“We’ll Definitely Come Back to Save You!” — It’s Been Three Years Since I Was Left in the Most Difficult Dungeon, Isn’t It About Time for Help to Arrive...? - 3

Chapter 3: A Promise from the Past

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I had survived the past three years in the dungeon alone, clinging to life with sheer desperation. Sometimes I drank rainwater seeping from cracks in the walls. Sometimes I played dead among piles of monster corpses. And sometimes I survived the night by limbo-dancing beneath the legs of passing monsters.

The only reason I managed to keep living through all that was because of one thing: the faint light of hope that someone would come to rescue me someday. But even I had to admit… 

Aren’t they taking a bit too long…?

“When do you think they’ll finally come save me… Huh, Hel?”

“How should I know… Just keep petting my head already. Hurry up.”

I took a chance and voiced the doubt that had plagued me for years to the girl who had casually curled up in my lap—but all I got in return was a curt reply and an impatient demand for more head pats. I ran my fingers through her black hair as instructed and gently stroked her head.

Hel, the girl whose right eye was hidden beneath a curtain of black hair, stared straight at me with one blue eye and one green. Her expression was aloof and pouty, yet the way she kept offering her head for more pats reminded me of a moody stray cat.

But you mustn’t be fooled by her appearance. This girl was none other than the apex of this place—the boss monster of “Niflheim.”

On top of her monstrous physical prowess, she possessed an ability that corroded and dissolved anything she touched—even armor made of adamantite melted like ice under a blazing sun. Defense was pointless. Furthermore, she excelled at ambushing her prey under cover of darkness. If you ever found yourself facing her, even a single moment of carelessness would cost you your life.

The only reason I was able to hold a conversation with her like this was because I had survived more than a thousand brushes with death to reach this point.

“Ugh… Just remembering it gives me chills. I guess I’d better do my daily workout to warm up.”

I gently set Hel aside as she kept nudging me for attention, then made a ring with my fingers and blew into it. A clear, whistling note echoed through the dungeon—and within ten seconds, three giant boulders came rolling toward me.

“Gauw! Gauw!”

The boulders stopped about three fists’ distance away, then unfolded limbs from within and transformed back into their original forms—lizard-like monsters. The trio climbed onto my back as I took a push-up position.

“Thanks as always, you guys. All right, here we go—one! Two! Three! Four!”

Yep, three Plutrock Lizards are just the right weight for me nowadays.  Let’s start with 500 push-ups at this pace!

“Five! Six! Seven! Eigh—whoa!?”

What the hell? Why did the weight suddenly increase?

“What’s wrong? …Come on, your arms stopped moving.”

I lifted my head to see a slightly sulking Hel perched atop the tower formed by me and the three Plutrocks, looking down at me with a smug expression.

“I’m bored, so I thought I’d help a little. Though really, adding just me doesn’t even weigh as much as a feather.”

“No, you alone weigh more than all thr—”

“…Excuse me?”

“Gah… What a great additional weight! Thanks to you, my muscles are glowing with power! Really, thank you so much!”

That was close! A second too late in changing course, and my face would’ve been shredded by Hel’s Corrosive Iron Claw. Dodging the wave of killing intent raining down from above, I pretended to throw myself into training with all my might, carefully keeping the peace.

It had been three years since I first started living with Hel. Dodging stuff like this was second nature by now. 

Don’t underestimate the danger instincts I’d honed in this demon realm full of monstrous horrors.

“…Wow. Three years, huh?”

I had entered this dungeon when I was fifteen. That meant by now, everyone else must be around eighteen. Old enough to drink.

“Man, I remember how we were all talking about celebrating with our first drinks once we got back from the dungeon…”

What had once been nothing more than idle chatter to ease the tension had now become my last memory of them.

“…I wonder how they’re all doing.”

As I emptied my mind through exercise, the images of my former companions came rushing back—untouched by time, as vivid as ever.

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