“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...? - 5-6

Chapter 5: Just a Small Fight, Both Parties Are Getting Punished

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“Achoo!”

A thunderous sneeze echoed through the sealed underground chamber, shaking the space so strongly that dust and pieces of the ceiling and walls crumbled and fell.

“Sneezing? That’s unusual. Did you catch a cold?”

“Sniff… No, it’s just that the heat from my workout wore off. Don’t worry about it.”

“…It’s not like I was worried about you anyway.”

While Hel puffed out her cheeks in a small sulk, I leaned against the dungeon wall to catch my breath—but once again, the area began to tremble. The vibrations didn’t settle after a moment or two. The wall I was leaning on kept shaking persistently.

A short while later, monsters from all over the dungeon began descending toward the lowest level. They came from different species and territories, yet they were all heading straight toward me.

“What’s going on, you guys—?”

“◎★●※○▼※△☆▲!”

“●※○◎★☆▲▼※△!”

“☆▲●※▼※△○◎★!”

“Okay, okay! I get it, so stop all talking at once!”

I couldn’t make out a single word with all their frantic voices blending together, so I raised both hands and tried to silence the mob of monsters.

“…Haah. Let me guess, someone’s gotten into a fight again, right? Just wait here a bit!”

Breaking free from the crowd that had gathered, I grabbed my trusted greatsword leaning against the wall and headed toward the source of the dungeon-shaking commotion.

For the past three years, I had been living in this dungeon. Naturally, that meant living alongside a vast population of monsters. It was essentially me versus one hundred thousand—an overwhelmingly one-sided disadvantage. Facing them head-on would never allow for survival.

So, I put aside my sword meant for slaying monsters and instead tried to co-exist with them.

Even now, I think I was insane to try to communicate with beings who couldn’t even speak my language, whose intentions were nearly impossible to understand. But still, I devoted myself to learning the habits and thought patterns of each monster, searching for ways to understand and connect with them—all for the sake of surviving.

Thanks to that effort, I had reached a point where no monsters truly tried to kill me anymore. …However, it seemed my presence among them had grown far too large.

They came close to nuzzle up to me, shared food with me, demanded to be petted… I honestly didn’t mind that kind of attention. But lately, they had even started bringing me their internal disputes. Because of that, I spent most of my days running around the dungeon resolving squabbles.

“…Geez, do those guys think I’m their boss or something?”

“Huh? You’re not?”

“No! And besides, the boss monster is you! Don’t you go trying to shirk your duties like it’s nothing!”

Hel, who had followed me without me noticing, looked genuinely surprised, prompting me to raise my voice in frustration.

And the culprit herself just gave a flat response.

“Nope. It’s too much trouble.” 

She completely disavowing any responsibility. …So was Niflheim considered a threat to humanity just because this girl was neglecting her job? While I was mulling that over, I arrived at the upper floors and found two monsters glaring down at each other.

One of them was the Glacial Wolf, a monster that mostly lived in the upper levels. Known for its strong territorial instincts, most adventurers who tried to conquer Niflheim were defeated by this very monster and forced to retreat. It was practically the guardian of the upper floors.

Facing off against it was the Blightwyrm. A free-spirited tyrant that wandered the dungeon as it pleased, trampling over territorial boundaries without a care in the world. Naturally, it had horrible chemistry with the Glacial Wolf.

Honestly, about ninety percent of disputes in this dungeon could be traced back to these two. Of course, no ordinary monster could step in between such a powerful pair—both among the strongest in Niflheim. And with Hell in her usual “I don’t care” state, the task of dealing with this always fell to me.

“Awoooooooon!”

“Grrrrrruwaaaah!”

Frigid air surged around Glacial Wolf, while the very ground beneath Blightwyrm withered and died. The air was thick with tension—one wrong move and the entire dungeon could collapse from their clash.

“Hey! You two, that’s enough!”

I stepped between them. Immediately, Glacial Wolf slashed a forepaw toward me. Usually it would calm down when I called out to it, but it looked seriously pissed today.

“…Guess I’ve got no choice. Time to cool you off a little.”

I dodged the strike with a light hop backward, then deliberately stepped forward into its range. Seeing me as a target, Glacial Wolf lashed out with fangs and claws in rapid succession.

“You really are smart—or should I say diligent? Always aiming for vital spots.”

But that made it easier to read and avoid. Once the flurry of attacks died down, I gripped the hilt of my greatsword tightly and swung the blade hard, aiming for Glacial Wolf’s jaw.

THWACK!!!

“Yipe!!?”

Its body spun through the air two, three times before crashing to the ground. That should help cool its head a bit.

“—Now for you.”

Unlike the wolf, Blightwyrm didn’t attack right away. It snorted, looked down at me, and inhaled deeply.

“You’re always too full of yourself. When are you going to fix that habit—whoa now.”

The telegraphed motion made it obvious it was going for a breath attack. I moved in quickly, closing the distance before it could fire, and slammed the butt of my sword’s hilt into its exposed chest where the heart would be.

Crack, crack, crunch!!!

Struck hard, Blightwyrm’s eyes widened and it froze. Even a legendary dragon knows to be wary when its vitals were struck—it might survive, but it wouldn’t walk away unscathed. That arrogance of thinking no minor attack could faze it was exactly what led to this moment.

“Well, that settles that.”

With both of them pacified, the commotion came to an end. Monsters who had come to spectate waved at me like they were saying “Thanks!” and returned to their own territories.

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Chapter 6: Could It Be… There’s Nothing but Ways Out Here?!

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“…Now that I take another look, this really is a bizarre sight.”

As I watched a massive migration of monsters, I stroked the fluffy fur of the Glacial Wolf, while also absentmindedly petting Hel, who had snuck into my lap yet again. At the same time, the black dragon, Blightwyrm, was gnawing on my head. 

Seriously, stop—I’ll die of blood loss at this rate.

“When I first entered this dungeon, they were all openly hostile. Who would’ve thought we’d end up this close.”

Well, this is all thanks to my hard work. Man, looks like I’m finally in the clear for a while. Thank goodness, really.

“—Wait, no, that’s not the point! When are they coming to rescue me already?! I’m seriously at my limit over here!”

Having lived here for three years, I knew all too well—this dungeon was utterly unfit for human habitation. The air circulation was terrible, so it was constantly damp here. There wasn’t a single ray of sunlight. And worst of all, the skeletal remains of adventurers lying around everywhere were downright disturbing!

“Try putting yourself in my shoes, sleeping every night terrified that I might die from some bizarre curse…”

“Athos, you could easily defeat a bunch of undead ghosts, right? So what are you so afraid of?”

“…Hel, listen to me. Don’t underestimate human grudges. Ghosts born from human resentment are a hundred times stronger and right now, that powerful grudge is building inside me.”

I might die from grudge. Dying a lonely, forgotten death because no one came to rescue me, becoming a ghost and part of the dungeon forever… 

No good. That end sounds way too plausible. It’s not even funny. 

“—Eishia! Ripley! Midi! And… um… oh! Wurfe! Hurry up and come save me already!”

That was close—I said earlier that my memories hadn’t faded, but I was already forgetting one person. 

Sorry, Wurfe. But seriously, if you don’t come soon, I really will forget you!

I raised my voice as if to make it echo all the way out of the dungeon, a warning and a plea all in one. Hel, who was covering her ears beside me, suddenly said something strange.

“…If you want to get out that badly, why not just leave yourself?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is an S-rank dungeon! There’s no way it’s that easy to escape. Even if I were to try, I’d need a perfect grasp of the dungeon’s layout—like, I’d have to be able to walk it like my own backyard—”

“…You literally just came up from the lowest floor to here via the shortest route, didn’t you? And it didn’t even take ten minutes.”

…Wait, what?

“Now that you mention it… No, hold on! This place is crawling with terrifying monsters that could wipe out even elite parties!”

“You were just waving and exchanging friendly gestures with those ‘terrifying’ monsters a moment ago.”

…That’s… True.

I had gotten so fixated on the idea of “waiting to be rescued” that I completely forgot to consider escaping on my own. But now that I looked at the situation objectively… Wasn’t there nothing but reasons I could leave on my own?

“I’ve mapped out the dungeon and dealt with the monsters, so the only thing left would be to defeat the boss monster, but…”

“…………”

“Hey, what’s with that meaningful look?”

“……Nothing. It’s nothing at all.”

Hel’s pale skin flushed faintly for a moment before she quickly returned to her usual prickly demeanor and looked away.

“So… What are you going to do? Are you going to escape?”

It felt weird having the boss of the dungeon ask me that, but the answer was already clear in my mind.

“Of course! So, let’s get out of here!”

“Understood. Then I’ll go get ready.”

“Yeah, got i—wait, what did you just say?”

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