When I checked my watch, I realized that two hours had gone by. It was a bit strange thinking about how that only equated to a minute aboveground. It seemed like Akane had continued the massage even after I fell asleep, judging by how much better my legs felt.
“As for our immediate goal, I’m thinking of first focusing on setting everything up properly.”
As I began going over my remodeling plans in detail while still lying on my beach chair, Akane gave me a look of amazement mixed with bewilderment.
“This dungeon appeared in my yard. In other words, no one else will be able to come in. Therefore, I will be remodeling it as I please.”
“If that is the case, then I suppose there wouldn’t be a problem, but...”
“Hm? You have misgivings?”
“No, that is not the case. It’s just that there is still something I haven’t told you about the Dungeon System, and I’ve been thinking about how to bring it up.”
“Don’t tell me...the monsters can come out of the dungeon?”
“No, they cannot. At least, not at the moment. There are two ways for monsters to appear outside a dungeon. First is when someone with the Dungeon Buster title — attained by clearing a dungeon — materializes a cardified monster outside. The specific rewards granted to someone who clears a dungeon vary depending on the rank of the dungeon, but the Card Materialization ability is always included. As can be guessed from this name, this ability enables someone to materialize cards aboveground, albeit for a limited amount of time.”
“So if I conquer this dungeon, I would be able to bring you outside?”
“That is correct. When the time comes, please feel free to do whatev—”
“Ahem, well, I’ll look forward to it. So, the second way?” I prompted with a smile. Akane indeed had an appearance so voluptuous and beautiful so as to put even gravure idols and top entries in “actresses men would love to have as lovers” lists to shame, but she had a bad habit of slipping in sexually provocative language every once in a while when speaking. That said, she seemed to know where the limits were, seeing as how she immediately returned to the topic at hand.
“The second way is when humanity loses to the dungeons.”
The shocking words wiped the smile off my face.
“One revolution — meaning a year — later, the Dungeon System will become fully active with all 666 dungeons fully appearing throughout this world. If humanity cannot conquer them all within the following ten revolutions, a phenomenon called ‘Monster Stampede’ will take place. In short, all the monsters from the uncleared dungeons will rush out all at once in a never-ending tide. Let alone humans, all life on this planet — even animals and vegetation — would be thoroughly consumed.”
“Hold on a — Hold on a moment. So you mean to say that if we don’t destroy all the dungeons within the next eleven years, monsters will spill out and obliterate this world?”
“As my memories have been erased, I do not recall seeing this happen myself. However, I know that countless numbers of civilizations have already perished because of this.”
I brought my hand to my mouth as my mind whirred. Up until this moment, I had only been thinking about spicing up my life with the dungeon. If the world was going to end in roughly ten years, then that changed everything. As the person who had activated the Dungeon System, this was now very much my responsibility. I could feel my heart rate spiking.
Calm down. Okay, what should I do...? Running away is not an option. If these dungeons are going to appear everywhere on Earth, then there is nowhere to run. That leaves actually taking these head on. But how? Should I inform the police or the government? Would they believe me, though? Even if they believed me, that would probably mean a lot of different people coming in and out of this dungeon and learning the fact of the world’s approaching doom. If that information gets out, society would be thrown into chaos. What if I just use this dungeon to enjoy the rest of my life...? No, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything at all. If I tried to live while ignoring the fact that I was the person who triggered the whole phenomenon, I think I would be crushed by all the stress and guilt. Then that leaves...
“For now, I need to avoid being exposed as the First Contacter. And I should probably go look for the other dungeons. Not that I expect to find them all, but...”
“I would actually recommend that you focus on this dungeon, Abyss, for the moment. As a Rank A dungeon, it should supply you with plenty of Enhancement Element, helping you to become quite strong.”
“Oh right, that reminds me. I haven’t heard you explain ‘Enhancement Element’ yet. Is it like the ‘XP’ that comes up so often in RPG games?”
While speaking, I pulled up my Status window yet again.