The top-class adventurers moved to protect Lefiya as she gasped in surprise, and they were forced into combat once again.
Monsters were born from the Dungeon walls.
They came forth like baby birds emerging from eggs, breaking the walls like a shell.
Every monster was born fully grown and able to fight the instant they burst from the Dungeon wall. The lower the floor, the stronger the monster was at birth. The beasts born in the Deep Levels of the Dungeon were the stuff of nightmares.
The Dungeon was the mother of all monsters.
That was all that humans and demi-humans knew for sure about this underground labyrinth. It was also generally considered fact that the Dungeon itself was just as alive as a person or monster. For example, the walls within the Dungeon would heal from any amount of damage if given enough time. An entire hallway could be scorched by flames and yet look completely normal a few days later.
Why was there light underground?
Why were the monsters born?
How did the labyrinth recover?
Humanity had tried to unravel the mysteries of the Dungeon since the Ancient Times, but every attempt had led to only more questions.
Even the all-knowing gods who descended from on high hadn’t told a soul what was really going on. Whether they were hiding something or they really didn’t know, there was no chance of gaining any useful information from them.
They would always dodge the question. “The Dungeon is the Dungeon. What else do you need to know?”
Therefore, it would have to be mankind that would find the answers.
This “unknown” might very well be what adventurers were trying to find.
“You know, there doesn’t seem to be as many monsters around today.”
“Much better than having to run away. Not having to fight is just what we wanted.”
“That’s not quite what I meant but…eh.”
Aiz’s battle party continued progressing through the fifty-first floor, encountering only a few monsters along the way. Thanks to that, they were making great time.
Tiona was at the front of the formation, Aiz right behind her, followed closely by Lefiya and the ever-vigilant Tione in the back. The women stayed in a single-file line as they fought back an anxiety that only the Dungeon could produce.
The monster-less Dungeon was filled with a powerful silence, like an old dam that was just barely holding back the water. There was something unnatural about it. Anything could happen at any time within these walls, making the quiet all the more disturbing.
The carefully laid-out patterns of the early stages of the floor were gone, replaced by massive stairwells that connected to higher points on the same level, countless four-way intersections, and hallways that split off into three or four paths at once. The square beehive had become a knot.
All four of the adventurers stayed on high alert, eyes and ears wide open so as to not miss any sign of danger. They did, however, have a map to show them the way through the maze. They broke away from the main path—it would lead them to floor fifty-two—and instead went toward a back corner of the floor.
“Almost there…Let’s go over a few things before we get to the spring.”
The wide hallway began to narrow in front of them, signaling to Tione that their destination was just up ahead.
The others kept walking as the Amazon reviewed the finer points of their quest.
“The only thing we have to do is get the water…but a battle with Cadmus, the Great Dragon, is probably unavoidable.”
“Cadmus, um, isn’t it…?”
“Yep, really, really strong…”
“In terms of Strength alone, stronger than the floor boss Udaeus, I think.”
There were special floors throughout the Dungeon in which one extremely strong monster appeared. These monsters, known as floor bosses, struck fear into the hearts of adventurers. The Guild had a classification for them: Monster Rex.
Typically, floor bosses were a full level above all of the monsters located on their floor. They presented the largest challenge for adventurers in the Dungeon and required a great deal of teamwork to take down.
Lefiya gulped down the air in her throat as she realized that the dragon they were about to face had more physical power than a Level 6 floor boss.
“C-can we distract it long enough to finish the quest?”
“Impossible. Not while that dragon is on guard. If you think you can gather spring water during the fight, you’ll die.”
“Last time, it hit me hard enough to turn my guts to soup.” Tiona giggled as she remembered being swatted like a fly. Lefiya stared at her, turning pale as all of the blood left her face.
“We finish off Cadmus before getting the water.”
“I-I understand…”
“Tione…what’s the plan?”
“Our usual. Aiz, Tiona, and I will engage head-on. Lefiya, hit it with your best magic. Then we go in for the kill.”
“Lefiya, show us what you can do this time, okay?”
“A-all right.”
The party came to a halt. The end of the narrow hallway was in sight. Light filtered in from the wide-open chamber, often called a “room” by adventurers.
The Cadmus Springs were in that room.
“…”
Tione made eye contact with Aiz, and both silently nodded. The Amazon took point from her younger sister, with the others adjusting formation behind her.
The four of them advanced as quietly as they could, walking in step to mask one another’s footfalls. Tione stuck out her arm, mouthing the word wait to her allies, and slowly crept forward by herself.
The other three would rush forward on her signal. All eyes were locked on the Amazon, their muscles tense and hair standing on end. Lefiya’s lips trembled as she tightened her grip on her staff. Even Tiona’s carefree air was gone. Aiz was completely focused on her ally’s arm, unblinking.
Crouching on the ground, the three girls waited for Tione’s call.
“…?”
The first one to notice something wasn’t right—no, something was completely off—was Aiz.
Her eyebrows curled down with a frown as she suddenly stood up.
“Wha—wait, Aiz.”
“…Strange.”
“Huh?”
“It’s too quiet.”
Curtly responding to Lefiya’s whispered objections, Aiz moved forward.
Tione hid her body against the wall as she stuck her head into the room, looking for monsters. The blond girl walked right past her.
What greeted her eyes was overwhelming.
“What happened…?”
“Everything’s messed up…?”
Tiona had followed Aiz into the room and was just as shocked.
The room was filled with lush trees, enough to be considered a small forest. However, every single one of them was broken, lying in pieces, or completely uprooted. The floor and walls of the room showed signs of a struggle; fresh cracks and debris littered the area.
But the most disturbing sight in the chamber were the strange marks on the walls and trees that looked melted.
Even now, putrid black smoke was emerging from the purplish spots all over the room.
“Grooossss…”
Tiona covered her nose and mouth with her arm.
The girls entered the room with confusion all over their faces. Even more attentive to sound and movement than they had been in the hallway, the four of them stuck together as they made their way through the tree stumps.
Despite the carnage surrounding them, there was one spot that remained intact.
Ripples traveled across the surface of pristine, crystal clear water in the corner of the room. The spring had been protected.
The water was flowing out of a natural crack in the wall—a small stream that originated from the cavern beyond the Dungeon wall. The light blue liquid twinkled as it collected in a basin surrounded by wildflowers.
And just in front of
this marvel of Dungeon nature was a large pile of ash.
“Isn’t this…”
“…What’s left of Cadmus?”
Their whispers filled the air, sounding much louder to the anxious girls than they should have.
The shape of the large pile of ash in the grass matched the dragon in her memory. The master-less chamber was still; there was nothing else alive in there. Even if there were other monsters, there was no doubt in her mind. This pile of ash used to be the Cadmus dragon.
The monster had lost its magic stone. Aiz and the others soon joined Tione, the ash at their feet.
“…Did a different familia slay it…?”
The silence getting to her, Lefiya said the first thing that came to her mind.
Tione slowly shook her head.
“Very few parties of adventurers can make it this deep. We would have known if any of their familias launched an expedition at the same time as ours.”
“…Take a look.”
Aiz’s whisper got their attention. The blond girl kneeled beside a particularly large lump in the ash.
She carefully wiped it away to reveal what was buried underneath.
“The drop items are still here…”
A golden piece of the dragon’s wing emerged from the ash.
“Cadmus Hide.”
An extremely rare drop item, there was no guarantee it could be collected even after defeating Cadmus. It was so valuable that this piece alone would have paid for the armor and weapons for every member of their expedition combined.
Considering all the money that adventurers spent every time they set foot in the Dungeon, it was difficult to believe that anyone would leave that behind.
“Well, then, what happened?”
“Something was here. Something strong enough to kill Cadmus. Not adventurers.”
Silence fell.
The Amazonian twins closed their mouths. Aiz stared at her reflection in the shiny gold hide on the ground next to her knee.
Lefiya gritted her teeth and rubbed her arms. She was the only one to physically express what everyone was feeling.
“…I’ve got a bad feeling. Let’s move it.”
No one was about to object to Tione’s order.
They collected the Cadmus Hide, as well as a piece of a melting tree to help explain to Finn what they had seen. Lefiya took a few containers out of her backpack, dipped one into the spring, and procured the water.
Normally, the dragon would have fought tooth and nail to protect its precious spring water. Trying to take that water away from it should have been extremely hazardous work. Except this time, the dragon wasn’t here.
The quest was over in a flash. Lefiya had collected more than enough of the liquid to satisfy their client. She didn’t know what to think as she closed the last of the containers and returned them to her backpack.
“Looks like we didn’t have to split the party after all.”
“True…”
The adventurers left the room. Going back the way they’d come, Lefiya forced a smile as she tried to lighten the mood. Aiz seemed to be deep in thought; her gaze was focused on the path ahead as she spoke.
The Amazonian twins were leading the way and trying their best to figure out what they had just seen.
“So…what’s your take?”
“The only thing that would make sense is another monster, but…”
Tione let her words hang.
Cadmus was an extremely rare monster that had been strong enough to contend with a floor boss, as well as act as the guardian of the springs.
Therefore, it was the strongest monster on the fifty-first floor. Actually, if all Monster Rexes were taken out of the equation, it was one of the strongest monsters known to man.
Even swarms of black rhinos and deformis spiders wouldn’t stand a chance.
…An Irregular.
Aiz listened to the two sisters’ conversation and suddenly remembered a word that she’d heard her god use.
They advanced a little bit farther until—
“—GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
It came out of nowhere.
A bloodcurdling scream that could’ve come out of the deepest pits of hell reached Aiz’s battle party.
It brought forth gruesome images of someone in immense pain. The echoes bounced off the walls in all directions, assaulting their eardrums from every possible angle. The four women instantly took off toward it because that scream sounded familiar.
“That voice!”
“Raul…!”
They followed the sound as best they could; everything else was luck.
Every monster that happened to be in their path was cut down in its tracks or thrown out of the way as the adventurers raced through the square intersections. That is, until something major appeared at the other side of a long hallway.
“What is that?!”
“A-a caterpillar…?!”
Aiz’s golden eyes narrowed as Tiona’s and Lefiya’s voices sounded behind her.
It was a massive beast of a monster.
Its long body was a faded yellowish green. However, there were several brilliantly colored spots and patterns that symbolized natural poison in animals. Lefiya’s guess was based on the countless “legs” jutting out of its snakelike lower body. It truly looked like an oversize caterpillar. Many thin flaps—arms, most likely—jutted out from each side of the mountainous lump of an upper body that seemed to be at the front of a fat snake. Each of the flaps had four slits at the end, resembling fingers.
Aiz and her companions had ventured deep into the Dungeon many times, and yet none of them had ever seen this monster before.
—A new species?
The monster undulated its body. At its crest, the waves reached four meders high—high enough to hit the ceiling and send chunks of it crashing to the floor. At the same time, it was wide enough to all but block off the narrow hallway. Aiz watched it move for a moment and couldn’t help but think it resembled an armored chariot.
“General?!”
Just in front of the charging beast, running for their lives, were Finn and the rest of team two.
Top-class adventurers even stronger than Aiz or the Amazons had turned their backs to an enemy and were fleeing at top speed.
Tione called out to them in fright. “!”
But the first to move was Tiona.
Her eyes flashed as she dashed toward the oncoming monster.
She ran right past team two, determined to stop its advance herself.
“Tiona, don’t!”
She didn’t listen to Finn and picked up speed.
The beast saw her coming and raised the part of its body that must have served as its head and opened its mouth with a disgusting, slushy sound. The muscles of its upper body clenched for a moment before a massive stream of liquid shot out of its open jaws.
The speckled black and purple liquid looked like liquid marble as it hurtled through the air. Tiona dodged it easily before spinning and plunging Urga directly into the beast’s “chest.”
“—!”
“?!”
The monster’s high-pitched shriek would have shattered glass. At the same time, Tiona’s eyes opened in surprise.
The same liquid that the monster spat up just a moment ago came gushing out of its open wound. The Amazon was able to whip her head out of the way in the nick of time.
Unfortunately, a strand of her hair wasn’t so lucky—and with a hiss, it started melting.
A feeling of dread shooting through her veins, Tiona landed on the ground and immediately took off in the other direction.
“Huh…?!”
Tiona looked down at her weapon as soon as she reached the two teams and couldn’t believe her eyes.
Half of Urga was missing.
No—half of Urga had melted away.
The liquid that filled the enemy monster’
s body was eating the metal as she ran.
What’s more, the strand of hair right next to her ear, along with her beloved sword, was smoking. Tiona was lost for words as she watched them drip away before her very eyes.
The unthinkable had happened: Her weapon had been destroyed.
“—aaaiii!!”
The monster let out another shriek and launched even more of the liquid toward the adventurers.
Tiona had to quickly juke to the side to avoid it. Aiz and the others sidestepped out of the way of the droplets that made it that far out.
Hisssss. The line where the liquid hit erupted into black smoke as the floor started dissolving and melting away.
“No one told me about this! Why didn’t someone let me know?!”
“Finn tried, you dimwit!”
Tiona yelled at the top of her lungs as she fell into team two’s formation. Running alongside Bete, he was quick to snap at her.
Adventurers and the monster. Aiz, Tione, and Lefiya exchanged glances in silence before turning around and taking off as fast as they could.
A group of top-class adventurers forced to make an early exit. It was unthinkable, and yet it had come to pass.
“Just what is that, Finn?! This isn’t funny! My beautiful Urga!”
“I don’t know. They just showed up on us.”
Urga’s bubbling blade had dissolved almost all the way to the hilt, and black smoke that smelled like rotten flesh was all that was left of the weapon. Tiona ripped out the strands of hair that had been hit by the vile liquid as she and Finn exchanged words while on the run.
Their team had arrived at a different location within Cadmus Springs, beat back the dragon, and were on their way out when they were ambushed by a group of these strange beasts. However, all of their weapons were lost in the first few moments of combat and they were forced to withdraw.
That was Finn’s summary.
“What do you mean ‘they’? There’s more than one of that thing?!”
“Open your eyes, dammit! There’s a ton of those things behind the big one!”
“Gahhh.”
“General, was anyone hurt?”
“The three of us are okay. However, Raul is in bad shape. Took a direct hit of that stuff.”
“He’s gonna shuffle off the mortal coil if we can’t get some potions on him!”
Finn and Gareth, the latter carrying Raul’s limp body over his shoulder, responded to Tione.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 1 Page 4