An Indomitable Will

"I fear not any great army, not even the natural forces that this world can form and bear against me… But I once saw "that war banner" and knew true fear, for even the greatest army armed with the bleeding edge of magitech fell and turned to dust, against them whose flag bore a wreath of flowers and thorns."

-Wilhelm Emile von Erica the Conqueror, last Emperor of the Erica Empire

An excerpt from the chapter "Into the East" of his autobiography.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"There's no way out of this dungeon. We've been here for the past 500 years. If there was an exit, we would've already found it already."

Those words replayed in my mind again and again, as if it wanted to be imprinted in my memory.

"T-then… if that's true, then…"

I wanted to believe that there must be another way of explaining this… I-It can't be true that there is no way out… If I got in here, there must be a way out somehow.

"The ancestors said that this Dungeon is ranked among the most difficult and deadly places in Promethea. Clearing it by yourself would be impossible… just accept it, you can't leave this place now."

"It can't be real…"

There's no way that this can be real… I don't want to believe that I will be stuck here forever.

I can't accept it…

No.

I won't accept it!!!

*TWAG-! Klok-klak!*

"Oh-ho! You're one hell of a trunk-splitter, ma' boy!"

Back in the woodcutter's hut of old man Anthony, I took out my frustration on the unsplit wood chunks that are strewn beside his cabin. On my mind, I was still trying to find a way out while my heart yearns to get going with a plan already.

"Hyu---!"

*TWAG-!*

"H-hey, are ya sure about getting all of those done? They're not goin' anywhere, lad-"

"I'll have them split and bundled before sundown! I swear on that!"

"Y-Yikes, geez… Alrighty then, if ya say it then I'll count on that… Do rest before you wear yourself out, young bean. I'm headin' to the john, just knock there if ya need me."

"Yeah, yeah… Hyuk---!"

*TWAG-!*

While I do am a bit tired, my mind was far too agitated for me to be confident about letting it be idle. I know myself more than anyone else and I know when my mind would bug me to do something reckless, stupid… or both.

"There must be a way! I know that there is a way!"

This Dungeon, if the ancestors of the villagers are to be believed, belongs to the triple S-rank designation, the highest level that a dungeon can ever become. I know of only two places where this kind of dungeon exist, and both places are heavily militarized and designated as wastelands where survival not even inside but on a large area around its entrance can never be guaranteed.

One is in the Boreas Dukedom, a dungeon filled to the brim with dangerous beasts so ferocious, that conquering it has marked the death of thousands of adventurers, earning it the moniker of "Ice Hell".

The other is in the Kingdom of Albion, a dungeon laid with so many traps that it was said that even air cannot get in there and ever have the chance of getting out.

If this place is on that scale, I really have no chance of surviving during my attempt to conquer it, as that is the only way for me to leave this place. I would likely face off against the dungeon's monsters as soon as I leave the protective lines of the village and die while fighting them off.

"And yet…"

That's right… in my mind, I knew that it is better than staying here and regretting never doing anything when I had the chance.

"I will succeed and live to tell the tale, or I will die… but I will die trying!"

Later that evening, while old man Anthony was drinking strong ale, I told him the truth about who I am and how I got here… Too bad, he was far too hammered to make sense of what I revealed to him.

"You…? A noble's son of somethin'?! BWAHAHAHA!" he laughed at me before downing another gulp of his ale.

"I-I'm not joking, old man! I'm not lying either!" I stood up from my seat, quite agitated about being laughed at by the drunk geezer. "My name is Jonathan Hakuryuu H. Bougainvillea! Second son of the Bougainvillea Baronetcy's 228th generation, and son of Joseph Bougainvillea of Serafina and Selena Hoshimiya of Musashi! I'm a noble of the Ostadonian Empire and- O-Oi-!!! Don't just doze off while I'm saying important stuff!"

I blurted out as soon as his head dipped down, which snapped him back awake but still very drunk.

"W-Wha…? Argh, what yar' sayin' is too complicated, lad! Go bother someone else with that charade, will ya…?"

"C-Chara-!? Ahem… alright, there's no point arguing about this anyway. My point is, I need some stuff in your supply shed and some of your tools to make something. I promise not to break anything or use up something too costly or important, but since you're letting me stay, I still want to at least ask your permission."

"Hrm? That's all?"

"Yeah, that's all. I just need some of your tools and materials."

"Awright… go and get going then. I'mma not bother you on whatever thingamabob that is. Urgh… I'mma head to bed now then-"

"Whoops! Oof!"

As he stood up to head to his bedroom, he almost fell down, but I caught him just in time.

"A-Ayy, thanks a bunch lad… Can ya help this bag of bones back to his bed?"

"Sure, sure…"

I helped him limp to his room and after he laid down on his bed made with animal skin spread over hay, I was about to leave when he told me something before dozing off.

"Ahh… that reminds me. Ya said yer' arm and foot was injured heavily before ya got 'ere, right?"

"I did. What of it?"

"The ancestors said that somewhere deep in the Dungeon, there's this spring that produces this miraculous water that can heal any wound or illness, maybe ya got a dip in there on yer' way down… I ain't buyin' their tall tales about it healing even the worst diseases, but if ya'really wanna save yer' pappy… ya know were ta' go."

Hearing that, I became more convinced to head out as soon as possible. I walked to the shed behind the cottage where his tool shed is located to start on my work.

"This… this and this…"

I took out my mana pistol and slowly but surely disassembled it, making sure that I don't damage any of the critical components as well as the very delicate mana condenser core.

"This is obviously not enough to even tickle any of those monsters." I immediately admitted that beneath my breath as I remembered how even my magic musket's fully charged shot just ricocheted from the head of the Giant Grizzly from before.

While I was brainstorming about how to somehow turn my pistol that's only about as strong as a peashooter against those monsters, I came across a sealed jar at the cabinet of the shed.

"Gunpowder….? Caution, do not store near sparks or fire… risk of explosion!?"

As soon as I read that line, I moved it away from the lit candlestick that I was holding and carefully read the rest of the crude, hand-written label.

"Pack into whatever needs a blasting and light it up with a fire. It can cut a falling tree down the ideal angle and size… Hrmmm…" I kept on reading until I realized that this thing isn't so far from something I am well acquainted with.

"Hold on, isn't this just like explosive ether?"

Explosive ether is a type of explosive derived from either finely crushed and packed Fire-type magic stones mixed with Electric-type magic stones as a primer, or the waste product of refining massive amounts of mana quartz crystals.

"If it works like that, then maybe…" I opened the jar and scooped out a teaspoonful of the gunpowder before rolling it into a piece of parchment. I sealed one end by pinching it tightly and on the other end, I attached a round marble.

"Please work… please work…"

I packed the parchment bullet into a metal tube and lit the pinched end of it.

*BYAAAK-!!!*

"D-Darn-!" once the gunpowder blew up, the marble fired out and the recoil finally struck me so strongly that I fell on the ground. Once I stood up, I looked at the unsplit wood trunk that I pointed it at and was amazed with what I saw.

"I-It split it… No, it destroyed it!"

I had my mouth ajar in awe after seeing the how the bullet reduced that log into splinters. With that, I knew what my next objective would be.

"I need a gun, as many bullets as I can carry… and that thing…"

Wait for me father, I'm going home with that miracle water!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Back in the Bougainvillea manor, the third day of Jonathan's absence has garnered the attention of the manor's madame and it reached a point where Martha cannot keep his whereabouts a secret anymore.

"HE DID WHAT---?!!"

"I-I apologize, madame Selena, but the young master is---"

"Ah! KUSO! That reckless, little prick!"

"M-Madame…"

As Selena's native Tenka tongue slipped out during her outburst, she vocalized a curse that Martha immediately knew would be heard and repeated by a certain someone.

"Haha! Kuso! Kuso!"

"Y-Young lady! Please don't say that!" Hearing Syrene repeatedly using that curse had the maids playing with her to reprimand her quickly.

"Ehh? Then why is mama saying it?"

After seeing the mess that just happened, Selena can't help but hold her head and grind her teeth as she worried about everyone in her family. Joshua, her firstborn, was supposed to come back today, but changed his course alongside the Baronetcy's knights and militia after reports of a bandit troop approaching their lands reached him.

However, her main concern was Jonathan who should've been home by yesterday but still hasn't returned nor sent a message back home. And once Martha told her where he was headed, every inch of her body began to quake in fear for her son's fate.

"A-Again, I apologize for not telling you immediately about it, but as you have guessed, young master did this just because he wanted to help all of us, especially master Joseph-"

"That still isn't a good excuse to go and play tag with Death! Doesn't he have any shred of sympathy for what I'd feel as his mother?! And who told him that he has to risk his life just to help out in the first place?!"

"Khh!"

While Selena was rambling about Jonathan's reckless behavior, that very same young man is doing another reckless endeavor.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hyuk-!"

"GWARGH-!"

"You're not getting away!"

Deep inside the Dungeon's forest, Jonathan has carved his way through tens of monsters that crossed his path using only his saber and the hatchet that he was using yesterday to split logs at the woodcutter's hut.

"Medium-sized manastones, as I expected. They're not much, but they're precious materials right now." He thought to himself as soon as he picked up the small, translucent and bluish-colored stone from the bodies of the Rabid Rabbit monsters that he killed.

As soon as he got to glean off all the materials from the monster corpses, he turned on his Warding lamp and immediately grinded the manastones into a coarse powder before packing it tightly into a thin metal canister.

"Just a bit more… and I can be ready for anything." After reassuring himself with those words, Jonathan continued further into the forest.

Unbeknownst to him, his disappearance has caused some trouble in the village after the hungover Anthony told everyone else that he was gone.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"He's gonna break the pact that we have with the monsters!"

"We're all going to be in danger because of that outsider!"

"S-Should we prepare for the worst already, Chief?!"

At the town hall, the young town chief was assailed by the villagers with questions that didn't show any sign of calming each other or defusing the situation. Instead, everyone was raving about the village's safety being compromised and if they should prepare for a last stand already.

"Everyone! SHAAAADUUUUPPPP!!!"

As soon as the chief shouted at the top of his lungs, the villagers became tightlipped as they awaited whatever he was about to say.

"Haah… none of our ancestors' words said anything about not stepping out of the village. All that they said is that given that we are the Deprived, we lack the abilities that allowed other humans to overcome the sheer power that the monsters around us has." He spoke and made a short pause to look around at the worried expressions of the people around him.

"We have always been able to step outside our protective lines where the ancestors have placed wards. It has been up for centuries, and it has not failed us even once, there is no need to fear that we'll suddenly lose our safety because of it."

After Marc reassured his villagers, everyone calmed down and seemed content with what they heard until one of them raised a question and was followed shortly by another villager.

"Then what about that outsider boy? What will we do with him?"

"R-Right! He's going to die out there! Should we really just leave him to die?!"

Chief Marc saw who asked those questions and it was the village's blacksmith and baker, both men were recipients of Jonathan's help yesterday while Anthony was drinking at the tavern. He heard that the Jonathan gave the blacksmith his magisteel dagger, an extremely rare metal in the Dungeon, in exchange for fixing his saber, and gave the baker a packet of hardtack biscuits that can last for months, in exchange for baking him a new batch of it.

Sensing that he was a decent young man, even Marc was tempted to announce the formation of a search party to help find and aid Jonathan.

However, he knew his position in the village and to whom his service is beholden to.

"If you want to, go ahead and chase him. However, be reminded that we can't afford to send anyone else after you regardless of any plea for help that you'd send afterwards." With a heavy heart, Marc gave out that declaration, much to the disappointment of the blacksmith and baker.

"This is all bullsh*t!" a voice shouted from behind the crowd who split up to reveal its speaker.

"Old man Anthony… Mind telling me the reason behind your outburst?"

"It's exactly what I said! I said that all of what we're doin' 'ere is bullsh*t! Hunkering down here like scared turtles who don't even know what the sun looks like!" he retorted before shouting out to his fellow villagers.

"Are all of you contented with this?! This life of just bein' 'ere and continuin' this pathetic life under the ground?! Well guess what, I ain't gonna' kick rocks and rot 'ere like the rest of ya'!"

"What's gotten you so fired up all of a sudden, you drunkard? Huuuh? Strong ale still swirling up there in your rotten brain?" the tavern owner gave out a jeer that he immediately rebutted.

"This ain't me rambling cuz' I'm drunk! I've listened to that young man yesterday and he told me all kinds of things that's going up there in the surface! Rivers flowing with fresh water! Clouds that billow up above everyone's heads like rolls of pure, white wool! Frozen water that falls down and forms these layers of white ice! All kinds of things!"

"Lies! Are any of those actually real or is he just telling us that so we'd follow him outside where it's not safe?!"

"Right! Remember everyone! We belong to the Deprived! Our ancestors were chased out exactly because don't have that magic-thingamajig that everyone else has! If we don't have any place outside back in their time, how much worse could it have been by now?!"

Hearing all of that convinced much of the villagers that it wasn't worth it to listen to Anthony and follow Jonathan in conquering the Dungeon.

"ARGH! Damn it!!! If you're not going, then so be it!" defeated, Anthony stomped off and headed back to his cottage, leaving the crowd to face Marc once again who simply had this to say.

"It's your choice whether you want to leave or not. But since everyone seems to at least agree on this one thing, let's make it official. We're not letting in any more outsiders who somehow got into here unless they decide to stay here indefinitely. If were not going to be open with their ideas, it would be better to not hear them at all."

With that, the village made the gravest mistake that they could've ever made regarding this situation.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"KHHH-!!!"

*GROOOAAARRR-!!!*

At the furthest distance that the map he took with him detailed the dungeon's interior, Jonathan faced off against his first opponent of unequal strength, a Rampage Boar.

*Buhi! BUHI-!!!*

"Damn you! Take this!"

A monster resembling a wild boar with overgrown tusks and was about as tall as he is, it began to charge towards him and he only narrowly dodged its sharp fangs before plunging the tip of his saber into its neck which pierced a major artery.

"Come on, you beast!!!"

"GYIIIII-!!!"

"I'll show you why you should fear humans!"

Waving his hand that carries his sword, he enticed the monster to charge once again and after bringing out what remains of its strength, it charged at him faster than before.

"Just…!

At the distance where his sword can reach for it, Jonathan slid his blade's tip just inches above the ground…

"Die already!"

And made an upward slash that decapitated the monster cleanly.

"Haah-haah-haah…! I thought that wouldn't work!" he exclaimed while looking at the two halves of the monster, one was the body that just fell down and the head whose bloodshot eyes and mumbling mouth was still faintly moving.

"A Rampage Boar… If the adventurer's seminar was right, they'll likely have one…"

Jonathan didn't waste another moment as he approached the dead monster's body and quickly opened its chest cavity where the monster's manastone was located just beside its heart. He fished it out and after wiping off the blood on the boar's fur, confirmed its size.

"HAHAHA! A large one! Finally!"

Gladdened with the size of the manastone, he quickly ground it down to the coarse powder and with that, the metal canister that he has been keeping was finally filled. There was only one last thing needed to complete this object that he was crafting.

"Urgh! Blech! I've gleaned plenty of monsters but those that take the form of wild animals sure are a disgusting bunch!" he spoke while stopping himself from gagging while he was taking the monster's gallbladder.

Once he has taken it out and washed it on a nearby puddle of stagnant rainwater, he poured its contents over the metal canister that he wrapped with a piece of cloth. The liquid fizzed after making contact with the metal and formed dark, greenish fumes that took some time to dissipate.

"With this, I can lure whatever monsters are gathered around the Dungeon's core." He thought as soon as he kept the canister inside a glass jar to both contain its wretched odor and not damage it during his trek.

"Get it off! Get it off!!!"

As I was about to head to the center of the dungeon, I heard a familiar voice from behind and realized that I have some pursuers behind me.

"Haaah… And here, I thought he'd just forget me and drink away again."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"W-What the…" I muttered those words in utter shock as I looked at the carnage laid out in front of me.

"T-That kid…! He's the real deal, ain't he?"

"Haha! I was right to chase after you loons! Seein' this from up close is making be hot-blooded!"

After Neil and Cobert, the village baker and wheelwright, reacted to the sight in front of us, I knelt down to the nearby carcass of a Rabid Rabbit and saw that it was missing its highly venomous fangs, two rear paws and something that was right beside its heart.

"H-Hey, Anton! Whatcha' doin' with those monster corpses?" Ralf, the blacksmith, called out to me while I was examining the dead monsters.

"Shh! There's something strange about these ones… look at them."

"Hrm? I can see that they're missing some limbs and teeth… hold on, is there something that should be right beside their hearts?" He stuck his finger into the incision on the monster's chest and sure enough, he felt that there is something missing right beside the fleshy and deflated mass that is the monster's heart.

Nevertheless, we continued to track and follow the young man and he certainly didn't made it hard as we simply had to run through the cut down foliage and the trail of dead monster bodies that he left behind him.

Soon enough, Colbert found an enormous monster corpse hanging from a huge tree branch.

"Ayo! Look at this one!"

"W-What? I-is that a Sling Serpent!?" Neil recognized what it was and stuck his spear into the decapitated neck of the snake monster.

"Yeah! And a big one at that!" Ralf tugged on the hanging body of the snake and made it fall down to the ground. There, I examined it, and it was missing its venomous fangs, several main scales and there is once again a cut right above its heart that has the same empty cavity as the previous monsters. "What's with it? Same thing?"

"Yeah, same thing. There's an empty space right beside the heart and there's no fangs on it too, the main scales protecting its head is also gone."

"About that… why is that kid leavin' their carcasses here but taking all these things from them like fangs and limbs?" Cobert asked what all three of us are wondering ourselves.

"Maybe they're worth somethin' outside, if so, he's really doin' a lot here if he does find a way to get out."

"Aye-aye to that… Huh? ANTON! LOOK OUT!"

"HUH?!"

*KIEEEEEEEE-!!!*

"GWAAA-! WHAT THE F***?!!"

All of a sudden, one of the Rabid Rabbits that was strewn around pounced on me and gnawed on my arm. An instantaneous jolt of pain and panic surged in my brain as I fell on the ground with the monster still sinking its teeth into me.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!!!"

"Quick! Slam him on the ground! Huph-HRAAAA-!!!"

After I swung it to the ground, Cobert raised and dropped his mallet on the monster's neck, crushing it into a bloody pulp to the point that its eyes bulged out of its skull.

"What the hell?!" Ralf exclaimed.

"How did that one suddenly get up?! It should be dead! Look! It doesn't have its hind feet!" Neil shouted as he re-examined the monster's once again dead body and confirmed that it really was one of the dead ones that were strewn around earlier.

"You dolts! Stop twiddling there and help me! I've been bitten with a venom!" I shouted at them while I was rolling in pain on the ground. "ARGH! THE PAIN… THE MISERY! The--- ABAGH-!"

"Stop being such a wuss. You're not even bleeding, that monster is missin' its fangs." Cobert kicked me on the back lightly before rightfully pointing out that I didn't really get any injuries from the bite.

"Argh, you killjoys! I would've liked to mess with you guys a bit more… Still, that thing had a nasty jaw strength, its other teeth are imprinted on my skin."

"They're monsters for a reason, old man. Why do you think it's become standard procedure for adventurers to glean their vital parts like limbs and teeth as soon as we kill them?"

While I was looking at the marks left by the monster's bite, a voice from behind the shrubbery got out attention and once it was cut away, I instantly got back to my feet.

"Kid!"

"You bag of old bones… what kind of hangover fever dream made you follow me here?