As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback

Chapter 69 – Ryudou’s Power

“What’s the matter, Sol?” (Komon)
“Some people went inside one of the labyrinthine buildings. For a while nothing happened, but then a few people seemed to have escaped from the building in a hurry.” (Sol)
“A few people? In a hurry… Does that mean that they found the Core Monster?” (Komon)
With this, I had also obtained information that it was possible to enter and leave the labyrinthine buildings at will.

“Apparently, that’s what it seems like. The people who came out are going towards Ryudou, so Sol will follow and keep an eye on them!” (Sol)
“Yeah, take care not to get caught.” (Komon)
Now then, I guess I’ll wait for some new information to come in…

After waiting for a while for a response from Sol, her voice resounded over the telepathic link.

“Master, it’s Sol.” (Sol)
“Yeah, let’s hear it.” (Komon)
“Apparently, most of the people who entered the building had been beaten back by monsters and traps.” (Sol)
“…So those guys didn’t stand a chance after all.” (Komon)
It seemed that no matter how experienced they were with weapons, fifty or so people wasn’t enough for the task of exploring a large dungeon. Well, I already knew that.

“It looks to be the same with the other buildings, with several people running back out one after the other! Every person that’s coming back is being executed by Ryudou for being ‘useless trash’.” (Sol)
Executed… So they’re being killed on the spot. It was a terrible thing to do to people who were working so hard for his sake. He was seriously scum to the core.

“But that’s good news, too. Now we know that we can leave the building after going in… Sol.” (Komon)
“Would it be okay for Sol to go in and scout out the building for you?” (Sol)
“Yeah. Can I trust you to do that?” (Komon)
“You can leave it to me! This is what Sol is here for! Sol will go right away!” (Sol)
If I entrusted the task to Sol, she would definitely be able to scout it out without any problems. She could also escape if things got dangerous, and it was far better than expecting Ryudou’s forces to be able to scout out the buildings.

Considering that we found out through them that it was possible to leave the labyrinthine buildings and Sol could move now as a result, Ryudou’s guys were actually pretty useful.

“We’ve got information from Sol.” (Komon)
I conveyed the information I had just gotten to the two of them, who were still messing around.

“That damn bastard! What the hell does he think he’s doing to his people?” (Ryudou)
Rather than celebrating Kuzuhara’s failure, Kuzuhara seemed to be more outraged about him executing his people. Well, it made sense. Among them were people who had been on his side, until yesterday at least. Even if they had once betrayed him, they weren’t people that he would have wanted to die pointlessly.

I didn’t agree with Kuzuhara’s straightforward love. If it were me, I would have said that they’d gotten what they deserved.

“Anyway, what’s Ryudou’s plan now?” (Chake)
Chake’s words prompted a thoughtful look to surface on the face of the angry Kuzuhara.

“Ryudou should have realized by now that it would be too difficult to search the place with his current members. But… he’s probably already figured it out. He must have left some kind of backup plan.” (Kuzuhara)
He couldn’t sit quietly after only a single failure. Surely, a guy who had been scheming and framing other people until now wouldn’t have imagined his subordinates to fail. As Kuzuhara said, his backup plan… no. WIthout a doubt, he now had to rely on his real plan.

And at that moment…

“Master! There’s something wrong!” (Sol)
Suddenly, Sol’s panicked voice resounded in my mind.

“What is it that you’re shouting so loudly for?” (Komon)
“Umm! They’ve come back to life! And their appearances are different!” (Sol)
….? I don’t get what she’s saying…?

“Calm down. First, clearly tell me everything from the beginning. Alright?” (Komon)
“Sorry!” (Sol)
After sucking in a deep breath to calm herself down, Sol spoke.

“S-So you see, the ones who were killed by the monsters and traps earlier…” (Sol)
What happened to the guys who died to the monsters and traps earlier exactly…?

“They came back to life and are back on the search again!” (Sol)
“What did you just say?!” (Komon)
I unintentionally shouted out loud, causing Kuzuhara and the others present to glance over at me to see what was going on. Kuzuhara raised a hand, signaling to me to tell him what happened, but I gestured back, telling him to calm down and wait a bit.

“Sol, what do you mean they came back to life? And you said something about their appearance?” (Komon)
“W-Well, the people who were supposed to be dead are now moving around as monsters like Sol and Shiki.” (Sol)
“Like you guys? Their appearances changed that much?” (Komon)
“Let’s see… Their bodies have turned deathly pale, and they stink real bad. To be honest, they smell like they’re decomposing! And even though they aren’t alive, it’s almost like they are!” (Sol)
Deathly pale? Rotting smell? Alive, but not alive? I didn’t really get what that last impression was, but she was probably saying that they were moving even though they didn’t seem to be alive.

But from her words, I guess…

“….That sounds like a zombie.” (Komon)
“Zombie!? T-That’s right! They certainly do look exactly like zombies!” (Sol)
If that was the case, how could that be possible? Did that mean that everyone who died in those buildings would turn into zombies?

“…Sol, in the building that you’re in, are there any zombies among the monsters?” (Komon)
“Among the monsters I’ve encountered, there haven’t been any. In the end, it’s just the humans that have been zombified. But…” (Sol)
“But?” (Komon)
“It seems that there are what appear to be human bones in here, but they probably belong to people who’ve entered here before. For some reason, it seems that those people hadn’t been reanimated.” (Sol)
…Certainly, police and other people had entered here before. And among them, there were probably people who had been killed by monsters or traps. Or perhaps they were the corpses of the students and teachers here.

If people who died in the buildings were turned into zombies, it wouldn’t have been strange for that to happen to them as well. No, given the current situation, it was strange that they hadn’t turned into zombies.

Then why…?

“…..! Sol, go outside for now and head towards Ryudou’s position.” (Komon)
“Got it!” (Sol)
Fortunately, Sol’s movements were so fast that even monsters couldn’t see her. In the blink of an eye, she flew out of the building and reached Ryudou’s location.

“…!! M-Master!” (Sol)
“Tell me exactly what you see.” (Komon)
“Y-Yes! Umm… There are zombies around Ryudou!” (Sol)
…I knew it.

“So then the people who were killed by Ryudou earlier are coming back to life and starting to move?” (Komon)
“That’s right! And the zombified people are returning to the labyrinthine building again, one after the other!” (Sol)
“….I understand. Sol, don’t worry about the zombies for now. Please focus on investigating the buildings.” (Komon)
“U-Understood!” (Sol)
It was nice that Sol didn’t ask me every single unnecessary question. After digesting the information I had just obtained, I turned to Kuzuhara, who was still looking at me as if he wanted an explanation.

“….I have bad news. Do you still want to hear it?” (Komon)
“Well now that you say that, there’s no way I wouldn’t want to hear. Rather… it’s something that I have to hear, isn’t it?” (Kuzuhara)
I let out a sigh and quietly opened my mouth.

“I think I may have found out what Ryudou’s power is.” (Komon)
“What?! Are you serious?! What kind of ability is it? It’s a skill, right?!” (Kuzuhara)
“Calm down, Saito-san! You’re going to trouble Komon if you keep asking questions like that!” (Chake)
“Ah, yeah… My bad, Komon. I got a little carried away.” (Kuzuhara)
“Fufu, I don’t mind. What I’m about to tell you is based on what has already been confirmed by Sol.” (Komon)
I cleared my throat and continued.

“Remember how I told you that Ryudou’s subordinates were either dead or had been killed by him?” (Komon)
“Yeah.” (Kuzuhara)
“Those guys came back to life… as zombies.” (Komon)
“Oh…W-Wh– HUH?!” (Kuzuhara)
Of course he would be surprised. Even I had a hard time believing the information at first. After that, I told them what I had heard from Sol in a way that was easy for them to understand.

“A-Are you serious…?! Then that bastard’s power is…” (Chake)
“His people… no, he can zombify humans and then control them as his pawns, can’t he?” (Kuzuhara)
“When they were still alive, he forced them to obey by threatening them, and now that they’re dead, he’s still using them…? How rotten of a bastard can he be?!” (Chake)
Chake also raised his voice angrily.

But as it turned out, this was Ryudou’s real plan. Even if his human pawns died, he could still make use of them as zombies.

After becoming zombies, they most likely didn’t have emotions like they did when they were human. As a result, they wouldn’t be afraid of monsters or traps. No, for that matter, they wouldn’t even be afraid of dying. They were truly like undead soldiers.

Ryudou had probably brought all of these people here to kill them and have them work for him as undead soldiers. It was truly a treacherous and inhumane act.

What in the world had driven him to such madness? I knew that there was no way someone could have originally been like this by nature. But what kind of path had he walked to have ended up twisted to this degree?

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For the first time, I felt fear towards the man called Ryudou.