Episode 8: The Nuisance Streamer

"Alright, everyone! I’m about to charge into the off-limits [Ryuzuka]! Here we go!"

The man spoke with a tone that practically broadcasted his smug, punchable grin.

[Ryuzuka]. It was an A-rank dungeon, one of the most notoriously dangerous zones in existence. It had remained unconquered for decades, and the difficulty was so absurd that the authorities had officially banned entry six months ago.

The place was a literal otherworld—a realm of endless blue skies and jagged mountain peaks. It was a death trap teeming with Wyverns and various other dragon species, a frozen hell that had claimed the lives of countless Adventurers.

The ban wasn't just because the dungeon was unbeatable; there was a legitimate fear that the resident dragons might migrate into the outside world. Of course, despite the risks, the rumors of treasure hidden within its depths meant that idiots like this man never stopped trying to sneak in.

[I don’t care if you’re a nuisance streamer, this is crossing the line!] [You’re going to get more than just a fine. Get out of there!] [Have some respect for the people who actually died trying to clear Ryuzuka.] [Go home, moron. This place is on a different level from other dungeons!] [What happens if a Wyvern follows you out?!]

The comment section was a non-stop riot of outrage.

Ignoring the vitriol, the man kept his camera rolling. "Are you guys stupid? Who do you think I am? I’m an A-rank Adventurer from [Illegal], one of the biggest guilds around. A dungeon like this is a walk in the park for a guy like me!"

His tone was mocking, punctuated by a vulgar laugh. With a completely flippant attitude, he crossed the threshold into the forbidden dungeon... and immediately lost his voice.

"—Huh?"

He was using a high-end magic device specialized for streaming. The image it broadcasted to his viewers was a landscape of mountains and forests buried under a violent blizzard.

The man was an A-rank—a first-class Adventurer, at least on paper—and he had done his homework on this dungeon before coming. That was exactly why he couldn't process the anomaly in front of him.

Dungeons were independent pocket dimensions. While the internal environment and weather could vary, they strictly adhered to one rule: the environment always catered to the monsters living inside. Most monsters classified as Wyverns or dragons were notoriously weak to the cold.

According to his research, there shouldn't have been a single ice-attribute monster in this entire dungeon. This environmental shift was impossible.

"...An Irregular?"

It was the only logical conclusion. Either the dungeon itself had transformed, or a monster had undergone a sudden, massive mutation.

But there was something even stranger. Despite the blizzard, despite the fact that he should have been shivering, he was sweating profusely. A bizarre, intense heat was bleeding into the sub-zero air, as if midsummer had been forcibly shoved into the middle of the arctic.

[Is this dungeon supposed to have blizzards?] [An Irregular?] [Someone needs to report this to the government, fast.] [An Irregular in a forbidden dungeon? That’s bad news.] [Isn't this S-Rank territory now?]

The sheer wrongness of the situation shifted the chat's focus from the man’s stupidity to the phenomenon on screen.

"Wait, if I resolve an Irregular, doesn't that make me a hero? Hey, check it out—I’m going in. If I clear this, I’m basically guaranteed a spot in the S-Ranks!"

Whether he was truly that much of an idiot or just blinded by greed, the man leaped down from a crumbling ledge. The comments screamed for him to stop, but an Adventurer blinded by the prospect of the unknown rarely listens. He marched forward, his head in the clouds as he fantasized about his future fame.

The further he went, the more the scenery changed.

He began to see them: a staggering number of corpses. Some were frozen solid; others were charred to a cinder. The bodies of Wyverns and dragons lay scattered like refuse, their life signs completely extinguished.

In this environment, no other monsters appeared. Normally, this dungeon was home to a near-infinite population of B-rank Wyverns that hunted in swarms, yet there was nothing here but silence and death. He reached the deeper layers without facing a single attack.

"What the...? An [Emerald Dragon]—and it’s stone dead."

[An A-rank monster?!] [That’s an [Ore Dragon]! They’re incredibly rare!] [Who leaves a corpse like that behind? It has to be an Irregular...]

The [Emerald Dragon] was a rarity even among the [Jewel Dragon] species. For any Adventurer, it was a jackpot—a monster you’d kill for just to harvest its materials.

The green-scaled beast lay before him, its head completely missing. Its body was a mess of frozen flesh and deep, gouged-out craters. The man couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of attack could kill an A-rank dragon so brutally, but he did understand one thing: a fortune in high-grade materials was sitting there for the taking.

"God bless the Irregular! My era has finally arrived!"

[Are you serious right now?!] [Something killed an Emerald Dragon! You need to run!] [He’s actually going to die. He’s too stupid to live.]

In inverse proportion to the chat's concern, his viewership numbers skyrocketed. People were drawn to the rare sight of the unknown.

"Oh, I see you guys are as hardcore as I am! Fine, I’ll give the people what they want. Let’s go deeper!"

Using his enhanced physical abilities, the man pushed into the heart of the dungeon, snatching up rare drops and treasures along the way without meeting any resistance. He offered a silent prayer of thanks to the "Irregular" as he finally reached the innermost sanctum.

"This dragon is unexpectedly tough... Luna, do you guys need reinforcement?"

There, in the one place where no one else should have been, he heard a voice.