Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Whoosh

As the incantation ended, a thick purple smoke spread across the area. Moments later, an imp emerged from the smoke, puffing its cheeks as it looked at Justin.

"What is it this time, Master? I hope it's not to get eaten again, right?" the imp grumbled.

"Master?" Justin replied, narrowing his eyes.

"Uh, what did I say? I definitely called you Master, didn't I?" the imp stammered, subtly trying to cover up its previous insult. It was clear he had slipped in a rude term.

Justin smirked, crossing his arms at the imp's feeble attempt at defiance.

"As long as you follow orders, it doesn't matter if you call me Master or something else."

"Misunderstanding, again and again, Master. You have such a narrow mind."

"Enough chatter. Walk forward to that spot. That's why I summoned you." Justin pointed ahead, effectively cutting off the imp's attempt at mockery.

The imp blinked, glancing over the floor. After a moment, it looked up at the ceiling and let out a sly grin.

"Hmm, Master, I see you're trying to verify a trap."

"No," Justin interrupted.

"Well, I figured you'd want to be sure, but this type of trap—wait, what?" The imp widened its eyes, clearly caught off guard. Its confidence had evaporated in an instant.

"Not to verify a trap?" it asked, its confusion apparent. "Then why else would you ask me to go forward?"

"To trigger it, of course. The verification is already complete. Now you just need to disarm it with your body."

"..."

A bead of cold sweat formed on the imp's forehead as its previously confident grin disappeared.

"M-Master, listen to me for a second."

"Unless you have another method to disable it? No need."

"I can only be summoned three times a day! You need to save me for important occasions!"

"That kind of miserly behavior is not my style. When it's time to use you, I use you."

Justin gave a sinister grin to the trembling imp. "Now, I, your summoner, command you: go forward and trigger the trap. No reversing this order."

"Master! At least listen to me! No, seriously!" The imp cursed, but it moved ahead slowly, obediently following the command.

Once it reached the middle of the area, a massive square ceiling block began descending. The imp looked up at the darkening sky and muttered hopelessly.

"My life..."

Boom

The falling ceiling neatly crushed the imp beneath it. Moments later, a rumbling noise echoed as the ceiling began to rise again.

"Now's our chance! Everyone, run!" Justin shouted.

"Yes!"

Watching the slowly rising ceiling, they sprinted forward. Fortunately, the time before the trap rearmed itself was quite generous. As Justin passed by the trap, he muttered, noticing how clean everything was.

"Must be because it's a summoned creature. No mess left behind. I'll have to use this method more often."

"..."

His companions gave him a look full of unspoken words. What was with that gaze?

After that, they encountered several more traps blocking their way. Most of them were easy to handle if they knew the trick. Some traps stopped working by pressing a part of the wall, while others were harmless as long as they avoided specific areas.

However, that was only if they knew how to deactivate the traps. Without knowledge of the correct method, they would have had to face them directly, which would have been dangerous.

"If it weren't for Nathan's [Trap Detection], we'd be in serious trouble."

Seeing the deactivated traps, Justin felt a chill run down his spine. Getting caught in one of these traps wouldn't just mean losing some health points like in a game—it could be deadly.

On the bright side, this confirmed that their advantage was even more significant.

"It's impossible to just brute force through these traps. Some could cause severe injuries or even death."

In other words, anyone wanting to make progress here would either need to bring sacrificial bodies to set off traps or train a ranger specifically for this purpose. Either option would be a significant burden. In this context, Justin and his group, progressing smoothly, were an extraordinary exception.

Rumble

"Alright! We're good now!" Nathan announced as he dusted off his hands after disarming the fifth trap. He was performing exceptionally, like a fish in water.

"Seriously, without you, we'd be in big trouble," Derek said.

"Absolutely. Thanks to you, it's been an easy journey," Rachel added.

Nathan's lips twitched at their praise. He had been conscious of his weak attack power until now, so finally being able to contribute significantly made him happy.

They had just disarmed the fifth trap and descended a flight of stairs when they found themselves in front of something unexpected.

"A metal door?" Justin muttered.

Another metal door had appeared before them. Nathan stepped forward to inspect it, but there were no signs of additional traps.

"It looks safe. Should we just open it?" he asked.

"Prepare for battle first," Justin said.

"Battle?" Nathan asked, surprised.

"At the end of most dungeons, you usually find one of two things: a boss room or a treasure room."

Or sometimes, it could be both. There were often gimmicks where treasures would only appear after defeating a boss.

Upon hearing Justin's words, everyone took a combat stance, their expressions tense. Their experience with the orc had clearly made them more cautious this time.

"Ugh, we're not going to face another orc, are we?" Derek groaned.

"Who knows? It could be something even worse," Justin replied.

"Don't scare us like that! I'm already nervous enough!" Nathan protested.

"I'm just telling you to be prepared. If something tough comes out this time, we'll focus on taking it down first, so don't worry."

There would be no keeping an enemy alive for combat experience like with the orc. The first dungeon exploration had left them all exhausted.

After everyone was ready, Justin gave the signal, and Derek used his strength to open the metal door.

Rumble

"...!"

"Oh my god."

As the metal door opened, the sight before them left everyone speechless, their mouths agape.