Riveria and the others were actually quite familiar with the [Pantry].
The Guild regularly issued requests to investigate Pantries, and at the same time, those places produced some rather rare materials that could be harvested—plus, monsters tended to gather there in great numbers.
As powerful adventurers, using a Pantry as a "training ground" or the like was something that happened from time to time.
All in all.
According to Riveria and the others' experience, no matter the floor, a [Pantry] was more or less the same.
They were usually located inside large caverns at the edge of cliff faces—not necessarily at the boundary of the map; it might be at the center, or in some remote position. There was no fixed pattern, but they never shifted.
As of now, the locations of every [Pantry] in the Dungeon, all the way down to the deep floors, had already been mapped out by adventurers.
But the place before them was—
[Ancient Hunting Grounds · Land of Defiled Abandonment].
The instant they stepped into the cavern, the three of Loki Familia had already caught a foul stench.
As if something had rotted away.
The originally hard tree trunk beneath their feet turned soft and sticky, like warm flesh and blood, or some clinging swamp.
Lowering their gaze.
Indeed, there was a layer of blackish sludge coating the ground.
"..."
Brows knitting slightly.
Riveria naturally felt a certain displeasure at this; elves were innately repulsed by "rot" and "filth." What's more, from the distant darkness came an even thicker, fishy stench.
It was the kind of odor that only arose when corpses, entrails, and all manner of other refuse were heaped together.
The light of the Magic Stone lantern could only illuminate a small patch of the interior.
The three did not spread out.
Instead, they formed up: Finn in front, Riveria in the middle, Gareth at the rear, advancing slowly.
Soon after, they saw within that sticky sludge the beginnings of long-rotted vines and branches. Could it be that this [Pantry] had been abandoned?
Or had it mutated?
No!
This could never have been any normal [Pantry] in the first place!!
Shaking her head.
Riveria focused her thoughts on what lay before her.
Under normal circumstances, a so-called [Pantry] was basically a place overgrown with some kind of giant vine-like plant.
Those thick, deep-green branches and leaves, like so many water pipes, would be fixed to the walls.
From them, mucus would continuously drip to feed the monsters, and some would even pool on the ground into a small pit or pond.
Generally speaking.
A [Pantry] occupied an enormous area, yet was not complex—on the whole it was woodland woven together from giant vines and trees.
This place was much the same, except everything had rotted away.
Foul water, decayed plants, and all sorts of meat chunks, organs, and even more inexplicable things, all mixed together.
There were monsters, too.
Those creatures writhing and wailing in the filthy sludge, looking as if they were humanoid.
Festering with sores, sprouting mushrooms—their very appearance was deeply wrong.
And abnormally fragile.
Practically on par with the Goblins of the upper floors, they shattered at a touch, leaving even Finn somewhat surprised at whether these things weren't a bit too weak.
And as they pressed deeper.
The phosphorescence that had always covered the cliff walls and rotting vines like tiny stars also began to show some "effect."
Old, crude houses, or what seemed to be encampments built from thatch and bone, began to appear before the three. Did something live here?
Then.
Perhaps because she had stayed there too long, Riveria was the first to realize she had been poisoned.
Dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and a certain indescribable, searing pain churning and writhing within her body.
Her vision inexplicably began to darken.
Fortunately, the woman, quite practiced, immediately downed a bottle of antidote—still one of Airmid's products, and so its effect was excellent, instantly dispelling the abnormal status that had just latched onto her.
But it still didn't solve the problem.
Because Finn and Gareth discovered that the poisoning came from the environment here.
That intangible stench mingled with all the rot around them, ultimately forming this toxic zone.
So, either continue exploring, or leave.
No need to choose.
This place was clearly special, so of course they had to keep exploring.
"Airmid's antidote can probably hold for seven minutes. What about you two?"
"Five minutes."
"Three minutes…"
Riveria said softly. As a mage, both her [Endurance] and the development potential of her [Abnormal Resistance] were the lowest of the three, so the antidote's effective duration was relatively much shorter for her.
"Then here's the plan. Finn, be ready at any moment to cover Riveria as she breaks out. I'll get out on my own."
"Mm."
And so the formation shifted: Gareth moved to the front, while Finn took up the rear.
The deeper they went.
The monster flesh and corpses piled together grew more and more numerous.
As if fleeing from something.
They went in droves toward the innermost direction—giving the impression of fleeing… no, of surging toward something.
Corpses heaped into mountains.
The three could scarcely even find a place to set their feet, and could only tread upon this flesh that still seemed to be pulsing as they pressed on.
No words were needed—something was surely waiting up ahead.
The light around them seemed to begin converging.
And in the darkness came a faint, intermittent wailing, until at last, within this sea of blood and mountain of corpses formed of monsters, Gareth was the first to see the small glow suspended in midair not far off.
Amid all this dark-red gore, the pure-white orb of light was so conspicuous, and once they drew near, what appeared before the three was—a knight.
["SS"-Rank Prey · "Sacred Radiance" Kassia].
Her feminine features were especially distinct.
That silver-gray long hair, limbs slender to an extreme that one might find startling—beneath the pale armor, like withered tree branches.
From beneath the visor that revealed but a single eye, a faint, gentle white light seeped out, and together with the pure-white orb floating behind her head, it gave off an inexplicably tender air of serenity.
She resembled a nun more than a battle knight.
Yet in her hand she held an indescribably exaggerated greatsword—or rather, to call it a butcher's cleaver would be more accurate.
Between its jagged edges still clung bits of flesh, the bloody crimson covering most of it, sticking to countless fragments of mixed flesh and blood. Amid this sea of blood and corpses it looked so savage and terrifying, an absolute contrast to the knight who wielded it.
"Adventurers?"
She stood there all alone, as if guarding something behind her.
But at this moment.
The pure-white orb behind her head had long since illuminated everything in this area, and behind her, nothing remained at all.
Monster corpses piled into mountains, stretching even to the very end of the cavern.
That filthy blood, which by all rights should have long since congealed, flowed slowly downward, like a stream that would never run dry.
Among them, some monsters had already turned to bleached bones, while others still retained flesh and blood—nearly all of them the kind seen before, those rotted visages overgrown with all manner of poisonous sores and mushrooms.
In Riveria's hurried glance.
She could even feel as if those monsters were still alive—they were wailing, screaming, violently yearning to take vengeance on something.
"Please leave this place."
The female knight's voice was very pleasant, ethereal as a soft murmur drifting from the far edge of the sky.
She did not move at all.
As if that body no longer belonged to her at this moment, and she were speaking from some far more distant place.
"Please do not disturb these, our final resting places."
"Pursued."
"Hunted down."
"Apart from becoming cold chunks of flesh and bleached bones, they have no place to rest."
The female knight was still speaking.
Gareth and Finn and Riveria, at this moment, stood rooted in place, somewhat at a loss for what to do.
This was beyond the syllabus.
Who had ever talked with a monster in the Dungeon?!
So… was this dialogue before a fight, or was the other party someone who could actually be communicated with?
Although they had encountered those so-called "hunters" before.
But honestly, the words and conduct of those fellows were no different from adventurers, whereas this female knight before them was far too bizarre.
Finn gripped the spear in his hand tightly.
Constantly keeping watch on the situation behind him, yet he found that the so-called "when a BOSS battle begins, an impassable mist gate will appear all around" that Isagi had mentioned did not seem to have shown up.
It hadn't.
So did that mean the fight hadn't started?
"Is there anything we can do to help you!"
Gareth spoke up first.
The dwarf uncle was like a clumsy stage actor; though he'd grown used to Isagi's "special Dungeon," he still felt a strange illusion right now, as if he were running lines with someone.
"Help us?"
It seemed the correct line of dialogue had been triggered.
The female knight named "Sacred Radiance," Kassia, finally stirred, slowly raising her head, gazing at them all with that soft pure-white light beneath her visor.
"Then, please grant us release."
"?"
"Destroy the Hunting Grounds."
"The existence enthroned on high seized our land, pursued and slaughtered our kin, established the [Hunting Grounds], and called us [Prey]."
"And we, in turn, will inevitably resist."
"Adventurers, if you are willing, then, please go and destroy the Hunting Grounds."
So that was it.
"Prey" and "hunters" were opposed.
This much, everyone had actually figured out long ago—after all, it was quite obvious.
It was just that previously the only ones they could converse and communicate with were the hunters, and now, had they triggered the storyline on the Prey's side?
So Riveria thought.
Say what you will.
After spending so long around Isagi—even experiencing that so-called "game world" in the boy's dreams—the elven woman's line of thinking had gradually gotten the hang of it.
"Is it that we need to kill the hunters?"
"No."
The female knight Kassia shook her head.
"Killing ordinary hunters is meaningless. The one upon the throne does not care about them in the slightest—otherwise, they would not have been cast into a place like this."
"Then is it to kill the administrators of those Hunting Grounds?"
"That is not it either."
"?"
Generally speaking, to destroy the Hunting Grounds, wouldn't you just kill the administrator?
Seeing the other party still shake her head.
Gareth couldn't make sense of it, but very soon, the female knight's words left them even more baffled.
"You need only make the correct choice."
Once more she spoke words that no one could understand at all.
Riveria tugged at the corner of her mouth. Seeing that the other party said no more, no matter how Gareth called out to her, she would not utter another word.
And just as the dwarf uncle, reflexively, was about to step forward.
This creature suddenly hefted the butcher's cleaver in her hand, taking on a posture ready for battle.
"Halt your steps! We who are already dead will suffer no further desecration!!"
The mist gate flickered faintly into view.
Finn hurriedly called Gareth to a stop, knowing that if they advanced any further, a fight would surely break out.
"Fine, let's fight then!"
The dwarf uncle muttered, even somewhat eager to give it a go.
Though, this place was really rather unfavorable for their party—just standing around got them poisoned, and the other side had a home-field advantage on top of that, heh.
But Finn still shook his head, and with Riveria in support as well, two against one, Gareth naturally had nothing to say.
"Don't go breaking the storyline."
There was clearly a story here.
Riveria observed her surroundings, as if wanting to commit this scene of a blood-soaked mountain of corpses before her to memory.
"Let's go for now."
Though it all felt inexplicable, they could only head elsewhere to explore for the time being. Perhaps they could find more information, and at last piece it all together—maybe then they'd know what on earth had happened.
Isagi had said.
The Dungeon's "story" was roughly like this; this was what was called [Fragmented Narrative].
"Next time we come, we absolutely have to prepare antidotes."
Gareth muttered.
After confirming that there really was nothing else around, the three retraced their path, spending some more time before they finally left this special [Pantry].
The air outside inexplicably seemed sweet—perhaps because it had been far too foul and revolting inside.
"So then, shall we go explore somewhere we haven't been yet?"
"Mm."
They wanted to walk through every place.
When adventuring in the Dungeon, they often did this; after all, the Dungeon's terrain didn't change at random, so exploring more unknown areas and refining the map in hand brought nothing but benefits to an expedition.
And not long after…
The members of Freya Familia were also conducting their exploration in this pitch-dark dense forest.
Only.
When they had dealt with the large swarm of monsters before them, suddenly, from among the distant tree trunks, there emerged a "hunter" bearing twin blades on his back.
"I've seen you all before, in the black market."
The hunter muttered to himself, keeping his distance from the group.
At the same time.
Hedin and Ottar and the others swiftly stayed on guard against him—over this past while, being suddenly attacked by all sorts of hunters, or attacked after they'd buttered you up, had become commonplace.
"The administrator just put out a big deal. Are you interested?"
"?"
"It's about you adventurers."
The other party smiled, and suddenly tossed a sheet of parchment toward Hedin and the rest. On it, astonishingly, were drawn the likenesses of Finn and Riveria and the others.
"These fellows actually volunteered to become Prey. How interesting."
"Prey—what do you mean?"
"Prey, in the [Hunting Grounds], are only fit to be hunted. What other meaning could there be?" That hunter said with a smile, staring with a fixed, piercing gaze at Hedin and the others.
"So are you interested or not? If you are, then come along—I happen to know where they are."
____
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