The Artist Who Paints Dungeon

In one dimension, there existed a vast and ancient lifeform.

It cultivated a great tree—its own child, grown from a part of itself. That tree, sacred in origin, matured into a divine being and, in time, developed intelligence.

Eventually, the tree came to love a human.

“Oh great Tree of Life, I beg you, please accept this humble child.”

“Accept this child as your family, O great one of myth.”

“And bless us humans with the gift of life!”

But the tree did not respond.

The limits of human life were part of the natural order decreed by Life itself. No one could receive the Tree’s blessings, which belonged solely to the children of Life.

Yet, as time passed, the love the tree held for the tiny human child only grew.

The child was pure.

Gentle.

And treated the tree like family.

But the child was terribly fragile.

“The child you loved is dead.”

“Split into five pieces, a divine punishment for daring to touch the child of a god!”

“This is rightful judgment, so do not be angered—grant only mercy!”

“We humans, including the child, are held in the arms of Life!”

The tree was so sorrowful it wept.

Its tears—shed by a child of Life—became heavenly blessings to humankind.

And in response, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» humans grew crueler.

They brought bloodied offerings.

“We offer sacrifices—grant us your blessing...!”

“Rain down the water of life!”

One among them shouted:

“If not that, then grant us all eternal life!!”

How shameless.

“Wouldn’t even your beloved child return to life then?”

“Oh tree, how can you be so cruel to humanity? Why must noble human lives be so short?”

“Grant us eternal life! Grant humans immortality!!”

Swayed by such coaxing, the tree ultimately collapsed the boundary between life and death—reviving the human child it so loved.

For this, Life became enraged.

To witness its child misuse divine authority—it cast a curse.

“A calamity! Calamity has come!!”

“■■■■■...!!”

“An evil spirit resides within the sacred tree! Burn it!!”

“■■■■■■...!!!”

“The tree has become a beast!!”

The Tree of Life was turned into a monster—massive, quadrupedal, unable to see humans, with a body too vast to belong among the small ones it once cherished.

It was punishment for defying natural law.

“Aaagh...! The tree! The tree has cursed us!!”

“Please, we did no wrong...! Show us mercy!”

“Why would you turn us into beasts?!”

And those humans who had dared to take Life’s blessing—were transformed into beasts themselves.

The evil humans who had killed and deceived the child the Tree of Life loved were cursed with insomnia and became monsters of the night.

The humans who had greedily soaked in the tree’s blessings became monsters of the day.

“KIIIIEEEEEEK...!!”

“K-Kuhh, GRAAAAGH... AAAH...!”

“KREEEEEEEKK...!”

They all became beasts—abandoned by Life.

Their dimension began to shrink.

The burning sun—left behind as punishment—grew so hot that they wished for death.

Their intellect slowly eroded.

Only pain remained.

“■■■...”

And among them was the resurrected human child—a being returned to life by the mistake of what had once been the Tree of Life.

Once torn apart into five pieces by humans, then fused back into one by a beast... only to be split again by divine wrath.

The beast wanted to protect that small child in its arms.

So it expanded its body—larger, and larger still.

To block the collapse of their shrinking dimension.

To protect them from the scorching sun, it created a moon.

And it shed tears to cool the world.

“Grrr...”

“Krrrk, kghh...”

The cursed, four-legged beasts—now monsters—hoped this sweetness would last a little longer.

Even after losing their minds, they longed for longer nights.

For wider dimensions.

So the lesser beasts wandered around the small, delicate tree where it had all begun.

And the great beast, for that fragile tree, took in all those monsters.

It raised the moon more often.

It traveled across dimensions, trying to cool its body.

Yet the scorching heat Life had left behind... would not fade.

***

“...That’s the story,”

Kang Seodam concluded, voice tired, after piecing together the dungeon’s narrative with the other hunters.

“So Hunter Sergio’s theory was correct after all.”

“Wow... I didn’t think it would be literally true.”

“But now that we know this, clearing the dungeon is going to be a headache.”

The other hunters clicked their tongues.

“Then why did the night monsters feed the tree? It rains regularly anyway. Why add fertilizer?”

“Uh... maybe to create more slaves? If the trees grow up, they become more like the Tree of Life? Otherwise, why bother giving it anything?”

“Well, since the tree was like family to the big beast, they wouldn’t want to harm it. Maybe it’s separate from the fertilizer—it’s just that they wanted more ‘Trees of Life.’”

“So that frenzy earlier... it was the Tree of Life protecting its child. A parent’s instinct.”

“Especially since all the dungeon’s monsters went wild.”

Listening to the discussion, Jeong Yeong-Won added,

“The rain in this rainforest... those were the Tree of Life’s tears.”

It made sense now—why touching it drove people mad.

“Because it’s a mythic being’s tears... or maybe its blood. Any ordinary human would lose their mind upon contact. Definitely worth investigating.”

“The dungeon’s monsters seemed fine, though.”

“Maybe they went mad long ago. They’re extremely hostile to humans—and now we know why. Wouldn’t you lash out if you were tormented into madness?”

Some monsters hated humans and avoided them. Some were cold and calculating. Others attacked on sight.

‘This dungeon’s are clearly the third kind.’

Jeong Yeong-Won fell into thought.

“To clear this place...”

“It’s a nightmare.”

“Can’t just smash our way through.”

“And the Church that hired us won’t sit back.”

“We need to clear it while preserving what we can.”

“There are some extremely valuable plants here...”

“Too much to destroy.”

The poisons in this dungeon were potent and fast-acting. Extracted and refined, they could bring wealth—or be turned into medicines.

“In times like these, poisons and cures are worth gold.”

After Jeong Yeong-Won’s comment, a few hunters turned to look at Sergio.

“...Do you have something to say to me?”

“N-no, sorry. It just slipped out...”

“I understand. The medicine I gave was just too effective.”

Giovanni smiled with divine innocence.

“Please give your thanks to the Sun.”

“O-of course...!”

People were beginning to think, “Something’s off here...”

But Gio wasn’t worried.

He was the cheerful type who never worried in advance.

Kang Seodam, on the other hand, was deeply concerned.

“......”

He sighed quietly, unable to hide his troubled face.

“...I hate to bring this up after all the deaths, but... I’d really prefer to preserve the dungeon if possible. It’s even in the contract.”

“I remember. Don’t worry, Priest.”

“Fortunately, we’ve figured out the core story and clues. The next issue is: how do we clear this place peacefully?”

Each dungeon had its own rules.

Some required resolving a boss’s grudge.

Some needed solving specific riddles.

Others ended when you opened a particular door.

“So what if we just kill all the monsters? Wouldn’t that ease the Tree’s heart a little? I mean, seems like it’s been betrayed more than once.”

“If that’s the condition, we won’t finish in a single raid. We’d have to come back repeatedly. And what if, after clearing it, the Tree just destroys the dungeon?”

“Yeah, maybe it’d collapse from peace. Ugh. What do we do then? Carefully... dig up the small trees and relocate them?”

“We’d probably die in the frenzy before moving even one. Everyone’s already exhausted just figuring out the story. Isn’t there a more gentle method?”

That’s when Gio stepped forward.

“What if we lowered the heat?”

“Pardon? The heat?”

“Then the day monsters would sleep, and we could deal with the night ones.”

“So you mean...”

Before others could finish, Sanarae tilted his head.

“Carrot, not stick?”

“It wasn’t cold wind that made the traveler shed his coat—it was warm sunlight.”

“Well, this dungeon’s ready to go mad from that sunlight.”

“Peace brings apathy more than pain does.”

Creatures resist pain but sleep in peace.

“If all the Tree of Life wanted was to protect its family, we should let it. Just give it a calm, safe nest.”

The tree upholding this dungeon wasn’t aggressive—unless you messed with the little ones.

“So maybe it’ll sustain itself too.”

“That’s only if this place becomes a good nursery...”

A hunter asked cautiously,

“But how? We could maybe deal with the monsters over time, but this dungeon’s huge. We can’t remove all the heat.”

“Right. Even if we smash the fake sun, the environment would collapse. The plants would die too.”

“And you can’t just ‘remove heat.’ Not with one or two mages or priests. Though... if we could, it’d be ideal...”

Then Gio asked:

“What if there are many of us?”

“Uh... what?”

“People who can absorb heat.”

“...Do such people exist?”

Kang Seodam chimed in:

“Sun priests can handle heat. But I can manage the heat of ten buildings, tops. The younger priests... maybe a single big tree.”

“There are others, right?”

“If I’m not mistaken, there are six of us left, including myself. Not enough. But with help from mages, we might manage.”

He paused in thought.

“We have artifacts, too.”

The Church held a patent on heat-absorbing artifacts. They brought a decent number, expecting heat in this dungeon.

“But even with that, we can’t remove all the heat. Unless the sun disappears, this heat won’t either. But destroying the sun... we don’t have the method. And we’d suffer for it. It might destroy the dungeon too.”

Kang Seodam asked:

“Hunter Sergio—what’s your idea?”

“I’ll start with a guess.”

“Go ahead.”

“This place feels like a sauna, right?”

“...Yes.”

“High humidity.”

“Very.”

“Why?”

“......”

Kang Seodam replied,

“Because of the rain?”

“But it doesn’t rain that often.”

“It poured when it did...”

“But it wouldn’t cause this much humidity.”

Even non-hunters would struggle to breathe here. Like inhaling through a soaked rag. No way it was just a few rains.

“There must be another water source.”

“I thought the same.”

Gio gestured to the trees.

“These trees are massive.”

“Absolutely.”

“Roots must be massive too.”

“...Must be deep.”

“And if the only water source was occasional rain—could they grow this big?”

“It’s a dungeon, so maybe other factors... but your point stands.”

“I think a vast body of water lies beneath this floor.”

“A great reservoir.”

“Yes.”

Giovanni smiled.

“I’m someone deeply tied to water, so I feel quite confident.”

“...Ah...”

At this point, it was basically a divine revelation.

‘I suppose we should be glad he’s so gentle about it...’

Kang Seodam, silently grimacing, asked:

“If we draw up that reservoir...”

“The Tree of Life could finally breathe.”

“And the moonlight would last longer.”

“First, let’s confirm if it exists—and if we can draw it up.”

“If we pull up an entire tree, we’ll know.”

“...I... suppose so.”

Please don’t expect humans to pull off miracles like this.

“......”

Taking a deep breath, Kang Seodam said,

“Let’s sort things out step by step.”

They still had plenty of food. Plenty of skilled people.

“If this drags on, we’ll shift to long-term expedition mode.”

“Must it drag on?”

“Pardon?”

“If you permit it... I’ll start with the heat.”

Gio lifted the edge of his cloak.

“......”

“Dana.”

From the deep shadow—came a cat’s meow.

“Meow.”