Chapter 715: The Meaning of the Dungeon's Structure
Chapter 715: The Meaning of the Dungeon's Structure
So, we would provide the Arachne Clan with a way forward and let them be the first to stir things up in the places we needed to go.
Of course, it would still be a long time before we went to the 5.5th layer or any of the layers below it.
If the strength of the monsters was the barrier preventing exploration of the 5th layer, then our progress would slow down even more than before.
But that was precisely why Diana's proposal was all the more effective.
Because we would have to give the Arachne Clan plenty of time to get the information we wanted.
By doing so, we could easily obtain maps and information about the monsters there, and as a bonus, we’d get the added effect of thinning out the monster population on the 5.5th layer and beyond.
“In other words, we just have to comfortably walk the path the Arachne Clan has cleared for us.”
And not just any cleared path, but one they cleared by shedding their own blood.
To be honest, for a proposal from Diana, it felt… how should I put it? It might not be the right way to describe it, given she stepped up for our sake, but the suggestion felt a little cheap.
After all, we’d be using them for our own convenience, knowing full well they would be the ones shedding blood.
No. Diana wasn't wrong when she said it was a win-win relationship, since the Arachne Clan was already struggling to find the lower layers, and we were the ones providing them with the information.
She wasn't wrong, but I still couldn't shake the impression that Diana was extremely wary of something in the lower parts of the dungeon.
I mean, I hadn't told anyone about that strange dream I had.
Could it be that Diana had a similar dream?
“…Are you… disgusted by my underhandedness?”
It seemed Diana herself wasn't entirely comfortable with making such a proposal to the Arachne Clan.
Diana, who had already looked a bit timid while speaking, murmured this with a slightly fearful expression after hearing my words.
“No way. It's not like that at all.”
I quickly stroked her head to reassure her.
Even if she did something worse than this, there's no way I could ever come to hate Diana.
Besides, this wasn't underhanded or anything. Diana just stepped up to play the dirty role for our sake.
“But why all of a sudden?”
Had something happened to make Diana this cautious?
“…Did you not say you would focus on honing your skills in the dungeon more than ever before? We are not such fools as to not understand what that means.”
Instantly relieved when I stroked her head, Diana averted her gaze slightly and muttered, as if embarrassed by how easily her expression changed with my every action.
So that was it. In the end, my own ambiguous attitude was the cause of Diana's wariness.
It seemed my attempts to avoid scaring them unnecessarily had the opposite effect, making my girls wary instead.
“Sorry. It was really over nothing important. I just had a bit of a bad, nonsensical dream.”
“I don't think it was a nonsensical dream,”
I tried to quickly explain, but Leia shook her head before I could even describe the dream's contents.
“That's right. The point is, you had the dream and felt anxious, didn't you?”
On top of that, even Matilda agreed with Leia.
I mean, I know I'm the Saint, but with two priestesses showing such absolute faith in me, I was starting to worry that it might have actually been a prophetic dream.
“No. How do you know what my dream was even about…”
“Even without knowing the details, it was likely about the future. It's a dream about the future, had by the one entrusted with a mission by the Goddess. And if that dream made you feel anxious, then that is reason enough to be cautious, no matter what.”
Come on, Matilda. It's great that you trust me so much, but when a Cardinal says something like that, it's starting to make me genuinely anxious, you know?
“So, what was the dream?”
This time it was Sara, who tossed out the question in a tone that tried its best to sound cool.
Come to think of it, I had that dream while sleeping with Sara.
She's already ridiculously good at reading my mind, so she might have been the first one to notice I'd had a strange dream and been worrying about it.
“Oh. It was nothing much, just a dream where I was killed by the Demon God…”
“Idiot! That's not 'nothing much'! Diana! You did the right thing!”
The moment she heard my answer, Sara gave up on pretending to be cool and snapped.
When it came down to it, that was Sara for you—so fond of me she didn't know what to do.
“Hey, I said it was just a dream.”
I was the one who felt anxious about the dream and suggested we focus on improving our skills in the dungeon, but now I was the one forced to downplay it as nothing important.
Should I not have said anything after all?
“…Guwon-nim! I will protect you!”
Seeing even Silvia grip my hand tightly with both of hers, look me straight in the eye with resolute determination, and say that, I started to slightly regret even mentioning the dream's contents.
“I, too, believe the contents of that dream are worth being cautious about. I do not truly think a Demon God is in the dungeon's deepest part, but I am certain that it is, at the very least, imprisoning something dangerous.”
And Diana said this in a tone that suggested she was certain of something.
“…What do you mean?”
“I have given it much thought since then. Do you recall what I said before, upon seeing the giant Magic Stone guarded by the Layer Boss?”
“The one you said had an immense amount of mana and magical formulas etched into it, so vast that it would be impossible for anyone but a god, incomparable even to a Dragon Heart?”
“Mm. And so, did we not consider that the Goddess herself might have created this dungeon?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“I have been thinking based on that hypothesis. If the Goddess created this dungeon, for what purpose could she have made such a dangerous place? And I also considered your theory about it sealing a Demon God.”
“No. But that's hardly enough to be certain…”
“Hear me out. This dungeon has always been thought of as a structure that prevents the intrusion of adventurers, with each layer having a completely different environment. But it suddenly occurred to me to think of it the other way around. Is this structure truly optimized to prevent adventurers from intruding?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Logically, the most effective way to prevent intrusion into a dungeon is to place the strongest monsters at its entrance. If monsters on the level of the 5th or 6th layers were roaming around right from the entrance, it would have been impossible for adventurers to be exploring the dungeon's depths as they are now.”
…She wasn't wrong.
The reason adventurers can traverse the dungeon as they do now is because they can gain experience and grow by fighting monsters that get progressively stronger as they descend from the entrance.
But what if the strongest monsters had been swarming the entrance from the very beginning?
Could adventurers have ever reached such depths?
No. No one would have even thought of setting foot inside, and the dungeon would have been designated a forbidden zone.
“But the dungeon places its monsters in succession, as if guiding adventurers to grow and reach the deeper layers. And I believe this monster placement is not for the sake of adventurers, but for you.”
“You're saying that when the Goddess created the dungeon, she deliberately arranged the monsters this way so that the Saint she would one day entrust with a mission could reach the depths?”
“Mm. And that is not all. Did I not just say that the most effective way to prevent intrusion is to place the strongest monsters at the entrance? But could that not also be thought of in reverse? If there is something below that must not be allowed to get out, the most effective way to prevent its escape would be to place the strongest monsters in the deepest part. In other words, this dungeon was never a structure specialized in preventing intrusion from the start; it is a structure specialized in preventing the escape of whatever is sealed within.”
Hearing Diana's words, I felt as if I'd been struck on the back of the head.
No… to be honest, I'd vaguely felt that the dungeon's structure seemed designed to make it easy for me to descend.
I mean, you can tell just from the fact that a penis is used as a key for the passages, right?
But I had never imagined that while it was helping my intrusion, it was also a structure designed to make it difficult for something sealed to escape.
“And if you think of it that way, the order of the layers also makes sense.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
“Think about it. They may have placed the strongest guardians—the monsters of the 5th and 6th layers—at the very bottom as an obstacle to prevent escape, but one cannot be assured that this alone will stop whatever is sealed, can they? So, in case those monsters are breached, the environments of each layer are manipulated to prevent escape.”
Diana said this, took a sip of the tea in her hand, and then spoke again.
“Consider it from the perspective of something breaking out from below. It breaks through the strongest monsters and, dragging its exhausted body, finally reaches a passage leading upward, only to find the place is completely submerged in water. Any creature that breathes would need corresponding equipment to pass through, and to get it, they might need to turn back the way they came. Back through the path guarded by the strongest monsters.”
“So that's it! Then the other layers too?!”
“Mm. After passing through the water-covered 4th layer and arriving with a drenched body, you find the frigid lands of the 3rd layer. Even if you cover yourself in cold-weather gear and barely break through the 3rd layer, what awaits you next is a scorching desert.”
Only after hearing Diana's explanation could I understand why she was so certain that something dangerous was sealed in the lower layers.
Indeed. The dungeon's structure fit Diana's explanation too perfectly to be a coincidence.
“Th-Then, does that mean…”
“But there is no need to worry too much. I am not certain what awaits us below, but it is at least not a Demon God. If the opponent were a Demon God, mere monster placement and natural environments would not be used as devices to prevent its escape. The opponent is likely a living, breathing creature that feels both heat and cold. And if it is a living creature, then we—and especially you—have a good chance of victory. Do you think the Goddess would have given you such abilities and sent you down here without a thought?”
Looking around at our tense faces, Diana's tone did a 180-degree turn from its previous gravity as she cracked a joke, as if to reassure us.
Then she picked up the staff she had set on the ground for the meal and lightly tapped my crotch with it.
“Diana.”
“Hm?”
“I think that just made me hard. How about we go to the tent for a bit…”
“I will not! You, even at a time like this!”
“No, Diana-ssi. This won't do. You made it hard, so you have to take proper responsibility…”
“I will not! And don't say that with a straight face!”
Of course, having noticed Diana's intention, I eagerly played along with the joke.
It was really just a joke, I tell you! I was only 1% serious… no, 5%… 10%? Ah, whatever, I was only a little bit serious!
Diana was speaking in that flustered tone, but she must have known it was a joke, because she just lowered her staff and ended it by lightly smacking my knee with her palm a few times.
Well, her face was a little red, though.
She probably imagined it. Our Archmage is such a pervert, anyway.
“Ahem! In any case, you can assume there is no Demon God.”
“Yeah. But to think you were having these thoughts, Diana. Since when? Was that thing you did with the ladies from the Mage Association not just to make bracelets, but to discuss this theory?”
“Th-th-th-that's right! Of course it was!”
…So that wasn't it. This girl really did boss around the world's top-class mages purely to make some bracelets.
I mean, it's obvious when you think about it. If she were going to discuss something like that, she would have done it with us, not the ladies from the Mage Association.
And the fact that she came up with this deduction without discussing it with anyone was amazing enough to remind me yet again that Diana is a genius.
Nevertheless, I couldn't help the glint of suspicion that entered my eyes as I looked at her.
“Wh-what is it?! What's with that look!”
“Hm? Oh, nothing~”
“Just what do you take me for! Someday I'll give you a sharp…”
“No need to wait for 'someday.' You can scold me right now. Shall we go to the tent together?”
“Hm? What's this, saying something so commendable for once? Very well. I shall take this opportunity to give you a sharp… I will not go!”
“Tch.”
“Don't you 'tch' me! Honestly, you! You!”
In the end, Diana, who just moments ago had been exuding the aura of the strongest Archmage in history with a solemn expression, shot up from her seat, clenched her hands into cute little fists, and started patting my head over and over.
Yep. This kind of atmosphere suits our party much better than a heavy one.