Green, bipedal lizards stood clad in armor, each gripping a weapon.
They were lizardmen — aquatic monsters found even outside dungeons.
But these were surely dungeon-dwelling monsters.
The one closest to me, the one holding a sword — call him Lizardman A.
The one with an axe would be Lizardman B. The one with a spear, Lizardman C.
Their armor was leather, crudely made. On top of that, it was worn and weathered.
Their weapons, too, were iron, rusted through in places.
They didn't look sharp. The axe was badly chipped.
If you got hit by something like that, it wouldn't cut cleanly — it would bite into your flesh and cause agonizing pain.
Maybe fragments would break off inside you when you tried to pull it out.
Worst-case scenario. I absolutely did not want to take a hit.
The rust-caked spear was just as bad. No thanks to any of them.
Still... lizardmen, of all things.
I couldn't help but let my distaste show on my face.
It stemmed from being bitten by a snake when I was young.
That was why I hated reptiles of any kind.
And there was one more thing. I'd heard that lizardmen were strong.
Since they were reptilian, I'd never wanted to encounter one.
And now those very lizardmen stood before my eyes.
*"Shooo... shoo-shoo...!"*
*"Shurururu..."*
*"Shaaaaa!"*
Every single one of them was flicking its tongue, trying to intimidate me.
My irritation flared. I wanted them gone, fast.
But I'd heard they were strong, so I hesitated, staying cautious — no, wait. Were they stronger than that black knight?
They weren't stronger than that.
There were no monsters stronger than that.
These were weaker than that.
If they were weaker, there was nothing to fear.
Hesitation served no purpose.
My heart grew quiet.
Fear, tension, worry — everything blended together into stillness.
Not a single ripple disturbed the surface of my mind.
I moved.
I closed in on the closest one, Lizardman A, and used Banish to erase his rusted sword.
At the same time, I drove a knife into Lizardman A's neck.
I shoved the corpse into Lizardman B, who stood diagonally behind and to the right.
Lizardman B and Lizardman C both staggered.
Seizing the opening, I used Banish on Lizardman C's spear, then cut his throat.
*"Shuruaaaaaaa!"*
Lizardman B shoved A's body aside and swung his axe. I deflected it with my knife, then knocked it aside.
Then I used Banish to pierce through Lizardman B's torso.
Three lizardmen, down.
"...Done?"
Minimal movement. A brief fight against three opponents. That was how it felt.
I was bewildered by a composure I had never possessed before — not a sliver of wasted motion anywhere.
I understood that something had happened to me.
But what, exactly — oh. Right.
"...Relic [Still One]..."
The name surfaced in my mind without warning.
That was the Relic [Still One].
I understood. What I had just experienced was the Relic [Still One]'s effect.
It allowed me to still my mind for a certain duration, act within that state, and also perceive voices. Or so it seemed.
The duration was frustratingly vague, but the actions I had performed while my mind was stilled — that was the effect.
It was as though all wasted motion had vanished. Something like that.
Though, what was that about perceiving voices?
"...Well, that makes five Relics now."
To be precise, I had more than that.
[Fantasmagoria] and [Arm of the Universe], for instance.
But those were effects granted by the fourth Relic.
I could not use them without activating the fourth one.
"..."
Why so sudden — no, acquisitions had always been this abrupt.
Still — sigh. Worrying about it wouldn't change anything.
Relics were techniques. Not abilities. Techniques.
"Alright."
I pressed forward, staying alert.
I kept using the Relic [Still One] as I searched for the others.
That told me two things.
First, the usage time was roughly three minutes. And second —
"Cooldown."
Right — [Still One] had a cooldown.
It was the same as the usage time: roughly three minutes.
So I could use it for three minutes, then had to wait another three minutes before using it again.
My impressions of this Relic: it felt versatile.
I could probably use it in all sorts of situations.
The downside was the cooldown.
That made it a little cumbersome to use.
I also felt a slight mental strain from the activation.
Maybe the cooldown existed for that reason.
"Either way..."
I surveyed the area and let out a sigh.
It was a wide, water-covered, faintly glowing hall — the lizardmen's nest.
Lizardman corpses were strewn everywhere.
Close to ten — I'd taken them all out. Not bad, honestly.
The Relic [Still One] had made it painfully clear just how wasteful my fighting had been before.
Optimal solutions. Efficient movement. Rational action. Timing. Ruthlessness.
I was still weak. Still, still weak. I reconfirmed that to myself.
"Oh — the Lizard King."
The last one to sink into the water was a slightly larger lizardman wearing a crown.
The king of the lizardmen's nest.
That one alone had equipment and weapons far above the rest, and I had even used a Relic against it.
Its strength was probably low-end Silver class.
And yet it had been the easiest to defeat.
Lizardmen were lizards.
Lizards had a shape like a snake with limbs tacked on.
Their neck and body were connected, but the neck jutted out conspicuously, almost naked.
The others wore armor, making it hard to land a killing blow.
But that long, exposed neck had no guard.
That was why every single lizardman corpse here bore a wound to the neck.
In that sense, the largest of them — the Lizard King — had been the easiest target.
"Just as I'd heard."
Dungeon monsters were creatures created by the dungeon.
Nonliving things given the semblance of life — a pseudo-personality implanted into a fleshy core.
The specifics varied, but lizardmen attacked humans without ever eating them. They didn't even excrete.
That was why this nest, despite being a nest, felt unnaturally sterile.
"Now then."
As a delver, I technically had the right to claim spoils of war — though that didn't really apply to me.
Still, no sense wasting the opportunity. I'd take the loot. Nobody was here, so nobody would know.
I used the Relic [Wheel of Fortune].
It revealed treasure through colored light.
Green meant rare.
Yellow meant super rare.
Blue meant ultra-super rare, something almost never found.
Blue could be, for example, an egg that produced infinite elixirs.
Three green signals. The Lizard King's sword, armor, and crown. Just those, huh.
Well, I suppose a sword, armor, and a crown were to be expected.
Blue aside, yellow — there. There was something?!
A ring, lying on the water-covered floor near the Lizard King.
"I wouldn't have spotted it without the light."
A bronze ring, easy to miss against the blue-tinted water floor.
Gold characters were engraved on both sides — ancient script. Couldn't read it.
"..."
I had a feeling this was a Legacy.
Or maybe an OOPArt. Once I got out of here, I would take it to Arifa.
Having secured some decent treasure, I left the nest in slightly better spirits.
After that, I wandered for a while.
Along the way, I fought more lizardmen and aquatic insect-like monsters.
Finally, I found a staircase. But it went downward, which deflated my hopes.
"I'd rather go up, if possible..."
Were the others all right? Were they safe?
Worried sick the whole time, but with no other option, I descended the stairs.
This time, a stone-walled corridor stretched ahead.
Similar to the first floor, but subtly different.
"—!"
Suddenly, I heard footsteps. Danger Discernment was... white.
Safe. Friendly.
When I waited, Axe appeared.
"Wof!"
"Axe!"
"Good. You're safe."
"Yes. You too, Axe."
"...Yeah. Confirming even one person alive is a relief."
"Then what about the others?"
"Nobody else has been found yet."
My worry deepened.