It's dark... I can't see anything. My sight is filled by nothingness, an eternal void. And I know that my eyes are closed, but I don't want to open them. I feel like I have fallen into a very long dream, reliving my past, and a part of me doesn't want to wake up. Opening my eyes just feels sad...
Eh... What is this smell? Is somebody cooking? Good grief, my mouth suddenly feels like it's drooling. The smell invades my nose and hooks my appetite, making my stomach rumble. Food is one thing to get up for.
How foolish of me... In this life, I've been blessed with a healthy body; I shouldn't waste it. I promised myself that if I have a second chance in life, I will live my life to the fullest. And I will fulfill it; I will enjoy my life.
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is a fire under a pot. The wind carries the steam towards my face, and a drop of saliva runs down the side of my mouth. I rub my eyes to ease the itch; it is still dark, but a few more hours and the sun will rise.
"Good morning, Fielma. Please, wake up the others and eat," the cook says, so I comply.
As I turn around to wake up the others, I see Jacky urinating in the river. He is still half-asleep and snoring. It's been seven days since we entered this floor; every night, we camp near the river and sleep under the trees. While monsters could attack us at any moment, we can sleep peacefully with warding talismans set up around us.
Warding talismans don't guarantee a hundred percent protection, though; they only prevent monsters from perceiving us as prey but don't work when the monsters have already taken an interest in us before applying the talisman, so we still need to sleep with one eye left open.
"Hans, morning..." Jacky greets, rubbing his belly as he sits around the campfire. Then, I start waking up the others...
"Shasha, hey, Shasha, wake up. Vinetra, you too."
"Five more minutes..." Shasha suggests irritably, curling herself with her blanket and continuing to sleep. I find her behavior cute and rude at the same time that I want to eat her.
Since Vinetra is a responsible person unlike the rest, she immediately leaps and wakes up. She washes her face in the river, which also wets her short dark hair with a violet tinge at the ends. Then, she drinks from it.
"Pwe... why is this so bitter?" she complains.
George wakes up by himself, so the only person left asleep is Mark. After all of them woke up, we surround the campfire and wait for the bowl of breakfast to come. One by one, the cook gives us a hot bowl of nutritious-looking food filled with leafy greens, mushrooms, and meat. Of course, the first thing I eat is the meat.
My teeth sink through the lean meat easily and dissolve on my tongue; the tenderness is amplified by its juiciness, the saltiness... a perfect match for its sweetness. I am drowning in pleasure with every bite.
"It's tasty..."
"Thank you," the cook replies to my sudden praise.
The cooking skills, I thought I would never taste them again after Hans' death. He is the best cook among all of us due to his long experience in life... WAIT A MINUTE!!
Jacky is the first who wakes up, then I come next, I wake up Shasha, Vinetra, and Mark, George wakes up by himself... Who the hell is cooking this!?
Maybe I'm still half-asleep, or maybe I'm just a dumbass character from a poorly written horror story. My sweat doesn't stop falling apart, and I nervously tilt my head to unravel the mystery of who the cook is. A ghost from the past that will hunt me to my death...
My breathing hastens as I try to look at the creature... he is buck naked, and when I look at his face... it is covered in... it is covered in...
Underwear.
"Kamin Raider!" I shout since their look is quite similar, and also to alert the party to their guards. Vinetra and the rest panic and jump away from the creature; unfortunately, they don't have their weapons in their hands. I think they were compromised by this creature.
"So you've noticed," the creature says.
A mysterious pixelated cylinder rises up between his legs, and Vinetra's eyes widen, tightening her fist. Her expression tenses up from the threat.
"How dare you point your sword towards us!?" Vinetra exclaims, gritting her teeth.
"I can't believe I'm eating in front of a naked man," Jacky kneels and covers his mouth, trying to prevent his puke from coming out. Tears begin dripping from the side of his eyes, sobbing from the despair of the fact.
George rubs his back to calm him down. "Calm down, Jacky. Calm down," but he as well suddenly covers his mouth and cries.
The underwear man laughs hysterically, "Bwahahaha! How fulfilling, this despair is amazing!" he is mocking us, laughing at us, putting salt in our deep non-healing wounds. We just can't accept it; we are eating, savoring the tastiness of the food while in front of a naked dude... I just can't imagine it, that we're biting the meat while his meat is swaying in the air left and right in front of us. Unacceptable!
"Why would I point my sword towards you? Have you forgotten what you have done to me?"
Huh? Did we do anything bad? No matter how much I think about it, we did nothing wrong except... Oh...
"Who the hell are you?" Vinetra asks, but it is the least she needs to question because she will just regret knowing it...
The masked man grabs the underwear on his face and pulls it off. Vinetra gasps in disbelief at the familiar face in front of her. That's right, it is Hans William, the one who died when we first entered this floor.
"YOU'RE ALIVE!!" Vinetra's voice squeaks a little; she tightens her fist in realization. "So this is about revenge, huh?"
Hans smirks, an evil smirk that amplifies the uneasiness within us. Every one of us is on the edge of what he's going to do next. He's an emerald class adventurer after all; if he chose to, he could eliminate us, and Vinetra could barely stop him.
"Revenge? I don't plan on doing anything for such an immature cause. I came here for the greater good."
Knowing Hans, he is up to no good when he says it is for the greater good.
"How are you alive, Hans?" I ask; we knew that he is dead, we checked his pulse and his breathing, and all of it points at him being absolutely dead.
"I am a holy priest touched by the gods. A girl's gentle hands are not enough to kill me."
That doesn't explain anything... But Mark whispers to me about the certain rumors regarding the nature of the priest we've been working with this whole time, "I think this is just rumors, but they said that Hans William has already died in the past, but he kept getting revived for some reason..."
What are you? Jesus Christ? Is that the power of divine magic? It's the first time I heard such rumors even if we've been working together for the past two years.
"Greater good?" Vinetra nervously asks.
Hans smiles wider; the wider it gets, the more nefarious it looks. He really looks like a final villain on a TV show! He's creepy beyond comprehension. He raises a hand and squeezes it, forming a fist. "Correct, now that you've seen my naked body. I will never be ashamed again if I saw a naked girl," he says, what!? That's stupid!
"You never change; you are still perverted as ever."
"Vinetra!" I feel a presence around us that I shout at the leader.
"I know! We're surrounded..."
Hans... why would you go too far for such a stupid reason? I thought you were going to become a bad person because of what we've done, but you just became stupider. So I asked Hans what's going on inside his head, "Why are you doing this?" I asked.
Then Hans smiles at me. "When you guys threw me into the river, I was washed away by the current for three days; the homorotabi found and saved me. I lived among the homorotabi and absorbed their culture later on, and amongst those days, I reflected and realized something is amiss. Maybe I was possessed by the spirit of nature that I've been enlightened... Something is wrong with me... so I kept asking myself three things..." Hans breathes in before continuing. "WHY AM I NOT ALLOWED TO SEE BOOBS!? WHY AM I NOT ALLOWED TO SEE YOUR BOOBS!? WHY AM I NOT ALLOWED TO SEE BOOBS!?"
He squeezes his fist tightly, deliberately showing us that he's serious... "That's why I have to change. I have to change for the sake of greater good," then he screams with all he's got, trying to embed his ideals on us, "I will never be ashamed to see your boobs again. Everyone has the right to see anybody's boobs! Harming others for such a reason is injustice! It's unfor-"
I was just going to snipe him in the head with my [Ice Crystal] spell, but suddenly, his stupid speech was halted by a blue humanoid who covered his mouth shut. He was carried away from the campsite while still mumbling, "MMh! MMM! HMM!"
An old blue humanoid entered in the center and came in front of the leader, Vinetra. It seems like this creature is not on Hans' side. "I apologize for his behavior. I may take it that you humans are his friend?" the old blue humanoid said.
And there is only one answer to that question... "No," said Vinetra without a second thought while the rest complain, asking why they would suggest such a criminal accusation.
"What do you need, old man?" Vinetra asked; the old humanoid bows and kneels over her in respect...
"I am the right-hand man of the king of homorotabi. My name's Yurn," the old man looks at Vinetra with hopeful begging eyes, "I want to make a request from you, adventurers."
...
With the help of Yurn, our party was led to the city in the center of the floor, the city of Homorotabi. Their houses and buildings are nowhere similar to conventional medieval houses made of woods and rubbles, nor similar to the structures from my previous world. If I may say, their structures are shaped with odd geometry expanding on heights normally similar to a pine tree made of black metal. They are strangely more advanced than the humans, with vehicles and technology comparable to my previous world but oddly more sustainable and efficient. Look, there are no power lines or transformers hanging on a pole, but they could use the magic of electricity that lights up their houses from within and out. How could it even be possible? Magnetic induction? Isn't magnetic induction on this scale considered to be harmful?
A river also passes through the middle of the city, which became their main supply of water. Sustainable green agriculture seems to be their main source of food, and they have rice here, as I could see on a three-wheeled autonomous vehicle carrying multiple sacks of rice, without emitting any smoke or sound but a beep.
One thing that very surprises me, however, is how they travel from floor to floor; they have portal machines that look like a ring that, when powered up, creates a white swirl where homorotabi enters and disappears. This is amazing; it seems like I'm in a science fiction movie!
There is a young boy homorotabi playing with a homorotabi girl in curly ponytail in front of us. Based on how they play, you could see who's the dominant one, the girl, and is simply toying the boy in their game. It seems like the game they are playing is some sort of tag variation that they are running around and evading before they get touched. When the boy saw us, he vented his frustration towards our party.
"HUUH!? Why do you let humans inside here, Old Yurn!?"
"Respect, dear child, for they are the chosen ones who may save us."
"Save us!? We could save ourselves if we want to; we don't need any help from such creatures!"
Creatures, huh. Subjectively speaking, he may call us that since for us, they are creatures as well. Not that there's an objective problem around here, but being called a creature is kind of degrading. If I hadn't just come from my previous world where there is a lot of literacy and TV shows showcasing fictional bias among species, I might have been offended like the rest, but I knew better.
Wait a minute... This boy... He's cute ♥. His head is so tiny and his eyes are so large and feminine. His legs and arms are so slim; I can't believe he is a boy... no I can't believe he is a humanoid! He looks like a pet dog! A Chihuahua!
"Umm, Yurn-sama. Can I touch your dog?"
"Dog!?"
Yurn-sama is confused, and I don't wait for him to process his thoughts. I find myself walking forwards, trying to grab his face with my hands and then squeeze the cheeks of this cheeky creature.
"Stop it! Stop!" the dog slaps my hands away, and he runs; I need to catch him before he could escape!
While Vinetra and the rest talk to the elder homorotabi, I am busy playing along with the ponytail girl and the boy homorotabi that all of us have dirt on our clothes and faces. It's not like I am needed there anyway; believe it or not, I'm actually dumb... I'm aware that still I'm acting like a child with my age, but I can't help it; I enjoy it this way. Oh... look, the sun is starting to set; maybe it's time for me to return.
"Regul, let's go now. Hip!" I slap the boy's arse that he is forced to crawl while I ride on his back. "Later, Fatima," I said, and the young girl waved her hand happily at us.
"Let's play again, sister!"
As we returned, I met with the party, but instead of greeting me with a smile on their faces, their faces darkened in pure disgust and disappointment... why!?
"Yurn... uhuhu... I've been violated," my chihuahua said, crying. But I don't know what he's crying for... It's not like I harmed him; oh, is it because I'm quite heavy? RUDE! I'm not fat!
"Fielma..." Vinetra covered her face in embarrassment.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" I asked, but no one could point out what I did wrong, proof that I did nothing wrong!
"You're hideous, Fielma." Even the pervert, Hans, looked at me with disdain in his eyes.
"I-I didn't do anything wrong! Regul, protect me!" I commanded and slapped the chihuahua's arse.
"Bark! Bark!" Regul tried to protect me with all his might. Look at the passion in his eyes that's burning with tears, look at his sparkly pupils trying to convey the truth of my innocence. However, none of what he did did a thing against Vinetra that she commanded the boys to drag me away from Regul.
"No! Don't take me away! I really didn't do anything wrong!"
And so I was dragged away like I'm sort of a psychopath. But I really didn't do anything wrong.
"Fielma, listen. We've accepted the job to protect the homorotabi." Vinetra started.
"So, what's the job all about?"
Vinetra paused for a second before replying, "There is a chamber underground this city. Recently, a strange type of magnetic energy was detected from there and it continues to rise from normal. It's affecting their electrical systems, and if it goes worse, they say they might burn from that energy."
So it's about magnets in the end. Well, if they feel like they are having tissue burns and it disrupts electricity, then that means the magnetic field is moving. But why?
"And this strange magnetic field just pops out of nowhere?" I asked.
"No, that magnetic energy is there all along. It was just asleep through all this time," Hans answered me with a relaxed voice, contrary to his outburst this previous morning.
"Asleep? What do you mean?"
Hans smiled, "It's not just the energy. It's a creature, an ancient creature of old mythology. The archaic killing machines of celestial war, the Fragmentors."
I see... Hans... who the hell are you really? I feel like he's leading us somewhere, to a much deeper hole.