Chapter 8 – The Evil Dragon Gives the Dungeon a Thorough Cleaning 【Part 2】

Forty-five minutes remained until her son’s first quest.

The dungeon her son was scheduled to visit.

Mom Karma had come to clean it.

“So this is a dungeon? It’s my first time inside, but what a plain place.”

It was dark all around.

The ground was bare.

Hard-looking rocks and stones were scattered about.

“How dangerous, how dangerous.”

Karma crouched down, placed a hand on the ground, and activated a skill.

The God Slayer skill, 【All-Things Transformation】.

It had an effect somewhat similar to 【All-Creation】, which made any object from scratch.

【All-Things Transformation】 was a skill to 【remake】 any object into whatever she wished.

【All-Creation】 made something from nothing.

【All-Things Transformation】 gave a new form to something that already has one.

Using this, Karma changed the dungeon’s bare ground into something else.

She transformed the hard ground into a soft material.

“But a constantly mushy floor would actually be harder to walk on.”

And so, Karma returned the ground to its original state.

Then, the ordinary floor,

she transformed into a floor that 【transforms into a soft, sponge-like material only when a human falls on it】.

“Ground is okay. Next is the ceiling… Hmm, are those stalactites? They’re pointy and dangerous!”

Looking up, conical rocks hung from the ceiling.

“What if one of them fell and hit Ryu-kun on the head… Ah! How horrible, how horrible!”

That said, the stalactites were firmly stuck to the ceiling.

The chance of one falling was likely less than one in ten thousand.

But Karma’s opinion was different.

“There’s a one-in-ten-thousand chance they could fall, right?! That’s far too dangerous!”

…Even if the chance was one in a hundred million, or one in ten quadrillion, as long as it wasn’t zero, a risk existed.

“And so, all stalactites will be removed. Hah! Roar, my lightning of destruction!!!”

Karma raised her right hand.

Black lightning gathered there.

She activated her God Slayer skill, 【All-Destruction】.

A destructive lightning that could erase anything.

The lightning raced across the dungeon ceiling, and the stalactites were cleanly removed.

“Phew… Much better. Now there’s no way a rock will pierce Ryu-kun’s head. sniff… I’m so glad…”

Karma was genuinely tearing up.

She was relieved to have secured her son’s safety.

…Safety this, safety that—a stalactite was never going to fall in the first place, so his safety was already guaranteed without her doing a thing.

Be that as it may.

“Ground, okay. Ceiling, okay. That means the next thing is that. The specialty of dungeons, that thing.”

Karma once again activated the 【Forced Teleportation (Supreme)】 she had just used.

This time, she made 【that thing】 from within the dungeon appear before her eyes.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD…!!!!

What came falling down were countless treasure chests.

“Speak of dungeons, and you think of treasure chests. Speak of treasure chests… and you think of traps. It’s no joke to have a ‘surprise, it’s a trap!’ kind of situation.”

For example, there was a monster called a Mimic.

It was a terrifying monster that disguised itself as a treasure chest and attacked any adventurer who tried to open it.

And it wasn’t just Mimics; many of the treasure chests within a labyrinth were rigged with traps.

Chests that shot arrows or released poison gas when opened.

Traps that blared an alarm when opened, summoning monsters.

“So dangerous, so dangerous… That kind of thing is just no good. It’s the bad part about dungeons.”

For that reason, all dangerous treasure chests were to be eliminated.

“…But sorting them is such a hassle.”

Separating the trapped chests from the safe ones would be an extremely difficult task.

After all, there were countless chests in the labyrinth.

“This is too much of a hassle, so let’s just get rid of them all.”

Using her 【All-Destruction】 skill, she returned the mountain of treasure chests to nothing.

“And so, Mother will prepare some new treasure chests.”

This time, using her 【All-Creation】 skill, she produced chests with the exact same design as the ones she just erased.

“As for what’s inside… let’s see. I’ll put my own treasures in them.”

Snap!

With a snap of her fingers, the countless chests were filled with what Karma considered 【treasures】.

…Incidentally, the treasures Karma was referring to were:

・Photos of Ryuuji ・The toothbrush Ryuuji used to use

・The…

…and so on. To anyone other than Karma, the junk that was no better than trash was packed into the treasure chests and placed in various locations throughout the dungeon.

Well, thinking it wouldn’t be right if that was all there was, Karma randomly packed in some 【trash】 as well.

…That said.

It was 【trash】 from Karma’s perspective; to an ordinary person, it was something else entirely.

The trash packed randomly into the chests included:

・A Crystal of Infinite Mana (an ultra-rare item containing limitless magic)・The Hero’s Holy Sword (an evil-smiting blade that could destroy any demon)

・10,000,000 Gold

…and so on.

To any adventurer who opened them, these were drool-worthy, ultra-rare treasures.

Well, to the Ryuuji-loving Karma, that stuff was no better than trash.

Be that as it may.

Besides the treasure chests, she used her 【All-Things Transformation】 skill to disarm every trap set within the dungeon.

Also, to prevent Ryuuji from getting lost, she put up a barrier so that he could not enter any floor other than the first.

“And now for the finishing touch.”

Karma activated her 【Forced Teleportation (Supreme)】 again.

She used the skill that could move anything as she wished.

Now, what was she going to move…?

“Greeee!” “Gikikiii!” “Greee!”

What she gathered were the Small Bats living inside the dungeon.

Their number was approximately 1,500.

She had summoned every last one of them before her.

“Now then, let’s apply the finishing touch.”

Karma activated the supreme-tier lightning magic, 【Magnetize: Magnetic Force】.

It was an incredibly powerful magnetic spell that could turn objects into magnets.

She used this to turn the monsters’ bodies into magnets.

And just like that, the 1,500 bats stuck together all at once.

CLANG!

“Phewww… There, that’s perfect.”

Having completed her cleaning, the mother wore a refreshed expression.

All that was left was for Ryuuji to defeat these monsters, and their quest would be complete.

“They’re stuck together by magnets, you see. There’s no way they’ll be able to fight back.”

But just in case, Karma placed a dark magic curse on the bats.

She cast the supreme-tier dark magic 【Death God: Death Eraser】, which would instantly kill all of them if they dealt even the slightest bit of damage to Ryuuji.

“Hee hee… I always feel so refreshed after cleaning. Now Ryu-kun will be perfectly safe. Hee hee, I wonder if he’ll be happy about it~”

Karma smiled, imagining her son returning from his quest, safe and smiling.

“Alright, let’s go home. I shall sit and wait for my son’s return. Aah! For some reason, I feel so much like a mother right now!”

…Of course, there was no one 【on the scene】 to retort that she had done the exact opposite of sitting and waiting.

“…Honestly, Karma, you’re as off the charts as ever.”