Menestale (3)
Massive dungeons like Menestale feel completely different from clearing your average dungeon.
Back when I used to run dungeons, I cleared them at speedrun pace, practically like I was reading prophecies, remember?
The reason that was possible was because I could control every variable inside a dungeon with my own ability.
The monsters moved with their own wills, sure, but their movement patterns were limited. The traps shifted their positions, but only within a fixed set of spots, so once you memorized them, you could handle them. And the routes? You just memorized every possible path and you were set. No problem there.
Large dungeons were similar in those respects — but one crucial thing was different. They added adventurers wandering around inside.
In ordinary dungeons, only a single party could attempt a clear at a time. There was a hard cap of four people per entry.
The Academy Dungeon was built with that same logic — four entrants at once, no more.
So as long as I poured every ounce of focus into the dungeon itself, I never had to worry about outside variables.
Large dungeons, though? Different story. There was no limit on numbers here. Any party that wanted in could walk right through the door.
Get it? That means this dungeon is stuffed to the brim with idiot NPCs who operate on pure whim, a million miles removed from anything resembling logic.
Ahh. Just explaining large dungeons is getting my blood boiling.
From the perspective of someone playing the game normally, the adventurer variable wasn't entirely a bad thing.
It's true that it raised the difficulty of a clear to absurd heights.
But by the time most players first stepped into a large dungeon in Soul Academy, they were already at the midgame, you see?
They'd cleared most of the ordinary dungeons and were starting to feel comfortable with the game.
That's when the developers dropped in the adventurer gimmick as a fresh new flavor.
A new element to sink your teeth into. Something to keep you hooked.
Even I, back when I first played, thought the adventurer mechanic was pretty decent.
Every now and then, another adventurer would bail you out at a crisis point, and I remember literally shouting "Adventurers are the best!" at my screen.
So why did my opinion change, you ask?
Try being the one running a speedrun. See if you can keep the curses down.
When you're fighting to shave off even a single second from your clear time, do you have ANY idea how horrifying an uncontrollable variable is?!
You finally think you've nailed the record, and then some random adventurer pops out of nowhere and trolls you. Imagine that feeling!
Even now it makes me shudder.
Channeling the grudge of my lost speedrun record, my keyboard, and my monitor, I beat that adventurer within an inch of his life — but a destroyed record doesn't come back just because the troll gets punished.
And right now, the pack of adventurers in front of me is about to do some trolling of their own.
"KYAAAAAK!"
"I DON'T WANNA DIIIIE!"
"Over there! Over there! Please, help us!"
"We're sorry! Please, spare us!"
They'd drawn the aggro of far more monsters than they could possibly handle and were now fleeing for their very lives.
So-called monster training.
It was the single most loathsome variable in my book.
The moment you locked eyes with those bastards, your speedrun was as good as failed.
"My lady."
Karl called out to me and took up a ready stance.
He was asking what I wanted to do, presumably.
If this were a game, I'd have said ditch them without a second's hesitation. I'd been on the receiving end of these people's nonsense far too many times.
But this was reality, and the four corpses that would spring into existence the instant I looked away would settle themselves quite naturally onto my shoulders as baggage.
And I didn't trust myself to bear the weight of that baggage.
'Prepare to fight.'
"Get ready. We're going to save those clueless, good-for-nothing scrub pieces of trash."
So those things tailing behind them were hellhounds, huh.
Haah. Infuriating.
The heat had already cranked my discomfort meter to maximum, then I ran into trolls, and now the trolls had dragged THESE things along behind them.
I took a deep breath and hefted my mace.
"Aw, how cute, the doggies think it's fun to run around like they own the place♡ Been hunting scrubs so long you've started believing you're actual wolves?♡ Oh, by the way♡ You lot are the kind of mutts that belong belly-up on the ground, whimpering in front of humans♡"
As the words poured out of me, the burning hounds' eyes swung toward me.
The Mesugaki skill's aggro-pulling power was absolute. In that instant, their prey had changed from a pack of hapless trash adventurers to me.
"I'll do you all the honor of educating these ugly, pathetic little puppies♡ You'd better be grateful♡"
The lead wolf wheeled around and charged straight at me.
I watched its fangs as it came, jaws full of nothing but the intent to tear out my throat.
They were sharp, no question. Sharp enough, if handled well, to punch clean through steel.
But that was all the beast had.
Coming at me at a speed that couldn't even hold a candle to Frey's sword meant it wasn't the slightest threat to me.
I swung my shield at the hound as it leapt, jaws wide to rip me apart.
The Iron Wall trait murmured something in response, but I didn't listen.
It wasn't that my intent and the Iron Wall's guidance had diverged.
I simply had no intention of blocking.
The shield slammed into the hellhound's face and sent its whole body hurtling into the air. It hit the ground in a crumpled heap, teeth shattered, convulsed once, and went still.
Perhaps because their leader had been swatted into oblivion so effortlessly.
The hellhounds' furious charge lost its momentum.
Ha. Seriously. How annoying can you get.
The flames clinging to those creatures weren't just for show.
Being near them meant the already-sweltering air got even hotter.
"What's wrong, you dumb dogs♡ Scared?♡ Puhaha♡ That's just like a pack of scrubs who've never even heard the word 'pride'♡"
Come at me already.
And then drop dead.
Because of you mutts, I'm the one about to keel over from heatstroke!
Alsaetin knew Lucy's abilities well.
He'd spent months clearing the wild dungeons scattered around the Academy at her side; there was no way he couldn't.
She had every route of every dungeon memorized to perfection.
She knew which monsters spawned where, and how many of them were stationed at each point, and with what armaments.
Naturally, she also knew exactly where every trap in a dungeon was placed, how each one worked, and precisely how to disarm them.
The dungeon boss? Lucy, who knew everything else about the dungeon, obviously knew the boss too.
She handed him flawless clear strategies for every dungeon boss, as though she'd personally dissected each and every one of them.
It wasn't as if Alsaetin had only raided a dungeon or two himself.
He had entered dungeons countless times, both as a party member and as a party leader.
So he knew, better than anyone, what a proper dungeon clear looked like — what competence within one actually meant.
And to Alsaetin's eyes, Lucy Aln wasn't merely an exceptional commander.
It seemed far more accurate to call her a prophet — someone receiving everything about the dungeon directly from the gods.
That is, until today.
"Info broker. I'll draw their attention, so you go toss those scrubs over there a potion."
"Understood."
"Pathetic! How long are you going to dawdle?! You call yourself my knight, struggling with something this trivial?!"
"My apologies!"
"Handle it in ten seconds! Or you'll be punished, you useless piece of trash!"
Even in this moment of chaos — deep inside a massive dungeon, running headlong into one adventurer party after another — Lucy's command remained flawless.
In this hellish environment, where the situation shifted by the second and variables sprang up like weeds, she stayed ice-cold and produced the best possible choice, every single time.
He'd known her leadership was impressive, but he'd still assumed she was more prophet than commander. He'd been wrong.
She was both.
She was a capable commander and a prophet hearing the voice of god.
Ha. And that judgment is coming from someone who only just entered the Academy?
He'd believe it if you told him she was the leader of a veteran party running the deepest floors.
Astonishing. Awe-inspiring.
That couldn't be explained away by the blood of House Aln running in her veins.
Lucy Aln was simply, in and of herself, an extraordinary existence.
It had been worth placing his faith in her and following her here.
Yes.
If anyone could do it, it was her.
She, who was loved by god.
She, who had turned every one of her grand proclamations into truth so far.
She would surely carry him to where his master awaited.
"Info broker! You're too damn slow!"
"Forgive me! The treatment is complete!"
"Then fire at the bastards charging our rear. Now!"
Master. Soon, I shall present myself before your face once more.
Please, welcome this disciple of yours warmly, after so long an absence.
Floor 10 of the Menestale Dungeon.
By the time we reached the chamber where the floor boss lay in wait, I was already half-dead from exhaustion.
Yes, this being a massive dungeon, it was incomparably vaster than the Academy Dungeon — but there was no reason I should have been worn down to this degree.
If it weren't for the adventurers, I wouldn't have been this thoroughly wrung out.
Dammit. Why are there SO many idiot adventurers?! Their spawn rate is way too high! Even in the game it was never this bad!
Thanks to them, clearing the dungeon took far longer than I'd anticipated.
Haah. At this rate, reaching Floor 20 today is out of the question.
I'll have to grind through the dungeon in this heat again tomorrow.
Damned adventurers. Next time I see one on the street, I'm kicking them square in the ass.
And then I'll knock them to their knees and rail at them — why bother being an adventurer when you fight worse than a little girl, you useless scrubs?
Only then will I feel even slightly vindicated!
"My lady. Are you quite all right?"
'Do I look all right to you?'
"Are your eyes just decorative ornaments? Do I look all right to you?"
The heat had me on edge to begin with, the adventurers' trolling had my head pounding, and on top of everything, that face-obsessed fox was lounging up there, sniffing around and grinning like an idiot.
Aargh. I can't take any more. Let's just deal with the Floor 10 boss today and start fresh from Floor 11 tomorrow.
According to Alsaetin, the adventurers swarm like this because these lower floors are open to any Tom, Dick, or Harry.
Past Floor 11 — where the boss starts weeding out the riffraff — things should improve.
"My lady. If you are this worn down, perhaps a brief rest would be wise?"
'No.'
"Pathetic. Shut up."
Just being exposed to this heat feels like my HP is draining in real time, and he wants me to take a break HERE?! No way! If I'm resting, I'm resting outside!
"But if you enter the boss chamber in this state, something could go wrong."
'Don't worry about that.'
"Pathetic. Do you not know who your mistress is? And you still feel the need to fuss over me?"
"Pardon? What do you—"
'This won't be a fight at all, let alone a real battle.'
"Just watch. I'll show you the sorry sight of that scrub beyond this door — collapsing without accomplishing a single thing, miserable and pathetic."
Don't act like a fool, Karl, of all people.
You watched me demolish the Academy Dungeon with your own eyes.
"...You have some kind of plan, then?"
'Obviously.'
"Pathetic. Only NOW you figure that out? Haah. My guard dog really is the dumbest, slowest creature alive."
It's not as if I'm ever going to slug it out head-on with a dungeon boss, you know?