Visitors from Another Dimension
“Larilura! Use Puppetry to trip the middle-row bastards!”
“Roll, roll~☆!”
Larilura had left her marionettes behind, so she couldn’t join the fight directly. Instead, threads of mana stretched from her fingertips.
“Krororororo!!”
The mana threads latched onto the bugs’ legs, forcing each one into a passionate kiss with the scorching ground.
—Swish!
I started by cracking open the skulls of the ones charging straight at us. The spell’s output was too low to seize control of their bodies, but tripping weaker mobs was well within reach. Even if it only lasted a few seconds, that was enough to make them stumble.
“Koneurghaaaa!!”
Our ambush shattered their encirclement. The merchant girl stared in astonishment as she cut down monsters with her sword.
“W-who are you?!”
“Adventurers exploring the Tower of Ruins! Pardon the intrusion during your hunt, but we’ll lend a hand!”
I shouted while bursting another Walking Bug’s head with my spear. I wanted to make it clear we were here to help. Intervening in another party’s battle was strictly taboo—both for loot disputes and because some bastards liked to pretend they were “helping” while stabbing you in the back.
“—I’ll gladly accept that meddling!”
But who had time for etiquette in another dimension? The merchant girl, quick with numbers like any good trader, accepted our help without hesitation despite her light armor and sword.
“Maintain the defensive line and finish off the fallen ones! Archers, shoot the rear of the swarm!”
“Yes!”
Under Dismuke’s commands the tide turned. Once we broke free of the encirclement and linked up, victory became possible.
‘Everyone’s Silver Class or higher?’
Watching the merchant guild party fight, I pegged their strength. Even the girl and the butler were competent. Their teamwork was solid for a temporarily hired group—maybe they were regulars.
“Die, you bugs!”
“Can’t use magic? Then shoot arrows!”
“Physical punch! Physical kick!”
“Korrrgh!”
The bugs were individually weak. Once we seized the momentum they were annihilated in moments. The only creepy part was that not a single one tried to flee until the very last survivor. Real berserker bugs. What, isekai cockroach berserkers?
“Battle over! Everyone did great!”
—Whoosh!
The merchant girl flipped her hair and shouted. Naturally, the next person she addressed was us.
“Thank you for helping! Ah— I should lower my voice. Sorry. I know it’s a bad habit, but I can’t fix it.”
“No need. I’m just glad there are so few injuries.”
Some were hurt, but no one had died. The merchant girl roughly wiped her blade and sheathed it.
“Of course. They’re my personal exploration team. We’ve explored ruins all this time without a single death! A—hahahaha!”
She covered her mouth and burst into loud laughter. After the hearty guffaw she removed her gauntlet and offered a handshake. A ring sat on her left ring finger. Married? Or maybe an engagement ring. Either way, spoken for.
“I’m late with introductions. I’m Selena Hermation, second daughter of the Hermation Guild Master.”
“Norde, Bronze Class adventurer of the Audumla Guild. This is my party member, Larilura.”
I removed my own gauntlet, rolled up my sleeve, and accepted the handshake. I wasn’t entirely sure of the custom, but apparently adventurers greeted each other this way to prove they weren’t hiding poisoned needles or planning a surprise attack.
“Norde? Of the Audumla Guild?”
Selena’s eyes widened as she shook my hand.
“Are you the Norde I’ve heard about? The one who defeated the giant golem controlled by a black mage and cut off that vicious leader’s head?”
“Rumors always exaggerate. Still, that probably was me.”
I’d only stated the facts, yet it felt overblown. Did this world have media and sensationalist reporters too? Damn, if someone overheard they’d think some hidden-power Bronze Class soloed a Mythril Class unicorn.
“I knew it! I thought your skill was extraordinary from the start! My eyes never lie!”
“Thank you. You’re quite skilled yourself, Miss Selena.”
Her self-praise wrapped in a compliment was impressively smooth. I was human enough to feel my shoulders square a little, but she was the guild master’s daughter. I decided to take it with a grain of salt.
“You flatter me. By the way, what brings you here, Norde?”
She asked while slipping her gauntlet back on. Did I look like some veteran who tackled higher floors? Her expectant gaze was a little heavy.
“Probably the same reason as you. While exploring below the third floor, did any of you step on or activate something like a magic circle?”
“A magic circle! Yes, that’s it! We triggered one we didn’t notice and got swept here—to this disgusting place.”
Her reaction was vivid; pure indignation.
“As I thought. One more question—have you seen any larger variants of these bugs? Much bigger ones?”
“Larger variants?”
Selena frowned. She didn’t seem to know. I explained what we’d encountered and my theory: a large bug capable of phasing through objects had dragged us here, the second floor was half-destroyed because of it, and finding the summoning circle should let us return.
“It can even fly? What a vicious otherworldly creature!!”
—Screech!
Selena let out a piercing shriek at my story. She sure had energy for someone who’d nearly died moments ago.
“We never encountered anything that blasphemous. You said it left you behind? Maybe it retreated because it couldn’t win?”
“Didn’t feel that way. Not that I can read a bug’s mind—or want to—but it didn’t seem to be fleeing.”
Its face was so grotesque I didn’t even want to picture it, and even if I did the expression was unreadable. Still, the feeling was clear: that big bug’s goal had been to bring us here.
“Either way, to send us to such a vile place!”
Selena stomped the ground as if she couldn’t contain her rage.
“No matter how much of a trap it is to drive enemies away, there are lines people shouldn’t cross! Whoever built that tower must be heretics!”
“Miss Selena, I feel the same, but let’s worry about the tower’s origins after we return to our world.”
I said it, then tasted something bitter.
‘Our world, huh.’
That was where Franc and Dana were, so it wasn’t wrong. Still felt strange. In terms of coming from another dimension, these bugs and I weren’t so different.
I pushed the bitterness aside and made her an offer.
“If we find the summoning circle we can return. I’m sorry to ask, but would you mind if we travel together? Even if we return to the original world, we won’t know which floor of the tower we’ll arrive on. I think combining our strength is better.”
“That’s exactly what I hoped for. Please cooperate with us. But we don’t have enough food to wander for days searching for that circle.”
“Let’s finish this quickly. I’ll look for the summoning circle. If you have mana potions, leave enough for the front line and invest the rest in me.”
“Huh? Magic doesn’t work here, though. Even if you try to maintain a spell it breaks after a few seconds.”
“Rune magic works. Look.”
I brushed my bangs aside to show the constantly active Kenaz rune. Selena’s eyes widened when she realized the faint light on my forehead was a detection spell.
“A mana-detecting spell? That’s amazing! I’ll leave it to you!”
“I’ll do my best.”
Given the situation, we skipped the usual suspicion and negotiation. Selena probably figured she could doubt me after I failed.
“Senior, what if this place is ridiculously huge and we can’t find the circle?”
Larilura sidled up and whispered.
“Before we run out of food, why don’t we look for edible ingredients? We might end up fighting these people later.”
“No. It’s dangerous—don’t even think about eating random weeds. The circle should be nearby anyway.”
I answered. How vast this dimension was didn’t matter. Summoning magic was a branch of spatial magic, so it couldn’t ignore “distance.” Moving ten meters with Teleport cost a completely different amount of mana than moving a hundred meters.
‘Teleport is still magic. It can’t escape the formula of mana consumption equals output.’
Think about it. If someone in Sri Lanka asked a person in Busan for a direct trade, what would happen? Even on Earth, where overseas direct purchases were possible, people preferred closer options for the same price. Mana to send someone hundreds of kilometers away from the circle? If they had that much to waste they’d have built better traps in the tower instead.
“The trap designer was trying to conserve mana. Releasing hostile creatures from another dimension into the tower, reusing the passage that called them as a trap—everything was to reduce the mana needed to activate the trap.”
So I thought: this trap wasn’t meant to “send intruders somewhere they can never return from.”
“They wouldn’t waste mana like water just to make sure a few intruders died. That’s inefficient. Therefore, I believe this trap is meant to ‘split the intruders and dump them into a bug nest to die.’ And the big bug boss made good use of that.”
“That huge bug from earlier? Why?”
“I don’t know that far either.”
“Ah, Senior was doing so well and then this again.”
Larilura made a disgusted face. Unlike Franc, who embraced everything with love, or Dana, who was used to it, this didn’t seem to work on her.
“How unfortunate. Enjoy the new culture you’ve never known before.”
“I don’t want to.”
Anyway, we left the field littered with bug corpses and set off to find the summoning circle.
“Norde, do you have any idea which direction?”
Selena asked while having a mage draw a map. I focused the rune’s effect on my intuition and answered.
“I felt the summoning circle’s mana when we were brought here. I’ll push the detection spell to its limit while moving, and if I get a reaction we head that way.”
“Understood. The area we’ve already explored is to the east. Let’s go west this time.”
Direction decided, all that remained was movement. We crossed the damp jungle westward. Actually, we weren’t even sure it was west. The compass magic item was useless, and even a magnetic compass spun erratically—probably because this was another dimension.
“Not even a breeze. It’s creepy. Like a world where everything has stopped.”
At Selena’s words I realized we were in a windless zone. Damn, a world without wind? Did that even make sense? Compared to the other world that had many similarities to Earth, this place truly felt like a different realm. If I’d landed here instead of Britannia I would’ve committed suicide within three minutes, three years or not. I really was a lucky bastard.
“……No reaction.”
We’d moved in a straight line for over thirty minutes, yet my detection picked up nothing. Selena bit her nail as if deep in thought.
“Could you cast that spell on my exploration team as well?”
“It’d be a waste of mana since we’re not splitting up. Everyone in the same spot can sense roughly the same things.”
I drank a mana potion she’d given me and she sighed.
“Understood. There’s a cave we found. We’ll take a detour, check other areas, and return.”
“Yes. If we go too far we’ll only get farther from the circle.”
On the way back I spotted bug swarms and ordered us to avoid them. Since this could turn into a prolonged fight, I wanted to minimize combat.
“There’s something. The bugs are fighting each other.”
The scout reported after checking the direction I’d indicated. Even those who’d been slightly suspicious now trusted me after I accurately located the enemy. At least playing human radar earned my keep.
—Thud, thud.
We returned to the cave Selena’s party had discovered. It was similar to the one Larilura and I had found earlier.
“I’m sorry, Miss Selena. I acted so confidently yet failed to show results.”
“I never expected it to be found in a single day. Let’s distribute the food. We’ll do our best starting tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Maybe because they’d set up camp outside the ruins, Selena’s group only had enough food for a few meals after descending. Our share of jerky, hardtack, and water was barely enough to keep us functional—not to fill our stomachs, just to earn the calories we needed to move.
I shoved it into my mouth, chewed a little, and swallowed. Larilura ate with such gratitude it was almost impressive. I’d expected at least one complaint.
Once we finished eating in the blink of an eye, Selena spoke.
“We’ll keep the night watch rotation as usual. Norde, your concentration is important, so rest well.”
“What about my companion?”
“……We’ll decide that starting tomorrow night. Since you helped us out of loyalty, no one will complain about the first night.”
“Understood.”
Larilura nodded awkwardly, then her face stiffened at the next words.
“Then everyone, extinguish the lights. Monsters of this dimension are drawn to light.”