Chapter 20: Riven and the Dungeon’s Malice

"Charlotte-chan, Charlotte-chan!?"

"Damn it."

Trishel was panicking, pounding on the wall, but the fleshy barrier showed no sign of moving. It was as if—yes, only when she touched it, the wall opened its maw to swallow her whole. Like a predator waiting for prey to walk into its mouth.

This had turned into a hassle.

"First, let’s calm down. There weren’t many monsters on this floor, so the chances of her being attacked immediately are low. Which means we should still have enough time to circle around and reach her."

Reynard was calmly analyzing the situation. Guess that’s the weight of experience speaking.

"We could try breaking through the wall."

"If it were a hard surface, maybe. But with this squishy wall, I doubt a sword would pierce it. Besides, look closely."

Prompted, I glanced back at the wall. Knobs were beginning to bulge all over its surface.

I see. So it’s saying: ‘If you attack, I’ll spray fluids everywhere.’ What a sick joke.

This thing was clearly moving with intent now. Was there some sort of administrator in this dungeon?

"So we’ve no choice but to go around. But how? If the walls shift, the map’s useless, isn’t it?"

"…Even so, the general layout matched up with before. It should serve as a rough guide."

"Better than nothing. Let’s move already!"

That one—Charlotte—she’d been acting scared of something ever since we entered this floor.

I don’t know if she was drawing closer to that something, but it was clear she was getting more unsettled along the way. Could that be related to this?

Judging from Trishel’s frantic reaction, she didn’t set this up herself. If she did, she’s one hell of an actress.

No, it’s pointless. I don’t know. If I start doubting, there’s no end to it.

"Anyway, let’s move. If she dies, it’ll be trouble for us later."

"You’re right. Standing around won’t help. Let’s go."

Quick decisions are best. We immediately turned back to head out—only to freeze at the sudden appearance of a horde of monsters.

"What the hell, this many?"

At a glance, there were too many to count. The poor visibility didn’t help, but their presence stretched on down the corridor.

And this was a dead end. We couldn’t make any wide evasive maneuvers. If they overwhelmed us, dodging their paralysis poison would be near impossible.

"How about I blow a big hole through them, and we charge straight through?"

"You think there are only enough to break through? I’m guessing every monster on this floor has gathered here."

"Yeah… I kind of feel the same. Sheesh, maybe the rumor about the dungeon having a will of its own isn’t so far-fetched."

Quietly, we readied our weapons.

After muttering something, Trishel conjured a bow of light in her hand.

So this was her true magic. Meaning she’d been holding back until now. Unbelievable.

"Then, we’ll just wipe them out."

"Agreed."

"Such a violent bunch. But yeah, that’s our only option."

Leading the charge was my role. I could sense their presence and react fastest at the front.

So I dashed toward the enemy ahead of the others. Reynard would cover the flanks and rear. And then—

"Here we go~! Pierce!"

A blazing arrow shot past my cheek. Just a bit closer and I’d have been roasted too.

Was she doing this on purpose?

The fiery arrow pierced through the monsters, engulfing several of them at once in hellfire. Not just one—many simultaneously.

A spell that sacrificed area of effect for penetration and power. The range seemed decent too. A real pain if you were on the receiving end.

"Next one’s coming~!"

"Don’t hit me."

"Of course not!"

I dodged the oncoming tentacles with minimal movement.

If I cut them, even a little fluid would splatter. In this cramped area, that would be a bad move.

My role was to clear a path with efficient, minimal strikes.

Enemies that interfered were blasted away by Trishel’s magic. Any stragglers she left were neatly finished off by Reynard.

Even without a dedicated support role, this level of threat wasn’t unmanageable.

"Let’s finish this quickly and chase down that idiot."

I’ll make that fool apologize properly.

We pressed forward, cutting down wave after wave.

But no matter how many we slew, there was no end in sight. I wanted to complain—where the hell were all these coming from?

Up until just now, there’d been no sign of anything. Surely they didn’t literally spawn from the walls and floors?

"Whoa! Enemies behind! Reynard, cover me!"

"Got it, I’ll take care of it!"

If I say we don’t know where they’re coming from, that includes the path we’d already taken.

Most likely, they’d been camouflaged and waited for an opening. Annoying.

I was too busy holding the front line, so Reynard had to handle it. That left us without backup for a while, meaning we had to slow down.

"Reynard! Which way next!?"

"Take the next left! Then keep straight ahead—we should reach the opposite side!"

Dodging tentacles was starting to wear me out. There was a limit to how many I could smack aside with the flat of my blade.

If only the end was in sight…

"Guess not. Fine then—you’ll regret crossing me."

My temper was boiling over at the endless monsters. Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll cut down every last one.

I’ll slaughter them so thoroughly they’ll never dare show themselves to me again.

I swung my sword, aiming for what seemed like their main bodies.

Grotesque as ever, but I was starting to grasp their traits.

Broadly, they fell into two types: the wall-forming ones, and the tentacle attackers.

Both had a main body that served as a weak point. Destroy that, and they died.

The monsters looked slightly different from one another, but the location of their main body didn’t vary much. Which meant the way to deal with them also didn’t change.

Once you noticed that, it became little more than assembly work.

I swung my sword. Sharpening my movements to kill more efficiently, letting as little of their fluids spray as possible.

I swung my sword. Cutting down two, three, four at a time with a single strike.

I swung my sword. Ignoring the splatter, hacking through recklessly.

"Riven!"

"No problem!"

I had no choice but to slice down a tentacle coming from behind. Fluids splashed across my body, but that didn’t matter.

—A faint numbness ran through me.

Doesn’t matter. That’s what I spent all of yesterday toughening my body against.

"Just a bit further, and the monsters thin out! Hold on until then!"

So the end was finally in sight.

I was just starting to enjoy myself, but fine.

"Reynard!"

"Got it! Trishel, maximum firepower forward!"

"Gotcha!"

Another blazing arrow shot past me, and at the same time I pushed ahead.

I twisted into the hole blown open by the explosion and widened it with a slash of my sword. Tentacles immediately lashed toward me, but Reynard swept them aside.

—I saw it. The monsters were gone.

They abruptly stopped at that spot, as if there were an invisible boundary line.

"Time for a grand finale! Burn!"

"Run!"

Trishel roasted the remaining monsters ahead, and while they writhed in flames, we rushed past.

I didn’t know if this was a safe zone, but being able to focus on one direction at least was a relief.

Once we broke through the horde, we glanced back.

Whether because we’d slaughtered most of them or because we’d reached this point, the monsters scattered, as if giving up.

Looked like the fight was over for now.

"…Hah. At least we can take a breather."

"Riven, you were covered in a lot of that fluid. Are you all right?"

"I’d like to say I’m fine, but yeah, there’s some numbness."

"And you, Reynard?"

"I’m fine."

We confirmed each other’s condition.

I drank an antidote potion to purge the paralysis. Then followed it up with an anti-poison potion. What a pain.

But not drinking them wasn’t an option. Getting immobilized and injured because of paralysis would be idiotic.

"So, up ahead?"

"Yeah. If I remember right, this should’ve brought us to the other side."

"Then let’s hurry and find that fool."

Hopefully she hadn’t wandered off. If she had, this would get troublesome.

Hard to tell with her—was she timid or just careless? No way to predict her behavior.

The formation stayed the same, with me in the lead.

I advanced while checking the path with Reynard. To think he could keep track of the route even in that battle. Guess that’s a skill adventurers needed.

Plenty I could still learn, clearly.

"Hmm… I think she’s there. Probably…"

Trishel seemed to have picked up on her.

But her tone was uncertain. What was that about?

"There’s a weird presence with her? Doesn’t feel like they’re fighting though…"

"What do you mean?"

"I don’t know. I’ve never sensed anything like it before, so…"

A weird presence? That answer was hardly reassuring.

Could there really be something other than monsters in this dungeon?

"Either way, let’s go. If she’s safe, that’s best. But I want to know about this strange presence too."

We glanced at each other and nodded at Reynard’s decision.

Before long, I sensed it too. She was definitely there—and something else as well. What was it?

"Charlotte-chan!?"

"Wait, Trishel!"

Trishel suddenly broke into a run.

What the hell? Was it really that dangerous?

To me, there was no sense of crisis. The presence actually felt calm.

I understood why as soon as we caught up.

"What the hell is this…"

"Charlotte-chan, are you okay!?"

"Is that… a monster?"

Charlotte was pinned down beneath a half-melted mass of flesh.