He's Mad

“Ancient ruins, you say?”

“They've existed since long before this village did. Even the relic that protects us was something my ancestor brought back from the ruins.”

“Oho.”

Ancient ruins, huh.

One look and it reeked of a hidden dungeon.

Hidden dungeons were hard to come by lately, so the timing couldn't have been better.

“Where is it?”

“A short distance from here. If you wish, I can provide you a map.”

With that, Ans rose from his seat and rummaged through something resembling a drawer. The sandstone handle had clearly been left untouched for quite some time—pulling it back sent dust billowing out in clouds.

“Ahem! Ahem!”

“It must be quite old.”

“Cough—yes. The map predates even my father's time... We rarely leave the village, so it hasn't seen much use.”

I spread out the map Ans handed over. It depicted the entire desert, marking hills large and small, monster spawn zones, and the village's location.

Above the village, something that looked like a set of ruins had been drawn in.

“So it's here.”

“That's right. There's a large hill there, and pressing a hidden plate will open the door. The plate bears a scorpion crest, though I've never actually seen it myself, so finding it might be...”

“That's of no consequence.”

Pharaoh rose from his seat, his voice brimming with confidence. Coming from the man who had once ruled this desert as its emperor, surely finding a mere floor plate would be as easy as glancing at it.

“Anything else I should know?”

“...Hmm. That it's dangerous? As you can see, the relic was taken from the ruins. My ancestor paid for it in many sacrifices, and only managed to bring it back from the ‘third floor.’”

For reference, the ruins span more than ten floors.

“It seems quite powerful, but you would do well to be careful. The ruins have devoured countless explorers before you.”

I nodded at Ans's earnest warning.

“Sounds fun.”

“I'm sorry?”

Just how good would the rewards be? I couldn't wait to find out.

“...May fortune favor you.”

Arriving at the ruins marked on the map, I turned my broadcast on right away. Even though I'd only just started streaming, the viewer count was climbing at a steep rate.

“Lil-ha~”

“Yes! Today I discovered some ruins, so I'm doing a ruins exploration stream! Should be fun, right?”

My words set the chat window buzzing with activity.

A lot had happened in the meantime, but lately I'd rarely set foot in a dungeon at all. The castle of Rasty's I'd manifested and Primordial Island hadn't been dungeons, and the most recent example I could point to was the World Tree Dungeon, really.

Not that any of those had been boring, but DeoEn was, at its core, a game about exploring dungeons. More than anything else, playing through a dungeon was simply the most fun you could have.

“Before we begin exploring, let me introduce someone who'll be helping us today.”

The sand blanketing the ground swirled and converged toward a single point, and something golden began to emerge from within it.

Reduced to miniature size, it was a statue a full head taller than me, wearing a golden mask.

“Found it. This is definitely underneath the—”

“It's Uncle Inom, everyone!”

“...Miserable creature.”

“They're asking you to say 'Inom' just once?”

“Why in the world would I—INOM!”

“Waaah!”

Pharaoh glared at me with eyes that looked ready to burst into flame.

And no—not looked ready. They actually were.

“Ah, it stings.”

The temperature across the entire area was rapidly climbing. This was a level of heat that no ordinary frost magic could hope to suppress.

Pharaoh's current power fell just short of Leo's, but this was the desert.

In the desert alone, he could exert strength rivaling even Rasty's as she was now.

“It's hot.”

“And knowing that, you still pull this nonsense?”

“Presentation matters, doesn't it? Streams need the occasional event like this.”

“......Just go check the door.”

Sulking visibly, Pharaoh let his heat subside and gave a light wave of his hand. The ground shifted, revealing the hidden plate beneath.

A yellowish plate etched with a scorpion crest. The moment I stepped on it, a deep rumble shook the air and my line of sight sank downward.

A roughly ten-meter square platform descended into the earth, and Pharaoh and I stood upon it, surveying our surroundings.

Sand pressed in from every direction, looking ready to come ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pouring down at any moment—yet held fast, whether by some curse or enchantment.

It felt like watching an elevator sealed behind invisible walls.

We descended like that for about two minutes.

Screeeeeech...

“We're here.”

“Not as deep as I expected. Whatever made this place was nothing remarkable.”

We had arrived at the ruins' true entrance.

A title, granted the moment we set foot inside.

Its effect... increased rewards when exploring ruins, or something like that? Not bad to have, but hardly impressive.

“Doesn't seem like an instance dungeon.”

Given the name, and the scorpion crest carved into the entrance, the boss was clearly meant to be some kind of scorpion.

Thud!

Before I could even reach for it, the door opened on its own.

Light flickered to life along the walls of the dark corridor beyond, and man-sized scorpions skittered about, eyes glinting with a dry, chittering clatter.

Their dusky, darkened shells set them apart from the scorpions we'd seen outside—but the most striking difference was that not one of them flinched from Pharaoh's gaze.

As if they answered to a master of their own.

“Your dominion ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doesn't seem to work on them.”

“Insolent wretches.”

Pharaoh strode forward with heavy, deliberate steps. As I followed behind him, the door slammed shut behind us with a resounding boom.

“Tokens?”

A few months ago, I had cleared a dungeon called the Crab Empire.

It was a dungeon where the story shifted depending on your choices, and based on how I played back then, I'd earned points I could spend on items.

That was where I'd found and purchased Karabus's hammer.

If the viewers were right and these tokens worked like points did, then perhaps I'd come away with something important this time as well.

Assuming there is something important here.

In my past, no ancient beast had ever taken the form of a scorpion. Barring some extraordinary variable, whatever lurked in this place would have nothing to do with who I used to be.

Crunch!

Crunch!

While I'd been lost in thought, the scorpions had been crushed flat under an overwhelming pressure.

The culprit, of course, was Pharaoh.

He casually transmuted the flattened corpses into sand and marched unimpeded toward the end of the corridor.

“...Strange rumors aren't spreading about me, are they?”

“Of course not. Everyone thinks you're amazing.”

“......”

“Anyway, look at this—it's a really unusual painting.”

Though the space was dark, torches set into the walls illuminated the murals painted across them.

Countless scorpions lay piled beneath a sky, gazing upward—and there in the heavens hung a colossal scorpion wearing a crown.

A scorpion crowned in gold, several times larger than any ordinary scorpion.

And it was devouring something.

“It seems related to the boss somehow. What do you think?”

“A beast, nothing more. A beast grown strong is still a beast.”

“That beast is slipping free of your dominion, though.”

“...None of this would have happened had I not grown weaker.”

Pharaoh, evidently displeased with the situation, stomped ahead, grumbling all the way.

Watching his back, I found myself thinking.

For Pharaoh, the ruler of the desert, his dominion over the desert's creatures was absolute.

It was the same principle by which Rasty, sovereign of the blood nobles, held command over every vampire in this world.

Granted, Rasty's dominion was in a league of its own—but was it truly plausible that his control would fail to reach mindless scorpions?

Kiiiieeek!!

At the corridor's end, a scorpion twice the size of the guards revealed itself.

A level 90 field boss—beyond the reach of your average ranker...

KRAKOOM!!

“Take it.”

“Are you mad?”

“I am not mad.”

He's totally mad.