But before the sword could make contact with the door, it suddenly opened.
"!!!"
Senzo braced for the worst; even though Famine had told him he suspected it was a human, that didn't mean it would also be one.
Tightly grasping both greatswords, he kept staring straight in front of him, ready for anything this dungeon could throw at him.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
Huh? Why does that voice sound so familiar?
And after the light that came flooding in when the doors opened subsided, he could finally see what was happening inside.
"T-The doors opened?" an older woman said, dumbfounded. She was about to sprint out of the room to see if her husband had finally returned, but then she saw who had opened them.
"S-Senzo? Is that you?"
"Emi, what are you doing here?"
"Senzo, Senzo, have you seen Daddy?" a little girl suddenly interrupted as she rushed straight at Senzo, ready to tackle and hug him.
Before the little girl could injure herself, Senzo threw both his swords away and scooped up the little girl into a tight hug.
"Watch out, Asako; it isn't safe outside," he gently said while patting her head.
And just to be sure, he quickly made his way into the rather large room that was in pristine condition.
"What is this place? Compared to the rest of the dungeon, it's practically a paradise..." Senzo muttered while looking around with the little girl still in his embrace.
"Hehehe."
She had a silly grin on her face while snuggling Senzo; she was loving all the headpats she was receiving at the moment.
"Senzo, did you meet my husband!?" Emi asked, a hopeful look on her face.
"Uncle Jiro? No..."
"..."
After hearing that, the smiling Asako's eyes widened in shock.
"B-But Daddy left from the same place you entered from?" she stated, her lips trembling.
"Ah!" Emi gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, as she fell to the ground.
Shit, I have to do something and fast.
"Don't worry, I'll go look for him soon." Senzo said, trying to calm down the family.
In the corner of the pristine white room, he saw a teen boy sitting with a defeated expression, and upon closer inspection, Senzo saw that all three of them had massive bags under their eyes and looked very thin.
"How long have you all been in here?"
"..."
Silence followed as Asako tightly wrapped herself around Senzo, desperate to absorb his body heat. Emi and the teen boy just stared at one another with despair in their eyes.
"We don't know, but we suspect that it has been at least a day or two..." Emi replied, still on her knees, as tears slowly started falling.
"Wha!?"
But before Senzo could continue his questions, he remembered what kind of place this damn dungeon was.
Makes sense that they stayed cooped up in here, and Uncle Jiro must have tried to look for food...
He gritted his teeth, just thinking about that. This perfectly happy family was broken up in such a tragic way just because of his whim.
Now's not the time for that! He sternly reminded himself that if he quickly conquered this dungeon, he could at least save the rest of them.
"Ok, enough about that. Do any of you know what kind of place this room is? Or well white space is?" Senzo inquired, trying to put Asako down.
But when he tried to lower her, he felt heavy resistance, like she had been glued to him. "You want to stay like that, Asako?"
"Y-Yes, can I?"
She said with large puppy eyes.
"Sure, why not?"
"Hehe, thanks."
And just like that, she placed her head on his shoulder and almost immediately started dozing off.
Looks like they were pretty tense...
"From what I know, this is supposed to be a 'Safe Zone' where only humans can enter," Emi explained, trying to stand up, but her legs had completely given out after hearing the news about her husband.
"Hmm, a safe zone, huh?"
Senzo muttered, looking around and taking in the massive, fully white space; it looked like the opposite of the void he had seen after completely destroying the hallway.
"And do you know where it goes to?"
"!!!"
The teen boy's body suddenly tensed upon hearing that question, and Senzo, of course, did not miss that reaction.
Hmm, looks like it's nothing good.
The boy used the wall behind him to help him stand up and stumbled to his mother and Senzo.
"Please, promise me you won't ever go in there..." he said, his voice cracking.
"Why?"
Senzo was now genuinely curious; why would he be so afraid of that place?
"B-Because... the doors to the boss room are over there."
"!!!"
"Seriously?"
The boy nodded his head and sat down next to his mother, giving her a tight hug.
"Senzo, You must absolutely never go in there, like Naosuke said; everyone that went in there has never returned, and... they're all dead."
Senzo raised his eyebrow as he saw their desperate expressions, even though they had been stuck here for who knows how long and the situation was already terrible.
The moment they talked about that so-called boss room, they looked even more miserable.
"Are you sure the others that entered are dead?"
He had to make sure, so even though it might bring up some bad memories, this was a must.
"..."
Naosuke started gagging as some horrendous sounds came out of his mouth, but a moment later he cleared his throat and looked Senzo dead in the eyes.
"T-The monster inside that room has them displayed on his w-web..." he barely managed to say.
And Senzo was ready to kill that beast this instant; his whole body shook with rage, but the next moment he felt a very soothing energy go through his veins and forcibly calm him down.
"I'm sorry for asking," he said, making sure Asako wouldn't wake up by patting her head gently.
"It's fine; we know we're doomed to die in this place anyway... Dad left to find food a couple of hours ago, and since then we haven't heard anything from him..." Naosuke explained as tears started dropping from his eyes.
"Nao..." Emi muttered, gently embracing her son while also silently crying.
She had to be strong now because she was the oldest and their mother. If even she was breaking down, how bad would her children have it?
"Haaah..." Senzo could only sigh seeing the two in front of him.