Speedrun
I had fully intended to take this chance to clear the dungeon with just Panir.
But the moment Salad heard my proposal, she started clinging to me, insisting it was too dangerous and begging to come along.
Even Esme, who had been standing there with her arms crossed and a thoroughly displeased look on her face, somehow ended up right behind us before I knew it.
In the end, what was supposed to be a two-person run with Panir turned into a four-person expedition with the exact same lineup from the academy’s grand bathhouse.
Dozens of overlapping magic circles wrapped around the massive gate at the dungeon’s entrance.
Panir’s blue eyes darted rapidly, tracing the tangled currents of mana.
“Ooh… Defense magic and dimensional distortion magic are layered together, yes. To perfectly analyze and dismantle this structure would take at least…”
“It’ll take forever, right? Then let’s just blow it up.”
At my decisive words, all three pairs of eyes locked onto me.
To open that gate the normal way, you had to solve every single puzzle on the floor.
That was the standard clear method.
“Panir. Hit that entrance with one seriously powerful spell.”
“Pardon? I must have misheard, yes?”
“You heard me right. And Salad, can you support Panir so her magic stays stable?”
Salad hesitated for a moment, looking startled, then nodded with a determined expression.
“Y-Yeah! Got it!”
Finally I turned to Esme, who was still standing with her arms crossed, watching the whole scene with a mocking look.
“Esme, if any traps go off, you handle them.”
She let out a disbelieving snort of laughter.
“Ha? Who the hell are you to order me around?”
“Well, if you’re not confident… I’ll just ask Salad instead. You can hide in the back, then?”
My provocation made Esme’s red eyebrows twitch. She glared at me like she wanted to murder me for a second, then smirked and adjusted her grip on her long spear.
I looked back at Panir.
“Can you do it?”
Panir closed her eyes briefly, sensing the flow of mana ahead, then opened them with resolve.
“Would a Meteor be enough, yes?”
“Th-That’s a bit much. Tone it down a little.”
“Haha, of course I was joking, yes.”
The playful smile vanished as she stretched both hands forward.
Dense, pure crimson mana unlike anything before began to bloom from her fingertips.
Crackle-crack!
As if reacting to our reckless actions, the magic circles around the dungeon flared all at once and launched dozens of mana arrows.
“Is that all you’ve got? This isn’t even a warm-up!”
Esme shouted as she swung her spear.
Her spear danced in crimson arcs, batting away and shattering every incoming arrow.
Meanwhile, Panir’s mana kept condensing until it blazed like a miniature sun.
Beside her, Salad poured everything she had into supporting Panir’s power.
“Demolition Flame!”
At Panir’s cry, the condensed mass of mana shot toward the gate.
KRAAAAAASH—!!
A deafening roar that tore at our eardrums. The gate blocking our path vanished completely into dust.
“…Do you always enter dungeons like this?”
Esme muttered, clicking her tongue after swatting away the last mana arrow.
“Of course not. Not every dungeon can be forced open with raw power. This one’s just a little special.”
And so we charged forward at breakneck speed, laughing in the face of the dungeon’s rules.
The next chamber was a maze of moving stone statues combined with collapsing floor traps.
Normally you would have to memorize the pattern of the pressure plates to get through, but we had no need for that.
“We just make our own path! Esme, you’re up!”
Esme smashed every statue blocking the way with her spear, and we simply walked across the rubble, cutting straight through the maze.
In every room after that, what we did was reckless, absurd, and downright barbaric.
But at the same time, it was the fastest and most certain method.
At last we reached the deepest part of the dungeon—the final boss chamber.
What greeted us there was a colossal guardian golem that nearly scraped the ceiling.
Its entire body was covered in ancient script, and an eerie blue light leaked from the core in the center of its chest.
“That thing looks pretty dangerous.”
Esme was right. The golem’s movements were slow, but the destructive power packed into each fist looked like it could pulverize bones with a mere graze.
“Yeah. With your current strength, it’d be… more than a little tough.”
Esme bristled at my words.
“Haaah? You keep provoking me like that on purpose so I’ll do whatever you want, don’t you?”
“Ahaha… I’m not looking down on you. I genuinely mean this guy is terrifying, so leave this one to me.”
I turned my back on the three of them and walked slowly toward the golem.
Panir and Salad watched me with clear anxiety, but they trusted me enough to stay put and wait.
Kuuuuung…!
As I approached, the golem’s blue eyes locked onto me and flashed threateningly, as if ready to turn me into a handful of dust at any second.
But I didn’t stop.
Finding this hidden quest the first time was pure coincidence.
The master of this dungeon had been an ancient mage.
After losing his lover to an incurable disease, he built this vast dungeon to protect the memories of her. And to its final guardian, the golem, he left one command.
Instead of drawing a weapon, I placed a hand over my heart. Then, as if reciting lines from an old play, I whispered in a quiet yet powerful voice.
“Your face has become the starlight of the night sky,”
At that first verse, the golem that had been raising its fist toward me froze completely.
“and your breath has become the pulse of stone.”
As my voice rang out, the ancient characters covering the golem’s body began to glow faintly.
“Wh-What the hell is that…?”
A dazed sound slipped from Esme’s lips, but I paid it no mind and continued.
“In the place where light and sound have both fallen still,”
I closed my eyes and spoke the final line.
“I wait only for the sound of your footsteps.”
The moment I finished those words—filled with the last true feelings of a man who had promised eternity—the eerie blue light dominating the golem vanished as if it had never been.
In its place, a warm, gentle crimson light like a sunset rose up.
As though after centuries of waiting it had finally met its master’s lover, the massive golem slowly sank into a kneeling posture before me.
Then cracks began to spread across its once-solid body.
Crack… crumble…
The enormous form crumbled away like sand, and all that remained floating in the air was the core in the center of its chest, glowing with a warm crimson light.
“….”
Esme, Panir, Salad—none of them could speak.
They could only stare in stunned silence as the powerful guardian that had seemed ready to destroy everything turned to dust in an instant.
I reached toward the floating core and gave it a light tap.
With a clear ting, the core shattered, and an antique golden key dropped into my palm.
With the golem defeated, the dungeon’s final chamber finally revealed itself.
A treasure chest sat alone in the center of the room. Without hesitation I inserted the key I had just obtained and turned it.
Inside were pieces of equipment that anyone could tell were valuable, each radiating its own imposing presence.
But my gaze didn’t go to those dazzling streams of light.
I passed them all by and picked up a small, simply designed necklace tucked into the farthest corner of the chest.
“This is all I need.”
“…Out of all that stuff, why pick the plainest-looking one?”
Esme asked, clearly unable to understand.
In her eyes, the other items still inside the chest—ones radiating far stronger mana—seemed to glitter invitingly.
I slipped the necklace around my neck and smiled faintly.
This unassuming-looking Necklace of Protection greatly boosted resistance to mental status effects like Persona Erosion.
Even in the original game, some of the most effective potions came with matching risks.
But getting hit with a status ailment from nothing more than a single cup of tea had been completely unexpected.
From now on I should at least take out the bare minimum insurance.
“This is the one I need most.”
I smiled in satisfaction as I looked over the remaining loot.
I have to make sure the ones who suffered with me get their fair share.
“Panir, here’s the Ring of Mana Amplification. With your control, you should be able to draw out the amplification effect without any risk of it going berserk.”
“Ooh, you know the principle behind it, yes?”
“Only roughly. Salad, this is for you—the Mana Tear Earrings. They’ll raise the precision of your magic and lower the chance of hitting allies when you use wide-area spells.”
“Wow…! Really? Thank you, Saya!”
Finally I looked at Esme.
She still wore a grumpy expression, but her ears were perked in my direction.
“Esme, for you… these Flame Mage’s Bracers. They should suit your fighting style and come in handy.”
At my explanation, Esme’s eyes flicked back and forth between me and the bracers, a mix of shock and excitement swirling in them.
“The rest we can sell at a magic tool shop for a pretty decent sum. Let’s split it evenly.”
Salad, still happily holding the Mana Tear Earrings, tilted her head and looked at me.
“But Saya, how did you know everything about this dungeon?”
“If I were to explain this dungeon… it’s a long story. Something like one mage’s pure love tale.”
“Ooh, I would very much like to hear the details, yes.”
Panir’s blue eyes sparkled with genuine interest.
Gossiping about someone else’s love life isn’t really my style… but considering he left stories of himself and his lover all over the continent, maybe he’d actually prefer people talking about it?
I shrugged and changed the subject.
“I’ll tell you the whole thing slowly later. For now, let’s get out of here before the professors come running after all the noise we made.”