Ch.440Targeted NPC. (4)

“Get out of the waaaay!!!”

-KWAAANG!!!

“⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯!!!”

A long, sharp spear tears through the air, piercing through where the target’s heart should be, and then explodes as if by magic. While thinking this attack power is something he couldn’t have imagined before, he simultaneously feels that even this isn’t enough.

“Huff!! Huff!! Damn it, how many of these things are swarming in?! Why, why are there so many monsters here…!”

-KAAAANG!!!

“Urgh!!”

The dungeon walk collapsed in an instant. And my human friend Jack, who saved only me and fell together from that spot. After waiting and shouting for several minutes, hoping he would climb back up from that hole, the number of monsters that gathered in the meantime is abnormal by any measure. Some are even monsters I saw on lower floors. I had confirmed several times while with Jack that they were monsters I couldn’t defeat. But still.

“How can I call myself his friend if I’m always the one being saved? Get lost!! I need to save that idiot!!!”

-KWAJIJIK!!!

[-Siltra’s Gatekeeper: Level: 617 Name: Salt Non]

His level had increased after going down to the 60th floor and coming back up. Moreover, he remembered and mastered all the strategies and combat methods Jack had taught him during breaks. He was holding on and gradually reducing their numbers one by one. In fact, his level was slowly rising each time he took one down, but…

-KWAJIK!!

“Aaagh…!!”

No matter what, there were too many opponents. Most of the monsters were levels in the late 400s to early 500s. It was an abnormal situation where even monsters in the late 500s, which shouldn’t be on this floor, were mixed in. If this were a game, he would have long since fled in defeat or died. Because it was reality, he was somehow holding on with his wits, but even that wasn’t enough as his overworked weapon finally gave out, allowing a significant blow to land.

“Ugh… Damn it, I absolutely can’t die in a place like this… No, rather.”

Salt Non looks at the hole in the collapsed dungeon walk, which he had been guarding thinking Jack might be able to climb back up with his physical abilities. Staring at it, he considers the gamble of jumping down there himself. He hesitates a bit at making such a seemingly desperate choice, especially since Jack had saved him from the threat of falling with that vehicle. But thinking that his friend who saved him—and who had saved Siltra—might be down there in that pitch-black hole that looks like an entrance to hell doesn’t make following him seem so bad. Honestly, he wants to escape and alert Jack’s precious companions about this abnormal situation. But if something really happened to Jack, he wouldn’t be able to face them or his friend.

Finally, barely defending against the monsters’ attacks with his broken weapon while retreating, he stands at a crossroads.

“…Damn it. Should I pray this height won’t kill me if I fall?”

There’s no sign of Jack coming up. The absurd thought that if he jumps down, he won’t collide with Jack coming up makes him chuckle bitterly. Looking at the monsters behind him, ready to pounce at any moment, he realizes he’ll either die or be captured by the monsters if he stays. Just as he’s about to jump…

“Piyak-ah!!”

-KWAAANG!!!”

“””KEEEEC⎯⎯⎯⎯?!!”””

“Huh…? What?!”

The monsters scream as they burn black and collapse, some split in half or torn into dozens of pieces, disappearing without even leaving magic stones behind. And seeing the colorful hair and hearing the voices coming from beyond, Salt Non swallows hard.

“W-what are you all doing h-here…?”

“Brother Non!! Where’s my brother?!”

“That’s…!”

While the other women and the mage girl are busy reducing the number of gathered monsters, the precious sister of my friend approaches me directly, handing me a potion with teary purple eyes, and I find myself speechless. But not speaking was never an option.

“I’m sorry. Jack saved me from the falling dungeon walk and fell down himself.”

“Through this hole?! Oh, you’re hurt. Quickly, drink this potion first!”

“Y-yes…”

I was too sorry to even take the potion she offered. After glancing at the hole once, the sister handed me the potion again and began casting magic while looking at the hole. Is that some kind of detection magic? It’s different from what I know.

“Huh? That’s strange. Are you sure my brother fell down here?”

“Yes, I’m certain. We were both on the device when a sudden earthquake made us lose balance, and Jack pushed only me out, so I…”

“But this hole is only about 3 floors deep?”

“…What?”

Surprised, I look down the hole, and indeed, my eyes can’t penetrate the darkness below. So I throw my broken weapon down there, and after a short while, I hear it hit the bottom with a resonating sound. Wait, there was no sound after Jack fell?!

“Damn it, Jack!! Where did you go?! Jack!!!”

“Did he fall down there?”

“…Hmm, my detection magic doesn’t show it being very deep either?”

“Huh? Did Jack really fall here? I can’t… smell him?”

“……”

After quickly eliminating the gathered monsters, the companions gather and look down the hole for traces of him, but Jack is nowhere to be seen. But I clearly saw it. Jack definitely fell into this hole…

-TAANG!!

What interrupted our search for his traces was the sound of an ignition stone bursting—something Jack had warned us about just days ago.

*

“Ah, shit. What the hell is this?”

The dungeon walk—an elevator in my previous life—plummeted due to a sudden earthquake. I thought I was going to fall endlessly, but after struggling with all my might to escape the falling equipment and climb up, Salt Non was nowhere to be seen, and I found myself in some unknown massive cavern.

“Fuck, this is weird. Something seems to be messing with things from outside again. Gor, Gor?”

She doesn’t answer either. The connection was strangely cut off earlier. Damn it, what now? Why would something like this happen in this dungeon?

Even drawing on memories from my previous life, I couldn’t predict such strange occurrences, so I decided to move my capable body first. After looking around the area…

“Well fuck. Is this some kind of joke?”

The hole I came up through has disappeared. As if the goal was to bring me here from the beginning, I’m completely trapped. I reflect on what happened earlier.

The sudden earthquake, and Gor’s communication with me being cut off. Moreover, I’m someone who can get my bearings and move faster than anyone else, even on a running or overturning train. Yet I struggled to escape from an elevator shaking from an earthquake? That’s extremely suspicious.

“Where are you, you bastard? Is it you again? Huh?!”

The only one who could mess with my reaction speed and externally block Gor would be that world’s whatever-the-fuck who tried to cause trouble during the trial and in the empire. I started getting annoyed and shouted while walking around, and as I thought…

“Not coming out?”

Nothing happened. I thought that if I’d come this far from where I emerged, the bastard would surely try something again, but absolutely nothing is happening. Come on, hurry up and show yourself! I’m worried sick about Salt Non being left alone, what the hell is this about?

With nothing happening and nothing appearing, I once again rely on my capable body minus the brains and start moving. If I was transported somewhere within the dungeon, even if this is near the boss room on the 100th floor, getting back up shouldn’t be too difficult. Of course, that means fleeing without defeating the bosses. After walking for a while…

“…I don’t remember seeing an entrance like this.”

After not too long, a massive door appeared. Looking at the door that seemed almost as large as Gor at her maximum size, I was frowning and debating whether to open it when…

“Stop wasting time with useless thoughts and enter. Even if you go elsewhere, you will return here.”

“Holy shit, you scared me.”

The voice was so loud it made the spacious cavern resonate, and I instinctively cursed and covered my ears. The voice silently urged me to hurry up and enter. Sigh, what now? Well, can’t be helped.

When I place my hand on the door and push slightly, it begins to open backward with surprising lightness despite its enormous size. After it opens just enough for one person to pass through, I enter to find a massive room much brighter than the outer cavern. And in the center of the room sits a black-haired… boy? Wait, what’s wrong with his eyes?

“You’ve finally arrived, Distorted One.”

“The only thing distorted is your eyeballs. What are you, do you have some kind of eye disability?”

That might be a dangerous thing to say if it were true, but it definitely isn’t. Considering how he made that massive voice echo beyond the thick door and how he made me come to see him through these impossible phenomena, there’s no way he’s just some sick kid. As I approach the boy with golden eyes and reptilian pupils without hiding my hostility, he gets up slowly from his seat and starts walking toward me, seemingly unconcerned.

“Do you not know who I am, or are you pretending not to know?”

“This is driving me crazy. You seem to know me, but I’m meeting you for the first time? If you’re going to summon someone on a whim, you should introduce yourself properly first, you ill-mannered bastard.”

As I stride toward him, we quickly meet in the middle. Hmm, a kid who comes up to about my waist. Black hair and reptilian eyes. What is this? There wasn’t anyone like this in the game.

“You’re so hostile despite not knowing me. As expected, because the Distorted One’s touch has affected you so much, you instinctively recognize me as an enemy.”

“So you are an enemy. That’s what you’re saying, right?”

“No, I a…”

-BWAAAK!!!

Before he could finish, I swung my right fist at him, not hiding my inexplicable discomfort and frustration at the current situation, intending to send him flying into the left wall. However.

“What, so heavy…?!”

“…am a being from beyond half of this Eight Continent. Originally, I should not interfere with anything happening beyond the halfway point. Yes, you short-lived species used to call me this.”

[Mountain Dragon] The boy who introduced himself as such stood firm in place after taking my punch as if nothing had happened, looking up at me.