The Hero and the Dungeon

The hero Wataru dove into the dungeon. He breezed through the first floor and entered the labyrinth area.

His usual pattern was to explore around here, but today he pushed through the labyrinth area and went even deeper, arriving at the puzzle area.

"Now then, unexplored territory lies beyond this… Better focus."

He wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, just talking to himself while staring at the door before him.

A riddle door. Wataru leisurely solved the door commonly known as the [Gate of Wisdom].

"… Yep, this is arithmetic. Just basic calculations."

"This one reminds me of Japanese quiz shows. The matchstick puzzle. Just need to flip the triangle."

"Ah, this is a famous riddle. In this world, anyway. 'Northern Sea.'"

"…'Easy,' I guess?"

Expressing thoughts that would earn him a headbutt from Haku if she heard, he passed through to the spiral staircase area.

Beyond this point, nothing whatsoever had been reported to the guild.

He thought Kehma, having delved deeper than anyone, might have information, but his debt made it awkward to ask.

In this world, information that gave you an advantage was something to keep hidden. Asking for it would only add to his debt.

Of course, that included dungeon strategy information. As an exception, the guild would purchase and publicize information about traps that would cause too much damage if unknown — like the [Greed Trap] where you had to return the magic sword to its pedestal or get locked in. Adventurers dying needlessly was a loss from the guild's perspective too.

"… So the center is open, huh."

Maybe it'd be faster to just jump down? He looked down into the open shaft… If he landed well, he'd probably get away with just some fractures. With that thought, Wataru discarded the idea of jumping.

Checking each step carefully, he descended the spiral staircase.

… Partway down, a wall suddenly jutted out.

"Whoa, close call."

For Wataru, it wasn't that dangerous. He nimbly hopped onto the projecting wall to avoid falling.

If he'd been any slower, he probably would've been knocked off. Only then did he realize the purpose of the open center. Though realizing it didn't really change anything.

When he finished descending the spiral staircase, he found an area that looked like man-made ruins, divided into sections.

Checking for traps as he went, he entered a nearby room.

"Oh, a treasure chest! Heheh, I wonder what's inside this deep? Maybe a manga magazine?"

Wataru, being from another world, hoped to find something Japanese inside. But it was just a sword. A bit disappointed, but upon closer inspection, he noticed a magic stone embedded in it. A magic sword.

"Ah, right, I heard you could get magic swords here. Hmm, when I channel magic into it… feels like it enhances sharpness? Well, it'll help pay off my debt… I would've preferred something from Japan though."

Magic swords that enhanced sharpness were on the lower end of magic swords. The higher-ranked ones had actual magical effects. A sword at this level could be bought for a few gold coins — third-rate equipment for an S-Rank adventurer hero.

Back when he was C-Rank, he would have been desperate to get equipment like this.

Defeating Iron Golems that appeared along the way, he found more magic swords in other rooms. All of them enhanced sharpness. He stored the magic swords along with the Iron Golem remains in his time-space magic [Storage], but it was starting to fill up.

"Maybe I should've lightened my load before coming… No no, traveling alone means I need to be fully prepared. Can't be helped."

Somehow collecting twenty magic swords, he found stairs leading further down.

He didn't just think "still safe" — he felt "still plenty of room." If it came to it, he could just abandon the Iron Golem remains.

With that thought, Wataru decided to at least peek at the next floor.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Even though I've been going somewhat easy on him, having the dungeon conquered so effortlessly doesn't feel great.

But since Haku-san asked me to keep him alive, I can't use never-before-seen instant-death traps. And trying to repel him with monsters just makes us lose out since he's so strong. How is he slicing Iron Golems in half with casual sword swings? Oi.

So we went with the strategy of loading him up with treasure so he'd leave quickly.

"Quite the magic sword giveaway today."

"Yeah. Since someone finally reached the warehouse area, might as well use this chance for some advertising."

At the level of magic swords we're giving away, high-ranked adventurers probably won't bother coming.

"The Iron Golem remains are filling up his [Storage] too… wait, huh? Did I make a passage there?"

Watching Wataru, I saw him about to descend stairs I don't remember making… That's not the prison area, right? What are those stairs?

"Huh? I made those, you know… wait, that's right! I totally forgot because of the hero, but I made a dungeon!"

Oh, I completely forgot. Come to think of it, I did have Rokuko make a dungeon.

"… So, what kind of dungeon did you make?"

"Heheh, just watch! It's super innovative! I'll show you I can come up with ideas that rival Kehma's!"

Perfect timing. Let's watch how the hero tackles it.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"… Whoa, the scenery just changed completely."

When he descended the stairs, a sea of magma spread before him. Waves of heat seemed to sear his skin.

Stepping stones dotted the magma sea, forming a path. One wrong step and even magic tool footwear would probably burn up.

"With the hot springs here, I guess it makes sense this is volcanic… Like a natural sauna."

In reality, it was far beyond sauna levels — magma hot enough to melt bone — but it wasn't much of a threat to Wataru the hero. He manipulated his magic power, spreading it like a membrane to form a barrier. With this, even if the footing collapsed and he fell into the magma, he should be able to last about thirty seconds unharmed.

Still, it consumed a fair amount of magic, so he carefully advanced, checking each foothold.

"Piiii—!"

"Hm?"

He heard a bird's cry. Looking, he saw a small white bird flying toward him like a dart. He drew his sword to intercept it. Clang! A hard impact, and the bird tumbled down into the magma with a plop.

What kind of bird was that? He wondered, but the small bird that had fallen into the magma was already engulfed in flames.

Deciding not to worry about it, he wondered if there were no golems on this floor. He looked around again, searching for any monster presence.

Strangely, he sensed nothing besides the small bird currently becoming yakitori. Though admittedly, he probably couldn't detect golems that were completely still.

… Guess he'd press on.

As Wataru took a step forward, he felt a light impact on his back. Clang!

"Whoa?! … Th-that was close!"

He nearly lost his footing but held on. Turning around, he saw the small bird, still burning, flapping its wings.

"A firebird… a phoenix! I see, it wasn't burning because of the magma — it was on fire from the start!"

"Pi!"

The small bird charged again… but as a phoenix, surprise attacks lose their effectiveness once you know what's coming.

Thinking he'd seen something rare, Wataru cut down the phoenix.

With a crushed cry of "Pikya!", the phoenix was engulfed in flames… But seconds later, the phoenix revived and attacked again. It recovered far faster than he expected. Wataru cut it down again.

Yet the phoenix kept reviving and attacking, over and over.

It was extremely weak, but its revival cooldown was terrifyingly short. No matter how many times he killed it, it seemed pointless—however,

"Ah! Wait, couldn't I farm materials from this?! Come to think of it, Kantra-san said he wanted rare fire-type materials! Jackpot!"

"Pikii?!"

— Perhaps sensing something ominous, the phoenix flew away from Wataru.

"Well well, saved by being smart," Wataru muttered quietly. Actually, he had no idea how to collect materials from a phoenix that burned up the moment it died, so he wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway.

He made a mental note to look into it before his next visit and continued onward.

Along the way, footholds suddenly collapsed, but he somehow made it to the back. There was a door.

Putting his strength into it, he pushed it open. Beyond was another heat-filled cavern similar to what he'd just passed through.

While there was no overflowing magma, he could see Red Lizards and Magma Slimes just within his line of sight.

Apparently, the real challenge started here.