chapter03 · 062-ep62

Episode 60: The Shortest Route

Long ago, when dungeons first appeared around the world, people had tried all sorts of approaches to conquering them.

One idea was to enter a dungeon from the side as it extended deep underground. Dig a vertical shaft alongside it and head straight for the lower layers and beyond, avoiding the endlessly spawning monsters.

The approach was quickly abandoned. Thick dungeon walls surrounded each dungeon and were nearly impossible to break. Even if you destroyed one with a sufficiently powerful attack, the shock could collapse the surrounding earth and bury you alive. The walls also regenerated rapidly, and not even construction materials could stop them. The costs far outweighed any benefit.

Thus, the enormous hole at the surface was considered the only practical way in or out of a dungeon. There was an upside: with only one entrance, authorities could fully control the flow of explorers. Without exception, guards and cameras watched every dungeon entrance, helping confirm explorers' safety in irregularities or identify suspects when trouble occurred.

Yet, despite that rule—

"Honestly. Kuroi comes up with some nasty ideas, same as ever."

Shortly before the massive explosion and collapse, someone who had no business being in Shinagawa First Dungeon was inside it. An intruder who had slipped past the guards without leaving a trace on the surveillance cameras or any other sensors, like a ghost, thanks to a certain unique skill.

It was none other than Black Tiger's strongest combatant, Ouko Onikubo.

His body was honed by training, his gear rugged. With his large frame and craggy, intimidating face, he looked every inch a warrior. But in stark contrast to that appearance, the smile on his face was malicious, without conviction or honor.

"If I remember right, our detection-skill user's calculations said concentrating them in several spots like this was best. Scatter them too widely and the 'undiscovered deposit explosion' story falls apart, apparently... Still, dungeons sure are convenient. They repair themselves and erase the evidence, and monsters make a detailed investigation difficult."

As he spoke, Ouko Onikubo embedded scarlet stones in the dungeon's upper layers. Blast stones in quantities beyond comparison with what Kagerou had once tried to detonate.

He concealed the dangerous stones and ignition devices made from dungeon materials inside the dungeon walls as planned, and his vile smile deepened.

"Now, can our hero of Shibuya save the day without a single casualty again?"

ZORP.

With a faint, mysterious sound, he left the dungeon once more, undetected by anyone.

　　　　　　〇

Mitsuki and her fellow guides' dungeon lesson had been proceeding smoothly. With the famous Mitsuki in charge and the lesson being streamed, participants were on their best behavior. One by one, they were gaining their first levels.

"Yes! I'm finally next!"

"I'm totally getting a unique skill!"

"Hope I get <Divine Artisan> or something..."

(Those children are nearly up...)

As the lesson entered its final stages, the middle-school group who'd been watching the stream on their phones approached Mitsuki. They hadn't seemed nervous from the start, and after seeing the other participants slay upper-layer monsters and gain levels, they'd apparently lost whatever fear of the dungeon they might have had. Even inside, they were still playing with their phones and posting things like 'I'm at the lesson right now!' in Mitsuki's chat, giggling among themselves.

(Children like them learn more from one brush with death than a verbal warning, but this is a lesson—and we're streaming. How much 'instruction' would be appropriate...?)

Just as Mitsuki was entertaining another somewhat extreme, warrior-minded thought—

ZSH—

"Huh?"

Something strange rose from beneath their feet on floor 1 of the upper layers. And then—

DO—GOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!

"Wh—!?"

A tremendous shock shook the whole dungeon. The impact far surpassed what Karin had felt deep below in the lower layers. A destructive surge of energy as if an earthquake had begun right beneath them.

"Wh-what's happening!?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!?"

"KYAAAAAAAA!?"

"—! Everyone, stay calm! Don't panic or leave the guides' sides! We'll get out as soon as the shaking stops! Do NOT run off alone! The exit isn't far, but take one wrong turn and you could get lost—"

Mitsuki and the others gave clear instructions to the panicking participants. In that situation, it was the best possible response. But—

CRACKCRACKCRACK—

"—!?"

An extraordinary irregularity that no best response could overcome erupted beneath them.

BOGOOOOOOOOOOON!

"""!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?"""

The dungeon-wall floor caved in over a wide area as if the gates of hell had opened. Everyone there was thrown into empty air.

(—!? Impossible! A collapse across THIS much dungeon wall!? And that smell... Could an undiscovered blast-stone deposit have exploded!?)

It wasn't impossible. Before blast stones were formally discovered, unexplained explosions and collapses had been dreaded as extremely dangerous irregularities. Identifying and regularly harvesting deposits had made them rarer, but nothing in a dungeon was absolute. Unpredictable accidents caused by deposits that appeared or disappeared suddenly were still reported around the world, however rarely. The odds of one occurring during this lesson were incredibly low, but not zero.

"No, forget that—Shinobu-san!"

"I know!"

One of the four level-900 guides answered her. Shinobu gathered mana into a huge dome-shaped magical barrier—a sturdy shield against monster attacks. By forcing her mana to work in a different way, she made it springy and slipped it under the falling participants.

"But that won't be enough... Mighty Sword: <Ground-Shrinking Slash>!"

Mitsuki raced through the air. Using falling rubble as footholds, she darted about at incredible speed, striking lumps of dungeon wall headed for the participants away with her sword's hilt or her feet.

And then—DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

How far had they fallen? After what felt like an eternity in the air, Mitsuki and the others finally reached the ground. She grimaced at the impact and called out.

"Everyone accounted for!?"

"Somehow, everyone's alive!"

One guide immediately used detection to check and report. Through Mitsuki and Shinobu's efforts, miraculously, nobody had died. But miracles had limits.

"But... damn it, there are lots of injuries! Shinobu-san's suffering backlash from pushing her skill too hard, too...!"

"...!"

One level-900 guide was out of action, and many of the roughly eighty lesson participants—essentially ordinary people—were hurt. Shinobu's feat had saved their lives, but the situation remained dire. They had to get everyone out of this foul-smelling dungeon immediately.

"...!"

Leaving first aid to the other guides, Mitsuki pulled an item from her clothes.

<Dark Night's Guidepost>.

It was an excellent magic item for locating yourself, nearby passages and the route to the surface when you were lost after a monster chase or a fall into a pit. But—

"No...!"

Its excellent performance showed her something devastating. A three-dimensional projection displayed the dungeon's current map... and there was no route to the surface anywhere.

The collapse had buried every surface-bound passage under dungeon-wall debris. Even the way from the hole they'd fallen through had been severed as if deliberately calculated. The only surviving passages led to the hellish middle and lower layers. Many of even those were blocked; their location on 'floor 4 of the upper layers' was all but cut off from its surroundings.

Buried alive.

Dungeon walls repaired themselves quickly, but a collapse this extensive wouldn't mend in a day or two. Rescue from the surface was their only hope. Yet moving rubble carelessly could cause a second collapse, so even the strongest explorers and the best equipment would have to work cautiously. There was no telling how long rescue would take.

And worst of all, this wasn't an ordinary cave or bunker where they could wait patiently.

"""GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"""

"...!"

Monster roars echoed as if to break their spirits. These weren't normal calls, but the cries of beasts far more savage than usual, seemingly stripped of reason.

Blast stones had a particular property: the smell released on detonation drew in and enraged monsters. Even the fragment Kagerou had planned to blow up could have had devastating effects. An explosion large enough to collapse the upper layers would summon a monstrous frenzy beyond any ordinary irregularity.

Enraged monsters poured endlessly from the middle layers, flooding the chamber where Mitsuki and the others had landed.

"AAAAAAAAH!?"

"Nooooo!"

"Why is this—NOOOOOO!"

【Oh no no no no!】

【You've gotta be kidding me! What's going on!?】

【How many people are going to die here!?】

【If it were just the level-900 guides, sure, but eighty INJURED participants...?】

【Even if most of the monsters are from the upper and middle layers...】

【And won't the dungeon spawn a ton more monsters while it repairs all this damage!?】

【Can't the participants fight?】

【They'll have to kill the spawning monsters and power-level whether they want to or not!】

【Levels don't work that conveniently! Level 1 or 2 won't make a dent, and enraged monsters are a whole different story! Besides, most of them are injured!】

【Even middle-layer monsters are pouring in...】

【Mitsuki-sama and the others probably got hurt in that fall too! This is seriously bad!】

【Hurry up and rescue them!】

【Rush it and a second collapse might crush the rescuers AND everyone inside!】

【But if they don't, they're...!?】

【If rescuers have to watch for another collapse AND deal with enraged monsters, how many DAYS will it take to reach them!?】

【Doesn't somebody have a rescue-friendly unique skill!?】

"Everyone, listen!"

As screams filled both the chamber and the stream, Mitsuki raised her voice.

"Participants, huddle together as tightly as you can around the injured so we can protect you! Nitta-san and I will take the front and bring down the monsters! Arakawa-san, stay near the participants, eliminate anything we miss and watch for irregularities! We'll rotate positions as needed to limit exhaustion and prepare for a long fight!"

""Understood!""

"Don't worry, everyone! We'll protect every last one of you until help arrives!"

But it's already...

Mitsuki refused to show the despair ringing deep in her heart. Even if everyone knew her reassurance was empty bravado, she wouldn't show it. With no mana left to spare for her floating camera, she gathered her power and raised her sword.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Not knowing how long it would take to reopen a route to the surface, she threw herself into a hopeless battle to protect the terrified participants.

　　　　　　〇

"...! What...?"

Karin opened Mitsuki's channel as soon as her viewers told her what was happening. She was speechless.

Collapse in the upper layers. Numerous injured. Buried alive. Waves of enraged monsters. The worst situation she could imagine was unfolding upstairs right now, and every second counted.

She had to help immediately.

(I really can't keep streaming through this...!)

Unlike during the dungeon collapse, Karin wasn't already on the scene and able to deal with anything as it occurred. Mitsuki and the others were skilled, but the situation was desperate. With people liable to die at any moment, carrying on her stream would go against Karin's conscience.

She was about to end it with, "Everyone, that's all for today!"—when she heard voices from Mitsuki's stream, which she still had open to follow the situation.

"Karin ojou-sama, are you really in this dungeon right now!?"

"Are you watching this stream!?"

"Are you coming to help us!?"

"!?"

She turned toward it in surprise. Mitsuki's stream showed injured middle-schoolers on the verge of tears. They must have heard through the comments that Karin was in the same dungeon. Several participants had peered into Mitsuki's floating camera, which lay on the ground now that she had stopped supplying it with mana, and were watching Karin's stream. They'd found a glimmer of hope in her presence.

But—

"Karin ojou-sama, are you ending your stream!?"

"Even YOU can't get here in time...?"

"If even Karin ojou-sama won't make it... then..."

"..."

They must have heard what she'd started to say. Their voices were hoarse and their expressions so despairing they seemed barely able to keep themselves together. The thread they clung to was about to snap—and their composure with it. They plainly needed something to hold on to.

Dungeon Alive had said a broken spirit could readily give way to panic, leaving people beyond saving even when help was possible. After a moment's anguish, Karin drew a deep breath.

"—Of course I'm NOT ending my stream! I misspoke, that's all!"

She proclaimed it loudly.

"I am coming to your rescue this very instant! Such a minor obstacle is nothing to a natural-born ojou-sama such as myself! I shall solve it all Elegantly! So everyone, don't lose your heads. Listen closely to Mitsuki-sama and the others and hold out!"

"Y-yes...!"

"Karin ojou-sama's coming!"

"Karin ojou-sama!"

【OOOOOOOOH! KARIN OJOU-SAMAAAAAAAA!】

【DO IT! Show us another Shibuya miracle!】

【But can she get there in time!?】

【She was on the scene in Shibuya. The lower layers are a fair distance from the upper ones, and with so many collapses she won't even know the way, desu wa!?】

【We don't even know if there's a passage left between Karin ojou-sama and Mitsuki-sama's group!】

【Sure, she can break dungeon walls, but if she throws one of those crazy punches at the collapse site she'll cause another disaster...】

【Can violence alone even solve this one...?】

Many comments worried whether Karin could really make it, and she agreed. Mitsuki and the other guides looked skilled, but the one who could defend a wide area was already out of action. They had eighty-plus ordinary people to protect, including the injured. Enraged monsters kept spawning; their defenses might fail at any moment. And there was no guarantee of no further irregularity.

The upper layers were far away, and the passages might well be blocked. Therefore—

"It cannot be helped. I'll take a somewhat rough approach and go by the shortest route...!"

From her item box Karin drew a huge sword different from Chupacabra, made with materials she couldn't yet show being processed on-stream. She gathered her extraordinary detection skill to sense the mana throughout the surrounding area in minute detail. Then she aimed at the ceiling and applied the basic sword form Mitsuki had taught her.

BOH!!!!

Four slashes struck the spots she was certain would not trigger a secondary collapse. Without a sound or shock, a perfect square was cut from the dungeon-wall ceiling of the lower layers.