I’ll be honest: I was in a very gloomy mood, super gloomy. Even if I put it mildly, my mood was in the darkest pits of darkness. I felt like an exercise-hating kid on the morning of a school field day or a marathon; either that or I felt like someone who hated writing but was forced to write a book report. I felt worse than “having a dark cloud over my head” on the last day of summer break.
What could have me feeling so down in the dumps, you ask? The reason had to do with the dungeon, of course. Indeed, my melancholy was related to the floor known as the City, one of the three horror floors of the Gandakia Dungeon at the Free City of Freida—well, it wasn’t just related, but that floor was the reason itself.
The official name of the floor was the Smoky Verdigris City, and it was found at depth level 22. At my level, I wouldn’t exactly call it a walk in the park, but its depth level was low enough that I wouldn’t be in serious danger unless I let my guard down completely. The issue with this place wasn’t that the monsters roaming in it were really strong or anything like that. Its interior was similar to that of the Visceral Cave, which looked like the inside of some intestines; that should give you an idea of what type of place it was. Just being there depleted my sanity with a 1d6 or maybe a 2d10 roll. On top of that, the Smoky Verdigris City was known as one of the three horror floors for a reason: ghosts appeared here. Well, they were technically monsters like wraiths, but they were the same as ghosts to me. Djinnis, demons, phantoms; I didn’t know the difference. I wanted to call on a hellish teacher to save me.
Anyway, it was my day off, so I’d been diving since the morning. But this place was always night like the Evernight Meadows. They said, “After every dark night comes a glorious morning of a new day,” but that didn’t apply here. Well, it wasn’t as if tomorrow wouldn’t come, but still. Furthermore, the ground was completely black on this floor, and only the moon shone in the night sky.
Other than the darkness, the other defining characteristic of this place was the bunch of abandoned buildings. Unlike the ruined towns you’d see in Middle Eastern movies, they were more American. There were streets lined with a bunch of old houses with their windows and doors all boarded up. These ghost towns reminded me of the Undercity I’d visited with Lion-Maru, but that place wasn’t quite the same. The Undercity was scary too, but this place was actually scarier because of the ghosts. That kind of thing was scarier than strong monsters for me, though I still didn’t want to go back to the Undercity ever again. The Visceral Cave? That place was even worse than here, obviously.
At least there weren’t any clowns here. If a clown monster had appeared, I’d never return here again. Such a place would be like a second Visceral Cave. I didn’t have coulrophobia, but anyone would pee their pants and faint if someone dressed as a clown attacked them in the middle of the night. That actually happened in the States, making that place actually scarier than this floor. Those pranks really should die; anyone who did that sort of thing didn’t deserve any mercy whatsoever.
Anyway, I wasn’t diving solo today, and I felt like I haven’t been doing so a lot lately. Today, I was here with Sensei. What was that? Sensei was pretty much like a ghost too? Don’t worry, I’d already mentioned that out loud and gotten thoroughly punished for it. It would’ve been nice if Sensei were in her true form like that time we’d gone to the Paradise Hot Springs, but for that, I’d have to do something to remedy her situation first.
“Your legs have been trembling nonstop,” pointed out Sensei.
“I can’t help it! Real ghosts appear here, you know?! I’m not a commoner who accidentally wandered into the world of Fatal Frame or something!”
“A commoner, huh?” said Sensei. “Can a commoner use magic?”
“Well, maybe not a commoner, but I still consider myself a plebeian.”
“Sure you are,” she said in an unconvinced tone.
Those black band things coiled around Sensei as usual, and she was enshrouded in a misty black aura. She was acting like her usual enigmatic self, but she never failed to punish me if I ever said anything out of line.
I, on the other hand, didn’t feel like my usual self.
“Ugh, why did I come here...” I said.
“Look who’s talking. You got all giddy and fired up to go just because I gave you a little physical contact,” pointed out Sensei.
“Curse you, me from an hour ago,” I lamented.
“You’d probably do the same thing even if you’d gone back to the past. You only care about living in the moment.”
“That isn’t true. You won’t find many people as sagacious as I am,” I said.
“You’re careful, I’ll give you that, but look how easily you succumbed to my coaxing and seduction. You’re hopeless.”
“Ugh, you cheated.”
“You call that cheating? You’re just too easy,” said Sensei.
That wasn’t true. Any man would feel giddy if a girl pressed her body against him. It was a completely natural and correct reaction.
Anyway, you might wonder why we were here. Well, if you got afflicted with a powerful curse, all other things didn’t seem as scary. Also, when fighting terrifying things, you wanted to send other terrifying things against them in a “fight fire with fire” kind of way. I was sure the “curse” and “terrifying things” in this instance were obvious without explicitly pointing them out.
“You’re thinking something you shouldn’t be, aren’t you?” said Sensei.
“N-N-N-No, of course not! What makes you think I’m having rude thoughts about you?!” I stuttered.
“You pretty much just admitted it. Want me to squeeze your balls?”
“Eek! Please don’t! You’ll turn me into a girl!”
One of her black bands transformed into a hand doing a squeezing gesture, striking fear into my heart. Some people probably enjoyed that sort of thing, but this was a matter of life or death for me. I squirmed around to escape the band, fearing for my very life. Then, I quickly prostrated myself, lowering my head to the ground in a gesture of apology. This saved me because she couldn’t reach the goods in this position. She eventually gave up and forgave me, though I thought I’d heard her clicking her tongue in disappointment. I had a feeling she’d punish me in some other way eventually, but I decided not to think about that. Sure, I was just trying to escape reality, but you had to pick your battles. I knew I didn’t stand a chance against Sensei at my current level; my only option was to try and land little hits, then flee immediately.
“Anyway, you’re more geared up than usual today,” pointed out Sensei.
“You never know what will happen here,” I said. “I brought all sorts of things so that I’ll be prepared for anything.”
As she’d pointed out, I looked a bit—well, a lot different than usual. I still had my usual safari top and bottoms, but I had a ring on my head with candles attached to it instead of my safari hat. It was adorned with colorful charms I’d gotten from a local shrine back home, and I’d also brought a gohei, which was a stick with paper streamers attached that priests carried around. I might have looked a bit funny, but I didn’t let that bother me.