The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses - Chapter 312

Chapter 312: The Location of Dustbone Corridor

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Contrary to what its dusty, desert-themed name suggested, Dustbone Corridor was located in Portsinota, a coastal city facing the sea.

The city lay southeast of Novis Town, not too far—just two or three days’ travel by carriage.

Well, if it had been any farther from Galaxy Summit, the most important dungeon in the original story, the former captain of the Starting Star wouldn’t have died here either.

Portsinota wasn’t massive—just a classic “dungeon boomtown,” flourishing because of a decent underground labyrinth.

As for Will and Shuna?

They’d arrived half by carriage, half by hopping onto a freight train—after all, wasn’t borrowing Hysterm family resources just good business sense?

Though this time, unlike their usual safehouse stowaways, they’d run into an actual train guard in the hideout.

“Seriously, are Hysterm’s security protocols just for show?”

But more importantly—

Why had Hysterm’s freight rail network developed so quickly, while passenger trains were still a year away?

For a family obsessed with profit, shouldn’t they have prioritized dungeon-related transport sooner?

Now that he thought about it…

As a Hysterm himself, Will had always taken the family’s “business decisions” for granted.

Even when some choices seemed suspect in hindsight, he’d brushed them off.

“Hah… We’re here.”

Will adjusted the hooded cloak he’d swiped from Lucifa—honestly, Tenth Demon Castle’s fashion was weirdly modern.

“As planned, you handle everything—hotel, guild, intel. I’ll sneak in through walls or whatever.”

“Yeah. You’re worried your leaks trace back to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“The Guild’s everywhere in the empire. Any time I use their resources, I expose myself.”

So far, Will had a hunch about Dustbone Corridor and his death.

But he wanted to dig deeper.

“In some ways, the Guild tracks people better than the royal family.”

“Mm. But—wouldn’t I get flagged too?”

Shuna scanned the bustling streets—filled not with locals but adventurers in all kinds of gear.

“…Thought about that.”

Will turned his back to the Guild’s building as they walked.

“Can’t be helped. You’re an S-rank. Even hiding, you’ll stand out.”

The city was livelier than expected for a B-rank dungeon.

Stalls lined the streets, selling pottery and sand art—odd for a seaside town, but fitting for a desert-themed labyrinth.

Some vendors even peddled “dungeon souvenirs”—bottles of rainbow sand, likely scooped straight from the depths.

Too many people. Too transient.

Even with his demon eye marking hostile auras, he couldn’t track every suspicious face.

“And honestly…” Will hesitated. “If there’s a mastermind, they probably wouldn’t care about you.”

“Hah? Now I’m too strong to matter?”

“N-No! Not like that!”

“Relax. I get it. This ties into the original story, right?”

“…Yeah.”

What Will left unsaid—

He watched Shuna’s retreating figure, her black hair gleaming in the sun.

She was his creation, born from that doomed mobile game—rejected even by the original author.

That made her special.

A wild card against fate.

He didn’t just trust Shuna.

He trusted himself—his past self, who’d fought to bring her to life.

As her silhouette vanished into the crowd, Will tilted his face up to the sky.

The winter sun offered no warmth, just a biting sea breeze that made him shiver.

—

[Hotel Room – “Ocean View”]

Will sat by the window, watching waves crash and recede on the shore.

“So. When are you… descending into hell?”

Something cold pressed against his cheek—a chilled juice bottle.

In summer, refreshing. Now? Just painful.

“D-Descending into hell?! What kind of phrasing is that?!”

He took it anyway.

“Met a priest while shopping. Said everyone’s bound for hell unless they atone.”

“Ah. The classic scam.” (Will had seen his fair share of frauds in his past life.)

“He claimed hell’s a dungeon—like the Death Sanctum, the deepest one known.”

“Please don’t go touristing in lethal dungeons.”

“But you’re about to enter one and face death. Isn’t that hell?”

“You’re impossible…”

Will eyed the icy drink—guaranteed stomachache in two hours.

Shuna downed hers in one gulp.

“If I had to pick a time…”

Will paused.

“After I figure out what’s really on Dustbone Corridor’s first floor.”

Seeing the dungeon’s coastal setting had left him unsettled.

Why would a desert-themed dungeon, where water was scarce—

Have a water-attribute slime on Floor 1?

The one that killed him?

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