Dyland in Enversred
Dyland in Enversred.
That was the name of the monster who managed the Hive the world had taken to calling the Sindorim Dungeon.
The living things of this world seemed content to slap the word "dungeon" on anything they pleased, but the proper designation here was Hive. It had a name — a real one.
At any rate, the one dispatched to manage this place was sitting in his chair as he always did, killing time. He couldn't say why, but the creatures of this world never came as far as the chamber where he waited. If they wanted the Hive shut down, all they had to do was come all the way in and put him down. They never did.
Prideful as he was, Dyland had firmly convinced himself that this was because he was simply too powerful.
Who would dare challenge a place under my protection?
Appearances aside, he had held a reasonably high rank in his original world. And the creature he'd stationed as the middle gatekeeper was Cherde Goram, one of the upper-class monsters — a brute whose massive frame and devastating blows were a genuine work of art. Every challenger who had come this far seemed to stop exploring just short of running into that middle gatekeeper.
But today was different.
At the clamor rumbling in from up ahead, Dyland's brow furrowed.
What on earth is going on out there?
He didn't care for noise, so he hadn't stationed many monsters around his chamber. Whatever challenger showed up, he was confident he could handle them alone.
And yet today, the lowest-rank monsters — creatures who would ordinarily never so much as glimpse his face in their entire lives — kept pouring into his room.
"What is this?"
Dyland looked down at the lowest-rank monster that had come charging, without a shred of fear, into his presence. It wore a bizarre expression and made strange gestures, but it possessed not even the most basic intelligence, so communication was a nonstarter.
He was still trying to make sense of it when a creature he could actually talk to stumbled into the room. Dyland made no effort to hide his irritation.
"You wretched thing. Do you have any idea where you are, barging in here with that face of yours?"
"I-I'm sorry! B-but, up ahead. There's something enormous up ahead…!"
Something enormous…?
Dyland had been considering killing it depending on the answer, but the reply was intriguing enough that he paused, then spoke again. Something enormous, was it?
"So this 'something enormous' of yours is more frightening than I am. Is that it?"
Dyland had lived his entire life treating his towering pride as a point of honor. No matter how enormous this something was, he could not, in all honesty, tolerate a creature this lowly waltzing into his chamber. It niggled at him, yes — but that was a problem for later.
I've said this much. It'll grovel and beg, surely.
That was what Dyland thought. The answer that came back was the exact opposite.
"Y-yes, that's right! I'm so sorry! It's so, so terrifying — scarier than you, Captain!"
"…What?"
He was so flabbergasted he lost his words. And in that instant—
…?!
A sensation like his entire body being crushed washed over him, and a chill ran through every inch of his flesh.
"Wh-what is this?"
"I t-told you! Something terrifying is coming!"
At the lesser monster's shriek, the creatures stationed throughout the dungeon began gathering in Dyland's chamber, one after another. Under ordinary circumstances this would never have happened — but Dyland, who had begun to feel the oppressive weight himself, no longer cared about any of that.
What is this? Has the King of the Hive come in person? No. No, that's not it. The pressure isn't of that order. This is… more violent. More merciless! I'm certain of it! An overwhelming power I've never felt in my life!
Before he knew what he was doing, Dyland's knees hit the floor, and he collapsed in a heap. When had he ever felt a drain like this? A terror more intense than anything since the day he was born wrapped itself around his proud self without pause.
And it was while he was drowning in that fear that Cherde Goram — the one who had always so reliably held up the Hive's midsection — came scrambling into Dyland's chamber wearing an expression Dyland had never seen on him.
"Ch-Cherde Goram…! Even you came here?"
"I-I'm sorry, Master. But someone is coming — someone so powerful I don't think we can win. I've never faced an enemy like this!"
That hulking, imposing creature wore the look of a drowned rat. But Dyland understood. The crushing pressure and terror he himself was feeling only grew fiercer with every passing moment.
A presence of this magnitude… just who is coming here?!
Thud.
Thud!!!
THUD!!!!!!
The pressure was definitely intensifying.
It's coming. Something is coming this way!
Even from a distance, Dyland could feel it. It was walking toward them right now. The King of the Hive — no, a being that might even surpass him, a presence on par with an Absolute — was, for reasons unknown, approaching the heart of a Hive you'd only expect to find in a backwater like this.
He didn't know why. How could a mere created thing like Dyland possibly know why a being of such power would suddenly appear, so unlike anything in the ordinary course of things?
As the terror clamping down on him grew more intense by the second, the thoughts in his head only tangled further.
Did they send this to shut the Hive down? No, no. More than that… wait, no. How far had I gotten? No, that's not it, that's…
Unfortunately, the pressure was more than Dyland himself could bear, and even holding a coherent thought together had become nearly impossible.
Stay here and he would die. That much was certain. But he couldn't simply run, either. If he lost the Hive, the punishment waiting for him would not be merciful.
What do I do?
It wasn't as though he'd never considered the possibility of losing the Hive. He had drawn up strategies for various scenarios — whether he could handle it alone, whether he'd need to call in allies, and so on. Of course, those thoughts had a habit of going fuzzy at the edges. There had never been any point in thinking that hard. Judging by the caliber of the creatures that kept showing up here, the idea that this Hive might actually fall hadn't been worth a moment's consideration.
But now was different.
This place was going to fall. Not might fall. It was going to fall. One hundred percent. He could die and come back a thousand times and he would still never defeat whatever was approaching.
He didn't feel cheated. They were beings of a different class to begin with. How ridiculous would it be for a lesser monster to feel cheated that it couldn't match Dyland himself? This was the same thing. However high his pride in himself ran, he had not lost his grip on reality.
So then — what should he do in this situation?
In that brief window, despite a terror that only kept swelling, Dyland managed to arrive at something resembling a conclusion.
Right. First I'll kill everything in this room, take their essences, and then run.
Whether that decision was reasonable was another matter entirely.
"Wh-what should we…!"
"…"
Dyland approached the lesser monster that was trembling on the floor, and carefully began to chant.
Bang!
"Gaaaaaah!"
It happened in an instant. A situation that would have fascinated any scientist researching cases of monsters killing other monsters without apparent cause, and the origins of such events was unfolding before the lesser monsters of a certain dungeon even had time to notice.
"Die!"
"W-what! C-Captain! P-please, spare me!"
"Die!"
He was terrified, yes — but Dyland was still a being of a different class from the rest. The dregs you'd find in a dungeon could be put down in no time at all.
"M-Master?"
Cherde Goram stared at Dyland with a look of bewilderment at the slaughter of their own kind unfolding in the blink of an eye.
"That's right. If I want this done quickly, I should start with you."
"W-what are you…?!"
However powerful he was, he was only a middle gatekeeper. He was no match for Dyland, master of this Hive.
With nothing more than a truncated death cry, his head dropped to the floor.
Dealing with the rest was only a matter of time.
How long passed after that?
"Hah… hah…!"
He had finished off every monster that had fled to his chamber. There wouldn't be any more, surely. He would have liked to extend his senses and confirm no stragglers remained, but the terror and pressure squeezing him felt so vivid, so immediately at hand, that he couldn't.
"Now the essences — I have to take the essences—"
It wasn't that killing the small fry had exhausted him. The reason he couldn't muster his strength now was that the oppressive presence had doubled since before. It was right in front of him. Something like an Absolute was drawing closer, step by step, just beyond the door. If he clashed with it, he was the one who would be crushed in an instant.
The essences. If he could just gather all the essences, he might not incur the wrath of the Hive's King. Essences were important, after all. He could generate new monsters. He might even be assigned another Hive, praised for handling the situation so well.
Yes. He, at least, would survive. He would overcome this terror and this pressure, and make a fresh start.
Dyland carefully opened a portal. It was a passage connecting to the place where the King of every Hive resided.
Now, if he could just gather all the essences from this floor and get out safely—
Click.
"Is this the boss room?"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
Too late. There was no time to think. He couldn't even spare a moment to look at who had appeared, or what they were. The being that had just arrived was that kind of existence.
An Absolute. An overwhelmingly powerful one. The strongest being on earth.
Dyland had only one option.
"Spare me!!!"
Abandon the essences. Go through the portal. Of course, once it came to this, there was no chance his punishment would be lenient. But that was a secondary concern. Anything — anything at all — seemed better than dying to that Absolute right here and now.
"…?"
And so, as the Absolute who had just entered the room stared in bafflement at the creature fleeing for reasons it couldn't begin to guess—
—that message appeared, and the history of this Hive, which had been reasonably storied in its own way, came to an end so hollow it bordered on the absurd.