arc4 · 070-ch70
Episode 70: Trial
Suzuka kept running through the dungeon.
Before his gaze lay a monster whose identity was unknown that had suddenly appeared. In the monster data for the Tokyo Dungeon he saw yesterday, such a monster wasn't listed.
Like a child, like a beast, like an insect, like a fairy, like an ogre, like a demon, like an angel. It walks on two legs and on four legs, flies through the air and burrows underground. Irregular, amorphous, uncertain. A mysterious monster that never keeps its original form for even a moment, constantly changing.
Just having it in his field of view, chills and hatred and terror and joy and madness all got mixed together, making it difficult to even maintain sanity. Information pressed against his brain to the point that he was on the verge of tottering and falling over at any moment.
Even so, Suzuka was captivated like he was fascinated, unable to take his eyes off that monster. As if he were afraid that even looking away for a moment would cause him to lose sight of it. Stained with madness, Suzuka continued to capture that monster in his gaze.
In his head, alarm bells kept ringing that it was dangerous, but his intuition was screaming that he mustn't let this get away.
The mysterious monster ran as if threading through the trees. Trees stood thickly, and at his feet writhing roots and entangling grass grew in abundance, but Suzuka, whose stats had been boosted by status, trampled over all of them as he passed. Even with Suzuka, strengthened beyond level 50, the monster showed no sign of the distance closing at all.
It wasn't fast, but he couldn't catch up. Like a horse with a carrot dangling before it, Suzuka ran with all his might to close a distance that wouldn't close.
But, this was a dungeon. And it was District 4, where stronger monsters lived than in other areas.
Even though Suzuka activated his Presence Concealment skill, the monsters living there easily detected him.
Passing beneath where five Speckled Spiders had spread their webs and waited in ambush, the unknown slipped through as if diving underground. Naturally, Suzuka followed behind, but the Speckled Spiders blocked Suzuka's path, firing silk wrapped in flames toward him.
But Suzuka didn't stop. If he stopped, the distance to the unknown would widen.
Creating a water blade from the Calm Short Sword he gripped tightly, he fired it at the burning silk. When water touched the high-temperature silk, steam spread over the entire area, but Suzuka didn't care and advanced through it.
Advancing through the high-temperature steam, he felt a burning heat, but Suzuka's expression didn't distort in pain.
Just.
Just earnestly.
Continuing to capture only the unknown.
Even if his arms and legs were torn off, Suzuka was filled with fighting spirit and madness that made it seem like he wouldn't stop. Like a Madness Serpent Mimic, Suzuka chased the unknown frantically, madly.
But, what blocked Suzuka's path wasn't just the Speckled Spiders. Three Thin-Blade Mantises approached Suzuka while buzzing their wings.
Now he'd become able to handle two at once, but he'd never fought three. Plus, he wasn't even looking at the Thin-Blade Mantises right now.
The Thin-Blade Mantises flew as if running alongside Suzuka, slashing with their gray-dyed sickles. Even though he wore anti-cutting tracksuits, he didn't even look at the sharp sickles that would easily slash through, relying on the Evasion skill to dodge them. Even if cuts increased as he couldn't dodge them all, Suzuka never stopped.
The unknown continued to escape. That distance didn't close.
Before his eyes, a giant centipede monster was coiled up, waiting. Whether because it was a monster, the unknown wasn't attacked, but naturally Suzuka became the target.
The unknown passed through underground, slipping beneath the centipede that stood in its way like a wall. Suzuka tried to follow behind, but the centipede spit out dissolving fluid to block Suzuka. Out of the corner of his eye watching the strange smell and grass melting as soon as it hit the ground, he poured mana into body reinforcement and dodged at speed that even left afterimages.
The centipede didn't end there either. The hundred legs attacked Suzuka, but just by adding a little change of pace, he wove through the legs raining down like rain and advanced. Where he dodged, five giant ants waited, clicking their jaws, but he passed over their heads in a single leap.
Monsters swarmed one after another. The more their numbers increased, the more time it took to dodge, and the distance to the unknown opened up.
The more the distance to the unknown opened, the more Suzuka's concentration increased. His senses had grown sharper without limit. Within his thoughts, stirred up by the unknown, he somehow managed to avoid being left behind and continued to bite on by shaving off everything except the unknown from his thoughts.
He avoided the attacks of a crimson mantis that burned like fire just enough that they wouldn't be fatal. Since the attacks themselves hit, his shoulder was slashed, but the sickles were heated to high temperature, so the wound side was cauterized shut and there was almost no bleeding.
The attacks of bees that stood in his way with the deafening wingbeats of fighter planes, he forcibly broke through by pouring even more mana into body reinforcement. Perhaps because he forced the reinforcement, intense pain ran through his body, but Suzuka's face didn't distort in pain, but rather was stained with madness and even smiled.
Even if the space before his eyes was blocked by hard spider webs, water blades many times sharper than before sliced through everything to open a path.
Before he knew it, he'd become a monster train on a tremendous scale, but he didn't have the leeway to pay attention to that.
Solely, only, Suzuka kept running to corner the unknown. He didn't need to think about what would happen after cornering it. If he didn't allocate all his resources, he could never corner it.
Little by little, little by little, the distance that had opened began to close. Monsters attacked from the front, from the side, from behind, from above just as before, but even while increasing injuries, Suzuka didn't stop.
WOoooon——
A strange sensation like passing through some membrane. At the same time, an intense pressure poured down.
As if to say he had no right to enter, the surrounding pressure increased dramatically.
This was Floor 1, District 5. The depths of Floor 1 where monsters of maximum level 100 appear.
◇
The level of monsters that appear in Floor 1, District 5 is at minimum level 70. Against this, Suzuka is level 52. Even against the weakest monster in District 5, it's the line of whether he can win or not.
And that's the minimum. The strongest monsters are level 100, and the area boss reaches level 120. An area where monsters of nearly double Suzuka's level rampage, that's the depths of Floor 1.
Compared to other explorers, Suzuka's stats are quite high. To the extent that he has stats that could aim for special-rank explorers, who are the pinnacle of explorers.
But, the monsters of Districts 4 and 5 are so strong individually that explorers with such pumped-up stats feel they're appropriate. Districts 4 and 5 assume pumped-up stats. No matter how high your stats are here, appropriate monsters become monsters of the same level.
Iron-Faced Boar: Level 83
Iron-Faced Boar: Level 85
Strange Monkey: Level 76
Strange Monkey: Level 71
Provocative Monkey: Level 82
Crown-Antlered Deer: Level 79
Thunder Deer: Level 92
Sleeping Bear: Level 90
Before his eyes, a boar covered in steel armor charged at speeds difficult to even track with the eyes, a huge swarm of monkeys with hideously distorted smiles floated, mocking the prey that had wandered into their territory as they jumped from tree to tree overhead, a magnificent deer with antlers wrapped in storm unleashed wind blades too rapidly to dodge, and a giant bear approached, mowing down trees and causing the ground to rumble.
A scene that would look desperate to anyone. A level where you wouldn't even feel the will to resist. If you bet on whether you'd survive, the odds on not surviving would be 1.0 and the bet wouldn't be established.
But Suzuka was different.
From the start, even such a scene wasn't entering his field of vision.
For someone of Suzuka's level, living even five minutes after setting foot in District 5 would be praiseworthy. And yet, Suzuka was alive while leading a massive number of monsters.
Bearing wounds of all sizes all over his body, his armor tracksuit was slashed and burned and soaked in Suzuka's blood, and he was so tattered that finding a clean place was more difficult than anything.
Even so, Suzuka was alive.
To defeat the unknown.
Alive, he continued running.
The mana flowing through his body was acceleratedly refined and circulated his body at maximum efficiency, and his running speed didn't weaken, but rather visibly became faster.
Suzuka's requirements were answered by skills, and Suzuka grew to the skill level that skills required. As a result, he cornered the unknown at speed beyond his status.
Leaving behind attacks that poured down like hail, Suzuka accelerated.
Monsters standing like walls, the tyranny that poured down from overhead, the threat that approached from behind. Leaving everything behind, Suzuka ran through.
Just a little more.
Just a little more. Just a little more.
Just a little more. Just a little more. Just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more, just a little more.
Just earnestly.
No matter what comes. No matter what attack comes.
Just earnestly continuing to run.
The unknown is right before his eyes.
Behind him, a tremendous number of monsters. The sound of stomping loud enough to cause earthquakes, and deafening cries that shook the air.
An ordinary person wouldn't be blamed for being confused by terror and panic. However, even those sounds of despair didn't reach Suzuka. Because he was concentrating on the unknown to the limit, there was no room for the surrounding miscellaneous noise to enter.
Just a little more.
Just a bit more!!
District 5 is a forest area with denser trees than District 4. The deep forest like a tree sea, because the branches and leaves overlapping many layers overhead block the sun, grass doesn't grow thick at his feet. Instead, writhing tree roots and rocks of various sizes grew moss, and the damp ground made his feet easily caught.
Through this, the unknown and Suzuka ran through. Threading between the trees, crossing roots, crossing rocks, trampling soil and roots and moss as they ran through.
"UAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
"Stop! No!! Help me!!!"
"Why!? Why!? NOOOOOOOOOO!!"
When the distance closed by one step, a desperate scream stained with despair echoed directly to his brain. The earnest voice begging for help, like clawing at his chest, held enough power to dull his body and make him want to stop walking.
But, Suzuka didn't stop.
For Suzuka now, the priority was defeating the unknown. Following the intuition that he should defeat the unknown, he was chasing the unknown, prioritizing it over his own life.
Against such Suzuka, others' desperate screams, even if they echoed directly to his brain, just slid off the surface and disappeared.
One more step, the distance to the unknown closed.
"I'll kill you!!! I'll absolutely kill you!!!"
"Why can you do such cruel things!!"
"I won't forgive you... I won't forgive youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!"
The voice echoing in his brain changed from a voice stained with terror to a voice filled with resentment.
Even so, Suzuka didn't stop.
"I did it! I did it!!! Finally... finally I was recognized!!!"
"Ah... Lord ■■■! Thanks to your lordship, we were able to have hope!!"
"Thank you... thank you so much...!"
The resentment eventually changed to joy, and he was made to feel like he was floating on uplift.
Even so, Suzuka didn't stop.
"Make them receive the retribution for oppressing us too!!!"
"AHAHAHA!! How is it!? How's it feel!?"
"Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■, Lord ■■■"
A voice of unstained madness so terrifying that shivers ran through his body continued ringing as if shaking his brain.
Even so, Suzuka didn't stop.
One step. Another step.
The distance to the unknown closed.
The unknown that constantly changed its form without pause. Like a child, like a beast, like an insect, like a fairy, like an ogre, like a demon, like an angel.
He didn't know how long he'd chased. The monsters behind him were so numerous they were even causing ground rumbling.
But, that was over too.
The distance to the unknown was almost nothing.
Putting strength into the arm that had been nearly torn off by the monsters' attacks. Whether it was a mystery of the human body or due to the mysterious power of skills, even in that state, his arm could grip the Calm Short Sword.
Various emotions that pushed in like a muddy stream as if it were the final resistance. Information pushed in beyond the brain's processing, and blood flowed from his eyes, ears, nose, everywhere.
But, even so, Suzuka didn't stop.
He wouldn't stop.
If he'd stop over something like this, he wouldn't have chased it from the start.
The Calm Short Sword, shining brilliantly with mana, captured the back of the unknown that continued to escape. After that, it was just drawing the sword from the scabbard.
But, that sword was never swung through.
It was already unconscious action.
Even though his brain issued the command to swing the Calm Short Sword through, that hand left the hilt and reached out toward the unknown.
Plop
With that sensation, the hand that sank into the unknown grabbed something.
The moment he pulled that out with force, the world went dark.