Main Scenario 2
As always, Hanna was terrible at lying. Everyone was in an uproar over the unheard-of phenomenon of Horned Wolves appearing inside the city — but her face was a mess for an entirely different reason. Grace, walking beside her, kept stroking her forehead to soothe her.
Grace seemed to think Hanna's twisted expression was just the trauma of a Novice Adventurer seeing death for the first time. Of course, having read the chat window, I knew her face was contorted from the pressure of cooking up a story on the fly.
For some reason, the city and the Tower have been connected… Not bad?
Spotting a plausible theory among the flood of opinions pouring through the chat, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. Following Hanna's lead through the alleys, I had to desperately hold it in — giggling at blood-soaked wounded and dead citizens wasn't exactly an option.
Not slimes, not horned rabbits, not horned foxes, not goblins — the only things swarming the city were Horned Wolves. Which meant the city was connected to the Tower's tenth floor, so maybe a gate function had opened — the moment I read that long chat message, I'd wanted to whoop with joy.
Sure, a fair number of people had died, but that was none of my concern. Honestly, more people died inside the Tower than this. Same went for the burden on Hanna's face. Who feels guilty when game NPCs die because of a quest scenario? She was just racking her brain to invent a story.
I'd play along with whatever nonsense she came up with, though.
"This way. I can sense strong mana here."
The Workshop District was as tangled as a maze. It was a kind of shantytown where apprentice blacksmiths and poor alchemists who couldn't afford proper shops on the main streets clustered together — twisting back alleys and junk piled without any regard for foot traffic. No wonder Horned Wolves, with their habit of hiding in underbrush, were ambushing people from those junk heaps.
Hanna raised her staff as if to claim she was tracking mana, weaving around the clutter as she led the way. Of course, her fixed gaze made it painfully obvious she was looking at a minimap, not sensing mana.
"…Ah—"
Pushing through the back alleys, we eventually came face-to-face with a Horned Wolf.
"Looks like the guards haven't made it this far."
One that was crunching its way through a person. Even with mosaic censorship, a corpse whose belly had been torn open — upper and lower halves about to part ways — wasn't easy to look at. Whether out of consideration or not, Grace immediately stepped in front of Hanna, gently blocking her view.
Blood dripped from its long horn; it must have skewered someone who'd come out to dump something in the alley. Annoyed at having its meal interrupted, it bared its filthy teeth and growled — but it was still just tenth-floor level.
Until yesterday this game had been a cheerful, lighthearted Tower-climbing adventure, and now corpses were everywhere. Maybe they were having trouble adjusting. I stepped past the oddly frozen Hanna and Grace. The beast growled, sensing danger through animal instinct, but it didn't matter.
Crack—
Since I'd left my weapons behind, a single open-handed slap — like swatting a cheek — was enough to turn the thing into a Mana Stone.
"Take the lead again, Hanna. The guards will handle the body, so don't worry about it."
"…Okay!"
Hanna blinked in surprise, apparently struck by how Grace didn't so much as flinch at the gruesome corpse. When I scooped up the low-grade Mana Stone that had been a Horned Wolf and a couple of claws, she hurriedly took them and stuffed them into her inventory.
People dying was one thing — you still had to collect the loot.
And so we pushed through the maze of alleys for a long while, occasionally passing more Horned Wolves and corpses. Even without Hanna's explanation, a suspicious alley appeared. The first to react was, of course, our party's scout — Grace.
"There's a grass smell here. Not the materials they use in the Workshop District — the smell of the plains."
A fresh scent cutting through the acrid, foul stench of forges and alchemy workshops. Unlike the situation of people dying to a suddenly appeared boss monster, the air itself was nothing but refreshing — Grace frowned and flared her nostrils, sniffing. As if to prove her right, a light breeze stirred a few green grass blades across the filthy alley floor. Fresh leaves that looked nothing like discarded scraps of used herbs.
"Hanna, is this the right alley?"
"Yes, this is the one. So now…"
At my question, Hanna rolled her eyes at the alley entrance — either the quest window hadn't updated yet, or the new quest text was so long it was taking her time to read. My job was already decided, so it didn't matter either way.
"I'll go in first."
"What?!"
The thrill that a gate connecting the Tower and the city might open — my heart pounded pleasantly, like the high before a fight. Bare-handed, having run here without any gear, I stepped into the alley without hesitation.
My vision darkened the way it did when entering the Tower. After a brief flicker, it returned to normal — and what I saw wasn't an alley, but a vast, open plain.
Awooooooooo!
A night plain, packed with a pack of wolves.
"Well, shit. This is not a quest designed for novices to clear."
Confirming that Hanna and Grace weren't behind me, I muttered a quiet curse. A pack of at least thirty Horned Wolves, plus an alpha in the center twice as large as the rest. Numbers like that could wipe out even an Intermediate Adventurer party.
And this was supposed to be a beginner's first quest?
I stopped for a moment at the incomprehensible balance. It reminded me of those forced-defeat events common in RPGs. With balance this broken, other players would walk in and immediately get a game over with all their beloved companions dead — total chaos.
As if to confirm my suspicion, the massive Horned Wolf just stood there without attacking. Where the other Horned Wolves had dirty gray fur, this one stood proudly with silver fur that seemed to hold the moonlight. Looking at it now, the design was damn well done.
Kill it, or not?
Unlike the plains where bright daylight lasted twenty-four hours, this was a night plain under a full moon hanging high and bright. As I locked eyes with the alpha Horned Wolf under the moonlight, a small whisper came from behind me.
"What… is this…?"
I'd vanished into the alley, so they'd followed me in. Even though Horned Wolves had wolf habits, they didn't roam in packs — so she was probably confused. Having a beginner's first boss monster travel in packs would be pretty insane, too.
After Grace, another set of rustling footsteps — Hanna had entered too. Glancing back, I saw her coming in with her staff held high, maintaining a shield spell. Like Grace, her mouth fell open at the sight of the wolf pack. Of course, her streamer instincts hadn't vanished — a camera drone immediately whirred over my head and started diligently filming the alpha Horned Wolf.
"This space is clearly abnormal. Can you get back outside? If you can, report this to the Adventurer's Guild and the Magic Tower."
"B-but…"
She hesitated, something clearly bothering her. Come to think of it, sitting out a main event like this would be career suicide for a streamer. Seeing her freeze up without answering, I immediately changed my approach.
"Or keep the shield up and analyze the surroundings. You found this place, so you can figure something out, right? Better you than those slow-ass Magic Tower guys."
"Yes! I'll do that!"
Hanna nodded vigorously, and Grace stuck close to her side, looking a bit uneasy. With the wolf howls stopped, the plain was so quiet you could hear the rustle of grass in the wind.
A mere lower-floor boss monster, standing with the moon at its back, staring me down. With this many Horned Wolves, I'd charge in, smash the alpha's skull first, then fight the rest while protecting the other two. Even as I drew up my mana to the fullest, it just stared down at me with that arrogant posture — the moment I took a step that shattered the plain's dirt floor—
Awoooooooo———
The alpha Horned Wolf that had held its silence threw its head back toward the moon and howled long and loud.
Whether it howled or not, my fist launched forward, kicking off the earth and cutting through the wind. Unreasonable violence that could one-shot not just a Horned Wolf but even a forest orc hunter, shooting straight ahead—
"W-waaah! What are you doing?!"
"O-oh my? We're back."
With a crash, I smashed through an innocent wall and collapsed the rear wall of the small workshop behind it.
The alchemist who'd suddenly lost his workshop's back wall and fence shrieked in shock, but went quiet the moment he saw the fence debris scattered on the ground. Fuck. So it was just a cutscene boss that showed up and vanished?
"Why would you smash someone else's wall… Wait, what's this?"
I clenched and unclenched my fist, left with nothing but the disappointment of a missed hit, lost in thought for a moment — when the noisy alchemist came out into the alley and found something.
"Y-you look like adventurers — is this what's causing all the chaos?"
On the alley floor that had led into the night plain, a strange pattern was seared as if branded by fire.
It was identical to the pattern that appeared when entering the Tower.