Dungeon Uproar

It was a morning in the forest.

In the mansion’s bedroom, I was holding Liricia in my arms.

Her firm white skin felt so smooth and pleasant that I couldn’t help running my hand from her slender nape down her back and all the way to the tips of her feet.

With an embarrassed, joyful smile, she looked at me with her violet eyes.

“Oh honestly, Master… it tickles. Ah— it’s morning, you know.”

“Liricia really feels amazing to touch… it just makes me want to keep stroking you.”

I pulled her closer and traced the gentle curve of her back with my fingertips.

Liricia’s body trembled with a sharp shiver.

“I-I said no… we have a lot to do today as well, remember?”

“True. Yesterday was so chaotic that I never did manage to do what Edgar asked.”

“Let’s buy a map at the bookstore today. Besides fulfilling Edgar-san’s request, we should be able to search for the legendary items we need for your rejuvenation.”

“Yeah, Liricia. I’m counting on you—”

“Mmm—! Master!”

I sealed Liricia’s delicate lips with mine.

Then I pressed our bodies together and stroked every soft inch of her.

Her disheveled silver hair spread over the bed like an open fan…

—But then.

Kou’s voice suddenly rang out as the entire room flashed red.

“Waaarning! Danger is dangerous! Warning danger! Danger is on waaaarning!”

I sprang up and grabbed the sub-unit.

“What’s wrong, Kou!?”

“Help, eek! Warning, eek! Eek eek! Danger is blblblbl!”

“Hey, Kou! Kou, answer me!”

Only shrill screams came from the sub-unit, with no coherent reply.

I didn’t know what was happening, but Kou seemed to be in a panic.

I jumped out of bed and threw a bathrobe over my naked body.

As I grabbed the sword propped against the wall, I spoke.

“I’ll go to Kou first—Liricia, get fully equipped and then bring my gear after me!”

“Understood, Master!”

I ran down the mansion’s hallway toward the dungeon entrance.

I arrived at the small dungeon’s main chamber.

In the room at the back of the chamber sat Kou, the white sphere.

Clinging to Kou in her nightclothes was Teti, her face twisted with anxiety. Her slender back was framed by a cascade of golden hair.

“G-good morning, Alec-sama…”

“Morning, Teti. —What’s going on, Kou!?”

“Another dungeon is attacking, it extended a passage and started the attack!”

“What! Another dungeon!?”

“Yep. Because I stayed super weak while holding four cores, from now on others are going to target us more and more.”

“Yeah… that’s a problem. We won’t even be able to go traveling.”

“I don’t wanna be apart from you. It’s scary.”

“I don’t want to lose you either, Kou… Maybe I should train you up until you can defend yourself alone.”

As I muttered to myself, Kou shouted.

“Ah— it’s almost here. Right in front of the main chamber!”

“All right, good! Come on then, bring it!”

I went back to the front chamber, raised my sword to the ready posture, and shouted.

That was when it happened.

Liricia appeared, wearing her white armor and cleric’s robes, carrying my clothes and iron breastplate.

“Master, your armor— ah!”

Suddenly, a corridor opened right next to Liricia. It was about five meters wide.

A huge mass of zombies writhed within it.

“Liricia!”

I dashed forward to protect her.

But the enemies’ advance was faster.

—If I threw my sword, I could take out one or two… but then what!?

Startled by the sudden appearance of enemies, Liricia had stepped back and frozen in place.

On top of that, her hands were full with my gear.

At that point I just threw caution aside and sprinted forward, prepared to use my own body as a shield.

—I refused to let Liricia be hurt!

But as the filthy zombies and pale wights surged toward her—

Sssk, sssk, ssssk ssssk. Sssk ssssk ssssk ssssk.

The moment they set foot past the edge of Kou’s dungeon, the undead shattered to powder.

One wight tried to stop, but the press of zombies from behind shoved it forward, forcing it out where it also vanished.

Occasionally a skeleton warrior with a weapon appeared, but it too disappeared at once, leaving only its sword to clatter emptily across the floor.

I walked slowly over to Liricia and took up position beside her to shield her just in case.

Clutching the iron armor in her arms, Liricia stared with her violet eyes wide and round.

“Wh-what in the world… is happening?”

A voice came from the sub-unit.

“Since I’m running this dungeon on Master’s holy energy, it seems I’m very strong against undead. We got lucky that the opponent is an undead-type dungeon.”

“A-as expected of Master… To be this strong without even doing anything…”

“…Think we can win like this?”

“I’m erasing the enemy monsters at an incredible rate. Their eight million power has already dropped below four million. It’s been cut in half.”

The surface of the sub-unit glowed with delight.

Liricia and I just stood there in a daze, watching events unfold.

The sizzling sound of things vanishing continued: sssk sssk sssk.

Then something Kou said caught my attention, and I asked a question.

“Power?”

“For each minion monster: Tier 1 is about 100 power, Tier 2 is about 1,000, Tier 3 is about 10,000, Tier 4 is about 100,000, and Tier 5 is about one million. A dungeon can see only the opponent’s total power, total material, and number of cores.”

“So in other words, you’re power zero with four cores, Kou.”

“Exactly. So to other dungeons, I look like a duck swimming around in a soup pot that’s already on the fire. ‘Please enjoy your meal~.’”

“That’s bad… Is there any good way around this? I don’t want Kou getting destroyed.”

“Kou-chan is an important companion.”

Beside me, Liricia nodded vigorously in agreement.

But then, from the room in back, a high, flustered shout rang out.

“Th-that too, but! Alec-sama, please, at least put on some clothes or underwear!”

At that desperate cry, I reflexively glanced back over my shoulder.

I saw Teti, her long ears red right to the tips, hands covering her face.

Though she was peeking through her fingers.

—Ah.

Now that she mentioned it, I realized I was currently naked under the bathrobe, with the front hanging open.

My monster-hunting, well-trained muscles—and my “other self”—were halfway on display.

“Sorry, I’ll get dressed right now—Liricia.”

“Y-yes, Master!”

With Liricia’s help, I put on my clothes and strapped on my armor.

By the time we were done, the number of incoming enemies had noticeably decreased.

The enemy dungeon’s momentum was clearly fading.

Kou spoke from the sub-unit.

“The enemy is down to 1.2 million power. …What do you want to do? Should we go on the offensive?”

“If I remember right, you can connect to the floor just above where the enemy core is, right?”

“That’s how it works.”

“All right, then let’s go finish them off! —Come on, Liricia!”

“Yes, Master!”

I took Liricia with me and charged into the enemy dungeon.