Countdown

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

The catman's laughter echoes through the room.

As Lyu and I stand side by side watching, a large drop of sticky liquid falls from the

serpent monster's pointed fang.

It's a lambton.

A rare monster from the deep levels. Its head narrows toward the tip, and its jaws—

which open vertically—look wide enough to swallow an orc whole. On either side of

its mouth are nine holes comprising an organ not seen on other monsters.

But the first thing I notice is the man-made collar attached below its head. It sparkles

with a red jewel that seems to mark it as the tamer's "pet."

Its skin is deep blue, and its amber eyes roll restlessly in its head as it glares at Lyu

and me.

"How did a monster from the deep levels get all the way up here…?!"

For a monster from so far down in the depths of the Dungeon to appear here in the

Water Capital is a very unusual irregularity indeed. As I gape in shock at the

unbelievable phenomenon, the catman smiles jeeringly at us.

"I brought it from Knossos. It's one of the monsters the crew over there captured. You

probably know what I'm talking about, since you were mixed up with those creepy

talking monsters and Ikelos Familia."

"…!"

He sounds like he knows all about my connections with the Xenos and Ikelos Familia.

And if that man-made dungeon has something to do with this, then everything is

starting to make sense. Still, a monster this huge would surely catch the attention of

other adventurers. But there haven't been any rumors about this, let alone a single

report of a sighting. Strange!

My thoughts must be showing on my face, because the catman continues talking, his

expression still as relaxed as ever.

"You haven't heard about it, Rabbit Foot? The special ability of the wormwells?"

"…!"

"'Lambton' is just a nickname, like the ones we adventurers have."

Now I remember.

I mentally run through the information about deep-level monsters that I reviewed in

one of the illustrated books I studied with Eina before the expedition, just in case.

"Lambton" is the nickname adventurers have given the species. Its proper name is

wormwell, the first part meaning "serpent" and the second referring to a "water well."

As I recall with a jolt of surprise why this is its name, Lyu draws her brows together

and says what I'm thinking.

"Lambtons are able to move between floors by boring through the earth…!"

"A monster that moves between floors?!" Welf shouted in response to Aisha's

explanation, completely forgetting his surroundings.

"Yeah, that's why it has that over-the-top nickname, 'lambton.' The written characters

for it mean 'evil omen.'"

They were in a passageway on the twenty-fifth floor. As the party faced the same type

of monster Bell was encountering two floors down, Aisha smiled nervously.

Normally, the wormwell—or lambton—lived on the thirty-seventh floor. But just as its

name suggested, it had the ability to bore vertically upward through the floors, as if it

were digging a well in reverse, and appear on the higher floors. That's what made it so

terrifying to adventurers.

"You mean a monster from the lower floors can invade the higher ones…?!"

For wormwells, that wasn't an irregular characteristic; it was simply their nature.

They paid no attention to the principle of levels and instead moved freely between

floors. Mikoto and Chigusa, who understood exactly how terrifying this was, turned

pale.

"So just how strong is it…?" Lilly squeaked, stunned by this encounter with a totally

unexpected monster.

According to the Guild, it had a potential of Level Four.

It only rarely appeared in the lower levels, but when it did, it was as good as a death

knell announcing total destruction to adventurers.

"You must be kidding!!" Welf barked, holding his greatsword at the ready.

Under the control of Turk and his scarlet whip, the growling wormwell slowly twisted

its body into an attack position.

As nervous tension rippled through the party, Aisha shouted out a warning.

"Whatever you do, don't cling onto that monster! If you do, it will carry you to another

floor!"

What she didn't say was that most likely, before the unfortunate adventurer got there,

they would be ground to mincemeat between the monster's massive body and the

rocky walls of the Dungeon tunnel it crawled through.

In either case, the moment the monster captured you, you were done for.

"Get 'em, lambton!"

The werewolf Turk beat his whip against the ground. In response, the giant serpent

growled loudly, then lunged toward the party.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

"Aaah!"

I leap to avoid the wormwell's darting head.

With a shiver, I realize it can easily reach every corner of this huge room, which

measures around twenty meders high and fifty across. The serpent's slithering body

shaves off crystals and clusters from the floor and sends them flying. Meanwhile, a

wave from the turbulent waterway splashes over me.

But even as I'm drenched from head to toe, I never take my eyes off the writhing

monster on the far side of the room.

"It's way stronger than anything on the twenty-seventh floor…!"

The wormwell seems to mysteriously appear from its habitat on the thirty-seventh

floor, and then disappear again without a trace. It never burrows down below the

thirty-seventh floor, though. That's because it would be suicide to go even one level

down in the Dungeon, where monsters grow stronger the deeper one descends.

I've heard that many a party of adventurers has been wiped out when this monster

with its disproportionate potential appeared on a higher floor. I even seem to recall

hearing that the wormwell is the most feared of all creatures among adventurers who

explore the lower levels.

The distinct sound it makes as it burrows through the ground foretells disaster. It is

indeed an evil omen.

All the same, it's unprecedented for a wormwell to appear in the Water Capital!!

The highest floor it's ever been sighted on is the twenty-ninth. Eina told me that it would

be impossible for a lambton to burrow through ten floors' worth of solid rock.

But things are falling into place now.

That huge hole I discovered with Bors's party was made by this monster. It was the

track the thing made as it moved between floors!

"Sic 'em, lambton!"

The catman tamer lashes his whip against the ground. As soon as he does, the lambton

roars and hurls its body into the air.

"Wha—?"

Its head draws a ten-meder-high arc through space. Its long body follows, swimming

through the air with flashes of deep blue. I'm captivated for a moment by the fantastic

sight, monster or not. Time seems to slow down. Even as it does, though, my instincts

are screaming out a warning.

The body twists, and slowly the menacing form is drawn downward by gravity. A black

shadow blocks out the white crystal lights on the ceiling, darkening the spot where I

stand.

I look up in shock as the serpent's huge body spins downward toward me.

"Run, Mr. Cranell!"

Lyu's voice pushes me into motion, and I rush away from the falling form with all my

strength.

"——————!!"

The room—no, more likely the entire Dungeon—shakes with a thundering crash as

the lambton smashes onto the floor where I was standing a second before.

I'm thrown into the air by the shock waves, and my vision blurs.

The serpent is twisting and burrowing its way into the rock floor. Even as my body

flies over the crystals, the long form is swallowed completely by the ground.

Using the momentum from my rolling landing, I quickly stand up and manage to

recover a fighting stance. My blood runs cold as I look around the room now disfigured

by a gigantic hole.

"…?!"

"…!"

Lyu and I both aim our weapons at the ground.

The vibrations emanating upward are ceaseless. The serpent is digging through the

ground with the intention of swallowing its prey—us—whole.

Where will it reappear?

From land or from water?

"Wrong!" The catman jeers as we stare warily at the ground.

The next instant, the huge form emerges with a crushing noise off to one side. Crystal

fragments fly from a wall near Lyu on the west side of the room, and the lambton

lunges forward with its jaws open wide.

"Miss Lyu!!"

"Yaaa!"

Lyu seems to be on fire as the serpent bears down on her. To make up for lost time,

she kicks the ground and, with a swish of her long cape, flies upward. She's deftly taken

refuge in the air as the long body races past below.

She lands next to me and takes in the monster that is now charging across the center

of the room.

"Are lambtons always this insane?" I ask, panting.

"Well, since they're a rare monster, I've only encountered the species one other time.

I can't really answer your question…" she replies vaguely, readying her wooden sword.

The only time I've ever confronted a monster this huge was when I fought the Goliath.

But this thing… Both its attack methods and its scale are crazy. I guess that's what

deep-level monsters are like!

"So the end has come, eh, Leon? You and Rabbit Foot can get real close inside this guy's

stomach!"

The catman laughs loudly.

"We don't need to take part in our enemy's circus performance," Lyu whispers into my

shoulder.

I'm surprised, but I nod quickly. After exchanging these brief words, we start running

forward in parallel.

I extend my right hand toward the roaring lambton.

"Firebolt!"

The electrifying flames that burst from my fist reach the monster's face and land on

one of the nine holes next to its mouth. Of course, this magic attack doesn't inflict much

damage on my extreme large-category opponent.

Still, the three pairs of bloodshot eyes focus in on me.

Gotcha!

The monster's angry shriek makes me sweat, but nevertheless, I form my hand into a

fist.

This is my first fight with a tamer, but even I can figure out that it makes more sense

to aim for the tamer himself than for the monster he's controlling. Given that they have

to learn tamer skills, my guess is they're often weaker than other adventurers.

So you separate them from their monster and attack them in their "naked" state.

In this case, I'll serve as the bait to draw away the monster while Lyu acts as the spear

that pierces the tamer.

As the lambton momentarily focuses its attention on me, Lyu speeds up.

Like a falcon gliding across the open sky, she races forward, body tilted toward the

ground. She slips through the narrow gap between the monster's body and the ground

and arrives next to the tamer, who had been obstructed by the serpent.

"Jura!"

"Eh?!"

His voice in response to her call is pitiful. Nevertheless, he twists his face into a smile

and brings the whip in his single hand down onto the ground.

"!!"

"Huh?!"

To my surprise, the lambton—which I thought was focused on me—whips its head

around toward the catman. Having reversed direction, it aims straight for Lyu's back.

"Miss Lyu!"

"?!"

Just before her wooden sword makes contact with the tamer, Lyu is forced to leap back

to avoid the lunging monster.

Jura leers at her as she just barely dodges the serpent's fangs. The lambton does not

harm its tamer but instead coils around him exactly like it's protecting him.

"Ha-ha-ha…! So you thought you could aim for me, eh? You thought I wasn't ready for

that?"

"…!"

"I've imprinted this behavior on my pet quite well!" he brags, still smiling, as Lyu bites

her lip.

Meanwhile, I'm blatantly showing my astonishment.

I'm not that familiar with tamers or their profession. I haven't even seen Ganesha

Familia's Monsterphilia, so I have no idea how versatile they might be.

Still… this monster seems incredibly well trained!

All I know is what Eina taught me, but my understanding is that essentially, taming

monsters doesn't so much involve getting them to do what you want as preventing

them from rebelling. It's about making them realize and submit to the superior

strength of the tamer—in other words, taming is a skill of submission.

Evidence of that can be found in the fact that tamed monsters will still attack people

other than their tamer. I've also heard it's extremely difficult to teach them multiple

commands.

But this catman is controlling the monster like it's an extension of his own hands and

feet.

"Miss Lyu… Is this guy really such an amazing tamer?"

"No… I mean, he's one of the better ones, but I think he's below Ganesha Familia

tamers. That is, the Jura Harma I knew five years ago was."

I can't hide my surprise at the fact that Lyu—who is both connected to his faction and

is an old rival of this man—also expected his skills to be lower.

The tamer strokes the serpent's slippery body tenderly.

"Ah, shit… It's useless… I'm still afraid! Leon, disgusting Gale Wind!" he shouts, unable

to conceal the shaking in his voice.

"Look at this trembling hand! It's like a leaf in the wind! You almost killed me once—

of course I'm scared of you!"

That's when I realize.

His smile of a moment before was fake and forced.

"I remember, Leon! I can't forget. There's no way I'd forget!"

"…"

"When I close my eyes, I still see you there, thrashing around in a sea of blood the day

you attacked my home! I dream about it every day. I haven't had a good night's sleep

since that day! Can you believe it? Not for five years!"

"…?!"

"That day, I hid among the bodies of my slaughtered companions, delirious! I lay there

holding my breath and listening to you roar like a monster until you blew our whole

home away with your magic! It's strange I even survived."

Lyu stands silent as he lays his feelings out in the open. I'm in a confused panic. I can

glimpse his sick emotions now and then in the pair of sunken, wide-open eyes. Not

only his severed right arm but even his left arm twitches in reaction to Gale Wind's

slightest movement.

I finally get it.

This man's display of fear throughout the performances and destructive schemes he

used to fool Bors and the rest of us wasn't an act. The reason I didn't initially question

his terror was because it was real.

For him, Lyu is a symbol of trauma.

Gale Wind—the elf who severed his arm, sliced off his ear, and brought him to the

brink of death—is more frightening than anyone or anything else.

"If I had to face you alone, I'd piss my pants. That's why I got the monster to fight in

my place! It's stronger than I am, this cute little pet of mine!"

Still shaking from uncontrollable fear, the tamer cracks his whip. The lambton lunges

at us again, baring its fangs.

The catman laughs as we scramble to defend ourselves from the monster under his

command. Meanwhile, the monster moves with great precision and swiftness

according to his tamer's will, both attacking and defending.

But I doubt the catman's skills are solely responsible for all this.

No—it has something to do with the circlet around its neck and the scarlet whip.

They're magic items.

"Get 'em, lambton!"

At the sound of the werewolf Turk's voice and the crack of his whip, the wormwell

charged forward.

In the face of its unstoppable advance, Aisha chose to retreat.

"Get into that side passage!"

Lilly and the others dove in just in time to avoid the wriggling mass heading for them,

crushing the narrow passage as it went.

A loud scraping noise filled the corridor they had just left as the bluish-white body

slithered across the floor. The screams of monsters crushed beneath its belly echoed

down the passage.

Haruhime went pale, overtaken by visceral disgust.

"All this thing has to do is rush us…" Welf screamed.

"…and we're done for!" Ouka yelled back, finishing his thought. Both were staring at the

fissures spreading through the entrance to the passage as the enemy charged forward.

It had quickly turned back and was now heading for the panicked party.

"We can't fight it here! Retreat!"

They would be at an enormous disadvantage fighting an extreme large-category

monster in their current location. Aisha—who had frequently fought in the deep levels

where Ishtar Familia headed on its expeditions—quickly gave up on an immediate

battle and instead put all her energy into escape.

"Hey, shrimp, find us a field!" she shouted.

"A field?! What do you mean?!" Lilly shouted back, changing color.

"A dead-end room on the twenty-fifth floor! As long as there's not a waterway in it, it

will have a field! Take us there!"

In other words, Lilly needed to look at the map.

The party retreated as fast as it could, managing to dull the lambton's movements

through repeated shots from Mikoto's and Chigusa's arrows and Daphne's magic

dagger.

"Hey, it's not following us. It disappeared!!" Welf shouted, glancing back over his shoulder.

"No, Sir Welf… It's still here!" Mikoto answered, using her Yatano Black Crow skill.

"It burrowed underground! It's coming up from under—No, from the side!! Shoot it!"

Aisha screamed at the top of her lungs, sensing the vibrations.

A second later, the lambton burst through the wall next to them and lunged forward.

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!"

"This thing is crazy!"

"Are the deep levels full of this kind of monster?!"

Haruhime's scream, Daphne's desperate shout, and Ouka's horrified question filled

the passageway as they just barely evaded the serpent. By this point Haruhime was no

more than baggage slowing down the group, so Aisha told her to drop her backpack

and slung her over her right shoulder. She clicked her tongue as she glanced back at

the approaching monster.

We've been totally prevented from following those adventurers. Bell Cranell asked us to

keep an eye on them, but we're really in a tight corner now!

Cursing herself internally, the group's only second-tier adventurer searched for some

way out.

Meanwhile, back in the passageway that Aisha and the others had fled, Turk and his

three companions were celebrating.

"Ha-ha-ha…! This magic item is amazing! I can't believe I can make even deep-level

monsters obey me… Thank you, Evils!"

Turk looked down at the scarlet whip with the jewel fixed to the end, drunk on a false

sense of omnipotence. The magic item had been created by the Evils' Remnants hiding

out in Knossos. The mysterious crystal—or more accurately, the cursed lump—had

been conceived as a way to convince buyers of Xenos and other monsters smuggled

for profit by Ikelos Familia hunters that the "product" they were buying was safe.

By attaching matching collars to the monsters, the forbidden magic items allowed

less-powerful tamers, or even those with no ability at all, to subordinate the creatures.

Jura had taken advantage of the recent events in Knossos to smuggle out all these

valuable items, which were extremely effective but could not be mass-produced.

"When I heard Jura's plan, I thought he was crazy… But it can fly. If they work this well,

it can fly!"

The young werewolf—who had originally belonged to a band of small-time criminals

who had nothing to do with the Evils—had sniffed out something lucrative in the last

remaining member of Rudra Familia, Jura. Now that he saw the effects of the magic

item with his own eyes, he was ready to swear his allegiance.

He was determined not only to frame Jura's old enemy, Gale Wind, but also to make

sure the catman's whole plan came to fruition.

"Now's our chance to act! Do what Jura commanded!"

The three adventurers wearing backpacks nodded.

Leaving behind the lambton as their parting gift, the party left the scene.

"Haruhime, we need Level Boosts! Start chanting!" Aisha ordered.

"Do you mean Kokonoe? For Lady Mikoto and everyone?"

"Two is enough! If you exhaust yourself now, we'll be in trouble later. For now, just

boost Ignis and Masuratakeo on the front line!"

The party had arrived in a dead-end room thanks to Lilly's directions. As soon as they

got there, Aisha had started spitting out orders, including one to boost the levels of

Welf and Ouka. She was the only one among them with experience exploring the deep

levels, and she hadn't allowed Lilly or Daphne to take command. Their situation was

too critical—as was clear from Aisha's harsh tone. Plus, she had a detailed understanding

of the party's internal balance, gained from her usual non-commander position.

"First that enhanced species, now this… I sure don't get bored when I'm with you

guys!" she joked, shaping her mouth into a smile as she brandished her great podao.

"I never dreamed the Amazonian Berbera would be saying those words!"

"Yeah, it sure is unexpected… An honor, should we say?"

Ouka and Welf bantered with her as the particles of light from Haruhime's Level Boost

encircled them. They stood on either side of Aisha, holding their greatsword, ax, and

shields at the ready.

With their strongest forces at the forefront, the group was prepared to fight the deep-

level monster.

"…Is this the calamity?"

"Cassandra, snap out of it!"

As the prophetess of tragedy stood in a daze, the curtain lifted on the battle.

"—!!"

As if resonating with the serpent's roar, the collar around its neck pulsated with light,

and the beast trembled.

"It was a real pain to get this thing onto this floor."

Lyu and I frantically dodge as the lambton twists its long body and attacks viciously,

responding to the crack of the whip on the ground.

"Granted, it was able to dig its way here itself, but the problem was that body. It's just

so easy to spot. I had to make it swallow any adventurers who saw it."

"…!"

"The hardest part was getting it out of Knossos."

The catman glances at me as I tighten my fists in response to his casual confession to

murder.

"Rabbit Foot, after you tangled with Ikelos Familia, I decided I'd better get out of

Knossos. Thanks to you—no, it started when Dix messed up—I figured the Guild

would eventually reach my hideout. And they did!" Jura shouted. "Once the place we'd

been quietly hiding in was gone, there was no guarantee we'd be safe… That's when I

started moving forward with my plan."

A shock wave from the serpent's movements sends me flying. As I land, I look over my

shoulder and ask him a question.

"From then?!"

"Yeah. You didn't think we'd managed to move the monsters down here since

yesterday, all with Leon chasing us, did you? We started by hiding two lambtons on

this floor."

"Wha…?"

"See, as long as we kept them quiet under the water, none of the other adventurers

would find them. Oh, and who knows? Turk and his guys might be attacking the

adventurers right now. 'Cause I gave them one of these here whips."

"…!"

As I absorb these shocking words, the catman continues.

"Then two days ago, when the forces finally swarmed into Knossos, we were about to

push our plans forward and hightail it out of Knossos… But Leon happened to be in

the group, and she spotted me."

His eyes are filled with a deep hatred as he glares at Lyu.

"She kept chasing me, so I used Jan and Turk to do something about her. I knew she'd

follow us onto this floor, so I lit a fire under the people in Rivira in order to stop her."

I'm guessing that when he temporarily evaded Lyu and escaped from Knossos to the

eighteenth floor, his first step was to send his two underlings to Rivira. But one of them

was captured and questioned by Lyu, leading her to head as quickly as possible to the

twenty-seventh floor.

And then Turk, who had escaped her notice… must have decided to make use of his

friend. He killed the injured Jan, making it look like Gale Wind was the murderer, and

ran to tell Bors and me in Rivira. After that, he spearheaded the formation of a hunting

party to pursue Gale Wind, just as the catman had ordered him to.

All of this is mere speculation on my part, but it nevertheless makes me sick to my

stomach. And I'm fairly sure I must be right.

"I figured I'd use the guys who came with me down to the twenty-seventh floor as

decoys to keep you and Leon away from me! But then when the Rivira crew finally got

down here, I just blew them all up at once with the explosions!"

"…!"

In other words, he sacrificed his companions in order to keep the residents from Rivira

on his side and make them afraid of Gale Wind.

Anger spreads over Lyu's face as she listens to our opponent's clear explanation.

I, too, feel both fear and disgust toward this man who was willing to use any means

whatsoever to achieve his ends.

But… why is he telling us all this now? To demonstrate his own calmness? To upset

us? Or… to buy time?

As I stand here bewildered, a tail drops down from above my head and crashes into

the ground with an even stronger impact than the others so far.

"Argh!"

I jump as far away as I can. As I catch my breath, Lyu lands beside me.

"As I suspected, Jura's been feeding this monster magic stones to enhance it…"

"…!"

Her words make me realize we have a long fight ahead of us. It will be nearly

impossible to reach the magic stones inside a body this big. Risking an attempt at a

single deadly blow won't work. It probably makes more sense to try to tip the balance

with magic, even at the expense of huge mental strain.

Acting as a wall won't work in the face of our opponent's all-out attacks… But what if

Lyu and I use Concurrent Casting and Concurrent Charging to turn ourselves into a

living fortress? Would the tamer let us get away with pulling off such an obvious

strategy…?

I'm drawing on all my past experience to try to come up with the best possible strategy.

The next thing Lyu says catches me totally off guard, though.

"…But I've already figured out the connection between Jura's commands and the

monster's movements."

I can't believe Lyu already understands the behavioral patterns the tamer has

imprinted onto his monster—in other words, the relationship between the motions of

the whip and the lambton's actions.

How did she figure it out in such a short time?

"One option is to destroy the magic item, but once the monster is freed from its control,

it will go wild and that will be a hassle to deal with. I'm going to immobilize it by force."

"Uh, okay, got it! B-b-but how…?!"

"Jura is wary of my magic, so I'll kill it with my weapon."

Ignoring my confusion, Lyu runs her finger down her wooden sword.

"Mr. Cranell, you feint while I kill it."

"O-okay, got it!"

"Its only really troublesome behavior is its ability to burrow underground. If you see

it trying to do that, use your Swift-Strike Magic to block it. I believe in you."

The battle-hardened upper-class adventurer speaks unwaveringly even in the face of

this overwhelming monster.

"I've fought a lambton before. There's no reason to think it can beat us."

The record that Lyu—or rather Astrea Familia—has registered with the Guild is the

forty-first floor. She is a truly incredible warrior experienced in fighting in the deep

levels. I'm struck by her powers of observation and insight, her intelligence in

developing and proposing a strategy without hesitation, and more than anything the

determination that underlies her decisions and actions.

I have a long way to go before my ability as an adventurer reaches hers.

"Let's take care of this thing quickly so we can capture Jura."

The flames of rage still burning high in her breast, the elf transforms herself into an

arrow of the gale wind.

"!!"

At the same time, I start running in the opposite direction.

The monster's multiple eyes roll around in its head, following both of us as we split off

to the left and right.

In order to draw more of its attention toward me, I increase my attacks, using my agility

and speed to confuse it.

"Yaaah!"

"Ergh?"

In that window of distraction, Lyu bravely flies toward the enemy's chest.

Anticipating the monster's every move, she dodges each of its defensive strikes within

a hairbreadth, channeling the force of her charges into her wooden sword. Scales fly

every which way, and the beast's skin grows ragged. The ground vibrates as if she's

pounding it with a massive iron hammer, producing a cracking sound that slides past

my eardrums.

Meanwhile, I slip Hakugen from my left hand back into its sheath and extend my nowempty hand toward my left leg. Very quietly, I extract several items from my reinforced

leg holster and inspect them.

There's a high potion, a magic potion, an antidote, and two vials of Tiger Cub Elixir

High Dual Potion.

I don't skimp on the amount I use.

Then I harden my resolve and begin sounding the chime.

Argonaut.

Pure-white particles of light gather around my left hand as I begin the Concurrent

Charge.

It would take at least two minutes of charging to take down a large-category monster

this big. But my job right now is not to annihilate it. It's to support Lyu!

"Shit! Burrow, lambton!"

The catman, seeing that the monster is suffering under Lyu's attacks, cracks his whip.

It's the command I was expecting.

I instantly thrust out my left hand. I've been charging for twenty seconds.

Aiming for the enemy's head, which is attempting to burrow into the ground as fast as

it can, I let out a shout.

"Firebolt!"

A huge bolt of electrical fire surrounded by white particles of light splits the ground

between the crystal floor and the lambton.

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooo?!"

Thrown backward by the explosion, the serpent writhes on the ground.

Taking advantage of the moment when the beast—having failed in its attempt to

burrow—is twisting in agony, Lyu ups the speed of her attacks.

"Whoa?!"

Front, left diagonal, side, diagonal again.

Both the catman and I are gaping at Lyu as she lunges and swerves, unleashing a rapidfire series of attacks. Her speed increases with each thrust, and now she's moving so

fast she practically leaves an afterimage.

If I could see her from above, I'm sure her lunges and retreats would form a fivepointed star enclosing the monster at its center.

The unbroken string of fierce blows from her wooden sword lift our opponent's

enormous body off the ground.

There's no mistaking it—as the speed of her attacks increases, so does their ferocity.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Her sword glows with the blue-green light of her skill.

Finally, she lands a decisive blow slantwise across its breast, throwing its giant form

against the wall.

"————?!"

My eyes are popping out of my head, and the catman's are filled with horror, as if he's

watching the return of his worst nightmare.

Did she really just blow away the body of an ultra-high-class monster?

The revolting head and neck, which had been shrieking in agony and convulsing, fall

to the ground. Crumbling crystals bury the massive body.

Whether it's dead or just unconscious, I'm too dumbfounded even to cheer Gale

Wind's incredible show of skill in knocking out an extreme large-category monster

with just her weapon.

I'm guessing the catman—who's rooted to the ground—must be feeling the same way.

"Jura, you're all that's left… It's over."

Lyu brandishes her sword, crosses the now-still room, and walks up to the catman.

Coming to my senses, I follow. Quickly refueling with High Dual Potion, I stand by her

side facing Jura.

His companions are gone now, and so is the monster he tamed.

He's too traumatized to raise a sword against Lyu.

As she said, this is the end.

His one remaining hand shaking, he drops his eyes before Lyu's piercing gaze.

And then, his hair hiding his eyes—he slowly smiles.

"Frontline forces, stand firm! Just one more!"

Aisha's voice rang through the room.

Welf and Ouka clenched their teeth, held their shields at a slant, and managed to throw

the monster off its line of attack. Their whole bodies were strained and blood spurted

from their wounds, but their arms and legs, swathed in the light of the Level Boost,

showed no sign of giving out. The shields made of hard white valmars, too, stood up

to the task. Right away, Cassandra showered them with restorative magic.

The lambton roared in confusion in the face of this defensive wall, which managed to

hold the line through raw courage and simple, precise skill no matter how desperately

the beast threw itself against them.

Arrows and other sharp weapons pierced the gaping maw even as it howled.

On the top of the mouth were eighteen holes, nine on the left and nine on the right. By

now, they were marked with wounds from arrowheads, throwing knives, and Aisha's

great podao.

These pits gave wormwells an extraordinary ability to sense heat. It was these pits, in

fact, that enabled the monsters to accurately locate adventurers even when

underground. Because these organs also allowed them to distinguish between

humans and monsters by reacting to magic stones and to detect with great sensitivity

the use of magic and magic blades, they were able to escape underground as

necessary, thus making them extremely hard to combat. Even now, the wormwell was

repeatedly burrowing underground, foiling the attempts by Lilly and the others to use

their magic blades. Unless Swift-Strike Magic was used, it would likely be difficult to

land a blow on the beast.

For all those reasons, Aisha aimed first for the pits on its head.

While Welf and Ouka were literally laying their lives on the line to hold back the

enemy's attacks and distract it, Aisha worked with Mikoto and the others in the center

guard to destroy the pits.

The dead-end room Lilly had led them to was indeed a field of crystals, with crystal

columns sprouting throughout it like groves of trees. There was no such thing as an

obstacle for the lambton, which could burrow through Dungeon floors and walls, but

the large crystal formations certainly slowed its movements. Mikoto, Chigusa, Lilly,

and Daphne rained down their blows onto the impaired monster.

Again and again it fled underground, slowly turning much of the room into a flat plain.

Just one pit remained intact on top of its head.

"Eeyaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

"Now, Lady Chigusa!" Mikoto—her quiver already empty—shouted as Ouka and Welf

pushed the monster off course.

Chigusa, who was hiding in one of the remaining groves of crystal columns, aimed her

taut bow and arrow at the serpent. Only her left eye peeped out from behind her

bangs.

Like Mikoto, Chigusa had trained with Takemikazuchi and was an all-around fighter.

She was timid and perhaps not well suited to the role of adventurer, but there was one

skill in which she surpassed Mikoto: archery.

"Dead-on and deadly—"

Whispering the war god's charm, Chigusa released her bowstring and her concentration

simultaneously.

Kokutoba, the arrow Welf had forged for her with his top-class smith's skills, whined

through the air and landed square on the lambton's last intact pit.

"?!"

"Yesss!" Aisha cheered, pivoting from defense to offense.

For a lambton, losing the pits on its head was equivalent to being blinded. This was

Aisha's strategy, meant to play on both the party's superior numbers and the favorable

topography. It all rested on her faith in the highly precise shooting ability of the center

guard.

The lambton could no longer even burrow underground. As the front line pressed

back the thrashing, writhing monster, the Amazon completed her Concurrent Chant,

leaped backward, and threw her podao against the ground.

"Hell Kaios!"

The magic, with the full force of Aisha's energy behind it, was released.

The slicing wave imbued with powerful mental force transformed into a four-mederlong guillotine and rushed forward. Unleashed next to the monster's side, the deadly

weapon landed directly on the scarlet collar, then kept moving forward.

The lambton perished, unable even to let out a death cry as the blade sliced off its

head, magic item and all.

"Yeah!!"

"We beat a deep-level monster!"

"Ouka and I on the front line are pretty beat up… but we did it."

"Ouka! Are you okay?"

"We got some drop items, too!"

"I can't believe how greedy you are, Lilliluka…"

Welf pumped his fist at the splendid defeat of the deep-level monster, and Mikoto

grinned as she wiped the blood from her face.

Welf and Ouka were the most beaten-up of the group, having stood throughout as a

wall against the lambton's attacks, and their shields were thoroughly battered as well.

As Chigusa brought them potions, Lilly cheerfully collected the wormwell's sharp

fangs and cranial shell, along with its extremely pure magic stones. Only Daphne

looked bored.

Meanwhile, Aisha squinted, as if she was quite proud to have lived up to her reputation,

and smiled with relief.

"Lady Cassandra, I threw off my backpack with all my items in it, so would you mind

working your recovery magic on everyone? I'm sorry to be so useless…" Haruhime

said, ashamed, as she turned to the party's lone healer for help.

"Miss… Cassandra?"

The girl stood rooted in place, as if she hadn't heard a thing.

Was this… the calamity?

She looked out at the members of her party, bubbling with excitement over their

victory, and at the monster's corpse, which was already mostly turned to ash.

This is all?

At one point, Cassandra believed that the deep-level monster was the calamity her

prophetic dream had warned of, but that belief had been turned upside down.

It wasn't menacing enough.

It wasn't terrifying enough.

It didn't provoke enough despair.

It ended too quickly.

It just didn't seem worthy of the term catastrophe.

"This isn't it," she murmured, deciding within herself that this wasn't the actualization

of her dream.

To the contrary, if her dream had been no more than this, how relieved she would have

been.

But the scenes she had seen in her dream had been far crueler and more ominous.

There had been no hope of being saved.

This was not the calamity…!

No. True despair still lay ahead of them.

"Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

Laughter spills out of the catman as if his mouth is broken, his armless shoulder

jerking up and down. His body is folded over like he's having a fit, and his tail—which

is broken off halfway down—dances behind him.

Lyu and I both stare as Jura, who should be cowering in a corner, puts on this ridiculous

display.

"You think it's over? You're wrong. This is just the beginning!!"

He roars with laughter, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"Do you want to know why I chose this spot for the 'ceremony,' Leon?"

"What are you talking about…?!"

"The Water Capital is linked across this zone! The whole area connected by the Great

Falls is like one floor! Damage in one place is shared everywhere! That's what the

Dungeon thinks, at least!"

Lyu jumps as if she's just been struck by lightning.

Damage? Shared? The Dungeon… thinks?

I seem to be the only one who doesn't get what's going on. The catman's vulgar laugh

echoes across the room.

"It doesn't matter if the explosion is on the twenty-fifth floor or the twenty-seventh…

To the Dungeon, it's as if the wounds were on the same floor!"

Lyu's expression transforms.

"I even used the magic you released!"

"No way…?!"

"Did you think things would still be okay with this level of damage?"

He grins, and a second later—

Bang!

The ceiling of the room we're in shakes.

"You were chasing me so desperately—but I'm just a decoy!"

Fragments of crystal rain down on us.

There seems to have been an explosion on one of the higher floors, as if to carry on

the series of explosions that occurred on this floor.

The twenty-fifth floor is screaming.

"Stop…" Lyu says, looking up at the ceiling as I stand here astonished. "Stop!!"

For the first time, her voice has lost its calm.

She's screaming in panic.

The catman ignores her.

"—Do it, Turk!" he shouts.

"Huff… puff… huff…!!"

As the werewolf ran through the Dungeon, he tore off his companions' backpacks and

scattered the bright-red balls within them onto the passageway floors.

Ignoring the monsters chasing after them, the small band of men kept on running and

scattering more red balls.

"O-o-okay, here we go… I'm gonna light them now!"

Having dropped all the balls, they dove for shelter and drew their magic blades.

The objects they were looking at were Inferno Stones. Collected as drop items from

flame rocks, a type of deep-level monster, they had strong fire-starting power and

explosiveness even when used as is.

"Fire!"

Crouching in a twenty-fifth-floor passageway crowded with monsters, Turk and his

companions aimed for the red balls and brought down their magic blades.

The flames that shot from their ends spread, and the Inferno Stones glowed.

A moment later, a massive explosion rocked the Dungeon.

"—Ahh!"

The monsters that had been following Turk's band of men were swallowed up in the

ball of flames.

It didn't stop there, however.

The Inferno Stones they had scattered haphazardly down the passageways lit up like

a fuse, exploding and spreading the flames farther and farther, destroying one passage

after the next.

Burning monsters and melted crystal columns alike were swept away in the whirlwind

of destruction.

"?!"

"What's happening?!"

The shock waves had reached the spot on the same floor where Aisha, Welf, and the

rest of their party were standing.

Meanwhile, two floors below, adventurers looked up as the thundering explosions

reached them.

"B-Bors?!"

"What is this? What's going on?!"

Above them, crystal walls were blown away, floors burst open, ceilings collapsed, and

waterways overflowed their banks in chaos.

One section of the multilayered twenty-fifth floor collapsed entirely, having lost its

supports.

"The ground is collapsing…!!"

"Run! Run!!"

Welf and the rest of his party fled desperately to avoid being sucked down with the

collapsing structure.

In the huge cavern, the Great Falls spit out a mass of crystal debris and monster corpses,

swelling and roaring like a tidal wave.

The scream of the Dungeon was unending.

The explosions continue.

As the lights blink and the crystals in the room vibrate and jump up and down from

the shocks, the catman stands in front of us laughing.

"I knew you'd chase after me like a madwoman! That's why I'm the decoy! The plan

was that once I almost finished destroying the twenty-seventh floor, Turk would take

over on the twenty-fifth!"

He's shouting joyfully as crystals fall from the ceiling around him.

"While you were chasing me so frantically, my underlings were setting off the bombs

on the other floor. So how does it feel to be set up, eh?"

A chill runs down my spine as the catman roars with laughter again despite what's

going on around him. I can't keep up with his logic.

Bombs?

Destroy the twenty-fifth floor?

What are these guys trying to do?

"You didn't pay attention when I threw out those bombs a little while ago, did you?

You were careless, weren't you? Isn't that right, Leon? Ha-ha-ha-ha! Caught you, didn't

I?"

The next instant, Lyu—who had been staring up at the ceiling in a daze—glares and

flies at the catman.

"JURAAAAA!"

She grabs the shirt at his chest and pulls him onto the ground.

"Do you realize what you've done? Do you?!" she shouts.

Her fist trembles, as if she's trying to hold back her emotions.

The catman keeps on smiling despite the blow he's received and doesn't answer her

question. Instead, he continues screaming at her.

"Did you think I was just lazing around in these five years since you ruined my life?!

No, I was busy researching! Where was the best place to call forth despair? How could

I do it?!"

"Huh?"

"The whole time, I was thinking about how I could crush that pretty face of yours!"

"—Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

The distraught Lyu pulls out her dagger and brings it down toward the catman.

But I stop her.

"It's no good, Miss Lyu!"

"Let me go! Let me go!"

All her strength is directed toward pulling out of my full nelson.

The catman slowly stands up, giggling through his teeth.

What is happening?

We were supposed to have him backed into a corner, but now we're the ones who are

trapped!

As that thought crosses my mind—

"?!"

The strongest explosion yet rocks us like some kind of grand finale. And then—

The Dungeon wails.

"—"

It's not the cracking sound the Dungeon makes when a monster is being born.

It's not the quaking that comes before an irregularity occurs.

It is literally a wail.

A violent, inorganic, high-pitched keening.

It's like a knife being drawn across a taut silver bowstring, piercing my eardrums.

Or a soprano the size of the whole world crying out.

This violent, unmistakable wail of the Dungeon sets my instincts flashing red.

"Aaah… Aaaaah…!"

I can't block my ears, since I'm still restraining Lyu, but my whole body is tense. Just

then, the strength drains from her body.

"It's just like that time… all over again… Aaah, Alize…!"

"Miss Lyu? Miss Lyu?"

Her slim body collapses, and I scramble to support her. I'm calling her name in a panic

as her face turns white and then blue.

I don't know this Lyu.

Who is this person with the vacant eyes hollowed out by trauma?

"Run… Escape!!"

"What…?"

She looks up at me as she utters her command in a broken voice.

Our faces are so close they're nearly touching. She's gripping my clothes.

"Get out of here as fast as you can!! Even if you have to go alone—hurry!!"

That's when I understand.

Now it makes sense why she tried so hard to get rid of me when I first encountered

her on this floor.

She was afraid something like this was going to happen.

The catman stands up.

"It's too late!" he howls.

He looks up at the ceiling as if he's pointing with his missing arm.

"You and I, we're both trapped in despair!"

His smile twitches. He, too, is pale.

"Come and get us! Show yourself!" he shouts, like he's throwing down his chips on the

gamble of his life. His voice is full of joy.

"Appear before us once again!!"

"—"

The prophetess of tragedy lowered one knee to the ground.

"Cassandra?"

"Lady Cassandra?"

She could not hear Daphne's voice. She could not see Haruhime or the others who ran

to her side. Flashes of light were running through her head. She knew "that time" had

come.

"Aa… Aaa…"

The wails of the Dungeon were the "lament."

Her face was as pale as Lyu's. She grabbed her head with both hands, frozen in place

as the prophecy fell from her lips.

"'A great calamity… draws near.'"

Crack!

A fissure spread through the cavern on the twenty-seventh floor.

It was a long, wide, deep fissure, running vertically opposite the Great Falls.

The first thing to spring from the fissure was liquid.

The purple serum spewed out like blood, steam rising from it. The emerald-blue water

clouded as if it had been soiled with sewer sludge.

The crack widened, scattering fragments of crystal, as if the Dungeon were splitting

open its own womb.

Finally.

A scarlet eye glinted from the depths of the fissure.

Despair let out its newborn cry.