Another fountain here.
'As expected, there really are fountains located in every turning point.'
The Dhormellos King's Dungeon was a low tier dungeon. Knowing that fact, most people ended up looking down on it too much. But, what they didn't know was that, it had a very special identity.
Long ago, in a time forgotten by most, a Kingdom called Dhormellos existed.
It was a prosperous kingdom filled with mild weather all year round and relatively satisfied citizens.
But, like most kingdoms that ever existed, it had its own issues.
One of them existed within the nobility and the royalty themselves.
No, it's not corruption.
It was... Inbreeding.
In order to preserve their bloodline, royalties and nobles performed marriages between close relatives which, of course, gave birth to quite a lot of... deformities.
And, a certain prince, who would later become known as Dhormellos' last king, was one of them.
Now, before we go deep into the king's story, let us go back to the topic of the dungeon.
The Dhormellos King's Dungeon was located in the central part of the Parthon continent with a depth of roughly thirty meters below the surface.
It is well known for housing mainly arachnid type monsters and other similar creatures. There is a valid reason for this which we will discuss shortly.
Though it is a maze in nature, some adventurers who have paid it a visit often likened it to an underground fountain collection due to its thousands of fountains scattered around in seemingly haphazard ways.
Now, back to the topic of the king, before he was enthroned and became known as the last king, he was more popularly known as the round prince of Dhormellos.
Not because he was fat, but because he had a deformity which he used to hide underneath piles of clothing, giving him a round appearance.
Truthfully, because of his unsightly birth defect, despite being a contender for the throne, he never once desired to rise into power.
That was until he met a beautiful noble girl from the neighboring kingdom of Tarmound.
Sitting by the palace garden's fountain, the girl surrounded by partridgeberry blooms looked akin to a woodland fairy.
Claiming it to be love at first sight, the prince quickly became obsessed with her but, at that time, the girl had already been engaged to the first prince who was the most likely to become the king in that period.
Although the girl had been moved by the prince's sincere pursuits, she knew that nothing would come out of this affair. So, she chose to softly reject him by saying;
"My fate is already tied to the first prince's. Perhaps only the king can sever it."
Then, with that, the girl never appeared before the prince again.
Wrought with agony and indignation, the prince cursed his existence, cursed his deformity, and cursed the entire kingdom.
Until the day an idea struck him.
"In that case, I just have to be the king."
And so he did.
For a period of three years, the whole kingdom was shaken down to its core as the third prince who never had any ambition began to suddenly make his move.
No one exactly knew how he did it but, in a span of two years, the fourth prince suddenly contracted a deadly disease and died not long after, then, the second prince encountered bandits on his way to a neighboring town.
As for the first prince, he suddenly disappeared during the king's birthday banquet and was never seen again.
Of course, courtiers and concubines who got on his way weren't spared either.
Then, on the third year, despite being the last prince left, the king denied his enthronement.
Needless to say, the king died inexplicably shortly after.
Now, left as the only legitimate royalty who can take over the throne, the prince naturally became king.
This was it! His three years of effort will finally pay off!
And as the newly enthroned king decided to pay the kingdom of Tarmound a visit to find the girl, what greeted him was thunderous news.
A huge fire had burst out and consumed the entire manor of a noble family, not sparing anyone inside.
The girl had died and left no trace behind. And, this happened just a few days before the king had arrived.
"So even the world doesn't allow me to be happy!"
Suddenly losing sight of everything, the prince felt an ungodly rage consume him whole.
"Since the world took you away by fire, then I'll burn away the entire world."
The partridgeberry isn't exactly the most beautiful flower, nor is it particularly special.
Most people don't even notice its existence but, it's there.
It quietly creeps into your heart and takes root, refusing to extricate itself.
And just when you begin to enjoy the sight of its humble blooms, the fires suddenly appear and snuffs out its entire existence.
In the end, the fire grew bigger and bigger, burning away the entirety of Tarmound and Dhormellos.
All that's left to time was the tale of the eight-limbed prince and the lady by the fountain.
...
"Haa..." Haneul sighed, feeling unknowm emotions as he formed a mental map of the maze.
'In times like this, a bottle of soju and kimbap would be great.'
Grrrr.
Suddenly, a loud rumble echoed along the dim cavern, instantly causing Haneul to whip his head around in caution.
Seeing his alert expression, Leo scratched the back of his head sheepishly while Red was silently snickering.
"Sorry, I got a little hungry..."
Grrr.
Right, they've actually been walking for such a long time and haven't eaten anything yet since the start of the journey.
It really is quite a problem.
Since this dungeon is a maze, food resources are very limited. Acquiring them can even be said to be one of the most difficult tasks in it.
But, on the bright side, at least they haven't encountered any monsters yet.
"CHIIII!!!"
"SHIYAAAA!!!"
Clack! Tap! Tap!
Crash!
Suddenly, on the path right ahead of them, thunderous sounds of what was predicted to be a hoard of giant screeching insects began to barrel straight towards them.
'Ah. I jinxed it.'
The corner of Haneul's mouth twitched.
"Alright. I think we should run." Red said calmly as he dashed away.
'You think?!'
"Tehe~" Red innocently stuck out his tongue and sprinted off.
Though Haneul ran with a stiff face, inwardly, he was crying rivers of tears.
"Holy crap! Huge spiders! Huge spiders!" Even Leo who reacted quite late was now running ahead of him.
'Really... Why me?!'