◈ Mistaken for a Masked Monster
──────
Dream Sight
<Underground Dungeon Raid>
In the original, this was one of the pillars of the side quest lineup.
Being a side quest, the story wasn't really the main draw. It was the kind of event you dropped into for higher-tier gear.
'Lots of good stuff in there.'
On [Impossible] difficulty especially, it was basically mandatory. Skip the gear setup here, and the Seven Calamities later would become a nightmare.
In short: a farming spot.
[A dungeon... it must be fairly substantial in scale.]"It really is. A full hundred floors underground, no less."
[That's deep. A hundred floors would put it among the largest on the continent...]
"Which is why the Academy manages it directly. Left unattended, it could get dangerous."
An academy city with a hundred-floor dungeon beneath it. The mana contained within the dungeon kept the soil fertile and the air clean. Beyond that geographical advantage, it served many purposes within the Academy.
[Isn't it dangerous? An academy sitting directly above a dungeon, of all things.]
"Not at all. The difficulty scales with depth, so as long as no one ventures too far down, nothing particularly dangerous tends to happen."
[But as I understand it, dungeons overflow periodically...]
"Purgatory isn't that kind of dungeon. It doesn't go berserk from neglect, and the monsters inside don't pour out onto the surface. So there's no real pressure to clear the floors, either."
[Oh? Then there are floors that haven't been cleared yet.]
"Exactly. From the seventieth floor down, even the Academy hasn't managed to get through them."
Something had caught her interest. Those sleepy eyes sharpened, and the little bat blinked her vivid red ones.
[The mortal world really is fascinating.]
"The underground dungeon, officially named 'Purgatory.' It also serves as a practical training ground for Academy cadets."
[You said it's safe as long as you don't go too deep. Quite sensible, really. Good experience for seedlings still growing, and far safer than sending them out on external expeditions.]
"It's not called the continent's finest educational institution for nothing."
[Mm.]
A safe dungeon.
Of course, that was only true for now.
From the moment the Fifth Calamity descended, the uncleared floors of Purgatory would begin to run wild. The dungeon's monsters and bosses would pour out onto the surface. A rule everyone had counted on, shattered. The player would be left contending with the grand calamity above and the tide of creatures from below at the same time.
'Thinking ahead... I'd need to clear Purgatory all the way to the hundredth floor eventually.'
Only uncleared floors would go berserk. The more ground covered beforehand, the easier the Fifth Calamity would be to manage.
'Well. Today I'm here for something else.'
Purgatory could wait. Steady progress, floor by floor. The Fifth Calamity was two years out. Plenty of time. Today I was here for the item.
[By the way, Viktor.]
"Yes, Your Highness."
The sky was dark. We drifted through the shadows near the annex, careful not to be spotted by the staff making their night patrol rounds. Curfew was long past, and getting caught would mean discipline, no question.
[You said the entrance to Purgatory was especially heavily guarded.]
"It is. If a student wandered in carelessly and something happened, that would be a serious problem."
[And there's no separate side entrance, you said. You haven't obtained any special permission to enter, either. Watching you skulk around like this, I can only conclude you're planning to sneak in.]
"Precisely right."
[For the life of me, I cannot imagine how you plan to do that...]
True enough. He hadn't shown Carmilla this one yet.
"You'll understand when you see it. And here we are."
"...?"
My feet came to a stop at a secluded open lot. A corner that had nothing to do with the dungeon, by all appearances. The bat tilted her head, puzzled.
[Viktor? Didn't you say the entrance to Purgatory was in the main A-building?]
"I did."
[Then why are we here, so far away from it?]
"You'll find out in a moment. Please stay tucked in my pocket so you don't fall."
[Hm? Very well.]
I straightened my clothes. Speed, precision, absolute focus.
Over at one edge of the lot was a small sapling in a patch of overgrowth. I lined the tip of my foot precisely against it, then lowered myself down beside it in a full prostration.
[...Viktor?]
The bat raised a silent question at the spectacle. I ignored it. Stomach flat against the ground, I began sliding back and forth.
Scrape, scrape. Deeply undignified, but I was dead serious. Drawing stares with strange behavior was just the fate of a bug player.
[V-Viktor...? What are you doing?]
[Are you in pain somewhere?]
No answer. Every bit of my concentration went into the wall-clip, the wall-phase. Back and forth, however many times it took. Carmilla had nothing to offer but increasingly bewildered silence.
And just as the look in her eyes was beginning to tip from confusion into genuine concern.
Clack.
'Got it.'
Something caught. Then my body sank straight down through the ground.
[Ky, kyaah...?!]
Carmilla let out a startled cry. A brief moment of freefall, and then.
"We're here."
[Wh, what...?]
The next moment, we were standing in the center of a wide corridor.
Gloomy. The cool air, distinctly underground. Dim torchlight, high ceilings, floors of polished marble. Carmilla looked around, taking in the sudden shift in scenery. Reality settled in quickly. Her eyes went wide, and she looked up at me.
[H-how did you...?]
"I told you. You'd understand when you saw it."
Seventy floors underground. We were standing in the corridor that led to the boss room. The bat wriggled free from my pocket and darted glances in every direction.
[H-how is this possible? What principle governs it? What kind of power? There wasn't even a single sign before it happened...]
No mana to sense. Not a teleport. No twist of yin and yang. Not sorcery. No trace of dark mana. Not black magic. Carmilla's red eyes could only shine with pure wonder.
[A power I can't even detect! Did you fool the senses of a pureblood? Or is it something in an entirely different category?]
"Heh. Surprised?"
[Of course! I knew you used strange power even in ordinary moments, but I never imagined this was possible.]
The silver bat fluttered her wings. I tapped the mask lightly.
'Not some other category of power. Just a bug...'
No real way to explain it, so I didn't try. And I didn't want to shatter the moment for her, either.
[There doesn't seem to be anyone around.]
"Of course. This is the deepest part of the dungeon."
Satisfied that no one was nearby, Carmilla gave a light jump. The next instant, she was no longer a bat. Her silver hair caught the dungeon's torchlight and shimmered brilliantly.
"Mm! I suppose we just press straight ahead from here!"
"This way. The boss room is at the far end."
"And the item you want is in that room?"
"More precisely, the boss has it. Once the boss is down, we should be able to get it."
A first-kill exclusive. Since the seventieth floor hadn't been cleared yet, I had to claim it first.
"Still... an item for you, Viktor. What kind do you need?"
"A weapon. There's one that would suit the current situation nicely."
"A weapon?"
My most-used combination in a thousand runs. The Evil God set, and this. Something that synergized with the mask I wore now.
"Melee, if I had to categorize it."
"You need something like that? You're more than strong enough with your bare hands."
"The more options, the better. All in the interest of remaining a useful subordinate."
"You're already more than useful enough!"
"Ha. Kind words. Thank you."
"I mean it..."
Before long, we reached the entrance to the room. Up close, a short notice had been posted on the door. Left by the faculty who'd attempted a clearing at some point before, perhaps.
[WARNING]
Floor 70 has not yet been cleared.
Please turn back the way you came.
Do not disregard this notice or open the gate before you.
[WARNING]
Beyond this point is the domain of Floor 70's master.
The Academy has yet to succeed in clearing this area.
The master's attack patterns change with each encounter, and at times it has no physical form.
If you are not a member of the designated clearing team, turn back.
"Viktor... is it really okay to go in there?"
"Of course. You're not scared, are you?"
"Th, there's no way I would be!"
[WARNING]
Once you enter, the doors will not open until a specific condition is met.
The condition is as follows:
-The death of Floor 70's master, or the death of all who entered.
[WARNING]
Even designated clearing teams have extremely low survival rates here.
-A standard clearing team consists of no fewer than two professor-class combatants.
-Twenty years ago, five professors died during a clearing attempt. All attempts at this area have been suspended since.
Your probability of survival is extremely low.
Do not enter under any circumstances.
"I-is this really alright...?"
"Come on. I'll have the gate open right now."
"V-Viktor! Wait for me...!"
Carmilla came pattering after me. I smiled to myself and laid a hand on the gate. The hinges groaned, worn from years of neglect. I leaned in and pushed against a door several times my height.
Well.
No real concern about the fight ahead. No one watching, either. A perfect environment to let my stranger bugs run loose.
'Time to actually show what I can do.'
I straightened the wide-grinning mask on my face.
The gate swung open. A rush of cold air hit. I stepped forward into what lay beyond, toward the master of the seventieth floor, untouched for decades.
***
Viktor didn't know.
In a space with no one around, free from any outside gaze.
"Th, this is...?"
Someone was watching him even there.
"H-he went in? Into the master's domain...?"
A dream that gazed into others.
Dream Sight.
The pale blue eyes of the girl lying in her dormitory bed trembled.
"That person...?"
Alice.
She stared into the shared vision, speechless.