Is it wrong to try and find girls in the dungeon? To explore the endless labyrinth divided into multiple floors filled with monsters who once wreaked havoc across the lands? I expected myself to join a familia filled with fearless adventurers led by a goddess who was as beautiful as she was divine. We would go off to battle, slaying every beast that crossed our way and if I was lucky, maybe save a maiden along the way. Then I'd return to my beautiful advisor who would nag me about how reckless I was only for her to cuddle me right after.
Sometimes I'd go to the local bar to brag about my achievements to the cute waitress who kept stealing glances at me. Sometimes, I'd help an elfess being harassed by her inebriated party members. Sometimes I'd fight along with an amazonian warrior in the depths of the dungeon, her amazon blood would make her fall for me as she witnesses my strength.
Sometimes this, sometimes that, sometimes…
I want to grow up a bit, become a hero men would look at in awe, like the Heroes of Old inscribed in [Dungeon Oratoria], I want to be more than friends with the cute girls I meet, I want to meet ladies of all the different races, and if I felt daring enough, maybe even a goddess.
Isn't having these corrupt yet slightly naive thoughts part of being a young man? Is trying to meet girls, no… a harem in a dungeon really that wrong?
Conclusion: I was wrong
"oooOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
I'm about to die courtesy of these slightly corrupt yet naive thoughts. Basically, I'm being chased by the pigman abomination, Its skin was deep crimson instead of the typical green, I was being chased by an enhanced orc.
I'm going to be crushed and I haven't even made it into Orario yet. I'm dead, there's no other way of saying it, I'm so dead. Where did my dumb delusional dream get me? Served to an orc on a silver platter. That's where. I'm such an idiot…
I couldn't even make it to the beautiful girls waiting for me in the dungeon, bitter tears poured down my cheeks as I didn't even live long enough to regret my admittedly conceited dream. Come to think of it, maybe I was doomed the moment I decided to look for girls in the dungeon of all places, yet the gods decided to punish me for my hubris even before I placed a foot in the dungeon.
Ahh, what I would give to go back in time, to wake myself early so I could be on that carriage that's now shrinking in the distance, just imagining myself on the back of that carriage feels like bliss, alas it wasn't meant to be.
"ooOORRAAAAAAAA!"
"Gaaaaahhhh!"
A tree was thrown towards me by the orc. Haha! It missed! Is what I would have celebrated in my head if the shockwave didn't send me flying. Not the most graceful body roll but I'll give it a passing grade. Oh, crap another tree! Roll! Now!
"Hoo… Hooo….!"
"Waaaaahhhhhh!"
Now, all I can do is crawl deeper into the forest that I was sent flying in, hoping the trees would stop him. If all those cute girls saw me now, no doubt they would be laughing at me.
"Hehe~"
I'm even hearing them! Still, this isn't any good, I had my back against a particularly large tree, I'm cornered with nowhere left to run. This really is the end… I think to myself, my teeth chatter, and tears roll down my cheek.
The orc finally caught up, the putrid smell of rotten flesh emanated from its mouth assaulting my senses. I look up at its body, nearly 3 times my size. What's worse is that it sported a clumsy, broken smile as if it was gloating at me.
It raised its club high into the air and I closed my eyes and curled my body, preparing for the worst. Sorry, Grampa. I may not become the adventurer you wanted me to be after all.
Splat
…?
Why hasn't it come yet? It was prepared to crush me with its club so why am I still alive? Is it toying with me maybe? Curiosity won over fear and slowly I opened my eyes. I wish I didn't.
The orc, or rather what was left of it was squished to a bloody pulp, its body in between two massive leaves that seemed harder than iron. Whimpers and grunts escaped the mouth of the dying monster before me before it eventually turned into ash, leaving behind its hide and bits of crushed magic stone
I should feel relieved right now; the monster hellbent on turning me into nothing more than a stain was dead. Or maybe I should feel disgusted? After all, it was the first time I saw something that gory, even if it did disappear to ashes the next second, Maybe I should even feel disbelief over the fact that I'm still alive?
Or maybe — just maybe — even all of it at once! Nothing wrong with experiencing multiple emotions… right? Well, what is certain is that I would have preferred any of those three to the feeling that took over my body.
Anxiety, perturbation, restlessness, unease, alarm, agitation, panic, apprehension, terror, horror, dread
Fear
Bell felt pure, unadulterated fear course through his veins rooting him where he stood. His skin was sleek with cold sweat as a chill ran through his spine, his breathing was chaotic, whatever semblance of calm he had before was now gone, replaced by an overwhelming sense of dread. Something was in this forest, and whatever it is, it was monstrous.
Thud
The sound echoed through the forest as if announcing its presence to all the inhabitants within, after that the forest became silent, the bugs refused to creak, the birds refused to chirp, and it seemed that even the foliage refused to rustle.
Thud, Thud
Each footstep echoed louder than the last, the ground beneath Bell quaked just a little bit stronger than before, signs that whatever behemoth was out there, it was getting closer. Bell was shaking, his instincts flared at him to move, it begged him to run as far as he could, yet the boy only managed to shake in place.
Not long after, the loud thuds that echoed throughout the forest were accompanied by the shaking of nearby foliage, as if announcing that it had arrived.
Thud
It was then that Bell saw it. A lopsided horror in the form of a spirit of old, mocking the god's first children. Something that was meant to be impossibly beautiful had been woven into an obscene nightmare, twisting it into an image so alien that it shouldn't exist.
It was massive, huge, larger than anything Bell has ever seen, its shadow dwarfed him like how a titan would an ant. It wasn't natural, its form looked like it was a hastily made puppet put together to serve as a vessel for the otherworldly beauty in its torso. Her eyes were devoid of light, not unlike what you'd see on a corpse, yet they moved as if they were alive. They stared at the unmoving child with unending curiosity, moving closer to further inspect the object of its interest.
Bell closed his eyes and whimpered when he saw the puppet extend its arm reaching for him, he held his breath willing his body to stay as still as humanly possible, as if the slightest movement would cause him his death, but he found his efforts to be in vain when even standing became a nigh-impossible task. The nightmarish creaking of wood got louder and louder grating at his ears letting him know of his looming fate.
Until…
It stopped.
He couldn't hear the creaking, the rumbling of the ground, the rustling of the foliage, everything was muted. As if the giant monstrosity from before was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. Confusion washed over him but he waited, for what exactly he didn't know but Bell didn't want to be the one to shatter this moment of peace given to him by whatever deity from that resided in Tenkai.
So a minute passes by, he kept his eyes shut, nothing happened. Another passes by, still nothing, yet he kept them closed nonetheless. It was only after the fifth minute did Bell find the courage to open them.
He found a pair of eyes staring right back.
"AH!"
An indignant shriek tore at his throat, he lost his balance but something kept him from falling backward, holding him in place. Like a frightened child, Bell tried to close his eyes again, hoping that maybe — just maybe — whatever miracle happened before would happen again, but his delusion was dispelled as soon as the corrupted spirit grabbed a hold of his face and pried his eyes open. Recognition flashed across her lifeless eyes as she saw the shade of red on Bell's and for the first time in millennia, she could not help but smile.
Bell saw the corrupted spirit split her face in half in what seemed to be a maniacal grin, and in the most beautifully horrific voice he didn't think possible, she said—
Was it wrong for me to look for girls in the dungeon? To try and fulfill this perverted yet slightly naive goal?
"Argonaut!"
I was definitely wrong.
