Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Prologue
“Be strong! The weak are doomed to be killed in this world!” These were the last words of a man on a horrifying battlefield.
I was young, and his last words made me shiver. Although I can’t remember his name, I remember his words as vividly as if it were yesterday.
Since I was thirteen and abandoned on the battlefield, I did everything I could just to survive. My enemies didn’t have mercy on a young boy. They cried out to terrorize everyone in their path.
I was really desperate because I was the only one who could save myself. I had to pick up armor and weapons to train myself to be strong. I tried to learn everything from watching people fight, and I had to pretend I was dead to kill my enemies. I had to eat my own people’s flesh to survive on that isolated battlefield.
For a young demon, Devildom was not a friendly place to survive. Devildom was always at war, and I was always in the middle of a battlefield.
Time went by.
I was able to broaden my view of the world and learn to walk faster. When I became as tall as the people who looked like mountains, I was no longer a weak boy. I became stronger than any other demon, and demons ran away to avoid me.
I had to go to many battlefields and kill countless enemies. Then I became a count, a nobleman. It was a name only given to a ruler at the top of the pyramid. It didn’t excite me at all.
Devildom was ruled by the strong. In Devildom, the strong had all the rights, so it was natural that the strong took the high positions. However, simply being strong was not enough for me. I always wanted more; I had thirst for more.
There were twelve dukes and four archdukes; they were my real targets. If I could defeat them all, I would be able to be the Dark Lord, a position that was not occupied by anyone at the moment. My dream was to be the Dark Lord, the one that nobody could challenge and everyone had to obey.
After a while, I became quite famous in Devildom. Not as weak prey, but as a strong person. When I became quite confident and even a bit snobbish, I had to realize that there were limits.
I challenged the four archdukes, who divided Devildom into four parts, only to realize how strong they were. That was my first time realizing that the archdukes were too powerful for me. After being defeated by them, I had to become a refugee to hide from them.
I was hiding in the middle of nowhere when something unexpected happened.
“Are you Randalf?”
I was in a deserted land where it was impossible to find a living being, so it was the first time that someone had come to find me.
I bristled and gave him a hostile look, but that only made the man laugh.
“I’m the demon god, Death Bringer.”
I stared at him, at a loss for words. No devil had ever seen the demon god with their own eyes, but I knew the name Death Bringer. It was the name of the demon god.
“Randalf. Randalf Bruciel. I am here to give you a chance. The last chance to become the Dark Lord!”
“You’re crazy,” I said mockingly. A self-proclaimed demon god was talking about being the Dark Lord. It was a joke.
The man ignored my reaction and continued with what he had to say. “Now, you must become a player in the game that I’ve created to destroy the world. Destroy more lands and massacre more people! If you do well, you will become the Dark Lord. The throne only given to the strongest in Devildom can be yours.”
The Dark Lord!
While the crazy man was telling his crazy story, I was interested because of that attractive name. I was not able to understand words such as ‘game’ or ‘player’, but the words ‘Dark Lord’ captivated me. Although I had miserably failed, I still had dreams to become the Dark Lord. I planed to train myself in hiding and to challenge the archdukes again. 1
“Of course, I will give you a chance to say no.” The man looked at me with a cold smile that almost seemed to mock me. “I don’t want any fuss. So, what do you want? If you want to become the Dark Lord, simply nod. If you shake your head, I will disappear right away.”
The man looked at me, waiting.
I didn’t dare look him in the eyes, though. When I looked into his eyes, I felt like I was naked in front of him. It was like I was tied up by the Leviathan and couldn’t move a finger.
His crazy words didn’t sound so crazy anymore. Even all four archdukes together hadn’t overwhelmed me with their presence. My only choice was to nod. I didn’t know better, and I thought one nod couldn’t do much harm.
Yes, I didn’t know better. Not at all!
When I woke up, I was in a huge cave.
Let me jump to the result: I didn’t become the Dark Lord. I don’t plan on sharing the boring details of my failure, so I will simply skip to the end of the story.
After the final battle, the earth was destroyed, and there was a Dark Lord. The Archduke Ariel of Devildom was the only survivor, so it was natural for him to become the Dark Lord.
Technically, I was still alive, but I was about to die. I had lost all of my limbs and was waiting for death. I had learned the lesson that I can’t do things alone. It was little and too late, and I had literally paid arms and legs for the lesson.
“You are a cockroach. You survived like a cockroach while all the other devils were killed,” Archduke Ariel sneered as he looked at me in disgust.
I laughed, but my laughter was bitter.
If I survive, I will get a chance. I can take some time to become stronger. That was the mindset that kept me alive until then. However, it seemed like this was the end. Even my extremely strong survival instinct couldn’t save me from my death.
So this is it? I wasn’t meant to be the Dark Lord?
F**k.
I need another chance. Just one more chance!
I was accepting my death when suddenly, a bright white light covered me. I was surprised, but it didn’t take long to know what that light was.
It was the last quintessence of gods. Earth had become the battleground of devils, and the light was from the hearts of gods who wanted to protect the planet.
With the radical development of science and disbelief in miracles, humans took away their position as gods, but the gods still loved humans. Those gods told me a long story. I was not really empathetic, but we clearly had some interest in working together.
When they finished their stories, I nodded just as I did right before I came to the earth, and the bright light absorbed into my body.
[Occupation renewed as a Count of Devildom (Dungeon Master).]
[Grace of the Count! Gained 200,000 pt.]
[The worst mana concentration! Your power is strictly restricted.] 1
[Beginner protection period (240 days) applied.]
[Random high-level monsters will appear on the ground floor of the dungeon. Monsters will disappear when the beginner protection period is over.]
[Warning! Random monsters will not obey the Dungeon Master.]
…
I was able to return to my past in one piece.