The four of them clustered behind Lily, peering at the brochure and discussing their choices. Just then, Lisa rolled in a cart filled with tea for everyone. After we set the cups on the table, I began serving the cake according to their selections. When Lisa arrived last, she glanced at everyone's plates and chose the same strawberry shortcake as mine. It appeared all four kids opted for the plastic containers of pudding à la mode.
"Let's eat!"
After taking a bite, I heard, "It's delicious!" Just as I thought.
The next day.
After completing our morning routine, Lily and I were set for another dungeon attack. Planning to dive for half a day, we informed Lisa that we would be back at the mansion by evening.
Lily had her mace secured by a leather strap and buckle at her belt, swinging at her side. I, on the other hand, had strapped a sword breaker to my belt—not that I intended to use it, but it looked good.
Both of us were fully equipped. Wearing black outfits topped with reddish-brown leather armor, we also donned shimmering mithril half-helmets. We teleported to the last room of the dungeon we had explored.
As we arrived, Lily cast a light spell. A pale blue glow erupted from her silver helmet, causing it to sparkle even brighter. I glanced at my own mithril helmet, wondering if I should have gone for a matte finish instead.
"Lily, let's check out the next room."
"Sure! But first, Detect Anomaly!"
Inside the room, there was nothing unusual, and the door showed no signs of danger. I grasped my staff with my left hand and opened the door with my right.
Stepping into the corridor, Lily cast her detect spell towards the passage we were about to explore. Just like last time, the surroundings lit up in flashing red lights.
Lily used a trap-detecting gadget on the red blinking spot to check for and disarm the traps.
Then, we moved on to the next room. As I slowly pushed open the door that Lily had disarmed, I caught sight of something lurking inside. Instinctively, I readied my staff, and with Lily standing behind me, the room became illuminated. The light revealed that the room was once again ensnared with spider webs.
However, the spider itself was nowhere to be seen. "Detect Anomaly," I murmured, noting that the wall directly ahead blinked red, though the webs obscured a clear view. At least I couldn't see the telltale red blinking on the floor.
Just as I stepped into the room, a massive spider suddenly descended before me, having been hiding in the ceiling. It stretched its legs as it stood, turning its abdomen toward me to spit out silk.
Realizing the danger of its web, I swiped at it with my staff, only to see smoke begin to rise from the staff, now entangled in the spider's silk. Not wanting to be ensnared again, I dropped a vial of hydrochloric acid—crafted just the day before at the Adventurer's Guild—onto the spider. It immediately went into a frenzied run.
When the spider charged at me, I swung my staff with determination, cleanly separating its head from its body. I thought I had killed it, but to my surprise, the body with the legs continued to scurry around, still very much alive.
"No way, not again," I muttered. Just then, Lily peeked in and shouted, "Fire Arrow!"
Her fire arrow struck the spider's body perfectly, causing it to flip over and curl its legs up. Meanwhile, my magic staff was still emitting smoke, and I had just been saved by Lily—definitely not my finest moment. Still, I needed to express my gratitude.
"Lily, thank you. That was close."
"Rockwell, you didn't look like you were in any danger, but was it actually risky?"
"Look at all the smoke coming from my staff. It's proof the spider silk was poisonous. I don't know what kind of poison, but if it had spewed out more silk, I could have been in serious trouble."
"Really?"
"Really, I promise. Last time, I burned the silk, but it could be useful for something, so let's store some in my item box. I'll start by keeping the spider's corpse, then the silk."
After storing the two halves of the spider's body, I began collecting the visible strands of spider silk and placing them in my item box.
Having defeated the spider in the fourth room from the entrance, I continued to gather the silk within sight. Then something strange appeared from a thick tangle of silk in the corner of the room.
"Is that a human corpse?"
A human corpse lay sprawled on the floor, unmistakably lifeless. As Lily and I approached to examine it, we confirmed it was indeed a body, its darkened hands clutching a mace. The face, exposed from beneath a helmet, gaped open with hollow, black sockets where eyes should have been, giving it a mummified appearance.
"The armor is discolored, but it looks like the gear of a temple soldier," Lily remarked without showing much fear as she studied the mummy closely.
"If it was caught by a spider, that means it was likely dissolved and eaten," I speculated. "At this point, it's impossible to tell when it died, but it means the temple soldiers got in here too. They must have lost control and resorted to abducting humans from our world to explore the dungeon for them."
"I think you're right. I was told that at the lowest level of this dungeon lies an artifact, and if we obtained it, we could return to our world. But that was probably a lie."
"Definitely. For an ordinary person, just breaking through the first room would be nearly impossible. The very fact that there's information about the depths of such a dungeon is suspect."
"Yamada and Tahara are going to tackle this dungeon together; do you think they'll be okay?"
"It sounds harsh, but it's going to be extremely tough."
Still, if we train rigorously and prepare ourselves, we might manage to tackle this dungeon somehow. In any case, there's nothing we can do about those two. That said, if I really wanted to, rescuing them from the temple wouldn't be difficult at all, but it's uncertain whether they even want to be saved. "Interfering is not for others' sake." Oh, I just came up with a rather amusing proverb myself.
"Right. So, what do we do with this corpse?"
"I don't want to carry it around, so let's leave it here. I'll take the mace, at least."
The leather armor that the mummy wore was useless, but I made sure to recover the mace it had been gripping. At first, I couldn't tell due to the spider silk, but the red flashing on the wall directly opposite the entrance was the same size and shape as the entrance itself.
"It looks like there might be a hidden room ahead."
"First, let's use Identify Trap! There don't seem to be any traps. What should we do?"
"What about using Knock, like we did with the indentation in the wall?"
"Let's give it a try. Knock!"
As Lily called out "Knock," the previously solid red flashing part of the wall vanished. I have no idea how it works, but I need to remember that walls like this can exist in certain locations.
I made my way to the newly found entrance and peeked inside. I could tell there was a room, but it seemed dark, with no glow emanating from the floor or walls.
"It looks like there's another room ahead, but it's too dark to see. Lily, come here."
When Lily stood behind me, I could see better into the space ahead. It appeared to be a much larger room than the ones we had encountered so far, and I noticed a staircase descending in the center.
Could this dungeon be surprisingly small? Or did the designers thoughtfully place a staircase so close to the entrance? Either way, I appreciated it.
I reminded myself to be cautious. "Lily, just to be safe, use Detect to check the room over there."
"Sure! Detect Anomaly!"
From the little I could see outside the room, there weren't any flashing red dots. That was unusual.
"Let's head down the staircase."
"Isn't it worth checking the other rooms on this floor?" Lily asked, raising a good point.
"I doubt there's anything of interest left on this level."
A seasoned gamer would typically want to explore this floor thoroughly first, but I was simply eager to see what lay below, so I said as much.
"Really?"
"Trust my instincts. I believe there's a significant secret hidden in the lower level. Exploring this floor first would give us an advantage after uncovering that. So, let's go."
"Yes," I said, almost on a whim, but as soon as the word left my mouth, I truly began to feel that way.
As I stepped further into the room, intending to go down the stairs, the surroundings plunged into darkness. When I turned around, I saw Lily just entering; the light that had been illuminating the area extinguished, leaving only a faint glow from the adjacent room that outlined her silhouette.
In its place, a section of the wall beside Lily began to flicker with a red light.
"Light!"
Lily hurriedly invoked a light spell, which flared briefly above her head before fading away again.
"Lily, this room is likely covered by an anti-magic field."
I couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed for using such a dramatic term, straight out of a fantasy novel.
"Anti-magic field?" Lily replied with a serious expression, making me feel like I might blush in return. I held my ground and explained, "In this room, magic can't be used."
"Is that really a thing?"
"But don't worry. Look at the wall to your left."
"Oh! There's something there!"
Lily noticed the red blinking as well.
"It's a protrusion, but it might be a switch," she suggested.
That had to be the toggle button to activate or deactivate the anti-magic field.
"I don't think it's a trap, so I believe it's safe to press it."
"Well then,"
Although the words "just as expected" and "click" didn't come from Lily's mouth, a satisfying click echoed when she pressed the protrusion. The anti-magic field should be disabled now.
"Lily, could you turn on the light again?"
"Sure! Light!"
This time, the light illuminated the space properly.
"Looks like it worked."
With the light on, I prepared to descend the stairs, but to my dismay, when I turned around, the stairs had vanished. Of course, there was no wind to blame.
"What? The stairs are gone? Could that switch have done this? Lily, can you step out of the room while keeping the light on? I want to try pressing the switch."
"Okay."
As Lily stepped back, I pressed the switch. It clicked, but the light from Lily, now outside the room, remained lit. Turning back, the stairs reappeared, just as I thought.
It wasn't much of a puzzle for a gamer like me, but it was certainly annoying.
"What should we do? I can't proceed in complete darkness without Lily's light."
"How about a battery-powered light?"
"Good idea! We should be able to easily make one with batteries and a light, so let's give it a shot."
I envisioned a battery-operated lantern in my mind. Given that I could create a car, crafting something as simple as a lantern should be a piece of cake.
When I tried to create the imagined lantern in the alchemy workshop, it turned out to be as easy as I had expected. I decided to make two, since it would be wise for Lily to have one as well.
"I made a battery-powered lantern," I said as I turned on the lantern and handed the other one to Lily, whose overhead light had just gone out.