D-Rank Hidden Dungeon: Cave Where the Ancient Dragon Slumbers

Yujun broke into a bright smile. The hidden dungeon, thankfully, was still right where it had always been—and on the way in, he'd even flipped an enormous middle finger at the dark elves on his heels.

Lost me right in front of their faces. They must be furious.

They'd burned that precious Target Designation scroll, and still let him slip away. Their rage would be past anything words could hold.

Yujun turned a fond, almost loving gaze on the Dungeon Monopoly Right.

He hardly ever used the thing, but this time it had done him a world of good.

To think I'd end up back here.

The feeling was strangely fresh. The clear reward for this dungeon had been staggering.

If they hand out the same reward as back then...

He wouldn't even need his inventory. The dark elves waiting outside would be no trouble at all.

I came all this way for this dungeon alone. Please, let the reward be the same...

Yujun glanced around. It was dark, but not so dark that the way ahead vanished, and the air sat at just that pleasant edge of cool.

The Cave Where the Ancient Dragon Slumbers. A dungeon of D-rank difficulty. A hidden dungeon made even D-rank a serious prospect, and yet, for a place saddled with a name as dreadful as ancient dragon, the difficulty was remarkably low. The reason was exactly what the name said. It was an ancient dragon—so old and frail it could barely move. A dragon, call it what you liked. Clearing the place was no simple thing, but back then he had judged it easy enough beside the reward it paid.

Mei, who had gone in ahead of him, went wide-eyed.

"A-a hidden dungeon? Yujun, this is a hidden dungeon?"

"Looks that way."

"You didn't come in here knowing?"

"No. I saw something, so I threw the dice."

He laid the lie out without so much as a flicker. Mei didn't doubt him for a second. Her eyes lit up.

"Oh, but our luck really is incredible! Of all the places to run, a hidden dungeon!"

"Isn't it."

"...Though now that I think about it, isn't it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even worse that just the two of us walked into a hidden dungeon? The name literally says an ancient dragon is asleep in here..."

Mei fussed and fretted. Watching her, Yujun let out a big, loose laugh. They hadn't known each other long, and already it felt as if they'd grown quite close.

"Well. It'll work out."

"Aren't you a little too calm about this? There are dark elves outside..."

"It'll sort itself out somehow. Like you said, our luck is good."

"...You're scary."

Yujun had cleared this dungeon once before. Back then his combat power had been weaker than it was now—his level high, yes, but the quality of his items and the shape of his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stats a long way from what they were today. So he wasn't especially worried.

From ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the entrance, the place split into three paths. He set off down the left one without a moment's hesitation.

"W-wait. You're not just walking in blind, are you?"

"Standing around won't fix anything. We have to try something."

"Even so, a little more carefully..."

Yujun turned a sharp look on Mei, still chattering away at his back.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that?"

"Keep it down. Make that much noise and you'll draw monsters that aren't even here."

"Ah! You're right. I'm sorry."

He hadn't chosen the left path on a whim.

First, hunt the monsters and get my level up.

The ancient dragon could wait until the very end. Old and decrepit, even standing at death's door, it was still a dragon in name. Not the sort of thing you hunted on a lark. The left path was the one that spawned ordinary monsters in droves, and that was why he'd taken it. Mei didn't know it yet, but a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠great many of them were about to appear.

Yujun drew out a few potions—not for himself, but in case Mei was hurt. Once dozens of monsters came charging, he wouldn't have a scrap of attention left to spare for her.

Well. She's an elf. She'll manage.

Staying on good terms with the elves was one thing. Babying Mei was another. What mattered more than any of that was his own hide.

Thud. Thud.

It wasn't long before a tremor ran through the ground—not the terrain shifting, but monsters on the march.

"Something's coming!"

Mei had barely gotten the shout out before Yujun, already lunging ahead, thrust his sword forward.

Thuk!

A monster of hideous shape died with the blade through its skull. Behind it, the reeking creatures called Fractals came crashing down on him. Yujun yanked himself back and swung.

Shhk!

The blow hadn't even carried his full strength, but the weapon's attack power was so overwhelming that their bodies sheared apart like tofu.

By the time he'd cut down six of them in a blink, his level had climbed by one. Absurdly fast—possible only because the monsters sat far above him. The ordinary spawns of the Cave Where the Ancient Dragon Slumbers were no match for Yujun.

Shhk! Shhk!

Yujun and Mei—or, to be precise, Yujun alone—slaughtered their way forward at speed.

It's this easy?

He was impressed with himself. If even he felt that way, Mei, watching from behind, was past surprise and into disbelief with every passing second.

Is that even possible?

She couldn't look at the martial might of the human in front of her and not be shaken. It wasn't that the monsters' attacks failed to reach him. Sharp claws struck his armor and simply shattered, or bounced away, leaving him unharmed. Nothing, meanwhile, could take the sword he swung. There was no fight here to begin with. It was a one-sided slaughter. A hunt.

What on earth is he equipped with...

It wasn't only the items. His physical ability was far too high for his level. Somewhere in the middle of it, her own level had ticked up by one as well.

When the skirmish ended, Mei found her voice.

"Yujun... what are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you this strong?"

"Sorry? What kind of question is that?"

"The level in the party window is clearly 113. It's weird."

"Level isn't everything."

"I know that. But there's a limit."

It wasn't the first time he'd gotten that reaction, nor the second. Yujun just laughed it off, a little awkward.

"Anyway, I feel bad that I'm not helping at all..."

"It's fine. Fighting alone is better for me, too. Good chance to sharpen my sense for a real fight."

Mei had nothing to say to that.

Yujun didn't rest even a full minute before he was hunting again. The left path ran long; only after nearly half a day of cutting through monsters did they reach its end.

"Let's rest here a moment."

"Why? You don't look tired at all."

"I am, a little. And we have to go back the way we came."

He'd called for a rest, but he was on his feet again in no time, dusting himself off. There was still a long way to go.

Back near the entrance, at the three-way split, Yujun stopped before the middle path. The middle path was the trap corridor. No monsters—only traps. A place you simply did not go. His reason for going anyway was simple. There was an item in there.

Mei started after him, and he raised a palm to stop her.

"Wait there."

"What? Why?"

"There are a lot of traps ahead."

"How do you know that?"

"A feeling. High chance they're there. If we both go in, we'll just put each other in danger, so I'll go alone."

"All right."

He strode forward. And then—

Shwaaak!

He hadn't stepped on anything. He hadn't pressed a single device. Even so, thorny vines came screaming down from the ceiling straight at him. As if he'd been waiting for them, he swung again and again and shredded the vines to pieces.

Oh. I remember this.

Maybe it was because becoming a player had driven his body into the realm of the superhuman, and his memory had sharpened with it. Things he'd thought forgotten came back as clear as yesterday, and using what he knew had gotten much easier because of it.

There were never many users who played War of the Gods in the first place...

Among the players sitting at the very top right now, there would be a few faces he knew. He was already looking forward to running into them.

Before that, I need to get strong. Fast.

Five enormous logs, hung from ropes, came flying at him from every side. He shot forward, slipped three of them, and cut the remaining two—both on vicious trajectories—clean through with his sword. A body that performed this well moved exactly as he willed it. Inconvenient was the last thing it was. He advanced a step ahead of every trap, as if he had the whole corridor memorized, and broke through the path in short order.

At the end, Yujun looked around.

"It should be around here..."

The trapped stretch was behind him. He thought of the item he'd stumbled across near this spot while playing War of the Gods.

Thanks to that, the return on everything I spent went way up.

He tapped a wall thick with moss, using his scabbard.

Sssk.

A fistful of the heavily rusted wall crumbled away. Stone fell in shards, and in the hollow left behind sat a single golden object. A ring, to be exact—deep yellow, and still holding its luster.

"Been a while."

A smile touched his mouth. He pulled up the item information at once.

The option was nothing much. Consume it, and Luck goes up. Eating a ring was strange enough on its own, but the point was the Luck.

If this had been the kind of option you got by wearing it, I'd have had it on ages ago.

A pity it wasn't equipment. On the other hand, a consumable that ended after a single use meant there was no level requirement to equip it.

And the effect is permanent.

Yujun wiped the ring clean and swallowed it whole. No taste, of course—just the unpleasantness of metal in his mouth. Then a message appeared before his eyes, and he smiled.

He couldn't say how long he'd waited for that message. A rise in Luck wasn't something you shrugged off as merely being a bit luckier. It was the same as receiving an enormous modifier on everything he did.

I'm the one who's felt that effect in person.

It applied properly, too, whenever he used an item meant to grant him something. And—

Has the time come to use this?

From his inventory, Yujun drew out something shaped like a pill.

A hidden piece he'd found in the hell-difficulty tutorial. At last, the moment had come to consume the Long-Aged Elixir and obtain a trait.