Chapter-11 · EP-181

Episode 181: Search for the Hidden Passage!

Beyond the crossroads in the unexplored area, we found:

• Right side → a room with a Poison Slime
• Center → an empty room
• Left side → a room with a normal slime

Nowhere did we find a Skill Orb.

Let's think it over.

Why didn't we find a Skill Orb?

1. Could Susa-san have already collected it?
   No, the entrance wall hadn't been broken, so no one should have set foot here yet. Unless Susa-san has a special skill like passing through walls, which he doesn't.

2. Was it really just an empty hidden passage?
   Susa-san said that hidden rooms concealed by destructible objects always contain treasure, mainly Skill Orbs. Thinking in game terms, it's odd to have a hidden room and a strong enemy like a Poison Slime, which is unusual for the first floor, and then have nothing. There should at least be a Rank 3 potion.

3. Did we miss something?
   But the three of us searched the rooms thoroughly. I used Presence Detection, but felt nothing.

4. Is there another hidden passage?
   Could there be a hidden passage, and some kind of gimmick to open it?
   This is probably it. There must be some mechanism.

As I stood there with my arms crossed, thinking, Mei grew impatient and smacked my behind with her wooden sword.

Whack!

"Ow!"

I looked at Mei, startled.

"What was that for?"

"You've been quiet for a while! You brought Hikaru-sama all the way here, and you're not going to say 'there's nothing here,' are you?"

"Mei, it's alright. Ichinose-san was trying to help me…"

With this master-servant pair, why did the servant always act so bossy?

Setting that aside, I explained to the two.

"There's probably a hidden passage somewhere. I was just thinking about what the mechanism to open it might be."

Rubbing my sore behind, I spoke. Hikaru answered.

"If so, then the right room, where the strong Poison Slime appeared, is suspicious. Or maybe the center path, which had nothing, actually has something?"

As expected of Hikaru. She caught on quickly.

But Mei asked Hikaru.

"Even so, as far as we could see, there was nothing there."

"That's true…"

Hikaru also crossed her arms and thought.

What kind of mechanism could there be?

I thought. Why was it a crossroads? What role did each room play?

I tried to think like the person who designed this labyrinth.

Then, I remembered a movie I'd seen long ago.

It was an adventure film, a scene where the protagonists were exploring a cave.

"I've got it!"

"What is it?"

"Why there was a crossroads. There are three of us. Because there are three of us, there were three paths."

Hikaru and Mei looked confused at my words.

"In other words, if two people came, there would be two paths; if four, there would be four."

"Are you saying the labyrinth changes its shape?"

"Yes!"

"I've never heard of such a thing."

…Saying it out loud, I realized it myself: labyrinths don't change shape. That's obvious.

For example, I've never heard of a natural cave changing shape each time you enter. It's physically impossible.

Dungeons exist physically. They aren't something that can change shape freely.

But I tried to explain my thinking.

"…I saw it in a movie once."

"A movie?"

"Yes. In the movie, three people were exploring a cave… or was it a pyramid? They reached a fork, and when each of them went down a different path and pressed a button at the same time, a hidden passage appeared."

Mei replied, exasperated.

"That's just a movie. Besides, there were no buttons here."

"True…"

There were no buttons, no levers either.

What there was…

"That's it – the monsters!"

"Monsters? You mean the Poison Slime and the normal slime?"

"Yes. If we defeat the monsters at the same time, the hidden passage will appear!"

With no other clues, I decided to have the two follow my theory.

We returned to the crossroads. I went right, Mei went left, Hikaru went straight. I and Mei would defeat the slimes. Then, a Skill Orb or a hidden passage should appear before Hikaru. If a strong monster appeared before Hikaru, she would hold it off as best she could, and we would rush to help. If it got too dangerous, she would retreat.

Why assign such a task to Hikaru? Because if a Skill Orb appeared, it would be better for Hikaru to be the one to find it, as it would be more likely to be a magic skill.

Both of them agreed to my plan. I advanced down the right path from the crossroads.

Bingo. When I entered the right room again, the Poison Slime had respawned. It must work like a boss room: leaving and re-entering makes it reappear.

I quickly defeated the Poison Slime and returned to the crossroads.

Mei had already defeated her slime and returned. We nodded and proceeded down the center path.

When we reached the end, Hikaru was standing there alone.

"Did the hidden passage appear?"

Coming at a jog, I asked while catching my breath. Hikaru shook her head.

"Nothing appeared."

So my theory about the gimmick was wrong.

"I see. Guess it's not like the movie… Ow!"

Mei smacked my behind again.

"What was that for?!"

"You got our hopes up… 'Like the movie'? Don't confuse reality with fiction!"

"Sorry about that."

Well, just because it happened in a movie, doesn't mean the same gimmick exists in a dungeon.

Then Hikaru said to Mei.

"Wait, Mei. Ichinose-san was thinking hard for my sake. Don't speak to him like that."

"Yes. I'm sorry…"

Nice one, Hikaru. If she hadn't stopped her, I might have been yelled at forever.

And Hikaru continued.

"More importantly, if there is a hidden passage, isn't it likely in this room? Isn't there a destructible wall like at the entrance?"

"Even so, I don't see any bluish walls anywhere…"

I looked around the room.

There were no bluish walls here, in the other rooms, or even in the passages. They were all normal rock.

"If so, how about we check by tapping, like Ichinose-san was doing? Like this…"

Hikaru tapped the rock wall with her wooden sword, checking the sound.

Everywhere made the same solid thunk. No hollow sound that would indicate a hidden passage.

I was wondering what other gimmicks could be possible, or if there really was nothing here, when I saw Hikaru, undeterred, continuing to check.

Then—

"Ah!"

Hikaru swung her wooden sword and missed, stumbling forward.

"Hikaru-sama!"

Mei rushed to her immediately.

Watch out! Hikaru, falling, was about to crash headfirst into the rock wall, and then…

Her figure disappeared, as if absorbed into the rock wall.