An Unexpected Cast Member
Guardians.
The spear and shield of humanity. Heroes who protect people from monsters. Periodically, they raid dungeons, dispose of the guardians stationed within, and seal the dungeon's gates so that its denizens can never invade the world of man.
But among them exist a handful of dungeons branded unraidable — gates that can never be closed. And because the gates cannot be shut, there is no way to stop the monsters from spilling out. The next-best option is a stopgap: enter the dungeon and cull the monsters' numbers as much as possible.
The Living Earth. Zone E of the dimensional rift was a place that imitated just such an unraidable dungeon.
So this is a dungeon.
The moment I set foot inside, the ground breathed. The earth beneath my soles swelled up lazily and sank back down again. A pulse like a heartbeat traveled up through the tips of my toes, and between walls streaked with dripping red sap, moss and vines tangled together into a small forest. It felt like walking through the heart of some colossal living creature.
"Really? I like it — it's like watching a web novel I read come to life in vivid, breathing reality."
True, I had entered a novel, but gazing at developed cities like the Zerta Kingdom or Dilmun, everything looked so similar to the world I'd lived in that it never really registered. Honestly, watching a laser fire from my own hand was more entertaining.
But stepping into a dungeon and beholding a mystical environment that could never exist back home finally made it sink in — I really had come to another world.
"Look at this. The dirt is all squishy and slimy, like intestines. What a nasty texture."
"My hobbies are working out and traveling, you know. I love wandering around strange places like this."
Back in my school days, I'd blow every penny I earned from part-time jobs on trips abroad the moment vacation hit. Taking in unique, beautiful natural landscapes like New Zealand's was one of life's great joys, so whenever the chance arose, I'd strap on a backpack and roam the globe. After landing a job, I was too crushed by work to even dream of leaving the country — but I've never forgotten how brilliant those days were.
If only the military, that absolute piece of shit, hadn't wedged itself into my life, I'd have made a lot more memories.
"The novel says the artificial dungeon boasts a perfect reproduction rate compared to the original. That true?"
"So basically a free trial version. Still, it'll do for practice."
The place this dungeon was modeled on had been the grand, momentous stage that crowned the end of Part One of Academy Yuri Princess. Even if I couldn't explore the dungeon's all-important core, this would be a far better help than walking in blind.
"Anyway, let's hurry and find Eva. If we leave her be, things could go very wrong."
In the original story, Eva enters the dungeon, is too frightened to take a single step at first, then stumbles into a prowling monster and the tale begins with her fleeing for her life. Her magic would have been more than enough to handle it, but she panicked at the overwhelming presence of a monster she'd never seen before and spent all her energy just running.
Along the way came a flashback or two, and she'd steel her heart — this won't do — and strike down the enemy, only to pour in far too much power, unleashing magic on such a massive scale that it drew every monster in the vicinity straight to her. Then, like a comet, Chloe appeared and saved her, and that was how the arc ended.
That moment was the catalyst: Eva and Chloe's bond deepened from there, laying the groundwork for the two of them to become lovers. I haven't forgotten the days you spent striving for my sake — what Eva said when she confessed to Chloe. The fact that she brought up what happened in the artificial dungeon when reminiscing about their time together meant it was an event that left a deep impression on her.
For me — the one man for whom their love must never come to pass — it was a situation I absolutely had to prevent.
I had to find Eva and save her before Chloe did.
"Writer, can you tell where Eva is?"
"No need to apologize. I only asked in case."
In the novel's prose, it was simply written that Eva ran through the dungeon in a daze. There was no description of which direction she fled, or what she passed along the way. The Writer, for her part, was watching this world through my eyes right now. If Eva was experiencing something similar, her view would have been shaking so violently that nothing would have registered properly.
"That's plenty. Better than nothing."
The monster that had chased Eva through the dungeon was the Heartwood. A tree-type monster with its heart embedded near the trunk, and an enormous one at that. If I located the area near the puddle she mentioned and searched outward from that point, I might find her more easily than expected. It was still like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it beat wandering around a hundred times over.
I will find her before that woman Chloe. No matter what.
Figuring I might as well take a look at what this dungeon looked like along the way, I quickened my pace. As they say, the more hurried you are, the more you should take the scenic route — rather than tearing through the dungeon at full sprint searching for Eva, I centered my mind, sharpened my senses, and swept my surroundings.
There it is.
The faint breeze brushing my skin carried the weak presence of people and the sinister auras of monsters. Like a precision radar mapping the location of objects, my mana-amplified senses wove a detection web that snagged every living thing nearby.
So this is what mana makes possible.
This was information never even recorded in the web novel — a technique Solis used when catching people who ran from him. It stuck in my memory, so I tried it, and it worked better than I expected.
But it wasn't enough.
Hard to tell who's who.
All I could pin down was roughly where a person or a monster was. Picking out one specific individual — Eva — from among them was another matter entirely.
This won't cut it. Time to find another way.
I focused harder, steadied my mind, and sank deeper into the sensation. Simply knowing that someone was over there wasn't going to do. Capture the shape of a person. It didn't have to be perfect. Using mana to detect human silhouettes, I sorted monsters from humans. Next came distinguishing the forms of the silhouettes I'd caught. The outlines never resolved completely enough to identify anyone, but I did succeed in capturing the vague shape of a person.
That's enough.
It would have been hopeless with Marin or Chloe, but Eva possessed a physical feature that set her distinctly apart from every other student.
Find the person with the biggest chest!
Those enormous, glorious breasts! Mounds of fat that would make any man who saw them mutter good grief. A bust of such overwhelming, reassuring size that merely looking at it put your heart at ease. Those exact tits you'd want to clamp in your mouth while crying out for milk!
With this, pinpointing her would be a piece of cake.
"I am hard at work trying to locate Eva, so no slander. Nope, nope."
"Wow. Can't find Eva to save your life, but you catch that like a bloodhound. Sharp as a knife."
Her instincts really only kicked in for the most useless things.
"I'm innocent here. It's just that there's literally no other way to single her out."
The Writer sent her assent and offered her encouragement. Bolstered by it, I focused my mind even further.
Found her!
Five hundred meters ahead — a bountiful, generous-hearted presence that would surely bounce with every step. A puddle-shaped outline, clear as day, confirmed near her location. A wall of dense forest stood between us, but I paid it no mind.
Punching straight through.
Solar War Body — mana coursing through my entire frame. From within that state, I accelerated the circulation of mana flowing along my nerves even further.
Whoosh!
The light carried searing heat, and that heat spread through the air, beginning to melt everything around it — like the hot breath of the sun itself sweeping across the land. I dropped into a sprinter's stance and hurled myself forward, carving straight through the forest.
BOOM!
Trees, grass, anything that could be called an obstacle — all of it vaporized like smoke or melted away the instant before it touched my body. I tore down the corridor of heat at blinding speed. At its end, a clearing of light opened up, and I threw my whole body into arriving there.
"Eva! I'm here!"
I shouted her name, savoring the taste of victory — I'd found Eva before Chloe could.
"Oh my, you're..."
The person standing there was not Eva.
A chest just as voluptuous as Eva's — but her overall look was a completely different animal. Narrow, sapphire-blue eyes and an expression that went beyond confident into full-blown mischief. Long platinum blonde hair spilled down her back, with strands at her temples woven into tight, intricate braids.
"Ter Citrine?"
"So you know me."
Know her well. Yupi Citrine's younger sister — the illegitimate daughter of House Citrine, and one chosen by a Divine Relic. The famed Divine Archer who played a major role in Academy Yuri Princess. As a devoted fan, there was no way I wouldn't.
Great. Wrong target.
Ordinarily I'd have rejoiced at the entrance of yet another heroine, but right now finding Eva was the only priority. I turned my head away without a shred of regret. I was gathering mana again to hunt for Eva when—
Ping!
"Aww. I could've hit that one."
"..."
The arrow grazing the edge of my cheek came right after that. I ran a hand over the scratch and turned my gaze back to her.
"What the hell was that?"
"Can't you tell? I shot an arrow, obviously."
Despite aiming a bow at a person, Ter smiled with the innocence of a child. Then she drew the bowstring taut once more. A blue arrow, honed from pure mana, took shape against the string.
"Fighting between students is forbidden, you know."
"I know. But tell me — when I want to shoot, what am I supposed to do about it?"
Determined to pierce me clean through this time, she aimed the arrow's tip at me with everything she had.
"You're close with my big sister, after all. It makes me want to kill you."
Her playful smile, for one fleeting instant, twisted into something chilling — pure, murderous killing intent.