The Ultimate Glitch ～One Man Conquers a Dungeon That Humanity Couldn’t Conquer for Hundreds of Years, in Only Two Hours～ - Chapter 10

The Lost Forest

Chapter 10

In the Lost Forest, Gustave and his comrades were investigating the lowest levels of the newly conquered dungeon. They had been sent by Demitrius who thought they could use their knowledge of dungeons to find clues as to what had happened.

After the 29th floor, they found the narrow room and entered it.

“It looks like the other dungeon’s room,” whispered Carl while he looked around the room with his lamp.

“Yes, it’s exactly the same,” replied Gustave. Carl and Daya directed their lights to the floor so their leader could inspect the ground for footprints. They stayed behind him so they wouldn’t bother him.

After a moment, Daya asked, “so? Is there anything?” “Yeah. It’s the same guy’s footprints.”

“Are you sure?” “Certain.”

Gustave bent down to survey the shoe prints closer while he followed them. This

time, the man had not been accompanied by a dog, but by another person. “A child,” Gustave started, “no, a little girl.”

“He brought a little girl to a dungeon?!,” said Carl, his eyebrows raised. Gustave ignored him and kept on scanning the ground.

“Something’s odd.” “What is it now?”

“The girl was barefoot.”

“What?!,” said Daya and Carl in unison. Carl cleared his throat and continued, “do you think the man…”

Gustave had not thought about such a disturbing situation, but it wasn’t far- fetched – the footprints were really strange.

“I don’t think so. Something weird definitely happened here, but I don’t think it was

that. A lot of things don’t make sense.” The confused looks his comrades gave him made him continue, “Firstly, it looks like the girl came out of this big box. That’s where her footprints start.”

Carl and Daya followed Gustave’s gaze to notice the big box. It looked like a coffin, leaning against the wall. Its lid was open.

“You’re saying she came out of this?,” said Carl, “that’s impossible.”

“This box must’ve been here for thousands of years. There’s no way someone lived in this box all that time,” added Daya.

Gustave couldn’t contradict them – he even agreed. But he decided not to say

anything and surveyed the path of the girl’s footprints. He noticed that she had walked a bit before completely disappearing.

“Secondly,” Gustave continued, “we don’t know where the man came from, either. They were no evidence of someone entering this room through the door we used. It’s as if he came out of the walls – the same way as in the other dungeon.”

“But Gustave, all we have as evidence are footprints. We can’t explain what

happened here for sure,” argued Carl, “I mean – a man coming out of the walls? It’s impossible.”

Gustave hummed, unconvinced

They kept on looking around the room for clues, but they didn’t find anything that could help them identify the man or understand what the treasure was.

Gustave was puzzled. This man, he thought, suddenly appears and disappears.

How did he get into the room? How did he leave it? Is there another way in? But after inspecting the walls, he didn’t find anything.

It’s full of questions that the members of Black Sword left the strange narrow room.

****

Gustave decided to make a stop in the village next to the Lost Forest – Bulk.

His orders were to investigate the lowest levels, write a report and send it the Guild the next day, but he didn’t feel like doing that just yet. Frustrated, Gustave laid on an inn’s bed, his eyes focused on the ceiling.

It’s odd for two dungeons to be conquered like this, one right after the other, he thought. The Conqueror is definitely the same one for both – which means that he found a way to conquer every dungeon. It’s every adventurer’s dream… Shit, I’m jealous.

His thoughts were disturbed by loud footsteps going up the stairs of the inn.

Someone slammed the door open. He looked to see Carl enter his room.

For a second, he was scared his partner had broken the door.

“Oi, Gustave,” the strong man started, “I just heard something interesting.” “What the hell..?” Gustave stood up to face his friend.

“Last night, some fallen adventurer-turned-bandits got beat up so badly they had to take him to a hospital.”

“And what’s interesting about that?”

Carl rolled his eyes. “Apparently, he and his men got their asses kicked by a little

girl.”

“A little girl?!”

“Yep. They were three armed men against one unarmed girl.” “Who did you hear this from?”

“From this town’s vigilance group. They were caught and sent to prison. One of

them had even peed his pants. They’re all too embarrassed to talk.” Gustave grabbed his jacket and headed out of the room.

“Oi, wait, where are you going?”

“Please take me to the vigilance group. I wanna talk to those thugs.”

It was dark out and Carl had wanted to relax, but it was too late now. He regretted telling his leader about Bulk’s newest gossip.

****

“That’s enough. Don’t make me remember it,” the bandit whined. He had a bandage on his face.

The vigilance group had allowed Carl and Gustave to enter his jail cell to talk to the

thug.

“I don’t care about what you want,” said Gustave, coldly. “Tell me what happened.” The man sighed before talking. “The girl seemed to be between 7 and 16 years old.

The man was maybe in his twenties.

“A man was with her? What was he like?” “He was an ordinary Ordos.”

“An Ordos? How tall was he? Was he rather strong, or frail?”

The man took a moment to think. “Well, I’d say he was around 170cm. He was slender.”

“What about the girl?”

“I think she was an Ordos, too. She was wearing strange clothes. And she was hella strong – like, I had never seen a girl so strong before.”

“How strong? She didn’t have a weapon, right?”

“No, but it seemed like she had something on the back of her arm. It made a metallic sound when my blade hit it.”

Gustave hummed and scratched his chin. A strange girl and a tall man, he thought,

both Ordos. Is that a coincidence? It’s too soon to tell but…

“Were they from Bulk?”

“How the fuck should I know?! People from nearby villages often come here shopping. I have no idea who actually lives here.”

“What are those nearby villages?”

“I don’t know man. The guy kinda smelled like potatoes. That’s all I got. Now leave me alone, I’m an injured man.”

Gustave and Carl left the thug’s jail. When they tried to interrogate the other two men, neither would talk.

I guess losing to a little girl is really embarrassing, Gustave thought as they headed back to the inn.

“Ordos…” Gustave started, “maybe that’s why the Dungeon Conqueror won’t come forward.”

“You think they won’t give him the money because of his race?!” “Maybe… Maybe he doesn’t trust the country.”

Gustave judged that the information he had gathered were too uncertain to report back to the Guild.

“Gustave, do you think that guy is just wandering around, going shopping?”

“I have no idea.” Gustave looked up to the night sky. He could catch a glimpse of the moon, hidden behind the clouds. “If that’s the case, we might run into him someday.”