by Fujino Omori
It split clean in half in an explosion of blood. Chigusa’s body froze as the pieces of the worm flew past her left and right shoulders.
“Let me handle this.”
Asfi turned back toward the hellhounds, both hands now beneath her white cloak.
She had a leather belt wrapped around her thin waist. In addition to her dagger’s sheath, several more holsters dangled from the belt. She pulled something from one of them.
It was two small vials filled with a moss-green liquid. Asfi threw them toward the hellhounds.
“Gu?!”
“…gh…?!”
Both vials hit their marks and exploded on contact, covering the monsters’ faces with the green slime. It was sticky and strong, binding the hellhounds’ mouths closed before they could unleash their fiery attack.
The monsters immediately started clawing at their mouths, trying to get the green liquid off their faces. Asfi used the opening to withdraw two spiral-shaped darts from a different holster and let them fly.
Both darts pierced the heads of their intended targets. The monsters died instantly.
“I should be more than enough to cover our back.”
Mikoto and the others once again stood in disbelief as the items’ wielder easily dispatched the monsters around her.
Asfi Al Andromeda.
She was a top-class adventurer belonging to Hermes Familia. The title she had received from the gods was “Jack-of-All-Trades, Perseus.”
Known as one of the best item makers of this generation, she was one of only five people in Orario who possessed the Advanced Ability “Enigma.”
“…Hermes, aren’t your children an average of Level Two?”
“Ha-ha-ha, now that you mention it, I forgot to report her leveling up to the Guild!”
Hermes brushed off Hestia’s questioning eyes, smiling and answering like it was no big deal. It was obvious to everyone that the girl who just took down three middle-level monsters that easily was much stronger than Level 2. Hermes knew there was no point in denying it.
While they didn’t dislike the spotlight, members of Hermes Familia preferred to work behind the scenes, unnoticed.
It was very similar to how Hermes himself conducted business.
Hestia knew this from their days living in Tenkai, but she kept it to herself.
“…It’s really dark down here.”
All monsters taken care of, Hestia’s words bounced off the dank walls of the thirteenth floor.
The upper levels hadn’t been much of a problem for her, but the distant lights well overhead didn’t provide anywhere near enough light for her to see clearly. Do the children really come down here all the time? she thought.
Since their basic five senses also became stronger with their Status, this small amount of light was all the adventurers needed. But to Hestia, stripped of her divine power, these Dungeon tunnels were pitch black because her eyes were less sensitive than even the weakest adventurer’s. It kept her on edge. It took all the courage she had to put one foot in front of the other.
The darkness was beginning to overwhelm her. Deities were not immune from its effects. Her shallow breaths were getting more and more staggered as she moved the lamp in her right hand left and right as if frantically searching for a way out.
First the light hit the ash-colored stone walls. Then it illuminated landforms—decent-size rocks that could be broken to make tomahawks—before it flashed on a piece of broken sword. Hm? She focused the light in that direction only to find the bloody carcass of a hellhound staring back at her. “Eeeek!” she screamed as she jumped back in fright.
“Easy, easy,” said Hermes as he caught her shoulders in his hands.
The body sprawled out on the ground was most definitely dead. However, with its magic stone still intact, the beast’s body had been left to rot on the ground. The smell indicated it had been dead for nearly a day. Hestia took a deep breath and tried her best to get her racing heart under control. She looked back over her shoulder and could see Hermes forcing a grin in the dim light.
She was slightly jealous of him; he was used to these long journeys and could probably see what was going on. She puckered her cheeks in frustration before looking down at her feet and regaining her balance.
A broken sword and the bloody corpse of the monster. That meant that a clash between at least one adventurer and the monster had happened on this spot not too long ago. At the very least, they knew that the adventurer hadn’t had time to remove the magic stone after the battle.
The more Hestia looked at the scene, the easier it was to picture Bell right in the thick of it. A fresh wave of anxiety overtook her.
“…Andromeda, where should we search? We could spend days going in circles down here and never find Bell’s battle party,” Ouka asked in a low voice as Hestia tried to clear her throat.
He was quite an intimidating man, standing more than 190 celch tall, with wide, muscular shoulders. He looked at Asfi for a moment before returning his gaze to the end of the tunnel.
“Their party was only equipped to spend one day in the Dungeon. Finding a relatively safe spot and staying there indefinitely is not an option for them…I believe something else happened to them—something that made it impossible to retreat.”
“‘Something else’?”
“Yes. Otherwise their actions wouldn’t make sense. With only enough supplies to last a day, they would be overwhelmed in no time down here. Perhaps they fell into one of the holes?”
Mikoto’s and Chigusa’s eyes went wide as Asfi adjusted her glasses.
“If they did fall too far for them to come back on their own strength, what choices do they have? I highly doubt they’re still wandering around in the darkness, at the mercy of any monster that happens to find them. Considering their condition as a party with limited supplies…I’d say they’ve already been wiped out.”
She fell silent after drawing her conclusion.
“Perhaps they abandoned hope of returning to the surface and instead pressed onward to the safe point on the eighteenth floor…I believe that choice has some merit.”
“…Would they even try that? That would take some serious guts.”
Those who’d experienced the terrors of the Dungeon firsthand knew how dangerous it was to set foot into a lower level with no idea what to expect. If Bell’s party fell into one of the holes, they would have been forced into that situation.
Ouka couldn’t believe his ears as Asfi offered another possibility.
“In their position, I would go.”
A voice as delicate as the tinkling of a bell rang out.
The hooded adventurer had been silent up until now.
Ouka and the other adventurers turned to face her in surprise. She was a good deal ahead of them but somehow within earshot.
“And knowing them—knowing him, someone who’s already overcome one adventure, I think he would go forward without looking back.”
Her soft, refined voice once again filled the tunnel. However, the hooded adventurer didn’t say another word.
Asfi looked at the mysterious adventurer’s half-hidden face for a moment before turning to her god. “Lord Hermes, what is your opinion?” she asked.
“I agree with your reasoning, Asfi.”
“Um, me too…I have a feeling that…Bell is below us…”
Standing next to Hermes, Hestia brought her hands together and thought as she spoke.
Even though she had a direct connection with Bell through her Blessing, that didn’t mean that she could tell exactly where he was at any time. However, the bond they shared was stronger than any human relationship, and she could feel the source of their bond coming from beneath her feet.
She nodded to herself slowly as her twin ponytails reached out in different directions, as if searching for him. It didn’t take long for both of them to point straight down.
“That’s four in favor…That settles it. We’ll set a course for the eighteenth floor.”
> Asfi made the decision for the whole group. Mikoto, Ouka, and Chigusa weren’t given the opportunity to speak. Forming a line, they set off to find the path to the lower levels.
The order of their formation didn’t change. The hooded adventurer stayed in front with Asfi in the back protecting Hestia and Hermes. Their front line was strong enough to once again blaze a path littered with slain monsters and lead everyone else forward without much need for the other adventurers to draw their weapons.
Armed with spears and shields provided by their supporter, Chigusa, Ouka, and Mikoto were able to protect one another from the occasional sneak attack. With the addition of Asfi’s range, their formation had no holes.
“To think a party new to the middle levels would choose to go to the eighteenth floor…”
“Yes, it appears that they’re able to make rational decisions under pressure.”
Mikoto and Asfi’s conversation echoed through the last bit of tunnel before the party emerged into a much wider room.
They had seen many like it before: a large, dome-shaped room with rocky walls. However, this one had a bizarrely shaped hole in the floor with stairs leading down inside of it.
It connected with the level below.
“The usual way is all well and good, but wouldn’t it be faster if we went through the holes as well?”
“No, Lady Hestia. The holes in these tunnels open and close on their own, each time making a new path. There’s no way to predict where we’d end up if we went in. We would be unable to determine our location…then the searchers would need a search party.”
“And we can’t ignore the possibility that Bell and his party might still be trying to come up. We might accidentally pass them by. The normal path is our best option.”
If they were trying to return to the surface…they would have to use the stairwells that led up as guidance. If they stayed on this path and Bell’s battle party were coming up, they could meet halfway. Hermes Familia’s reasoning to stay on the main path was flawless.
Hestia nodded in agreement, seeing their point. The hooded adventurer walked over to the hole.
Hestia and the others made their way to the next level, following her fluttering cape as she descended first.
Like a bowstring pulled too far back, they were close to their breaking point.
The tension mounted.
“The stink pouch has run out…” said Lilly with a nervous tremor in her voice.
For Welf, those words didn’t just snap the bowstring in his mind. They shattered it.
They were at the end of the tunnel on the sixteenth floor. Welf and the others had been advancing in hopes of finding another hole leading to a lower floor. They came to a stop in the middle of the path. They didn’t have much choice.
The air was heavy, their breathing hot. The pressure was immeasurable.
The smell that was keeping them safe from monster attacks had faded away. A bloodthirsty aura had taken its place.
The three of them were no more than sitting ducks. Welf had never experienced this kind of intensity. His ears were so focused on every little sound that something as simple as a step forward blurred his vision. He was far beyond his limit. He had to clench his teeth to keep from passing out under the strain.
Bell’s body, the only thing keeping him upright, was also extremely hot. Snap! His heart jumped again as Lilly pulled the pouch off her neck and dropped it to the ground.
All of their eyes were focused farther down the tunnel.
They knew that something lurked in the darkness. Every heartbeat sent a shiver down their spines, palms clammy with sweat. Whatever was shrouded in the darkness had an aura so strong that its very presence was torture.
This ain’t happening! Seriously, what the hell! Cut me some slack
Welf’s mind had reached its breaking point.
Don’t know, I don’t fucking know! Who the hell survives long enough to be this unlucky?! His thoughts were stuck in a loop. He wanted to ask someone, anyone, if it was really possible for monsters to kill someone without touching them.
Finally—Thud! Thud!
The ground shook as new sounds emerged from the black void.
The guillotine was walking toward them. They were the prisoners sentenced to death in this nightmare.
This. This. This is…
Alarm bells were erupting in Welf’s head. He grabbed the hilt of his broadsword as if it were his last line of defense. His grip was so fierce that his knuckles turned instantly white.
He squinted his eyes, forcing the muscles in his face to tense up as he tried to see into the darkness. At last, the bright spots in the ceiling burning like torches finally revealed a rusty red body, clear as day.
Its short, violent breaths were accented by each step of its powerful hooves. The lights above accented its burgeoning muscles in stark shadows.
The monster that appeared before Welf had magnificent horns on its head, sticking out like beacons of death.
“—”
The head of a bull on the body of a man.
Standing two meders tall and built like a stone wall.
It held a stone battle-ax, yet another natural weapon, with both hands in front of its face. Its eyes were looking down either side of the blade at its prey.
Welf was so overwhelmed by his first encounter with a Minotaur that he forgot to breathe.
“UWWOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
There was no way to defend.
His will was breaking. First to go was his will to fight, then his ability to face the enemy, then his instincts.
A devastating howl.
It was intimidating enough to bind any living thing’s mind and body with fear. Taking the full brunt of the category Level 2 Minotaur’s howl, Level 1 Welf was completely defenseless against his own paralyzing fear. He froze in place, his hand still collapsed to the hilt of his sword.
Seeing its opportunity, the Minotaur struck the ground with a mighty hoof and jumped toward him, its massive battle-ax raised high above its head.
Welf could see his own terror reflected in the beast’s eyes.
—Death.
Welf accepted his fate; this monster would be his executioner.
A second later—Slip!
“?!”
Everything Welf could see was suddenly sideways.
The shoulder that had kept him standing was gone.
Lilly quickly ran up to catch him as he lost his balance. Planting his good knee firmly on the ground, Welf raised his head.
There was a pair of shoulders running toward the beast.
“OOWWWWOOOOOOOOO!!”
The white-haired boy powered through the Minotaur’s howl head-on.
Charging forward like a thunderbolt. Swiftly like a rabbit.
Welf’s eyes opened as wide as they would go, but before his shaking throat could make a sound—
There was a great flash before him.
“WOOH?!”
The attack hit its mark. The monster’s ax fell to the ground with a dull thud.
The boy standing in front of the staggering, bleeding Minotaur with a black knife in his right hand and a crimson dagger in his left—wasn’t finished.
He shot forward, blades glinting in the light.
“—AAaaaaa?!”
A countless number of lines crisscrossed the Minotaur’s entire body.
Violet, then crimson, and then violet again. Each color flashed as the white-haired boy unleashed his fury. He was holding both of his blades backhand as he tore into the creature. It couldn’t even cry out in pain under the onslaught.
Lilly and Welf knew one thing as they watched the carnage unfold in front of their eyes:
Bell had snapped.
He charged a powerful enemy without any hesitation. Faster than anything they had ever seen him do—too fast. Welf and Lilly couldn’t follow the storm of blades he was unleashing. Not giving the Minotaur a chance to counterattack, Bell kept piling on the damage with direct hit
s to its body.
A continuous barrage that not even eyes could capture.
Extreme speed coupled with swift movements: “Rabbit Rush.”
One final flash as Bell cut through the gut of the Minotaur for the last time. Its body falling apart as it took one step back, the beast let out a soft “Ooooooo” as it expired and hit the ground.
It was silent and still.
“…!”
Welf and Lilly looked on with awestruck eyes as Bell picked up the battle-ax that the Minotaur dropped and took a defensive stance. They followed his gaze back into the dark void of the tunnel only to see three more Minotaurs emerge.
Their howls combined in a chorus of terror that left everyone speechless. Even Bell had no hope of taking on three of them at once.
But he didn’t run away. Suddenly—ping, ping.
The tunnel filled with a soft ringing sound like a chime, as little white sparkles surrounded Bell’s hands.
—That’s…
Welf had seen those sparkles before. Those memories suddenly came flooding back to him at the same time that the Minotaurs all charged forward at once.
The attack required ten seconds to build up enough power. Bell braced himself to swing the ax as soon as the attack was ready.
The countdown hit zero. The Minotaurs that had been bearing down on him with horns at the ready took a direct hit.
“—!!”
The tunnel was inundated with a bright light.
It was absolutely blinding. Light seemed to explode from the ax as it stopped the beasts in their tracks, before vaporizing them with a thunderous boom. The explosion took pieces of the tunnel with it.
The aftermath was very similar to the time when Bell had used the same technique to defeat an infant dragon not too long ago. Cracks covered the burned walls like a spiderweb of electricity had torn through the tunnel, floor burned and singed. The path in front of them was littered with smoldering pieces of rock.
At about the time that the last of the smoke and haze cleared…