What came after the long tunnel was a stairway leading underground.
“At the very least, it doesn’t seem to be a first-class dungeon.”
A first-class dungeon? Were dungeons divided into classes too?
Apparently I wasn’t the only one wondering, because Baldik tilted his head and asked,
“A first-class dungeon? How do you know?”
“You can usually get a rough idea from the size of the dungeon.”
“Size? We’ve only seen the stairs, so how—”
“There are exceptions, but most first-class dungeons are single-floor dungeons made up of one level. But this place has an underground floor, which means it’s at least second-class.”
“Th-then… if it’s around second-class, how dangerous is it?”
Cowin asked with an uneasy expression.
“I’m not an adventurer myself, so I don’t know the details, but… you’d probably need about two teams of third-class adventurers.”
At those words, Cowin’s face darkened sharply.
Two teams of third-class adventurers. I didn’t know the details, but even so, I could feel a clear gap between that and the four of us.
“But we have a mage!”
“Right. Ordinary adventurer parties usually don’t have a mage.”
The others’ expressions brightened again as they looked at me.
I really wished they wouldn’t look at me like that.
I didn’t know how to use magic.
As I lamented inwardly, Drek spoke to me.
“Can you use the detection stone?”
“Ah.”
Right, the detection stone.
Only then did I remember the pebble in my hand.
The detection stone that hadn’t reacted no matter what I did.
How was I supposed to get out of this situation?
If they found out I couldn’t use magic, their attitude would definitely change.
And since they were all criminals, a change in attitude would be the least of my worries.
After agonizing over it for a long while, I tossed out a single line.
“It’s not the time yet.”
“Not yet? What do you mean?”
“Do I have to explain all of that?”
From what I’d heard, mages held a quasi-noble status.
In that case, it wouldn’t be strange for me to come on a little strong.
Of course, we were currently moving as a team. I wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict.
“…Well, if you’re a mage, I suppose you have your own thoughts. Let’s go down for now.”
‘Phew…’
I’d succeeded in muddling my way through.
Of course, everyone seemed somewhat suspicious, but they didn’t appear to seriously doubt me.
Just what kind of existence was a mage?
I’d gotten past it for now, but the problem was what came next.
It wasn’t as if I could keep fooling them forever… My head was spinning.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Only the sound of our footsteps descending the stairs echoed through the quiet space.
After going down a fairly deep staircase, we were finally able to step onto level ground.
The underground floor we arrived at was like a maze.
It was a simple structure, with rectangular stone corridors stretching forward, backward, left, and right.
The passage was narrow enough that three people standing side by side would fill it completely.
Perhaps the aftereffects of the earlier tremor still lingered, because stone dust kept crumbling down from the ceiling.
If I stayed in a place like this for long, I’d die of lung disease before anything else.
“…A maze-type, huh.”
“At least there won’t be any large monsters.”
The word I’d been secretly worrying about finally appeared.
Monsters.
Those beings called monsters, or beasts, were an essential element in any game where dungeons appeared in reality.
I was a modern man who had nothing to do with fighting.
I’d have a hard time even fighting Ppoppy from next door, and now I was suddenly supposed to fight monsters?
A vague fear made my stomach churn.
“If it’s a maze-type, we need the detection stone…”
“Well, the good mage says he doesn’t want to use it.”
“Then what, where do we start exploring?”
There were stairs behind us, and one passage each in front, left, and right.
All the passages looked exactly the same, with nothing to distinguish them except direction.
“Well, since no one seems to have any particular opinion, let’s go forward.”
When everyone hesitated without offering an opinion, Drek stepped forward and spoke.
“Before we set out, is there anything notable about any of you?”
“…”
After deciding on a direction, Drek asked everyone.
Well, combat was right in front of us, so we needed to know what each of us could do.
It was a moment that made me feel Drek’s experience as a mercenary all over again.
“Then I’ll go first. I’m fairly confident in my shield work and swordsmanship, but…”
He looked down at the dagger in his hand and sighed.
“Since this is all we have, well, even so, I’m fairly confident when it comes to combat.”
Drek seemed to have a certain amount of confidence in his own ability.
Had he been a fairly successful mercenary? How had he ended up a prisoner?
Honestly, I was extremely curious about that, but since there was an unspoken atmosphere that no one should ask, I didn’t bring it up.
As everyone hesitated, Drek looked at Cowin as if telling him to speak.
“I, I’m, um…”
“Speak with confidence.”
“I-I’m only confident in things like picking locks…”
Considering Cowin’s occupation, it was a skill that suited him well.
Didn’t he have anything like a stealth skill?
“Lockpicking should be useful.”
“Huh?”
“In dungeons, locked chests or doors sometimes appear. When that happens, you’ll be of use.”
At the unexpected praise, Cowin was too embarrassed to lift his head.
“So, what can our self-proclaimed priest do?”
“…I can manage hemostasis, at least.”
“What?”
Perhaps surprised by Baldik’s words, Drek’s expression stiffened.
“Even so, three or four times a day is my limit.”
“If that’s true, it’ll be more than useful.”
Judging by how surprised everyone was, hemostasis apparently didn’t mean ordinary bandage compression.
Then should I consider Baldik a healer?
As always, I was last.
“I…”
What could I do?
I’d been an ordinary office worker, so combat was obviously impossible.
I had no skills like lockpicking, and no medical knowledge either.
If I had to name something, wouldn’t it be writing documents?
But there was no way I could say that.
“I can use magic.”
“We all know that. What color Magic Tower are you from?”
“Hey, don’t pry too much.”
“Asking the color should be fine.”
Color…
That was something written in the diary.
If I remembered correctly.
“Th-the Blue.”
It had said Blue Magic Tower.
“Blue?”
“I thought you’d be Yellow because of your hair color.”
“That’s probably…”
Hair color?
Did something change depending on hair color?
“By any chance, what kind of magic—”
“Enough. Stop there.”
“Tch. I don’t think unwritten rules are the problem right now.”
“There’s no need to offend him for no reason. We’ll find out anyway.”
Were mages strongly inclined toward privacy? At least for me, it was a beneficial situation.
“In any case, if it’s Blue, then we don’t have to worry about drinking water.”
“Ah, right. That’s quite fortunate.”
Just as I’d roughly expected, the Blue Magic Tower seemed related to water.
Of course, I was in no position to use it, but the truth was, I still felt excited at the thought of magic.
Warrior, thief, priest, mage.
Put that way, we were a standard party, like the opening of an RPG.
***
At Drek’s suggestion, we also decided on a basic formation.
Drek Cowin
Baldik
Me
It was an inverted triangle formation, with Drek at the front, Baldik and Cowin guarding the left and right, and me taking the rear.
Shouldn’t Baldik, the priest, be safely in the back? I wondered, but apparently it was a formation that took into account the possibility of being ambushed from behind…
What if I got ambushed? Healers really were nobles here too.
Once the formation was decided, we set out immediately with Drek at the front.
We advanced through the dark passage by the light of Drek’s torch, and I, standing alone in the back, held my own torch while glancing behind me.
The hand opposite the one holding the dagger had gone white before I knew it.
I walked down the passage for quite a while with my whole body tense like that, but nothing happened, to the point that my tension felt pointless.
Around the time I was growing exhausted from being so tense, Drek stopped.
“Another fork in the road.”
What appeared instead of monsters was another fork.
“This time, left?”
Without a word, everyone moved toward the left passage.
I walked while thinking, I hope nothing happens this time either, but unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true.
This time, it wasn’t a fork.
What appeared was a wide rectangular room.
The spacious room, at least thirty square meters in size, was unfortunately not empty.
The things visible inside the room, half-lit by the torchlight, were—
Thin, bony bodies and small frames like children.
Shaggy fur growing all over their bodies.
Heads resembling those of animals.
They were monsters.
Creatures that anyone would call monsters occupied the room.
“Kobolds, huh.”
“Those are kobolds?”
They looked a little different from what I knew.
The kobolds I knew had felt like relatives of beastmen, but reality seemed to be a bit different.
Just as we had spotted them, they seemed to have spotted us as well.
“Keruk?”
“—Kereruk!”
The sounds that reached us were like the cries of beasts.
Once I was certain they weren’t human, for some reason, I felt slightly relieved.
“…”
“Keruk…”
A tense staring contest began between the two groups.
We had been dragged here by force, but it didn’t seem as if the other side intended to start a fight first either.
A strange silence flowed as we kept our distance, probing each other.
There were eight kobolds.
In terms of numbers, we were at a disadvantage, but in physique, we had the upper hand, and above all, we were armed.
Even so, I wanted to turn around and just leave.
It was better to avoid fights if possible.
Reality was not a game. Winning wouldn’t make my level go up.
I might gain experience, but an injured body would be that much harder to recover.
That was what I thought, but Drek’s expression was different from mine.
He already had the face of someone prepared to fight.
“We have to go out that way.”
Our destination lay beyond the kobold pack.
Behind them, in the darkness, a passage was faintly revealing itself.
We edged out of the corridor, circled to the right, and approached with our backs to the wall.
“…Keruk!”
“Kereruk, keruk!!”
As we drew closer, perhaps provoked, the creatures’ cries grew louder and louder.
Gulp— Saliva leaked into my mouth from the tension.
When we had crossed about half the room—
“Kereruk!!!”
“Kyaaak!”
Tap tap tap tap tap—
The kobolds reacted first.
Feeling threatened, they charged in a group with sharp cries.
At that moment.
“Hup—”
Drek hunched his shoulders and raised his speed in one breath.
The sound of hooves kicking off the ground followed, heavy and rapid.
Dududududu—!
He did not hesitate.
He charged straight ahead, colliding head-on with the kobold group in front.
Boom—!
A fierce impact burst out, and the kobolds in the front row were sent flying and tangled together.
“Kiek—!”
“Kuh-urk!”
Perhaps because of the overwhelming difference in size, the kobolds were sent flying like pins knocked down by a bowling ball.
Thanks to Drek’s charge, their formation completely collapsed.
About four kobolds fell, and among them, two were pinned under Drek and couldn’t get up.
The remaining kobolds tried to approach and strike Drek from behind, but—
“You damned bastards!”
Stab!
“Kebup—”
They failed because Baldik had joined in before anyone knew it.
“Ah, shit! Why won’t this come out?!”
Baldik struggled desperately, apparently trying to pull out the knife lodged in the kobold’s neck.
At him, one kobold leapt.
In the end, Baldik gave up on the dagger, covered his face with his arm, and took the leaping kobold head-on.
Crash—
A continuing scuffle between Drek and the kobolds followed.
But Baldik was different. Perhaps because of his small frame, he didn’t have enough strength to overpower them.
“Damn it, help me!”
His shout was directed at the two of us.
Cowin and me.
But we couldn’t move.
A bloody close-quarters fight unfolding right before my eyes.
As for me, I was a modern man, so fine, but was Cowin not used to this kind of thing either?
Even so, the one who moved first was Cowin.
“H-hyaaah!”
With a strange battle cry, Cowin threw himself forward.
He charged straight at the kobold trying to pounce on Baldik.
An awkward charge, as if imitating Drek.
But there was no way his skinny body could hold up.
Instead, the kobold lunged at Cowin with vigor.
When the enemy failed to flinch contrary to his expectations, Cowin seemed flustered and swung his dagger wildly through the air.
It was a ridiculous sight, but it had an effect.
The kobold let out a sharp cry and could no longer approach.
Drek had four, Baldik had two, and Cowin had one.
In that case…
Where was the last one?
“Kieeek!!”
Throb—
Just then, I sensed a presence beside me.
I hurriedly turned, but was it already too late?
Along with a hot slash spreading across my side, a sharp pain rushed in.
“Ugh!”
When? Had it used the blind spot of the torchlight?
Before I knew it, a kobold that had circled around to my side was glaring at me with one hand outstretched.
Judging by the circumstances, those sharp claws seemed to have raked my side.
‘That fucking hurts.’
Clutching my side, I swung my dagger with my remaining hand and backed away.
A warm liquid seeped over my hand.
Ugh. It didn’t cut too deep, did it?
Whoosh, whoosh.
The kobold, as if wary of the dagger, did not approach.
But when it saw the blood beginning to stain my side, it seemed to grow excited and charged.
Clang—
“Kiek!!”
The dagger I swung wildly struck its claws and flew off into the darkness.
But because the kobold had blocked it with its bare hand, its fingers were severed, and it staggered back with a scream.
I did not miss that opening and body-slammed the kobold, pinning it beneath me.
The kobold thrashed like mad.
I brought my left elbow down to stop its struggling, but the bastard, heedless of its wounds, swung both arms freely.
Since it blocked my attacks with those arms, it was hard to land a proper blow.
In the end, I gave up on stopping the bleeding and bent low, pinning the kobold’s arms down with both hands.
The bastard screamed and writhed, but now its arms were trapped.
I had to finish it in this opening.
Biting my lip, I put strength into my body, lifted my head, and looked the bastard straight in the face.
Then I headbutted it with all my might.
—Bang!
The kobold’s head snapped back, and with a sickening sound, its resistance stopped for an instant.
Panting, I shoved the bastard away.
…I won.
Thud—
…My first killing in life.
Was it because it wasn’t human, or because the headbutt had numbed my brain?
I was sure I would at least retch.
But the emotion filling my chest was
nothing but the thrill of having survived.
It felt as though the adrenaline flooding my brain had blown even my guilt away.
I pressed a hand over my pounding heart.
‘……I just killed something?’
An unfamiliar sensation.
And yet my fingertips did not tremble.
“…Ugh.”
I lay face down and caught my breath for a long while.
As the bloody stench brushing past my nose reached me, my numb mind slowly returned.
Only then did I realize my whole body hurt.
It seemed I was not the only one whose battle had ended; the hall was quiet.
“…Anyone alive?”
Then Drek, who was sitting slumped at an angle in the center, asked in a drained voice.
“……Me.”
“…Me too.”
“……”
We had survived.
***
“…May the blessing be upon you.”
Whoong—
A white light lingered over the wound for a moment, and before long, the bleeding stopped.
“It really works.”
Amazingly, Baldik was truly a priest.
Once the battle ended, he approached the party members and began treating them.
Everyone in the group had suffered wounds, large or small, in this fight.
Drek, who had faced four alone, surprisingly had nothing but a shallow cut across his chest.
It seemed the reputation of a former mercenary was not for show.
Kowin had a deep bite mark clearly visible near his biceps.
Baldik shouted, “Only idiots get wounded by those bastards!” but judging from the way he was limping, he had clearly injured his leg.
Lastly, as for me… my head, my side, and my back.
I alone had been wounded in three places.
I only noticed the wound on my back when it was being treated.
The kobold must have stabbed me with its claws while it was thrashing.
I hadn’t felt it in the excitement of battle.
Of course, once I realized it, it hurt like hell.
The wound on my side, in particular, was so bad that Baldik had to groan and struggle for quite some time before he could stop the bleeding.
It was pain unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life. I’m not going to catch some weird disease from this, am I?
“You should be grateful to that kobold. If that bastard’s nails had been just a little longer, your guts would have been mashed to pulp.”
According to Baldik, I had been lucky.
It hadn’t even been a day since I came here, and I had already felt my life threatened… Was that really lucky?
“For now, we’ll regroup nearby.”
At Drek’s order, everyone took blankets from their packs and began looking for a suitable space.
At some point, Drek had come to be regarded almost like the leader among the party.
“Gruesome. Were they the ones who came before us?”
“…Damn it.”
What we found first was not a place to stay, but horrific corpses.
In the farthest corner on the left side of the room.
The corpses found there were in a gruesome state, several body parts missing.
I decided not to imagine where the missing body parts had gone.
Strangely, several kobolds were lying beside the corpses as well.
“No wonder there were so few for kobolds.”
“We should be grateful to these people.”
At a guess, they seemed to be the ones taken down by the party that had arrived before us.
Judging by the number of kobold corpses, there must originally have been more than ten.
If we had been just a little faster, would we have had to face them all?
Just imagining it was horrifying.
“Looks like sleeping here is out of the question.”
“Let’s just go back to the passage.”
And so the party decided to spread their blankets in the passage they had come through and sleep there.
We set a night watch in case anything happened, then lay down to sleep.
The dream I had that night was extremely strange.
___________________________
[You have reached a threshold. Choose a perk.]
[Increase Maximum Mana]
[Increase Maximum Stamina]
[Blue Magic: Condensation]
___________________________
“What the hell is this…?”