arc2 · 089-ch89

Chapter 89: Let's Pull Ourselves Together

I was feeling a bit down yesterday, but Mom, Umi, Arihara-san, and Himehana all encouraged me one after another. No, that's not quite right. They didn't just encourage me. They very naturally taught me that what I did wasn't wrong.

Thanks to them, I was able to recover my spirits and get a proper night's sleep. Having people you can trust is really important.

Well, yesterday I was so depressed that I lost all motivation to do anything, but now I'm feeling more motivated than ever.

I had university lectures in the morning, didn't I? Umi went to school, Mom will start working once she passes her job interview, and I think I should attend my lectures properly too.

While I'm at university, I'm having Hayate patrol at full speed toward Yatsugatake Dungeon. It's too difficult to operate two drones while attending lectures, so Asahi is on standby at Yamamoto Electronics. I plan to only patrol the floors near the transfer stone this time.

I stare at the screen in front of me while riding the train, trying not to let anyone notice. I think I've gotten better at this kind of thing too. The people around me don't seem particularly concerned... wait? Aren't a lot of people looking over here? Could they think I'm some kind of weirdo?

But everyone looking at me seems to be women. Maybe women are more observant, or maybe men don't pay much attention to their surroundings. I don't really know, but when I look back at them, they quickly avert their eyes, so maybe they haven't actually noticed what I'm doing.

Anyway, while trying not to worry about my surroundings, I send Hayate at full speed toward Yatsugatake Dungeon. By the time I got off the train, Hayate had just arrived at Yatsugatake Dungeon. I immediately moved it to the transfer room and transferred it to the 30th floor.

As I walk to university, I check for any signs of dungeon modification. There were no problems, so next I patrol the 21st floor.

There are almost no explorers on these floors, so I quickly finished up and moved to the 10th floor. Just in case, there are relatively more parties around these floors, so I take a slight detour while checking if anyone is in trouble. And by the time I arrive at university, I've finished exploring the 11th floor and reached the first floor.

Today's university lecture is, whether by design or coincidence, about dungeon anomalies. I'm a little curious what the professor will say about it here. I take my seat, feeling a bit nervous.

"Hey hey, was today about Dungeon Modifications? If I'd been in that dungeon, I would've saved everyone! The Dungeon Agency should just stop being so stubborn and recognize me as an explorer already!"

There it is. This university's famous 'guy who thinks he's already a top-tier explorer.' As usual, his self-esteem is way too high, and he's got the wrong idea about dungeon modifications. No wonder he failed the explorer exam.

"Ohsaki-san, it's Dungeon Modification. It was on the exam the other day too, right?"

I've been thinking this for a while, but this little lackey of his is totally dissing Ohsaki, isn't he?

"Huh? Was it? I'm pretty sure I wrote it properly then, so it should be fine!"

What positive thinking. In a way, I want to learn from him.

Well, Ohsaki usually tries to pick a fight with me, but for some reason, today there's no sign of that at all. I thought maybe he hadn't noticed me, but when he glanced over here earlier, our eyes definitely met. So he must have noticed me.

Well, I'm also dividing my attention to Hayate right now, so it's a relief not to be bothered. The first floor has many low-rank parties, so I patrol carefully while checking if anyone is in trouble.

"Um, is this seat next to you available?"

While I was focused on the screen, someone suddenly spoke to me. Startled, I turned to see two female students.

"Huh? Ah, sure, it's fine."

It's not like I'm occupying multiple seats by myself, so I reflexively said okay before realizing it. Wait, there are still tons of empty seats! Why did they deliberately sit next to me? Do they just prefer corner seats?

Well, having said it's fine, I can't refuse now that I've already agreed...

While pretending not to listen as the female student who sat next to me said things like "Hurry up!" and "Let me get ready!" I waited for the professor to arrive.

After waiting a few minutes, the professor finally appeared. As soon as the professor started the lecture, the auditorium lights went out, and an image was projected onto the screen on the stage. This is it—it's the footage from the 23rd floor of Inubosaki Tower Dungeon when I sent the dungeon modification to Arihara-san. The professor managed to get his hands on this footage so quickly.

"This is extremely valuable footage that hasn't been released to the public yet. I told an acquaintance at the Dungeon Agency that I wanted to use it for this lecture, and they specially permitted it. I prepared it for all of you who will likely become explorers in the future. Please, under no circumstances, film this video and post it on social media. Not only would it crush your dreams of becoming explorers, but you'd also face physical compensation as well."

The professor's matter-of-fact way of speaking somehow made it feel more real, and students who had taken out their phones were quickly stowing them in their bags.

"Now then, I'll play it. This footage shows a dungeon modification occurring. If you become explorers in the future and encounter this phenomenon, escape without hesitation. If possible, warn the surrounding parties as well. Just that alone can lower the mortality rate of explorers."

With the professor's again matter-of-fact explanation, the tension seemed to increase, and I could hear gulping sounds from various places in the auditorium.

The professor pressed the play button on the remote, and the video began playing. At first, an eerily quiet grassland was shown. There were no monsters visible at all, making it look more like a savanna or some surface landscape rather than a dungeon.

"This location is the 23rd floor of Inubosaki Tower Dungeon."

At the professor's concise explanation, the students erupted in confusion. And no wonder—in a dungeon where D+ rank monsters should be swarming, it's impossible for the deeper floors to be this quiet.

"Can you see it? Right now, the dungeon floor is shaking slightly."

At the professor's explanation, the students stared intently at the screen. They seemed to notice that the grass growing in the plains was shaking slightly. The shaking gradually grew larger, and just as it became like a major earthquake, the video cut out. That's because I had dismissed Hayate to look for the party on the 22nd floor.

"Next, this is what the party at that time looked like."

When a dungeon modification occurs, there's very little information about what happens to the parties inside the dungeon because not many parties survive and return from a dungeon modification.

If they happen to be near the transfer stone room, they might still have a chance, but if they were hunting far away, it's almost hopeless. That's why there's very little video footage of dungeon modifications. Rental drones are also almost impossible to recover.

Even children know that much. At the professor's explanation that footage from inside such a dangerous dungeon was about to be shown, I heard the students gasp. Even Ohsaki was watching with a tense expression... or rather, he wasn't watching. That bastard isn't even interested—he's just picking his nose like it's nothing!

"Everyone, the dungeon modification has begun! Hurry and evacuate! The stairs are in this direction!"

A mechanical voice echoed through the quiet auditorium. It was my voice, transmitted through Hayate. I was desperate back then.

The fact that they're on this floor means they must be a D-rank or higher party. The students saw such an unreachable existence desperately trying to escape. That scene seems to have been quite a shock to the students.

Here, the professor paused the video and began to speak.

"Everyone, let me explain so you don't misunderstand. Normally, no one warns you in advance about a dungeon modification. You only realize it when you're caught up in it yourself. That's how fast the spread of dungeon modifications is.

So why was it possible to do what you saw in this footage? It's because the person filming this was Lord SS. He called for evacuation to the parties inside the dungeon while contacting the Dungeon Agency. Upon receiving the information, the Dungeon Agency immediately dispatched high-rank explorers.

Lord SS's drone covered the deeper floors, while the high-rank explorers patrolled the lower floors, allowing more than fifty parties to survive after being caught in the dungeon modification.

Additionally, there was no monster flooding accompanying the dungeon modification this time. This is said to be the result of high-rank explorers actively defeating the monsters on the shallower floors before the dungeon modification could spread."

The students listened seriously to the professor's explanation. Since it's a story about their own and their friends' lives being threatened, with the exception of one person, they're probably taking it personally. But still, for my footage to be used in a place like this. I didn't expect that, so I'm surprised.

"Lord SS is really amazing, isn't he!"

"Yeah, I'd love to get closer to him too!"

When the professor's talk ended and the lights returned to the auditorium, the students began to buzz excitedly. Most of them were saying things similar to the female student next to me. It's a little embarrassing.

Finally, the professor urged them to escape without hesitation if a dungeon modification occurs during exploration, and the lecture ended. During this time, Hayate had finished patrolling the Ghost Forest Dungeon and arrived at Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon.

Before the students' excitement could cool down, I quickly left the auditorium, trying not to get stopped by anyone.