part1 · 010-ep10
Episode 10: An Unknown World
More time passed.
Little by little, Ren grew used to life in the dungeon. The plants he could eat. The water he could drink. A safe place to sleep. The dangerous places.
And the monsters.
At first, he'd understood nothing. Now, just by walking, he could read his surroundings.
"...It's quiet today."
Ren murmured as he walked the passage. Few signs of monsters. No footsteps to be heard. Just that was enough to relax a little more than usual.
But Ren didn't let his guard down. He had learned that here, many times over. The quiet places could be the most dangerous.
Spear in hand, Ren pressed on slowly.
◇
After walking a while, Ren touched a hand to the wall.
"...?"
Different from usual. A faint vibration was coming through from deep in the wall.
Ren pulled his hand back. Touched it again. Still there.
"What is that...?"
Ren looked around. Moss giving off a pale light on the walls. And running between it, a thin crack.
Ren brought his face close to the crack. Air was flowing through.
"...Wind?"
There was wind in this dungeon.
Which meant.
Somewhere, this might connect to another space.
"Could it be... an exit?"
Ren's heart raced. He set his spear down and examined the crack with both hands. He used a stone to chip away at the area around it.
Little by little. Truly, little by little. He worked the rock loose.
But.
"...No good."
After a while, Ren stopped. Beyond the crack there was a narrow space. But not wide enough for a person to pass.
Even so.
Ren was glad.
"It might connect to the outside."
He had no proof. It might be nothing but a draft.
Even so.
For a Ren who was searching for an exit, it was a major discovery.
◇
After that, Ren examined the spot again and again. Chipping rock. Searching the area. Checking whether there was another passage.
But it wouldn't give way easily. If he tried to smash through by force, he risked a collapse. So he worked carefully.
Little by little, Ren learned. Strength alone couldn't solve everything.
Thinking. Observing. Waiting. Running away.
Those were necessary for survival, too.
◇
One day. Ren was following a single monster.
Before, he would have fled from it. Now was different. He wanted to know how it moved.
Where it was headed. Where it returned to. What it ate. Where it slept.
He observed from a careful distance. The monster slipped behind some rocks. Ren peered over from a little way off.
There was a small nest.
"...So this is where it sleeps."
Ren memorized it. And he noticed one more thing.
The routes monsters traveled ran through fixed spots. Footprints remained. Claw marks, too. Scents lingered.
"..."
Ren looked around him. The dungeon wasn't a simple maze.
The monsters had lives of their own, too. Water sources. Food. Territories.
And.
Each of those places meant something.
"...If I learn them, I can walk safer."
Ren thought so.
From then on. Ren didn't just kill monsters — he observed them.
Where they were. What they ate. Where they walked. How they moved.
Learning them, one by one.
◇
More time passed. Ren had begun to notice that he himself was changing, little by little.
His body felt lighter than before. Long walks tired him less. Wounds closed faster. Even in the dark, he could see more of his surroundings than before.
He could hear distant sounds. He could sense monsters' presence.
Even so.
Ren didn't think of it as anything special. It was necessary to live here. So his body had become this way. That was all he thought it was.
Night. Ren returned to the shadow of the rocks. Gazing at the faintly glowing moss, he organized what he'd learned that day in his head.
"Three water sources."
"Two safe beds."
"Mostly small monsters around here."
"Big ones deeper in."
Ren confirmed them, one by one.
And last.
"...The exit — still nothing."
His head dipped a little. But he wouldn't give up.
"I'll keep looking tomorrow."
Ren lay down. To live in this place. And someday, to go home.
The boy went to sleep again. That day, too. With no idea of what was happening in the world outside.