Fish in a Trap (1)
We were going to rescue the missing vigilante captain. The moment those words left my mouth, the funeral-like atmosphere shattered in an instant. On the villagers' faces, something besides pure despair finally flickered—a sliver of hope.
“Did you tell them?”
“Yes… I did.”
“Really? No one else is coming with us? Just the two of us?”
“It looks that way… The vigilantes aren’t in any condition to move.”
“…”
Whether it was a mental issue or a physical one, I couldn’t tell. But shoving people who had nearly died back into the jaws of death felt too cruel. So I simply nodded and said I understood.
By the way, could they turn off those lights? The bugs were swarming like crazy because of them.
“We’re heading out right away anyway. Just bear with it a little longer.”
“The chief said they’ll perform a ritual for our safe return.”
“They’ve already set the table. It’d be a shame to leave now.”
“…”
A shame? Honestly, I seriously doubted whether this kind of desperation would even reach the gods. Sigh… Whatever. If they wanted to go through the trouble, let them. It wasn’t like I was the one suffering. They were just dragging the poor villagers into it.
I watched the bustling people for a moment with an expression that said I had a lot to say. Then, when the person in charge said it was time to depart, I nodded.
“Alright. Isn’t that rift right over there?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Should we say goodbye to the villagers?”
“Shall we?”
“…”
To be honest, I figured they were probably already dead. Still, showmanship mattered. So the person in charge and I waved at the villagers in front of the rift that looked ready to swallow us whole. For the first time since arriving in the village, we set off amid their cheers.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes…”
A rift within a rift. I’d only heard about them, but seeing one with my own eyes was a first. The space we stepped into felt like being sucked in. Everything here was far from natural. Strange light shone from an unknown source, and the vast gray expanse stretched endlessly in every direction, as if trying to swallow us whole.
“Whoa… what the hell is this? It feels like we just stepped inside a spaceship…?”
“It does seem that way…”
“Do you know about perspective drawing? When you first go to art school, they make you draw a box with a single dot.”
The person in charge explained that this space existed for no other reason than to convey an infinite sense of scale. Irregular cubes that looked like they’d been drawn on paper floated in the air and along the walls. I silently walked across the marble floor in agreement with his words… when a sudden question crossed my mind.
“Hey. If we just close this one rift, won’t all the other rifts close on their own? The multiple rifts and everything?”
“Since the rifts were born inside this one… if we close this properly…”
Weren’t all the other rifts supposed to close automatically without us having to go through all this trouble? I tossed the question out casually, without much thought… but of course. If it were that simple, they wouldn’t have hired us on this island.
“I wish that were the case… but the cores of this space are scattered across multiple locations.”
“Scattered? So that means we have to close every single rift in here?”
“Yes… only after closing every rift in this space will this enormous area disappear.”
“How many are there?”
“As of yesterday, there were 71…”
“…”
Fuck… I’d figured it’d be around thirty at most. The moment I heard seventy-one, I felt dizzy. I hadn’t thought much of it before, but seeing the actual site like this made the task feel utterly hopeless. At least there was one silver lining: no monsters appeared in the space we were currently standing in.
“So? It’s safe, right?”
“Yes… I can’t say one hundred percent, but according to all known information, yes.”
“Strictly speaking, this isn’t a true dungeon but something similar. Until it reaches the critical point…”
It was supposed to be safe. Hearing it wasn’t a full one hundred percent made me feel uneasy… but it was still safer than the rifts. I figured I could at least enjoy a cigarette here in peace. Once we went in, things were probably going to get crazy, so I might as well smoke one now.
I lit my lighter and listened to the person in charge’s briefing.
“What lies ahead is an S-rank dungeon.”
“Really? It doesn’t look that dangerous… you sure?”
“Of course! Even though it might look like I’m just playing around, I check every dungeon here every single day.”
“…”
Is that so? His expression didn’t look like he was lying… so could he tell what was inside? I waited for his answer without much expectation, lightly stretching my body. But this guy really was the person in charge—he seemed to have gathered the basic information.
“It’s a golem… and since it gives off a blue light… there’s a high chance it’s a Defendiend Machina.”
“Defen… what? Anyway, is that thing around Draff level?”
“No… not quite that strong, but it’s still quite powerful.”
“I see. What about the terrain?”
“The terrain… well. From what people have said, it seems close to a grassland or highland…”
“S-rank dungeons tend to mix various elements together…”
We couldn’t fully trust the stories of those who had escaped. Thanks to that, I already had a bad feeling about whatever lay beyond… and there was one more piece of bad news.
“Multi-level?”
“Yes. The structure seems to be a simple 1-1-1… but there appears to be a mezzanine level.”
“It’s one of the most dangerous dungeon structures. I didn’t mention it earlier… but there’s a high chance the vigilante captain is trapped between the floors.”
“Trapped? How?”
“Hmm… it’s complicated to explain… but simply put, he’s trapped in the space connecting the floors.”
“…?”
What the hell did that mean? What kind of stupid shit did you have to do to get trapped like that? I crushed my cigarette under my foot, still not understanding. The person in charge explained that there were probably traps in the space connecting the floors.
“Traps?”
“Yes. Almost certainly.”
“That’s why they say multi-level structures are among the most dangerous in dungeons.”
It was like a fish trap that never let its catch escape… wait. So that idiot had walked into it without even realizing it was a trap? What a fucking moron. He really only ever did things that pissed me off.
I clicked my tongue and stared indifferently at the swirling gap in space.
“Alright. Explanation’s over… should I take the lead?”
“What lead? We’re going together… what about a cigarette? You don’t want one?”
“Bro… you literally just smoked one.”
“Gotta get a heavy nicotine hit before a fight. Here, take one.”
The place where the person in charge and I set foot after crossing dimensions was neither a barren desert mixed with concrete nor a gloomy forest that felt like something was about to jump out. The scent of grass and flowers danced on the gentle breeze, while nameless plants swayed lazily. Sunlight poured in from an unknown source, breathing life into the lush meadow. The clear sky was so peaceful it made me question whether this place was really an S-rank dungeon.
But the surreal sight in the distance reminded us that we were still inside a rift.
“What the hell is this…”
“They said it was multi-level… so is that floating thing up there the second floor?”
“Uh… probably?”
“…”
Probably? This guy had been talking like an expert just moments ago, but now he looked completely out of it. I tapped the shoulder of the idiot standing there with a dumb expression.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“So how do we get up there? Can we just follow the path?”
“Probably… that should work. After all, it’s still a dungeon…”
It was just distorting spatial perception with illusions. I knew that in reality it was no different from walking on flat ground… but the distortion was so severe that I was genuinely thrown off.
“No, but still—how the hell do you walk up that? It’s a straight wall.”
“Should I… jump up first and try?”
“…”
The second floor hung over us like the massive leaf canopy of Ferid, and the vertical wall acted as a pillar connecting sky and earth, completing a bizarre U-shape. I nodded at the guy who offered to go first. In my head, I pictured someone failing at parkour and falling pathetically… but contrary to my expectations, he kept climbing upward without issue.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t feel any different from a normal dungeon.”
“Really? Then come back down. Let’s smoke a few cigarettes and head back.”
“…”
“What are you doing, dumbass? I said come down!”
“Bro!!! Over there… the flowers…”
“What?”
“They’re… beau…”
“…”
It was as if something invisible had blocked him. The person in charge’s voice, which had been growing fainter, suddenly cut off. I instinctively sensed something was wrong and shouted at him with all my strength.
“Hey! Come back!!! Hurry!!!!!!”
“…”
No matter how desperately I called, he ignored me and kept moving farther away. The clouds drifting across the sky became shadows passing over my head, swallowing both me and the sunlight.
(What the… is this?)
He had been completely fine just moments ago… but every time the cloud shadows passed, the meadow hiding beneath the sunlight revealed its horrifying true face. A battlefield—cracked, torn, and overturned. It was a catastrophe. I realized the terrifying magic unfolding before my eyes.
It’s a trap.
Without even time to think, I sprinted toward where he was. The receding cloud shadows. The sunlight that once again warmly embraced me. It was like an illusion, showing me the beautiful green meadow again… but the moment the cursed cloud shadow touched it, the meadow began transforming back into that wretched battlefield. I ran across the desperate struggles of those who had come here before, trampling their memory with my own two feet as I screamed.
“Hey! What are you doing!!! Come back right now!!!!!!!!”
“Bro… this…”
“…”
Beyond the flower field, the guy lifted something with a deathly pale face. A rough, crude lump of muscle. It was someone’s hand, covered in dried blood. The peaceful space that had only known gentle winds and sunlight began to tremble.
Rumble… rumble…
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…!!
“B-bro…?”
“Get out!!! Throw that away and come this way right now…”
“…”
Oh… my… god… The ground was shaking and I’d had a bad feeling, but I never thought it would literally rise from the earth. I couldn’t hide my shock at the sight of the massive metal body emerging majestically from the right shoulder first. As dirt rained down, the killing machine stretched like it was waking up, its gears spinning all over its body as it raised both arms high.
“Hey… run…!!!”
“…”
“Hurry…!!!!!!!!!!”