Deeper Into The Dungeon

The sight of various kinds of ant-type monsters forming a swarm and rushing toward us all at once was nothing but terrifying. I hurriedly manipulated divine power and created a massive Ice Ball.

“Ice Ball…!”

When I fired it in a hurry, dozens—hundreds—of monsters were blown away, but from the sides more monsters that had survived kept appearing one after another without end.

“Ice Spear! Ice Ball!”

I used spears to defeat individual monsters and balls to wipe out groups at once. Even though I kept defeating them, there was no sign of their numbers decreasing. At this rate we would be attacked by the monsters… the moment that realization froze my body, Rebecca grabbed my hand.

“Luca, it’s impossible to defeat them all. What matters is moving forward. Let’s just defeat the monsters blocking our path. Even if we don’t defeat them, we can just change their route with Ice Wall or Rock Wall.”

The warmth of Rebecca’s hand and her voice instantly calmed me down, and I squeezed her palm once to gather my resolve again.

“Sorry. Thank you so much.”

“Yeah. Also, even though it’s a swarm, there are places where the monsters thin out. It doesn’t look like the entire place is completely filled with monsters without gaps, so let’s move through areas where there are fewer of them.”

“…You’re right.”

“Luca, I’ll guide you along routes with fewer monsters, even if it means taking a slight detour.”

“Thank you very much.”

Thanks to Rebecca, I regained my rhythm and continued defeating monsters steadily, and several hours passed.

Rebecca and I were now on the tenth floor, taking a short break in a side path where there were few monsters. Surprisingly, even inside a dungeon during a Stampede there were places like this, and just like in a normal dungeon we could secure time to rest.

“It’s going well.”

“Better than expected. But it’s because you’re here, Rebecca, that we’ve made it this far without problems. Thank you for coming with me.”

“I haven’t even defeated a single monster yet though.”

“No, even so you’ve helped a lot. …Should we go to the Divine Domain and take a proper rest around here?”

When I looked at the clock, more than ten hours had already passed since we entered the dungeon, so I asked that question. Rebecca thought for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, let’s rest a bit. I feel like we should sleep once.”

“Yeah, it’s already night after all.”

Ant Hell was a cave-type dungeon the entire way through, so you couldn’t tell the difference between day and night, but judging by the time it was about when we would normally be going to bed.

“Let’s go to the Divine Domain.”

Rebecca took the hand I offered, and the two of us moved together to the Divine Domain. When we landed inside the pavilion we had already become familiar with, Lady Seremees was standing in front of us.

“Good work, both of you. Sit on the sofa.”

When we sat down on the sofa as instructed, I realized I was far more tired than I had expected. This was bad… I didn’t feel like I could stand up again. The cushions on this sofa were just too soft and comfortable.

“At this pace, you should reach the depths the day after tomorrow as planned.”

“Yes. I’m surprised we’re progressing more smoothly than I expected.”

“That’s how incredible the power of a divine servant is. And it was fortunate that this Stampede is occurring in an ant-type dungeon. If the monsters themselves were stronger, even Luca might have had a difficult time.”

That was true… things were going smoothly because I could defeat the monsters in a single strike. If they were monsters that required multiple attacks to defeat, it would become difficult very quickly.

“Will the strength of the monsters remain about the same even deeper inside?”

“Yes, from what I’ve observed they seem about the same. So there’s no need to worry. …The real problem is the Servant of the God of Earth.”

“The day after tomorrow, I’ll give it everything I have.”

“I’ll do my best too.”

After hearing our determination, Lady Seremees smiled gently and extended her palm toward the empty grassland. Then she murmured words in a language I had never heard before… and in an instant, two small houses appeared there.

“W-what is this…?”

“Gods can create things relatively freely within the Divine Domain. Though there are some limitations.”

“…That’s amazing. Can you take them to the lower world?”

“That isn’t possible. They can only be used within the Divine Domain.”

I see. Even so, it was incredibly convenient. Creating houses instantly was unbelievable.

“You two should sleep in those houses tonight. There are beds prepared inside, so use them. There’s also a toilet and a shower. I can’t create food, but Luca brought some supplies into storage earlier, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Um… thank you very much.”

Still stunned by such incredible power, I managed to thank her. Lady Seremees smiled kindly in response. After standing up from the sofa, we decided to check the houses first, with me heading to the one on the right and Rebecca going to the one on the left.

When I opened the door and stepped inside… a simple but very comfortable-looking room spread out before me. It felt like a slightly upscale inn.

“This is amazing… Rebecca, how’s yours?”

“It’s really clean and comfortable. The bed is nice and soft.”

When I peeked into Rebecca’s house as well, it looked exactly the same inside.

“With a place this comfortable to sleep, all our fatigue will completely disappear.”

“That’s true. Starting tomorrow, I feel like we’ll be able to work even harder than today.”

After that, we ate the street food and inn meals we had stored in the warehouse as dinner, took quick showers, and then climbed into the beds.

Inside such a comfortable bed—so comfortable it hardly felt like we were in the middle of challenging a dungeon—I had no trouble sleeping at all and fell asleep instantly.