“Hey… we’ve been going down for a while now. How much further is it?” I asked, my voice echoing softly down the stone passage.
We’d already descended deep into the dungeon, where Routier’s father was supposed to be imprisoned, and we were still going. For what felt like forever, it had been nothing but stairs.
The interior wasn’t too dark. Torches lined the stone walls, flickering gently in their brackets. Still, it was strange. Every dungeon I’d explored up to now, even the simplest ones, had chambers, passageways, or winding mazes.
But this one?
Nothing. Not a single fork in the path. No rooms. No monsters.
Just stairs.
“Hey, Routier,” Al said, her voice skeptical. “You sure he’s really down here? It’s been half an hour at least, and all we’ve done is walk downstairs.”
“He’s here,” Routier answered firmly. “I can feel it. There’s no mistake.”
“Grrrgh… Then, at the very least, they could’ve thrown a monster or two in here! How’s a girl supposed to eat like this?!” Lulune growled, tail swishing in frustration.
“Glutton. That’s not normal,” Origa muttered, unimpressed. “Not seeing monsters is a good thing. Means we’re not wasting stamina.”
“If we did run into monsters, we could just eat them and recover stamina. It’s a net gain, really. Plus, we’d get to try something new and exotic.”
“I’m done talking to you.”
With a long, exhausted sigh, Origa turned away.
Yeah… feeding Lulune human food is definitely in my top three life regrets. Never again. Seriously.
As I trudged forward, shaking my head, we reached something new, at last.
A door.
It was the first one we’d seen since entering the dungeon. No elaborate design, no glowing runes or mystical carvings. But it was thick. Solid. Reinforced in a way that practically screamed important.
“This is…” I ran a hand along the frame. “Al, you getting anything off this?”
“Hm? Well, I can’t say for sure without opening it,” she said, narrowing her eyes as she studied it, “but from all the dungeons I’ve crawled over the years… this kinda gives off boss-room vibes.”
“Wait, already? Boss room? Just like that?”
“Yeah, I know it sounds sudden. Normally, I’d say no way. But with dungeons, nothing’s ever certain. Remember the one Zora was in? That place threw logic out the window.”
“Fair point,” I muttered, nodding.
As I absorbed that unsettling reminder, I noticed Routier standing silently in front of the door, her eyes fixed on it with intense focus.
“What’s wrong, Routier?” Saria asked gently, tilting her head.
“My father’s presence… is just beyond this door.”
“Huh?! Y-You mean, Routier’s father is already right on the other side?!” Saria gasped.
“Probably,” Routier replied softly, eyes still fixed on the door.
“Well, whatever the case, if we’re about to meet him, that’s great news, right?” Lulune said with a toothy grin.
“And your real reason?”
“I want to hurry up and get through this so I can eat!”
“Routier… it’s okay. You can just ignore the glutton,” Origa said flatly.
“R-Right,” Routier replied, nodding uncertainly.
“Origa?!”
No, Origa’s got it exactly right.
As Routier pressed a hand to the thick door, Saria stood beside her, gazing at it as well, though with a puzzled expression. Her head tilted slightly, ears twitching.
“Hm? What’s wrong, Saria?” I asked.
“Oh. Uh… hmm… It’s probably nothing,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.
“Nothing? Did something feel off?”
“It’s not exactly that something feels wrong… The presence I’m sensing beyond this door really does feel like Routier’s, so I’m sure her dad’s there. But still… there’s this weird haze, I guess? It’s hard to describe, but it’s not clear-cut.”
“Is that your wild instinct talking again?” Al asked, serious now.
“Yeah. I think so.”
“I see…”
It might’ve sounded like a lighthearted exchange, but no one in the group took Saria’s instincts lightly. Her so-called “wild instinct” had saved us more than once.
If she’s uneasy, we should definitely be cautious going in.
Still… what really caught me off guard was how casually Saria had said, “The presence feels like Routier’s.” Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
But I didn’t sense a damn thing.
Sure, during my time training in the Underworld with Lucius and Zeanos, I’d learned how to detect presences in combat. I could feel when someone, or something, was nearby.
But distinguishing the type of presence? Who it resembled? That was still way out of my league.
How does she do it? It all feels the same to me… Just vague auras and pressure. That’s it.
As I stood there pondering this mostly useless mystery, Routier seemed to reach a decision.
Silently, she placed her hand on the door, her fingers trembling slightly, but her eyes steady.
“Yeah. I’m okay now. Let’s go.”
With her voice steady, Routier pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The rest of us followed close behind, only for the scene beyond to bring us to a stunned halt.
“Huh?”
“What is this place?”
A star-filled night sky stretched endlessly above us.
Just like Zora’s dungeon, this one, supposedly where Routier’s father was sealed, seemed to defy the very laws of space. It wasn’t a room, or a cave, or a passageway. It was… a world. An open, surreal world.
There were no buildings. No walls. Just a vast field of grass under a moonlit sky, dotted with stars too bright, too perfect to be real. Something that looked like a moon hung high above us, but given that we were in another world, it was probably a moon-like celestial body. Still, it bore an uncanny resemblance to Earth’s moon, down to its size and silvery glow.
If it’s that similar in size to the one I saw back on Earth, then… this world can’t be that far from Earth, can it? No, that’s ridiculous. I’m overthinking it again.
As the last of us stepped through, the heavy door behind us slowly creaked shut, then vanished entirely.
“What the—?! The door’s gone?!”
“Mm… Completely gone,” Origa said calmly as she examined the space where it had once stood.
Even as I stood there blinking in disbelief, she was already confirming what I feared. The doorway had simply ceased to exist.
Which meant we were now sealed inside.
I was pretty sure we could still teleport out if it came down to it… and worst-case scenario, I could always blow a hole through the ceiling like last time. But still…
This place really doesn’t feel like a dungeon.
The air carried the crisp, clean scent of the outdoors. A breeze whispered across our skin, cool and gentle, far too natural for an underground illusion. The sensory details were flawless; not just a fabricated simulation, but something alive. And honestly, no rule said these dungeon spaces had to be fake.
Still, compared to what I’d felt in Zora’s dungeon, this place felt even more convincingly “outside.” If someone told me we’d stepped into another world entirely, I might’ve believed it.
Either way, standing around wasn’t going to get us anywhere. We pressed forward into the open field.
Compared to the blistering wastelands of the Wailing Lands, this area felt positively refreshing. A gentle breeze moved through the tall grass, and the open landscape was a sea of green under the starlit sky.
We kept our guard up as we moved, watching for signs of danger.
Then suddenly, Routier came to a stop.
“Ah…”
“Hm? What is it?”
Routier suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened, locked on something ahead. The rest of us followed her gaze and saw him. A man stood alone in the middle of the open field, not moving, simply watching us.
He wore the uniform of the Demon Lord’s army, cloaked in a crimson mantle that fluttered gently in the breeze. His build was robust, with a broad, battle-hardened frame. He carried the air of someone who had survived countless wars. His face was sharp and weathered, radiating strength and quiet resolve. But more than anything, what drew our attention were his features: slicked-back hair and eyes that exactly matched Routier’s.
Routier stood frozen, staring at him as if the world had stopped. “F-Father…”
That single word struck the air like a chime in a still forest, and with it, we understood. There could be no mistake. This was the man we had come all this way to find: her father. Now that I really looked, I could see the resemblance in the curve of the jaw, the color of the eyes. Still, I couldn’t help but blink in surprise. He’s way more intense-looking than I imagined. Honestly, I’d expected someone more like Lucius or Zeanos: refined, maybe even gentle. This guy looks like he could bench-press a boulder.
As I stood there processing that unexpected visual, the man took a step forward. He didn’t look threatening. In fact, he smiled with a calm, warm expression that softened his otherwise stern face. He extended both arms, as if welcoming her into an embrace. “It’s been a long time, Routier.”
Her breath hitched, and tears welled up in her eyes. “Father!”
I didn’t know how long they’d been apart. Maybe months. Maybe years. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was this moment, this long-awaited reunion. Routier, unable to hold back any longer, broke into a run. All the emotions she’d held inside—hope, grief, longing—exploded into motion.
But before she could reach him, a voice rang out.
“Wait… Routier! Stop!”
Saria’s voice, sharp and urgent, cut through the air. Then, to our shock, she moved faster than any of us could react, wrapping her arms around Routier from behind and pulling her to a halt. The momentum was broken, and Routier stumbled, bewildered.
“Sa… Saria?!” I stared at her, stunned. “Why are you stopping her?!”
Everyone was frozen with confusion. Even Routier looked back at Saria in disbelief, her face twisted in hurt and incomprehension. But Saria didn’t loosen her grip. Her ears were up, body tense, and her narrowed eyes were fixed not on Routier, but on the man ahead.
Then she spoke, her voice low, sharp, and certain.
“You’re not her father… are you?”
“Huh?”
“Who are you?” the man asked coldly, narrowing his eyes. “Why are you interfering in a family’s reunion?”
Routier froze in place, eyes wide in disbelief. Her father, if he truly was, frowned in clear irritation, the warmth from just moments ago already gone from his expression.
The sudden shift in atmosphere left everyone rattled. Origa and Zora looked around anxiously, unable to grasp what was happening. Even Al, normally unshakable, stood speechless, clearly unsure what to say. Honestly, I wasn’t doing much better. The only one who seemed unaffected was Lulune, who had completely tuned out the situation and was busy scanning the area for monsters… or more likely, something edible.