NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
“Jack. Remia. Don’t you think it’s better if we just leave now…?”
“Sonia. What if we leave the dungeon without finding anything? Do you really think the guild would appreciate that?”
It was a conversation among three adventurers walking through a dark cave where distinguishing their surroundings wasn’t too difficult.
Jack, the warrior holding a shield and hammer, shot a nervous glare at Sonia in response to her words.
Finding trustworthy companions among adventurers was crucial, and they were all from the same hometown, but Sonia’s timid demeanor always irked Jack.
If Sonia didn’t possess talent in magic or if there wasn’t some other reason, Jack might have already suggested they find a different party.
“I told you this is an opportunity. We have to take risks. You agreed!”
“But…”
They were beginner adventurers, and it wasn’t common for the guild to give missions beyond errands to such novices.
In fact, they couldn’t even properly assign reconnaissance tasks in dungeons, so if they failed at those, which guild would trust them with missions, and how would they grow as adventurers?
It was even more frustrating since everyone had explained everything before entering this place, yet she was babbling about leaving now.
Even Jack, despite spouting such logic, wasn’t strictly adhering to the basics himself.
“Quiet down. Jack. This is a dungeon, remember? We’re on a reconnaissance mission.”
“Remi…”
As expected, the last remaining member among the three admonished him.
Dressed in lightweight armor that only covered the vital spots, with several daggers hanging from her waist and a crossbow slung on her back, it was Remia.
Unlike Jack, who was more frustrated, Remia recognized the importance of trust among party members, so she didn’t mind Sonia, timid as she was, following orders quite well.
Sonia knew that too, hence the sparkle in her eyes as she looked at Remia.
After all, without the three of them, Sonia would have been dead. Jack knew that too, so he wouldn’t dream of abandoning her.
They were not the kind of people who could let their childhood friend perish that easily.
“But that’s… Ugh…!”
Jack scratched his head nervously while Sonia shrank away even more.
The two were back to darting their eyes around when Remia finally turned her gaze in the direction she had been wary of.
After all, having the one with the widest field of vision among them was pivotal for the reconnaissance, so it didn’t matter what the other two did, but the fact that they were hindering her senses focused on vigilance was a bit concerning.
“Do you hear anything?”
“No. Nothing.”
The dungeon was quite deep, but the only monsters they had encountered so far had been the goblins living in the cave.
Having confirmed the seal of the contract marked by the Dungeon Lord, it was certain they belonged to this dungeon.
“It seems like this dungeon was just recently created.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess…”
“But what are you scared of…!”
“But there could be more… It’s dark… and deep…”
“Oh come on…”
This was one of the well-known survival strategies of dungeons that had only been created recently.
Before the powerful monsters generated by the dungeon’s core emerged, they attracted wild monsters hanging around to stamp their contracts and used them as guardians.
Of course, this tactic wasn’t particularly effective.
Wild monsters are ultimately savage and hard to control. They can only comprehend simple commands like ‘guard’ and ‘attack’.
“Maybe we’ll even take control of the core.”
“Don’t let your guard down. Even in a dungeon like this, the Lord must exist. The demon clan is truly strong.”
When this world reorganized its order under the influence of the three great powers, and the world committed itself to develop peacefully through magical and engineering competition rather than military competition, dungeons appeared across all continents.
Along with them came dungeon lords, the monarchs of many monsters.
Countless dungeons sprouted up like mushrooms.
Most of those dungeons near cities were quickly exterminated, but there were also dungeons in the outskirts that turned the surrounding area into magical realms.
Those lords of magical realms were the most dangerous enemies of the current generation, yet that didn’t mean that the lords of smaller dungeons were weak.
They were fundamentally different combat creatures.
Even with a little experience, they often transform into metaphorical monsters quickly.
Thus, the policy was to either eliminate dungeons generated in the outskirts early during reconnaissance or to ‘prune’ them moderately as training.
In the end, this dungeon would also become an unthreatening entity like many others discovered initially.
The three thought so.
“Kiieee…?!”
Just as the thought of ‘we should head back soon’ dominated their minds, a single goblin appeared before them.
Like the ones they’d found near the entrance, this one was naked, didn’t wield any weapon, and looked significantly weaker.
“Looks like one is still here.”
“Probably a coward, like Sonia.”
“Jack…!”
In an instant, their gazes all focused on one spot.
Of course, there wouldn’t have been any concept among them that this was the wrong thing to do.
If an enemy pops up before them, they’d focus on defeating it without being careless. That was the limit of thought for a beginner.
It was only natural they wouldn’t realize a blade was creeping up behind them.
Thud -!
“Gah…!”
“What?!”
“Sonia?!”
Just as Jack charged at the goblin, Sonia suddenly collapsed from a blow.
Emerging from Jack’s shadow was a silhouette.
“A skeleton…?”
A white skeletal soldier gripped a bastard sword with Sonia’s blood smeared on the hilt. Among the undead, the most basic kind of monster, a skeleton.
However, the two adventurers who hadn’t fainted were feeling an uncharacteristic pressure.
In the now completely dark cave, that starkly clean white figure stood out so much, it was quite chilling.
“It’s a creature generated in the dungeon. It won’t be like the wild monsters outside. But… where did it come from?!”
With an entrance so stealthy they couldn’t pinpoint where it came from, Remia soon realized the answer.
The secret lay in the long and winding walls of the dungeon.
At first, the dungeon had been brightened by torches hung on the walls, but gradually, as the distance between them increased, it became darker and darker, which shaped the contours of the walls more severely.
The place where the skeleton had been hiding was a shadow created by the collaboration of the rare appearance of a torch and the deepening curves of the wall.
For a moment, she wondered if they had fallen into the dungeon lord’s trap but quickly dismissed that thought.
‘That coward is real.’
The goblin still hadn’t attacked.
Even for goblins, the weakest and most cunning of the green skins, they were violent creatures that wouldn’t hesitate to charge madly when an enemy showed its weakness.
However, the fact that this goblin had yet to attack meant that, at least, this attack wasn’t planned for.
To a goblin who was sensitive to the strengths and weaknesses of enemies, it seemed that Remia’s side was still perceived as stronger.
“I’ll take out the variable. You hold that off.”
“Okay, more goblins. I got this. A skeleton’s no big deal.”
Moreover, skeletons were among the most basic monsters. If there’s going to be an ambush, it would be better if a dungeon lord showed up instead.
These monsters, whose physical specs differed greatly, could become quite troublesome if they mastered even one form of magic or swordsmanship.
The thought of it being a beginner dungeon lord who had just started out wasn’t wrong either, but it wasn’t entirely off either.
In fact, Rita, the dungeon lord, had specs sufficient to take on two novice adventurers with just a single weapon, even in her current state.
The real problem was that Rita wasn’t yet ready to ‘cut the thread of a person’s life,’ but no one knew that.
The reason the skeleton didn’t outright kill Sonia and instead knocked her out with the hilt was due to that very reason.
Zoom!
Responding to Remia’s request, Jack stepped forward while Remia drew her already loaded crossbow to shoot at the goblin.
She planned to turn around immediately after killing it to support Jack. While skeletons weren’t particularly strong, there were significant variations among individual monsters and their equipment.
It was unlikely that one lacking any sense would do anything to Sonia, but if something else became a variable and Jack got hurt, then their hope would dwindle.
However.
“Kiik…!!”
The goblin, whom they thought would never dodge due to being frozen in place, dodged the arrow.
Although it had merely collapsed right where it stood, it did manage to evade. Until it was completely dead, there remained a possibility that it could attack Sonia.
There was no way they could lose their dear friend to a mere goblin.
“So irritating…!”
Crossbows are easy to shoot if preloaded, but reloading takes quite a while. That would take much longer.
Ultimately, as she drew her dagger, she charged toward the goblin.
Smack!!
The still fallen goblin.
As Remia smashed down on its head, she soon noticed something unusual.
Although she mostly used ranged support weapons, she didn’t have many experiences killing monsters directly.
Yet, the sensation of striking the goblin’s head felt odd.
It felt strangely easy, like she was smashing something rotten…
‘… Was it always this messed up?’
She already knew the goblin’s body was unusually skinny, but seeing it up close made it clear this was beyond that.
The goblin had been standing precisely in the shadow that their torches couldn’t illuminate, so she hadn’t noticed it right away.
Its limbs were so skinny that they seemed ready to break at any moment, and part of its scalp peeled off, exposing the white skull beneath. It looked as if it wasn’t alive but had originally been a zombie…
‘Zombie? Alone…? No way?!’
Remia whipped her head around to Jack.
“Gah!”
But. The situation was already over.
“Damn it…”
“Jack…?!”
Beneath the torchlight fully revealed was an exceptionally white skeleton tinted red with someone’s blood.
And beneath it, there lay her precious comrade and friend, bleeding and collapsed.
– Clack.
The emotionless clacking of the skeleton echoed in Remia’s ears, and after a moment.
“Is it over?”
The voice echoed throughout the cave, undoubtedly female, yet slightly husky, low, and indifferent.