on her this way, but how else could I have gotten information like this without my own two eyes?
She likes to talk about this, she laughs like that…
My whole body feels like it’s burning red. I’ve never felt like this before.
“Yeah, Aiz! Tell us that one story!”
“That one story…?”
My body freezes. One of them called her Aiz.
A young male animal person sitting two seats diagonally across from her requested the tale.
He has a handsome face, but also a very manly aura. I’m male myself, and I have to admit I like his style.
“You know the one! About those Minotaurs that got away!Remember, you finished off the last one on the lower fifth! You know: tomato boy!”
Lightning shoots down my spine; the butterflies are gone. Something else is taking their place.
My mind is frozen. My body won’t move.
“Are you talking about the group of Minotaurs that attacked us on the lower seventeenth floor, and they ran away when we fought back?”
“Yeah, yeah! That one! By some miracle they ran up! We tore after them! Already damn tired, too!”
The only mode of transportation in the Dungeon is your own two feet. Since there is no convenient way to reach the lower levels, adventurers who go there pass through the same path over and over.
Therefore, adventurers need to be prepared for both the trip down and the trip up. If you just go as deep as you can, you won’t be able to make it back and will be lost forever.
Familias
that go into the Dungeon need good leaders with a strong sense of how far to go and when to turn back.
The story so far:
Loki Familia
was on some kind of “expedition.”
They encountered a group of Minotaurs on their way back but couldn’t slay them all.
The remaining Minotaurs ran toward the surface. They caught up to the last one on lower Level Five.
Ms. Wallenstein delivered the final blow.
And at that very spot…
“Yeah, and there! That ‘adventurer’! Damn newbie kid!”
… Me.
“Got himself cornered like a lil’ bunny! Shaking like one, too! Poor thing was about to explode!”
Every inch of my body is burning. I might explode right now.
“Oh? What happened to the boy? Was he okay?”
“Aiz here carved up the Minotaur at the last second, ain’t that right?”
“……”
My jaw won’t close. My eyes are locked on that guy, my neck not budging an inch in any other direction. Something’s gotta give.
He cocks his eyebrows, upping his manly presence.
“The kid took the full blast of that stinky cow’s blood, got soaked! So, tomato boy! Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ahhh—Ow, my ribs!!!”
“Woah…”
“Aiz, please tell me you weren’t trying to do that! I’m begging you!”
“… No, I wasn’t.”
The animal guy is laughing so hard he’s tearing up. The rest of the table, too. They’re laughing at me. Even the customers around them are trying not to laugh.
“And get this! Tomato boy! He ran away, screaming his head off! Gya-ha-ha-ha! Our princess saves him, and he just buggers off!”
“… Hm.”
“GYA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Absolutely priceless! Aizee scares away a newbie! You are sooo awesome!”
“Ha-ha-ha… I’m sorry, Aiz, but I can’t take this anymore!”
“……”
“Ooooh, don’ make them scary eyes! It ruins yer cute face!”
The entire
Loki Familia
table erupts with laughter.
I feel like they just blew a hole in my chest.
It’s as if the whole world is in that corner.
“Um… B-Bell?”
I can hear Syr’s voice, but it goes in one ear and out the other.
Their conversation is starting back up.
“But really, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something so pathetic! So disgusting I could cry!”
“… Hmmm.”
“The hell was he doing? If you’re gonna cry like a little bitch, you shouldn’t be down there in the first place! Right, Aiz?”
“……”
I can almost hear my own head caving in.
“It’s weak adventurers like him who give us a bad name. Just give it up already!”
“Shut your mouth already, Bete! It
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