Did you know? Because this floor is full of snow, some lands have accumulated unstable snowpacks with a weak layer beneath the slab. I discovered it during explorations that the composition of snow in high lands has fluffy layers that make my legs sink beneath. Snowpacks of these types store a lot of potential energy, and sudden stressors could initiate failure in the snow's stability.
"Keke, you're underestimating me, idiot. You've fallen for my trap," I said that line. I know, hearing this even makes me cringe, plus I know for a fact that this is a gamble. It might not work, it might work, who knows? With my position, I could possibly trigger that natural disaster to occur before this dude could kill me.
I put some air into my mouth as the snake-eyed man tightened his grip on my neck, slowly choking me. I braced myself and shouted as loud as I could.
"HELP ME! HEEELLPP! KYAAAHHHHHHH!" I shrieked in a high-pitched tone like a girl. I think I have a talent for it. And because of what I did, the Visage looked left and right in almost anticipation.
"Reinforcements?" the girl said, but no one appeared to save the day, not even if I pretend to voice like a girl in distress.
The snake smirked. I know, even if he covered all parts of his face. "Idiot, no one will save you." He tightened the grip on my neck, preventing me from breathing. But calling for help is not even my intention.
"That noise..." the man with a crossbow noticed it, the grumbling noise from above that is about to descend. The three of them look up on the high steep slope covered in snow and noticed it... the fast descending storm.
"It's an avalanche!" warned Snake, and I took his moment of panic to break my own neck, twist around and steal a dagger from his waist. He didn't have time to defend himself, and I cut his neck off; his head came rolling on the snow as green pigment splattered everywhere. I killed him in three seconds flat.
Next is the girl, with one eye scooped out of her skull, she has a lot of blind sides, and I took it as an opportunity to exploit the weakness and move relative to it. She stabbed her dagger in panic, yet it didn't hit anything. I stabbed the dagger on the side of her head, green pus spurted out of it.
Next is the marksman; he already distanced himself away from me, but he didn't use his bow; in fact, he dropped it. I don't know if it is because of panic, but he looks calmer like he is still half-asleep, he combined both his hands and performed a mudra...
"[Viper]!" he shouted before I could cut his head in one fell swoop. His head rolled over, and his body dropped, then I continued running my ass off before I got buried by the avalanche. I looked back to confirm the demise of the assailants, but then, the giant snake appeared from thin air and ate them!
"It ate its own summoner?" the giant snake is definitely their summoned monster, meaning they are pet monsters that they could call wherever they please and command whatever they want. When the snake disappeared into thin air like a bubble, I finally realized why... most probably, they are using the giant snake as a means of transportation. The summoned monster is probably shared by multiple people which means they could enter its mouth and ask the other party to summon the monster somewhere else, and they would be transported along with it. How could they use their brain!?
Shit, that only means that they escaped. And now, I alone am getting chased by a giant avalanche! "Damn it, what have I done!?"
No matter how hard I run, the avalanche is still faster than my two little legs... Then as soon as I know it, I am being hurled beneath it. I continued to roll downwards surrounded by increasingly cold snow; my own head is getting frozen if it's not for my mana circulation. And then suddenly... I fall out, landing on my back on accumulated snow.
But hell, now again, where the hell am I? I ended up in an unfamiliar place. Snow continues to fall from above to the tiny and perfectly circular hole. I immediately covered the hole with its dedicated hatch. I look around and every wall and floor are made up of sturdy-looking metal. Most, if not all things around here are unfamiliar to me... no... I think I've seen some of them somewhere before. That thing, the giant broken machine connected to numerous pipes in the middle, seems like an engine, meaning the place where I'm standing right now might be a vehicle. If that's the case... this thing is just too big for a vehicle!
Damn it, I'm getting too excited. This might be one of the undiscovered ancient artifacts from early humans, a hundred thousand years ago. I continue to explore around and interact with unfamiliar items. Most of them are physically damaged and serve no purpose but just decorations... like those black squares attached to walls and buttons that don't do a thing. Maybe, this thing just lacks electricity or some sort of energy to function... I don't know. But if there's no electricity, how do those square light bulbs glow? It doesn't matter; at least I have something to give me some light instead of relying on my foggy night senses.
My cluelessness makes me regret not taking the subject of ancient knowledge seriously in magic school. Of course, most of these artifacts are probably already discovered by early adventurers, contributing to the knowledge and current technology of humanity. Like, for example, light bulbs and electricity are recreated by the current civilization after recovering an ancient grimoire about it. The grimoire is too complex that I immediately dropped it at the first page and never touched the book ever again.
I explored more rooms and tunnels; this is just too big; it's unbelievable, and they also have beds, bathrooms, and kitchens. There is something written on the walls, but the language is unfamiliar to me. Maybe, this is an ancient inn rather than a vehicle; that makes more sense because if this place just suddenly moves with how large it is, it will scare the hell out of me.
"Konichiwa! Shatoru - 034 Arumadarasuta e yōkoso..."
"!?"
A human pops out of thin air that I immediately slash down with the dagger on reflex, but the dagger simply passes through the creature like it's not even there. I didn't even feel its resistance!
"An illusion!?" I realized this since looking closely, the man is quite foggy and unrealistic.
"Arumadarasuta e yōkoso... Arumadarasuta e yōkoso," it repeated... what the hell is this? It's more like a moving image suspended in the air.
I then noticed some small creatures, the mellow men, walking toward a tunnel I haven't explored yet. Mellow men are white small creatures that are like inflated marshmallows in humanoid shape. They live underneath big mushrooms and are omnivorous but prefer eating leaves to meat. I see; on my way here, I noticed a room full of gigantic-looking mushrooms; in fact, that room seems like it is dedicated to raising mushrooms or maybe dedicated to the mellow men instead. I noticed one of them carrying a fish, so I followed it curiously.
As I walked towards it, my feet suddenly became heavier. I felt a distinct presence that was growing stronger as I went further, making me break into a sweat. My steps echoed, creating more tension. I needed to relax, I knew but the more I moved forward the more I felt that my life was in danger.
The mellow man carrying a fish entered a pet door under a heavy metal door mounted with several locks. Despite the multiple locks, they were already broken, as if someone had forcibly entered it. The metal door was slightly open, and the dangerous presence I felt was just behind this door. I took a deep breath and prepared to open it.
What I saw next made me draw my dagger immediately. I saw the Queen of the Rotten sealed on the walls.
"Ah..." her eyes widened as she saw me.
I prepared my dagger to attack her; I wouldn't give her a chance to retaliate or call her dear army. I knew she's the queen of the infected; my instincts told me she's more dangerous than the visage I met earlier. And the possibility of this human being an infected; it's impossible that she's not.
This girl had blue lustrous hair and large eyes, wearing a mage outfit which is normally optimized with several embedded buffs. Her outfit was outdated, full of girly frills, probably the most common design of mage clothing in the early 956. She smelled bad because she's a rotten, or she hasn't taken a bath for too long that she smell like rotting garbage. Look, blood is dripping out of her mouth... no, it's because the mellow men gave her raw fish, and she had no choice but to eat it with still blood on it.
Somehow, as I looked at her, I hesitated since she looked too human and fragile. But belittling anyone is fatal; I know the fact firsthand since I often use my appearance to make my opponents drop their guard. The girl smiled widely. Shit! She's planning on doing something!
"Kyah❤ Onii-chan, I'm stuck ❤"
Huh?
"Onii-chan, I'm stuck ❤"
Why does she look like she's enjoying it? Suddenly, all the tension I felt before vanished in an instant. Isn't she the queen of the rotten? Why is she acting like this? No... My dungeon quest is simply to find the queen, but I don't feel anything resonates when I found her... If she truly is the queen, then I should have been qualified to enter the 29th floor already, but nothing happened.
"Kyah❤"
"Shut up, woman! Are you... an infected?" I asked while pointing the dagger towards her.
"What are you talking about? I definitely don't have STDs. Maybe you do! Don't touch me! Kyah❤ I'm being violated by my Onii-chan!"
"What the hell are you talking about!? Who the hell is Onii-chan!?" I asked, my hands shaking. I don't know what an Onii-chan is or what it could do, but something tells me... it's terrifying.
The girl started to have beads of tears on the side of her eyes. "Onii-chan... don't you remember me? We've taken baths together when we were young..." It didn't take too long for the stream of tears to flow out of her eyes. "Don't you remember the time when I needed to wash your butt because you still couldn't wash it on your own... Onii-chan, remember me. I'm your Imoutou."
Suddenly, I started to feel a sharp pain in my head. "Argh! My head!" It seems like my brain freeze is still acting up again.
"Onii-chan, are you starting to remember it? Onii-chan!"
Her scream echoed inside my skull, repeatedly muttering over and over the word... Onii-chan... I realized it now; I received enlightenment about its meaning... I understand now... "I remember now... I'm... I'm an Imoutou."
"NO! Wrong!"
"Who cares!?" What's with this conversation anyway! I don't understand a fucking thing!
"What a killjoy! Can't you even role-play consistently? You? An Imoutou? It's going to scare any Onii-chan out there in the wild!"
What is she even talking about!? Ughh! My head is getting more painful! Blood? It's blood! "Please, I'm begging you to speak in human tongue! Look! My nose is bleeding!" I said, showing all the blood that kept leaking out of my nostril.
Then her tone suddenly changed to a slightly more mature tone. "I understand now... hmm... Sorry, but it's just a psychological test to discern what you are..."
"Really?"
"In other words, you're an idiot... aren't you?"
Why am I being called an idiot...? Can she even look at the mirror? Being called an idiot by her made me drop my weapon and sob silently.
"Come on, I'll give you permission to un-stuck me out of this wall!" the haughty woman said, struggling to push herself out of the wall she's been stuck in.
"Fine... fine," I said, but...
!?
Why am I trying to help her? This is bad; I almost got persuaded... It's just for a brief moment, but I felt at ease talking with her... I almost thought I could trust her; what the hell am I thinking? I must be reminded of the fact that she's talking to a goblin. If I were in her position, I would panic and try to kill that creature as soon as possible.
"What's wrong? Come on, help me out of this one."
"I'm not going to. You might be stuck there for a reason."
If she's not the queen of the rotten and not an ordinary adventurer as well, what the hell is she? And why is she sealed unto the walls.
"Fuehe... So, you've found out," the girl's crescent-like smile full of malice formed on her malicious face. I knew it! "I'm Fielma, the destroyer of worlds. Deep within me sealed an ancient devil that eats planets and galaxies and poops them out as space dust, the devil god."
"What did you say!?" that's unbelievable! How could such a creature exist in this dungeon!?
"But, don't worry. I'm a good person. My dream is to become a hokage and lead the clover kingdom to a better place. But then something terrible happened... that day, humanity has received a grim reminder... a colossal titan destroyed Wall Maria. So all of the chosen power rangers must unite and awaken their Zanpakutō to defeat Vegita."
My nose continued bleeding heavily, but there is one thing I need to ask, "Who the hell is Vegita!?"
The girl grinned widely, "Me!"
Impossible! Why do you even need to defeat yourself!? Is it true that our enemy all along is ourselves? What!?
"_Gasp_!"
"What now!?" I immediately felt nervous when her face suddenly turned serious and frightened.
"Did you hear that?" she looks above the metal ceiling, and listening closely, I could hear a grumpy breathing. "That's the sound of copyright owners who will going to destroy this world."
What the hell is a copyright owner!?
"ARGH! MY LEFT HAND IS THROBBING!! THE POWER IS WITHIN ME OVERFLOWING!!" the girl screamed as she squeezed her left hand, as if trying to suppress something. "RUN! I CAN'T SUPPRESS IT ANY LONGER! SUKUNA IS CONTROLLING MY BODY!! AGGHHH!"
Shit! I prepared myself to run! This is bad; it's too late for me to do anything! She's about to release it! She's about to--
She farted.
"Whoo, I managed to suppress it," she said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"Don't joke around!!" This girl doesn't have a sense of decency! You're a girl, you know! Shouldn't you be more feminine in how you act?
"Don't shout at me! I just saved the world from grave danger. You should be thankful instead! See? I'm a good person. Come on, release me out of here!"