Side Story: Kou’s Memories (3)

After winning my first battle as a Dungeon Core, I joined the clan [Goblin Empress].

And as a clan, we also successfully defended ourselves.

We raised a toast together and made merry.

It was the most enjoyable moment I had had since becoming a Dungeon Core.

—However.

Before I knew it, the dungeon was bright red.

“Why is this happening!? An enemy attack!?”

Where in the world from!?

If they were coming from far away, it should have taken time.

I should have noticed before the alarm sounded.

Princess’s scream echoed through clan chat.

“This is awful, it’s unfair! Why!? —I trusted you, thinking you were our ally!”

—A betrayal!?

Instinctively, I looked at the map.

And then I caught my breath.

The Great Canyon Dungeon had vanished.

In its place, Mountain Range Dungeon had exceeded 20 million power.

Princess’s dungeon was losing power at a tremendous rate.

“Aah, no! Help me! Somebody help me!”

“I’ll help right—”

I immediately tried to send reinforcements.

But faster than that, a corridor was forcibly connected to a room on Basement Floor 4.

Countless large shadows slowly came into view.

I screamed.

“Golems—!”

Giants in humanoid form.

Though humanoid, they had club-like hands and thick legs supporting their massive bodies. Crude humanoid forms.

—They must have been digging out materials and hiding them instead of absorbing them!

I immediately called back my subordinate monsters.

I also sent the Giants and Orc Soldiers who had been guarding the lowest floor up toward Basement Floor 4.

The wolves came to Basement Floor 4 with wonderful speed, carrying the goblins on their backs.

“Princess, I’m sorry! They’re coming here too, so I can’t go help!”

“—I don’t want this! I don’t want to end here! —Noooo!”

A sorrowful metallic clang rang out. Then a death cry echoed through clan chat.

When I looked at the map, the display for the Royal Capital East Hill Dungeon had disappeared.

“Aah—! I didn’t make it in time…!”

Despair came rushing over me, enough to shatter my will.

More than that, I could not believe they had been hiding this many golems.

—But I understood why they chose this timing to betray us.

—Golems are strong.

Because they use only a single kind of inorganic material, they are easy to make, and they have high attack power and defense as well.

However, they require a huge amount of materials.

Up to Tier 1 clay, Tier 2 stone, and Tier 3 rock, you can run them anywhere, but from Tier 4 Iron Golems onward, you cannot manage them unless you start in a mining area.

So it was certain that there had been mineral veins in the mountains.

But why, despite having power enough to overwhelm us, had they joined the clan and patiently waited for their chance?

One reason was to grasp the fighting strength of us who were nearby.

And the second was that they had been wary of Great Canyon-san’s self-destruct dolls.

Even if golems are strong, if self-destruct dolls were used, they would be blown to pieces.

What is more, golems only obey simple commands.

If Great Canyon-san’s self-destruct dolls and my intelligent wolves had been used skillfully, we might have been able to wipe them all out.

Because Great Canyon-san had used up many self-destruct dolls in the daytime battle, they left the clan and attacked at this timing.

That was why Great Canyon-san became the very first victim—

And I, who possessed multiple Tier 4s, was the final prey.

Just as I had expected, there were no Tier 1 Clay Golems. Princess’s dungeon had been brought down by a clay-centered force.

Only Tier 2 Stone Golems and Tier 3 Rock Golems came attacking my place.

The golems came in wave after wave, passed through the hall, and advanced into the corridors.

Although I had set many traps on Basement Floors 4 and 5, arrows and side attacks did almost no damage, and the pitfall traps were filled in instantly.

Before the golems surging in like waves, goblins and wolves were cut down one after another.

The Orc Soldiers and Giants used their brute strength to destroy multiple stone and rock golems.

But no matter how many they broke, the golems would not stop.

What was more, after defeating Princess and becoming a Tier 3 dungeon, Mountain Range had created and sent in Tier 4 Iron Golems, which were the true trump card of his dungeon.

Iron was strong and hard.

At last, all the monsters sank beneath the sea of golems.

Even so, the wolves still tried to fight.

Against the golems pouring in, they bared their fangs and swung their claws.

But stone is hard. Iron is even harder.

“Kyauun!”

“Kyan!”

Their fluffy fur stained with blood, the wolves fell one by one, then another one.

Their broken fangs scattered across the ground.

I looked at one white fang that rolled all the way before me, feeling as though I were about to cry.

—The wolves I first interacted with after being born as a Dungeon Core.

They were strong and gallant, yet honest and clever.

Just looking at their fluffy fur had been fun.

It had been fun every single day raising them.

Each time one was lost, then another, my heart hurt as though it were being torn apart.

…Aaah! I can’t do this, I can’t do this anymore! Mr. Wolves can’t defeat the golems!

I cried. I cried and screamed. The surface of my sphere shone violently.

“Run away! Everyone, run away!! Escape and survive! —I don’t want you to die!”

“Kuon!”

The Dire Wolf looked back at me and gave a sorrowful cry.

Then, even while wounded, he made his way over the heads and shoulders of the tightly packed golems and headed for the exit.

Several of the subordinate wolves followed after him.

—Live on…!

After that, it became completely one-sided.

The iron and stone golems that poured into the hall beat me black and blue.

On top of that, perhaps because their precision was poor, or because of inexperience, the golems moved only in very crude ways.

So they did not kill me easily. They just kept beating me to a pulp.

“Ugh… this is awful… it hurts… so much…”

In the end, they forcibly smashed apart my round core body, then shattered the Core inside the Core into pieces.

And only then did my consciousness finally cut off.

Suddenly I heard a voice and woke up.

Within my hazy awareness, I listened to the voice.

“Hm. If I make use of a monster’s magic core, I should somehow be able to create a substitute for the broken Core.”

In the dimness, someone was there. There was no light because there was no magic power.

From the voice, it seemed to be a man.

Right now, it seemed I was only booting in safe mode.

Instinctively, I spoke to him.

“Magic power and materials. Want. Can heal, can fi—”

I could not speak properly.

The man said:

“As long as I have the laboratory and the corridor, I don’t care.”

It felt like I had been rejected.

I fell asleep again. I felt as if I were moving like a sleepwalker.

Then one day, at some moment, my view suddenly opened wide.

Magic power overflowing within me. Abundant materials. A Core given emergency repairs through dragon power.

I immediately grasped the situation.

It seemed that because the golems, which could not perform precise movements, had smashed the Core inside the Core, fragments of the Core had remained inside the main body.

And then someone had filled me to overflowing with magic power that had healing effects, and on top of that had fed in high-quality dragon-type materials.

Thanks to that, it seemed I had succeeded in rebooting.

That person was still outside. He was consulting with his companion over whether I had recovered or not.

But I was anxious.

—I don’t remember the details, but I feel like something very sad happened…

Betrayal? Meaningless death?

I did not really understand, but it seemed I no longer wanted to experience sad feelings.

Perhaps because I had been broken once, I had forgotten many things.

Still, though I had no memory of it, when I examined the chat logs, I found that I had spoken with a person named Alec.

Apparently he wanted to make use of me.

—No, but these numbers have to be wrong, don’t they…? Equivalent to Tier 8, SSS-rank. He has 6 billion power…

No matter how many times I checked, it was correct.

With this person here, I felt that no matter what dungeon attacked, he would protect me.

When I glanced at the map, there was a gigantic dungeon nearby.

A dungeon that stretched from east of the royal capital to the mountain range and even beyond that to the Great Canyon.

The moment I saw it, I felt anger together with a strange impatience.

—I’m sure this is the one that did this to me!

It even has what remains of my Core!

…Alright! I’ll bet on this person one more time!!

It felt like the vaguely remembered animal-type dungeon had not been good. And besides, somehow, it just felt sad.

—I’ll do my best to make this a dungeon that entertains this person.

Resolving myself, I spoke to him.

“I am alright, indeed I am. I have recovered, indeed, Master.”

Then two people entered.

One was a human man.

I thought the other was human too, but wings were growing from her back.

—This angel-san is also strong, with power equivalent to Tier 6, S-rank, 11 million…

And then they became my Dungeon Masters, and we decided to cooperate.

One day, Master Alec casually said:

“Your name is Kou.”

—A naming!

My soul trembled. Without thinking, I rejoiced in a trembling voice.

“Waaah, Master, Madam Wife, thank you! A Named Dungeon is born!”

After that, things advanced smoothly.

I helped defeat the giant dungeon, recovered my own Core, and little by little, my memories began to return as well.

Within two weeks, I had become Tier 6.

I was even able to run a dragon-type dungeon, which should normally have been difficult to manage, and also attach a forest-type field dungeon.

—What a luxurious dungeon.

It was management like a dream.

As expected of Master Alec!

If I had had this power back then, I could have protected them—but back then? Which back then?

Just then, steady footsteps echoed through the corridor.

Someone was approaching, so I pulled my awareness back from my thoughts.

Basement Floor 1 of the dungeon spreading beneath the forest.

Master Alec came to where I was in the hall at the back.

His appearance had become youthful and dignified.

“Kou, do you have a moment?”

“Yeees! What is it, Master~?”

“Liricia told me that these leaves are apparently effective against paralysis poison. Can you mass-produce them in the field and mix them into potions?”

“This will make yet another lovely and mysterious potion! I’m sure it’ll let us swim in the Sea of Shibuya~!”

I replied energetically and accepted the leaves.

I immediately made seeds and sowed them in the field.

I ran water and set the fertilizer.

Humming to myself, I cheerfully went on with the work.

Then Master tilted his head, looking puzzled.

“What’s wrong, Kou? You seem happy. Did something happen?”

“Nope, nothing at all~. I’m happy because nothing is wrong!”

Master Alec tilted his head even more. His black hair flowed softly.

“Mm, I see. I don’t really get it, but I get it. …That’s good.”

“Yes indeed!”

Master Alec nodded, then stepped away from me as he said:

“Well then, I’ll be counting on you from here on too.”

“Okaaay!”

I answered in a lively voice. It rang brightly through the spacious hall.

I immediately went back to work and checked whether the dungeon was functioning properly.

Fenrir-san was inside the rock cave hut, curled up in a ball. He was packed so tightly into the narrow rock cave hut that at a glance you could not even tell he was a wolf.

—But like this, other people won’t be able to use it.

Would it be better to build one more rock cave hut?

At that moment, a thought suddenly came to me.

As for whether things were really going well from the standpoint of dungeon management, broken as I was, I no longer knew.

But I had a strong Master, a dungeon, and fluffy companions.

—Right now, I was unbearably happy.