Today was yet another exhausting day, I thought as I dragged my feet back to my room. Every time I had a rendezvous with Eri, she drained me of my stamina. Granted, my own mana was always overflowing afterward...
I don’t feel so good. I should take a nap. But the moment I reached the door to my dorm room...
Klang klang klang klang klang! An ominous alarm sounded throughout the school.
“An abnormal situation has arisen in Babel, the Last Dungeon. All explorers D rank and above must assemble at the Dungeon entrance immediately. I repeat...”
I glanced down at the explorer badge pinned to my chest. The words “D rank” blinked back at me. As someone who fulfilled the requirement, I had to join the others.
I guess I don’t have a choice. My nap would have to wait. After leaving the dormitory, I headed for the Last Dungeon. Now then...
I looked up at the massive tower, which seemed to extend all the way above the clouds. Its diameter was so great that a small city could have fit inside, and it was said to boast a thousand floors, though no one in the history of humanity had ever reached the top. No human or near human race could have built it, and so people believed the gods had constructed it as a training or proving ground.
This place was called the Last Dungeon, or Babel. Located in the middle of the Southern Continent, it was the largest dungeon in the world. The magical academy I attended—no, even the city-state that the academy existed in had sprung up after the Last Dungeon.
Many had gathered here to seek the treasures inside the gargantuan dungeon, which had prompted others to set up stores to supply their needs. In time, enough people had settled down to form a city around Babel, and, as the city grew, it became a city-state. That was the origin of the dungeon city, or dungeon country, of Karaf.
In the event of an anomaly inside Babel, all the explorers who lived within the city were duty bound to prioritize defending the dungeon. Students of Lykeion Magic Academy weren’t exempt. Currently, I saw a few dozen explorers gathered in the square outside of the dungeon entrance.
Not many people are here... The city housed several thousand explorers, but it seemed that the higher-ranking ones were absent. That made sense, though. The higher an explorer’s rank, the more often they went exploring, after all. My explorer rank of D was the bare minimum necessary to enter the dungeon unaccompanied. Most of the others here had the same rank as me.
“Thank you for coming, everyone!” The man who’d spoken was a member of the dungeon staff, public officials who supervised Babel and retrieved injured explorers from inside. “A Dungeon Destroyer has appeared inside Babel! This is an urgent situation. Everyone, look at the Satellite System!”
No one needed to be told twice. We all looked up at the giant screen displaying the inner goings-on of Babel and grimaced as one. The 5th Level of the dungeon had turned into a sea of flames.
What’s going on? Normally, all the floors up until the 9th Level consist of woods and grassy plains. The Last Dungeon was a massive construct comprising a thousand floors, with the scenery and environment changing every ten levels. I’d made my way up to the 9th Level before, so I could tell at a glance just how bizarre this situation was.
“Such an inferno cannot be the result of natural causes! Someone must have set fire to the dungeon! Though we’ve been trying to put it out, our efforts thus far have been in vain. We would like everyone here to investigate the cause of the fire as well as help with extinguishing it.”
After the staffer revealed the reason behind the summons, people around me began murmuring to each other.
“What the hell? Ask the impossible of us, why don’t you?”
“None of us will last a second in those flames.”
“Fire-resistant armor is so expensive.”
This situation was far too dangerous for such low-level explorers.
“We will lend everyone fire-resistant robes free of charge. Those who need them can pick them up here. As well, explorers who help us with this task will, regardless of performance, receive compensation—”
As soon as I heard that, I turned and slowly made my way to the dungeon entrance. The others’ reactions were more varied; some continued to hesitate, while others lined up to receive their fire-resistant robes.
“Eugene!” called a middle-aged man whom I recognized as one of the staff, approaching me. “Are you going in?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “The sooner the better, right?”
“It’s an emergency, so yes, I’d really appreciate it.”
“I don’t envy you your job. All I need to do before I go in is sign here, right?”
“That’s correct. All right, that’s all the paperwork sorted. Oh, and don’t forget this! Sorry to foist my own hand-me-downs on you.” He handed me a fire-resistant robe that looked decidedly frayed at the edges.
“I don’t need one,” I told him. “I’ve got my Barrier Magic.”
“Oh, don’t say that. Being prepared for any situation is the most important thing for an explorer. Besides, you may come across some stragglers in there, so you should bring that just in case.”
“All right, I got it. Thanks.”
After expressing my gratitude, I walked in through the door and entered the 1st Level, then made my way toward the center of the floor, where the Dungeon Elevator was.
The elevator was an ancient relic. No one knew when it had appeared, nor how it worked. Nonetheless, everybody used it because of its sheer convenience. Some bizarre technology allowed it to carry passengers to any floor they’d reached through their own efforts. Thus, I could only use it to access floors up to the 9th Level.
I pressed the button for the 5th Level and the Dungeon Elevator began its slow ascent. Soon, it came to a halt, and the doors parted on a blazing inferno. Thanks to the barrier around the elevator, the heat and the flames hadn’t reached me or any of the other passengers, but they had swallowed up everything else. Many other explorers had already gotten to the 5th Level. However, none of those in the elevator with me made a move to venture through the doors; their words and expressions were laced with fear.
“Hey, do they really want us to go in there?”
“I sure don’t wanna...”
“It’s impossible to see through the flames and smoke. We won’t be able to fight back if any monsters attack us.”
“Are there any monsters on the 5th Level that can withstand that blaze?”
“Who knows? It’s not like any of this is normal.”
The inferno had stopped the explorers from progressing any farther. I, however, started making my way to where the fire was most intense.
“H-Hey!” one explorer called out to me. “You’re not wearing your fire-resistant robe!”
“Don’t worry!” I replied. “I can use Barrier Magic!”
“O-Okay, but, even if you’re a Barrier Mage, this fire is still way too strong!”
“Don’t be an idiot! Come back!”
To soothe everyone’s worries, I waved at them from within the fire. No one said anything more, so I must have succeeded in reassuring them. I progressed deeper into the roaring flames. The fire had reduced the trees to charcoal that had dispersed across the ground like sand. Thanks to the barrier I’d cast around my body, I couldn’t feel the heat. But the sight of flames surrounding me on all sides made it difficult to relax.
Could anything have survived this? Most likely, a monster of the fire element had started it, and one from the higher levels too. Perhaps it had descended through Babel in search of prey. But, taking into consideration that a Boss guarded the 10th Level, I couldn’t think of any monster capable of getting all the way here and doing this. But no sooner had that thought occurred to me than—
Hic...sob...sob... Under the crackling and crumbling of the wood, I heard the faint sounds of someone crying. Is that...a girl’s voice? Is she an explorer who got left behind in the dungeon? But why is she still here? Surely she doesn’t have the luxury to be sitting around crying.
I had to remain on guard. Some monsters could imitate human voices and lure explorers into traps. That being said, I’d never heard of such devious creatures roaming the 5th Level. In that case, could this be an ordinary human? Very little about this situation made sense, but I couldn’t ignore someone in distress.
I cautiously made my way toward the source of the voice. There’s someone there. I could see them where they were sitting in the midst of the flames. Right where the fire was the strongest, a girl was crying as her body burned.