The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 159 - Aurora

—

The closer Will got to the timeline of the original story, the more he felt like he was someone who had traveled back from the future.

It was as if…

Certain phenomena and events described in the original story began to show signs and omens before they fully “became” what they were in the story.

For example…

Right now…

“Little Will, look! It’s an ice sculpture! Though it looks like it was made by freezing a water slime.”

Shuna held up the head of a classic dungeon dragon ice sculpture in her right hand, striking a “peace” sign as she grinned at him.

—The eighth floor of the Moonlit Ice Extreme dungeon.

The two of them walked slowly through a cave that resembled a frozen cavern, surrounded by various ice sculptures.

“Wow… it’s so cool. Let me touch it.”

“Right? Over there, it looks like there’s a giant stone golem.”

Shuna pointed toward the far end of the path.

“Alright, alright… wait a second! Aren’t we here to clear the dungeon?!”

“Well… uh… being here doesn’t really feel like dungeon-clearing, does it? Eh, let’s just enjoy it like everyone else.”

As soon as Shuna said that, she ran ahead.

—

It was their fifth day in Yavik City.

After waking up at 4 a.m. and muttering about “seeing Yavik City at dawn,” they had finally managed to secure entry tickets for the first ten floors of the dungeon.

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The tickets were so highly sought after that Will had been tempted to pull out a green card and shout, “I’m Carver Hysterm’s son!” to get in—only to realize he hadn’t brought one.

But…

The first ten floors of “Moonlit Ice Extreme”…

Were nothing like what he had imagined.

He had expected to fight ice-element slimes.

To duel with icy creatures.

To face off against ice-covered golems.

But instead…

“Mom, I want to see that one—”

“I told you, we’re here now. Stop clinging to your finance reports and enjoy yourself.”

“Wow, it’s so cool here. Let’s take a break.”

—The place was filled with tourists!

Although the limited entry numbers kept it from feeling overcrowded, it was still far from what you’d expect in a dungeon.

Rather than a dungeon adventure, it felt more like…

A rare summer ice sculpture exhibition?

Even Shuna, who was usually all about the thrill of dungeon exploration, had started admiring the scenery.

The first ten floors were tranquil, with only the tenth floor featuring an elite monster to mark the end. The rest of the area felt like a carefully curated summer ice sculpture exhibit, designed to beat the heat.

A year from now, this kind of setup would become the norm, thanks to the Hysterm family. They would spearhead the effort to turn dungeons into entertainment hubs, industrializing them and making them accessible to the masses.

What Will was seeing now felt like a precursor to that transformation. The Hysterm family hadn’t yet reached this level of development, but the seeds were clearly there.

As Will walked past an ice sculpture, he ran his fingers along its cool surface.

Touching it, he realized that body heat didn’t seem to melt it, and the surface was free of any water droplets.

Although it was indeed made of “ice” and felt refreshingly cool, it had the texture of a large, cold crystal. The surface even refracted light into colorful rainbows.

Interestingly, perhaps because it was “inside a dungeon,” there were no rules against touching the sculptures.

People could freely explore and satisfy their curiosity.

This definitely wasn’t something the Adventurer’s Guild had designed as a tourist attraction.

So…

Will guessed it was the work of the dungeon’s “Empress,” the so-called “Ice Queen.”

Each dungeon ruler, as described in the original story, had their own unique style, which was reflected in their respective dungeons.

Will was still examining an ice sculpture made from a frozen water slime.

The frozen texture of the slime revealed patterns that were otherwise invisible.

Come to think of it, from a “story” perspective, weren’t he and the slimes supposed to be arch-nemeses?

Suddenly, as his hand rested on the ice sculpture, another slender hand covered his.

“Shuna?”

He looked up, and in that instant, Shuna’s hand clasped over his, still resting on the ice sculpture.

“Little Will~ I found a really beautiful spot over there. Come with me, come with me!”

“Wait, you’re really here to sightsee? What kind of scenery could a dungeon possibly have—”

“You’ll see what ‘Moonlit Ice Extreme’ really means.”

Shuna led Will by the hand, pulling him toward a brighter part of the cave. She held his hand tightly, like an older sister afraid her little brother might get lost.

Although…

He wasn’t exactly the kind of little brother who needed looking after, was he?

Really, he wasn’t, right?

The direction they were heading seemed to be the end of the eighth floor, where the door to the ninth floor would be.

However, most of the visitors were still enjoying the ice sculptures and hadn’t ventured out of the cavern.

“Come—look—here—”

As they neared the cave’s exit, Shuna gave a firm tug, pulling Will out into the open without any warning.

“This is…”

In front of Will was a vast, open ice lake. Above it, the sky shimmered with a pale green aurora, stretching and spreading like a veil that blurred the boundaries of reality.

The aurora’s presence was so mesmerizing that it made anyone who looked up feel dizzy.

Amidst the aurora, a full moon stood out prominently.

Even the ice lake below reflected the aurora above, creating a mirror-like effect.

If this dungeon weren’t so “peaceful” and tourist-friendly, Will might have assumed this aurora-covered ice lake was the battleground for a powerful elite monster.

But…

Shuna jumped down a small step onto the ice lake, landing lightly.

She turned around, her smile radiant with joy.

Right now, there was nothing else.

Just a serene, quiet ice lake.

“What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful? You wouldn’t see something like this in the outside world, would you?”

“Yeah…”

Whether in his previous world or this one, Will had never seen an aurora before.

Moonlit Ice Extreme.

So that’s where the “Extreme” in its name came from.

But…

If the name referred to the aurora above and the cold, polar-like environment…

The origin of the name and the sight before him reminded Will once again that this was all part of a “story.”

Because here, the world hadn’t yet reached the level of exploring the poles of a “planet.” Yet the name and the scenery still existed.

Perhaps it could be described as a “miracle of the dungeon,” but to Will, who came from outside the story, it felt more like the “fictionality of the story.”

As Will stared at the aurora reflected on the lake’s surface, his vision suddenly blurred.

“Huh? My glasses…”

“I’m mad, you know?”

While Will had been lost in thought, Shuna had stepped back up and taken his glasses.

His nearsightedness wasn’t mild—probably a result of some high-quality family genetics.

Without his glasses, the aurora on the lake became a hazy blur.

The aurora, which already seemed to blur the sky, now appeared even more indistinct to him.

“W-why are you mad? Did I do something wrong, Lady Shuna~?”

Will could tell that Shuna’s anger was playful, so he didn’t try to snatch his glasses back.

However…

Through his blurry vision, all he could see of Shuna was her legs in black stockings and the absolute territory exposed between her shorts and thighs.

To be honest, the haziness added a certain… allure.

“Little Will always has this ‘I’m so objective and perceptive’ look on his face.”

“So…”

“I’m mad!”