Where was this?
The same question surfaced in the minds of Isagi, Ais, and Riveria simultaneously.
A cold crescent moon hung overhead, and scattered points of starlight fell into the deep, surrounding darkness. In every direction, there was nothing but desolation.
By the dim light, and by the distant amber glow, the three of them could make out the silhouette of something immensely tall looming in the distance.
City walls.
The walls of Orario.
And yet they looked utterly unfamiliar — because in the memories of Isagi and the girls, those great walls were always just a dark, dormant presence, swallowed by night. They had long since lost their purpose. Whether day or night, aside from the occasional stroller out for a leisurely walk, there were no guards posted on them, no adventurers patrolling. The walls had become little more than a scenic landmark of the city. More than once, the Guild had floated plans to expand Orario beyond them, building new districts across the wide fields outside.
But now — lit by the glare of firelight — those walls looked immense and imposing. Even from this distance, the killing intent radiating from them was unmistakable.
Ballistae. Catapults. Things that looked almost like cannons.
What was mounted up there was not the crude 'siege equipment' that adventurers occasionally dragged along on expeditions — the kind of thing that was an absolute nightmare to transport and assemble, and in the end served only as a poor substitute for a mage's magical bombardment. Nowadays, such contraptions were only ever brought out for the occasional Goliath subjugation, and they were almost entirely useless against anything deeper in the Dungeon.
But this was different.
Even from this distance, Isagi, Ais, and Riveria could all feel it — what was up there was nothing like the equipment adventurers used. These things had been born for war. Real war. And they bore the marks of it: forged through countless conflicts, refined through every battle, until only the perfected, battle-proven form remained.
The monsters that the ancient heroes had faced were nothing like what modern adventurers encountered.
That had been war in the truest sense.
Monsters had poured from the Great Pit in waves that seemed to have no end, so everyone had no choice but to stand together and build defensive lines — not form small parties and venture inside, the way adventurers did today.
Isagi had already started to understand.
He pulled out the Magic Stone lantern he carried, struck a flame, and by the amber glow it cast outward, quickly surveyed the surrounding terrain.
All around them was a wasteland. Through the dim light, he could dimly make out the ruins of structures not far away. Ancient stone buildings, mostly collapsed into rubble.
Within the debris, a smear of vivid crimson caught his eye — a young girl's corpse. Only the upper half of her body was visible, soaked in blood. The rest was buried beneath the fallen stones.
Accompanied by a faint, dry rustling sound, Isagi had already drawn the black long blade from beneath his cloak.
At the same moment — Ais and Riveria had also drawn their weapons.
As seasoned adventurers, all three of them had caught the scent of monsters at almost exactly the same instant.
And the scent was overwhelming. So thick it was nearly nauseating.
Then, very quickly, Isagi and the girls saw them — the figures stepping out from between the fallen rubble.
Goblins.
They looked familiar, and yet they didn't. Still short and gaunt, still clutching only short swords or crude wooden clubs, but the expression on their faces — that look of pure, malevolent hunger — and their muzzles, smeared to a paste of blood and flesh...
The Goblins were eating the girl.
It was common knowledge that monsters would consume the corpses of adventurers. That was the polite way of putting it. The truth was that monsters ate people. Living adventurers and dead ones made no difference to them. The claim that the people of the ancient era had nearly been 'annihilated' by monsters was no exaggeration — they truly were being consumed, as a kind of food source, in the most literal sense.
But honestly — this was the first time.
For Isagi, for Ais, and for Riveria.
The first time any of them had ever actually seen monsters eating a person.
Perhaps it was because of Ouranos's prayers — or perhaps it was simply that the monsters inside the Dungeon were different. Whatever the reason, this raw, primal, unfiltered sight made the Goblins in front of them feel terrifyingly more powerful than the ordinary ones — the kind even a Lv.1 adventurer could cut down without difficulty.
Especially when they roared and charged.
The ferocity and savagery in that charge sent a genuine chill of dread straight to the bones.
That said.
A Goblin was still just a Goblin, no matter how fierce.
Even the strongest 'Goblin' had already fallen to Isagi before — these ones were honestly not worth thinking about.
The long blade flashed cold light and cleaved the onrushing Goblins into several pieces in a single stroke.
But that was not the end. It was only the beginning.
From the darkness, the low, rumbling growls of monsters drew closer. Countless pairs of eyes blinked open within the black — converging, multiplying, until in the span of a heartbeat they had completely encircled all three of them.
There were too many.
And it wasn't only Goblins. There were Minotaurs. Lizardmen. Metal Crabs. Flash Swallows... and even... Dragons.
Within the seething mass of monsters illuminated by the Magic Stone lantern's glow, the towering, grotesque silhouettes of Great Dragons loomed — creatures the three of them had never seen recorded anywhere in the Guild's archives.
The aura of power was palpable.
Isagi could sense it clearly — beyond the weak Goblins, no shortage of Lv.3 and Lv.4 equivalents moved within that horde, and some presences exceeded even Lv.5.
So what exactly was going on?
How had he and Ais and the others ended up surrounded by monsters in an instant? And where even were they? The great walls in the distance suggested this should be the city — but how—
"Deal with it first, figure it out later."
His thoughts snapped into focus.
The black spike-covered armor slowly spread across Isagi's body, and at the same time he remembered to call out the 'Teardrop Big Bro' he'd only just discovered.
"Ais, cover Riveria. I'll clear a path."
"Understood."
Kill!
The exchange was over in an instant.
Isagi and the Black Moon Teardrop — which had already taken on his exact likeness — charged side by side, one in front and one behind, crashing directly into the mass of converging monsters.
Like two dull cannonballs detonating in the same breath, what scattered in their wake was the flying gore of monster flesh, the shattered remains of Magic Stones, and the dissolving ash of bodies turning to nothing.
At that moment — if one were to look down from above.
The glow of the three Magic Stone lanterns in their hands was like a tiny vessel adrift on a pitch-black sea, or like a scattering of fireflies dancing across an endless night.
Crashing forward. Ripping apart every wave of monsters in their path.
A gale sweeping through everything in its course.
Scorching fire descending from above.
And in the boy's hands — a moonlit greatsword blazing with brilliant, breathtaking radiance.
"None of these dragon-type monsters are rare elites either. They all seem pretty standard."
Isagi even had the presence of mind to comment aloud.
These were just ordinary monsters — the same kind that appeared in the Dungeon. Nothing like the 'special monsters' that spawned because of his own Skills, the ones that were always such a headache to deal with. If anything, the straightforwardness of it left him slightly out of his rhythm.
The sheer numbers, though, were something else — endless, as though they could never be exhausted.
Fortunately, Isagi was not the type to simply charge mindlessly through a monster tide with Ais and Riveria in tow.
He had a clear objective from the very beginning: the towering black wall in the distance.
After a long while, they finally reached the base of it.
As if the commotion below had been heard, the torches up on the wall swayed, and from somewhere far above, the faint sound of voices drifted down.
"Someone's down there — get them out! Help them!"
A somewhat familiar girl's voice, calling from far above.
And then — a thick, rough rope came tumbling down.
Isagi's group didn't strictly need it. He and Ais could both fly, and Riveria only needed someone to carry her to reach the top with ease. Still, Isagi quickly caught the rope — and at the same time grabbed hold of Ais and Riveria.
Teardrop Big Bro could handle the rear guard. No need to worry about it.
And in that same instant — just when Isagi had expected to be climbing up himself — the rope in his hands transmitted a force of absolutely staggering strength, and the next moment, all three of them were hauled upward at tremendous speed.
At the same time, a rain of arrows and magic came pouring down from above, annihilating every flying monster still trying to give chase. And by the light of all that descending magic —
Isagi, Ais, and Riveria all saw it.
The endless expanse of crumbling ruins below. And the monsters — countless beyond counting — layered upon the earth like a writhing carpet of insects packed together, entangled, so dense that their individual numbers were impossible to distinguish.
Layer upon layer, spreading out and out, all the way to the distance — where, beneath the dark of night, a massive black pit gaped open in the earth.
It was the first time all three of them had seen what the 'Dungeon' truly looked like.
[...This is Orario?]
The reality of it was hurled before the boy and the girls with brutal, uncompromising force. The vast 'city' in front of them was deeply, disturbingly familiar — and utterly foreign at the same time.
Especially the monsters — still pouring up from the pit without pause, surging like a tide, an endless flood that made the skin crawl.
Even Riveria had never witnessed anything so terrifying. And before any of them could process it further, all three were forcibly dragged up and hauled onto the top of the wall.
"Are you alright?"
Torchlight played across the mottled surface of that great stone-built rampart.
"Survivors still in the city — I can't believe it. I just saw you fighting your way out of that monster encirclement. That was incredible — what strength—"
The slightly noisy, chattering voice of an Elf girl struck them as strangely, inexplicably familiar.
Isagi, Ais, and Riveria turned toward her at the same moment — and found themselves stopping short, struck dumb.
"Ryuu-senpai?"
"?"
The Elf girl in front of them truly did look exactly like Ryuu-senpai — but she was not.
She was dressed in the most stereotypical image of a bard imaginable: a traveling musician's attire, a harp held in her hands. And she introduced herself with a name that was, to put it mildly, extraordinary.
"I am of Wishe Forest — I am with my companions."
"Are you heroes returning from the Great Pit?" she asked.
And alongside that question came one that made absolutely no sense to any of them.
"How is Lord Albert? And Her Highness Lady Sertia — what has happened down there? What is going on?!"
____
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