Chapter 26: The Legendary Stream

A yet unexplored floor.

What awaits within?

As an explorer, it’s my responsibility to uncover the truth.

I take a moment to organize everything I know about the dungeon so far.

First, the dungeon only extends up to the tenth floor.

Or rather… no dungeon with more than ten floors has ever been confirmed.

Even the Garden of the Gods seems to only extend up to the tenth floor, which means the conquest might be nearing its end.

As you progress through the floors, the enemies become increasingly powerful.

While the first floor is relatively simple, there are dungeons where the monsters become significantly stronger by the time you reach the tenth floor.

In the case of the Garden of the Gods, there’s already a stark difference in monster strength between the first and fifth floors. Many dungeons, in fact, see a dramatic spike in difficulty after the fifth floor.

A prime example is the Phantom Tower, which Minase Karen-san and her team are currently working on. Initially rated as a B-level dungeon when discovered, it was later reclassified as S-level due to the strength of the monsters beyond the fifth floor—a rare case in the dungeon world.

And then, there’s one more critical piece of information every explorer knows about dungeons:

Clearing a dungeon brings it into a state of stability.

Conversely, dungeons that haven’t been cleared are considered in an active state. If left unchecked, the risk of a dungeon collapse increases over time, and it’s said that all active dungeons will eventually collapse. Think of it like a volcanic eruption—easy to understand with that image.

When a dungeon collapses, monsters spill out into the world, creating an extremely dangerous situation.

Although dungeon collapses have only occurred a few times in history, each incident has caused immense damage. That’s how perilous dungeons are.

In essence, explorers work to bring dungeons into a stable state through their efforts.

Thanks to these efforts, there hasn’t been a reported dungeon collapse in over ten years.

Currently, there are three active dungeons in Japan: the Garden of the Gods (which I’m exploring), the previously mentioned Phantom Tower, and the Beast Forest.

The Beast Forest was only recently discovered, so there’s still little information available about it. However, both the Garden of the Gods and the Phantom Tower have been around for over five years since their discovery.

These two dungeons remain unconquered even after more than a year of attempts.

Public interest in the Garden of the Gods, however, is rather low.

It’s no surprise—experts estimate it will take several hundred years before this dungeon collapses.

Research on dungeons has advanced to the point where we can now accurately estimate collapse timelines.

Adding to the lack of interest is the sheer absurdity of its difficulty.

When the Garden of the Gods was first discovered, numerous clans attempted to conquer it. But as soon as a certain S-Rank clan, Everlight, gave up, public interest dwindled rapidly.

Still, it’s inevitable that this dungeon will collapse someday.

And then, there’s this current anomaly…

I can’t shake this bad feeling.

“Ah… Now that I think about it.”

This time, I had decided to leave behind video footage, so I dragged Doro-chan out of the storage closet. After all, it’s not like I can take notes while fighting, so this is probably the most efficient method.

“Hope it’s not broken…”

I carefully powered on Doro-chan, which was fully charged. With a low hum, Doro-chan floated gently into the air.

When I pressed the record button, a red light lit up. Alright, this should do the trick.

“Alright then, let’s get started.”

Gripping my weapons tightly, I stepped into the eighth floor.

◇

D-Tube, a dungeon-streaming platform known to all.

On this immensely popular site, a single stream had just begun.

The title was untitled.

No tags, no description—just the look of an amateur stream.

Ironically, this lack of presentation piqued people’s curiosity. Slowly but surely, viewers started trickling in, and when they did, their disbelief was palpable.

《What is this dungeon…?》

《The monsters look seriously dangerous.》

《Wait, isn’t this drone way too old-school? I can’t even see his face clearly.》

《Who’s Bochidan-san? Is he famous?》

《Looks like he only has one subscriber, though.》

Onscreen was a lone man navigating an unknown dungeon. The video quality was poor, and his face was hard to make out. The only clear detail was his fighting style: dual-wielding knives.

His battles were almost incomprehensible. When what looked like a black-and-white fallen angel appeared, it was taken down in the blink of an eye.

The internet quickly caught wind of this.

――”A mysterious individual is solo-clearing an unknown dungeon.”

That post alone drew droves of viewers to the stream.

Before anyone realized it, the concurrent viewership had surpassed 100,000.

The comment section buzzed with excitement every time a monster was defeated. Despite the low resolution, the grainy footage lent the stream an oddly authentic feel.

The main topic of debate: “Where is this dungeon?”

Even seasoned dungeon enthusiasts who watched streams daily or explorers who knew their way around couldn’t identify the location.

Currently, the active dungeons in Japan are the Garden of the Gods, the Phantom Tower, and the Beast Forest.

But the Beast Forest was quickly ruled out. A party actively working on its conquest officially announced, “This isn’t the Beast Forest.”

This left two candidates: the Garden of the Gods or the Phantom Tower.

The comments debated back and forth. However, many leaned towards the idea that it was the Garden of the Gods.

After all, the monsters resembled angels—albeit with an ominous, corrupted appearance. Their forms seemed fit for the heavenly realm.

An hour into the stream, the viewership exceeded 500,000.

It was then that viewers witnessed a shocking scene.

《…Wait, is that a humanoid monster?》