The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 203
Upon the endless ocean in a dream—
“...Teacher.”
A mermaid wept.
“I love you.”
“......”
Giovanni felt the same. He loved these small, foolish mermaids.
He loved them so deeply that he could not forgive them.
He knew these hideous and cruel mermaids far too well. They continued to sin, massacring innocent lives, believing foolishly that it was their “responsibility.”
“...I see.”
His innate exceptionalism had distanced him from all the destinies of the world. But no matter how extraordinary he was, nothing surpassed the time they had nurtured together.
In the end, Giovanni, who was no more than a man, chose to reach out his hand.
“...So I must drag you into hell myself.”
A mere priest laughed.
“How could you be this stupid.”
And then, he cried.
He did not regret it, but that didn’t ease the pain.
Though he had loved and given his best without fail, Giovanni still had to die horribly.
And now, he had to behold the sins committed by the disciples he once cherished.
“I don’t believe I lived so wrongly that I deserve to witness such wickedness...”
***
“Priest!”
“Brother Cha I-Sol!”
Kang Seodam saw Cha I-Sol trapped inside a barrier.
“I’ve been wanting to ask this the whole way here—why in the world are you here?!”
“I’m sorry! How do you write a formal apology?!”
“As a trainee priest, Brother Cha I-Sol, a simple letter of reflection will suffice!”
“I don’t even know how to write one, so please teach me when we go back...!!”
“I will!!”
It was maddening.
“Is anyone here able to analyze this barrier? We need to get Brother Cha I-Sol out of here before another monster shows up!”
“I have a skill for that—please step aside!”
The hunter swiftly analyzed the barrier’s composition and structure. Then turned to the priests with a bewildered look.
“This is solar-type!”
“...What did you say?”
“It’s solar! The structure, the composition—everything!”
“There’s no way we wouldn’t have recognized that...!”
“Y-Yes, but it really is...!”
Kang Seodam accepted the situation quickly.
“It’s refusing to be read by us.”
“For the sun to reject its own children—impossible!”
“That ‘impossible’ thing is happening right now, so stop wasting energy on nonsense! Do you plan to embarrass yourselves in front of a trainee priest?!”
“Eep...”
“Listen carefully—we’re dismantling this barrier before any monsters arrive!”
The priests, who looked like they were about to protest against Kang Seodam’s demon-like glare, shrank in silence. Kang Seodam was famous for being merciless to foolish or incompetent priests, treating them as less than human.
“E-Even so, if we can’t read it, how are we supposed to—”
“Shut up and move! If you’re useless, then at least cover us instead of wasting time!!”
“Y-Yes, sir!!!”
As the priests lined up around the entrance with military precision, the accompanying hunters were genuinely impressed.
“That’s terrifying.”
“Y-Yeah, scary...”
They were completely cowed.
‘I’ve heard the religious world is rigid with hierarchy, but...’
‘Thank god I didn’t awaken as a priest.’
‘So that’s what Kang Seodam looks like when he’s pissed... unbelievable.’
The hunters quickly positioned themselves among the priests, separating those who were no help in dismantling the barrier. They were hunters who had studied how to cooperate with the clergy in moments like this.
After a series of trials, Kang Seodam and the hunters finally unraveled the barrier.
“Brother Cha I-Sol, come here.”
“Waaaah, Teacher...!”
“We’ll hear what happened once we’re somewhere safe. Right now, we can’t get you out to the surface, so just follow us calmly—did you hear me? Calmly and safely. Understood?”
“Yes, I’m sorry...!” freeωebnovēl.c૦m
“The fault also lies with the priests who failed to manage you—no, never mind. Like I said, we’ll talk later. Right now we need to rejoin the others and continue the raid.”
Kang Seodam, still flushed from the monsters they’d faced on the way here, took a deep breath and calmly asked,
“Do you know where Hunter Sergio is? Or perhaps Iser, the mermaid hunter...?”
“I know where Gio is!”
“That’s good news. Exactly where and in what state?”
“He’s bound together with seawater at the center of the Pope’s Chamber!”
“Good lord.”
The other hunters were shocked.
“W-Why there...?!”
“Of all places, the Pope’s Chamber?!”
“What kind of special treatment is that...?”
“Too brutal to be called ‘special’ treatment!”
“Y-Yeah, I was stunned too...”
Come to think of it, the mermaids had previously kidnapped Hunter Sergio using civilian hostages. And now they had stored Cha I-Sol separately as well—perhaps they really intended to do something to the apostles of Black Cloak.
‘Well, they’re too valuable to just kill off.’
‘Considering how Black Cloak’s frames occasionally appeared in the temple before, there may really be some kind of relationship here. Worth investigating.’
‘Do the mermaids have a grudge against Black Cloak...?’
The mood became oddly chaotic. Kang Seodam exhaled deeply and took control.
“Trainee Cha I-Sol knows where Hunter Sergio is being held. We should head there immediately. No telling what interference we might encounter along the way—stay sharp.”
“Yes, leader.”
“Understood.”
While moving, they reunited with the other group of hunters who had split off earlier.
“Huh? Why are you here?!”
“We’ve more or less figured out the story.”
“Ah, in that case—”
“There was nowhere else left to check!”
They’d run into all kinds of absurd monsters and traps along the way.
“There were pig-headed priests trying to eat us!”
“That happened to you too?”
“There was something like a hand reaching from inside a pond with a sweet scent...”
“We lost three people to what was probably a charm skill...”
“There were undead coming at us with farming tools!”
“Ugh, those things were seriously gross.”
“There were ones charging at us yelling they were starving...”
“Yeah, I’ve seen those in older dungeons too.”
“These new mobs are completely cracked.”
Even with all that exploration, they still hadn’t found the “heart.”
“In the worst case, the boss monster might be the heart of the dungeon.”
“But it’s already deeply merged with the sea...”
“Damn it, so what do we do then? Boil it to death?”
“If you try that, it’ll never end.”
“Evaporating water just turns it into vapor in the sky.”
“This is why liquid-type monsters are so tricky.”
“I’d prefer slimes at this point...”
“Yeah, at least they’ve got a core you can destroy.”
Most liquid monsters had a core you could destroy to kill them. But the ocean? A mermaid fused with the ocean?
How the hell were they supposed to fight that?
“Let’s confirm whether or not it even has a core.”
If there truly was no way to kill it, that was a matter for the divine. But none of the priests felt such a transcendent force here. They believed—at worst—it was just a monster. And a monster had to have a way to die.
“We just need to work through this step-by-step.”
“True, but that doesn’t stop it from being terrifying.”
“Hey, can we quit with the doomsaying?”
“But it is a terrible situation, isn’t it?”
At that moment, they arrived at the Pope’s Chamber.
“......”
“...That—”
Multiple people spoke at once.
“Isn’t that Hunter Sergio?”
“That’s not a mermaid...?”
At that, Iser, the mermaid resting against his teacher’s lap, opened his eyes.
“......”
Hatred surged in his gaze.
“Unwelcome guests.”
“...What have you done to Hunter Sergio?”
“We’re moving him back to where he belongs.”
“What do you mean, ‘where he belongs’?”
“To the sea.”
Vrrrm—...
The water filling the room resonated.
“He’s coming home to the ocean.”
That was why they were kneeling in prayer.
“This Earth is too small a flowerpot for him.”
“That’s not for you mermaids to decide.”
“Perhaps. But since when have humans ever followed only what is natural?”
“There are still lines that must not be crossed.”
“Then what about my teacher?”
Why did my noble human teacher have to die that way?
“I hate you people.”
“Hah, did we kill your teacher?”
“I hate your short, fleeting lives.”
Clink—!
A staff, adorned in golden ornamentation, fell into Iser’s hand.
“You humans, children of providence... I loathe you.”
They were evidence of providence—and symbols of deception. That was the real reason humans had become the mermaids’ punching bags.
Yes, it was unfair.
‘But that’s fine.’
They had never planned to win in the first place. The mermaids had already concluded their story and accepted their “responsibility.” This was merely the final act of their performance.
Iser smiled.
“I’ve gone to great lengths to welcome you. I’ve fashioned a more beautiful and opulent temple, and even brought out the treasured pigs I’d saved for curious guests.”
“Stories of monsters, huh...”
“Were you satisfied? No? Of course not. Humans are so greedy they never know when to stop.”
Flick—
Iser’s ears changed from human to mermaid.
His shimmering sea-blue hair mingled with his silk-like fins, making them indistinguishable. His teeth sharpened, his pupils glowed pearlescent. A long tail, like that of a sea dragon, unfurled—and the staff grew lush and wild.
“Behold.”
FWOOM—!!
The golden staff grew into the form of a tree.
“The Sun has grown in the deep sea.”
It radiated a brilliance like the sun, wrapping the temple in its glow.
“And so I...”
“...Ha.”
“Shall greet you as the Sun.”
Srrrk—
Iser too, turned gold.
“Oh, right...”
From his forehead, two antler-like branches sprouted.
“That’s it.”
The mermaid, casting off the deep sea’s chill in an instant, asked:
“Is your Sun merciful?”
“At least more than you.”
“Then go ahead. Pray.”
“Beg for your lives?”
“No.”
He grinned darkly.
“Pray that you live.”
All the suns that had sunk into oceans across countless dimensions—
Who, in the end, had devoured them?
***
Yoo Seong-Woon thought.
“......”
Is Giovanni human?
‘Yes.’
He was, once.
He had been Sergio, an eccentric Korean art teacher. He had been Argio, the Demon King who survived alone in jungles choked with poisonous plants. They had lived as humans in inhuman ways—and eventually became something no longer human.
Was it wrong to view such a being as a work of art?
‘I already treat him the way he wants to be treated.’
Gio {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} liked humans like Yoo Seong-Woon.
‘Isn’t that right?’
The portrait Gio cherished was generous and kind—that made it possible.
A mere gardener, trembling with awe at a single glance from the Eye of Origin.
Yoo Seong-Woon was doing well. He was a gardener and a curator. He fulfilled his role. Gio wasn’t angry—he enjoyed it.
Then his thoughts wandered.
“......”
Would Gio dislike being treated like a human?
‘...No, he wouldn’t.’
Joo-Hyun’s example proved that wasn’t the case.
‘But am I doing something wrong?’
This was the stance Yoo Seong-Woon had chosen—and one Gio didn’t reject. A curator treating a work as a work, when everyone’s satisfied—how could that be a sin?
Why not?
The mermaid—torn apart by countless hunters—still looked down at Yoo Seong-Woon.
Sitting between thrones of waves and ice sculptures, the princess remained poised.
“Arrogant thing.”
“I’ll admit that.”
“You’re no different from your master.”
“Of course. We’re like our guild leader.”
“Monstrously selfish.”
“That’s just what humans are.”
It was a voice meant to provoke his hatred—but he couldn’t deny it.
“Because it’s true.”
Only after defining humanity that way did the mermaid waver slightly.
“......”
“......”
Amid ringing tinnitus and the cracking of glaciers in a battlefield—
Yoo Seong-Woon’s eyes widened.
“...Ah.”
Was Gio really human?
And what did “human” mean in the first place...?
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