Chapter 88
"?!"
In a strange place bathed in a faint blue-green light, a corridor stretched straight ahead with no branches. Partway down it, Kagami suddenly stopped, seemingly sensing something, and wore a grave expression.
"W-what's wrong, Kagami-dono?"
"Nothing. I thought I was about to fart, but I couldn't."
"I see."
Then the two of them resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
Six days had already passed since they arrived at the dungeon beneath the Sacred Forest.
Just as they had planned, they were making money by hunting Dark Dragons and other monsters, and had already fought countless monsters in this dungeon. But something about it left them uneasy.
After all, this dungeon was simply too strange.
"Hmm... Kagami-dono, looks like it's your turn."
"Sure."
A magic circle suddenly appeared at the far end of the corridor Kagami and Menou were walking down. Three demon-like monsters lumbered out of it. Aside from their purple skin, they looked just like humans.
Before the monsters could make a move, Kagami closed the distance in an instant and punched one in the stomach, sending it flying.
The other two monsters immediately tried to grab Kagami, who had come right up to them. But Kagami nimbly dodged their grasping hands, seized each monster by the back of the head with one hand, slammed their heads together, then hurled them against the corridor wall.
"...They're pretty tough."
Most monsters would have turned into money by now under Kagami's attacks. But these demon-like monsters recovered as if nothing had happened. Smiling happily, they charged at Kagami again.
A moment later, a faint orange light glowed around Kagami's fist. Kagami drove a Charge Blow into the monsters' heads, and only then did they turn into money.
"Impressive, Kagami-dono."
"Menou, don't just stand there watching—give me a hand."
"Wouldn't it be better to save my strength for an emergency? Besides, it would take me far too long to defeat those monsters with my power."
"Well, that's true... But I wonder what level those monsters were."
Menou shrugged at Kagami's question. "At least close to my level," she replied. If they had a tool that revealed monster stats, the kind sold by the quest guild, they could have found out. Unfortunately, neither of them had one.
After all, there were hardly any monsters Kagami didn't recognize.
But this dungeon was filled with monsters Kagami had never seen before. They were powerful demons, strong enough to give Menou, whose level was over 170, a hard time.
"Still, they drop a ridiculous amount of money... Two hundred silver each. We've already made 122 gold since we got here! Making 122 gold in six days is insane."
"If only monsters spawned endlessly..."
The money the monsters dropped was substantial, in proportion to their strength. So far, every monster they'd encountered in this dungeon had dropped at least 100 silver.
At first, Kagami and Menou had rejoiced, thinking they could easily make 1,000 gold by spending a month here. But things hadn't worked out so well.
For some unknown reason, monsters appeared when they reached certain points, then stopped appearing at those spots. Menou even removed the cloth that suppressed demonic mana and waited for monsters to appear, but none showed up, even after an entire day.
The same reason explained why Kagami hadn't been attacked even once when he used his Limit Release Skill and was unable to move for an entire day: monsters wouldn't appear unless they reached one of those points.
That was why they kept pressing deeper into the dungeon. Each time they tried to go farther in, monsters appeared, making them feel as though they were being put through some sort of test.
"I wonder how far this dungeon goes."
"Who knows? It doesn't matter how long it takes, does it? As long as we've got the stamina, we won't die."
"You don't understand, Kagami-dono... I want to hurry back to Alice-sama and see that smile!"
"Right."
Not only the monsters that appeared, but the dungeon itself was strange in both structure and nature. For one thing, despite being a dungeon, its paths didn't twist and turn; they went straight ahead.
At the end of every corridor, there was a spiral staircase. Once they descended it, another straight corridor awaited them. It went on like that, over and over.
Baffled by the dungeon's seemingly endless layout, they once tried to head back to gather food. But then Kagami noticed something strange.
Even though Kagami had been unable to move for an entire day and hadn't eaten anything, Kagami wasn't hungry at all.