Isagi glanced at the portable timer he carried.
Eighteen hours had passed since they first entered the Dungeon.
He wasn't tired. Not exactly.
Even so, the group had taken the opportunity to rest for a long while, settling in against the shelter of a rocky wall.
The "blizzard" raged on.
Mam and Airon weren't speaking. They sat slumped against the rock face, curled in on themselves, eyes closed — looking as though they'd half-drifted off. They'd probably fully fallen asleep, if he was being honest.
In theory, someone should have been standing watch, in case monsters struck without warning.
But there was no need.
Isagi could summon Teardrop Big Bro to cover for them. Everyone could rest.
When they finally moved on, though, Airon had stared long and hard at the summoned black humanoid figure, an expression of deep contemplation on his face. Impossible to say whether it had sparked some new idea in him or not.
Before long, following the "markers" they'd discovered earlier — guided by that overwhelming, unmistakable stench — the group tracked down one foul-smelling bag after another. Many of them were surrounded by lingering bloodstains. Some had fragments of limbs and flesh scattered nearby.
And then, at last, amid the blizzard that continued to howl without mercy — tracing one wall of rock to a stone grotto — they found a fortress built from mud and stone.
According to Mam and Airon, this was one of the "fortresses" that people had constructed inside the Dungeon.
Pushing open the heavy stone doors revealed an interior completely intact — not a trace of combat anywhere. The storeroom inside was stacked floor-to-ceiling with supplies and provisions, more than enough to sustain dozens of people for several months.
Fortresses like this, stocked with supplies, were apparently scattered throughout the Dungeon — critical anchor points in humanity's endless struggle against the monsters.
"There should be guards posted here..." Mam muttered. "Damn it, Airon — looks like there's not a single living soul."
"Mm."
Where had the guards gone?
It didn't really need to be said. Along the way, those bags scattered everywhere, reeking away as trail markers — someone had placed them there. People had placed them.
So — they had willingly left the safety of the fortress. Spread those markers as widely as they could throughout the outside, so that other heroes trapped somewhere in the Dungeon could find their way here and resupply.
As for what had become of those guards — everyone had already seen the answer along the way.
Just as Mam and Airon had said.
Every person who entered the Great Pit — ordinary soldier and hero alike — had long since made peace with the possibility of not coming back out.
They followed it without question: the brutal, iron law of this age. A hero's life was worth more than their own.
"Either way, our luck's held so far. Having this place at least gives us something to fall back on as we push deeper — but the real problem right now is still that blizzard outside..."
"Indeed," Airon said, nodding.
To push deeper into the Dungeon, they couldn't just keep stumbling blindly through the howling fog. Even in the ancient-era Dungeon, the interior spaces were vast beyond any easy reckoning.
They had found a map inside the fortress, which allowed them to confirm their current position — but with the blizzard raging outside the way it was, determining any direction was flatly impossible.
That was exactly the Dungeon's intention.
It wanted to trap them all in here. Or — to be more precise — it wanted to trap him in here.
Isagi knew it perfectly well. The vast blizzard raging outside existed entirely because of his own Skills. As did the Skeleton King, Udaeus, who was almost certainly still trailing the group from somewhere behind.
That thought settled over everyone, pulling them all into silence.
The fortress could serve as a base for now — but they couldn't stay indefinitely. One option was simply to engage Udaeus here and put it down.
But that wouldn't solve anything.
Because Isagi knew: the moment they took Udaeus down, the Dungeon would simply spawn something even stronger to take its place.
This was the Dungeon's deliberate, personal malice — aimed squarely at him.
That realization sent the boy deep into thought.
"Isagi — you're thinking of something, aren't you?"
"Mm," he replied simply to Ais's question.
Because right now, Isagi had an idea — a bold one, and an entertaining one. He wanted to out-think the Dungeon. Beat it at its own game.
Everyone present had already gathered as much: this ancient-era Dungeon was considerably more "clever" — or perhaps "intelligent" — than the one they knew from the future.
They'd felt it from the very start. Perhaps because it hadn't yet entered into a [Covenant] with the Gods. Or perhaps because it hadn't yet fallen into [Slumber].
Isagi thought back to the first time he had ever felt connected to the Dungeon — at the absolute bottom of that endlessly descending slope, in the deepest lightless dark. The Mother of Darkness had not been awake then. She had been curled in on herself, hazy and half-conscious, like a newborn infant.
But now it was different. This Dungeon had clear, sharp awareness. It adapted its "tactics" and "thinking" with frightening speed.
First it had weaponized terrain and monsters against him. When ordinary monsters proved useless, it had simply dragged a powerful Boss directly to their doorstep.
Under these circumstances — Isagi found himself wondering: could he fight the Dungeon on its own terms?
For example.
"If the Dungeon decides the blizzard isn't actually doing anything useful — wouldn't it just cancel it?"
"...?!"
It was a completely baffling thing to say.
Not only did Mam and Airon have absolutely no idea what he was talking about — even Ais and Riveria were staring at him with thoroughly bewildered expressions.
It was just too strange.
Because as far as the girls were concerned, Isagi was the undisputed number one in combat — the one who charged forward, fearless and ferocious, no matter the enemy or the obstacle. Whatever stood in his way, he always found a means to crush it through sheer force.
But nothing he'd just said had anything to do with "fighting."
To put it plainly: they had simply never seen the boy use his brain before.
At that, Isagi could only think: underestimated again. Gaming absolutely required mental engagement — how else would you discover all those overpowered broken builds, all those strange exploits — no, wait, forbidden techniques?
Hmph.
But specifically — what did he plan to do? Break it down. Think it through.
The Dungeon had created the blizzard for one clear purpose: to pin him down. Strip away his ability to navigate. The direct result was that he couldn't make meaningful progress toward any destination — whether the old [Front], or wherever Albert and the others might be.
In weather like this, doing either was close to impossible.
But if that was the problem — the solution was actually very simple.
"But what do you actually do?!" Ais asked, still completely lost.
Riveria, however, had gone quietly thoughtful — and then she spoke.
"Dig a hole."
Exactly. The answer was to dig straight down.
It sounded absolutely absurd — but for a first-tier adventurer, it was genuinely achievable. Simply dig a hole in the floor. Break through. Tunnel all the way down to the "next level" if need be.
And the reason Riveria had thought of it was that she had actually heard this rumor once before. Some adventurer, at some point, had apparently had the wild notion of simply blasting through the floor and dropping straight to the level below. Because for a high-ranking adventurer, the gap between floors wasn't exactly thick. With real effort, it was absolutely within the realm of possibility. And digging a single narrow shaft was nothing compared to the scale of an entire floor — barely a scratch.
The only concern was this: the Dungeon repaired itself when damaged. So if the digging wasn't fast enough, there was one very real problem — getting buried alive.
Whether that long-ago adventurer had ever actually gone through with it, Riveria had no idea. Just imagining it was enough to conclude that whoever had come up with it in the first place was some kind of absolute madman.
And yet — here they were.
Isagi had just thought of the exact same approach.
But credit where it was due — if they did this, the blizzard wouldn't touch them at all. All they had to do was put their heads down and drill. No matter how you looked at it, the Dungeon was still a downward structure. It wasn't going sideways.
The only real issue was speed. They had to be fast.
But even that wasn't a problem.
Because Isagi had already thought of a perfectly suited solution for drilling at maximum speed.
A drill.
When it came to boring through solid earth, what could possibly be more fitting than this most quintessential expression of masculine ingenuity?!
He had once suggested to Ais that she experiment with various new weapon types. A drill had been one of them. She hadn't taken to it — didn't feel like it suited her — so Isagi had tucked it away in his cloak. It had never actually come out since. But he'd thought: you never know when something might be useful. Plenty of space in there. No harm leaving it.
He had absolutely not expected it to come in handy today.
"Let's move!"
At Isagi's command, Mam and Airon followed — still utterly bewildered — as the group departed the fortress. Before leaving, naturally, they loaded up with additional supplies and provisions.
And then, standing at the edge of the desolate wasteland outside—
Isagi produced his drill — and summoned Teardrop Big Bro, who immediately morphed a massive black drill of his own into one hand.
Then they started.
Powered entirely by Magic Stones, a drill was legitimate "miner's equipment" — something that already existed in this world. All Isagi had done was ask Cecil to build his considerably larger when she crafted it. That was all.
The spinning drill heads let out a screech that grated on every nerve, followed by a vibration that made the very air tremble. Countless fragments of stone flew in every direction.
In moments, a hole had opened beneath Isagi's feet — just about wide enough for one person — and was sinking at a visibly accelerating rate.
At the same time, Teardrop Big Bro's drill was spinning just as fiercely at his side, and gradually the two holes merged into one — making it just a little wider.
"Hold on tight."
Isagi spread his golden wings and gestured for Mam and Airon to grab onto him. There was nowhere to stand inside the shaft — flying down was the only option.
Ais, naturally, took Riveria. That left the Dwarf and the Elf — one each for Isagi and Teardrop Big Bro.
That's right. Teardrop Big Bro also had [Furnace of Many Forms]. He could fly, too.
Genuinely impressive.
Airon had seemed a touch uncomfortable with this at first — Elven tradition rearing its head — but he got over it quickly enough. Mainly because... Teardrop Big Bro wasn't exactly a person, technically.
The drills dug faster and faster.
The group plunged downward, like sinking into a pitch-black sea. Absolute darkness on all sides.
Ais drew the Magic Stone lantern from her belt, casting a small circle of amber warmth around them. By that glow, damp earthy rock walls materialized out of the dark — and nothing else.
Riveria was tense, and kept glancing upward. Worried about being buried, no doubt. And honestly — after all those times venturing into the Dungeon, this was the first time she'd ever felt anything quite like this.
When she looked up — only darkness.
The blizzard had vanished. It could hardly pour itself down a narrow shaft, after all.
And honestly? Isagi's plan had turned out to be fairly flawless. Almost effortless, even. At least so far, there was nothing she needed to do at all.
And then — just that. Onward and downward.
A long time. A very long time. Longer still——
Impossible to say how much time had passed. And then, without warning — Isagi, drill in hand, felt the resistance simply vanish — and the next moment he was falling.
They'd broken through.
The ancient-era Dungeon had no numbered floors — but the overall structure still went down, and deeper down meant larger, darker open caverns.
The rock walls that had been right beside them were simply gone.
He and the girls hovered in midair. The Magic Stone lantern scattered soft points of light — mingling with the glow of crystals studding the vast ceiling overhead.
This place felt strangely familiar. And it wasn't dark.
Isagi could even make out what lay below — a dense, sprawling forest, threaded through with streams and wide lakes. And across the gently rolling hillsides, the unmistakable silhouettes of human-built fortresses and encampments.
[Plan Successful ✓]
Even Ais and Riveria hadn't expected it — that Isagi's harebrained scheme would actually work.
When the group landed and stepped into the forest below, the blizzard that had blinded them was gone without a trace. Clearly, the Dungeon right now was being very careful with her "power" — unwilling to squander it where it served no purpose.
"This is awfully inconvenient for it, isn't it. So from here, we just keep going down the same way?"
"Actually — where exactly are we? Something about this place feels really familiar!"
"Hey, directionally-challenged Elf — do you recognize it?"
Airon shook his head. And shot a sidelong glance at the Dwarf beside him. As if Mam had any room to talk.
"There's a fortress in the distance. Let's go check it out — even if there's no one alive there, they should have left maps and things behind," Airon said, his voice cool and composed. Then they could confirm their actual position.
And then—
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a pure-white light butterfly drifting silently past.
What is that?
Frowning in confusion, Airon turned around—
And found that the boy and the girls who had just been standing beside him were gone.
As though they had never been there at all. Like something out of a dream.
Did I misremember?
Or did I just have some inexplicable dream?
Airon had no way of making sense of it.
But it was the absolute truth.
Isagi, Ais, and Riveria had left — departed from this world that had, for them, always been something impossibly distant. A world the rest of humanity had long since forgotten——
____
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