Chapter 86

"Rin-chan, there's nothing in the next room."

On the second day, during the first dungeon run, Nana, who was running ahead to clear the way, suddenly stopped and said this. A combination of her detection skill and auditory perception. Perhaps because she has already started to memorize the paths, Nana's scouting has become increasingly accurate.

"What do you mean?"

"Until now, there have been monsters or items in the rooms, right? The next room probably doesn't even have traps."

Her expression was as usual, soft and relaxed, but her tone was more firm than it was yesterday.

The Star Dust Labyrinth is not a roguelike dungeon. The map is not randomly generated; it simply randomly places 10 out of 21 floors. The stairs are not in the rooms, and there are few places that can even be called rooms, making it a simple cave-type dungeon. We just call the larger cavities on the map "rooms" for convenience. Still, when we actually went to a "room," there were usually monsters or items, so they were supposed to be special places compared to the corridors. The fact that there is nothing there suggests that Nana senses some kind of danger ahead.

"What do you all think?"

‘What do you mean?’

‘I think it’s a trap.’

‘Maybe a rare monster.’

‘I also think it’s a rare monster.’

‘Trap.’

‘Trap.’

‘Kikurage Daimeishin.’

‘It’s definitely a trap.’

‘Hey, there’s a weird comment now.’

Indeed, I also feel the need to be cautious if I can know in advance that something is there. For example, a trap, as many listeners have pointed out. Although there are traps set in this dungeon, I haven't been concerned about them because Nana has been avoiding them after getting caught. If Nana, who has been getting caught, says there are no traps, then the possibility of physical traps is probably low. From the information floating in my mental map, the next room is very large. There is another route to the stairs that doesn't require going through this room, so we could retreat a little and use a different route. Or it could be the appearance of a rare, strong monster. In such cases, it's often better to proceed. Here, whether to choose to avoid a potential trap or to take the chance of a rare monster is a difficult decision, but I'm not afraid of anything as long as I'm with Nana.

"Let's go. If it's the worst, we can just redo it."

"Okay, got it. I'll go first, then."

And I would come to regret this decision.

The moment Nana took a step into the room, a large number of monsters appeared in the supposedly empty room through a warp. The room, which was already quite spacious, was soon filled with monsters without end. Their numbers easily exceeded fifty and approached a hundred, a vast number.

The phenomenon of monsters flooding the room the moment one steps into a dungeon room is called a "Monster House" in roguelike games.

Seeing the Monster House, the brief hesitation of whether to back away or to proceed caused a fatal loss of time. I sensed something activate with a "click" sound. Before I could identify it, Nana pushed me back.

"Nana!!"

"Rin-chan, just wait a moment, okay?"

The moment Nana said this with a soft smile, the dungeon's layout changed, and the path to the room was sealed. So, that sound was a trap to seal off the escape route. Nana understood what was happening from the sound and pushed me back to protect me. Unfortunately, this Monster House was of the type that sealed off all escape routes.

"What should we do..."

I was confused, unable to focus my thoughts. It's not unusual for monsters to appear the moment one steps into a room if there are no traps inside to alert you. However, considering the timing of the escape route being sealed, if I hadn't hesitated, we could have escaped. This is a complete mistake on my part, sending Nana into a dangerous situation, a fatal mistake.

I want to go help Nana, but the dungeon's walls cannot be broken by magic or items. Is the entrance on the opposite side closed? There's little hope, but it might be open.

"...! I'll do what I can, Rinne, even if it's futile."

I slapped my cheeks with both hands to snap myself out of it. I hurriedly retraced my steps to head for the entrance on the opposite side of the room.

☆

"Ah..."

Sukuna was now very relieved. It was because she had protected Rinne. Because she had managed to get her dear friend out of danger.

In front of her was a horde of over a hundred monsters. Even in a large room, the sheer number of monsters made it feel cramped. Normally, Sukuna might have thought about such trivial matters.

A Kira Bit, part of the horde, lunged at the swaying Sukuna. Without even looking, Sukuna used her Shadow Sewing to launch it into the ceiling, then obliterated it as it fell, squashed. This display dampened the spirits of the monsters, who were leaning forward, ready to attack.

"Aha, ufufu, hehehehe..."

She laughed. Laughed. Her smile was melting.

"I had so much fun playing with Rin."

She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but her voice echoed loudly in the large room, soothing the wary monsters. Yes, Sukuna was emotionally unstable. The happiness of being able to play with Rinne had been taken away, and in words, that was all it was. But for Sukuna, it was as if the only time she could truly enjoy had been taken away. Sukuna laughed because it was the only emotion she knew. Whether in a good mood or a bad mood, Sukuna didn't know how to process her fluctuating emotions other than to laugh.

"Hey... Are you ready to be destroyed?"

Unable to suppress her destructive urges, Sukuna charged into the horde of monsters. The trap designed to ensnare players had unleashed a creature that was almost free from its restraints.

Sukuna's Shadow Sewing, if used to its full potential, could hold its own even beyond the fifth city. Overheavy Metal, the material itself, is the highest quality metal available at the Fears stage if a blacksmith can refine it. At a stage where the average required strength for weapons is less than 50, a one-handed weapon requires over 200 strength. If that requirement is met, an Overheavy Metal weapon will provide the user with appropriate results. The damage output of Shadow Sewing is so powerful that in a Fears-level dungeon, it is nothing short of a brute force, and its exceptional durability means it almost never breaks. Therefore, Sukuna's strategy is to rely on the weapon's power and thoroughly crush her enemies.

To start, she incapacitated seven monsters within the first ten seconds of engaging them.

She shattered heads.

Crushed arms.

Broke legs.

Blinded eyes.

Stole weapons.

And deliberately did not kill them.

She deprived them of mobility, thought, and options. She didn't kill the monsters that didn't use magic, as she felt it was a waste to use a killing blow.

What was different from the previous outbreak in the Demon Forest, where she was saved by Kohaku, was that the monsters here were not just magic users. Last time, she was exposed to one-sided violence, being surrounded and shot at, which forced her to move constantly and avoid any damage. For Sukuna, magic is fatal. Even the weakest magic can obliterate her with just two hits, so her magic defense stats are extremely low. However, this time, with fewer monsters capable of ranged attacks, Sukuna didn't need to dodge all of their attacks. If they closed the distance and engaged in melee combat, Sukuna was confident she could handle them.

The large room, now a battlefield, echoed with the sounds of blows. With each simple strike—thud, crack, squish—the monsters' screams filled the air.

"Aha, it feels so good...!"

Sukuna found a sense of comfort in this hellish battle, and the expression of bliss on her face never faded. The battle had only been going on for three minutes, yet over ten monsters had already lost their lives, and nearly twenty more were immobilized with broken bodies.

In such a situation, or perhaps because of it, Sukuna was experimenting with various things out of curiosity. She caught a flying Kira Bit like a thrown knife and threw it. She crushed the limbs of a Metal Bear and used it as a shield. She threw a Hobgoblin into the mouth of a Jewelry Box that was trying to ambush her. She plucked the wings of a Butterfly Mage she hadn't seen in a while and threw it to the ground. She used thrown knives in melee combat and laughed when they broke after three uses.

The cruelty of an ignorant child. By repeating actions similar to this, Sukuna was simply enjoying a sense of satisfaction. It felt like she was returning to her true self, releasing the impulses she had suppressed, and she was thoroughly enjoying it from the bottom of her heart.

Using her disproportionate strength, Sukuna twisted the neck of a Metal Bear, then threw it as a shield to block a spell that was coming from behind. The Hobgoblin Mage, who had cast the spell thinking it was a surprise attack, was taken aback. In that moment, Sukuna, hidden behind the Metal Bear that was already returning to polygons, grabbed the Hobgoblin Mage's head and slammed it into the ground.

"Such a weak, weak thing."

Magic-using monsters have low physical durability. She crushed the throat with Shadow Sewing and kicked the approaching Petit Golem with a spinning kick.

"That makes 30 and 41."

She kept an accurate count of the number of monsters she had killed and incapacitated, her eyes gleaming in the large, spacious room. She had prioritized crushing magic users and destroying easily breakable monsters. Among the monsters she had fought frequently, the Petit Golem she had just kicked was surprisingly tough. It had a lot of HP, moved slowly, but hit hard and had high defense. It was the one she had been most cautious about in the recent melee.

"Well, it doesn't matter in such a large space."

Over half of the monsters were incapacitated within ten minutes, and the remaining monsters were hesitant to approach Sukuna. The ranged attackers were mostly destroyed, and those left were either blinded or had their throats crushed, unable to cast spells or shoot arrows. Despite the numerical advantage, the contradiction of multiple attacks working in Sukuna's favor was evident.

"Hey, aren't you coming?"

After defeating many monsters in a short time, Sukuna looked around the large room, now filled with red polygons and damage effects, and glared at all the remaining monsters. Attacking recklessly would result in the same fate as the previous monsters. The monsters, with their rudimentary intelligence, were held back by the memory of the brutality. Sukuna cracked her neck and brought down Shadow Sewing on a fallen monster, breaking its limbs and blinding it, but nearly forty monsters were still lying on the ground. If not dealt with, they could pose an unexpected threat. With the monsters hesitating, it was a good time to take care of them as a way to pass the time.

A shadow watched Sukuna's somewhat vulnerable back, waiting for the right moment. The Hobgoblin High Archer, the strongest monster in the Monster House, which appears before Griffith in the field, had endured the humiliation of his comrades being used as shields and had hidden among the other monsters, waiting for a chance to catch Sukuna off guard.

He drew his powerful longbow, aiming to fire a precise shot through the gaps between the monsters. Just as he was about to release the arrow, a silver weapon pierced the trajectory a moment earlier. The Hobgoblin High Archer, suddenly deprived of his right vision, instinctively released the arrow in a different direction, which pierced the head of a fellow Hobgoblin.

"I've been watching you the whole time."

Slipping through the crowd of monsters, Sukuna gouged out the left eye of the disoriented Hobgoblin High Archer. In the darkness, the Hobgoblin High Archer met the same fate as his comrades.

"51 and 28. Yeah, they're definitely decreasing."

After defeating the High Archer and looking around, Sukuna tripped a Petit Golem that had approached and buried its head in the ground with her foot. She smiled at the struggling Petit Golem and used Shadow Sewing to reduce its HP.

"Well, is it enough?"

Seeing the remaining monsters with no fighting spirit, Sukuna stretched. Her HP gauge was only about 30% depleted, an unexpectedly low amount considering the large number of monsters. The one chance to defeat her had been eliminated, and with her level increasing during the battle, there was no way to beat her.

"Yeah, it was fun."

After defeating the last Metal Bear with a "Smash," Sukuna said with a much clearer smile than when the battle started. The total battle time was 25 minutes. In just that short time, Sukuna had completely wiped out the Monster House.

Nana: "There weren't enough magic users."