Author: Yume Neiji

At the bottom of Vegaltia’s Great Dungeon, in the boss chamber of the seventy-fifth floor, awaited a monster with jet-black wings.

“I… am… Beelze…bub… the Sin..ful… King of Flies… Exiled… from the Heavens…”

A grating voice filled the air. It wasn’t a human voice—just listening to it made the skin crawl.

“Mm… did it just speak?”

“Disgusting… it doesn’t even have a mouth, so how is it making a sound!?”

“Is this the boss?”

The three girls braced themselves, alert and ready.

『The King of Flies… Beelzebub, is it…?』

(You know about it, Linlin?)

『…Just from stories. It’s said that a former high-ranking angel fell from grace and became a great demon… That is the King of Flies, Beelzebub. It’s a tale from the age of myths.』

Demon. An intelligent life form said to dwell in a world different from this one. It is said that to appear in this world, a demon requires some kind of vessel. A little while ago, we had even fought a cursed sword inhabited by a demon… but in this case, the dungeon itself was probably serving as the vessel.

“This monster is stronger than I expected… If things go south, I’ll have no choice but to join the fight myself.”

The King of Flies, Beelzebub, detached from the pillar and took to the air.

“…Fast!”

In an instant, it closed the distance and swung a massive scythe-like weapon, reminiscent of a death god’s scythe.

“!?”

“Ugh!”

“Gah!?”

The three girls tried to block it with their weapons, but the sheer force sent them flying.

“Fast… and strong.”

“Even though I blocked it, the force…!”

“M-my hand is numb!”

Beelzebub passed by them and immediately executed a sharp U-turn, lunging at the girls again.

“How about this!?”

Anje quickly raised a wall of earth, blocking Beelzebub’s path. But just before colliding with it, Beelzebub made an almost right-angle turn and effortlessly bypassed the obstacle.

With fly-like speed and agility, it charged at the girls once more.

At that moment, a gust of wind swept toward Beelzebub. It was Fana’s magic. Seizing the instant when its speed faltered, Fana swung her sword.

Gakiiiin!

“…Blocked.”

Fana’s strike was deflected by Beelzebub’s massive scythe. With Fana now exposed, Beelzebub plunged headfirst toward her.

“…Dodge, Fana-oneechan!”

Reacting to my shout, Fana twisted her body just in time.

A needle-like appendage shot from Beelzebub’s mouth, piercing the space where her abdomen had been moments before.

“Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Swift Thunder!”

At the same time, Karen’s blade struck toward Beelzebub. But it leapt into the air with astonishing speed, evading the attack.

“…My fastest technique…”

“Wait, it’s attacking with that!?”

“Watch out! If that pierces you, it’ll probably drain all your blood!”

“T-that’s… terrifying.”

Some flies are bloodsuckers, like mosquitoes.

“And it’s not just the blood—it’ll likely inflict all sorts of dangerous status effects as well.”

“Flies are known carriers of plagues, after all.”

Then, before anyone noticed, Beelzebub had somehow perched atop the first pillar. Its abdomen suddenly swelled grotesquely.

What the hell… disgusting…

The swelling descended downward—and was expelled from its rear.

…Poop!?

No—fortunately, upon closer inspection, they were eggs.

“Eggs!? And in such huge numbers…”

Thousand, no, tens of thousands of tiny eggs spilled from Beelzebub. Each was barely the size of a pea, yet the sheer volume far exceeded the size of Beelzebub itself—physically impossible, but likely a result of its magical abilities.

The eggs instantly hatched, releasing countless flies. A deafening buzz filled the chamber as they swarmed, merging into a thick black cloud. From that cloud, a shape began to take form.

“A clone…?”

“The fly monster’s multiplying!?”

“W-what is happening…?”

The countless small flies coalesced into figures identical to Beelzebub. Including the original, there were now ten of them. Immediately, all ten Beelzebubs lunged at the girls at once.

“Mm… which one’s the real one?”

“I have no idea!”

“This one! Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Ranu!”

The three girls had no choice but to rely on instinct, striking at the ten indistinguishable Beelzebubs.

“…Missed.”

“This one’s not it either!”

“There’s barely any impact at all!”

The fakes, composed of countless tiny flies, seemed to have a liquid-like property. No matter how they slashed or struck, they reformed instantly into their original shape.

“Ugh!”

A massive scythe swung toward Fana from behind. She reacted instantly, twisting to dodge, but couldn’t evade completely—a spray of blood erupted from her right shoulder.

“So… that was the real one! Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Swift Thunder! Uh—!?”

“Wha!? That was a fake too!?”

Karen immediately countered, but her blade only knocked a few of the tiny flies apart from the fake. They quickly reassembled, returning to their original form.

“The fakes can attack too!?”

“Yeah… and it actually hurts.”

“This is ridiculous!”

Surrounded by ten Beelzebubs, the three girls had almost no options left.

Hmm… perhaps this opponent is too strong.

It might have been impossible for them to handle this fight on their own.

“With the fakes attacking and the real one buzzing around, hitting it is nearly impossible… then I’ll make sure it can’t fly!

While shouting, Anje unleashed her magic. A massive wall of earth erupted, cutting across the vast boss chamber.

“I’m not done yet!”

Another wall appeared, parallel to the first. With the two walls in place, the room’s open space shrank to a fifth… no, a tenth of its original size.

“I see… so that’s one way to do it. But it can still move freely forward, backward, up, and down.”

Impressed, they realized that while clever, this alone wouldn’t completely neutralize Beelzebub’s mobility.

“Next, it’s your turn!”

“Mm.”

Sensing Anje’s intent, Fana responded instantly.

A fierce wind tore through the space. The violent gust swept through the narrow corridor between the walls of earth. Ten Beelzebubs were flung across the chamber, crashing into the far walls.

The impact blurred the outlines of the fakes. Unable to withstand the pressure of the wind, the bodies composed of countless tiny flies collapsed.

At last, the real Beelzebub was revealed.

“Now, Karen!”

“…Got it.”

Exhausted and grimacing from expending massive amounts of magic, Anje and Fana dropped to their knees.

Entrusted with their opening, Karen planted her feet firmly on the ground.

“Consider it done…!”

Karen surged forward, charging straight at the real Beelzebub.

“This perfect opening that the other two created… if I miss it, there’s no way we’ll defeat the boss! I absolutely cannot let this chance slip… But a normal strike probably won’t be enough… In that case, it’s all or nothing…!”

As Beelzebub raised its massive scythe in preparation to strike, Karen unleashed her attack.

“Yagyū Shinnen-ryū Secret Technique, Zetsunen!”

A desperate, all-or-nothing slash, channeling every ounce of her fighting spirit into the blade.

This was the very technique once demonstrated by her swordmaster, the old Yagyu Genzo, against the great serpent Yamata no Orochi. It’s a secret skill lying beyond even the formal mastery of the Yagyū Shinnen-ryū.

Karen, despite her advanced skill, had not yet fully mastered this move… but now, there was no other choice.

The strike hit Beelzebub squarely on the crown of its head, driving straight through its body down to the lower abdomen.

“Impossible… I… w-what… H-H-HaAAAAAAAGH!?”

With one final, strangled scream, the bisected body of Beelzebub collapsed, crumbling further as the copies vanished alongside it.

The boss chamber was soon swallowed by a heavy silence.

“They did it?”

『Master… why the foreshadowing?』

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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Though their pace had slowed considerably, the three girls steadily cleared each floor. Yet as we approached the seventieth floor, they began facing moments of real struggle against increasingly dangerous monsters.

“Oaaaaah!”

On the sixty-eighth floor, they encountered a monstrous spider—the Arachne Queen. A spider of the highest rank, with the upper body of a human woman grafted onto its arachnid form.

“!?”

“This silk… it’s such a pain!”

“It sticks and we can’t even cut it…!”

The three girls had been lured straight into the queen’s web, a web of incredibly strong and sticky threads, forcing them to fight on the monster’s own terms. To make matters worse, the queen’s subordinate venomous spiders—the Death Weavers—were lying in wait in large numbers. Dodging the queen’s lashes of silk and venomous fangs, the three girls engaged in a fierce back-and-forth battle.

Fana leapt through the threads, chasing the Arachne Queen as it darted across its web at incredible speed, but no matter how fast she moved, she couldn’t quite catch up. Then, just as Anje activated an earth wall she had secretly prepared, blocking the queen’s path, Fana closed the distance and sliced at its neck.

“…It’s still alive.”

“Wait, cutting there doesn’t kill it!?”

“I’ll handle this…! Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Oborozuki!”

Even after its humanoid head was severed, the Arachne Queen continued to thrash and move—but finally, Karen’s blade delivered the finishing strike.

After repeated deadly encounters like this, the three girls finally reached the seventieth floor.

“Mm… just five more floors.”

“…We finally made it this far.”

“Hah… hah… I… I request a short break…!”

We decided to take another short break, but…

“…Monsters.”

“They really won’t let us rest, will they!?”

“And even though we’re hiding, they find us immediately!”

The three girls immediately went on alert, sensing the approaching threat. This had become a recurring pattern over the past few encounters.

The new enemies were dog-like creatures. They are known as Blood Stalkers, these hyena-like monsters always traveled in packs.

“These guys again!?”

“They must have tracking abilities.”

Fana spoke.

They were also highly intelligent, coordinating with each other to attack from blind spots, strike simultaneously, or probe their opponents cautiously. Sometimes they would retreat to create distance, regroup with more allies, or use quick, agile movements to harass their targets.

“Mm… should we take turns resting?”

“Yeah. Fortunately, these monsters aren’t too strong for this floor.”

“How about that little recessed area further ahead? Even against a pack, it should be easier to handle. There’s no cover, but if we’re going to be spotted anyway, it’s the same either way.”

“Good idea.”

“For once, you’re being smart.”

“Hmph, I’m not that clever… wait, did you just slightly insult me?”

“Your imagination.”

In the end, they decided to take turns resting. Two would recover their strength while the remaining one acted as lookout and monster repeller. They rotated like this, resting and fighting in shifts, before resuming their advance.

But from the seventieth floor onward, monsters became incomparably stronger than anything they had faced before, making the climb extremely challenging.

Even clearing a single floor now took several hours.

“Mm… this is tough.”

“At this rate, it’s going to take forever to reach the bottom floor.”

“By now, the dungeon outbreak might have subsided, don’t you think?”

“We’ll see when that happens. With Lill there, we don’t have to worry about the surface. Let’s just proceed at your pace, oneechan.”

With Lill on their side, wiping out the monsters even those coming from the fiftieth floor would be a piece of cake.

Like that, step by step, they cleared each floor. And finally, they reached the bottom, the seventy-fifth floor.

★★★

“…A straight path?”

“The atmosphere has changed a lot.”

“I see a door up ahead.”

At the bottom of the stairs leading to the seventy-fifth floor lay a single, perfectly straight corridor. Unlike the cave-like interiors they had traversed so far, the walls and floor were now made of stone, giving the place the appearance of ancient ruins.

At the far end of the corridor stood a massive double door.

“Looks like this leads straight to the boss.”

“…Finally, we’ve made it.”

Perhaps due to the tension, Anje’s throat made a small gulping sound.

With no monsters or traps in sight, they advanced along the corridor and reached the doors. Up close, the doors were enormous.

“…Mm… I’ll push it.”

Fana pressed against the doors, and with a deep, rumbling groan, they swung open almost on their own.

Beyond the doors stretched a vast chamber. It was a circular space, reminiscent of an arena, with a single pillar standing at its center. Wrapped tightly in chains, something was crucified to the pillar.

A humanoid figure, but with jet-black wings.

The moment we stepped inside, the doors slammed shut. It seemed we couldn’t leave until the boss was defeated.

…Though, technically, teleportation magic might still work.

The black wings unfurled. At the same time, the chains snapped, and the figure began to move.

“…Its face…”

“Gross…”

“Is… is that a fly!?”

It was a grotesque monster, with a human body, jet-black wings, and a head that bore a terrifying resemblance to a fly.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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Once they passed the fiftieth floor, monsters began appearing again.

“Looks like this dungeon outbreak is happening only in floors shallower than the fiftieth floor this time.”

Dungeon outbreak always had a specific range. Sometimes the entire dungeon would go into runaway mode, but other times—like now—it affected only certain floors.

“Well, in some cases, the affected area can expand over time.”

Even as I muttered this to myself, the three girls were effortlessly scattering the monsters of the fiftieth floor.

“Good. You guys still got plenty of room to spare.”

Soon, we passed the fifty-fifth floor—the level Ark had once reached solo—and pressed on to the sixtieth. This was the floor I had once explored alone, searching for over 80% pure mithril.

“…Come to think of it, there was that adventurer guy who came solo back then too. Looking back, he might have been pretty skilled.”

“That was during my temporary dormancy. Even for the former S-rank guildmaster, the highest solo floor was fifty-five, so we can assume he was at least of equal or greater skill. I imagine he must have been quite surprised to see the Master.”

Monsters on the sixtieth floor weren’t instantaneously destroyed, even by Fana and the others. Still, they didn’t struggle. They dispersed them efficiently while keeping some energy in reserve.

“Hah… hah… T-they’re certainly opponents we can fight… b-but my stamina… it’s getting tough…!”

Karen, who’s exhausted, was breathing heavily.  Her fatigue is now obvious.

“Yeah, it’s been a forced march up until now. Let’s take a short break.”

We decided to take a break. Giving everyone a moment to recover both stamina and magical energy. I guided them to a spot that offered both visibility of the surrounding area and cover to stay hidden.

“I could speed things up by healing you with magic, but I want you to push yourselves as much as possible.”

I could’ve set up a barrier to let them rest safely, but I decided against it.

“All right, my guidance ends here. From now on, it’s all on your own strength.”

“Normally that’d be fine, but we’re in the middle of a dungeon outbreak, you know? I don’t think we have time to explore slowly.”

“It’s fine. I left Lill behind, so at most, only monsters from the fiftieth floor and below should appear. Besides… there’s someone here who can use a method equivalent to exploration magic.”

“Eh? Who’s that?”

Anje furrowed her brows and scanned the group one by one.

“No… Could it be me!? Now that you mention it, I did have a vague sense of which path to take! Next… over there, right!?”

“Nope, totally wrong.”

“Just a hunch, isn’t it…?”

Karen confidently pointed in the exact opposite direction. Definitely not her.

“Mm… go straight over there… about a hundred meters… then left… fifty meters… now diagonally right…”

“!? You… you can sense it!?”

“…Mm, kind of.”

“Just a hunch too?”

“But you’re right, Fana-oneechan.”

Fana had perfectly grasped the route they needed to take.

“The path the Master showed me… somehow, I just knew it too. I don’t think it was a hunch… maybe… the flow of magical energy?”

“Exactly.”

In a dungeon, there exists a flow of magical energy. It runs from the shallow floors toward the deeper ones, subtle but steady, like a gentle wind. Those who can sense it are able to determine the route that leads to the stairs descending to the next floor.

“But if it’s just the flow of magical energy, we should be able to feel it too, right? …Though I have no idea what I’m sensing.”

“It’s extremely subtle. Only someone delicate can pick it up.”

“Well, I’m about as far from delicate as it gets!”

Anje huffed in indignation.

“This is just a matter of talent. Fana-oneechan excels at wind magic. It’s the kind of magic that demands the most precise manipulation of magical energy, and wind magic is all about that.”

“Still… isn’t she basically the thick-skinned one? Nothing ever seems to faze her.”

“That’s true, but this isn’t about personality. Being emotionally sensitive and being good at delicate work are different things.”

…Although, personality-wise, Anje might actually be the more sensitive of the two.

“On the other hand, people skilled in earth magic have incredible endurance. Not only do they have a large reservoir of magical energy, but they also possess the mental fortitude to sustain it over long periods.”

“Not bad at all!”

Anje’s mood brightened noticeably.

“You two can use magic… lucky you…! Not that I’m jealous or anything! I’m a samurai! I’ve devoted my life to the blade! I don’t envy you at all!”

“You are using physical enhancement magic, though.”

“That doesn’t count!”

With all three fully recovered, they resumed their exploration. Fana, now able to sense the correct route, led the way.

“Mm… there’s a monster just around the turn.”

“You can sense it even though you can’t see it!?”

If you can feel the flow of magical energy, detecting monsters isn’t difficult. Sure enough, just as Fana had said, a monster was waiting immediately after the corridor turned.

“Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Swift Thunder!”

Karen immediately struck with a slash.

“So it was here!”

“Mm… there’s a trap at your feet.”

“Huh?”

Click.

By the time Fana pointed it out, Karen had already stepped on a floor switch. Immediately, arrows shot out from the walls, aiming straight at her.

Karen, having just finished her technique, couldn’t react in time, but Fana swung her sword and cut the arrows down before they could hit.

“You can even sense traps… t-thank you, that saved me!”

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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“Defeat the dungeon boss…? Hey, hey, hey—are you seriously saying that?”

After staring at me in shock for several seconds, Ark finally snapped back and confronted me with a face full of disbelief.

“Vegaltia’s Grand Dungeon has never been conquered! Not a single person has reached the end. It’s one of the highest-level, most dangerous dungeons in the entire country—no, in the entire world! And you’re telling me to clear it just like that!? Whatmore, with only those three girls!? That’s impossible no matter how you look at it!”

“It’s fine. I’ll be going with them at least. Well, I don’t plan on lifting a finger you see. And I’ll leave Lill here with you. So no matter what monsters show up, you shouldn’t have any problems.”

Even a top-tier dungeon wasn’t going to cough up something that could rival a Fenrir. And even if it did, it would only be at the very bottom—only the boss could possibly compare to a Fenrir.

“Hold on a second! I’ve gone down to around the fortieth floor before, but even that was pretty close to death, okay!? And you’re saying we’re headed even deeper than that!?”

“Anje-oneechan, that’s unusually timid of you.”

“Even I, the so-called musclehead, know the difference between bravery and being suicidal! And—wait—who are you calling a musclehead!?”

Uhm… You literally called yourself that just now…

“Don’t worry. I went down to the sixtieth floor alone easily, and honestly, with how strong you girls are now, I think you could handle that much without sweating.”

“Sixtieth floor… and easily….”

“Ahaha, for us, even with a five-person party, forty-five floors was our limit.”

“Back in my prime, I reached the fifty-fifth floor solo… but I judged going further was too dangerous and turned back.”

Gain, Emily, and Ark each revealed their personal dungeon records.

From the historical data, the farthest anyone had ever reached was apparently the sixty-third floor.

“By the way, from what I can tell, the bottom floor of this dungeon is probably around the seventy-fifth floor.”

“““Seventy-fifth floor!?”””

Their voices all overlapped in shock.

“Sixty floors might be manageable, but seventy-five? That’s impossible! Didn’t we hear that even the S-rank guildmaster could only make it to the fifty-fifth floor!?”

“…Well, even if I reached my limit, that was just the range considered safe for exploration.”

“Ahaha, Anje-oneechan, don’t worry. With how strong you are now, you could even beat the guildmaster. And of course, Fana-oneechan too, right?”

At my words, Ark’s temple twitched ever so slightly.

“That… is not something I can take lightly… though, since it’s your assessment, I suppose it must be correct.”

With his acknowledgment, the adventurers around us murmured in astonishment.

“Seriously… those girls are stronger than the guildmaster…?”

“Hey, hey, come on, that can’t be…”

“But the guildmaster himself is nodding, isn’t he?”

Karen was a little below the other two in strength, but the details didn’t matter much.

“Come on, even as we stand here, more monsters keep appearing. Let’s get moving!”

“Mm.”

“…Hah, I swear, I won’t be responsible if anything happens!”

“I’ll give it my all!”

And so, Fana, Anje, and Karen charged headlong into the dungeon.

“Alright then, Lill, you’re staying behind. Take care of things here.”

“Understood.”

With Lill handling the base, I followed after the three of them.

“We can’t afford to dawdle, so I’ll guide you along the correct route. And I’ll handle any traps too.”

I’d only ever gone down as far as the sixtieth floor, but with a little exploration magic, finding the right path was easy.

“Got it. We’ll leave it to you.”

“So all we have to do is smash every monster that appears in front of us, huh? Simple enough!”

“Very straightforward. I like it.”

On the first floor, only weak monsters like goblins and slimes normally appeared—but with the dungeon in runaway mode, even creatures normally found on the fortieth floor were lined up in formation.

“Hng!”

“Haaaah!”

“Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Waves of the Torrent!”

Yet the three girls effortlessly cut through them, not slowing their pace in the slightest as they dashed down the corridor.

“Nice. Monsters from the fortieth floor don’t stand a chance anymore.”

Back when we were in Vegaltia, these floors had been a challenge to them.

“Still, if we fight fortieth-floor monsters from such a shallow level, we might run into trouble. Oneechan, take a left here!”

I gave directions to avoid the denser monster routes. Even if it meant a slight detour, it would ultimately be faster.

★★★

After about an hour of pushing deeper into the dungeon, their full-speed sprint brought them to the fortieth floor—the previous record for highest reach. Of course, this was just a milestone. There was still nearly half the dungeon left before the seventy-fifth floor.

“So, how’s your fatigue? Do you guys need a break?”

“Mm, I’m fine. But I am hungry.”

“I’ve got food.”

“I want some.”

“I want some too!”

“Me as well!”

I pulled rations from the pocket dimension and tossed them to the girls. Chomping on bread and meat, they didn’t slow down in the slightest, continuing their relentless run through the dungeon.

“(Munch munch) Hmm….fewer monsters here? (Munch munch munch)”

“(Chomp chomp)…Yeah, seems like it! (Chomp chomp chomp)”

“(Crunch crunch)… It’s been a while, but are we… taking a safer route, perhaps?(Crunch crunch crunch)”

“Nope, not really. I think most of the monsters from these floors probably moved up to the higher levels. (Slurp slurp).”

I took a moment to replenish my energy with some milk as well.

And so, barely encountering any monsters, we steadily pushed from the fortieth floor all the way to the forty-ninth.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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