An unrecognizable place.
A vast space.
A woman stood there.
She had lost most of her body, as though it were dissolving into the space around her, with only a portion of her upper body remaining.
A truly pitiful sight.
And from her mouth, words spilled mechanically.
"Proficiency has reached a threshold."
"Experience Points have reached a threshold."
"Proficiency has reached a threshold."
……
"This hurts."
He springs up with a start.
He hurriedly checks his surroundings.
Lamps cast a faint glow across the area. The walls they illuminate are raw, natural rock, and the ground is hard enough to feel even through a sleeping bag.
The Upper Layer of the Great Ello Dungeon.
He recalls where he is and remembers the situation.
That's right—he and his party had come to the Great Ello Dungeon to cross the continent.
Today was their second day delving into the dungeon.
It was the middle of the night, and they had been taking turns on watch while the others slept.
He wipes away his cold sweat.
What had that dream been about just now?
"Are you all right?"
The teacher peered at his face from the side.
The watch was handled in pairs of two. Currently on watch were the teacher and Basgas.
Seeing him thrash awake from a nightmare, they had apparently grown worried and come over.
"I'm fine. It was just a bad dream."
He smiled to brush it off. That was the honest truth, after all.
"Sure is an ominous omen, that."
Basgas seized upon the words he had tried to wave away so casually.
"An omen?"
"Yeah. You ever hear the story about the Nightmare of the dungeon?"
"No, I haven't."
Even Basgas, who normally bellowed at the top of his lungs, kept his voice low now that everyone else was asleep.
That made his tone all the more eerily atmospheric, like he was telling a ghost story.
"I have. It was a term for a mythological-class monster that suddenly appeared in the dungeon over ten years ago, wasn't it?"
"Pretty well-informed, aren't ya?"
A mythological-class monster.
That referred to a danger-rank beyond S-class—a threat deemed impossible for humans to handle.
"The Nightmare is a living calamity of the Great Ello Dungeon, on par with the Queen. If you're having nightmares, it might be a harbinger that the Nightmare itself is about to show up."
"But wasn't that monster slain?"
"That's what the public says, anyway."
"The public?"
"Right. The official story is that it went on a massacre against an entire legion, then got hit by a grand magic spell and was obliterated without a trace. But I've never bought that. Something that monstrous doesn't just keel over that easily. I reckon it's still alive out there somewhere, lying in wait for prey. That's what I believe."
"You say that as though you've seen it with your own eyes."
"Yeah. As a matter of fact, I was the first person to discover the Nightmare."
Basgas puffed out his chest for reasons unclear.
Well, impressive was impressive, in a way?
"See, back then there was an incident where monsters were spawning abnormally. A knight squadron was dispatched to investigate the cause and thin out the monsters, and yours truly served as their guide. Turns out the cause was the Nightmare driving all the surrounding monsters away. We had no clue about any of that, so we marched right into the Nightmare's lair like fools. I'll never forget that day. When I locked eyes with it, I didn't feel like I'd survive."
Basgas shuddered, apparently reliving the memory.
"It's amazing you made it back alive."
"That's exactly it. The Nightmare had this peculiar habit—if you didn't make the first move, it would let you go. It'd even heal your wounds."
"Really?"
"Hard to believe, right? But the extermination squad they put together after that apparently provoked its wrath, and it wiped them out without mercy. And after that, when it came out of the Great Ello Dungeon, it destroyed a fortress, showed up in the middle of a war and started slaughtering everyone indiscriminately—caused one hell of a disaster. And yet, it also went and saved people on a whim, apparently. They say it's an enigma of a monster whose actions make no sense."
What a contradictory creature.
Was that really even a monster?
"Well, the one thing you can say for certain about the Nightmare is that it's absurdly strong. Kid, you seem pretty confident in your own abilities, but I'm not saying this to be mean. You'd better revise your attitude while you still can. I can see arrogance in the way you fight. I'm not saying it's wrong to be confident in battle, but there's always someone stronger out there. If you think you can handle anything on your own power, drill it into your head right now—there are opponents you can't handle."
His heart clenched.
When he thought about it, Basgas was right.
Since entering the Great Ello Dungeon, he hadn't faced a single real struggle.
The monsters that appeared were certainly troublesome by ordinary standards, but from his perspective, they were all weaklings he couldn't possibly lose to.
If someone called that arrogance, he had no counterargument.
"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful from now on."
"Ah. Yeah, you won't be."
He'd apologized sincerely, and that was the response he got.
That rubbed him the wrong way.
"Why not?"
"Kid, you're fundamentally misunderstanding what I'm saying. Everything I've told you comes from having seen the big picture—not just what's inside this dungeon. You ignored my warning back when we entered and used Appraisal on that water dragon, didn't you?"
He'd been found out.
The teacher's gaze snapped toward him.
This was bad.
He'd heard that using Appraisal on someone without permission could be taken as offensive, sometimes provoking immediate hostility.
In other words, the water dragon may have breathed fire at them precisely because he'd Appraised it.
"Shun? Is what he said true?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
Trying to deflect here would only make things worse.
He apologized honestly.
"The water dragon breathing fire wasn't entirely your fault, kid. Water dragons don't tolerate anyone trespassing in their territory."
Basgas's words brought a measure of relief.
So it wasn't entirely his fault after all.
"But it doesn't change the fact that you ignored my warning and did something dangerous. And as a result, you put your companions in harm's way. This time, everyone got lucky and got blasted into the caves. But if things had gone a step differently, one of your friends could have been left behind in the water with that dragon. What would you have done then?"
He thought he could hear the sound of blood draining from his body.
That's right—if someone had been left behind at that moment.
If Kathia or the teacher had been stranded alone in front of that water dragon.
There would have been no way to survive.
And he, having been washed away, would have had no way to go back and rescue them.
He wasn't even sure the Mercy skill would work.
The odds were that it wouldn't.
"Do you get it now? You're lacking in a certain sense of danger, kid. You carry this baseless confidence that nothing can happen to you—and it shows. I'll admit you're strong for a member of the human race. Having said that, there's always someone stronger. Even setting that aside, a single careless move on your part could cost a companion their life without a moment's hesitation. In my line of work, I've seen plenty of people die from that kind of carelessness. Dropping a life that didn't need to be dropped, all because of a moment's lapse in attention or a bit of slack. Don't you think that's the stupidest thing in the world?"
He had nothing to counter with.
At some point, he had gotten carried away.
He'd become overconfident in his own strength.
That inflated ego had just been shattered.
If his careless actions led to one of his companions paying the price— That was something he could never allow.
To psych himself up, he slapped his own face as hard as he could.
His HP dropped by a painful chunk.
But that was fine.
From now on, no more letting his guard down, no more arrogance.
"I appreciate the advice."
He bowed his head deeply, prostrating himself on the ground.
Not just Basgas—even the teacher looked taken aback by this.
"Hmm. Well, I'll be. An old man's rambling actually gets taken seriously for once."
"No, thanks to you I've woken up. I really have been coasting on complacency. If things had continued this way, I'd eventually have ended up in a situation beyond saving."
Or rather, he was already quite far into a situation beyond saving.
Even now, after all this, that complacency still lingered.
No wonder Kathia had said something about it.
He'd been acting off lately.
Now he understood it clearly.
This wasn't peaceful Japan anymore.
He needed to be far more conscious of that.
If he kept operating on a Japanese mindset, he might lose something else.
He couldn't afford to lose anything more.
"Hmph. You look at least a little more serious now."
"Thank you."
"Now, this is purely out of curiosity—but if you fought that water dragon, do you think you could win?"
At Basgas's question, he thought for a moment.
"I don't think so."
There was no point in putting on a brave face, so he gave an honest assessment.
"In the water, my physical attack power drops dramatically. On top of that, the dragon species possesses a magic interference skill that weakens magical attacks. In water, I'd have virtually no chance of winning."
"What about on land?"
"On land, I'd say it's about even."
"No kidding."
Basgas murmured, sounding genuinely taken aback.
The teacher fixed him with a skeptical gaze.
Huh?
Did he say something weird?
Then a wave of discomfort shot through him.
Tracing it to its source, he found Basgas grinning.
"Makes sense—you weren't entirely full of hot air, were you?"
That just now—was that Appraisal?
"Isn't that a manners violation?"
"Don't be ridiculous. This is all part of analyzing our combat strength to get through the dungeon safely."
Couldn't that same logic apply both ways?
It was obvious Basgas had just peeked at his status out of curiosity.
In that case—time to return the favor.
He cast Appraisal on Basgas.
The results left him stunned.
"Human, Lv. 66. Name: Basgas.
Status: HP: 933/933 (green) (details) MP: 829/829 (blue) (details) SP: 949/949 (yellow) (details) 901/931 (red) (details) Average Attack: 903 (details) Average Defense: 887 (details) Average Magic: 821 (details) Average Resistance: 824 (details) Average Speed: 902 (details) Skills: 'HP High-Speed Recovery Lv. 3,' 'MP Recovery Speed Lv. 9,' 'MP Consumption Reduction Lv. 9,' 'Magic Power Perception Lv. 9,' 'Magic Power Operation Lv. 8,' 'Magic Combat Art Lv. 5,' 'Magic Power Infusion Lv. 4,' 'Magic Power Strike Lv. 4,' 'SP High-Speed Recovery Lv. 5,' 'SP Great Consumption Reduction Lv. 5,' 'Great Destruction Enhancement Lv. 4,' 'Great Blunt Enhancement Lv. 4,' 'Slashing Enhancement Lv. 3,' 'Penetration Enhancement Lv. 1,' 'Great Impact Enhancement Lv. 2,' 'Earth Enhancement Lv. 4,' 'Dark Enhancement Lv. 1,' 'Battle God Art Lv. 1,' 'Willpower Infusion Lv. 10,' 'Skill Infusion Lv. 1,' 'Great Willpower Strike Lv. 1,' 'Earth Attack Lv. 8,' 'Poison Synthesis Lv. 10,' 'Potion Synthesis Lv. 10,' 'Martial Arts Genius Lv. 5,' 'Sword Talent Lv. 2,' 'Coordination Lv. 10,' 'Command Lv. 6,' 'Throwing Lv. 10,' 'Shot Lv. 10,' 'Three-Dimensional Movement Lv. 9,' 'Appraisal Lv. 3,' 'Concentration Lv. 10,' 'Thought Acceleration Lv. 2,' 'Foresight Lv. 2,' 'Parallel Will Lv. 1,' 'Record Lv. 10,' 'Accuracy Lv. 10,' 'Evasion Lv. 10,' 'Great Probability Correction Lv. 3,' 'Stealth Lv. 10,' 'Concealment Lv. 7,' 'Soundless Lv. 10,' 'Scentless Lv. 10,' 'Danger Detection Lv. 10,' 'Presence Detection Lv. 10,' 'Heat Detection Lv. 10,' 'Motion Detection Lv. 10,' 'Earth Magic Lv. 10,' 'Ground Magic Lv. 8,' 'Light Magic Lv. 4,' 'Shadow Magic Lv. 10,' 'Dark Magic Lv. 5,' 'Healing Magic Lv. 10,' 'Poison Magic Lv. 3,' 'Destruction Resistance Lv. 9,' 'Blunt Resistance Lv. 9,' 'Slashing Resistance Lv. 9,' 'Penetration Resistance Lv. 9,' 'Impact Resistance Lv. 9,' 'Earth Resistance Lv. 7,' 'Dark Resistance Lv. 7,' 'Paralysis Nullification,' 'Deadly Poison Nullification,' 'Sleep Resistance Lv. 8,' 'Great Acid Resistance Lv. 5,' 'Great Stun Resistance Lv. 3,' 'Corrosion Resistance Lv. 3,' 'Fear Resistance Lv. 6,' 'Pain Nullification,' 'Pain Reduction Lv. 3,' 'Dark Vision Lv. 10,' 'Clairvoyance Lv. 3,' 'Great Five Senses Enhancement Lv. 7,' 'Perception Range Expansion Lv. 10,' 'Destiny Lv. 1,' 'Magic Storage Lv. 9,' 'Heavenly Motion Lv. 1,' 'Heavenly Fortune Lv. 1,' 'Fortitude Lv. 1,' 'Fortress Lv. 1,' 'Taoist Lv. 9,' 'Talisman Lv. 9,' 'Idaten Lv. 1' Skill Points: 50 Titles: 'Assassin,' 'Monster Slayer,' 'Guide,' 'Potion Master,' 'Evil Eater,' 'Monster Slaughterer,' 'Savior,' 'Monster Calamity'"
What the hell was this guy?!
He was stronger than Hylins!
"So you've got high-level Appraisal. Doesn't look like it's from an Appraisal Stone, though."
"What about you, Basgas? Do you have an Appraisal Stone?"
"I do. A fine one at Lv. 8."
An Lv. 8 Appraisal Stone was a luxury item far beyond the reach of ordinary folk.
Possessing one meant he was no ordinary person.
Between his status and his Appraisal Stone, this man was apparently someone extraordinary.
"Your status is impressive, kid. With those stats, the Upper Layer should pose you no trouble."
Basgas gave him his seal of approval.
"As long as you don't run into the Nightmare's remnants, that is."
But those final words Basgas had quietly muttered left Shun with a nameless sense of unease.