The Abyss Staircase, Battlefield of Agony

It begins now.

The moment the red digital numbers hit 00:00:00, a brief silence fell, as if time itself had frozen. The heat of pleasure and the carnal scent that had saturated the space vanished in an instant. A stillness so profound that even the sound of my own heartbeat seemed to fade. A crushing pressure, as if every sound in existence were being sucked into a void, weighed down upon my entire body. The tension froze the smiles on my legionnaires' faces instantly.

Following that brief silence, system messages flooded in like a storm.

As the system messages filled my vision and then vanished, the cozy dungeon space began to heave violently. The walls and floor writhed like a living creature. Cracks in the ceiling expanded in an instant, engulfing the entire space. It wasn't just a simple fissure; it was as if space-time itself were being torn asunder to open a massive gate, accompanied by an ear-splitting, deafening roar.

Kugugugugugu!!! Kwaaaaaang!!! Zzzzzzzzzzt!!!

Space was literally being shredded and collapsing. The patterns on the walls distorted, and the texture of the floor shifted. I clung tightly to my legionnaires, tangled together. Everyone bit their lips hard, refusing to scream, holding on for dear life. A violent force pulled us upward and in unknown directions simultaneously. It was a sensation of floating and twisting, as if we were climbing a giant staircase at an impossible speed, or perhaps shifting through dimensions.

Dazzling light and distorted landscapes flashed before my eyes, impossible to endure without closing them. "Aaaaaah!!! Empress! What on earth is this?" Luna, the most delicate of us, cried out in the chaos.

"Don't panic! Hold on! Don't let go of each other!" I shouted, though I was gripped by the same extreme confusion and anxiety.

The distortion of space-time, which felt both brief and eternal, ceased, and our bodies landed on a hard, cold floor. The debris that had been collapsing with the fissures vanished without a trace, and all noise stopped. When I slowly opened my eyes, we were no longer in my cozy, familiar dungeon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠space.

It was a completely new area. An overwhelmingly massive circular space. It looked like the Colosseum of ancient Rome, or an arena for the gods. The circular floor, dozens of meters in diameter, was made of solid, dark gray stone, and a cold chill seeped through the soles of my feet. The walls were made of smoothly polished black rock, rising endlessly upward, giving the impression of a sky trapped within.

Scattered throughout the arena were various instruments and strangely shaped gimmicks—beds, waterbeds, chairs, pillars—similar to those we had seen in the previous dungeon, but far more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠diverse and bizarre. Chairs with golden shackles, tentacle-shaped devices, jewel-encrusted beds... they didn't look like weapons for combat, but rather devices designed to induce extreme pleasure or pain and absorb energy.

We stood at one end of this massive circular space, as if dragged out from behind a stage. At the opposite end, a structure similar to ours was visible, with thick darkness lurking behind it. And along the edge of the space, there were endless tiers of stairs. Were these spectator seats? It was a massive scale, enough to seat tens of thousands, yet it was completely empty. It exuded a pressure, as if we were being watched from somewhere.

Is this... the next floor of the Dungeon of Abyss?

Just then, we sensed an overwhelming presence and gaze from high above the space. At the edge of the arena, floating like an island in the sky, was a massive dais. A cold dais made of black rock. And sitting on that dais... were two figures.

One was a being I knew all too well. The very entity who summoned me to this world, transformed me into the female body I never wanted, and turned me into the Empress who rules the dungeon through the training of senses. The Dungeon Master.

He was still veiled in mystery, but he sat with his chin in his hand, looking down at us with an inscrutable smile. His gaze was like a bottomless universe, observing us as if we were an interesting spectacle. Beside him sat... someone I had never seen before. Externally, she looked like a human woman, but the energy radiating from her was as unfathomable and powerful as the Dungeon Master's.

She wore a strange outfit—a robe, with horns or some other decoration on her head, and a peculiar harness-like design that seemed to reveal her entire body while covering only the essentials. She possessed a cold beauty, and she looked down at us cynically with ice-cold eyes.

"Is there a reason you had to call me?" the woman beside him asked the Dungeon Master, sounding bored.

"Wouldn't it be better to see them in advance? We'll meet eventually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anyway."

"Pfft. Why would I ever need to meet such a fledgling?"

"Heh heh. You never know. Look at their eyes. I think they'll last quite a while."

"Them? Hmph. Doesn't look like it at all."

Fury surged within me. They had set up this entire situation without a word of explanation, thrown us into this massive arena, and were now sitting there like spectators, mocking us. "You! Dungeon Master! What is the meaning of this?! Why didn't you explain what would happen to me, what I have to do, or why this battle is starting?!"

My voice echoed through the massive arena. It was a cry mixed with rage, resentment, and fear of an unknown future. The Dungeon Master, unbothered by my anger, instead let out an unknown, yet clearly mocking laugh.

"Hahaha... I told you almost everything. 'Build your empire. Once it is complete, you will return to your world.' I'm pretty sure I said that."

"You didn't say we'd have to fight like this."

"Heh heh. Well. It looks like you've made what preparations you could. Didn't you guess?"

"How long do we have to do this?"

"You've only just entered... you talk too much. This is only the first round of the game."

"Game?! You call this a game?! We could die!"

"Death? Well... I suppose that could happen. You could consider annihilation to be death."

The Dungeon Master shrugged with utter indifference. "But isn't it exciting? The moment your lovely Futanari legion finally clashes with another kingdom. Will that power work on others, too? I'm very curious to see how much your power has grown, how loyal your legion is, and whether you can overcome this ordeal."

Humiliating memories from the past surfaced. The time I was first summoned to this dungeon, forced into a woman's body I didn't want, and had to submit while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠being trained in pleasure by this Dungeon Master. The being who made me this way. Who TS'd me, made me train Futanaris, and now forces me to fight others. Rage boiled over.

"Shut up! Do you think things will go your way?! Do you think I'm your puppet?!"

Even at my shout, the Dungeon Master only offered a mocking smile instead of an answer. "Don't waste your strength. If you want to survive. I am not the one you will be fighting."

With a wave of his hand, the massive gate on the opposite side began to open with a heavy sound. The black steel door slowly slid aside, and from the darkness within, accompanied by a cold chill, a silhouette emerged. We all tensed up. The six legionnaires stuck close to my back or side. They were frozen by the presence of the Dungeon Master, whom they were seeing for the first time, and his malicious demeanor. But now, someone else was appearing.

As we were all so tense, Laila whispered quietly but clearly. "Don't worry too much. It's the first round. The first round is likely an easy, bumbling opponent. It will be a good opportunity to test what we have trained and prepared. The first opponent is probably just some bumbling idiot king who called in whoever he wanted to play with... Don't worry."

Laila's voice tried to reassure me, but my intuition told me otherwise. His words, "one who has climbed the Labyrinth of Growth," implied that this enemy was likely an expert who had cleared at least the first floor.

What emerged from the darkness... was not the "bumbling idiot king" we had expected. It was the figure of a woman with cold beauty. However, deep pain and madness were etched into her face. Bloodless lips, pale skin, and eyes that looked addicted to suffering. Behind her, women of a similar atmosphere, or beings who looked like women, appeared in a line. From their bodies, a sharp, cold energy of agony, the exact opposite of pleasure, radiated out.

They possessed beautiful bodies and faces, yet carried an air of unpleasantness and pain. It was similar to the look of a female idol who hadn't been able to rest for days, hadn't slept properly, but hadn't yet stepped onto the stage. They were pretty, but they exuded the irritation and unpleasantness that comes from painfully enduring reality before going on stage.

"Oh. Are those them? The Queen of Agony, Aria? They're all TS, right?" The mysterious woman beside the Dungeon Master asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Ah. That's right. The ones who turn agony into power. That's why I called them, to see them. If it's them, it'll be worth watching. It's fun to watch how much they make their opponents suffer."

I heard her comment. I wasn't the only one who heard it. My six legionnaires surely heard it too. They just kept their mouths shut, paralyzed by overwhelming tension.

-To be continued