Chapter 24
Simpletons who do not hesitate to burn their own bodies to illuminate the unknown Shadows, Seekers of forbidden knowledge, Battle Maniacs, faithful Believers, Opportunists, Romanticists, Pioneers....
The world calls all of these foolish people Adventurers.
And right here, right now.
In this astonishing place where that crazy breed known as Adventurers scream bizarrely and dare to commit mass free-falls, the Contractor and I stand calmly, holding hands tightly.
-Whirrrrr!
-Crackle! Bzzzzzt!
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
"Mother!!!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
"Here I gooooo!!!"
"I'm going toooo!!!"
"...."
"...."
Accompanied by background noise horrific enough to terrify any creature with normal eardrums, this place is the Entrance to Hell, or rather, the Dungeon Entrance, the Black Hole.
Some braving it alone, others holding hands with their Party Members while crying out for their Mothers and Fathers, they throw themselves into the black puddle in real time like Moths diving into Firewood.
And our party is scheduled to follow the exact same steps as those Madmen.
Right this very moment.
"Raven."
Perhaps nervous, the Contractor keeps her eyes fixed on the Black Hole while tightly gripping my hand.
At times like this, as a Senior in life and an Adult, I should be the one to reassure her.
"Do not worry, Contractor. Even if my arm gets severed, I will never let go of this hand."
"...That is a very reassuring thing to say."
It didn't seem to have much effect.
"Is everyone ready, nya!!?"
Perhaps because she slept well, the overly energetic voice of Shion the Thief could be heard faintly amidst the colorful screams.
'Though, I feel pretty good today too.'
I've felt it since this morning, but strangely, the more people there are around me, the more my strength seems to surge.
Every time I exhale, a sweet scent seems to linger in my mouth....
'This must be the influence of a Skill.'
Well, I can figure that out later.
For now, diving into that crazy Entrance to Hell takes priority.
"Alright! Then, we'll jump on the count of three, nya!"
"Yes!"
"Let's do this."
Looking at us adoringly like a Veteran observing fresh Newbies, Shion began the nerve-wracking countdown.
"One, nya!"
Two, three!
And, it ended much faster than I thought.
-Thump!
"...?"
"Ah?"
By the time the Contractor and I floated question marks above our Heads and expressed our questioning emotions, our feet were already hovering in the air.
"Uwaaah!?"
"Let's go, nya!!!"
"Damn it."
Appalled by the desperate malice of the feline who skipped the countdown and slammed into us with all her might like a malicious bungee jump Helper, our party of one Veteran and two Newbies plunged into the Darkness.
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[An Adventurer has entered the Dungeon.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Party Member List] [3/5]
1. |Pathfinder/Dungeon Sherpa|
–[Strangler] Shion | 5T (*Party Leader)
2. |No Class|
-[Rookie Adventurer] Yuri Alcast | 0T
3. |Plague Doctor/Familiar|
-[Mad Demon] Raven | 1T
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Plague Doctor. Raven."
They let another weird one in.
Contractor.
***
Thud!
"Ugh...!"
Holding the Contractor in a princess or prince carry, I landed lightly on the grayish-white stone floor sparsely covered with pure white moss.
It felt like we fell for over ten seconds, but miraculously, there was almost no shock felt in my legs.
'Is this that ten-second invincibility after spawning?'
I felt like crying at this gentle System, which couldn't even be compared to
"Contractor. Are you okay?"
"Phew. Thanks to you, Raven."
Thanks to the Veteran's sudden action, my senses, which had become a bit lax from excitement and anticipation, grew damnably sharp.
Right, even in a Safe Zone, carelessness is forbidden.
Thank you so much for reminding me, kitty.
However, I'd like you to use a slightly more gentlemanly method next time. You startled me.
"You soft Rookies! Don't just space out, hurry up and proceed with the 'Clearing', nya!"
As the Contractor and I stuck together like gum, stiff with tension, the Veteran's order came from behind.
"Yes...! Raven, please put me down now!"
"I will."
Perhaps excited about her first Dungeon Exploration, the Contractor seems much more energetic than usual.
She is completely full of motivation.
After gently putting the Contractor down on the floor, the Contractor and I began to look around as a pair, following Sherpa Shion's orders.
The 'Clearing' Shion mentioned refers to an Environmental Survey to secure a Safe Zone within the Dungeon.
The Black Hole randomly drops Adventurers somewhere in the White Zone, which is a Safe Zone.
The problem is that the transmission location is literally random, meaning one could fall at the entrance of the Green Zone, near a Danger Zone where one might encounter an Entity.
Therefore, it seems she ordered the Clearing to prevent any unforeseen accidents.
Very meticulous.
'Hmm?'
As I looked around, needlessly fiddling near my chest so I could pull out my injector at any time, I heard a quiet murmuring.
"Phew... Don't be nervous, let's stay calm. Stay calm."
Following the sound, I lowered my gaze and saw the Contractor holding a club taken from her bag, diligently hypnotizing herself while keeping a vigilant eye on the surroundings.
Watching that clumsy appearance reminded me of the Newbies I had briefly connected with during my days as a Sherpa (for just one week), and a small smile spread beneath my mask.
How cute.
Taking my eyes off the Contractor, who was sweating profusely and rolling her eyes diligently, I also began the Clearing in earnest.
Small, unidentified clusters of light caught my eye, springing into the air like grasshoppers from the grayish-white floor and walls sparsely covered with glowing white moss.
True to its name, the White Zone was mostly composed of terrain and plants that were white or grayish-white in color.
The ceiling, which was higher than expected, generally had a similar feel to the walls, but there was a slight difference. Thin, transparent tubes reminiscent of blood vessels stretched out in multiple long branches, hanging down in all directions.
Inside the semi-transparent tubes, green tube-like objects resembling Human red blood cells were wriggling and moving about. I was genuinely curious about what these little guys were doing.
And it seemed the Contractor felt the same way.
"By the way, Shion. What in the world is that on the ceiling?"
At the Contractor's question, mixed half with tension and half with curiosity, Shion, who had drawn her small knife (the one she used to feed the Pill Bug to the Contractor) and was circling the area, dropped her guard, approached, and spoke.
"Ah, those things that look like green water drops are called Slimes, nya. They are the most numerous among the 'Scavengers', and they are annoying creatures that fall from the Slime Road and immediately try to absorb dead bodies once they detect them, nya."
Oho. When you think of a Slime, isn't it the most famous Dungeon mascot that comes to mind right after the Goblin?
Thinking I had met a familiar face from my meager fantasy knowledge, I felt inexplicably glad.
"Ah, so those are the famous Dungeon Cleaners?"
"That's right, nya. They have no combat ability and don't drop Magic Stones, so you don't really need to pay them any mind, but sometimes Mutants appear among those that have eaten the corpses of High-Tier Adventurers or Entities. If you see a Slime that isn't green, you should be careful, nya."
"Ooh. As expected of a Sherpa, you're quite knowledgeable."
"It's only natural since you have to graduate from the Academy regardless of age to become a Sherpa, nya! Believe it or not, I actually graduated as the Salutatorian, nya!"
"...Shion. You were more amazing than I thought?"
"More than you thought, nya? What's that. Is it a compliment, nya?"
"It is a compliment."
From the sound of it, Shion seems to be a graduate of a Dungeon Academy called Bastion Academy.
Now that I look at it, she was an elite Thief with a solid mix of experience and academic knowledge.
We looked around for about ten more minutes after that, but nothing special happened, except for the Contractor falling backwards in surprise when a cluster of light sprang up with a flutter!
It's peaceful, as expected of a Safe Zone.
"There doesn't seem to be any danger nearby."
"I think so too."
"Great work, nya! Do you understand the hardships of Guides a little bit now, nya?"
"Hardships of Guides?"
"That's right, nya! Clearing is originally mainly done by fast and observant Guide Classes, nya! However, even if you're not a Guide, it's good to make a habit of Clearing, nya. You need to memorize at least the location information of each sector to quickly understand the information relayed verbally, nya!"
Definitely. Memorizing the environmental information of each Sector is extremely important for Survival.
It is very helpful when preparing for danger, devising strategic tactics, and planning movement routes.
As I gave a small nod to show that I understood, Shion continued speaking.
"And, from what I can see, the sector we spawned in right now seems to be the White Zone 10th Floor Head, nya!"
"Head?"
"Head?"
The question burst out the moment Shion finished speaking.
As we tilted our Heads in perfect sync like a decalcomania, Shion responded by unfurling a rolled-up brown Paper with a snap! instead of explaining.
"Here! What does this look like, nya?"
"A person?"
"It looks exactly like a Human with their lower half severed."
"...You're not wrong. But isn't your phrasing a bit too graphic, nya?"
Drawn on the Paper Shion showed us was a wrinkled person lying down with all five Fingers spread wide, like a sprawled-out frog.
The area below the lower abdomen was not visible.
"This is the Map of the White Zone 1st Floor that Dungeon Scholars made while wandering around the Dungeon with Sherpas for over a decade, nya!"
"Oh my, does the Dungeon actually look like that?"
"It's not perfectly accurate, but you can just think of it looking roughly like this, nya. So usually, when dividing areas, we call them by combining the danger color, the floor number, and a body part, nya. Like this, White Zone 10th Floor Head, nya."
"Then, if we spawn in the Pancreas area, should we call it the White Zone 10th Floor Pancreas?"
"...I don't know what part you mean by the Pancreas, but everything except the Head, arms, Palm, and Fingers is just collectively called the Torso, nya."
"Ooh. I see."
"It's nice and simple."
"But that's not what's important right now, nya!"
After saying that, Shion paused for a moment, then hardened her expression and continued speaking.
"Right now we... have spawned at the very edge of the White Zone, nya! It means we could encounter an Entity that has wandered in from the Entrance of the Green Zone, nya! Of course, they're nothing more than trash between 0.5-Tier and 2-Tier!"
"What?"
"Hmm?"
No, that's...!
Actually, it might be a good thing?
***
"Hiss... Hisssss!!!"
"Bring it on."
[Middle Schooler Black Magician Cosplayer.]
VS
[0.5-Tier weakest Entity.]
Clash.
5 seconds ago.
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