To protect everyone, I defeat the King of Death. I liberate the Tomb of Death.
Protecting everyone — that was extreme, sure, but it got me motivated.
But time waits for no one. Two days left.
I should've been getting antsy by now, but somehow... it just didn't happen.
My party was just too stacked, probably. That sense of stability, maybe.
"Hm?"
When I happened to turn right at a corridor, I spotted a corner that caught my eye.
It was oddly nagging at me. Something about the way it curved felt familiar.
"What's up, Wof?"
"There's a corner here that's got me a little curious."
"Um, um, um — I found some stairs!"
Juicy, who'd been scouting ahead, called out from the end of the straight corridor.
The witch was tagging along beside her.
For the record, Dagger had been carried by Juicy until just a moment ago.
Now Dagger was back in knife form, tucked into my belt. Even in the Tomb of Death, she really was fickle.
I suddenly wondered — did the cursed debuff Relic "Offering of Death" apply to Dagger too?
Since I was using the Relic "Sword Transmutation," it probably did.
"Oh, you found it?"
"………"
Good. I could finally get out of here. But... that corner up ahead.
"Oh. What's up?"
"Um, sorry. Would it be okay if I went to take a look over there?"
"Hey, hey. What's going on?"
"I'll just go take a quick look."
"Hey. Wof."
I headed over. I just couldn't let it go.
That corner looked very familiar. No — maybe it was exactly the same.
Heart pounding, I turned the corner, and for the first time since entering this maze, there was an entrance.
Tentatively, I stepped inside. And there it was — yep, just as I thought.
A pure white floor and pure white walls. Inorganic, sterile. But more than that, what made me catch my breath was...
Stacked in mountainous piles were the familiar junk — armor, swords, shields, bottles, and all the rest.
No — trash. Right, trash. There were mountains of it, one after another.
This was the Junkyard. Without a doubt, it was the Junkyard.
"Well, of course it's here. A dungeon this deep — of course it'd be here!"
I was excited. The Junkyard of the Tomb of the Dead.
Or was it another dungeon's Junkyard? This was my first time getting into one.
"...Looks the same but different, I guess?"
I looked around. The fact that nobody was here was strange too, but something about the air felt different.
Ah, right. There was no human scent.
Even if nobody was here, there were usually traces, smells, and an atmosphere that told you people had been.
This Junkyard had none of that.
"Nobody's ever set foot in here, I bet."
"Na?"
"This is the quietest Junkyard I've ever seen."
Maybe that was why it felt so lonely.
I was about to become a delver. I wouldn't be able to enter the Junkyard anymore.
The Junkyard had been my food source, my playground, my favorite and most precious place.
"............"
I used the Relic, Wheel of Fortune.
Several green lights. No yellow. One blue. No purple.
"Hmm. Blue, huh."
That was it? Wait—blue!?
"Blue?!"
Blue. It was blue. No mistake about it. That was a blue light!
"Na?"
"Dagaa. It's blue. It's a blue light!"
Without thinking, I kept the Wheel of Fortune active and chased after the blue light.
Then, along with the green lights, several yellow ones appeared too. What was this, a mountain of treasure?
But right now, it was the blue light that mattered. This way. Over here. To the center of that mountain of junk.
I threw a Banish punch straight at the blue light. A chunk of the junk mountain chipped away.
"Banish Knuckle!"
Banish Knuckllle!!
And then — punch, punch, punch, punch. Punch. Punch. Oh, the green light vanished.
Like I cared. Punch, punch. Oh — hey, a knife! Wait, it's gone already!?
Gah, ugh — punch, punch. Punch. Punch. Ah, the blue light fell!
I searched through the collapsed junk for the blue light. Not this one. Not this either. Not this one.
This one? No, that's not it. Underneath this, underneath this, underneath this... Here it is. This one.
"This cloth pouch?"
It was a small pouch made of dirty cloth. The blue light wasn't the pouch itself.
From inside it — I heard a tiny bark.
Startled, I turned around. There was Juishii. The witch and Agaro were there too.
Oh crap. I'd forgotten about them.
"Um, um, um, arf. Wof... Is this... the Junkyard?"
"Huh. So this is the Junkyard."
"Well now, well now — this sure is a surprise."
"Sorry about that."
I apologized. I'd gotten so caught up in everything that I'd forgotten all about the others.
Juishii came rushing straight toward me.
"Um, Wof... I was worried about you."
"Sorry."
"Well, I was worried, but once you found that, who could blame you."
"Well, well, getting wrapped up in things — Com's just the same, isn't he? Still, I would've liked a little word. Did you forget this is a dangerous place, young Wof?"
"S-sorry."
"So, so, what did you find?"
"This. I haven't actually looked inside yet."
I held up the small cloth pouch, stained and dirty.
Agaro looked puzzled, while Juishii's eyes lit up and her tail swished back and forth.
"Um, um, Lord Wof. What's inside it?"
"Why is the bag so filthy?"
Agaro was curious because he didn't know about my Relic.
The witch and Juishii already knew about it, so they weren't surprised.
What should I do? I guess there's no harm telling Agaro, though.
We'd been through quite a bit together at this point, and I trusted him well enough.
"The truth is—"
"Oh, oh, yes yes. It's the Legacy that Com gave you, isn't it?"
"Legacy?"
"Mhm, mhm. There's a seal called the Fortune Crest — use it and it finds treasure at random, it does. That's what young Wof has been carrying around."
"Ohhh, so that's how you found the treasure?"
"Y-yeah."
So I'm not supposed to tell Agaro about this yet. I'd follow my mentor's lead. Improvise isn't really my thing, though.
As for whether Juicy would pick up on the intent — well, she was digging away at something.
"Woof woof! Wo-woof! Woof woof woof!"
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, she was digging through the junk pile with both hands. Dig here, woof woof.
"It's a dog."
"It sure is."
"A dog, isn't it?"
"Woof!"
Just like watching my old family dog — and then, mid-thought, Juicy froze.
She looked at us, went bright red, and started flailing around.
"Um, um, I'm sorry. I just… couldn't help digging. Woof."
Embarrassed, she sat down and covered her face with both hands. Her ears and tail drooped.
Agaro and I exchanged glances and shared a wry, helpless smile.
Two guys who had absolutely no idea what expression to make right now.
"Well, well. I hate to leave, but I suppose it's about time we got out of here."
"Seems like all kinds of stuff could go down, but I guess we've got no choice."
"Um, um, woof."
"Okay."
I stowed the cloth bag in my pouch, and we left the Junkyard at the Tomb of Death.
Then we headed down the stairs.
We entered the catacombs and headed straight down.
Of course, the undead came swarming out in droves—even silver-rank ones now.
They were Relic-wielding undead. Still not a threat, though.
At this rate, the Death King might actually go down pretty easily too.
With that thought, we arrived at the Giant's Tomb, a vast chamber lined with enormous stone coffins.
Pale light poured in from the ceiling at even intervals, and we were surrounded by grand walls covered in magnificent murals.
Hundreds of towering pillars stretched so high you had to crane your neck, each one carved with a colossal statue.
And scattered throughout were stone coffins the size of a three-story building.
Directly beneath the coffins, zombies in white hoods—marked with red and black lines—wandered aimlessly.
There were quite a few of them. The remnants of Yomid's followers, Agaro murmured. So that's what they were.
"This feels like the bottom."
"Right, right. What we delvers aim for is the deepest level. And this place looks like it's built similar to the Tomb of Death. If that's the case, the deepest level would be in the Death King's tomb."
"Um, um, um, there's something straight ahead that looks like a fancy altar!"
Just as Juicy said, beyond the rows of massive pillars stood an impressive shrine.
If you called it an altar, sure, that's what it looked like. Could that be the Death King's tomb?
"All right. Let's head for that."
"Whaaaat!"
"Kyaaaah!"
"Help, help!!"
"Stop it, stop it!!"
"Why's this happening—gaaah!!"
"Don't mess with me, don't!! Nobody said there was something like that!!"
What the—? We quickly ducked behind the stone coffin.
A boy and a girl were running for their lives.
Around my age, maybe younger. They didn't look like delvers.
Why were they in a place like this? Besides, this area was off-limits.
From behind them, something huge, pale, and long was reaching out—ah, that was an arm.
A massive hand snatched up the fleeing boy and girl.
And then it emerged with a wet squelch—a grotesque, towering figure with pale skin.
First, it had a deer's head, crowned with mighty antlers.
Four eyes set in a cross pattern, and a slit-like mouth running vertically through the center of its face.
Four long, thick arms grew from a body that was horribly emaciated and rotting in patches. Its legs were cloven-hooved.
A true aberration.
It clutched the boy and girl tight, then opened the mouth in the center of its face wide.
It stuffed them in like food and chewed. Screams of agony echoed. Blood sprayed everywhere.
"......"
I watched in silence. No—I could only watch in silence.
I couldn't look away.
"Saturnus, huh?"
"Huh?"
Goya's?
"A witch, right?"
"That's right, that's right. That's Yomid the Rotten Giant's Saturnus — an undead monster, silver rank, mid-tier."
Silver rank, mid-tier, huh.
"Um, um, who are those people over there? There's quite a lot of them."
"Those are delvers. Kuun Hunt, even."
"Huh? Them? In a place like this?"
"Yeah, a few of them had been spreading rumors about it."
Even from here, I could make out several dozen people scrambling around in a panic.
Ignoring the guild's warning and coming to the Tomb of the Dead — that's Kuun Hunt for you.
"Oh my, oh my, what a chore coming all the way out here."
"......"
One after another, they were being seized by Saturnus and devoured.
Being eaten as casually as someone snacking on sweets.
There were adults among them, but most were kids my age or younger.
Hired hands of Kuun Hunt.
What a tragic, what an absurd sight.
The sheer gruesomeness of it made me want to help, even knowing it was Kuun Hunt. But I held my ground.
I can't take down a silver-rank mid-tier monster without Generous.
If I used Generous, I could manage it — but that's my trump card.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
"Burn! Burn! Burn! Gaaah, you damn zombies!"
Some Kuun Hunt members were being swarmed by the remnants of Yomido's followers.
"Stop stop stop stop stop!"
"Aaaaaaaaargh! Aaaargh!"
"............"
"Um, um, um, what should we do? Woof."
"No 'what' about it. We're moving on."
"......"
"Help me help me help me help me!"
"I can't take this anymore! Mooooom!"
"Um, um, um, but..."
"Yeah, yeah. The quicker we release the Tomb of Death, the better. That's all we can do right now."
"We don't have time either."
"I don't wanna diiiiiiiie!"
"Aaaaaaargh!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!"
"Sorry, sorry. We have to hurry, we really do."
"Um, um, um...... Woof."
"............"
"Stop, stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!"
"Owwwwww! Aaaaaahhh!"
"Please, please, please... please..."
"Someone! Anybody! Somebody, help meee!"
Before I knew it, I had already rushed out.
While running, I grabbed the elixir knife and activated [Silent One].
"H-hey. Wof!?"
"Woof! Lord Wof!?"
"No no, no no—even Kon couldn't pull that off."
Saturnus noticed me.
It extended its arm. I tried to dodge, but it was too fast—I was caught in an instant.
Fast! Too fast. It stretched out like a snake and snagged me with pinpoint precision.
At this speed, dodging is simply impossible.
Saturnus grabbed me and lifted me up.
Its four cross-shaped eyes glowed with an eerie spectral light as it opened a crack-like mouth drenched in blood.
Inside, jagged red teeth slick with gore writhed about.
Bits of flesh and cloth clung between them. It trembled with rage.
I chanted.
"Silent Move."
This action was—to defeat Saturnus without using [Generous].
Noise floods my field of vision.
I think I hear a sharp crack. The sound of something snapping.
What was that?