The three of them started working as soon as they entered the room, cleaning up very efficiently.
The gargoyle picked up the corpses and placed them in the jar it was holding. It didn’t look all that large, so it must’ve been more spacious on the inside—similar to the thief’s pouch or my Storage ability.
The water spirit produced a torrent of water out of thin air and used it to spray down the blood in the room, washing it away. Meanwhile, the undead priest used a mop to polish the floor.
The room was rendered spotless in no time at all. With their work done, the three left.
They’re total pros. It seemed to me like they worked like a well-oiled machine.
“Uhhh... So what do I do now?”
I was placed here, so I’m supposed to stay put and hold down the fort, right? Would leaving count as abandoning my post or something? On the other hand, if I stay put, I’ll just get assaulted by more adventurers... I’m pretty sure at this point that they’ll just attack the first monster they see, no questions asked. Even if I tried to pretend to be a treasure chest, they’d still come to open me. There’s no way an adventurer would just ignore potential loot. So, in the end, I should still leave. After all, I have legs now! I should be able to run away at least.
Fearfully, I pushed the door open and went outside. Despite a niggling worry that I wouldn’t even be able to leave the room, it turned out that wasn’t the case.
I found myself in a passageway. It was made of stone, just like the room I’d been in before, and the ceiling also glowed faintly.
The passage itself was a simple straight corridor that had doors dotted along its sides. There were also cross-shaped intersections. All in all, it was a pretty deliberately designed place.
Where do I even go?
“Yeeep, I’ve got no clue.”
For now, my overall goal was to survive for five days. That being said, I had no way of actually counting the time, and there was absolutely nothing here that’d help me orient myself in that respect...
Welp, that’s a lost cause. Might as well just give up on that. Anyway, my only option is to keep running, but that still doesn’t answer how I’ll do it... Like, I could probably find a place to hide away from any adventurers.
“Hmmm... I guess I should start with learning the floor’s layout, shouldn’t I?”
I’d have an easier time running if I were to know where I was going, and it’d open up options for prime hiding spots. In any case, I couldn’t afford to just space out in front of a room, so I started walking down the passage.
As I traveled along the corridor, I discovered that the dungeon was surprisingly noisy. There was combat happening somewhere, and the sound was traveling over to me. Obviously, I decided to stay away from the source. It seemed to me that I’d be able to differentiate the sounds of an adventurer’s footsteps, so I figured that running before they noticed me wouldn’t be too hard.
“Maybe this whole running away plan has better odds than I thought?”
I was a little bewildered after being suddenly told to survive, but now I was starting to feel like it could all work out.
As I held on to that little spark of hope, I turned a corner and found myself at a dead end. It was a bit disappointing, but now I knew of a spot to avoid when running, so this experience wasn’t totally useless.
Anyway, let’s turn back. Just as I was thinking that, the sound of a door opening came from behind me.
“Ah...”
That was when I finally realized how careless I was being. I couldn’t hear anything going on outside while I was inside the room. In other words, all the rooms were soundproofed. There was no way to tell who might’ve been inside one.
I turned around and saw an adventurer emerge about ten meters ahead of me.
“Eurgh, what is that gross thing?!”
Yep, should’ve known this would be mission impossible! And there’s nowhere to hide! I’m trapped!
Another adventure came out, then another. One by one, they poured out of the door. In the blink of an eye, over twenty people had gathered.
Huh? Huuuh?! Hey, what’s the deal with the large crowd? Wouldn’t a normal party only have four people—or like, six at most?!
While there were the usual warriors, mages, and priests, there were also many other adventurers of classes I couldn’t quite discern.
This is way too many! What are you guys, a swarm?!
“The hell is that, a mimic? Are those supposed to appear on the first underground floor?”
“The guidebook does say that they rarely appear as traps, even on this floor. But they aren’t listed as a wandering monster...”
A guidebook?! I want that!
“Maybe they just added one this season?”
“If that’s the case, maybe we shouldn’t just carelessly attack it? We’re newbies after all.”
Y-Yeah! Please just go somewhere else and leave me alone!
“You might have a point, but this is only the first floor, right? It’s supposed to be just about impossible for even beginners to die. How’re we supposed to get anywhere if we’re afraid of something like this?”
“Yeah... There’s no way a monster on the first floor would be strong!”
“Okay everyone, quiet down! Please leave the situation assessment to me, your guide. I believe I told you to listen to my orders at the beginning, right? Even if we’re only on the first floor, we’re still in a dungeon! This is a guided tour! If you’re going to act on your own, then I won’t be held responsible, got it? I will take it to mean you don’t need my care. You’ll be left to your own devices.”
“Okaaay!”
A beginner’s tour? Now that you mention it, there’re a lot of kids in the group.
The older dude who acted as the guide stepped in front.
I see! He’s the only one that seems different, like a grizzled veteran or something. Wait, now’s not the time to be impressed!
“Now listen here, be careful whenever you encounter a monster for the first time. You there—what should we do in this situation?”
“Right! We should analyze it and determine how much of a threat it poses!”
“Exactly. First, we should analyze it. All right, those with the skill should try using it.”