Chapter 14

I witnessed the scene where the genes were abandoning their work.

Milk and Milk's father, despite being father and son, didn't look anything alike.

Milk seemed to take after her mother.

“Milk, who is he?”

Milk’s father looked at me.

“It’s Taira. My childhood friend, Ichino Taira. Didn’t I tell you before?”

“Ichino Taira? Ah, I’ve heard of him, but why is he here?”

“I invited him because Papa couldn’t come for work.”

“You invited him to the hotel!?”

“No! Just the dungeon!”

Milk’s father, who had a momentary fierce expression, relaxed when he heard it was just the dungeon.

Safe! I’m safe!

If I had given in to the temptation of the suite room and accepted Milk’s invitation back then, I might have ended up as minced meat.

His name is Makino Gyuzou.

His publicly announced level is 380.

He is ranked 3rd in Kansai and 10th in Japan as an explorer.

He is also ranked within the top 500 in the world.

His estimated cash value is over 1.5 billion D.

He used to be a professional boxer and volunteered for the general category when the dungeon was created, entering it as one of the first.

In the early days of the dungeon, the safety margin settings were ambiguous, making it much more dangerous and easier to level up compared to now.

He continued to enter the dungeon and literally climbed to his current position with his own body.

“Papa, why are you here? Weren’t you at Mount Fuji... and what about the Acid Slime?”

“I heard about the incident at Ishibutai and got a ride on the transport helicopter that was already on its way. The Acid Slime was blown away by the wind from my punch.”

Gyuzou said this with a proud smile.

The wind from his punch, typical of a professional boxer.

He looked at me again, so I greeted him.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ichino Taira. I’ve always seen you on TV, Mr. Gyuzou.”

“You said you’re Milk’s childhood friend, but is that all?”

“Yes. Actually, we only met by chance last week, and we’ve been mostly out of touch since high school.”

“I see.”

Gyuzou stared at me intently, still on guard.

I tried to smile to ease his suspicion, but my facial muscles were reaching their limit.

Please, don’t glare at me.

“Papa, if it weren’t for Taira, I would have really died. You should thank him first.”

“Died? Was it his idea to escape to the third floor?”

“No, it wasn’t. I was attacked by a Bite Wolf here. And it was a pack. Taira rushed to my aid at a critical moment, or I would have really died.”

“A Bite Wolf!? Ichino, is that true? Not a Kobold?”

“Yes. It was a large wolf.”

I said this and handed the wolf’s fang to the uncle.

To the naked eye, it just looked like a regular fang.

I knew that Kobolds also drop fangs, so if someone said it was a Kobold’s fang, I wouldn’t have been able to argue.

Just as I was thinking this,

“Appraisal.”

He used the extremely rare skill of appraisal as if it were nothing.

“It’s genuine. Did you defeat this? What’s your level?”

“27.”

“You’re still 18, right? How did you level up?”

“I don’t want to say. It’s a method only I can use, so there’s no benefit in sharing the information.”

I was honestly scared.

If Gyuzou had pressed me, I might have revealed everything.

But Gyuzou didn’t ask me any more questions.

Instead, he made a proposal that was convenient for me.

“I see. Then you don’t have to say. You don’t have to explain why you’re here when you shouldn’t be. When we leave, I’ll say you were my assistant.”

He must have had information about the people inside.

He knew I hadn’t entered this dungeon.

“Thank you.”

“No, you saved my daughter’s life. This is a small token of my gratitude. Let’s get out quickly. Your mother is worried.”

“Okay.”

Gyuzou said this and touched Milk’s head.

Suddenly, Milk’s consciousness was taken away.

She didn’t fall asleep peacefully.

I think it was a skill like that.

But, is there really a skill that can knock someone out with just a touch?

“The first floor is in a terrible state. It’s not a scene I want to show her now.”

“...I see.”

Damp told me that everyone who didn’t escape in time on the first floor had died.

“What will happen to the dungeon?”

I voiced my thoughts as a question.

One person died in the Expo Park dungeon.

However, it’s not like no one has ever died in a dungeon before. Some people have been killed by their own weapons after they were taken by goblins.

But this is the first incident of its kind.

Monsters that shouldn’t appear on the first floor appeared, and many people died.

This incident will make many people understand that the dungeon is a dangerous place.

“There’s nothing that can be done. The essence of the dungeon is always the same. You’ll understand someday.”

I didn’t understand the meaning of his words until much later.

We escaped the dungeon.

We said we would explain to the surrounding police and media later and returned to the hotel to retrieve our belongings. I got mine, and Gyuzou got Milk’s.

Gyuzou offered to send me home by helicopter after explaining to the police, but I declined because my father was waiting for me and got permission to leave early.

I’m glad I gave the birthday present early.

The media was about to make a big deal out of Milk’s miraculous survival, but due to Gyuzou’s wishes, her name was not made public. And I was recognized as a generic assistant A, seemingly unnoticed by anyone.

Even without the Milk incident, the world was in an uproar.

Twenty-seven deaths is the highest number of casualties in a single accident in a Japanese dungeon.

The anger was directed at the explorer instructor who fled first when the Acid Slime appeared, then at the Oshino Group, the government, and Damp.

Many people began to speak out about the dangers of the dungeon, and there were even calls to seal it off. However, dungeon supporters in various regions strongly opposed this.

A trend even emerged to label those who wanted to exclude the dungeon as evil.

In an unnatural way.

※ side ？？？ ※

In the 130th floor of a certain dungeon.

A man, holding a broadcasting crystal in one hand, spoke in English.

“This is a scheduled check-in. Has the problem in Japan been resolved?”

The question was answered by text floating from the broadcasting crystal.

【We have bribed the politicians. We were asked for a slight concession regarding the EPO corporation, but that was within our expectations. The manipulation of public opinion through the internet and media has been completed. Some experts are still criticizing, but we have sent subordinates to deal with the influential ones. They will soon be on our side. No problem.】

“Excellent, perfect. I’ll contact you at the same time tomorrow. The magic power required to use the broadcasting crystal is not negligible at this point.”

The man ended the communication.

He looked up at the person he was supporting with his right hand and said,

“Sorry for the wait. Shall we continue the battle?”

The one he was supporting was a dragon with golden scales.

The dragon, larger than a blue whale, was about to crush him, but he was supporting the dragon’s massive leg with one hand, despite its weight exceeding 1,000 tons.

Then, the man produced a sword in his right hand and cut off the dragon’s leg.

“Oh, I seem to have killed the main body in the process.”

Blood rained down on the man, but not a single drop touched him as he emerged from the blood waterfall, blocked by an invisible barrier.

The man then walked towards the stairs leading deeper underground, ignoring the golden magic stones worth tens of millions of dollars.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes, let’s go. King, you are fit to be the god of the dungeon.”

Next to the man called King was a black marshmallow-like creature.

King spoke to the creature.

“God? I’m not interested. Rather, are there any more interesting monsters, Damp? My skills are getting rusty.”

Thank you.

Two mysterious figures (one person and one creature?) have appeared.

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