Entering the Dungeon
Tracing lines between the three Sealing Stones on the map formed a massive triangle, and Hegellina Krenkel's Sealed Laboratory lay squarely at its very center.
"Is this the place...?"
"Hmm. From the outside, you'd never guess it's a dungeon."
"It looks like an ordinary underground passage."
In stark contrast to the surrounding brown wasteland, a stretch of ground had turned an unnatural, pitch black. Beneath it lay a cleanly carved stone staircase descending straight into the subterranean dark.
"We're heading in immediately. Everyone ready?"
At my question, the party—especially our Master-rank monsters—nodded with reliable, unshakeable expressions.
"Yes. No problems here."
"I've got plenty of fight left in me."
"We need to reach the Great Forest as soon as possible, so making haste is our best option."
That was Muriel, Rebecca, and Nemeth, in that order.
I had asked assuming they'd be fine, but hearing them say it with such breezy confidence was impressive nonetheless. After all, they were the ones who had moved the most and weathered the heaviest blows while shattering those three Sealing Stones.
"Um... wouldn't it be better to rest just a little? I'm worried about Vivian..." Cecilia, virtually the sole dedicated healer of our party, cast an anxious glance toward Vivian.
"What?! No way! I'm completely fine!" Startled, Vivian shouted back, but her haggard face and trembling, wobbly legs screamed to anyone with eyes that she had hit her absolute limit.
"It's fine. I'm not putting Vivian on the front line in the dungeon anyway."
"Huh?! What are you talking about, Orabeoni! I can still fight!"
"...Does that matter, Vivian?"
"...Pardon?"
When I lowered my voice in a stern warning, she shrank back slightly, blinking up at me.
"I am the leader of this party. Regardless of your personal enthusiasm or what you think you can endure, once I make a call, you follow it. Or are you saying you intend to ignore your leader's orders?"
"N-No, not at all! Don't misunderstand, Orabeoni!"
"Good. Then learn to know your place, Vivian. Learn when to step up and when to step down. And while you're at it, take a good, objective look at your own condition."
"......"
Looking down at her tight lips, I took a hearty swig from my flask. "I don't care if you're having fun, Vivian. But you need to remember that the rest of us are treating this seriously. How long do you plan on acting like a spoiled brat, pushing only your own feelings and ego onto everyone else?"
"...I-I'm sorry."
Seeing Vivian hang her head in shame, I opened my mouth to add a few more sharp words, but Muriel gestured subtly for me to stop while Weller glared daggers at me. Smacking my lips in mild annoyance, I backed down.
"...Wasn't that a bit too harsh?" Arpe trotted over, whispering in a scolding tone.
Cecilia was also drilling holes into my face with her sharp gaze.
"No, it's just about right. If I don't lay it out like that, she'll get herself killed in there. To be honest, I'd rather tell her to wait outside the dungeon entirely."
"Excuse me?"
"Muriel, Rebecca, Nemeth. You three will take the vanguard, center, and rear, respectively." With an expression far more serious than any I had ever shown them before, I barked out the orders. Muriel and Rebecca took their positions without a word of complaint, while Nemeth assumed her spot, wearing a look of mild surprise at my sudden rigor.
"Cecilia. Form a Holy Barrier in the center of the formation and maintain it."
"Y-Yes!"
"Wendy. You can cast 'Holy Light', right? Illuminate the path from the front. Sister Weller, provide support from the rear. Arpe, stay in the center to counteract mental attacks and status ailments. The rest of you, hold flexible positions and adapt as needed."
"Understood."
"Yes...!"
"Whew..." I rolled my shoulders to loosen the tension, cleared my throat, took a deep drag of my rolled cigarette, and blew out a long plume of smoke before sharpening my gaze. "All right. We're moving in. Everyone, stay sharp. The second you slip up, your head's coming off."
I stoked their vigilance and licked my dry lips as if on edge. Seeing me like this for the first time, I could feel the discipline among the group surge to a razor-sharp peak.
In that taut silence, I stepped forward onto the underground staircase.
We hadn't been descending for long before the first trap triggered.
"Rebecca, upper left corner of the ceiling."
"Hup!"
Instead of answering with words, Rebecca swung her blade, cleaving through a thick, cylindrical launcher just as it sprang from the masonry a fraction of a second later.
Sssssss!
Even though the launcher had been split in two, an unidentified liquid spewed violently from its severed chamber. It washed over the glowing Holy Barrier and splashed onto the stairs, instantly hissing and melting the stone away.
"Eeeek...!?"
"Is that poison? What kind of potency is that...?"
"W-Wait! That thing is moving! It's alive!"
"A slime?!"
Fwooooosh!
The instant the liquid revealed itself to be a living slime, Weller unleashed a torrent of flame that evaporated the creature into nothingness. Swift, accurate judgment—as expected of Weller.
"...No pointless chattering from here on out. If you miss my voice and fail to react to a trap or monster in time, you're dead."
"Y-Yes!"
"Understood!"
Keeping an eye on their stiffened expressions, I continued forward.
"Muriel, trap on the right wall ahead. Sister Weller, poison mist coming from behind—it's a living toxic fog, so destroy it with lightning, not fire. Rebecca, timed teleportation trap on the floor."
In just a few minutes of descending the stairs, we destroyed and neutralized an absurd number of mechanisms. Naturally, the further down we went, the greater the scale and lethal power of the traps became, forcing our Master-rank powerhouses to intervene with increasing frequency.
Rumble! KABOOM!!
"Something big incoming from the rear. Nemeth, can you handle it?"
"Leave it to me!"
"It's not a single trap—it's chained. Cecilia, thicken the barrier! Rebecca, intercept whatever slips past Nemeth!"
"Yes!"
CRASH! KRRR-SHIK!
Tuning out the sound of a giant stone boulder being ground to powder behind us, I surveyed the corridor that emerged at the end of the staircase.
"Hmm. Good." Fortunately, it matched what I remembered from the game perfectly, right down to the descriptions in the setting guide.
Squish!
My boot sank into putrid, rotting flesh. The disgusting sensation sent a shiver through my spine and dragged an involuntary scowl to my face.
Squirm, throb!
Looking up, the Mucous Membrane Passage—carpeted in red, blue, and black fleshy pulp—was literally writhing alive.
"Good heavens... what is this?"
"Ugh, are you telling me all of this is meat? Disgusting."
"Hey, Alzen! If the dungeon was going to be like this, you should've warned me beforehand! My dress is getting ruined!"
Ignoring their groans, I focused my awareness onto the Absolute Ring Set.
"The real run starts now, so brace yourselves. Especially Lira, Wendy, and Cacciola. Your roles are critical."
"Us? Really?"
"What is our task?"
"M-Me too...!?"
"This Mucous Membrane Passage is practically one colossal demonic beast in its own right. We have to push through it into the deeper underground... and honestly, even with three Masters, blocking every single incoming attack is impossible. That's why the rest of you have to give it everything you've got."
"Understood!"
"Defense... that happens to be my specialty."
"W-Wait. Me too? For real?"
I looked down irritably at Cacciola as she clung to my arm. "Yes, you too, Cacciola. How long do you plan to just stand by and watch?"
Lampon Pashtra, standing blankly nearby, flinched as if struck by the comment, though I didn't bother pointing it out.
"Ugh...! B-But I don't have the confidence..."
"Then die. It'll be quite the sight, dying before you ever get your revenge."
"...Y-You don't have to be so harsh...!"
Looking at her on the verge of tears, I let out a weary sigh. Her mental fortitude was in a far worse state than I had anticipated. I really didn't know what to do with her. I'm a delinquent, not a psychiatrist.
"Shut up and draw your blade."
"O-Okay. I'll do it. I will, so don't look at me like that... Please don't abandon me..."
I patted her head unthinkingly as she muttered those desperate, pitiful words, then activated the Holy Guardian Fortress. A faint, gentle radiance enveloped every member of the party. To be honest, the proportion of psychic attacks here was low and their intensity wasn't overwhelming, but having it active was certainly better than nothing.
"Muriel. Pull out enough antidotes and resistance potions from the Subspace Pouch for everyone and distribute them."
"Right away."
Muriel moved with swift efficiency, handing vials to each person. After downing my own potion, I continued speaking.
"From this point on, lethal monster attacks and dungeon traps will strike simultaneously. Keep your wits about you. If you don't..."
Squelch-THWIP!!
"Orabeoni!?"
"Lord Alzen!"
Dozens of bone spears erupted simultaneously from the surrounding flesh walls, punching clean through where I stood. The party screamed in horror.
Twist! Whirrr!
However, my body was already bathed in the violet luminescence of the Absolute Evasion Ring—stretching, compressing, and turning semi-translucent in bizarre, unnatural contortions to slip between every single projectile.
"See? If you lose focus, that's what happens."
BOOM!
Instantly, black energy gathered and detonated outward in the shape of shadowy spears, impaling the surrounding meat in retaliation.
SKREEEEEECH!
A monstrous, agonizing shriek—sounding as if the entire living tunnel itself were howling—reverberated through our bones, rattling the flesh beneath our feet.
"Making a fuss over that? It's only going to hurt worse from here on out."
"Hey! Can't I just incinerate all this flesh?!" Weller shouted.
"Conserve your mana. This place is a massive labyrinth; you won't even scratch the surface by yourself."
"A labyrinth? Hmm... now that you mention it, this layout resembles a human small intestine."
"Oh. Impressive as always. Exactly right. Hegellina Krenkel modeled this entire passage after a small intestine. Except, unlike a real one, it has branching paths."
"...What?"
"The deeper floors are designed the same way. In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this entire dungeon is his body. For the record, the stairs we just walked down were the large intestine, and the entrance was the anus."
"...*Gag*, that's vile...! What kind of deranged bastard designs a dungeon like that?! Black magicians truly have zero sense of decency! No wonder they end up as black magicians in the first place!"
Watching Weller gag in utter disgust, looking ready to throw up whatever was left in her stomach, I couldn't help but chuckle. Ah, that won't do. Let's stay serious this time. Dead serious.
"All right, keep moving. Pick up the pace. This is a time-attack floor."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It means we need to get through as fast as humanly possible."
As we resumed our march, the grotesque, repulsive Mucous Membrane Passage squirmed and undulated, as if welcoming our advance.
What followed was a relentless succession of events far more chaotic and urgent than expected.
SHKKK!
"Guh!?"
Without warning, bone spears burst from every direction, scattering fresh droplets of blood into the air.
KABOOM! CRUNCH! Squelch!
"Damn it! Another one!"
"Run!"
Collapsing footing, physical restraints, jets of venom and acid, teleportation circles, offensive spell arrays... Before I could even issue warnings, trap after trap triggered, tripping or wounding someone. The unstable ground, the dim, suffocating, sticky corridors, the endless forks destroying our sense of distance and direction—combat inside the Mucous Membrane Passage was the absolute worst kind of battlefield, rapidly gnawing away at our stamina and mental focus.
"ROOOAAAR!!"
"HSSSSK!"
"They're finally showing up..."
And then came the chimeras, tearing through the flesh walls in grotesque variety. The deeper we pushed, the denser the hazards became, and their lethality scaled exponentially.
Sweat poured off me like rain. Fatigue clouded my mind and blurred my vision, while my ragged breath hitched in irregular gasps. My fragile body had crossed its physical limits long ago.
Pant, wheeze, cough! Dammit...! If it weren't for the Absolute Ring Set, we'd be in serious trouble...
Yet the reason nobody had died so far was largely thanks to the stellar performance of the Absolute Ring Set. Of course, the others were fighting their hearts out, but being able to tank the initial strike of any living attacker and return it with double damage allowed us to expose, identify, and shatter hidden, stealthy, or devastating ambushes before they could wipe us out.
"Haah, haah...!"
"Huff! Whew!"
"Hey! Alzen! Do you even know where you're going?!"
"Of course I do! Shut up and just keep up!"
"What did you say?! You little bastard...!"
Between the utter chaos and my frayed nerves, I hurled profanity right back at her. A vein popped on Weller's forehead, but even she knew better than to chuck spells at me in the middle of this mess.
Tsk, we're taking longer than I thought...
Before I knew it, thick, viscous secretions had risen all the way up to our shins.
Squish, bubble!
Needless to say, the slime was oozing directly from the mucous walls enclosing the corridor. The toxicity was neutralized thanks to the antidotes, and the rancid smell could be endured... but if we didn't escape soon, we'd drown in this filth.
Tsk...!
Even though I was cross-referencing my memories with the setting guide to navigate the shortest possible route, a creeping sense of anxiety began to set in as the destination failed to appear.
"SKREEEEEECH!"
"KYAAAH!"
CRACKLE! CRUNCH!
The deafening shrieks of demonic beasts, the thrashing violence of the fleshy passage, and the destructive blasts from triggering traps hammered my senses into dizziness—until, finally, the objective I had been searching for came into sight.
It was a dead end.
I saw sudden panic wash over the party's faces, but I didn't care. I raised my voice and roared:
"Here! Muriel! Obliterate the floor!"
"Understood!"
Muriel's Aura Blade sliced through the floor in a clean, decisive sweep. The meat peeled away, revealing a pristine subterranean corridor fashioned of solid stone.
"Jump!"
"Whoa! Don't shove!"
"Eeeek!"
"Kyaah!"
With me leading the charge, the whole party tumbled downward, landing safely on the cold stone below, where we collapsed and gasped frantically for air.