Chapter 3 — Count Lodol’s Perspective

One night, Count Lodol was throwing a celebration alone in his office.

“Bwahaha! The dungeon’s finally earning me money,” he declared while pouring expensive wine into a glass crafted by an artisan. He swirled it in front of his magic tool lamp, watching the red liquid tremble with beautiful fragility as he inhaled the ripe grape scent. With all of his senses satisfied, he finally took a hefty swallow.

“Mmm, as delicious as ever! This wine is well worth the two golds per bottle!” he said, pouring himself another glass while enjoying the flavor lingering in his throat. Count Lodol was in an exceptionally good mood. After all, the dungeon was finally earning him money rather than losing it. Why wouldn’t he be in a good mood? Especially considering the dungeon needed fewer Goblins to sustain itself.

The key to this was the slaves he bought being surprisingly hard workers. He split them into the Tsia group and the Pavella group, but the Tsia group worked so hard that he rewarded them a bit with better accommodations. Seeing that, the Pavella group worked a bit harder as well. The end result was the slaves earning back the money he spent to buy them, then making progress on having the dungeon pay for itself.

“...Fwaah, aaah! I feel fantastic. Bwahaha.”

On top of everything, Cid the heir apparent of Pavella was still as depressed as ever, and now he was spending his time in Dragg’s Beddhist church. His presence still prevented Count Lodol from going too far, but even in regards to the artificial dungeon, he didn’t kick up too much of a fuss. “You did such a thing without asking my permission first...? I do not look well upon that, but I suppose you did what you had to do,” Cid had said in a defeatist tone. In the end the deciding factor was that Alca the High Priestess was observing things until the dungeon stabilized, and would remove the dungeon if there were any problems.

Count Lodol picked up one of the Golem Beets he had prepared as snacks and bit into it. Soon, all of the beets would be his. He was sure of it. And then, a thought occurred to him.

“Ah, of course. I could make even more money faster if I boosted the spawn rate,” Count Lodol mused. Thanks in part to the alcohol flowing through his veins, the idea seemed genius to him. Of course, he had already been raising the spawn rate slowly under the guidance of the High Priestess, but it seemed to him that the slaves could be comfortably pushed much further. They wouldn’t have any problem with a couple more enemies.

He settled on the idea immediately. At once, he set off and stealthily headed to the [Golem Graveyard] on his own. There was a fence surrounding the area to stop people from entering without permission, but he used his town chief key to open it and enter the dungeon. As an employee, he casually strode into the control room without any hesitation. Inside was the same black ball sitting in the center, connected to a stone slate the High Priestess referred to as a ‘monitor.’

“Erm, I believe it worked like this...” He pressed a hand on the slate and activated it. Count Lodol was registered as an operator, so the familiar old setting screen appeared with no problems whatsoever. The three gauges—spawn type, spawn rate, and difficulty—were currently set to lowest, somewhat high, and lowest.

“Let me just modify the spawn rate... Wait, what? My hand must have slipped.” He tried to modify the spawn rate, but for some reason the difficulty went up instead.

“I must put it back at once... Hrm? Hrrrm?” He tried lowering the difficulty, but spawn type went up instead.

“What in the world is going on?” Now spawn type wouldn’t go back to normal either. None of his inputs were working.

“Hrm? I am certain this is how you control it...” Experimentally, he tried to raise the spawn rate again, but all it did was raise the difficulty like last time. He tried lowering the spawn rate, but nothing happened.

“T-Truly, what is happening? Hrm? Hrmmm?” Count Lodol murmured, not noticing that the cord connecting the monitor to the slate was making sparking sounds. He was focused entirely on trying to get the controls to work properly.

Bzrt. The screen disappeared.

“What?! E-Er, come back!” He struck and rubbed the stone where the screen had been multiple times, but nothing happened. The cord was sparking even louder than before, and a huge crack was forming in the black ball.

“What? Ah!” It was then that even Count Lodol noticed something very bad was happening.

“I-It broke without me doing anything! This isn’t my fault!” Count Lodol exclaimed before attempting to flee the control room. That was when a pitfall appeared beneath his feet.

# Keima’s Perspective

“Uncle! HEEELP!” Igni burst into my residence, smashing the front door to pieces in the process. “UNCLE, UNCLEEEE!” she sobbed as she broke through door after door on the way to my room, the locks providing no resistance whatsoever. It was so loud, I woke up in no time and hurried out of my room—I was a bit mad about being woken up, but I knew something serious was going on.

“Calm down, Igni! What happened?!”

“UNCLEEE! Dad’s... Dad’s in trouble! Help him! Follow me!”

I looked down and saw that Igni’s feet were Dragon claws. This isn’t good. “Alright, I’ll go. Just calm down and tell me what happened.”

“Sniff... Dad, um, he was really sick this morning, so...!”

“Ittetsu’s sick? In what way?”

“H-His forehead’s super duper hot! Mom’s looking after him right now, but she told me to go get you!”

“Alright. Let’s go right away.”

Apparently, Ittetsu was in such a bad state that he couldn’t use the place function, so Redra was looking after him in the bottom-most Boss Room. After telling Rokuko I was dropping by the [Flame Caverns], Igni carried me on her back and headed to the top of Tsia Mountain. Once there, I used the hidden passage built during the Dungeon Battle to go all the way to the bottom-most floor and then the Boss Room where Ittetsu and Redra were.

Eugh, being carried like that made me kinda nauseous... Dang, it’s crazy hot in here. It’s like the air is actually burning me. Kinda reminds me of a deadly sauna. I don’t want to spend too long in here.

“Dad, Mom! I brought Uncle!” Igni shouted as she put a hand on the red door. Wait, hold on. I can feel some insane heat coming off that door, I thought, but it was too late.

“Igni, ya idiot! Shut the fuckin’ door!” Redra roared.

“What? Eep!”

Igni opened the door just as Redra yelled at her not to, and a pillar of fire burst out of the room. Both she and I were enveloped by it, but only I burned to ashes.

“U-Ugggh...”

...When I woke up, I was lying on my side, completely naked. Or, well, I had a wool robe laid over me. It seemed my {Ultra Transformation}’s revival function had saved my bacon again. Whew, thank god I’m always transformed into myself. I would have died otherwise. Or, well, I did die, but you know.

“Ah, Uncle! Are you okay?!”

“H-Heya, Keima... You fuckin’ doing alright?”

Igni peered at my face as Ittetsu spoke through the door. The weakness in his voice came either from the guilt of killing me, or just him being sick.

“...How long was I out?”

“Not even five minutes. Igni shut the door and you were fuckin’ back in thirty seconds. The hell’s goin’ on with that? Glad you’re alive, but man...”

Huh, that’s surprisingly fast. Whew. That surprised me.

“So I died, huh...? What were you thinking, Ittetsu?”

“Er... Sorry ‘bout that. I’m feelin’ sick, y’know?”

On second thought, Ittetsu the great spirit of fire was sick, so much so that Igni the Flame Dragon would describe his forehead as feeling “super duper hot.” It was only logical that a normal human would die just from getting close. And I sure did. Man... Dying never feels good. Feels like a chill runs down my spine when I think about it. Fantasy worlds sure are filled with danger.

“Sorry, Uncle! I forgot fire is your weak point!”

“It’s less of a weak point and more something that kills most things... But I guess a pillar of fire is nothing to a Flame Dragon like you.”

“I didn’t think it through! Sorry!” she said, and that was when I realized it didn’t feel hot like a sauna anymore.

“My fuckin’ bad, seriously. Gotta say, I felt like shit when I thought I killed you for real. But don’t worry. I got Redra to give you her protection. You won’t die from fire ever again as long as Redra’s still alive. Only reason you’re on the other side of the door is for safety’s sake.”

Oh yeah? A Red Dragon’s protection seems kinda rare. It’s pretty long-term, too.

“My robe has the same thing, Uncle!” Igni said, at which point I realized that despite being hit by fire that burned me to ashes, the robe was just fine. Hm... Maybe she just gives her protection to all sorts of things?

“But yeah, I fuckin’ burned your clothes, so you can have that instead.”

“Oh, the robes? I’d feel kinda awkward about wearing robes while naked,” I said, instead buying underwear and a jersey with the DP I keep on me at all times. Uhhh, they seem to be sparking a bit... Is the room even hotter than it needs to be? Enough to start fires just by existing?

“I’ll give them my protection! Hyah! Okay, that should do it, Uncle.”

“Oh, thanks, Igni.” I changed into the jersey now that it wouldn’t catch fire. As for the orichalcum support... Welp, it sure is a puddle in front of the door. Let me just put that into {Storage}. And honestly, if it’s hot enough to melt orichalcum I can’t say I’m surprised I died instantly. Good thing I gave Kosaki to Niku. In retrospect, I really didn’t think things through, coming here. I’ll need to be more careful in the future.

“So, you’re feeling sick?”

“Yeah. It’s like my power is being sucked away, that kinda thing.”

“...Why’s it getting hotter in here, then? Seems to me that you’re getting more active.”

“When my power started gettin’ sucked away, the first thing I lost was the power to hold shit back.”

“Uh-huh?” So he was getting dangerously active.

“At this rate, Tsia Mountain’s gonna erupt.”

“Erupt...? Uh. Wait, what?”

According to Ittetsu, Tsia Mountain was actually an active volcano on the verge of erupting violently, but he had been keeping it under control by turning the overflowing fire into DP, eating it, and so on. But now, his dungeon functions were being sealed, and he couldn’t hold it back any more.

“Putting aside the eruption, your dungeon functions are getting sealed? Sounds like the Dungeon Eaters again.”

“Yeah? That’s the bug things you killed a while ago, yeah?” Dungeon Eaters had been discussed by Father at the last gathering, so they were steadily becoming better known throughout the dungeons.

“Rokuko got sick when the Dungeon Eaters attacked, and her dungeon functions got sealed too.”

“Huh. You sayin’ there’s Dungeon Eaters in my dungeon...?”

“Nah. It’s possible, but I’m pretty sure something else is to blame here.”

“Yeah... I can kinda guess what’s causin’ the fuckin’ problems too.”

There was no point dancing around the obvious. Barring some insane coincidences, the artificial dungeon was clearly at fault. If anything else was causing this, that would be the real problem.

“But we do want to rule out Dungeon Eaters if we can, so do a check for them. Redra, Dungeon Eaters do show up on the map, but only after you get visual confirmation of them. You might want to get some subordinates to look around the dungeon closely and make sure nothing’s off.”

“Alright! 112, I’m gonna make sure you’re alright!” Redra roared from behind the door again.

“Keima. Can I fuckin’ ask you to take care of the artificial dungeon for me? Take Igni with ya if you need her. She’s good at fuckin’ shit up.”

“You got it. The only problem is why things got so much worse for you so fast.”

Out of curiosity, I brought up my monitor and looked through the eyes of the rats and spiders I had by the artificial dungeon.

“...What the hell?” I said. The entrance to the artificial dungeon was unrecognizable—it had grown so massive that it swallowed up the fence and branch office that had been positioned close to it. Yeah, they definitely lost control of this dungeon. It’s clearly going berserk.

I had the rats search for the control room, but they couldn’t find anything. What they did find, though, were traps. Apparently, the structure of the dungeon had changed pretty dramatically. We couldn’t just invade the place and stealthily destroy the Core in the control room.

“Ittetsu, how long can you hold back the eruption?”

“To be honest, I don’t fuckin’ know. Redra’s here and could hold it back for a day without me, but if I die she’s fucked, too. We don’t got much leeway here. ’Specially since Igni doesn’t know how to hold back the eruption...”

If Ittetsu died, Redra would die too as his Dungeon Master. The eruption would follow not long after.

“Alright. I’ll make this fast, then.”

“I owe ya one... And my bad, but you’ll have to leave the dungeon on your own.”

With that settled, it was time to go back to my chief residence. We returned to the secret path and Igni raced to the door connecting the [Flame Caverns] to the [Cave of Greed] while princess carrying me. Once we were in [Phenny’s Playground,] we found Elulu the elf ghost I had put in charge of managing the dungeon. Oh yeah, she spends most of her time here in case Igni visits unannounced.

“Ah, hello there, Igni. And welcome back, Master?”

“Hi, hi, Elulu! But sorry, I don’t have the time to play right now!”

“Hey. Elulu, place me in the chief residence. Igni, you go to Dragg ahead of me.”

“Okay! See you later, Uncle!”

“Mmm? I’m not really sure what’s happening, but okay. I shall place you.”

And so, Elulu used the dungeon function to place me back in Goren. Rokuko was waiting for me there.

“Welcome back, Keima. You have a visitor waiting in the parlor.”

“A visitor? Who is it? I’m in a hurry.”

“It’s the Guild receptionist.”

Cilia? She was probably here about the artificial dungeon. I went straight to the parlor to see her.

“Ah. I see you are safe, Keima,” Cilia said, looking relieved. Apparently she saw the wreckage of all the doors Igni broke and thought I had potentially been attacked.

“Sorry for worrying you. What’s up?”

“We have an urgent, high-priority quest for you. The quest is to save Dragg’s town chief, Count Lodol.”

“...Uh, what?” That wasn’t what I expected. “Why does Count Lodol need rescuing, and why is the quest for me?”

“It seems very likely that he was eaten by the artificial dungeon,” Cilia began before giving me the details. Apparently Count Lodol headed off somewhere last night, and by morning the artificial dungeon was a mess. The Count himself was nowhere to be seen. Seeing an obvious connection between the two, Cid gave the Adventurer’s Guild a quest to rescue him.

On top of that, I had previously agreed to complete a rescue quest in the event of something happening. Though I said that in reference to the initial exploration of the dungeon, and then I took it back and did the exploration myself, so I don’t actually have to take this quest if I don’t want to.

“...I’ll give the quest a shot, as long as it’s okay if I can’t actually rescue him safely.”

“That is fine. All rescue quests are given with failure as a possibility.”

And so, I got permission to enter the messed up artificial dungeon. That said, I don’t have a spare life from my {Ultra Transformation} right now. Even considering that Tsia Mountain’s about to erupt, I don’t want to push myself too far... Oh. I should probably tell that to Cilia.

“Oh, right. Be careful. Tsia Mountain might be erupting soon.”

“Ah?! Wh... What?! Is that true?!” Cilia shot up from her chair in shock.

“An expert on the [Flame Caverns] just told me all about it. All the broken doors you saw here were his daughter rushing to inform me as soon as possible. I went to check out the caverns myself this morning, and things definitely did not look good. It’s not holding back the eruption energy like it used to,” I explained honestly.

“...Is the artificial dungeon at fault?”

“I can’t imagine it being anything else. I’m gonna go destroy it.”

“W-Wait just a moment. I know it is an artificial dungeon, but destroying a dungeon without proper investigation first will surely be—”

“It’ll be too late once the eruption happens. I’ll make sure the higher-ups know this. And I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens.” Though I already know Haku will approve since doing anything else would put Rokuko in danger. She told me to keep my eyes open and watch for now, but that also means to destroy it if there’s any problems.

Cilia looked at me with dubious eyes for a second, then caved and nodded in agreement before leaving.

Alright. It was time to conquer the rampaging artificial dungeon.

“First of all, how’s the inside of the dungeon looking?”

“I sent some rats to investigate. Want to look? It’s kind of crazy,” Rokuko said while bringing up her monitor. “First off, there’s swarms of Golems and Goblin Zombies. There’s a ton of traps too. The structure of the dungeon is changing constantly. If I’m being honest, it’s just completely bizarre.”

Goblin Zombies, huh? I guess they were dumping Goblin corpses in there. Must be due to that.

“The Golems are all misshapen and a lot of them are falling apart. I guess they’re kind of like Golem Zombies in a way. Not really sure if Golems are alive, though.”

So it’s like the monsters are bugging out. Spooky.

“Anyway, that seems like a little too many for us to just invade without a plan.” Igni could probably sweep through most of them, but the problem is getting Igni into the dungeon in the first place. She’d have to come with me, since I have permission to go in the dungeon.

.........

Eh... I really don’t want to go into that monster house with zero spare lives.

“Keima. Leave this to me—I have a good idea.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Watch this!” Rokuko declared before slamming a hand down on her menu. Moments later a transparent window appeared that said, Dungeon Battle Request... Accepted.

“Looks like it went through. Impressed, Keima? I challenged the artificial dungeon to a Dungeon Battle!”

“Uh?”

Rokuko puffed out her chest with smug pride as the menu turned into a countdown with 59 minutes and 55 seconds left. Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

“Now we can send as many monsters as we want into the dungeon! Now, Keima, hurry up and spend the next hour preparin— Ow, ow?!”

I flicked Rokuko’s forehead. “Seriously, Rokuko?”

“Wh-What? Keima, didn’t you not want to go inside their dungeon yourself?!”

“I didn’t, but it wasn’t something I had to avoid at all costs. This Dungeon Battle’s going to put you in danger! What if something happens to you?!”

“It’ll be fine. Our dungeon would never lose to those lame zombies, would it?”

“This Dungeon Battle might get you sick again, like before!” I said, and Rokuko averted her eyes awkwardly.

“...Ahhh, w-well, I didn’t consider that.”

Here I am thinking she’s been smarter lately, then she pulls this junk. Sheesh!

“But Keima, it doesn’t matter if I get sick as long as you crush their dungeon. This is still the best option in the end,” she said, and it was hard to argue that this wouldn’t be the fastest path to victory.

“...But, still. I don’t want you in danger.”

“Well, I don’t want to lose you either, okay? Let me carry some of the risk too. That’s what partners do, isn’t it?” Rokuko said before embracing me tightly. “You do know I love you, right? I’m not joking around.”

“...R-Right,” I replied, my cheeks growing hot from her whispering into my ears. I could feel Rokuko’s heartbeat thumping against my chest. “Sheesh. I might just have the best partner in the world. And either way, what’s done can’t be undone. Let’s just pray their gate will be inside the dungeon.”

“Ah, r-right... I forgot about that too,” Rokuko replied hurriedly. But, well... With her luck, we should be fine. I patted Rokuko’s head gently where I had flicked it a second ago.

We had one hour to prepare. I told Igni we’d be able to get her into the artificial dungeon from the [Cave of Greed] and had her come back to our dungeon.

“If you can do that, just tell me to come here from the start, Uncle.”

“Sorry, things changed a second ago. Our gate’ll open in the coliseum area, so just wait there with the Golems.”

“Okay!”

With that done, I started casting {Create Golem} over and over to mass produce Golems. I killed all the Iron Golems from the spawners at once to get their materials for {Create Golem}. Each Golem could be made into five more hollow ones that were under my direct control, and with this plan I could have an army of them made much faster.

“Ichika, here,” Niku said.

“Roger dodger. Masteeer, I got some more for ya.”

“Thanks, Ichika.”

I gathered all the Iron Golem spawners from across the dungeon into a room close to the coliseum, then waited for more to spawn. The second they did, Niku killed them all, and Ichika brought me their remains using the Dai-Frame I made for her a while ago. Then I used {Create Golem} to remake them. The Golems now under my control moved to the coliseum to wait.

I should be able to make plenty of these in an hour. Or, well, even once the battle starts, I can just send in more reinforcements with {Summon Skeleton} and {Summon Gargoyle}. Those are convenient since they don’t need resources like this.

“Y’know, Master, what’s gonna happen to that Lodol guy if we flood the dungeon with Golems like this? If junk goes bad, he could get, like, crushed by our Golems, or he might figure out we’re controlling them.”

“Our first priority is destroying the artificial dungeon core. He can come afterwards, if he’s lucky. If not, well, no skin off our backs.”

“Oh man, you’re friggin’ pissed that he put Rokuko in danger, huh? Lemme guess, if he’s too smart for his own good, he’ll tragically die before we reach him, right?”

Hahahaha, what’re you talking about, Ichika? I’m not mad at all. It’ll just be easier to find him if we take care of the artificial dungeon first. It’s just logical.

“Doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to use the Boss Spawner this time. One hour wasn’t actually enough, I think. Sorry, Keima,” Rokuko said through a call, since she was in the Master Room.

“Don’t sweat it. Now’s not the time to be experimenting with weird other monsters.” Not to mention this is actually going pretty fast. These are pretty basic Golems I’m making here, so I can finish each in about ten seconds. That said... While at this point I have way more mana than this kind of thing will ever take, it’s kind of mentally draining to just sit here and pour out mana non-stop.

In any case, I produced two hundred Iron Golems in thirty minutes, at which point I took a break.

“Wow, Keima. Iron Golems usually cost 500 DP each, sooo... That was about 100,000 DP worth of Golems you made in thirty minutes.”

“Heh. Yeah, we’re making a killing here.” We sure could crash the price of iron by dumping all of these Golems on the market at once. Once we’ve finished up with the artificial dungeon, I’ll get rid of these by offering them up to my dungeon.

“By the way, I finished making my own pawns to help with the exploration,” Rokuko said.

“What’d you settle on? Rats?”

“Mhm. Dragg had so many rats, they ended up having to use all that poison to finish them off, so I don’t think they’ll be suspicious at all even if there’s a ton of rat corpses inside the dungeon.”

Huh, I didn’t think of that. Rokuko suuure is getting a lot smarter.

And so, our one hour of prep time ended in the blink of an eye. Rokuko and I were standing by in the Master Room. We were going to have Rei, Kinue, Neruneh, and Elulu help with the dungeon battle alongside Niku and Ichika. One could say that every member of the [Cave of Greed] was participating, aside from the Silkies at the inn... and Rokuko’s pets, and the Succubus nuns. (Gobsuke counted as a pet.)

Niku would control the rats for scouting, while Ichika and Rei would command a hundred Golems as our main combat forces. Rokuko and Neruneh would direct the Gargoyles I summoned in the Master Room to provide support. Kinue and Elulu would control the remaining one hundred Golems to defend the dungeon.

“I’m impressed you all got ready so fast.”

“But of course, Master! We could hardly call ourselves the pillars of your dungeon if we were not always ready to stand and fight at a moment’s notice!” Rei responded eagerly as their representative, unable to contain her excitement. As a dungeon monster, she was probably excited to have an opportunity to show what she could do.

“Right after the battle starts, Rokuko and I are going to check and make sure the dungeon is functioning like normal. We’ll be counting on you all in the meantime.”

“Right!” Rokuko interjected. “Everyone, fulfill your duties!”

All those present nodded, with Igni shouting, “I’ll help too!” in the back. Good to see that everyone was motivated.

A gate appeared, signaling the start of the The Dungeon Battle. Through it we could indeed see the inside of the artificial dungeon. I looked inside through the monitor while thanking Rokuko’s good luck, and before long some Goblin Zombies and zombie-esque Golems came marching out. They surged into our dungeon all at once, like waves crashing against a shore.

“Uncle! I’m gonna breathe some fire!”

“Yup, go for it.”

Igni inhaled, then spat out a wave of fire from side to side, burning nearly a hundred zombies to ashes in a single breath.

“I’m sending the scouts,” Niku said, maneuvering the rats beneath the legs of the surviving zombies to spread them through the dungeon. Rokuko and I checked the dungeon functions while watching the map get steadily filled out.

“Object creation, good. Monster summoning, good. Traps, item creation, good.”

“Monitor functions, wall creation, and room creation are all fine. Keima, you know what to do.”

“Alrighty. {Summon Gargoyle}.”

“Registered as a subordinate, placed. Okay, all set.”

For now, it seemed we wouldn’t have any problems during the Dungeon Battle. We shifted our focus back there, with all our functions confirmed to still be working.

“...Whewee, now that’s a married couple for you. They’re totally in sync with each other,” Ichika whistled.

“Eheheheh. Feel free to say that again,” Rokuko replied. I dunno, I think she was just saying that to tease us... Eh, whatever. Rokuko looks happy, so it’s fine.

The rats advanced through the dungeon, soon finding a stairway upwards. That would lead outside the dungeon—in other words, toward Dragg. Better we just ignore it for now.

“Ichika, leave some enemies and form a wall. Don’t let anyone invade from the outside.”

“Sure thing.”

“Rei, no need to hold back. Get in there and beat the crap out of anything you see.”

“You may count on me! Go forth, Golems! Charge!”

Ichika controlled the Golems precisely while Rei was much more aggressive in fulfilling her orders. Yeaaah, feels kinda like Rei is blowing off some steam here. I might be working her too hard as the High Priestess of Beddhism. I’ll try to get her some more vacation days once all this is over.

“{Summon Gargoyle x 10}... Rokuko, Neruneh.”

“Right, right. Place, place.”

“Okaaay, here’s some reinforcemeeents.”

Rokuko took control of the Gargoyles and placed them in the dungeon, while Neruneh sent them marching through the gate. Y’know, actually... Do we even need to send reinforcements? Things are going pretty well. The enemies only go after us when we attack them, and even then they aren’t swarming us or anything. So far our only casualties are from traps.

“Sure feels like they’re sandbagging here.”

“Hm? Keima, what do bags of sand have to do with anything?”

“They’re punching bags you can hit as much as you want with no repercussions. It also refers to someone losing on purpose. This is just going way too well...” I mean, Kinue and Elulu have nothing to do on the defensive side. They’re just gathering up corpses to clean, at most. I guess that’s what I should expect if the dungeon’s just mechanically producing monsters and traps without a Core or Master helping them.

“Master, I’ve found a stairway down. I will continue my exploration there.”

“Go for it, Niku. But I hear that if left alone, the dungeon will morph on its own. We should leave some monsters along the way to secure a route. Neruneh, make it happen with some Gargoyles.”

“Okaaay.”

If they were changing the structure of rooms with dungeon functions, we could block them by leaving some of our subordinates nearby.

“...Master, I found a stairway down.”

“Huh? Another one?”

“Well, it’s the second one on the same floor.”

“Huh, well, nothing too crazy about two stairways on the same floor. Could be a labyrinth or something.”

“Ah! Master, there’s a third... no, a fourth stairway!”

“Master, my man, there’s staircases popping up in the halls Niku just went through. And, like, they’re totes going up instead of down,” Ichika chimed in.

“...Wait, really?” I glanced at the map and saw several icons indicating stairways.

“Uncle, what should we do? Where should I go?”

“Uhhh, hold on a sec, Igni. I think we just have to... let Niku keep scouting...?”

“Ah! Uncle, a wall! There’s a wall here now!”

“Wait, what?” I looked through the monitor and saw that our secured route actually had a wall blocking it midway through. The heck is this? We definitely had Gargoyles in place to stop this.

“Keima. Call Igni back for now. We don’t want her charging in and getting buried by walls,” Rokuko suggested.

“Good point. Igni, come back for a second!”

“O-Okay... Um, which way was back again... Over here, I think.”

We needed to form some kind of plan in the time it took Igni to get back.

“The dungeon structure’s changing even though there are enemies inside. Thoughts, Keima?” Rokuko asked.

“The only thing I can think of is that the dungeon functions are bugging out... Or, well, we’re dealing with a dungeon that doesn’t have a Core or Master. Maybe it’s not even registering us as invaders?” I suggested. The monsters didn’t move at all before we attacked them. That could be a sign the dungeon wasn’t recognizing us as enemies.

“That’s it, Keima! We need to figure out a way to stop their dungeon from morphing despite that bug. Otherwise, we’ll never reach the end.”

“...Yeah. Hopefully there’s something we can do,” I said, but my plotting was interrupted by Ichika letting out a loud “Oh shit.”

“What’s up, Ichika?”

“The High Priestess is busting in, my dude.”

“Wait, me?”

“Not you, Rei. The Light one.”

I glanced at the monitor and saw the High Priestess, fighting not the artificial dungeon’s zombie monsters but our Iron Golems and Gargoyles. Now this is some crap timing... Or actually, on second thought, of course she’s here. Alca is the artificial dungeon’s managing employee or whatever it was. Of course she would take action to rescue Count Lodol.

Wait. Alca, the High Priestess. That reminds me...

“I just had a good idea. I’m heading out too.”

“What’re you talking about, Keima?! It’s dangerous down there!” Rokuko exclaimed.

“It has to be me. Nobody else can do this. Sorry, Rokuko. And also, could you call the Gargoyles back?”

“F-Fine. But I’ll be really ticked if you don’t come back safe, okay?!”

Rokuko placed me right by the gate, and I infiltrated the artificial dungeon just as Igni left. I sprinted straight to where the High Priestess was, avoiding walls and traps along the way. I borrowed Niku’s orichalcum supports, so I’ve got at least a little firepower. Yeah.

When I got close enough, Alca must have noticed my presence, as she called out to me first. “Oh? If it isn’t Keima. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah, cough, heya, uh, Alca. Excuse me, I, uh, my Gargoyles sure wasted your time, cough.” Despite coughing from rushing over so fast, I sent back the Gargoyles I had summoned earlier.

“Aahh. So those were your summons?”

“Yeah. Haaah, haaah... I had them attack everything on sight since I thought nobody else was here. Are you here to rescue Count Lodol too?”

“Yes. I see we are here with the same goal, though I am also here to stop this madness. Such is my responsibility as the dungeon guide. I think this is a mere paradigm shift, but... One moment,” Alca said before smashing one of the artificial dungeon’s Golems to bits with a massive hammer. A paradigm shift for a normal dungeon would refer to a bunch of monsters flooding out in preparation for a Dungeon Battle. Given that one was going on, she wasn’t entirely wrong.

...I sucked in a breath. G-Guh, so much poison... Not to mention the Zombie Goblins smell awful. This place sucks.

“Are you alone, Keima?”

“Yeah. It’s easier for me to work alone when I’m serious,” I said as an excuse. It was natural to question why someone with a party like mine would rush into a situation like this alone.

I thought that excuse would just make her more suspicious, but Alca was so used to working by herself she agreed with me. “Better there not be any dead weight dragging you down, yes. Especially in pressing matters such as this, where there is no time to waste.”

...Yeah, that’s a pretty common attitude for super-strong people.

“Oh yes, Keima. Would you assist me in conquering this dungeon? I am certain a man of your caliber would be far from dead weight,” she suggested, and that would be more than convenient for me—I needed to stealthily guide her away from the gate connecting to the [Cave of Greed], and get her help with something else.

“Sure. I was just hoping I could get your help, honorable High Priestess.”

“A splendid answer. Ahaha, and now we truly are bedfellows.”

That wording sounds like you mean something else entirely, so I kind of wish you wouldn’t use it, I thought but didn’t say because I didn’t want to make her angry.

“Anyway, High Priestess, we should get back to the surface. We’ll need to prepare to dig any deeper into the dungeon.”

“You mean plans for the undead? They certainly did come from nowhere. Here, have this.” Alca handed me a potion bottle filled with some kind of amber liquid. Judging by how it sloshed around like water when I shook it, the liquid wasn’t particularly thick or viscous.

“What’s this?”

“Holy water. Feel free to use it if undead appear. It is taken from a holy being, so it will be effective against undead.”

“Holy water from the Church of Light, huh? How do you use it?”

“You may spray it onto your weapon or the undead. The smell might be a bit strong, but pay it no mind. And, ahem... Freshly made holy water can potentially be drunk, but this is aged holy water and is not for drinking.”

“Alright. I’ll take it, just in case..” Into {Storage} you go.

“Let us continue, then. We have more holy water than we will ever need, thanks to my large stores of it.”

“Er, well, that’s not actually what I meant. The problem here is that the dungeon changes form,” I called out, stopping Alca from advancing.

“The dungeon changes form?”

“Yeah, I’ve found five stairways down on this floor alone. I found one in a place it didn’t used to be, not to mention that paths are disappearing and walls are coming out of nowhere.”

“I see. Either the stairways are moving, or they are increasing... Regardless, a map will serve no purpose here.”

“Add a flood of monsters to that and there’s not much chance of us getting Count Lodol out of here safely. We might even end up buried inside walls.”

“Buried inside walls, oh...? You certainly know some rare trivia. Few know that is possible.”

“Yeah, and me knowing things like that is exactly why I was given the quest to explore this dungeon.”

Alca’s eyes narrowed and she looked me over, as if searching for the truth behind my knowledge. In fact, that was exactly what she was doing.

“Keima. I happen to have a method for containing situations such as this,” she said, bringing out her High Priestess trump card.

“Oh... The ultimate technique of the High Priestess of Light?”

“So you did know... I would expect nothing less of you, Keima. Indeed. So you agreed to help seek in order to use this ritual of mine. Ahaha, what a sly man you are.”

“Hah, well, you got me there. As thanks, I’ll treat you to a shortcake once this is all sorted out.”

“Oh! Now that I am looking forward to. I would also like to stay in that grand suite of yours again.”

“No problem, as long as you pay.” I honestly didn’t want her to come at all, but as the town chief I couldn’t exactly say that out loud.

Either way, the negotiations were a success. Alca and I temporarily headed back to the entrance of the dungeon at the surface.

“Fuck dungeons destroy dungeons die die fuck Cores die dungeons fuck destroy die all enemies of the God of Light should die fuck dungeons destroy them may the God of Light’s seal aid me in destroying this dungeon fuck die die Dungeon Core die,” the High Priestess murmured to an altar by the surface. It was as violent an incantation as I had ever heard. “In agreement with the divine pact of the Gods, I seal this dungeon for three days — {Treaty}.”

The final keyword sealed the deal. I didn’t feel any earthquake this time, maybe because it wasn’t my dungeon.

Alca the High Priestess’s {Treaty} was ritual magic. The {Treaty} I knew was contract magic, but judging from the difference in incantation hers was a treaty sealed between the gods themselves. Either way, if it worked it should have sealed the artificial dungeon’s functions.

“And so it is finished. I did feel some resistance, so we can expect at least some of its bizarre nature to have been contained.”

“Thanks for letting me see such a big-deal spell.”

“Oh, but of course. Thank you for the delicious cream puffs. I can only stay here for three more days, but once we have this settled I believe I will visit your inn before I am chased out of the country. I am quite looking forward to that shortcake,” Alca said with a smile. Bribing her with cream puffs had been quite an effective strategy indeed.

“Now, I shall retrieve some goods for conquering the dungeon.”

“Alright,” I agreed, and as we walked I found an opportunity to stealthily contact Rokuko.

“...The artificial dungeon should be unable to modify itself right now. Continue exploring it.”

“Roger. Also, Keima, our dungeon’s completely unsealed. We can still use everything.”

“Master,” Niku chimed in, “The monsters are attacking now. Be careful.”

With both of their reports in mind, I reentered the artificial dungeon alongside Alca. Exploring dungeons was usually equivalent to putting your life on the line. That was true for normal dungeons, and it was even more true for a crazy artificial dungeon overflowing with monsters and traps. However, it was safe to say that things were a little different for me and her.

“Keima. I shall take the lead. Please follow behind me.”

“Okay.”

“Keima. There is a trap there, be careful.”

“Okay.”

“Keima. There is an enemy. As it is a zombie, I will use holy water on it. Stand where you are.”

“Okay.”

“Keima. There is a chest there, but treasure is not our objective so we will not be opening it. I hope you understand.”

“Yep.”

With Alca the High Priestess leading the way, she pretty much took care of everything on her own, and since she even took extra care to accommodate me, I had basically nothing to do at all. Not to mention...

“Keima, take the right path. There’s a staircase to the left, but it leads to a dead end,” Rokuko chimed in.

“High Priestess, let’s take the right path.”

“Keima, stop for a second. The next room is filled with monsters. Draw them out into the hallway.”

“High Priestess, wait just a second. I’ll send some Gargoyles to check out that room.”

“Keima, that puzzle room is a decoy. We passed through the hall on the side just fine.”

“High Priestess, looks like there’s a shortcut over here.”

“Keima, could you slow down a little? You’re about to catch up to some of the rats.”

“High Priestess, want some water? Let’s take a break for a bit.”

Rokuko was providing plenty of support with info that made conquering the dungeon a cakewalk. In other words, Alca and I were blasting our way through the dungeon effortlessly. Though I still don’t have much to do since I’m just repeating what Rokuko says... All I do is summon Gargoyles at most.

Alca and I were resting in a side room to give Rokuko and the others time to explore and get us crucial info. With my Gargoyles keeping watch, we were perfectly safe. I didn’t want to reveal that I could summon a ton of them at once, though, so I pretended that the guard Gargoyles outside were taking most of my mana.

Much to my chagrin, we were alone together in the room.

“Keima. I am beyond impressed,” Alca said, letting out a blissful sigh as she drank the apple tea I’d prepared for her.

“Hm? What’re you talking about?”

“I have explored dungeons with many others before, and it is safe to say I have never had an easier time of it than I am having now. Not to mention, you have given me so much splendid charitable Advice... and the Selfless Offering from a moment ago was just, ahahaha, my goodness. Are you being extra forward since Rokuko isn’t here, I wonder?” Alca asked, blushing. The hell is all this about Charitable Advice and Selfless Offerings...? I feel like I vaguely remember her talking about this the last time I visited her room. Charitable Advice is like another form of love confession or something...? I don’t think so. And don’t even ask me what Selfless Offering I supposedly gave her.

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

“As coy as ever, I see. But I am more than well aware of how you feel for me... and how I feel for you. A-Ahem, with that said. Shall we perform the kiss of vows that Rokuko so rudely interrupted before?” Alca asked, removing her boot. She had explained this to me before: In the Church of Light, a kiss to the boot marked one as a slave, a kiss through the sock marked one as a lover, and a kiss directly on the feet marked one as husband and wife. I remembered that since it had to do with feet.

...With her boot removed, the High Priestess’s musky sock was revealed, having gotten plenty damp from walking so far throughout the dungeon. When she peeled that off, her bare foot was revealed, steaming hot with the sweetest scent I had ev—

“Keima,” came Rokuko’s displeased voice. Er, right. Sorry, I kinda got enraptured by her holy foot. Gotta be more careful.

“Sorry, High Priestess, but I have Rokuko.”

“Fear not. I shall accept all of your wives and mistresses,” Alca replied, holding out her very nice-smelling bare foot. For a foot-fetishist like me it was practically a feast. But sadly, this feast was laced with poison.

“We are deep within a dungeon now. Nobody will stop us, and nobody is watching.”

Uh, actually, they’re definitely watching. And they’ve been watching the whole time! I yelled on the inside, but managed not to say aloud. The fact that Rokuko and the others were watching was a secret I had to keep from Alca no matter what. Thus, from her perspective, we really were alone with nobody at all watching.

“Now, you may kiss it when ready,” she said, wiggling her toes seductively. I mean, this High Priestess definitely has nice feet, but her personality and religion are a bit much. I just can’t be with a girl that wants to fuck up dungeons. Her feet are good, sure... I mean, okay, they’re pretty great... So great I would leap on them if they weren’t metaphorically poisoned... Uh...

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by footsteps rushing our way at maximum speed.

“GRAAAAAAAAH!” With enormous speed, a small, cloaked figure smashed through all the Gargoyles we had on watch. It flipped back its hood, exposing fiery red hair. “W-Wooow, what a coincidence! Hi, Uncle!”

“W-Whoa, if it isn’t Igni! Yeah, what a coincidence seeing you here!”

It was Igni.

“She made it! How’s that, Keima?”

Nice one, Rokuko. It seemed she had sent Igni this way after seeing how much I was struggling.

Alca put her sock and boot back on while glaring hatefully at the intruder. “I never would have thought we would be interrupted here as well... You are the dungeon researcher Keima was protecting the other day, no? What are you doing here?”

“Er, um, ummm...! Right, I came here to investigate a dungeon going through a paradigm shift, when a pitfall appeared from nowhere and I fell down! Right. Um? Sorry for coming in here without permission, but um, can I tag along with you two?” Igni said, speaking mostly in a monotone. Rokuko was probably feeding her lines through the dungeon call.

“Keima. Let her join you guys. Also, scold her a bit, and maybe say something about punishing her later.” Rokuko also sent word my way through a dungeon call.

“Sure, Igni. I don’t want to leave my friend’s daughter alone in a place like this. But you really shouldn’t go into dungeons without permission. I’ll have to punish you later.”

“A-Awww. That’s so mean, Uncleee.”

Igni was speaking in such a monotone I got the feeling Alca was shooting her an icy look, but, well, the explanation was rock-solid. And since I went ahead and gave her permission, Alca had no reasonable basis on which to refuse her. She let out a heavy sigh.

“Don’t worry, High Priestess. She looks pretty young, but you just saw how strong she is.”

“Yep! I’m super strong!” Igni said, puffing out her washboard chest with pride.

“I suppose so, given you can safely explore a paradigm shifting dungeon without a scratch... Very well, you may join us. I would much rather refuse, but Keima has a kinder heart than I.”

And so Igni joined our party for real. With her around, Alca wouldn’t be able to do anything weird. If worse came to worst, Igni could kill Alca herself. Though that was a last resort, and we’d have to be stealthy since Alca could revive.

“Keima, we found the Boss Room. This is probably the bottom of the dungeon,” Rokuko said, having found our destination. It was the last place left after she sent the rats throughout the whole dungeon. The room was digging a bit into the [Flame Caverns], and if it wasn’t the bottom then time and space would have to be warping down there. And if there was no Artificial Core to break inside, then we missed a road along the way, and that would suck bigtime.

Please be the bottom. Please. If it wasn’t we’d have to knock on walls with Golems, check the bottoms of pitfalls for passageways... The dungeon couldn’t summon new monsters due to {Treaty} just like we couldn’t, but we would still need to explore every inch of the dungeon with human wave tactics. That would mean exploring the dungeon with Alca while avoiding all the rats, which sounded pretty nightmarish.

With those thoughts in mind we headed to the Boss Room, and it wasn’t hard to realize why Rokuko called it the bottom of the dungeon.

“Seems like this is the Boss Room,” I said. It was a pretty sparse Boss Room. The only thing special about it was that the stairs connected directly to the Boss Room, and you entered it through the ceiling.

We crouched by the entrance to peer inside the room, and saw the corpses of several Iron Golems scattered across the stone floor—scouts sent by Rokuko, no doubt. Despite the room being made of stone, they were covered in mud for some reason.

“Are those corpses...? Has there been friendly fire on their side? Perhaps they are playing dead. Either way, this is suspicious. Keima, may I ask you to send forth a Gargoyle?”

“Sure. Gate, open. I summon thee, magic-wielding monster of stone. Serve me—{Summon Gargoyle}.”

Following Alca’s request, I sent a Gargoyle into the room, and... a massive arm stretched out from the Gargoyle’s blind spot, grabbed it, and crushed it to pieces.

On closer examination the arm was made of whitish mud. A second later, the source of the arm dropped from its hiding place—the ceiling, in other words—and plopped to the ground. The top half of it was a Golem, but the bottom half spread across the ground like a crushed tomato.

“Whoa. What’s that thing?”

“A slime-type... no, a Mud Golem, I believe. And a giant breed at that? This is troublesome.”

Mud Golems. As their name implied, they were Golems made out of mud. That seemed kind of basic, but it was my first time seeing one.

“Priestess, Priestess! Is it strong?” Igni asked.

“Hm? Oh, yes, fairly strong. First of all, they are largely immune to physical attacks, much like Slimes are. Due to their opaque form it is impossible to tell where their core is. And due to this one’s large body, finding it will only be more difficult. How shall we defeat it...” Alca mumbled, less replying to Igni’s question and more analyzing the enemy for her own sake. A giant Golem would be problematic in its own way, but we were dealing with a mud Golem resistant to physical attacks.

“How would you defeat a normal Mud Golem?”

“First I would dry it with Fire magic. Once it’s dry, I would shave off the mud bit by bit while searching for the Core.”

Apparently, defeating even a normal Mud Golem was time-consuming and tedious. Not to mention that due to their corpse being just mud, they earned the same amount as a basic Clay Golem. There were different kinds of mud, but most of it wasn’t worth anything. So much sand and gravel was mixed in that even searching for metal was a pain, making it worthless—though if you were incredibly lucky you might find some with a rare metal like orichalcum in it.

“Furthermore, it seems to have a composition similar to that of the other Golems in this dungeon.”

“So it’s filled with poison, huh...? It’s not a fast-acting poison, but that’s still not good.”

“Uncle, Uncle, can’t I just burn it?”

No, no, that would reveal your identity. Stay, girl. Plus the poison stinks real bad when you burn it.

In any case, the Mud Golem drew back its muddy body to reform its shape. The top half of it looked pretty close to a normal Clay Golem, but the bottom half was like a big droopy Slime. When the top half got muddy it looked like a zombie melting in place, with the drops of mud dripping onto its Slime lower half and being absorbed back into its body. There was a fountain-esque stream inside of it pushing mud upwards, where it hardened in the place of mud that had just fallen.

“Welp. It definitely doesn’t look like physical attacks will do much to it.”

“What shall we do, then? Do you have any good ideas, Keima?” Alca asked, but this was my first time seeing a Mud Golem. No way would I have an idea for how to take it down... outside of having Igni blast it to bits in a single go, that is.

...Hm?

A cube rose up in the center of the Golem’s chest. When the mud dripped off and revealed what was beneath, we saw a door with a plate on top.

“...‘Control Room’? No way.”

“I suppose this means the Mud Golem has absorbed the entirety of the control room,” Alca observed. In a way, that made a lot of sense given that the Boss Room itself appeared to be a dead end. Normally, there would be a door leading farther down after a Boss Room, but there was nothing like that here.

“Don’t tell me... Count Lodol and the Artificial Core are in that room?”

“Hm. I believe this dungeon is similar to one with the Core and the Boss being one and the same, Keima. My experience tells me that the room and the Artificial Core are within the Mud Golem’s core.”

“That’s not good.”

“Can I just, like, burn them all up?” Igni asked. I kinda wanted to just say yes. A Flame Dragon could probably turn a Mud Golem to sand in a split second, giving it no time to moisten itself. Or maybe she would burn it so much it would turn into a ceramic statue.

“The room maintaining its structure leads me to believe that Count Lodol may very well be alive inside. I shall investigate this.”

“How?”

“Observe,” Alca said, holding up swords in both of her hands before dropping into the Boss Room. The Mud Golem recognized her as an enemy and attacked. Its large arms chased her while dripping mud, but she dodged while advancing forward.

She jumped across the room nimbly while stabbing her swords into the Golem’s mud body. Or, well, it was more like sliding them into its body. She also drew out multiple swords from {Storage} and threw them, forming a blade staircase up its body which she raced up toward the control room. Once there she attempted to open the door, but it appeared to be locked. Not even kicking it helped—the door was supposedly just wood, but it showed no signs of opening.

“Gaaah! The heck is going oooon?!” came a shriek.

“Count Lodol, are you safe?”

“Is that you, High Priestess?! Aaah, I’m saved! I am right here, your holiness!” Count Lodol replied from within the control room. Apparently he was, in fact, alive.

But that was when the Mud Golem swung an arm toward its chest, swiping Alca off. She spun in the air, landed gracefully on her feet, then returned to the entrance.

“Keima, I request your assistance in rescuing the count.”

“...Alright, I’ll summon some Gargoyles to use as bait. Do what you can with them.”

Thus began our cooperative boss battle, though in reality all I had to do was send in Gargoyles from outside the Boss Room.

“GRAAAAH!”

“O lance of fire, pierce mine enemies—{Fire Javelin}!” Alca stabbed the Mud Golem with a lance made of fire. Steam rose off it as water audibly boiled. The Mud Golem swung its arms to get rid of Alca and the Gargoyles, but she dodged them while casting more magic. “O lance of fire, pierce mine enemies—{Fire Javelin}!”

Two, three, then more lances of fire pierced the Mud Golem’s body. The fire javelins lasted for a long time, and they seemed perfect for drying out the water inside the mud. My Gargoyles were throwing in some fireballs of their own, but they, uh, just dissipated on the spot after hitting the Golem.

I shut my eyes at the noxious sulfuric stench wafting through the air as we wore the boss down. Over time, the flow of its mud slowed, and parts of its surface hardened entirely. However...

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

A huge pool of water dropped onto the Mud Golem’s head from above. Had it cast a spell? No, it must have bought water with DP. If I remembered correctly, the {Treaty} seal blocked most dungeon functions, but not buying items with DP.

“Ngh, all my efforts gone in a moment!” Alca exclaimed. The Golem had gotten back more water than it had lost. Mud was once again flowing through its body without issue.

“Wow, this looks fun!” Igni observed casually. Alca had excluded her from fighting, so she was just watching from beside me. Little does she know that Igni could beat this Golem in a second. Though, uh, Count Lodol would be more Count Lodead at that point.

“Ngh, there will be no end to this,” Alca said, returning to us once again. I sent out more Gargoyles to keep distracting the boss.

“Seems like the Mud Golem’s making it hard to rescue the count, huh?”

“Indeed. This is a problem indeed...” Alca said, putting a finger on her chin with a thoughtful look.

“Well, feel free to think up a plan while I buy some time.”

“Oh my... How splendid, Keima. I shall entrust buying time to you... and goodness. I see that you can control five entire Gargoyles at once without any issue whatsoever, hm?”

What, should I have stuck to using just three in front of Alca? Maybe so, but that would’ve put me in more danger, so...

“You would be so much more appreciated in the Holy Kingdom, Keima. If you have the right aptitude for it, I would love for you to replace Shento as my attendant.”

“Uh, don’t worry, the empire definitely appreciates me more than enough.”

In any case, I sent out one new Gargoyle each time one was destroyed. Yeah, five Gargoyles sending out {Fireballs} is the perfect number for keeping it distracted. That said... If not for Alca being here, I could just let Igni handle this, or mass produce as many Gargoyles as I need. Is she actually holding us back at this point? Mmm...

“High Priestess, remember that we can retreat if we need to. Especially now that we know where to find the boss.”

“I’m a bit too worried about Count Lodol for that. A full day has already passed, and who knows how long his tired body will last within a moving body such as that...” she replied. It was true that each time the Mud Golem swung its arm, the control room in its chest bounced around. I had been inside that giant unko undine... or rather, Dinne, but those bubbles didn’t bounce around at all.

“What can I say, you reap what you sow. Why is Count Lodol even in that room anyway?”

“Hrm, now that you mention it, I do find it strange that the count is inside the control room... Perhaps he was modifying the control panel on his own. Against my instructions not to do so, that is,” she said. The control panel was probably that monitor-looking thing.

“I think you’re a little too trusting, High Priestess. Telling someone not to touch something just makes them want to touch it more. I’m guessing he got greedy and tried upping the difficulty, which ended up causing this mess.”

“...I don’t believe any of the settings available to him could have caused the dungeon to go berserk like this,” Alca said, thinking it over.

“Well, dungeons are living beings, after all. I guess this means your experiment was a failure? Hard to call it a proper dungeon when it goes berserk like this.”

“Hm...? No, this dungeon still remains a proper dungeon. I can confirm through my mana vision that it is properly returning mana to the air.”

Wait.

“Hold on a second, High Priestess. You’re making it sound like the dungeon’s still fine.”

“It is temporarily going berserk, but it should calm down before long. Though once this is all over, I will need to use my authority to bring the control room back to the surface.”

Wait, wait.

“It sounds to me like you don’t plan on destroying the Artificial Core at all. Am I missing something?”

“What a strange thing to ask, Keima. Is it not a grave crime under imperial law to destroy Dungeon Cores? Just planning to do so results in banishment and being barred from the country, but it sounds to me that you are suggesting we destroy the Artificial Core.”

Wait, wait, wait.

“Ah! Could it be that you have finally decided to come to the Holy Kingdom with me?!”

“Er, no.” For some reason, Alca and I just weren’t understanding each other.

...Igni came over and poked me. “Uncle, Uncle. Did you tell her about the eruption?”

“Oh!” Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t told Alca that Tsia Mountain was going to erupt. Given the timing of when we met, it was likely she didn’t know about that.

“High Priestess. I just learned this earlier, but apparently this dungeon is going to cause Tsia Mountain to erupt. It’s draining the power to contain the eruption away from the [Flame Caverns].”

“Oh, I see. What about it?” Alca asked with a tilt of her head. “That is exactly as our research suggested. Placing an artificial dungeon next to a natural dungeon will lead to the proper dungeon stealing the power of the improper one. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever.”

“No, no, no, no, like, the mountain’s going to erupt before that finishes happening. We’ve gotta destroy this Artificial Core.”

“I disagree. It would be best to let the mountain erupt,” she said with a shining smile. What the hell?

“All you have told me is that the mountain is meant to explode, and an improper dungeon is preventing nature from taking its course. What harm is there in letting the mountain do what it is meant to do?”

Uh... Am I talking to another human being, or...?

“There’s a lot of harm! For example, all the people who will die?!”

“Fear not, Keima. It will become proof that the proper dungeon has conquered the improper dungeon. In other words, even an eruption will lead to world peace!” she declared, so boldly and confidently that I honestly began to question whether the eruption was actually bad at all. Wait, is this a mind control skill?! I cradled my head.

“Are you quite alright, Keima? Have you been pushing yourself to summon so many Gargoyles after all...?”

“Nah, nah...” Crap, what do I do? Alca’s just living in another world from us.

I considered how to eliminate Alca while sending in reinforcement Gargoyles. The fastest method would be to kill her, especially since she would just revive. That said, we didn’t want to kill her ourselves. Since she would just revive.

“Alca, I think the Gargoyles won’t be able to distract the boss for much longer. Could you get back in the fight?”

“Oh, excuse me. I was so absorbed in conversation that I forgot our situation. Hm... I will need to do something about that core. The room is obviously the Mud Golem’s core, of course. Please continue to send reinforcements,” Alca said before returning to fight the Mud Golem. That was when Rokuko contacted me.

“Keima, I heard everything.”

“Oh, Rokuko. Got any ideas?”

“I think we should just have Igni turn into a Dragon and burn them all down, High Priestess included.”

“Fair, but I don’t know about making Ittetsu’s daughter murder someone. Sure, Alca will revive, but Count Lodol will be burned to a crisp.”

“Well, I guess I know how you feel. Should we have the Mud Golem take care of her, then?”

That would be the best for us, though we’d have to fight the Mud Golem on our own afterwards. And... Alca must have had some plan, judging from how she was sticking a bunch of {Fire Javelins} into the ground.

“{Fire Javelin}! O lance of fire, pierce mine enemies—{Fire Javelin}!”

It looked entirely as if she were trying to seal the Mud Golem within a prison of fire stakes. And once she finished doing just that with over ten {Fire Javelins}, she put her weapons into {Storage} and assumed a sword-wielding posture.

“O weapon of fire, take form—{Fire Weapon}.” She finished her chant, and a blazing sword of fire appeared in her hands.

“O weapon, be engulfed with fire—{Enchant: Fire}. O weapon, be engulfed with fire—{Enchant: Fire}. O weapon, be engulfed with fire—{Enchant: Fire}...!” She layered more and more fire onto the sword, increasing its size until it was gigantic. I was taken aback by that technique, and ultimately it ended up far larger than Alca herself. It was more than big enough to cleave the Mud Golem in half on its own. The sword was so huge it would be fair to call that technique an ultimate attack.

She rested it on one of the {Fire Javelins} stuck into the ground around the Mud Golem.

“Explode!” She yelled, and the {Fire Javelin} beneath the massive sword exploded, sending it flying straight into the Mud Golem’s torso. It went so fast it ripped through its body while steam exploded in all directions. Then, after slicing the Mud Golem clean in half, it struck the {Fire Javelin} on the exact opposite side of it.

“EXPLODE!” she yelled again, and the {Fire Javelin} did just that. The giant sword absorbed the flames of the explosion to increase its own power before reversing direction, heading straight to the Mud Golem that was in the middle of reconnecting its body. Flames hissed and roared as the sword sliced through it again and landed on another {Fire Javelin}.

“Explode! Explode! Explode!” Boom! Boom! Boom! The massive flame sword accelerated with each explosion. The Mud Golem’s body was ripped to pieces over and over again as it burned. Water evaporated, mud dried, and everything just came crumbling down.

I called it an ultimate attack before, but that wasn’t quite right. It was an ultimate FINISHER. Ripping a giant to shreds over and over with a giant flaming sword is just too cool...!

“Uncle, that attack’s cool! I think that girl sucks, but her attack’s awesome!” Igni said, also appreciating the power of the ultimate finisher. However.

“Ngh!”

With a thunk, the giant sword was stopped in its tracks. The cause was the control room in the Mud Golem’s chest. I could hear Count Lodol shrieking from within.

“Tch, it’s too hard! Destroying the walls seems impossible...!” Alca cried, but the flame sword itself was evaporating the Mud Golem’s water fast. A steaming wind of heat and poison was blowing all the way out of the Boss Room. I survived it by wrapping a cloth around my mouth and casting {Purification} repeatedly to make it into a kind of gas mask.

The Mud Golem was being worn down.

“GRAAAAAH!”

But water fell on the Golem’s head from above once again. Indeed, it used that technique to save itself. All the lost water was regained in an instant. The dried, cracked surface of its body returned to its former wet and gleaming glory.

“Goodness gracious, this is a pain. A Mud Golem with a core hidden behind walls this resilient will demand more extreme methods, it seems,” Alca said with a wry smile despite breathing heavily. She wasn’t wrong. The stone walls of the room not even being scratched by an attack that strong was nothing short of absurd. It seemed safe to say that the dungeon’s protection function—that which made the walls and doors of a Boss Room abnormally strong—was at work here. No doubt the room beyond the Boss Room was actually the control room itself.

That meant that the Artificial Core we had been looking for was probably in the room as well. That was a pretty interesting design. The idea of a moving Dungeon Core reminded me of Aidy hiding her Core within her armor. That limited movement in some ways, but here it let them use the Core Room as a shield, which was pretty clever.

Oh wait, all my Gargoyles died from Alca’s ultimate finisher there. I need to refill their numbers... or maybe I should just not do that? Hm.,

“High Priestess, it’ll be a minute before I can send in more Gargoyles. I need to recover a bit.”

“Ngh, understood...!” Alca replied, dodging the Mud Golem’s revived arms to stab more {Fire Javelins} into them. All she was doing was buying time without a plan. Or maybe she too was recovering somehow while running around and casting magic. It seemed she had poison resistance too... Maybe I should just watch until she weakens?

In any case, Alca had settled on the control room being the Mud Golem’s core, but I had noticed something. No way was that the case. This was a Boss Room, and we had to beat the Mud Golem to get into the control room.

First, we knew for a fact that the control room was locked and couldn’t be entered. The High Priestess being unable to enter even with her authority more or less proved that it was the room “past” the Boss Room we were in. But if the Mud Golem’s core was within that room, then the walls wouldn’t be strengthened by the dungeon. You had to beat the boss to enter the room past the Boss Room. If the Mud Golem’s core was inside that room, it would be impossible to beat the boss, and the dungeon would be broken. That would stop the dungeon’s protection function from working. The boss’s true self not being in the room would count as the boss not being present at all, and that would unlock the door leading out.

In conclusion, the fact that the control room’s door was locked and its walls were strengthened proved on its own that the Mud Golem’s core was outside of the control room.

Indeed. The Mud Golem’s actual core might be bean-sized and hidden somewhere in the Boss Room like the Orichalcum Golem Rokuko suggested a while ago. It could even be hidden within the Mud Golem’s body as one might expect, and the fact that it had to be connected to the Mud Golem somehow would prove to be a key hint.

I observed the room with that in mind and found a likely candidate in no time. The Mud Golem’s slime-shaped lower half had trails of mud leaking out of it. Five trails in total, actually, spreading out like a starfish. I couldn’t tell if only one of them was the core or if all five were part of a larger core, but it was extremely likely that it was hidden there.

Which brought me to whether I should tell Alca that. If I did, how should I tell her? If I didn’t, how should I eliminate her? Hmmm. Let me try laying it out a bit.

1) I want to save Ittetsu and stop the eruption → I have to destroy the Artificial Core.

2) I have to destroy the Artificial Core → Alca is getting in the way of that.

3) We want to rescue Count Lodol → The Mud Golem is getting in the way of that.

4) We want to defeat the Mud Golem → It’s hard.

5) Eliminating Alca → The Mud Golem should be convenient for that?

And that was that.

“...This is getting kind of tedious.”

“This is definitely a pain,” Rokuko agreed. We were both on the same page.

“Uncle, what’re we gonna do? Want me to just blow her up with fire? You want me to take out that girl, right?”

“Naaah, that would cause even more problems... Dragons are a big deal, y’know.” I feel like that would cause a whole ’nother Dragon ruckus... Bleh.

“I kind of want to just wash this all away,” Rokuko said with a sigh. But something about her phrasing stuck with me. Wash it all away... Wash it away, huh...? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

“Alright, let’s just wash our hands of this.”

“Bwuh?” Rokuko replied, confused.

“There’s so many factors involved here, it’s a pain to think about what to do. And we don’t have that much time if we want to save Ittetsu, too.”

“So, time for my fire breath?!” Igni said. She was looking at me with her lizard tail wagging, hyped to finally do something, but I shot her down.

“Nah. I’m gonna ask Rokuko to take care of this.”

“Hm? How so?”

I had her grab something that we probably still had sitting in the back of the Master Room.

# Alca’s Perspective

Alca the High Priestess was at a loss. She was unable to finish off the giant Mud Golem with any of her attacks. Normally, it would be simple to just dry it up, then break it. But this Mud Golem had a means by which it could regenerate its water. Magic was probably to blame. Normally, Golems were incapable of using magic, but Alca had lost to a magic-wielding Golem in the past and it remained fresh in her memory. That experience had taught her that some Golems did use magic.

“This is far from good... If that massive attack didn’t do the trick, what can?” she asked aloud while stabbing {Fire Javelins} into the Mud Golem. With this Mud Golem, all that would do was buy some time. Perhaps it would be better to preserve mana, but she had no other options available to her.

“GRAAAAH!” the Mud Golem roared as another giant ball of water dropped onto it again, refreshing its water reserves. Its dry surface became moist and the cycle of mud resumed. Truly, what was to be done?

And that was when she stepped into a puddle.

“...Oh?”

The puddle was in fact covering the entire floor of the Boss Room. Perhaps the Mud Golem summoned more water for itself than before. It was gleaming wet and looking confident.

“Look out, High Priestess! It looks like the dungeon dug into an underground water reserve!” came Keima’s voice.

“Come again?” She turned while fighting and saw that water was flowing into the Boss Room from the entrance in the ceiling.

“This is... Ngh!” She tried to evaporate the water, but more just kept flowing in. The phrase “like throwing fireballs into a lake” had never been more apt, albeit in this case it was javelins instead of balls.

“At this rate the whole room will flood! Let’s retreat for now!” Keima called.

“Ngh, but Count Lodol is still in there!” Alca exclaimed. She could still hear him crying out from within the control room whenever the Mud Golem moved and shifted it. Abandoning him was not an option. But while Alca could use her {Resurrection} skill to revive from death, she couldn’t let Keima and Igni die.

“I-I suppose we have no choice... Keima, you evacuate first! I will stay here and attempt to finish this for as long as I can!”

“A-Alright! I can’t summon many, but I’ll leave some Gargoyles for you. Good luck!” Keima replied, and Alca sighed in relief. At least he wouldn’t be dying now. He even gave her three Gargoyles for support. She steeled her resolve and shifted her focus to the Mud Golem.

The mud was looking healthy thanks to all the water. It was sloshing about wetly. Alca, on the other hand, was slowed by the water reaching up to her ankles. It got into her boots and made disgusting squishing sounds as she moved. The mud was less sticky than before, and as if to mock her it fell into the water, absorbed some, then returned to the main body.

It wasn’t long before a Gargoyle died protecting Alca, its corpse sinking into the water. She used it as a foothold to dodge more attacks from the Mud Golem, but it was sinking fast. Or to be precise, the water level was rising and submerging most of the corpse.

A muddy fist came flying at Alca. “NGAH!” she cried, taking the blow head-on and flying through the air before smashing into a wall and falling into the water. The other two Gargoyles had to lend their shoulders to help her up, which reminded her that Gargoyles could fly. She wouldn’t have to worry about the water at her feet if she were in the air.

“...With no other options left, I suppose I will have to use my last resort. Will you aid me in fleeing for a bit?” she asked, and the two Gargoyles nodded. They grabbed her from both sides and flew into the air.

The Mud Golem was even acting confident thanks to all the walls. It lazily swung its arms around, which the Gargoyles dodged with Alca in their arms.

But still, in the end they were just Gargoyles. One of them got hit by a giant muddy arm and broke to pieces. The other grabbed Alca with both arms and flew low, weighed down by her.

But they couldn’t last forever, and soon they were cornered against a wall. The Mud Golem lifted up both arms. Alca and the Gargoyle had nowhere to run. The arms would fall, and they would have no choice but to take them head on.

But nonetheless, Alca grinned. “That was more than long enough. Go forth... {Judgment Ray}!” A beam of light blasted onto the Mud Golem’s chest.

{Judgment Ray}. Such was the name of a King-Rank Light spell that used up almost all of Alca’s mana. It was her ultimate move that drained all her energy. And it hit the control room’s door head-on!

“GRAAAAAAAH?!”

“Ngh...! Did that do it...?!” Alca said, faltering as her consciousness faded from her lack of mana. But what she saw right before falling was an unscratched door. The spell had failed. She hoped it would at least open a hole, but it was to no avail.

“No!” Alca exclaimed, grimacing. The Mud Golem extended a hand as the strength left her and she fell into the water. But just as it reached her... All it did was hit her with muddy water.

“Ah?!” The muddy water woke Alca up a bit. Indeed. Muddy water. The Mud Golem’s body had absorbed so much water it was no longer gloppy, but rather soggy.

“This is it...!” Alca exclaimed again, her eyes wide with surprise. She had to reverse her mindset entirely. Previously she had been attempting to defeat it by removing the water, but here it was on the verge of self-destructing from too much water. Still, it didn’t quite make sense. She had never heard of a dungeon filling with this much water before, outside of ones specifically built around flooding. It was possible, though, that an artificial dungeon undergoing a paradigm shift had just coincidentally never broken into an underground water reserve before.

“Now then... It seems I will last a bit longer here yet.” She could barely move. The best she could do was avoid drowning by holding onto the Gargoyle and floating. But now it was the Mud Golem who was incapable of finishing its opponent off. Alca’s body heat was dropping from the water, but it wouldn’t be killing her anytime soon.

“Will this become an endurance battle for us both...?” Alca wondered, observing the Mud Golem. Despite melting from all the water, it wasn’t leaving, despite the fact that it had stuck itself to the ceiling earlier and presumably could do so again to escape the water. Furthermore, it had stopped attacking. Alca leaned on the Gargoyle more to preserve her strength as she watched the Mud Golem even more closely.

“What in the...”

The amount of water was breaking the Mud Golem’s body apart, to the point where the control room she had considered its core fell off. It splashed loudly into the water accumulating in the Boss Room. If not for the water, no doubt she would have heard Count Lodol screaming in terror. And pain, too. The impact might have killed him, even.

“...So the control room wasn’t its core. I see,” Alca said, finally realizing the truth. The water was murky and hard to see through, but if she looked carefully she could see the Mud Golem desperately gathering mud to harden itself within the water. And there it was. The Mud Golem’s true core. Everything clicked together. In short, the Mud Golem had missed its opportunity to flee.

The water came in from outside the Boss Room. From the moment the fight started, the Mud Golem thought that it would never lose if it just had water. And as it continued the fight, the water drew up ever higher. It absorbed as much water as it could possibly contain. No longer would fire pose a threat—at which point, the Mud Golem finally realized the problem. It couldn’t get the water off it. Even attempting to move to flee to the ceiling would absorb more water.

Never had it thought there would be more water than its body could contain. And once it started to dissolve, it was no longer able to move properly.

“...Sir Gargoyle. I will destroy the core. If possible, please rescue the count.” Alca made a noble request of the Gargoyle with no way of knowing if it understood, then built up the scraps of mana still within her. She chanted the incantation for a spell that would cut right through water.

“■■,■■■■■■■ —{Stone Bolt}.” A pointed rock raced through the water to the clump of mud. The water slowed it down, but it maintained enough speed to pierce through the mud.

“...This time for sure, it is done...” Alca murmured before passing out.

# Keima’s Perspective

So yeah, the plan was to flood the Boss Room. Just wash away the mud, Alca, and everything! I could easily justify leaving due to not wanting to drown, and Alca could take care of destroying the Mud Golem and rescuing Count Lodol if she could manage it. Either way didn’t matter to me. Because if you thought about it, the dungeon couldn’t modify itself or use castling due to {Treaty}. That meant once the room was flooded, Alca wouldn’t be able to interfere anymore.

To get it done I just cobbled together a hose and a water source spring. I had used both way back in my Dungeon Battle with Ittetsu. Likewise, I added in some plankton to stop the enemy dungeon from absorbing it, and that was that. I didn’t even need to build up a bunch before releasing it, so I just poured the water in directly from the spring.

“Alright, it should be pretty flooded by now.”

“It sure is, Keima,” Rokuko replied before informing me that Alca and the Mud Golem had defeated each other simultaneously, though technically that was Alca’s win since she was still alive.

Perfect, now I just need to get into the control room slash Core Room and destroy the Artificial Core. I’ll go ahead and get rid of the hose; we don’t need it anymore.

“Also, the reinforcements you asked for should be arriving soon.”

“Nice.”

I had gone ahead and requested some reinforcements that could move within water. That should settle the last of our problems.

I played Je*ga to pass the time with Igni until eventually the reinforcements slithered their way over to us.

“Eep?! The heck is that thing!?”

“Hm? Oh, that’s our monster, Mr. Tent the Tentacle Slime.” He had a clear, pink body covered in slimy wetness. Imagine a sea anemone and you would have something close to it. He was basically the boss of our sub-dungeon the [Ivory Beach,] and he was immune to physical attacks.

Mr. Tent slithered over and waved a tentacle in greetings. What a nice guy.

“Uncle, you sure like to use weird monsters.”

“We have another dungeon by the ocean. He’s our boss monster over there,” I explained, and Mr. Tent bent his body in a weird bow gesture. “See? He said hello.”

“Uncle, you can understand what it’s saying...?”

“I mean, you can’t? Look at all the tentacles. He has such a large range of expression!”

“...I mean, I guess compared to a normal slime? Maybe? I think you can just tell because it’s a monster from your dungeon.”

“Don’t worry, Igni. I can’t understand it either,” Rokuko chimed in.

“Wait, you can’t understand what I’m saying?” Mr. Tent said through a series of tentacle wiggles. Hey man, I hear you loud and clear. Maybe the auto translator is doing some work here.

That was when Mr. Tent took out something wrapped in leaves from within his slimy body.

“Oh? A gift? Ah, it’s fish. Thanks, I’ll eat it later. You want any, Igni?”

“I dunno, that’s kinda gross...” Igni said, making a weird face that made Mr. Tent jump in surprise. His innocent heart had never expected that the gift would go unappreciated. And so, Mr. Tent took out a pink crystal from within himself.

“This is a gift too? Take a lick...? Oooh! It’s so salty! This is salt! Wow, so you made salt from ocean water like how I taught you before? Nice. Here, Igni. Mr. Tent brought some salt for us.”

“...How can Slimes even make salt? It’s kinda weird and pink,” Igni said as Mr. Tent trembled with pride. “Uncle, what’d he just say?”

“Let’s see. ‘Impressive huh? I can provide as many military rations as necessary,’ I believe.”

“All he did was shake his body but he somehow said ‘military rations’?!”

Sadly, it seemed Igni wasn’t too fond of the pink salt. Mr. Tent slumped over sadly... Awww, there, there. I rubbed his squishy back (?) to console him

...Oh, but on second thought, the fact that this salt’s pink means it probably has some of Mr. Tent’s bodily fluids inside. I think they’re good for blood flow, beauty, and some other stuff. I’ll have the Succubi take a look sometime later.

“Wait, it’s sad right now?”

“Can’t you tell from looking?! His tentacles are so droopy and sad!”

“I can’t! And anyway, Uncle. What’s the Slime even here for?”

Oh, right. I forgot why I actually called him over here.

“So yeah, Mr. Tent. I want you to go destroy that Artificial Core. Rokuko can tell you where it is. I’ll keep an eye on things with my monitor.”

Mr. Tent saluted with his tentacle. He seemed excited to finally be doing some proper monster work again.

“...Good luck, soldier!” I said with a salute of my own as Mr. Tent plopped into the flooded Boss Room.

“...Uncle. I think I just remembered that you’re something special.”

“Hm? Where’s that coming from?”

Either way, despite having called Mr. Tent all the way over, the enemy boss had already been defeated. There was nothing but simple work left. The control room’s door blocked Mr. Tent’s path, but it was no problem at all. He blasted it down with water magic and let the air inside the control room bubble its way out.

Oh wait, Count Lodol’s still in there. Let’s see... I’ll send in a Gargoyle first, just in case I need to make some excuses.

Inside the now-submerged room was Count Lodol, floating at the top where there was still a pocket of air. Mr. Tent felt around for a heartbeat and found one. Apparently, he was just unconscious. If nothing else, Count Lodol had the devil’s own luck.

As for the Artificial Core itself... There it was. It already had a big crack running through it. The stone slate displaying the monitor was broken as well, and the cable was disconnected from it.

“Rokuko, get Mr. Tent to use the Gargoyle as a blunt weapon to destroy the Core.”

“Okaaay.”

Mr. Tent, hearing my instructions through Rokuko, grabbed the Gargoyle’s legs and despite being beneath water swung it hard. It headed straight for the black, cracked Artificial Core. And when it hit, the force of the blow sent cracks spreading throughout the rest of the Artificial Core. Chunks fell off it like scale after scale, until ultimately the entire Core crumbled to bits.

Seconds later, an ominous rumbling sound could be heard.

“Keima! This is bad, the dungeon is collap—” Bzrt. The call with Rokuko disconnected.

“Uh, hello? Rokuko? Rokuko?!”

“Uncle! This is bad! The whole dungeon’s shaking... LOOK OUT!” Igni swung her tail, smashing a rock that had been falling towards my head.

Uhhh... Crap, is the dungeon collapsing? Honestly, I really should have predicted this. Of course destroying the Artificial Core’s going to make this happen. That’s how Cores work.

“Dang... I really didn’t think this through.”

“Wh-Wh-What’re we gonna do, Uncle?! At this rate we’re gonna be buried alive!”

I mean, uh. Worst case scenario, I could just {Ultra Transform} into something that could survive being buried so Rokuko could dig me out later. Or maybe I could go for a mole and dig myself out? Only problem is that Igni and Mr. Tent are here. I’m not sure the two of them would survive being buried alive... I thought, and then an idea came to me.

“Speaking of which—Igni, isn’t this Boss Room really close to the [Flame Caverns]?”

“Um, oh, right. It kinda shares a wall with the eighteenth floor.”

“Could you smash that wall?”

“Ah!” Igni exclaimed, having perfectly understood my intention. “This way, Uncle! It’s underwater! I’ll go break that wall, just follow!”

Apparently the bottom of the Boss Room was closest to the [Flame Caverns]. That was perfect, since we could meet up with Mr. Tent along the way. I held my nose and dove into the water after Igni.

“Guh! This water is disgusting!”