Chapter 13
<Dungeon Walkthrough>
In the original, this was one of the side-quest story arcs.
Since it was a side quest, it was an event one entered less for the story than to obtain high-grade items.
‘There are plenty of good items here.’
It was especially a place one absolutely had to visit when playing on [Impossible] difficulty.
If you didn't put together your equipment here, it would be difficult to deal with the <Seven Extinctions> that descended in the latter half.
In short, it was a farming spot.
[A dungeon... It must be fairly substantial, then.]
“Of course. It has as many as 100 underground floors.”
[That's deep. A hundred floors would make it one of the largest on the continent...]
“That's why the academy manages it directly. Leaving it unattended could be dangerous.”
Academy City.
A dungeon with 100 floors beneath it.
Thanks to the magic contained within the dungeon itself, the soil was fertile, and the mana in the air was always pure.
In addition to these geographical advantages, the dungeon was used for various purposes within the academy.
[Isn't it dangerous? Even so, the academy is directly above a dungeon.]
“It's fine. Dungeon difficulty increases as you descend. As long as you don't go too deep, nothing particularly dangerous will happen.”
[But as I understand it, dungeons are said to periodically overflow...]
“Purgatory isn't an eruptive dungeon. Leaving it alone won't cause it to run amok, nor will the monsters inside overflow. Therefore, there's no need to conquer its floors.”
[Oh? Then there must still be floors that haven't been conquered.]
“That's right. In fact, starting from the 70th underground floor, there are floors the academy hasn't been able to conquer yet.”
Perhaps she was becoming interested.
The bat blinked her lovely crimson eyes, no longer looking sleepy.
[The human world really is fascinating.]
“The underground dungeon... Its official name is ‘Purgatory.’ Purgatory is also used as a practical training site for academy cadets.”
[You said it's safe as long as one doesn't go too deep. It certainly is sensible. It should provide good experience for seeds that are still growing. Much safer than sending them out on assignments, too.]
“It's not called the continent's finest educational institution for nothing.”
[Mm-hmm.]
A safe dungeon.
Of course, that would change later in the story.
Starting from the point when the fifth calamity reigned, the unconquered floors of Purgatory would begin to run wild.
The dungeon's monsters and bosses would overflow onto the surface.
The collapse of a law everyone had firmly believed in.
The player would have to face both the grand destruction and the monsters from below at the same time.
‘Thinking ahead... I do need to conquer Purgatory all the way to the 100th floor.’
Only the unconquered floors would run wild.
The more floors the player conquered in advance, the easier things would be during the fifth calamity.
‘Well, I came here for another reason today.’
Conquering Purgatory was something I could handle little by little.
The fifth calamity would reign two years from now.
There was still quite a lot of time left.
Today, I intended to focus on obtaining the item I had originally planned to acquire.
[But, Victor.]
“Yes, Your Highness.”
A dark sky.
We lurked around the area near the annex.
We walked so as not to be caught by the faculty members on night patrol.
The dormitory was already past curfew, so if we were caught, I would certainly be punished.
[Didn't you say the entrance to Purgatory was especially heavily guarded?]
“That's right. If students entered recklessly and an accident occurred, it would be a serious problem.”
[And you said there was no separate back route, either. You haven't obtained permission to enter, have you? Judging by how secretly we're moving now, you intend to sneak in.]
“Precisely.”
[I can't imagine what this secret method of entry could possibly be...]
That was true.
I hadn't shown it to Carmilla yet.
“You'll understand when you see it. We've arrived, as it happens.”
“······?”
I stopped walking in a deserted clearing.
A corner that seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with the dungeon.
The bat tilted her head in puzzlement.
[Victor? Didn't you say the entrance to Purgatory was in the main A building?]
“That's right.”
[Then why are we in a place this far away from it...?]
“You'll find out now. Please stay quietly in my pocket so you don't fall out.”
[Hmm? All right, then.]
I tidied my clothes.
What I was about to do had to be swift, reverent, and meticulous.
I spotted a sapling growing amid a small patch of brush at one side of the clearing.
I placed my toes precisely against the sapling, then lay down beside it as if prostrating myself in a dogeza.
[······Victor?]
The bat raised a question mark at my bizarre behavior.
But I paid her no heed.
With my abdomen pressed against the ground, I began moving back and forth.
Rub, rub-. I looked quite shabby, but I was serious.
Being stared at for bizarre behavior was the fate of a bug player.
[Vic, Victor...? What are you doing?]
[Are you hurt somewhere?]
I didn't answer.
I devoted my entire mind to wall-humping and wall-clipping.
I rubbed my body against it several times, waiting for the bug to activate.
Carmilla was left with nothing but bewildered questions.
Just as the look in her eyes was beginning to turn troubled.
Tap-.
‘Got it.’
I felt as if something had caught.
Immediately afterward, my body sank smoothly beneath the ground.
[Eek, eek...?!]
Carmilla was startled.
After enduring the sensation of falling for a moment...
“We've arrived.”
[M-mmm...?]
The next moment.
We were standing in the middle of a huge passageway.
‘Gloomy.’
The chilly air peculiar to underground places.
Faint lanterns, a high ceiling, and a floor crafted from marble.
Carmilla looked around, as if trying to adjust to the changed scenery.
Before long, perhaps realizing that this was reality, her eyes went wide as she looked up at me.
[H-how...?]
“I told you. You'd find out soon enough.”
We were on the 70th floor.
We were standing in the corridor leading to the boss room.
The bat slipped out of my pocket and looked around in every direction.
[H-how did you do this? What principle? What kind of power? I definitely didn't sense any warning at all...]
I couldn't feel any mana.
It wasn't teleportation.
Yin and yang hadn't twisted.
It wasn't sorcery.
No demonic energy clung to it.
It wasn't black magic.
Carmilla could only stare with her crimson eyes sparkling.
[A power I can't detect?! Did you deceive the senses of a pureblood vampire like me? Or is it a completely different kind of power?]
“Heh heh, surprised?”
[Of course! I knew you used mysterious powers even normally, but I never imagined you could do something like this, too.]
The silver bat flapped her wings.
I lightly tapped my mask.
‘It wasn't another kind of power. I had merely used a bug...’
Since there was no other way to explain it, I didn't bother offering an explanation.
Besides, I didn't particularly want to ruin her awe.
[It seems there isn't anyone around.]
“Of course not. We're at the deepest part of the dungeon.”
Carmilla confirmed that there was no one nearby.
The princess leaped lightly.
Immediately afterward, the girl returned to her original form from the bat.
Her silver hair shimmered brilliantly in the dungeon's lantern light.
“Ahem! Then we can proceed like this!”
“This way. That's the boss room at the far end.”
“Is the item Victor wants in that room?”
“More precisely, the boss has it. We can probably obtain it by hunting the boss.”
An item obtainable only from a first-time kill.
Since the 70th floor had not yet been conquered, I had to get there first and claim it.
“But... an item for Victor? What kind do you need?”
“A weapon. There's one that would be perfect for me to use in my current situation.”
“A weapon?”
The combination I used most often.
The Evil God set—and this.
It was an item that could form a combo with the mask I was currently using.
“If I had to be precise, I suppose it would be a melee weapon.”
“Even Victor needs something like that? You're already plenty strong with your bare hands.”
“It's better to have a variety of means at one's disposal. That's how I can remain your capable aide at all times.”
“Victor, you're already capable beyond measure!”
“Heh heh, I'm grateful even for the thought.”
“But I mean it...”
Before we knew it, we'd reached the entrance to the room.
As we drew near, a simple notice was posted there.
Could it have been placed there by the faculty members who had previously attempted to conquer the floor?
[Warning]
This 70th floor has not yet been conquered.
Please turn back the way you came.
Do not ignore this warning or open the gate before you.
[Warning]
Beyond this point is the area where the master of the 70th floor resides.
The academy has not yet completed its conquest of this floor, either.
The master's pattern changes every time, and sometimes the master has no physical form.
If you are not part of the dedicated expedition team, turn back.
“Victor... Is it really all right to go inside?”
“Of course. Surely you aren't scared?”
“T-there's no way I am!”
[Warning]
After entering this area, the door will not open until certain conditions are met.
The specific conditions are as follows.
-The death of the master of the 70th floor or the death of all entrants.
[Warning]
This area has an extremely low survival rate even for official expedition teams.
-Official expedition teams consist of at least two powerful individuals at the professor level or above.
-Twenty years ago, after five professors died in the line of duty during an expedition, the conquest of this area was suspended indefinitely.
Your probability of returning alive is extremely low.
Do not enter under any circumstances.
“I-Is this really all right...?”
“Come on. I'll open the gate right away.”
“Vic, Victor! Wait for me...!”
Carmilla came scampering over.
I chuckled and placed my hand on the gate.
Perhaps because it had been left untouched for so long, the hinges groaned heavily.
I began pushing the door, several times taller than I was, with all my strength.
‘Well.’
I had no concerns about the expedition.
No one was watching, after all, so this was the perfect environment for me to unleash all my bizarre bugs.
‘Shall I show them what I can do?’
I stroked the smiling mask.
The gate opened, and a rush of cold air swept out.
I stepped forward into it.
Toward the master of the 70th floor, an impenetrable obstacle for the past several decades.
***
But Victor didn't know.
A space empty of people, free from the gazes of others.
“Th-this...?”
Even in such a place, there was a gaze watching him.
“D-did he go in? Into the master's domain...?”
A dream that gazes directly at another.
A Dream of a Strange Form (異形一夢).
The blue eyes of the girl lying on her dormitory bed trembled.
“That person...?”
Alice.
The girl was in utter shock as she checked the shared field of vision.