Looking at the densely packed sea of pots before him, Tami fell into deep thought.
"Maybe it'll be fine if I just touch one a little…"
He merely poked the pot in front of him when a loud bang rang out. The pot instantly shattered into fragments across the floor, startling him so badly that he jumped backward.
That fragile?!
Was it because of the ravages of time, or was Carthus just terrible at making pottery?
Come to think of it, militaristic nations like this usually neglected the craftsmanship of everyday necessities like pots anyway.
"Why am I even thinking about this?!" Tami clutched his head. Thankfully, the one he had just broken was empty, but would he really be that lucky next time?
"Isn't there another path?"
He wandered around searching, only to confirm that there truly was no other way forward. If he wanted to continue, he had to pass through this field of pots.
"Why would anyone put this kind of stuff in a graveyard? Did the ancients want to keep playing games even after death?"
Cold sweat trickled down Tami's forehead. He was forcing himself to joke around to relieve the pressure.
This was a method Luluwo had taught them—if you encountered danger or hardship, complain about it. Venting would help ease the stress.
"So basically, the pots can contain Carthus warriors, offensive magic, treasures, or nothing at all… What kind of messed-up national game seals warriors inside pots?"
"No warriors within two rings of a Carthus warrior pot. Offensive magic means there's definitely treasure within two rings. Treasure nearby means there's a surprise. I'm seriously worried that this 'surprise' is going to turn into a horror show instead."
Staring at the sea of pots, Tami cautiously stepped into the gaps between them, trying to pass through without breaking any.
Unfortunately, that only caused Sein Dungeon itself to react to his behavior, making the pots even more fragile.
Crash! Crash!
Two more pots shattered after being brushed by the edge of his clothes. The explosions sounded as though they had detonated directly inside his chest, nearly giving him cardiac arrest.
"Damn it!"
Tami carefully retreated. Looks like trying to be clever wouldn't work. He'd have to follow the rules honestly.
Damn it all, I left my village to become an adventurer because I couldn't understand schoolwork! Why am I dealing with puzzle-solving traps inside a dungeon too?!
He paced around the pot field for quite a while before finally making up his mind and cautiously punching a pot that "looked right."
Empty!
"Thank goodness…"
He let out a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Before he lost his nerve again, he hurriedly smashed several more pots.
All empty.
His courage gradually grew. He broke another pot, and this time it contained treasure—a long black object that actually looked edible.
"Chocolate?"
Leaving aside the question of why chocolate counted as treasure, could chocolate left inside a dungeon for who-knew-how-long even still be edible? Did ancient people already eat chocolate back then?
It felt like Tami's complaining energy was about to overflow.
In the end, he still didn't dare eat the chocolate and stuffed it into his pocket instead. But after going through all that, his fear of the place had lessened somewhat. He casually smashed another pot and moved on to the next without even looking.
"Bet this one's empty too. The Carthus warriors and offensive magic are probably just there to scare peo—"
A pitch-black face suddenly shoved itself right in front of him, cutting his words short.
Floating before him was something incredibly abstract, like a crudely drawn stick-figure person. Its pitch-black body had no limbs and drifted around like a soul, while its round face had only two eyes.
Why did this thing look so much like the Humanity item from Dark Souls?
(Close enough. Just roll with it~)
Before Tami could study it more closely, one strand of Humanity slammed into him, instantly making him cough up blood.
Magic damage! These things were offensive magic!
Tami immediately turned and ran while the remaining Humanity spirits pursued him relentlessly.
"Wah! Careful, don't touch the other pots!"
Too late. In his panic, he had already smashed into a cluster of pots, causing cursed mist to erupt instantly!
What the hell is this now?!
In an instant, Tami activated the combat technique known as Acceleration. Even though he escaped the mist immediately, some of it still brushed against him. His body suddenly became incredibly heavy. He stumbled and crashed to the ground, shattering even more pots.
To his horror, even more Humanity spirits burst out.
At this critical moment, even if some of the pots had produced treasure, he had no time to care. He could only flee for his life.
Only after he escaped back to the starting point did the relentlessly pursuing Humanity finally disappear.
Unfortunately, before Tami could even catch his breath, something happened that left him frozen in place.
The shattered pots… were reassembling themselves!
In the blink of an eye, the entire field of pots had completely restored itself. Not a single broken fragment remained. Worse yet, all the pots switched positions at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Which meant all his previous exploration had been completely reset. And he had no idea whether the treasures and magic inside the triggered pots had also refreshed.
Th-this…
Tami desperately wanted to scream:
"What kind of bullshit game is this?!"
For a long time afterward, he cautiously explored the pot field while desperately memorizing the clues from the stone tablet and using his brain at full capacity.
But accidents kept piling up.
Cursed mist that inflicted all kinds of debuffs. Humanity spirits that pursued endlessly for absurd amounts of time. Skeleton warriors bursting out of pots.
Once he left the pot field, everything reset and refreshed, so leaving was impossible. But staying meant opening pots while being chased by Humanity spirits and monsters from both front and back.
The only fortunate thing was that he still hadn't encountered a Carthus Warrior. That alone was his only source of mental comfort.
Tami had no idea how long he had struggled in there. The pots seemed endless, stretching on forever.
Countless times, he was forced to retreat and restart from the beginning. Yet whenever he felt like giving up, the pots would always produce exactly what he needed—sometimes stamina potions, sometimes soul fragments, sometimes plain money. The treasures were never excessive, but always just enough to force him onward.
Sein: I am a dungeon that thoroughly understands human psychology.
But even a donkey eventually stops turning the millstone, let alone a living person.
"AHHH, I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Tami clawed at his hair in frustration. No matter how carefully he advanced, some accident always ruined everything. In that case, instead of constantly creeping forward in fear…
He might as well charge through recklessly!
"I'M GOING FOR IT!"
With that thought, he transformed into a berserk bulldozer and crashed straight into the sea of pots. The endless crashing sounds faded behind him as neither cursed mist nor Humanity spirits could stop his march toward freedom.
The "jackpot pool" continued to accumulate. Due to his reckless behavior, over fifty Humanity spirits were already chasing him—and the number was still rising.
He absolutely could not stop. The moment he stopped, he was dead!
Even though Tami was already panting heavily from exhaustion, he still didn't dare slow down. At last, the seemingly endless sea of pots finally revealed its end.
The dawn of victory was right in front of him!
And then—
He smashed open an ordinary-looking pot.
But instead of the usual contents, thick fog suddenly burst forth.
Not cursed mist.
A tall, gaunt figure emerged from within.
[Carthus Warrior]
At long last, he had finally hit the grand prize.
The moment Tami saw the skeletal warrior carrying a massive curved sword, a terrible feeling rose inside him. His survival instincts kicked in immediately, causing him to raise his shield reflexively.
That instinct proved completely correct.
The next second, the Carthus Warrior leapt high into the air and brought its bloodstained great curved sword crashing down with terrifying force, driving Tami backward repeatedly.
And it wasn't over yet.
The Carthus Warrior gave him no chance to breathe. It hurled throwing knives with lightning speed, then rushed forward while Tami dodged, unleashing a furious barrage of attacks with flawless, thunderous momentum.
Tami desperately defended himself. After recovering from the initial shock, he began calmly observing the warrior's movements during battle.
Though the attacks looked savage and chaotic, they were actually refined combat techniques honed through rigorous training. As expected of Carthus, a nation famed for military might—even an ordinary warrior was elite.
But Tami possessed a unique talent known as Danger Sense.
This talent allowed him to instinctively predict whether his next action would place him in danger.
In other words, he could always choose the least dangerous option.
"The opening is right there!"
He launched a counterattack.
Human and skeleton engaged in a thrilling battle. Pots shattered all around them. Tami fought while constantly retreating, with the Carthus Warrior pursuing relentlessly.
Using a "kite-and-run" strategy, even deliberately baiting the Carthus Warrior into taking hits from the Humanity spirits, Tami finally achieved a "shamelessly underhanded" victory.
"Heh, guess I'm actually pretty strong."
The moment he smiled, the fallen Carthus Warrior collapsed onto several pots, smashing them apart.
New fog erupted.
Another Carthus Warrior emerged.
"Another one?! Pull yourself together, Tami! You can still—"
The Carthus Warrior swung its curved sword and shattered nearby pots.
Instantly, another warrior appeared.
Tami's expression froze.
A second.
A third.
A fourth…
The Carthus Warriors seemed capable of perfectly predicting which pots contained their allies. In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was filled with five savage monsters.
Tami's legs nearly gave out.
One of them, he could handle.
Five…?
At this point, they'd need Luluwo himself!
The good news was that he had already reached the end of the pot field and was about to escape.
The bad news?
Even after leaving the pot field, the Carthus Warriors showed no sign of stopping their pursuit.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
Tami screamed in despair while fleeing. Behind him, the Carthus Warriors constantly hurled throwing knives at him. Occasionally, one of them would leap high into the air and slam its weapon down right beside him, making every second a heart-pounding nightmare.
To make matters worse, the tomb itself was filled with traps. The ceiling, floor, and walls could all suddenly unleash instant-kill mechanisms at any moment.
His Danger Sense talent was going insane, practically frying his brain. Anyone else would probably have died before even escaping the pot field.
Even so, Tami was already covered in wounds. A massive slash had been carved across his back—thankfully missing his spine.
If this continued, he didn't know whether he'd bleed to death first or get hacked apart by blades.
Neither sounded pleasant.
His mental energy was nearly exhausted from the constant strain.
Extracting massive amounts of mental energy without even needing to kill adventurers—
This was simply wonderful.
"This is bad… I'm really going to die here."
As Tami ran, despair filled him when he realized he had entered a dead end.
Looking up, he could see several higher levels within the tomb, but his exhausted body no longer had the strength to jump up.
As the Carthus Warriors slowly approached, he helplessly closed his eyes.
BOOM!
A thunderous sound exploded before him.
Tami instinctively opened his eyes.
A gigantic sword had plunged into the ground, separating him from the Carthus Warriors!
But something felt strange.
Calling it a sword almost seemed inaccurate…
It was simply too massive.
"Hey, Guts, where are you going?!" someone shouted down from the upper level of the tomb. Only then did Tami realize there was someone standing beside the giant sword.
It was a black-haired girl with long, straight hair. Her frame was slender, yet she wielded the enormous blade effortlessly, creating an overwhelming sense of contradiction.
"Saving someone."
The girl glanced back at Tami before swinging the giant sword.
Instantly, the sound of shattering bones echoed ahead.
The heavy greatsword moved like a toy in her hands. The Carthus Warriors couldn't withstand even a single strike. Even when they tried to block with their curved swords, both warrior and weapon were smashed into fragments together.
"S-so strong…"
Tami stared blankly.
Who exactly was this girl?
If someone from the Bede family had been present, they would have recognized her immediately.
The girl called "Guts" was actually the long-missing Hero—
Elsa.
At that moment, the emblem of the Light Eagle shimmered brightly upon her cloak.