The Glutton's Dungeon (1)
My shout slammed into the massive, pulsating red intestinal walls and bounced back as a grotesque tearing echo. The three people frozen in panic flinched hard enough to make their shoulders jump.
I immediately reached behind me for Seirin. I wrapped an arm around her waist as she stood there awkwardly and hurled us both onto the bizarre rib-like bone structure rising from the ground. In the same instant, a wave of bright red gastric acid crashed down exactly where we had been standing.
Sssssss—!
The pile of stones on the floor began emitting acrid smoke the moment it touched the liquid. It melted away without leaving even a trace of its original shape.
“Insane…!”
Xenia spat out a horrified curse as she stared at the devastation beneath her feet. Her usual relaxed confidence had completely vanished.
“L-Leon… what the hell is this…?”
Seirin, still cradled in my arms and white as a sheet, asked in a trembling voice.
I set her down carefully on the bone ledge and swept my gaze across our surroundings with a grim expression. The old ruins we had been walking through moments ago were gone. In their place, repulsive red flesh writhed and pulsed on all sides. At our feet, an unidentified liquid bubbled with yellow gas, filling the air with a nose-stinging acidic stench.
“No time for explanations,” I said, pulling my eyes away and taking control of the situation. “Even a graze from that acid will melt you straight through your mana shield and into the bone.”
“We have to reach the upper layers where the liquid can’t touch us.”
It wasn’t a bluff. This was the digestive fluid of a servant of the Seven Sins, after all.
Gurgle—!
The monster’s stomach began to convulse violently. The pulsating meat walls swelled like ominous boils everywhere, then hideous parasitic monsters coated in bloody mucus tore through the walls and came crawling out. They looked exactly like a swarm of giant white blood cells mobilized to eliminate foreign substances.
“We can’t afford a frontal battle. Xenia, eleven o’clock!”
I issued commands while scanning the area with my Sixth Sense.
“That’s where their numbers are thinnest. Clear us a path!”
“A junior daring to order his senior around…! Hah—!”
Xenia grumbled loudly even as she swung her sword in a powerful arc toward the direction I’d indicated without the slightest hesitation. The heavy sword energy crushed the bloody monsters blocking our way in a single strike, opening a route forward.
I pushed my Sixth Sense to its absolute limit. In the flickering black-and-white world, the monsters’ movement paths and the terrifyingly fast rise of the acidic gastric juice from below stood out like solid lines.
“Seirin! Three meters up on the right, on that bone ledge—make us a foothold there!”
“Aurelia, only deal with the ones jumping from behind!”
“You really are gifted at working people to death!”
"Glacial Lance"
⟨ Spear of Glacial Ice ⟩
The enormous ice spear Seirin fired embedded itself in the wall, creating an excellent makeshift platform. Right after, Aurelia’s dazzling golden spear flashed out and halted the parasitic monsters that had been aiming for our backs at the last possible second.
I poured only the minimum mana into my blade, striking vital points of the small fry that slipped through our defenses with surgical precision while guiding the party upward. Thanks to our total focus on evasion and retreat, we managed to stay one step ahead of the rising gastric acid and reach the upper stomach region.
But the moment we arrived at the bone terrain of the upper layer, the entire structure began shaking like it had gone mad.
Rumble—!!
The monster had begun its full digestive process. The massive bone structures we were using as footholds started snapping and collapsing with wet crunching sounds. From below, a tidal wave of bloody gastric acid surged upward, chasing us right to our chins.
“Run! Don’t stop—head for the passage ahead!!”
We leaped desperately, using the collapsing bones like stepping stones. Up ahead, I could see the giant muscle-valve exit that led to the next section.
The instant we nearly reached the passage—
KWAAAAANG—!!
The red intestinal wall around the exit exploded outward as a hideous giant tapeworm at least dozens of meters long burst through.
—Kieeeeeeeeeek!!
With an ear-splitting screech, the creature coiled its massive body around the only escape route—the muscle valve—completely blocking it. Then it bared dozens of teeth dripping with green acidic venom, sealing our path perfectly.
“Haah, I haven’t liked a single thing about this dungeon from the very first step!”
Xenia ground her teeth and readjusted her grip on her sword. Seirin and Aurelia both raised their mana with expressions colder than I had ever seen from them.
“No time! Tie down its movements and block its sight!”
At my urgent shout, all three moved on instinct.
“Out of the way, you disgusting worm!”
Xenia brought her heavy sword crashing down toward the tapeworm’s massive jaws, instantly drawing its full attention.
“Aurelia, now!”
"Cryo Bramble"
⟨ Thorns of Frozen Snow ⟩
The moment Seirin’s chant finished, the gastric acid on the floor froze solid and massive ice thorn bushes erupted upward. Every time the tapeworm writhed, the tough ice thorns stabbed it, freezing the wounds white from the point of impact. Seizing the opening, a flash like pure sunlight exploded from Aurelia’s spear, completely robbing the creature of its vision.
The monster’s movement stopped for only a split second, but that was all I needed.
If I hold back even a little, we’ll all melt and die together.
I violently ripped out the taboo power I had kept suppressed deep inside my heart.
Opening 'Mark of the Seven Sins (Pride)' to maximum output!
※ Warning: The body has reached the physical limit at which it can maintain its form.
Time in the world slowed to a crawl. Black-and-red mana exploded outward from me, wrapping around my sword. The Authority of Pride. The overwhelming, sinister aura made even the tapeworm shriek and thrash in instinctive terror.
But it was already too late.
Shiiing—!
Three strikes. I leaped through the air like lightning, and the vital point connecting the tapeworm’s hideous head to its body was sliced apart as smoothly as paper. Before the black trail even faded from the air, the creature’s massive body split in two, spraying acidic blood everywhere.
“L-Leon…? What was that power just now…?”
A shocked voice came from behind me as I landed and gathered my mana. The three of them stared at me in blank astonishment—the freshman who had only been giving orders until now had just displayed power beyond common sense.
But I had no time to answer their questions.
“Urk…!”
My vision flashed red. The recoil from forcing the Authority slammed into my entire body. Agony like my organs were being wrung out made dark blood gush from my mouth. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor.
Rumble—!!
In that instant, bloody gastric acid surged through the collapsed terrain left by the tapeworm’s death and swallowed me up to the ankles.
“Hey, Leon! Don’t you dare die!!”
Xenia roughly snatched me up like a sack of luggage as I fell, then kicked off the collapsing ground and leaped upward.
“Everyone, run! Past that threshold!!”
We stepped on the tapeworm’s corpse and threw ourselves through the muscle valve into the passage beyond by the narrowest of margins.
· · ·
A piercing tinnitus that felt like it would tear my eardrums was followed by flickering vision. The pain was so terrible it felt like every bone and blood vessel in my body had been run through a blender. The flesh that had been swept by the Authority of Pride was little more than a rag.
“Leon! Hey! Wake up!”
Xenia’s rough hands finally made me open my blurry eyes. Fortunately, this place was different from the boiling stomach—it was a cool, damp tunnel shaped like an enormous tube.
“Please step aside, senior. I have a high-grade recovery potion.”
Aurelia knelt, took out a red-glowing elixir, and forced it into my mouth. Cool energy spread down my burning throat, calming my inner mana at least a little.
“Cough—hack…!”
I curled up and spat out a clump of dark red blood.
“You… what the hell was that just now?”
A little distance away, Seirin stared down at me with a deathly pale face. Her eyes flickered with a mixture of fear and suspicion.
“That mana you released… I’ve never felt such an ominous wave even at the academy. You’re not… a heretic or a black mage, are you…?”
Before Seirin could finish, I heard Xenia’s hand tighten around her sword hilt. In the empire, black mages were executed on the spot, and anyone who cooperated with them received the same punishment. If I didn’t kill this suspicion here, the party was finished.
“Black magic… cough, it’s not that. It’s difficult to explain in detail, but—”
“I have a method that lets me forcibly surpass the body’s limits by shaving away my own life force for a short time.”
“Sh-shaving away your life force?”
Xenia’s hardened eyes shook violently.
“Why the hell would you use such a crazy technique! I could have made an opening somehow!”
“If we had hesitated any longer, we would all have melted in the gastric acid.”
My firm answer left Xenia speechless. She could only bite her lip. The sharp wariness that had filled the three of them transformed into heavy guilt and bewilderment when they realized I had saved the party by sacrificing my life force.
Thud— Thump—!
Beyond the closed valve came the sound of crashing waves of gastric acid and dull explosions.
“I’ll explain the rest once we return safely to the academy.”
“Our only choice is to pass through this monster’s organs and exit the other side. Everyone, keep your formation.”
We pushed forward through the red intestinal tunnel filled with a vile stench. The low-level parasites that sprang from the gaps were cut down by Xenia and Seirin at the front.
Finally the narrow, slimy passage ended, revealing a vast round cavity.
“Th-that’s…”
Seirin sucked in a sharp breath.
In the center of the space, a giant heart grotesquely tangled with tens of thousands of blood vessels and nerve bundles hung in the air, pulsing with sinister life. And at its core, like a wedge driven into the heart, a single silver ring glowing faintly was half-buried inside.
Target Artifact 'Ring of Gluttony' discovered.
Warning: Boss 'Incomplete Servant of Gluttony' is activating its final defense mechanism to eliminate the intruders!
The instant the system warning appeared, the giant heart hanging in the air let out a grotesque scream and swelled violently.
—Giiiiiiik!!
Dozens of thick blood-vessel tentacles lashed out like whips from the heart’s surface and began smashing wildly against the ceiling and floor. At the same time, the tips of the tentacles burst open, raining toxic blood down like a crimson shower.
“Everyone behind me! Frost Bastion: Citadel of Ice and Snow!”
Seirin stepped forward instantly and raised her staff. A brilliant chill surged out, and a thick wall of ice rose to deflect both the bloody rain and the tentacles’ strikes.
Boom—! Boooom!
“Urgh, I can’t hold this long!”
Seirin shouted, cold sweat beading on her forehead. No matter how skilled a mage she was, she couldn’t fully block the boss’s ferocious assault while also protecting me in my broken state.
I had to find a way. That monster definitely had a weakness. Its very name—Incomplete Servant of Gluttony—hinted at it. And since we were inside the creature’s body, we could strike that weakness directly.
The weakness was obviously the grotesque heart where countless pieces of flesh and blood vessels were tangled together.
I wiped the blood from my mouth while still sitting on the floor and sharpened my Sixth Sense to its peak. My vision inverted to black and white, revealing the mana flow of the madly pulsing heart. Even that giant lump of meat had vulnerable pulse points.
“Aurelia! The moment its tentacles strike the barrier, completely blind it!”
“Understood!”
Aurelia concentrated light mana to the limit at the tip of her spear.
Boom!
The largest tentacle smashed into the ice citadel and cracked it. At that exact moment, Aurelia thrust her spear into the air. A flash as intense as staring directly into the sun dyed the entire cavity pure white. The creature, which had been using mana waves to see, flinched at the sudden explosion of light and froze.
“Seirin, drop the front barrier! Xenia—!”
In my black-and-white vision, I pointed at the single point on the heart that glowed red—the most vulnerable spot.
…
It was then.
Gurgle—!
Directly beneath the heart hanging in the air, the wriggling wall of flesh swelled grotesquely. With a wet bursting sound—fwump!—two enormous horns tore through the meat and emerged.
“Wh-what the hell is that now…?”
Xenia’s voice was crushed by terror.
Following the horns came the head of an enormous boar—pitch-black, covered in shaggy fur. The creature began devouring the wriggling flesh around it and even the heart suspended in the air, rapidly swelling its own body.
Thud—!
What landed on the floor was a giant boar at least four meters tall, like a moving mountain. Dozens of teeth dripped bloody mucus, and its eyes were bloodshot red.
If my Sixth Sense was correct, this monster was the Servant of Gluttony itself. It had scraped together the flesh inside the stomach to create a physical body in order to eliminate the intruders for good.
“…This can’t be real.”
Aurelia’s spear trembled faintly in her grip. The overwhelming presence was on a completely different level from the parasitic monsters we had faced before. Every time the boar exhaled, the cavity filled with a horrible rotting stench and scorching heat.
Though weaker than the true main body that made up this entire space, our current fighting strength was nothing more than a single meal to the creature.
—Grrrrrrrr…
The boar scraped the slimy floor with its front hoof. The next instant, its massive body vanished from sight.
KWAAAAANG—!!
“Urk—!”
With a scream, the spear Aurelia was barely holding shattered like paper. A single body charge from the monster had destroyed an artifact given to the academy’s top student.
“You damn monster boar—!!”
Xenia poured aura into her sword and brought it down, but the blade bounced uselessly off the creature’s hide. The boar swung its snout as if the attack were laughable and sent Xenia flying into the wall like a piece of baggage. Aurelia hurled the broken spear blade, but it simply bounced off the monster’s flesh and fell to the ground.
It was hopeless. The party crumbled instantly before overwhelming power.
I tried to force my staggering body upright, but the strain from the Authority’s recoil had left me unable to move. The boar’s red eyes turned toward me. It opened its snout, drooling acidic saliva as it approached.
Is this the end…?
Just as I was about to give up, something slipped from between the pieces of flesh that formed the creature’s body and rolled across the floor.
Rattle…
A silver ring emitting a faint glow. It was the Ring of Gluttony that had been embedded in the heart. The ring rolled across the slimy intestinal floor and, as if by miracle, came to rest against my outstretched fingertips.
The moment I felt the cold touch of metal—
Whoosh—!
Every light in the world shattered and the scene went dark.
The monster’s blood-red boiling stomach, the giant boar about to devour me, even my collapsed party members—everything sank into pitch-black darkness. Only the ring in my hand and my own heart continued to beat slowly.
Thump…… Thump…… Thump……
This sensation of time either stopping or flowing with excruciating slowness. It had happened once before—when the Authority of Pride had truly awakened during my battle with Aurelia.
Ding!
The Authority of 'Mark of the Seven Sins - Gluttony' is reacting.
Devouring the artifact containing a fragment of Gluttony.
The Mark of Gluttony is opening.
Deep inside my heart, the other taboo mark engraved beside the Mark of Pride began burning with insane heat. In the shadows, a pitch-black abyssal vortex that swallowed every trace of light began to rise, centered on my body.