Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 88

Chapter 88: Stray Monster

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The one in front of me—was Surami, a former companion of mine. But this wasn’t the dungeon managed by our creator, Piroane.

What’s going on here?

“Hmph.”

Surami let out a small laugh and patted the white cushion she was sitting on.

“If you’re looking for the final boss of this dungeon, that would be right here.”

“Huh?”

Looking more closely, I saw a dog-like monster, curling up near the white cushion.  It twisted its body and turned toward us.

Was it a Lesser Fenrir? There was a red chain around its neck—likely a binding technique using vampire blood magic.

It let out a small whimper. The wolf was looking at me with those sad, pleading eyes. However, no matter how much it begged, I didn’t know how to help it. 

“I’m using it as a source of magic power to sustain my existence. It’s more efficient than fighting constantly.”

“Then… That means you….”

You’re not a monster of this dungeon?

But dungeon monsters normally couldn’t exist outside their own dungeons. Except during parades—what the people in this world referred to as Overloads—monsters could never leave. Even if they somehow did, they couldn’t survive for long.

I believed that dungeon monsters were, in a sense, virtual entities. You could even call them informational beings. Like NPCs in a game. Just data.

Otherwise, how could anyone accept the fact that they resurrected as if nothing had happened after death?What sustained their existence was the magic power saturating the dungeon. That was why, after death, their bodies vanished, leaving behind a magic stone—or they became raw magic energy to be absorbed by the victor.

Dungeon rampage was a special condition. The fact that I hadn’t disappeared was already a major anomaly. As proof of that, Piroane had been shocked when she learned I was still alive.

So why hadn’t the Surami disappeared? Why was she able to stand in front of me like this?

No, the answer might lie in the part about her absorbing magic power from the Lesser Fenrir. By absorbing magic power, she was preventing herself from vanishing.

“Then what exactly is going on here?”

“Why don’t you hear me out first?”

Surami twirled a lock of her beautifully wavy hair around her finger.

“It was hard, you know.”

I had been with Surami and the others until I became a dragon and was put in charge of a dungeon. In other words, when I was assigned the role of final boss, the party disbanded.

Or rather, we were made to disband.

Piroane had reassigned us to different locations. I didn’t know what happened after that.

“After that, I…”

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Gobujirō… She clearly remembered he changed his name to Dorajirō when he became a dragon.

Every time he changed his species, he changed the first part of his name—〇〇jirō. I wasn’t sure if that made him consistent or just lazy. But the name carved deeply into my memory was Gobujirō.

He was the only one who had taken a powerless Pull Slime and named it Surami, then gave it a strategic role. Gobujirō grew faster than the other monsters and transformed into many different forms.

By the time Surami had evolved into the rare Slime Girl form, Gobujirō had already become a dragon, been assigned a different dungeon by their creator, and disappeared somewhere. At that time, Surami had also been reassigned to a different dungeon. She kept fighting, wondering if maybe someday she would be placed in Gobujirō’s dungeon.

While carrying out the fighting styles Gobujirō had taught her—or adapting and applying them—she had witnessed multiple dungeon collapses. As she moved from place to place, she evolved from vampirekin to Lesser Vampire, then to Vampire, Knight-Class Vampire, Noble-Class Vampire, and finally True Ancestor-Class Vampire.

Then she was told she would be made the final boss of a new dungeon. In this new dungeon, her unit cost didn’t match, and her abilities were reduced. She hated that, but couldn’t defy the will of the creator, so she appeared in the new dungeon anyway—only to find an unimaginably huge dragon there.

She saw it only for a moment. But she immediately understood. This was Gobujirō.

“Gob…”

The moment she called his name and touched his body… His form began to disappear. Surami instinctively clung to the dragon’s tail. And then, she was thrown out of the dungeon.

“It was awful after that. While I was still stunned, you threw me out. You didn’t notice me, my magic power kept draining. You didn’t notice me, I was in an unfamiliar place, and you still didn’t notice me…”

“I’m so sorry!”

Just how many times was she going to slip in “didn’t notice me”?

“I had to resign myself to vanishing. But just then, I found this dungeon and slipped in.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“I felt your presence a few times, but I was also trying to figure out how to secure enough magic power just to stay alive, so I couldn’t make a move yet.”

“So just entering a dungeon wasn’t enough?”

“Right. Unless a creator officially places you in the dungeon as a unit, you don’t get any magic power.”

“I see.”

That explanation made a lot of sense.

“Still, it’s a pretty interesting situation, don’t you think?”

“This isn’t really something to laugh about. If the creator decides to eliminate me, they could at any time. Gobujirō, can’t you do something about it?”

“Hmm…”

Is there a way to save Surami? Ah. I have an idea… But… I don’t have it now. I’d have to get it somehow, but… Hmm… How would I get it? 

“You’re coming with me, Surami. For training.”

“Oh? Sounds fun.”

At my words, Surami leaned forward and gave me a bright smile.

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