A Deep, Dark Tentacle World

Step by step. Then a final, solid footfall.

I'd reached the underground. At the entrance the guards were standing watch, and once I told them I was there on official business, they waved me through.

It almost felt like I was being recognized as a proper hero candidate of our city now.

Not that the guards had much choice. I had Renata as both my backer and my bed partner.

If I wrap this job up clean, maybe I'll drop by and give Renata's chest a good squeeze. Heh heh heh heh heh…

A sour, moldy stench hung thick in the air. The wastewater trickling past on either side was enough to turn anyone's stomach on sight.

I had zero desire to so much as dip a toe in that stuff—but if a slime showed up, I probably wouldn't have a choice.

This is worse than the semi-basement I used to live in. Well. Obviously.

Ting!

Just in case, I'd clipped a lantern from home to my belt. The underground passages did have natural light sources—things called night-luminescence stones.

I looked up. Plenty of them were embedded in the ceiling, glowing with a soft blue light that almost made them look like gemstones.

In reality they did nothing but shine, so they were about as valuable as ordinary rocks.

Still, I wanted to fight properly, so I'd brought the lantern and lit it.

A little farther in, a straight corridor opened up that looked for all the world like a maze.

I had a rough map, so I wasn't too worried—but the atmosphere screamed that getting lost would be an absolute nightmare.

In this world, the underground passages are a world unto themselves. They've been here since before human civilization, vast and full of mysteries. If you're lucky you can even travel to neighboring territories through them—but the problem is, almost nobody actually knows the routes.

A vast, tangled labyrinth. Or a dungeon.

That was what the underground meant in this world. You could be curled up snug under your blankets at home, and right beneath you some monster might be wandering around without you ever knowing.

How enormous does something have to be before people start saying you can reach everything from neighboring fiefs to ruins no one's ever heard of?

Ruins meant money. Just hauling out the artifacts and selling them was already a fortune.

And if those artifacts turned out to be actual items? Jackpot.

On top of that, monsters inevitably gathered around ruins.

Ruins used to be temples, or places that held special power. Monsters drawn to that kind of energy set up camp there like little villages.

I really wanted to see one someday.

Then the main quest content floated back into my mind.

Feels like things are finally kicking off for real. Amour Gang—I'm going to wipe every last one of you out.

I needed to show this territory who its true master was. And for that, growth was everything.

Consulting the sketch map attached to the mission, I pressed deeper. The farther I went, the more animal bones and rotting corpses started to appear.

The smell was truly foul.

Just as the atmosphere turned properly grim, I started seeing stretches where the wastewater had dried up completely, or places holding nothing but bones and scraps of hide.

There were goblin and gnoll corpses too.

Every kind of monster must wander in here. This place is basically extraterritorial.

Near-human monsters like gnolls were the regulars, but if your luck was rotten you could also run into plague wolves or huge gharials.

Slurrrp.

I flinched and stopped cold. Something was moving nearby.

I strained my ears, trying to figure out what—

"Gyaaaaah! Somebody help meee!"

Oh, for fuck's sake. My eardrums nearly ruptured.

Of all the moments to scream, it had to be the exact second I was listening hard.

I sprinted toward the sound. A man was thrashing around, half-sunk in the wastewater.

My enthusiasm died on the spot. Had he wandered down here drunk?

The water wasn't even that deep. He should've been able to climb out with a little effort. So why was he flailing like that?

And it's a guy, so my interest just tanked. If it were a busty older sister in a shredded see-through outfit, I'd be diving in with gusto.

A sigh escaped me on its own. The man spotted me and stretched out a desperate hand.

"P-please, save me! Please! I don't want to die!"

He kicked and struggled, trying to haul himself free—and yet something kept dragging him backward, sliding him deeper again and again.

I looked past him.

A slime the size of a bear was squirming there. Completely out of place in this gloom, it shimmered in four colors as its tentacles held the man fast.

The tentacles were thick ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and murky.

That's a Royal Slime—mid-boss of the slime family, with command over the four elemental forces.

Even a Necro Slime looked tame next to this thing. This one actually used magic.

As if to confirm it was exactly the target I'd come for, a quest helpfully popped up.

The rewards were a little weird, but I'd give it my all. I'd come down here to wreck this thing in the first place.

The man cried out in desperation.

"I'm Lady Jayla's errand runner! Please, save me—if I die like this, it'll be disloyalty to the nobility!"

I can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rack up a little debt with Jayla out of this.

I nodded and stepped forward. Lucky me. Truly lucky.

"Stay calm. I'm Lashu Leonhart, a hero candidate."

"A hero candidate…?"

The man's expression soured. He looked like he'd just lost all hope at the realization that the only person who'd shown up was a mere candidate.

Honestly, I couldn't blame him.

Not even a real hero—just some aspirant taking on a Royal Slime? Of course it sounded like a joke.

I drew my sword and leveled it at the slime.

"All right. Show-and-prove time!"

I was about to charge when the slime reacted first, lashing out with a tentacle.

Whiiip! Crack!

It came screaming in at whip-crack speed. I raised my shield, blocked, and started weaving in a zigzag.

As I kept dodging and closing the distance, the slime hauled out every tentacle it had and started thrashing in every direction at once.

It was like dozens of people had gone berserk with whips all at the same time.

Whiiip, whick! Snap! Crack!

I was dodging as best I could when my foot caught on a pile of corpses and I went down. The tentacles came hammering in as a mass.

Thud! Babababam! Crack-crack, papapapapak!

"Ghk—fuck!"

I rolled hard to the side and gasped for air. Trying to slip past the tentacles and close in again, I stepped on a skull this time and went sprawling.

This terrain is not working in my favor. The underground is full of straight corridors, so mobile fighting is a nightmare. Goddamn it, this is annoying.

This was a completely different kind of fight from anything I'd done so far. Instead of open ground, I was stuck battling in a cramped, restricted tunnel.

Something kept catching or snagging my feet, and the tentacle strikes packed real power.

The tentacles came whipping in again, tangled together. I tried to catch them on my shield—

Whaaam!

—and took one straight to the head. The mask cut the damage in half as I swung my sword.

Slashhh!

I carved through tentacles and pushed forward. Whether the Royal Slime was pissed or not, it started making a bubbling, boiling sound.

Then its body lit up. I felt a powerful surge of mana.

Fwoosh—whoosh!

"Are you kidding me—!"

BOOM!

I tried to catch it on my shield and it detonated anyway. The blast shoved me backward, and more spells came flying right after.

Splash—boom! Zzt, crackle-crackle!

All of them were first-circle spells. Somehow I forced the distance closed and drove my sword in.

Skreeeek!

The strike I'd poured everything into bounced clean off a hide that had turned to stone.

The moment the gap opened again, the thing went right back to spamming magic.

Whooosh!

I rolled clear of another Flame Javelin. Kicking off the wall to close in, I ate a Water Orb coming the other way.

I raised my shield to block—and a Current Wave came in off-beat and buried itself in my thigh.

Bzzzzzt!

"Gyaaaaah!"

I shoved my shield as high as I could and fell back. When the Royal Slime lashed its tentacles again, I barely managed to block and kept getting driven farther and farther back.

I only just hit Runner Late, and the terrain is stacked in its favor. The resistance on my shield has kept me from taking anything fatal so far—but one more solid hit and I'm in real trouble.

I wet my dry lips and focused. Both hands locked around the holy sword.

One look at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the man's face told me he'd given up. Because I was losing.

I flashed him a deliberate little smirk.

Aura—activate.

Fwoooooosh!

A brilliant golden light erupted from the blade, bright enough to make the lantern look like a candle. In the next breath it wrapped my entire body.

Something unknown writhed inside me, ready to explode at any second.

Power welled up like I could punch a mountain clean off the map.

The slime shuddered and started unloading magic again.

It even threw in an earth-attribute Slow to drag my movements down.

But with aura active? None of that meant a damn thing.

Huff—tatatatat!

I kicked off the ground. In a single bound I closed the gap to the slime.

Even with Slow on me, my body felt light as a feather. Activating aura had nearly doubled every one of my stats.

Tentacles came flying, right on cue. I dodged—and more whipped in from the opposite side on a staggered beat.

I swung my sword and cut every last one of them down.

Glooorp!

The thing made a sound like it was deeply offended.

Right now I'm stronger than Lumina going all-out!

A slime that could only thrash tentacles and spit low-circle magic suddenly looked pathetic.

Slashhhhhhhh!

Dozens of tentacles filled my entire field of vision. A genuine tentacle hell.

Shaaaaaak!

My vision, muddied by the press of tentacles, went pure white in an instant—then cleared. Bundles of tentacles sheared apart and went flying in every direction.

The moment I took another step in, the slime—startled, maybe—threw up Stone Carapace.

I didn't care. I drove the sword home.

Thuk—BOOM!

I'd only brought the flat of the blade down on it. The slime shuddered violently—and its body split wide open.

It tried to spam magic again and open the distance. Its tentacles were already gone, and it was carrying a critical wound.

I took the incoming spells on my shield and my masked face, bulldozing straight through them.

Apparently that sight was even more terrifying, because the slime started trembling.

I felt that fear land on me, clean and complete. Grinning, I closed the last of the gap.

I gripped the sword and hauled it all the way back.

"Human desire has no end. That's what makes us human!"

Shuuuk! Pwaaaah!

I split the slime clean in two and shattered the core inside its body for good measure.

The massive slime evaporated in an instant, leaving nothing but byproducts behind.

Huh. So against first-circle magic, I was basically invincible now. Lucky break!

I picked the byproducts out of the slime's remains. I'd even gotten my hands on something rare—Hybrid Hide.

A special byproduct? That'll be useful for enhancement or crafting.

I collected the quest rewards too. My Abyss Value climbing even higher… enemies were going to get that much nastier.

With the errand runner saved, I started heading back out of the underground.

Supporting him, I nearly lost my balance. I was a little short of breath.

Side effect of using aura? My energy's draining as fast as a bank account after payday.

The stronger I got, the more absurd the energy cost became. I was definitely going to have to save this for when it counted.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Be more careful next time."

"This is impossible—how does a hero candidate even use aura…?"

"I got lucky. Come on, let's get out of here."

"Y-yes! If my lady hears of this, she's certain to reward you!"

"I wasn't particularly hoping for a reward."

That was a lie. I was hoping for something. I was going to be a Beastly Hero someday, after all.

"No, no—my lady reveres justice. She'll be delighted!"

A justice junkie, just as expected. FM Wolf-Helm Girl, Jayla.

I smiled, already looking forward to meeting her someday. Well—a little, anyway.

For once, it actually felt rewarding to be a hero.