Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 5 (14 page)

The monsters are hiding, staying as quiet as possible.

A cold shiver runs up my spine.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

But I can’t stop now.

Reasoning manages to overpower my instincts and drive my feet faster toward the end of the tunnel. The jockey is whipping his horse, pushing onward. The silence is my window of safety. I can still make it through.

I enter a wide-open tunnel area that seems to be designed for an absolute behemoth kind of monster. I rush toward the other side, nearly losing my balance more than a few times as I try to look around.

Then:

“…!”

I made it across.

And into a very wide, very tall room.

The shape of this room is completely different from all the other random and haphazard designs I’ve seen so far in the middle levels.

The large, circular entrance leads to a rectangular room that has to be at least 200 meders long. This place is even bigger than the Dungeon Pantry. I think it’s about a hundred meders wide, the ceiling a good twenty meders over my head.

The walls and ceiling are made of many different-size rocks piled on top of one another—with the exception of the one to my left.

Completely smooth, it looks like someone or something built it with their own hands. I can’t believe my eyes. Whoever this massive artisan was, their flat wall ran from one corner of the room all the way to the back. It’s overwhelming.

There’s a strange kind of beauty to it, but it feels so unnatural. It doesn’t belong here.

“The Great Wall of Sorrows…!”

This place—it floods you with a feeling of bewilderment before suddenly vanishing.

It has left so many adventurers with such an empty feeling of despair that the ones who made it back alive from the seventeenth floor seeing it gave the wall that name.

It’s a Dungeon wall that only bears a certain type of monster—the wall of the king.

I gulp down the air stuck in my throat and tear my eyes away from the wall. I have to make my way through.

There aren’t any monsters in here. The wall is looming over my left side as I travel deeper into the room, struggling to regain control of my beating heart. I take another look at Welf and Lilly, tightening my grip. Their eyes are closed, bodies limp and helpless.

We can still make it.

We can still make it through here without any problems.

I can see the exit, the entrance to a small cave at the end of the room. If I can just get there—

I brokenly laugh at myself—such a one-track mind—as I set a course for the exit.

Crack!

“—”

I heard it.

That sound.

My head whips to the left.

There it is, right in front of me. My eyes shoot open.

A massive crack runs down the wall from top to bottom like a massive lightning bolt.

“…!!”

My mind goes blank, but my feet speed up.

Holding Welf and Lilly even tighter, I lift my heavy legs as fast as I can.

I’m not even halfway through. The exit is far, too far away. I’m moving as fast as I can but I’m covering no distance. What is going on?!

Crack! Crack!
Even more lightning bolts run down the Dungeon wall, deafening echoes filling the room. Pain and fear wash over me as each one hits my ears. The entire room is shaking. A sudden avalanche of wall fragments slams into the Dungeon floor, splitting my eardrums.

This is all building up to one critical point. That’s when I feel it—the loudest impact yet.

A deafening explosion.

I can’t breathe.

There’s a moment of stillness, pieces of the broken wall falling to the ground, a few relatively soft echoes. The wall behind me has been completely destroyed.

Boom.

Something huge has come out of the hole, shaking the room with its first step.

“……”

I stop moving. It feels like invisible strings have latched onto me.

No, stop—don’t look!

But my body doesn’t listen to reason. My neck seems to twist on its own as it guides my eyes over my left shoulder.

Before I know it I’m facing the beast, my ears ringing in pain.

“……”

I can see it emerging from a large cloud of dust.

It’s too big to be real. Thick neck, shoulders, arms, legs. It looks almost human. It’s hard to tell in the darkness, but its skin looks grayish brown.

It has greasy black hair coming from the back of its head that’s long enough to reach its shoulder blades.

There’s one thing I can say with absolute certainty: Of all the living things I have ever seen, this creature is by far the largest.

—This thing.

My entire body shudders.

This isn’t the same traumatizing fear that overtook me that day against the Minotaur.

This is awe. The human reaction to realizing the existence of a different scale of power.

The disparity between its existence and mine.

—This is a floor boss.

It’s a giant standing more than seven meders tall.

Monster Rex—Goliath.

“
—Oooo.
”

The dust is clearing more and more every second. Then one of its red eyes—the size of a human head—moves.

My tiny body is reflected in its huge eye. Its whole body turns to face me as the room shakes beneath its feet.

A new flame ignites within me.

My body suddenly free from paralysis, time moves once again.

“
OWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
”

I take off.

Every fiber of my being wants to be anywhere but here.

The Goliath’s piercing roar chases me down the room. The floor jumps beneath me every time the beast takes a step. My ears are overwhelmed by the explosive echoes swirling throughout the area.

Just run. Just run. Just run.

I can feel its murderous eyes lock onto me. Once again I’m being chased by Death himself. Terror drives out any feelings of fatigue or exhaustion. The only two things on my mind are keeping ahold of my friends and getting to that exit tunnel.

The walls of the room rush past me as I make a mad dash forward. The entrance to the eighteenth floor seems to bounce in front of my eyes. But above all else, unfortunately, the giant’s steps are getting closer.

Run, run, run, runrunrunrunrunrun!

I let out a scream at the same time the Goliath fills the space with another howl.

A great gust of wind comes from behind me. I get the feeling something is raised far above me, like two hands making one giant fist. An attack powerful enough to pulverize everything is coming in fast.

Even faster, even bigger, one second faster, one step more.

I put every last ounce of strength I have into one kick off the ground.

A desperate dive, an attempt to escape.

I pass through the entrance to the tunnel.

“
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
”

The brute force of the attack.

The moment I reach the relative safety of the tunnel, a powerful shock wave overtakes me from behind—the brunt of the explosion.

“Gahhh?!”

I’m launched higher into the air.

The immensely powerful wind picks me up and throws me like nothing more than a human-shaped feather.

Then suddenly from behind—
BANG!

My body slams into the tunnel wall, but my momentum keeps me going.

Another impact, and another as I tumble down the narrow path.

“Geh, uah, gahhh—?!”

Ceiling, floor, and wall zip by, my body bouncing like a little ball.

My eyes spinning, pain mounting from all the impacts, I lose my grip on Lilly and Welf. The three of us tumble together farther and farther down the tunnel.

My mind is in a haze, waves of pain erupting from more places than I could count. Through it all, I get the general feeling that we’re going down.

Deeper and deeper into the tunnel, our bodies bloody and broken, until finally—

“Uh—?!”

Whoosh.

Our bodies are practically thrown out of what is most likely the tunnel exit.

We hit the ground at full force and slide to a stop.

I’m on my stomach, and I don’t have anywhere near enough energy to move a muscle. I don’t think I can even raise my head a single celch.

Everything around me is sideways and tinted red.

Every celch of my body is screaming in pain. I must be in pretty bad shape. The wounds on my cheeks are open again, my head covered in fresh blood.

But I land on something soft, maybe…grass?

Everything around me is bathed in a warm light. What’s going on? I have no idea.

“…”

Fssshhh.
Is that the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze? Where are my friends?

Lilly and Welf are…here. Both are still breathing. The three of us fell together, side by side the whole way.

I feel my consciousness slipping, but not yet. I can’t give in yet!

Not until the two of them, Lilly and Welf…Have to help them. Heal them, fast.

Move, move!
I scream at my stone-cold body…Wait, is that someone coming?

“…!”

Shf, shf.
That’s the sound of footsteps on grass; they’re close.

They’re right in front of me, looking down on me, their shadow over me.

That moment—my body jolts into action.

Gashi!
My right arm rockets forward and grabs ahold of a thin leg.

I can feel the boot shake in my grasp as I weakly raise my head and try to speak.

“Please, save my friends…!”

Like trying to break free, pleading with my very soul.

My eyes shift up to look at my savior.

Shapes blur together into one form with long golden hair.

Everything goes dark.

CHAPTER 4

The first thing I feel is a heaviness, like my body is weighed down.

I don’t know how long I’ve been here. My arms and legs feel like dirt and I keep flowing in and out of consciousness. After a long time fighting the sense of nothingness that comes with a deep slumber, I finally break through.

Everything’s all blurry.

I blink a few times to clear my vision. My mind is still blank.

I see…fabric. Probably the inside of a tent.

I’m on my back, looking up at the ceiling.

Just as I start looking around the area—my eyes fly open as the memories flood my brain.

“Lilly, Welf?!”

Our desperate search through the middle levels, the Goliath’s appearance, the eighteenth floor. Everything came back at once.

Adrenaline starts pumping through my veins. I don’t know what happened; I need to find out.

All of my muscles fire to help me sit up. A fresh wave of pain washes over me a second later.

“
?!”

I curl into a little ball.

I think it was a scream that came out of my throat. No, the scream came from my entire body.

It feels like every hit I’ve taken, every cut, scrape, and bruise I’ve received since entering the thirteenth floor cries out all at once. I’m in tatters; all the abuse has really taken its toll.

I’m writhing in so much pain that I might pass out again.

“Are you okay?”

—Once again, my eyes open.

That beautiful voice came from right beside me. I lay there for a moment, unable to believe my ears before lifting my head.

The first thing I see is a wall of white fabric, probably part of the tent. Then the long, golden hair of an adventurer sitting right next to me comes into view.

“Eh, huh, whaa…?!”

“…Are you all right?”

Her eyebrows furrow in concern as she speaks with that beautiful voice.

A-Aiz…Aiz Wallenstein…?!

I’m not hallucinating! It’s actually her!

Why is she here?!
I silently scream as my last memories before passing out come back to me.

Long, beautiful golden hair reflected in my cloudy eyes.

I gulp down the air in my throat. The person I begged for help was…Aiz?

I, I grabbed her leg…?!
A new firestorm whips up within me as I clench my shaking fist.

“W-why are you here…?!”

“Returning from our expedition…We stopped on the eighteenth…”

Aiz’s group,
Loki Familia
, must’ve come back from trying to explore previously unknown levels deep in the Dungeon. So that means they’re resting here at the safe point, level eighteen.

They left on their expedition almost two weeks ago…Considering what Lilly said earlier, we must’ve just crossed paths.

That was my train of thought as I lay there, marveling at her beauty.

“…! My friends! Are they
?!”

Lilly!
My shoulders shake once my brain connects the dots.

—Are they okay?! I’m about to ask as my body flings forward on its own.

My elbows leave the ground, my body straight up.

It feels like something’s pushing me from behind. I can’t even blink. Suddenly all the pain I was in doesn’t matter. My sense of urgency cancels it all out. That doesn’t mean my muscles can take it.

I can’t balance. The floor is rushing up to my face.

Aiz rises to her knees beside me and holds out both of her arms.

Pwff.

“…”

“…”

She catches both of my shoulders in her hands. My face, however, is buried deep in her chest.

I can feel her golden hair on my nose.

Her metallic breastplate feels cool on my cheeks. It caught my fall.

I-I’m so glad it was a breastplate and not
there’s no time for that kind of thinking?!

“S-sorry!”

My body launches itself away from her faster than the Goliath blasted me down the tunnel.

My face burning red, I get away from her chest as fast as possible. Ignoring the excruciating pain, I bend away to put some distance between us.

My body moves almost like it’s a reflex. Losing my balance again, I hit the back of my head on the ground, and stars dance in front of my eyes. To add insult to injury, I yelp in agony in front of Aiz and grasp the back of my neck.

Shame and pain course through my body when…
Swish
. My hair brushes against something.

“Ah…Welf.”

He was fast asleep under thick covers right where I fell. Putting up with the pain, I force my body up again and take a good look around. Lilly is next to him on the other side.

I can feel the tension leave my shoulders as I look at their sleeping faces. Finally, relief.

“They are both okay…Reveria and the others healed them.”

Upon closer inspection, Welf’s right leg and Lilly’s numerous injuries have been treated. I don’t think our rescuers did anything fancy, but both Welf’s and Lilly’s wounds have been carefully wrapped in bandages.

“They had taken a lot of damage…but you were in very bad shape…”

Only after she says that do I notice that my head is also wrapped
in bandages. She parts my bangs with her fingers and slowly strokes my head.

My cheeks flush pink as I feel her fingertips run through my hair.

And then: “Any pain?” She tilts her head to the side as she asks. That is the final blow.

My whole body turns red.

“T-thank you very much…for saving us, really…”

Somehow I manage to force my body away from her gentle hands and express my gratitude.

Aiz sets her hands in her lap and shakes her head from side to side. “It’s nothing,” she says with a small smile. I don’t know why, but I feel really happy right now.

Then she looks at me with her golden eyes and asks what our plans are from here on out.

She slowly moves her head to look toward the exit of the tent.

“Can you move?”

“Umm…Y-yes.”

“Finn told me…Our commander told me to contact him. Come with me, would you?”

Aiz stands up as I give her a sharp nod.

I quickly climb to my feet. She offers her hand to help me up, but I can’t afford to embarrass myself even more. Trying to display some amount of manliness, I respectfully decline. There’s a new shot of pain…
owwww
…

Focusing completely on my teetering legs, I finally stand straight up. Every muscle in my body is complaining, but I can handle it. I follow Aiz through the exit as she lifts the fabric door out of the way.

“Whoa…?!”

A huge campsite comes into view.

We’re surrounded by trees, but the forest isn’t that dense here. Tents have been pitched all around us. All of them are facing in toward a central area. Large cargo boxes are sitting on top of tree roots throughout the camp.

Dwarves, animal people, elves…A surprising amount of them are women. Another group of adventurers, a mix of demi-humans,
has a very serious air about them. But some are just talking, almost relaxing with one another. Two animal people are sitting beside each other in the grass. A dwarf and an elf, one leaning against a tree with his arms crossed while the other uses her hands to make gestures as she talks…Their armor and weapons show signs of fierce battles, and yet still sparkle. Whoever made their equipment was extremely good at what they do.

A party of adventurers from what could be called the strongest
Familia
in Orario…I can feel the aura of strength radiating from all of them. My body is instinctively trying to pull away.

The members of
Loki Familia
start to notice us.

But they look right past Aiz and straight to me. They don’t seem all that happy to see me. Then again, it’s only natural, looking at it from their point of view…But what is it…They’re looking at me like some kind of enemy. Aiz tilts her head.

A bead of cold sweat rolls down my neck as something occurrs to me. Is it because Aiz has been taking care of me? I’m mulling that spot over as Aiz starts walking. I almost trip trying to keep up.

A barrage of inquisitive looks keeps coming as I move forward.
Yet, this is a forest
, I say to myself as I look at the dim canopy above, trying not to catch the eyes of anyone else. The leaves and branches create a kind of dome canopy over our heads.

However,
sunlight
flashes through the openings.

It feels warm on my face. To top it all off, I think I can see blue through the leaves.

This is the Dungeon. No sunlight ever makes it down here—so why is there shade and a blue sky? I’m so confused.

Is there really a blue sky and warm sun on the other side of those leaves?

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s…um, well…”

Aiz must’ve sensed my bewilderment because she turned to face me.

My confused brain tries to think of how to respond. In the end I can’t control my curiosity so I ask her a question.

“This is the eighteenth floor…of the Dungeon, right? Why is it so bright…?”

I look at the sky as I speak. Eina never mentioned anything about this—I bet she’d never thought I’d come this far on my first day in the middle levels—so I’m completely clueless. Aiz follows my gaze, her thin chin rising.

“…Should we take a detour?”

She looks at me again and I clumsily nod.

We turn off our original route and leave the camp area. This part of the forest, completely untouched by humans, spreads out even wider as the canopy towers above us. I don’t know why, but I feel like a weight is coming off my shoulders.

I follow her swishing gold hair for a few minutes before the scenery takes my breath away.

Crystals.

Clear and sparkling, they’re absolutely gorgeous.

Some of them are really small, no bigger than my foot. But there are some that are large enough that I could stand inside them. A giant could use one of these things as a dagger. Crystals of all shapes and sizes dot the landscape.

My head is on a swivel. The crystals seem to be sprouting in small groups, tall, thin crystals emitting azure light. The entire forest is silently illuminated by their glow. The forest floor is covered in little blue fragments, along with a good amount of moss and tree roots.

It’s a mystifying, wondrous sight.

It’s impossible not to stand and stare.