Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 4

Chapter 4: Kichijoji Dungeon

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Kichijoji Dungeon was a natural underground cave-type dungeon. The officially cleared floor was the thirty-eighth floor. Thanks to antenna installations, some mobile carriers allowed communication up to the thirtieth floor. Although it had abundant magic stone veins that regenerated frequently, the monsters were notoriously strong, making it a dangerous place to focus solely on mining magic stone. As a result, it was not a particularly popular dungeon.

At least, that was what was written on Wikipe.

Since I couldn’t find any clothes to go out in, I decided to wear a suit that had been left unused. Either way, I was going to be invisible, so what I wore didn’t really matter. Back in my dragon days, I was practically naked. Not that I had any desire to be completely naked in human form though.

The dungeon entrance was enclosed within a simple structure. It was the kind of hastily constructed building that reminded me of a convenience store, designed with speed in mind. The entrance to the dungeon was a swirling vortex of light, making it stand out significantly. Leaving it exposed would not only be conspicuous but would also unsettle the public, which was why they had chosen to cover it with a haphazardly built building like this.

A lock was placed on the entrance, and it seemed that one could open it by scanning an Awakened Card issued by the Ministry of Dungeons—commonly known as the D-Ministry. Since I didn’t have one of those, I simply phased through with phasing magic. I had already turned invisible before getting close to the security cameras, so there should be no record of my presence.

I passed through the vortex of light without issue. Beyond it was a subterranean cave, just as described on Wikipe. The cold, damp air seeped pleasantly into my skin.

“Hmm… Now, let’s see what happens.”

The underground passage stretched out in a mostly straight path. After advancing a certain distance, I found symbols etched into the walls—neither Japanese nor English. They were characters from another world. More precisely, they were the script of the higher beings who created dungeons.

It meant “Second Floor.” It seemed this wasn’t the type of dungeon that placed a boss on every floor. I hadn’t seen any surveillance cameras on my way here, so I dispelled my invisibility magic and continued downward.

“Oh, finally.”

A monster appeared. What emerged was a dwarf-type monster. Or rather, it was a dwarf. Short in stature, covered in a thick beard, but its body was packed with muscle.

As soon as the dwarf spotted me, it lunged forward at me while swinging its axe. I swiped at it with a backhand blow. The dwarf’s head, along with its axe, was pulverized. Its body crumbled into sand. I watched the remains but, as expected, there was no magic stone.

“As I thought.”

As I mentioned before, when dungeon monsters fought each other, no magic stone remained upon their death. Most likely, the magic power that would have solidified into a magic stone was instead absorbed by the victorious dungeon monster. That was probably what served as “experience points” for them.

That said, dungeon monsters were generally unable to fight among themselves. When a dungeon monster was slain, respawning it incurred a cost. I didn’t know exactly what that cost was, but it was certain that the higher beings bore the burden. The goddess who had been our higher being was quite fussy about costs. The reason why she had fired me was because of the cost as well.

As I continued cutting down the attacking dwarves, I arrived at the tenth floor. According to Wikipe, magic stone veins in Kichijoji Dungeon started appearing from the tenth floor onward. From this point, the narrow, single-path cave began branching into multiple routes, taking on a more labyrinth-like structure. Choosing the leftmost of three branching paths, I advanced forward and soon discovered a magic stone vein.

“Hmm.”

A large number of blue magic stones were embedded in the walls of the cave. I knocked on them a few times, then tried punching them, but even with a fist capable of easily smashing armored dwarves, the magic stone vein didn’t budge.

“As I thought, I can’t do it.”

Even though I had broken free from the control of the higher beings, it seemed that my existence was still that of a dungeon monster. If I could become an Awakened and conquer dungeons, that would have been the best fit for me right now.

“This is a problem…”

If I could get my hands on magic stones, there were things I could do inside my item box. Back when I was the dungeon’s final boss, I didn’t just provide support through buff magic. I also supplied dungeon monsters with new equipment and manufactured golems to send into battle. Among the abilities and magic I had acquired through evolution and growth was something called an item box and inside that item box, I had a crafting ability that allowed me to process stored materials.

Using that, I had taken the discarded, dropped, or even abandoned belongings of adventurers and dungeon challengers—called Awakened here on Earth—and turned them into weapons, armor, and golems. I had also obtained magic stones that way, and the more of them I had, the greater the variety of things I could create. Simply put, magic stones were an all-purpose material.

“Is there any way to get my hands on some magic stone?”

I had come to conclusions that even though I had been severed from the dungeon, I still couldn’t obtain magic stones from the dungeon. The dungeon still regarded me as a dungeon monster. 

“Then… Maybe I can get some from Awakened?”

Just as I was considering that, a scream echoed in the distance.

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