DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level Volume 2, page 1
Chapter 1: A Fresh Attempt
We found ourselves in the Dungeon.
Maybe when I say “the Dungeon,” the image that springs to mind depends on the person. I’m sure there are some who picture an amusement park house of mirrors, while others think of a scribble you’d find scrawled on paper. Meanwhile, the kids of today, myself included, probably think of the sort of dungeon you’d crawl through in a video game. The kind that’s written out as the English word “dungeon” but uses the characters meaning “labyrinth.” I’d like to think that almost every adolescent boy is like me that way, anyway.
So let me be clear—this was a video game dungeon.
The dark stone of the corridors was moist and damp, and that musty odor was mixed with the smells of slinking beasts and spilled blood. It was the spitting image of a video game dungeon, albeit a tad on the gloomy side.
Such was the dimly lit path I now proceeded down...a red-haired little girl in tow.
“Hmm.” The girl, who was leading the way, sensed a disturbance and turned around to face me. “I’ve spotted a monster ahead of us, Sieg.”
Her face was childlike and adorable—cherubic, even, and her burning red eyes were her most striking feature. Perhaps due to her diminutive stature (no taller than an elementary schooler), her sleeves were far too long on her. They had been rolled up to fit the length of her arms, but that couldn’t mask her childish mien. Anybody not in the know would probably see her as some cute little kid out playing and go, “D’aww.”
Not me, though. I was far from melting from her cuteness. In fact, I was ever ready to defend myself at a moment’s notice on the assumption that death’s scythe hung over me at all times. My combat-focused dimensional magic, a spell called Dimension: Calculash, was up and active. To put it in RPG terms, I was using support magic made to wield against bosses. And that was only natural, considering the girl in red was one of the Dungeon’s boss monsters.
【DECIMAL GUARDIAN】Thief of Fire’s Essence
The text my menu-sight displayed in my retinas proved she was, in truth, a monster. The girl in red’s name was Alty, and she was an absolute beast that the divers of the Dungeon Alliance had failed to defeat over decades and decades.
“Got it, Alty. All right, battle time. I’ll provide support from the rear.”
And with that, the umpteenth battle that day was at hand.
Through my Dimension spell, I could perceive my surroundings in depth, which allowed me to grasp any sign of enemies in this pocket of the Dungeon. Swift, ratlike monsters were skittering ahead of us. By employing my Analyze option and focusing on the monsters, I learned their name (“Grain Rat”). They were low-ranking but zippy little things. Your average Dungeon diver would probably have trouble following them with their eyes. But Alty wasn’t your average diver.
The rats set their tiny limbs in full motion as they ran through the dark Dungeon corridor. Alty, moving with a speed that reminded me of the boss monster I had fought not so many days prior (the Thief of Darkness’s Essence, Tida), extended a sword of flame from behind the rats and slashed at them. I was a little worried the fire would ignite her clothes, but then again, this was the Thief of Fire’s Essence we were talking about. She exercised flawless control over the intensity of her flames.
Cloven by the fire blade, the Grain Rats burst into light and faded away. Dead monsters left no corpses in the Dungeon. All they left behind were crystals called magic gems. Alty picked up the gems that had dropped to the floor in their wake and tossed them to me with a boastful look on her face. It wasn’t hard to tell she wanted compliments. She was just like a cat that had brought home some prey.
“Yeah huh, you’re so amazing and strong. Give it a rest and get a move on.”
Alty pouted a bit. “Hmph. Aren’t you being a bit cold to a well-meaning ally? Would it kill you to throw me some genuine praise?”
“I just did. And it goes without saying you’d be amazing, given you’re a Guardian and all.”
“You can never just be straight with somebody, huh, Sieg?” She stooped with an expression that screamed good grief and started down the corridor as she was told.
I didn’t let my guard down, staring at her as she walked ahead. Alty was being cooperative. She was a bit of a chatterbox, sure, but she was contributing her services to my Dungeon exploration, demonstrating goodwill through her actions. But that didn’t mean I could discard my suspicions so readily. Everything about her was too shady for that.
This morning, when I had bumped into Alty, I’d heard her wish, and it was a vague one: to “make an unrequited love not so unrequited.” Afterwards, I listened to her speak on that more—it wasn’t that she had some special crush. That being said, if Alty could fall in love and see that love requited, it would apparently be ideal, according to her. Yet she put herself down by stating, “I’m not the kind of entity that can fall in love.” It seemed she’d given up on something in life. That was why she’d settled on a compromise; she wanted me to introduce her to someone who was in love. From the sound of it, if she witnessed that infatuation, felt it vicariously, and saw it requited with her own eyes, her attachment to this world would finally be severed.
It was humdrum stuff. And it was dubious at best. I had my doubts that the whole story was true. Not that I could turn her down anyway.
When Alty spoke of love and romance, she seemed as young as her appearance would have one believe. Her eyes sparkled like a young lady in love with love itself. And if I declined to humor her, she’d likely take it pretty bad, and I had no idea how she’d react. Offending a monster of a power level comparable to Tida’s was a minefield and a half. As such, after giving it quite a lot of thought, I’d decided to pretend to take on her request. After all, so long as she claimed to come in peace, postponing a battle with her was the best call. And then there was the fact that thrusting a sword at a monster bearing the face of a little girl was not that easy on the conscience. Finally, the calculating side of me figured that the more time passed, the safer I was thanks to my level rising.
All of this meant that, reluctant though I was, I had my reasons for walking through the Dungeon alongside Alty.
Aiming to earn my trust, Alty led the way, bopping along in fine spirits. Ever since entering the Dungeon, she had talked about herself during much of our time together in an attempt to close the emotional distance between us.
“So in other words, Sieg, I’m always thinking, I’d hate to have never known romantic love, you know, being a girl and all.”
“C’mon, are you even young enough to be a ‘girl’?”
“Hm, well, I know I’m at least a thousand years old... I think?”
“So you’re an old biddy, then. It’s high time you rest in peace, granny. For everybody’s sake.”
“You’re just plain rude, you know that? You’re seriously gonna call a girl this charming and cute ‘granny’? That’s not how you treat a lady, Sieg!”
“No duh. I’m not treating you as a girl. I’m treating you as a monster.”
After a light round of self-introductions, we started calling each other by name. We put on the outward appearance of a regular party, or rather, we fulfilled the bare minimum requirements it called for. But I had no intention of continuing my Dungeon diving this way, seeing as I didn’t need a stomach ulcer in my life. I planned to expose Alty’s ulterior motives, and fast. And I’d already puzzled out a plan—soon, I’d deliberately put myself into harm’s way against a monster and make Alty save me. If Alty took that opportunity to try attacking me, then my plan would succeed with flying colors. She would fall for my trap, and I had but to land a grand counterattack against her. If, on the other hand, Alty swooped in to save me, then the plan would still succeed. I’d sing her praises for rescuing me and use that to feign total trust in her. After that, I’d suggest we split up temporarily to increase our efficiency and cast a wider net, and use that time away from her to level up.
As we walked, I considered the correct timing to spring my scheme. On our way through the Dungeon, two or three floors deep, I spotted a handy candidate.
“Huh. Never seen that creature before, Alty. It seems to move fairly fast, so let’s flank it.”
“Good idea. Let me go behind it.”
The monster was an agile-looking quadrupedal beast. Since it looked so nimble at a glance, Alty approved of my proposal without suspicion. We each inched closer and closer, creating a pincer formation in the process. Once Alty assumed her position behind the monster, we’d attack it at the same time. Or at least, I’d pretend to.
I knew full well that if we fought it for real, it’d die almost instantly. I was going to make the battle play out unfavorably by getting in Alty’s way and “inadvertently” helping the monster. Then, after making sure Alty distanced herself a little, I’d let it swat away my sword. Thus “defenseless,” my body would be prone to attack. Needless to say, I made it so that at any time, I could pull out a spare sword from my inventory by putting my right hand behind my back. That was how I would playact my embarrassing defeat.
“Agh! Oh no!”
I shot Alty a pleading look, taking care to examine what emotion she was exhibiting at that moment. But Alty’s reaction was as straightforward as they come.
“Sieg!” Fear written on her face, she dashed forward at full speed, but not at me. Thrusting her sword with all her might at the monster, she slammed into
After rendering the monster into fading light, her gaze darted to me straight away. “Sieg, are you okay?!”
I sensed no malice, no hostility. These were the words of someone who was truly worried about my well-being. The only one who’d been duplicitous was me.
“I... I’m okay. Thank you, Alty. Needing to be saved...what a shameful display from me.”
“Phew... Heh heh,” she laughed, smiling even as blood ran from the tears in her bandages. “Don’t fret it. Allies help each other out. That’s just common sense, isn’t it?”
I felt nothing but mounting guilt. I wasn’t confident that I was returning her smile convincingly. Alty was a boss monster, and as long as that was true, I couldn’t afford to trust her. I knew that. But my determination to stay the course was fading the more I got to know her.
It was my menu-sight that categorized her as a monster, and she herself had professed she was a monster as well. Had that not been the case, I would have concluded she was some kind of demi-human peculiar to this world. Here, semifers—who, in my eyes, didn’t differ very much from monsters appearance-wise—were an integrated part of society. If I didn’t have my menu-sight, and if Alty didn’t call herself a monster, and if she had approached me with her current attitude of friendliness, there was no doubt I’d partner up with her without an ounce of suspicion or misgivings. That was just how human, or close to it, she was. She harbored human-level intellect, spoke and emoted like a human, and even looked near enough to one. Was rejecting her really the correct thing to do? Wasn’t I being a horrible person? Was I in the right for treating her as a monster? What if all I was doing was spurning a fellow human being, a person I could talk to?
No, stop thinking about it.
If I brooded too much over it, my “???” skill would trigger. Only a fool would activate it knowing the trigger conditions.
The monsters were all on their guard. Devoting my energy to that was the safest and most logical course of action. So, just as planned, I started pretending that I’d begun to trust Alty.
“Ha ha, it’s just common sense, you say... All right, fine, I believe you. I know now that you just want me to help fulfill your wish, and you’ve got zero hostility towards me.”
“Wait, what? You’re good now? And here I was expecting to do this for the long haul.”
“If I didn’t relent after being rescued, it’d be pitifully childish of me. I’ll trust you, albeit not a hundred percent.”
“Hmmm, not a hundred percent, huh? Well, that’s good enough for me. I’m a monster and you’re a person, after all.” Alty nodded merrily, and I stared, feeling ashamed.
“All right, let’s keep moving. Thanks to you, combat’s no sweat. We can dive even deeper.”
“Heh heh, boy, did you change your tune, Sieg! You can leave everything to me.”
Alty seemed to be enjoying this. She led the way again, laughing just like a human girl. I walked behind her, depression whirling in my heart. To the best of my ability, I avoided looking at her face as we resumed our mission.
◆◆◆◆◆
Together, Alty and I cleared Floors 4 and 5 without a hitch. That day’s dive had two objectives. The first was to advance through the Dungeon by myself. Dia had assured me that I could do it alone, and it was important that I prove that. Although it was a unique way of doing so, I had achieved that goal. While outwardly, we may have seemed like a party of two, I was, strictly speaking, on my own. In fact, it was an even more frightening situation than if I had actually gone alone, so that was proof enough in my book.
My second objective was to retrieve Dia’s severed arm. We reached the fifth floor and entered the chamber where we had fought Tida not long ago. However, though I went around and around searching for it, I couldn’t find it. Maybe somebody had taken it away. Or maybe the Dungeon auto-purified. I could imagine there were monsters prowling around who lived off the muck and garbage.
I put my hand to my chin and wondered, worried.
“That Dia kid’s arm probably isn’t coming back,” said Alty. “I think it must’ve been swallowed up.”
“It got swallowed up? By what?”
“By the Dungeon,” she said with a meaningful air.
As a boss monster, Alty worked with the Dungeon, so to speak. I had every confidence she was right—Dia’s arm had been swallowed up, never to be seen again. It made no sense to keep searching for it, so we decided to descend to the sixth floor.
Then, when I expanded my Dimension field to search for nearby enemies, a shrill shriek rang out.
“Yahhhh!!!”
After nearly jumping out of my skin, I brandished my sword and scanned my surroundings only to find no one there. The scream had come from someplace hidden from view.
“Oh, a scream,” said Alty. “What’s your move?” She was walking by me, but unlike me, she was calm.
In all honesty, screams weren’t uncommon in the Dungeon. Everybody was responsible for themselves when taking it on, so it was smartest to harden one’s heart and ignore it. This scream, on the other hand, wasn’t the type that one could ignore. It was too shrill for that—too much like a kid’s. If it had been an adult’s, I’m sure I would have been able to stay as calm as Alty, but if a kid was in danger, my conscience ached. Yes, I was aware of my selective morality. Yes, I was aware that my sense of ethics was at odds with this cruel fantasy world. But if I left that kid to the wolves, then the already restive nights in this world would grow even more sleepless for me.
“Sieg. If you’re gonna pull a face like that, then you should go save them.”
A pause. “What do you think, Alty?” Part of me just wanted a second opinion, but I was also curious about a boss monster’s moral outlook.
“Saving people is a good thing, obviously. Only, if you’re gonna save them, then you need to commit. Don’t misjudge the extent of your obligation to them. Guess that’s about all I can say on the matter.”
And so the monster before my eyes shared her eminently reasonable thoughts. However, her tone betrayed a measure of detachment. Though she acknowledged that saving people was a good deed, she had no desire to act herself. “You’re not going to go save them?”
“Um, no. I’m a monster. I don’t intend to help any humans besides you.”
Contrary to her beneficent words, Alty’s attitude proved cold. She was abiding by the rules of monsterkind. If I went to go save this kid, I’d be doing it alone. But the scream demanded immediate action. I had no time to waver. Now was the moment to decide.
“I’ll go save them,” I said, cursing my soft nature. “I’d feel awful if I abandoned them.”
With that, I expanded Dimension in the direction of the scream. A few hundred meters ahead, a party of four was engaged in combat with a giant monster in a wide corridor. I ascertained that one of those four was in the grips of mortal peril, so I dashed over without waiting for Alty to respond.
“Ahh,” came Alty’s voice from behind, “I knew it. You’re...”
Perhaps due to my focusing Dimension on the party of four, I couldn’t hear the rest of the sentence. I tore through the corridor like an animal, leaving Alty by her lonesome. Little by little, the farther I sprinted, the damper the corridor got. I reached the battlefield at last—a zone of watery shallows at the center of which a colossal monster with countless tentacles was running amok. At a glance, it looked like a kraken. Near it, around ten octopus-like minion monsters were squirming and wriggling around.
One of the four, a blond boy, was hanging upside-down in the kraken’s grasp, his legs wrapped in a tentacle. One of his comrades, a young woman, was trying to rescue him by charging in recklessly. The other two were also attempting to save him, but the octopodes had them walled off and unable to approach.
It was horrible. A party of adventurers all around my age, among them women and younger children. If I left them to die now, my stress levels would shoot through the roof, which was why I screamed at the top of my lungs: “I’ll save you! I’m not an enemy!!!”
The first thing I did was tell them I’d come to help. Without that declaration, depending on the situation, they might have assumed me to be a poaching hyena and attacked me. Then, without waiting for a reply, I ran at the tentacled titan.
