As I descended the spiral staircase leading down to the second basement floor of the West Tokyo Fourth Beginner Dungeon, I found myself recalling something the time-space rabbit had said on our way out.
“I’m sure you already realize this, but something is seriously wrong with the West Tokyo Fourth Beginner Dungeon right now. Even I have no idea what’s waiting ahead. You should proceed with caution.”
Even I had already noticed that something about this dungeon was off. There was no way this was a beginner-friendly dungeon.
It wasn’t quite on the same level as the Nether Class dungeon we had just been in, but it was definitely safer to assume that it had shifted into a difficulty range comparable to high-tier dungeons.
Still… “be careful,” huh. Well, I guess that just means “don’t get careless.” Maybe it was a warning that, despite being a beginner myself, I had already become too strong—that I shouldn’t let that make me complacent.
In dungeon exploration, it wasn’t just about stats or skill power.
That was the real thrill of it.
Alright. Let’s stay focused and proceed with the next part of the dungeon raid.
“This is… the second basement floor, huh…”
“Hey, do you see anything? Medusas? Giant-type monsters? Anything like that?”
“….”
Satsuki-chan showed none of the energy she had when we descended to the first floor. All the way here, she had been nervously pinching the edge of the back of my robe, following closely behind as she made her way down.
So it was me—and the viewers—who ended up checking the room’s situation first.
Maybe she really did lose some confidence after what happened in the Nether Class dungeon.
Well, personally… I actually prefer her like this. Honestly, the overly hyped, aggressive streamer version of Satsuki-chan is a bit hard to deal with.
By the way, her own stream still hadn’t come back online. Apparently, she was still dealing with equipment issues and couldn’t broadcast yet. Because of that, her viewers were still flocking to my channel instead. Right now, my stream had roughly 130,000 viewers total, all of them eagerly anticipating what would come next.
> Huh?
> This is…
> It kind of feels artificial.
> There’s no presence of monsters.
> A maze?
> Feels like a labyrinth zone.
> Yeah, labyrinth zones do pop up sometimes.
> Hard to tell which dungeon this is just from the visuals.
> There are different kinds of labyrinths too.
> If you examine the wall material, you might be able to identify it.
> Satsuki might be good at that, right?
> If she has an analysis skill, she could probably figure it out.
A maze, huh. So there are things like that too.
Now that I think about it, the atmosphere does vaguely resemble those amusement park attractions I used to go to as a kid with my parents. But the walls here weren’t made of wood. They were a deep green color—hard surfaces engraved with vine-like markings.
Ahead, the passage ended in a dead end, but I could see hallways branching left and right even from here. There were no torches installed, yet the entire space was surprisingly bright. The engraved patterns themselves seemed to glow faintly, likely serving as the light source.
“It’s fine, Satsuki-chan. There aren’t any monsters or anything. The viewers are saying it might be a labyrinth zone.”
“Labyrinth Zone…?”
Saying that, Satsuki-chan peeked her face out from behind me and carefully scanned the room. After confirming that there were no monsters present, she stepped past me and began inspecting the walls intently.
“Labyrinth zones are fairly common, but there are many types. The danger level changes drastically depending on the specific dungeon.”
“Yeah, the viewers were saying something like that too.”
“I’ll run a check.”
With that, she muttered “Analysis” and examined the material of the wall.
She really was incredibly capable.
Her title, [Generalist], suited her perfectly.
“…The material… Deep-Sea Super Ore… seriously?”
“Deep-Sea Super Ore?”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen it, but I’ve heard of it. This is an ultra-hard stone exclusive to Abyss-Class dungeons…”
“Oh. Wait, so that means this labyrinth is…”
“…Yeah. Probably.”
“…!”
> Here we go again…
> So it’s an Abyss-class labyrinth?
> Is there anyone even exploring something like that?
> You can’t even reach Abyss-Class normally, right?
> No one goes there.
> There’s barely any information on it.
> Someone look it up!
> It’s confirmed in the 10th basement floor of an Abyss-Class dungeon.
> Only a handful of challengers exist, but one explorer cleared part of it.
> Ah, that guy—the Demon Knight.
> He never submits reports to the Guild HQ, so there’s almost no info on him.
> But he still hasn’t reached the final floor, right?
> Don’t know either.
> Also, everyone who tried except that Demon Knight never came back.
With 130,000 viewers, there were always a few people who happened to know something.
As expected… this was another “this is bad” situation.
“This is likely a Great Labyrinth. And one with an almost 100% mortality rate…”
A maze meant getting stuck looping forever, never finding an exit. Or maybe it was packed with lethal traps designed to kill intruders. Or since it was “Abyss,” maybe unimaginable deep-sea monsters would attack from the darkness.
…Yeah. All of them sounded like a pain. I wondered if there was any way to solve this in one clean move.
Ah!
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I had just thought of a secret strategy I wanted to try! At this point, I felt like I might actually be able to pull it off.
“First, we should mark our path properly, conserve stamina, and proceed slowly and carefully—wait, Daishi-san. What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you suddenly taking a stance facing the wall?”
“Ah, well… there’s something I want to try…”
Satsuki-chan’s sharp voice cut in as I placed my staff down and slowly lowered my stance toward the wall.
What am I about to attempt? It’s a reckless, unprecedented shortcut strategy: using the newly learned skill, [Burial Fist] to smash through the ultra-hard wall, carve a straight path forward, and force our way through the labyrinth.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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