I gripped Flametongue tight in both hands and held it straight in front of my face.
I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and refocused my attention on the opponent before me.
A big, square black spider with six legs. Deploying a shield already — how extravagant.
"...Beep... bzzz—"
What. What.
It lifted just one leg, and the leg split in two with light spilling from within, extending into a blade.
"Whoa, whoa—!"
With a low whirring sound, it closed the distance in an instant and brought the light blade crashing down.
"That's fast!"
I deflected it quickly. Or tried to, anyway. It was heavy. But I managed to hold.
It looked like light, but something felt off. More like metal.
But that kind of speed from a body that size had to be cheating. While I was thinking that, it attacked again.
It swung the blade down, swept it sideways, and thrust.
"Whoa!? Close one."
The strikes were somehow rhythmic and fast — I dodged, deflected, and swept them aside.
This thing really is heavy. I backed away.
"Don't underestimate me..."
Getting wailed on without fighting back isn't my style.
But I couldn't deal any damage unless I broke through that shield.
"Fine. Flametongue. Let's do this. Double Standard."
As if understanding my intent, Flametongue extended and swelled.
Then it split down the middle, becoming a two-pronged blade of flame.
Double Standard mode.
"'Annihilate Demons' 'Karmic Demons' — Annihilation-Karma Rosary Purge...!"
Red and blue orbs of flame appeared in Flametongue's split and wedged themselves within.
The square black spider raised yet another leg.
When the leg transformed into a cylindrical shape, it fired something.
"Annoying!"
I instinctively swung Flametongue, unleashing a wave of Annihilation-Karma flame.
The something was intercepted by the heat wave and burned to nothing. The square black spider reflexively retreated.
"You think you can get away?!"
I closed the gap in a single step, swinging Flametongue.
The red and blue fire orbs burst apart into a blazing red-and-blue inferno that enveloped the blade.
"Annihilation-Karma... Flame Sword Demon-Slash!!!"
The shield was severed like a sheet of paper, and I pressed forward.
"'Sever Demons' 'Dark Demons' — Sever-Dark Rosary Sweep...!"
Green and black orbs of flame manifested in Flametongue's split and wedged themselves within.
The square black spider swung its blade at an angle. But it was blocked by the heat wave of Sever-Dark.
"Screeeeeeeeeeech—!!"
"Surprised? The shield's counterattack."
And that was the end of it.
The green and black orbs of flame split apart, spiraling around Flametongue's twin blades as green and black fire.
"Sever-Dark... Flame Blade of the Raging Demon!!"
The green and black flames swirling on Flametongue's twin blades surged forth, piercing straight through the square black spider's head.
Half its head destroyed, the square black spider toppled with a thunderous crash.
Flametongue retracted from its split form.
I stumbled. Even using it split-up, the fatigue was no joke.
Right. I should drink that small bottle of potion Wof gave me.
This stuff works pretty well. Not as good as booze, though.
After all, booze is the king of all medicines—the water of life.
"Phew. Now, are those guys okay?"
They shouldn't be the type to lose to runts like those.
"Wh— whoa!?"
I spun around, startled. A massive pile of black spherical puppet remains was burning dark purple.
What a count. Over a hundred—well, counting the ones that had already burned away, definitely over a hundred.
"Still, they've gotten way too strong."
I laughed bitterly.
I'd noticed it on the road too, but weren't they growing way too fast? Especially Pakira.
On her own, she was definitely Tier II. Actually, maybe even higher than that.
"Yo. You alive?"
"Yeah... you guys... done... over there?"
"Yeah, it was pretty tough."
"Impressive, as expected."
"We're just about finished over here too, it seems."
Lupinus let out a long-held breath.
"Seriously, what the hell was that?"
"There was a strange one."
"Yeah... a black-and-white... spherical puppet..."
"Once we took that out, everything spawned at once."
'It was like a trap.'
"Ah, so it was that kind."
That's rough.
Monsters like that tend to show up in the deeper floors of a dungeon.
Same deal as that square black spider I fought — the kind that deploys a shield.
Well, not something you'd normally take on solo.
I'm being pretty reckless too, huh.
"This place is high difficulty."
"It certainly is."
"Indeed it is."
The exploration party would be fine — Wof was with them, after all.
Besides, Juicy and Bid were by no means weak.
Wait, since when could Juicy use Banish too?
"Hm... train..."
"That's right."
"That building. It was a station, wasn't it?"
"We go check it out quick and head back, right?"
"Hm..."
At the top of the short white staircase that curved upward lay a plaza. And there, a building.
So this was the station.
A strange semicircular building. Oh, so this was called a building. Next to it stood a square one.
That building had a transparent, oddly slender tower stretching upward endlessly.
Oh, so this was called a tube. Huh.
The interior of the station was yet another vast space.
Strange statues and unidentifiable things were scattered about in the center.
"Same with cities — nobody's using it, and yet it's spotless."
"It really is."
"Hm............ cleaning up..."
"Who is?"
"...the monsters from earlier... or something... something like that... is doing it."
So that's it. Something's keeping it clean.
I'd had my suspicions, but this city... was it really the ruins of a dungeon?
We went through that strange gate in the back, climbed some stairs, and got on an elevator.
Oh, this is like that thing from when I came to this dungeon.
I see.
So the tube thing from earlier was this.
When we arrived, we climbed more stairs. We'd come up quite a ways.
At the top of the stairs — we were inside glass.
No, inside that transparent thing called a tube.
The floor underfoot was solid. Yellow and red lines were drawn all over it.
There were deep, wide grooves, and sitting in them were rows of large boxes.
What is this? The front end is rounded.
This looks vaguely like something...
"Is it a caravan?"
"That's it."
"Yeah, that's the one."
Right. It looked vaguely like the cargo cars of a caravan. Really, just vaguely.
It was sitting on some strange track laid inside the groove. It hit me.
"No way... is this thing a train?"
"Mm... yeah... ss..."
So this was... I see. Makes sense, I guess.
So what do we do now.
While we were standing there confused, Riv approached the train and gently placed a hand on it.
There was a beep, and— wait, that was a door? It slid open automatically.
Riv looked back at us. What was with that smug little expression on her face.
She beckoned us over with a casual wave of her hand.
"You're not seriously telling us to get in there, are you?"