been behind her, dashed forward and kicked the Tooth Box just as it was about to bite the knight.
Crunch!
The chest shattered on the spot from his kick, as if exploding.
Monster blood splattered through the air along with wood fragments.
Michael wiped the monster blood from his face and spoke to the knight, who stood frozen.
“There are said to be chests all over unstable dungeons, but you must not pick them up immediately. There are cases like the one just now where a monster is hiding its appearance.”
“Ye—Yes, sir!”
Realizing he had almost died just a moment ago, the knight nodded his head frantically.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know of the existence of Tooth Boxes. However, they were monsters that hadn’t been sighted in dungeons for decades.
So he hadn’t imagined it would be one.
The knight touched his clothes where the Tooth Box’s teeth had grazed him. The fabric was cleanly sliced, as if by a sharp blade.
If he had been even a moment later in backing away, it would have been his wrist that was severed like this.
The relaxed atmosphere that had briefly lingered vanished instantly, replaced by a taut tension.
Two hours later.
“The chest is heavy!”
Reina brought a wooden chest before Irene with a delighted face and opened it.
The chest, which Michael and Felix had checked several times before opening, emitted a brilliant golden glow the moment it was opened.
“It’s gold!”
“It’s definitely pure gold!”
Those who gathered to look inside the chest let out cheers.
During the two hours, the group had encountered monsters three times.
Under Michael’s command and guidance, the knights all moved swiftly and dealt with them without issue.
The only damage was a single knight getting his arm scratched by a monster’s claw.
His purifier immediately purified the wound and the demonic energy, and it soon vanished without a trace.
The first reward chest they found was even more substantial than they had expected.
“Now, let’s keep going to the end!”
Having confirmed the reward, everyone’s voices were full of energy.
Their steps, which had slowed slightly, quickened again.
After walking like that for a long while, a wide plaza appeared, which they presumed to be the center of the dungeon.
The plaza was connected to several other paths besides the one they had come through.
“It’s strange. I thought another raid would have passed through here before us, but there are no traces at all.”
At her words, Michael and the other knights scanned the surroundings. Indeed, there were no footprints left on the sand.
The others had not yet arrived here.
“Perhaps it connects to a different path…. Let’s rest here for a moment for now.”
While walking, several purifiers had shown signs of exhaustion. Furthermore, they needed to accurately weigh and record the rewards they had obtained.
The people sat in a circle and shared simple snacks.
Irene opened her backpack to take out an apple, then tilted her head in confusion for a moment.
‘Why is this here?’
Inside the backpack were the items she had packed.
The problem was that something she hadn’t packed was also inside.
‘Why is this dagger in here?’
The old dagger with the damaged blade that she had failed to properly appraise.
It was in her bag.
She had no memory of putting it in. It wasn’t likely that someone else had put it in either. A few days ago, she had wrapped it in cloth and placed it inside a drawer.
But looking at it now, the cloth was nowhere to be seen, and the dagger sat there all by itself.
‘Did it follow me of its own accord?’
She wasn’t even surprised.
With the ring tightening around her finger as if telling her to buy it, what was so surprising about this sword having a will of its own and following her?
‘It must have followed me for a reason.’
She would leave it be since she had no use for it right now… but she hoped she wouldn’t have to use it until the very end if possible.
Taking out the apple, Irene munched on it while thinking about what to do next.
‘For now, I’ve obtained one of the chests I was aiming for…. If we go just a bit further, there should be another chest with good rewards. I’ll have to go find that one next.’
She had thought another raid would find it while passing through that path, but since they hadn’t arrived here yet.
Then, there would be nothing they could say even if her side took it first before they discovered it.
‘I really have to make money this time.’
Thinking of the remaining debt, she felt the apple get stuck in her throat.
Clearly, unlike before, she was constantly obtaining rewards, so why was she still just as poor?
‘It really would have been a disaster if the kingdom hadn’t provided lodging.’
What would she have done this time if there had been no support?
There was the method of borrowing money from Reina or Cynthia to find a place, but she hated making such requests except in truly unavoidable circumstances.
‘Maybe I would have gone to the Temple.’
Suddenly, she thought of Michael’s room at the Temple.
It was a room where everything was rough and simple, but strangely, Irene liked that place quite a bit.
‘Somehow, it felt like he would have given me a room if I asked.’
Then, would she have been able to see Michael more often?
The moment her thoughts reached that point, Irene flinched at her own impiety.
To be thinking about seeing him more often inside the Temple.
‘If God is watching, He’ll think I’m asking to be struck by lightning.’
It was a relief this was a dungeon.
She wondered if these cave walls, which she didn’t even know where they connected to, might somehow hide her even from the eyes of God.
Everyone was starting to finish their snacks and tidy up.
“Michael. Could you check that path over there? If possible, please also check how far the other people have come.”
Irene pointed toward the path where the chest was located.
Rather than the location of the chest, she wanted to confirm how far the other raid, which would appear through this path, had come.
“Understood.”
Leaving most of the knights behind, he headed toward the path Irene had chosen with only two other knights.
And a long while later.
“Disaster has struck!”
One of the knights who had gone with Michael shouted as he came running back, his face pale.
“The other raid has been wiped out!”
