Large-Scale Dungeon Collapse

――A dungeon on the outskirts of the royal capital.

――It has no name yet.

“The ceiling’s awfully high. Bird-type monsters might appear… A mage who can attack from range—‘you’—might be the key to clearing this place.”

“What if they’re not bird-type but giant-type?”

“Don’t say scary things—if giant-types appear as trash mobs, it’s definitely an A-rank.”

Dungeon, first basement level.

A four-person B-rank party moved through the corridor in formation.

The lineup: Heavy Knight, Seeker, Mage, Priest.

They were mid-level adventurers nearing veteran status.

“Even though we just came in, not a single monster has appeared… Use your scouting skill.”

“Roger.”

Their objective was not to clear the dungeon.

They had been commissioned by the Adventurer’s Guild and were undertaking a rank-assessment quest for a newly appeared dungeon.

Therefore this dungeon did not yet have a name.

The custom was for the Guild to assign a rank and name after receiving reports from adventurers about monsters and the dungeon’s structure.

“――There’s one coming from the far crossroads, from the right.”

The Seeker, a high-tier thief class, used a detection skill to sense the first monster worthy of note.

The other three adventurers readied their weapons and held their breath, waiting for the monster to appear around the corner.

So then—what kind of monster lived in this upstart dungeon?

――Thud, thud.

Footsteps.

They were large—judging by how they approached, the strides were huge.

At the very least, it was certainly not a bird-type monster that moved by flight.

“C-cyclops?!”

The monster that slowly revealed itself was a one-eyed giant reaching five meters tall.

Its rank as a dungeon ‘Boss’ would be C-rank.

If the B-rank party coordinated, it was not an unbeatable foe.

But—if that shows up on the first-floor corridor as a common monster, the dungeon’s rank would undoubtedly reach A-rank.

“Seriously?!”

“Calm down! There’s only one; it’s not an undefeatable monster. If worse comes to worst, we can run all the way out of the dungeon!”

“GROOOOAAAR!!”

The cyclops raised a massive club, as if carved from the trunk of a great tree!

The party leader, the Heavy Knight, braced his shield and activated a skill—the heavy steel gleamed.

“【Iron Wall】!”

――Boom!

The Heavy Knight’s heels sank slightly.

He felt a numbness in his arm, but somehow managed to withstand the blow.

“【Flame Spear】!”

“GROOOOAAAR!?!?”

A slender Fire-attribute spell pierced the cyclops’s weak point—the eye—after stopping its movement.

“Alright, we can do this!”

The corners of every party member’s mouth eased into a small smile.

However—dashing their hopes—another cyclops appeared from the far crossroads.

“Wh-what?! Another one?!”

“Think about it—of course! To this dungeon, cyclopes are just trash mobs!”

“Damn it! Everyone, retreat to outside the dungeon! I’ll hold off their attacks!”

Following the Heavy Knight (Leader)’s orders, the Seeker, Mage, and Priest turned their backs and fled.

Only the Heavy Knight remained, bracing to receive another swing from the log-like club.

“【Iron Wall】!”

――Boom!

He succeeded in taking the hit as before.

But he could not withstand the follow-up from the second cyclops.

――Boom!

“Guh!?!?”

“Wh-what?! Leader?!”

The Heavy Knight, clad in heavy armor, was blown away, flew over the heads of the three fleeing members, and fell.

The Priest ran over.

“I’ll heal him right away!”

“Impossible! This wound won’t heal quickly, and the cyclopes aren’t slow enough for us to carry the armored leader and escape!”

“But!”

“We’ll all be wiped out!”

“…All right, I understand.”

“Sorry, Leader.”

The three left behind resumed their escape, leaving the Heavy Knight.

“Protect!”

Just as they were about to be overtaken, the Mage cast a barrier spell.

A translucent barrier was deployed to separate the corridor.

But even that cracked on the first hit and was destroyed by the second.

“Okay, the exit!”

That slight delay bought them time—the three barely managed to escape the dungeon alive.

Despite having been down there only minutes, the air tasted unusually fresh and the sunlight stung their eyes.

“Huff… even though we’re B-rank, if our HP and MP had been full we could’ve handled the upper levels of an A-rank. But that strength—it’s a high-tier A-rank dungeon.”

“Yeah, we should report it to the Guild right away. Impatient adventurers might dive in before the rank is officially assigned.”

The three rested briefly and went to the horses they’d left tied to a tree near the dungeon—when suddenly.

“Kyah?!”

The Priest, who had been resting closest to the dungeon entrance, screamed.

When the Seeker and Mage turned around—the entrance, which looked like a sheet of light, had a thick arm reaching through it and gripping the Priest’s upper body.

“A monster outside the dungeon?!”

Normally, dungeon monsters are blocked by the light membrane at the entrance and cannot exit.

Yet a cyclops was outside the dungeon.

By adventurer logic—there was only one possibility.

“Dungeon collapse?!”

“Impossible! I’ve never heard of a dungeon collapsing only days after it formed!”

To add, the higher the dungeon’s rank, the longer the grace period before a collapse.

Never had anyone heard of a presumed A-rank dungeon collapsing within days of appearing.

“H-…help…me…Gya!?”

――Squelch!

The cyclops’s brute strength crushed the Priest’s body.

“Run for the royal capital!”

The Seeker and Mage leapt onto their horses and fled toward the royal capital.

“GROOOOAAAR!!”

“Damn it! It’s chasing us!”

“Flame Spea—ugh?!”

“What happened?!”

The Mage, attempting to cast a spell behind him from horseback, screamed.

When the Seeker checked, a quadrupedal beast-type monster—probably leaping in from the side—had bitten the Mage’s horse.

“Another monster?!”

The Seeker noticed an even greater anomaly.

The cluster of dungeons surrounding the royal capital—every single one they passed was undergoing a dungeon collapse.

Now the area around the royal capital was overflowing with monsters, and their numbers were rapidly increasing.

“Wh-what on earth is happening?!”

The Seeker, the last survivor, rode his horse desperately to somehow inform the Guild of this fact.

So their companions’ deaths would not be in vain.