58: Cool Castle! ... Why's It On Fire?

Author note:

Guess who's back?! THIS GUY!

I know I've starved you of content for a tad too long. As I mentioned in my last update to the 'NOT A CHAPTER' chapter, altering my sleep schedule while suffering a vitamin deficiency was a BAD idea. I've literally never felt so lethargic and tired in my entire life, and it lasted for weeks!

I can't say that I'm fully back yet, so chapter updates may be sporadic for a little while, but hey! At least I finished this one!

Hopefully I can get the next one out in a timely manner.

As always, have a nice day, and enjoy the chapter!

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The inside of the Dungeon barrier was an unusually comfy space, Seija noticed. Something about the place just radiated a feeling of safety. Given that it was quite literally a 'safe zone' before entering a Dungeon, she supposed she shouldn't be too surprised that it was supernaturally comfortable to stay in.

She turned her gaze to the Portal itself and activated Great Firewall's newest ability.

[Object: Chunin-level Dungeon Portal]

[Description: This is a Portal to a Dungeon containing Chunin-level threats, opened by a Dungeon Key. Surrounding the Portal is a barrier containing the Dungeon's prep room. The prep room cannot be left once entered, at least until such a time as the Dungeon is cleared. Currently there are four people inside the prep room.]

[Dungeon Raid Party: 4/4]

[Time until forced Dungeon entry: 53 hours, 47 minutes, 2 seconds]

'I'm still a little upset that we didn't get to start with this ability.' Seija complained.

"[Nothing to be done about it.]" Firewall responded. "[The magnitude of benefits granted by each System Level increases with each one gained. Without new abilities to unlock, why bother leveling at all?]"

She held back a sigh in the presence of the others, but was still frustrated that this ability couldn't have come sooner. Being able to identify the exact nature of an object by sight alone wouldn't have been that useful, truth be told. Firewall could already identify System-made Items as long as they were within his active range, although he couldn't provide more than a basic overview of the Item's nature before hitting their latest Level... Regardless, it would've been nice.

'Whatever, let's not get sidetracked.'

Killua squinted into the Portal, seeing nothing but blue light on the other side.

"So... do we just walk through it? Looks kinda solid if you ask me..."

Mimi just shrugged.

Kilua blinked at her before turning back to the Portal.

"Welp, nothing else for it-" He reached out.

The instant he placed his hand on the solid light of the Portal, a System Message appeared in front of Seija's eyes.

[Killua Zoldyck has voted to enter the Dungeon.]

[Current Party composition: one Jonin-level Reincarnator, one Jonin-level Summon, one high-Genin-level Reincarnator, one high-civilian-level Reincarnator.]

[Vote to enter? Y/N]

[Current votes: 1/4]

She selected 'Y' as the others read through the screens in front of them. Surprisingly, Killua could see them too. He waved at the intangible text hovering within his vision, watching with interest as his hand passed through it without having any effect.

"So this is the kind of thing you guys can see all the time? Yosuke described it to me before but it was a little hard to believe. You can't see the text in front of me, right? You can only see your own version?" He asked.

"Yes, I can't see anything in front of you, only my own System Message in front of me. That's how it works for everyone, and it's why we can usually get away with opening our Systems in front of other people without them noticing. Some shinobi are apparently starting to catch on to us blankly staring into space though, if the warnings we were told by the others are correct." Seija confirmed his suspicion as the votes ticked up to 4/4 with Ichiro and Mimi both voting to enter.

[All party members have voted to enter the Dungeon. Dungeon entry will be initiated in 58 seconds.]

"Kinda weird that we still have to wait even after voting to enter." Killua noted.

"It was pretty normal in video games from our world. Guess the Great System took some inspiration from us." Ichiro responded.

The timer ticked down to zero.

[Party composition shall be taken into account. Adjusting scenario...]

- - -

The group collectively opened their eyes, unaware that they had ever even closed them.

'That's an interesting feeling. I'd expected it to be a rushing, falling sensation like it was with my first use of the Summoning Jutsu, but it's like I never moved at all. We're definitely somewhere else now though.' Seija thought to herself as she looked around the surroundings.

Or rather, the lack of surroundings. The group was standing on a huge balcony of sorts, with open air on three out of the four sides of the rectangular space. The only feature besides the roof above them, the floorboards beneath their feet and the ornate wooden railings surrounding the edge of the balcony was a wall and doorway directly behind them.

The door seemed to be of the usual Japanese sliding style that they were used to, which suggested that the rest of the dungeon would also be of a Japanese style. Seija wasn't sure why that surprised her, she did live in a literal anime world after all. Still, she'd been expecting the more traditional medieval european style of Dungeon that was popular back on earth.

Ichiro opened his mouth to speak...

"Right... so where are we exactly? What was that notifica-"

...Before being cut off by another System Message that popped up right as he asked that question.

[Scenario: The Burning Castle Town]

[Description: You have arrived in the Dungeon at the peak of the Castle Tower. Below, the castle is being invaded by a superior force wielding advanced alchemical weapons with the goal of conquering the castle. You must escort the castle's lord (Reincarnator #11) to a secret exit hidden near the castle's moat. You may traverse the burning town below to reach the hidden door. Combat is optional, but who knows how long you will be able to evade the vast number of trained soldiers waiting below, should stealth be your choice...]

[Expected Party strength: Four Chunin-level combatants]

"...Well, that answers that, I guess." Ichiro muttered.

Killua suddenly stopped looking around to sniff the air and put a hand up to his ear to listen to something. He frowned as he put his hands back in his pockets and walked over to the edge of the balcony, leaning over the railing to get a better look at the land below.

"Woah. That's a lot of fire. You guys want to get a look at this? I thought I could smell smoke and hear explosions in the distance, but that really didn't paint an accurate picture of how bad it is down there."

The rest of the group shuffled over to get a look over the edge. Sure enough, there was a LOT of fire. The mostly-wooden Japanese town below the castle was engulfed in flame. Most of the buildings farther away had already collapsed into smoldering piles of ash, with the ones closer to the castle still burning, but not yet fully destroyed. Marching through the streets were dozens of red-armored soldiers, most of whom were holding katanas, but some of whom held different kinds of weapons.

A few of the particularly tall and beefy soldiers were holding huge, long barrels that spewed gouts of flame onto the nearby buildings. Lining the roads were piles of burned and slashed bodies, presumably the corpses of the castle's defenders. The corpses looked to be lightly armored and only equipped with katanas. It was no wonder how the castle town was taken so easily. The defenders must have been completely outclassed against the heavily armed and armored invaders.

Mimi winced and took a step back from the edge after she watched the body of another defender get trampled under the heavy boots of the invaders.

Stepping away from the edge may well have saved her life.

Seija and Killua both reacted suddenly as they noticed several bright flashes light up from behind several walls and hidden vantage points far below. Seija grabbed the back of Ichiro's shirt and yanked him backwards as they beat a hasty retreat from the edge. 

A split second later...

*Pak Pak Pak*

A spray of wooden splinters rained down on the group as a volley of bullets shot into the roof above them, having been aimed at where they were standing by the railings mere moments ago.

'Fuck. Of course they have guns too; those would fall under the umbrella of 'alchemical weapons' the same as those flamethrowers. That complicates things somewhat...'

Seija wasn't worried for her own safety too much. She was far more durable than some mere wood after all, and figured she could probably tank a few bullets. Killua with his Nen covering his whole body was similarly hard to kill. The issue was that bullets were fast, and Mimi and Ichiro were quite squishy compared to them.

The goal of the entire scenario was to get Mimi to the exit of the Dungeon. Seija didn't want the girl to die either way, but there was no explanation for what would happen if they failed the scenario. If Mimi died, Seija figured it was a safe bet to assume that neither herself nor Killua or Ichiro would be able to leave the dungeon.

And again, even if she was wrong and the Dungeon would just kick them out upon Mimi's death, Seija would rather avoid letting the girl get hit by any stray bullets in the first place anyways.

Ichiro gulped as he slowly got his feet under him and thanked Seija for pulling him out of the line of fire.

Killua seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she did, as he turned to address the party.

"Alright, looks like we're gonna have to think up an actual strategy. I can deal with guns just fine, but I doubt that extends to her majesty over there," he pointed at Mimi, who blushed with embarrassment from being slotted into the role of a damsel in distress by the scenario itself, "So, any ideas? I have a few things in mind, but I'm open to suggestions if you have them."

Seija nodded and formed a classic Seal of Confrontation with her left hand.

"Give me a minute to really spread my senses through this place. If I can find the exit from here, we won't have to worry about searching for it." She announced to the trio while closing her eyes.

Killua returned the nod and started up a discussion with the other two while they waited.

As Seija began to activate her Byaku-Sharingan and Mind's Eye, Firewall interrupted her.

"[Seija, this is a System-made space. My detection capabilities work flawlessly here.]" He very unsubtly hinted to her.

She was a little embarassed that she hadn't thought to use his abilities first, but quickly activated them regardless. 'Bah, too much muscle memory for using my standard sensory techniques.' She assumed.

Instantly the world around her transformed into one great web of multi-colored code, expanding out to exactly one kilometer around her. Every different classification of object lit up differently. The walls and floors around her lit up a dull shade of grey, while the grass and trees surrounding the Castle Tower lit up green. Neither of those were all that interesting though. That was what the bright red glow of the troops below them was for.

Scratch that, not just below, directly below. As in, there were some on only the next floor down moving around the edges of a room. That room also contained a few small golden glows strewn about the place. She assumed those were little bits of treasure that Mimi had said the Dungeon would contain.

Looking at the red figures below, she got an idea. She focussed on one of the figures close to a window and activated Firewall's System Breaking power. After all, if these were System-made enemies, then surely she could destroy them just like every other System-made object she encountered, right?

The figure gripped his head with his right hand and swayed on his feet for a moment, but he didn't collapse into pixelated dust like everything else she destroyed. A few seconds passed before he vigorously shook his head and drew a sword from his back before looking suspiciously around the room. Finding nothing, he resumed his patrol as if nothing happened to him. His companions never reacted.

'Hm. Not nearly as effective as I'd hoped.'

"[Unfortunate. It appears that while we unlocked Item destruction at Level 1, Skill destruction at Level 2, and Wish destruction at Level 3, Character destruction has not yet been unlocked. At least the ability still allows you to affect them to a lesser extent.]"

'More levels to go, then. Now, let's see if I can find anything resembling an exit from here...'