Let's Conquer the Dungeon (2)
The door appeared to have been sealed only recently. The soldiers standing guard shivered at the icy air and the nose-stinging stench drifting from beyond it.
“How much do you actually know about this dungeon?”
“Pardon…?”
“Enough, Fria. They were simply following orders.”
“Tsk. I know that.”
Whatever had happened inside here. Of course these two had no idea and hadn’t even tried to imagine it. To them it was just occasionally noisy, nothing more.
“……Perhaps you should turn back?”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“……This is most likely the smell of rotting corpses. We aren’t certain, but… it seems they slaughtered one another…”
“This isn’t even a proper dungeon. There’s no need to force your way inside…”
That was why the soldiers worried for the students. They knew, of course, that these young people were far stronger than they were. They simply saw no reason for them to enter at all.
“……Lady Arte. At the very least, you should go back.”
“But…!”
“I agree. There is definitely something in there. I brought you because I thought the dormitory itself might not be safe, but… this is different.”
The dungeon exploration had originally begun for Arte’s growth. Instead, it now looked as though they had dragged her into danger because of that goal. In short, they were hindering her. Taking someone whose combat ability was lacking into a dungeon where survival itself was on the line was reckless, and no one could predict what that recklessness might bring.
“……This cave. It’s dark.”
“Yes? Ah… well, they did say they had taken measures with luminous magic, but the monsters rampaging about may have destroyed the lights.”
“Hmm…”
Even Eres was making idle comments. Arte had sworn to obtain the power to protect herself, yet now that they stood at the threshold, that resolve was beginning to waver. Couldn’t this wait for another day?
“Arte.”
“Yes…?”
“Will you step forward into a special experience? Or will you give up because of the danger? Whatever you choose, I believe it is entirely your decision.”
Eres walked deeper into the cave. She glanced back at the party behind her, but she showed no intention of coming back out.
“At the very least, do not include worry for me in your reasons for choosing.”
“But Eres…”
“Do what you want. Helping you do so is what friends are for.”
“…!”
To Eres, it was an answer that required no hesitation. And because it was an answer that required no hesitation only for Eres, she quietly checked Alto and Fria’s expressions, afraid she might have forced their choices as well.
Yet her worry proved unnecessary. The two walked into the dungeon without pause.
“Honestly, I can’t follow the flow of this conversation at all. Why is Arte worrying about us?”
“Worrying is something I do toward others. It is not something others do toward me. Don’t get full of yourself!”
“Lady Alto… Lady Fria…”
From the beginning, neither of them had ever considered Arte a burden. They had simply been worried about her. They weren’t concerned about being held back, and even if they were, it would not have been her fault. The choice belonged wholly to Arte, for Arte’s sake.
“I…”
Arte clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white. Her legs trembled as she lifted her foot from the ground.
“I want to change too. Even if it’s only once… from now on…!”
“Good. Multiple times is fine as well.”
“…Yes!”
And so their dungeon conquest began.
“Master. May I ask just one question?”
“What is it, Mel? I’m busy, so only one.”
“……? Yes, of course. Master always says that overcoming one’s limits is important, correct?”
“Naturally. It is a principle that applies in any situation.”
Whether he was training himself, fighting, training Foelta, or even when he had ordered Melina to stand with her hands raised—telling her she might grow by surpassing her limits, only to stop her before long.
“Does that logic apply to beings that are not human as well?”
“Hmm? Are you speaking of skills?”
“No. For example, if a tree or a wall were to overcome its limits. If Master kept striking a shield, wouldn’t it eventually surpass its limits and become an unbreakable one?”
“What absurd nonsense is that?”
“……”
If she hadn’t eaten something strange, she must have been trying to make him laugh. Melina suddenly felt the urge to poke the eyes of the master who was looking at her with that exact expression.
“Objects without power or will cannot overcome their limits by themselves. You can see that from Foelta.”
“Huh? Did that person not overcome his limits?”
“The limits I speak of are not so trivial. And the important part is whether they overcame them through their own will.”
If striking a shield could make it harder, then it was not the shield that was remarkable—it was the person. A master craftsman could create a sturdy shield, but he could not create one that grew on its own. And even if he did, how far that shield could grow would depend on the shield’s will, not the craftsman’s.
“So will is the most important factor. Then can animals overcome their limits as well?”
“They should be able to. If I beat one enough, perhaps it would grow furious and try to kill me, surpassing its limits in the process?”
“My sister would never—”
“Quiet.”
“……Then monsters can overcome their limits too. Are those what we call boss monsters?”
“Strictly speaking they are elite monsters. The elite among elites, one might say.”
Luke recalled the goblin he had encountered in the dungeon not long ago. It had been an elite, but not a monster that had broken through its limits. It was simply stronger than the goblins around it.
“So there are still large gaps even among elites.”
“Correct. Once a member of that species reaches a certain level, they are all considered elite.”
“Is there no rank higher than elite?”
“Well, that… I distinctly remember saying only one question.”
He had clearly told her only one. Yet she had followed the tail of one question with another, and another—five times in a row. Only now did he realize he had been answering each one diligently.
“Were you truly being serious about that?”
“I am busy.”
“You’ve been polishing a sword you picked up from somewhere all day. What is that unpleasant-looking blade, anyway?”
“Unpleasant? Yes, it is, isn’t it?”
“Then why do you like it…?”
He felt nothing from the magic sword, so he was simply polishing it. In truth he was not busy at all and had answered her questions willingly, but this particular question was difficult to answer.
‘There were roughly three of them. The ones you must defeat to unlock special skills.’
Monsters that had undergone change—the extreme of mutation. The white rider of the monster realm. A solitary species that had evolved by devouring even the white horse it once rode.
‘Masterpiece. The developers never revealed exactly what they were until the very end.’
“By the way, Master. Are you not going to see my sister today?”
“They went out to conquer a dungeon, apparently.”
Step. Step.
The party of Eres, who had entered the dungeon with bright smiles, now walked through its interior with their mouths pressed into firm lines.
Step. Step.
The only sound echoing inside the dungeon was their footsteps. No other noise could be heard.
Step. Step.
At some point they passed a collapsed wall, but the hole leading downward was blocked, preventing entry.
Step. Step.
They had advanced deep without fighting even once, yet they felt more exhausted than if they had fought consecutive battles.
Step. Step.
They had entered hoping nothing dangerous would appear, but now they found themselves wishing something—anything—would.
“Should we… turn back?”
The first to voice weakness was Fria. Not because she was weak. Precisely because she was strong could she say such words.
They had not encountered any monsters so far. They had not encountered any living monsters so far.
“There are only corpses… Did they really all kill each other?”
Goblins, bats, kobolds, insects. Their bodies were rotting, and the blood that had flooded the floor had long since dried. As though the dungeon itself refused to tolerate living things, everything visible was dead.
“If they are all dead, that would be fortunate, but…”
“……If an individual survived this tragedy…”
It was no longer speculation but certainty. There was definitely something in the depths of this nauseating cave. For the party, the safe area was not the path ahead but the path behind. If they turned back now, they would have to leave something even more dangerous at their backs.
“……”
Eres, walking at the front, did not stop. She continued forward.
Step. Step.
In truth, Eres had a question. Why was she, who had never entered a dungeon before, standing at the very front?
Step. Step.
Yet when she considered changing positions, everyone looked tense. Of course she too sensed that something was wrong, but if they had to do this anyway, perhaps it was better to think of it as gaining new experience.
It was a thought only someone as lacking in experience as she could have. Soft, frail, and having walked her path alone until now, today was the first time she faced a life-or-death battle against an enemy for whom questions about killing held no meaning.
“……Stop.”
The entire party halted at once.
For the first time inside the dungeon, they saw something other than themselves move.
Eyes that had lost focus. Leisurely yet precarious steps. A body smeared black with clotted blood. A long sword clutched in its hand, cracked and filled with blood and shreds of flesh in the gaps.
“Is that a… goblin?”
“It doesn’t appear to be a normal specimen. Arte, stay back…”
Alto and Fria drew their crystal swords. Eres drew her own.
This was the creature that had killed every monster in the dungeon. There was no other possibility. They had wondered what kind of monster could have created such a tragedy on their way here, but seeing it changed their thoughts. As long as that thing lived, no other monster could possibly remain alive.
“Kek… Kiaa…?”
The goblin stared at the figures before it with unfocused eyes. It had definitely killed them all. It had left nothing alive in this dungeon. Enemies, prey, even its own kin.
It didn’t matter who they had been. It didn’t matter now. Everything its eyes could see simply filled it with resentment.
“Kiaaaaaak!!”
“It’s coming!”
The first to step forward against the goblin’s charge was Fria. With her heavy crystal greatsword, armor, and raw power, she was the most stable defender. There was no way the goblin could block her strike with nothing but a cracked sword, so—
Clang—!
Naturally the sword shattered, and the goblin was sent flying with it.
The gap was so absurd it felt almost anticlimactic. The party stared in bewilderment as the goblin flew backward, but—
‘……This is.’
It was surely no less shocking than what the goblin itself felt. He knew nothing of this. In this dungeon, the only one who had wielded a sword was himself. No one had used such a massive weapon.
Which meant.
These were outsiders.
‘Humans…!!!!’
The goblin’s focus sharpened. Its now-clear gaze confirmed its enemies. That man was not among them. But it didn’t matter. They were no different from it.
“Kieeeeeeek!!!!”
The goblin corrected its posture mid-air and landed heavily. The broken sword was irrelevant. It had been too large for a goblin anyway.
“Hey… something’s off! Did you actually cut it, Fria?!”
“Was it hard? I’m not sure, but I didn’t feel it slice…! But what the hell is that thing?!”
“……With that last attack… it seems to have regained its senses…”
“……It’s coming again.”
The goblin charged once more. Its target was the woman who had attacked it moments ago.
“Kiaak!!”
“Not so fast…!”
Clang—!
Fria’s greatsword blocked the goblin’s broken blade. The solid crystal did not receive so much as a scratch. As if—
“What is this goblin…”
“Kek… Kiyaaaaak!!!”
“It’s… lifting my sword!”
Just like the man who had received her attacks over a hundred times not long ago. The strength was insufficient. Stronger. Stronger. Stronger still.
“Alto! Left side!”
“On it!”
The moment the burning power rising from the depths of its body tried to lift the sword, the presence of the other two humans entered the goblin’s mind. Strikes coming from both sides almost simultaneously. If it pulled back to dodge, the greatsword in front would sweep through.
“Kiek…”
Must it be hunted so easily by these detestable humans? After killing all its kin and remaining alone in this cave, must it surrender everything so simply?
Stronger. Stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger—!!!
If only it had the strength—!
“Kieeeeeek!!!”
“Ugh…!”
Bang—!
Three humans poured their attacks toward a single point. Only one figure bled in that spot.
“That… goblin…!”
“Fria!”
And now one monster had finally—
“Hu…man…kie…aaaaaak!!!”
—reached its limit.
The Goblin Avenger is evolving.
MASTERPIECE
Special Skill: Strike of Resentment acquired.
Special Skill: Egg of Calamity acquired.