Chapter 2 : First Dive into the Dungeon
Disclaimers : I own none of the copyrighted Materials, Dungeon Ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou Ka and associated copyrighted materials belongs to Fujino Omori and other licensee. Please support the original author and materials.
ROLL for Dungeon Diving
1d100 + 20 bo3 : 61, 34, 73
The closer Red got to the tower, the stronger could he hear a strange static. At first, he thought that it was just his MP3 Player going on the fritz, but even as he checked by turning it on and off, the buzzing sound still remains.
In fact, it was actually growing steadily stronger, the closer he got to his destination
Ḏ_̬͉̗̝̓̈́͊̆̎͘͢ͅͅ_̷̲͕̖͖̣̖̯̟̫́̈͒̋͢͢͡͠I̶̵̧̧̪͇̞̭͊ͬ̚͡E̳̋̕ D̶̸̡̢̢̧̡̛͕̳̯͍̭̖͖͍̫̰̹͔̤̺̭̞̅ͨͣ̽ͥ̄̽̈̊̿͑ͦͫ̄͐́ͦ͘͞ͅI̹̙̙̫̙̍́̿̎ͫ̒͒̋̎ͤ͗͋ͤ̚͞ͅĘ̷̺͎̟̋ͥͬ̀ͬ͗͌̾ͤ D̛͉͎͖͔͉̜ͤ̈́̎̐ͭͤ̑ͣ̉̉ͅI̡͇̐͌͗_̛̛͔̤̦͕̝̬̩̥͒͐͐͌̅́̚͢͡_̸̶̡̨̫̳͍͇̪̦͓̤̽̾ͦ͐ͧͬͯÉ̗̪͎͚̘̤̻͋ͩ̃͗͘̚͟
It was incessant, like a mosquito buzzing right by his ear, and the only way he found to drown the noise out is by playing his music player. Slowly having to ramp up the volume as the sound kept getting louder made him feel a bit nauseous as the volume slowly ramp up to uncomfortable levels… Was there some kind of noise generator near the Dungeon?
As Red actually entered the large tower housing the Dungeon… and an apartment and a shopping center, the tower housing shops that cater to the topmost Adventurers and gods alike, the noise only became worse. In fact, somehow, despite the thick walls that now surrounds him, it was louder than when he was outside.
Red was so out of sorts, that even when he spotted a white-haired figure passing him by, wearing a cowl that he wanted to ask where they had gotten it from, Red couldn't open lest he risked losing the fight against the urge to yell to drown out the buzzing.
Ḏ_̬͉̗̝̓̈́͊̆̎͘͢ͅͅ_̷̲͕̖͖̣̖̯̟̫́̈͒̋͢͢͡͠I̶̵̧̧̪͇̞̭͊ͬ̚͡E̳̋̕ D̶̸̡̢̢̧̡̛͕̳̯͍̭̖͖͍̫̰̹͔̤̺̭̞̅ͨͣ̽ͥ̄̽̈̊̿͑ͦͫ̄͐́ͦ͘͞ͅI̹̙̙̫̙̍́̿̎ͫ̒͒̋̎ͤ͗͋ͤ̚͞ͅĘ̷̺͎̟̋ͥͬ̀ͬ͗͌̾ͤ D̛͉͎͖͔͉̜ͤ̈́̎̐ͭͤ̑ͣ̉̉ͅI̡͇̐͌͗_̛̛͔̤̦͕̝̬̩̥͒͐͐͌̅́̚͢͡_̸̶̡̨̫̳͍͇̪̦͓̤̽̾ͦ͐ͧͬͯÉ̗̪͎͚̘̤̻͋ͩ̃͗͘̚͟
Turning to another Adventurer and asking what's the noise is all about, in a desperate gambit of finding a way how they handle it, only got him a glare and a cursing instead. Was this something that everyone eventually got used to?
That was quite the tall ask, but something that he must do, if he wants to continue his career as an Adventurer.
Well, nothing to it, Red simply turned the volume of his music player up even higher that the warning that he could damage his hearing popped up. With the noise drowned out with something more pleasant sounding, he started walking down the spiral staircase leading to the first Floor of the Dungeon after passing through the stairs that lead to the basement of the Tower.
As he descends deeper, though, he had to turn the volume up and up to drown out the noise that now felt like a physical force pushing from all around him, trying to crush him. If not for his enhanced durability, there would be no doubt that he would start vomiting from the almost physical battering his body is feeling.
ĐłɆ ĐłɆ ĐłɆ
Then, as he finally went past the last stair that led to the Cavernous 1st Floor of the Dungeon proper, the incessant droning suddenly died down.
"Wha?" For a second, Red thought that he had gone deaf instead, which of course wouldn't make sense, since he could still hear the music coming out off his earpiece. It was simply that shocking.
Removing his earpiece, his ears were greeted by the sound of silence, which was only broken up by the sounds of footsteps from the Adventurers behind and in front of him.
"Hey, move it already, greenhorn! If you're getting cold feet, better leave the Dungeon and go back to suckling your mother's tits!" One such Adventurer, wearing a leather jerkin on is upper body as an armor, with a piece of mail covering his upper chest, berated Red.
Rubbing the back of his head as embarrassment flowed through Red, he ignored the group of roughly dressed Adventurers smelling of beer and cheap perfume, laughing at his expense behind the man that had insulted him.
Red of course only let them pass peacefully, no need to pick a fight for no reason.
But, what was that noise all about? Just another mystery without an answer, like how he had gotten here in the first place, a thought that he really didn't like thinking about.
Well, it's good for him that he now had lots of things to think about, such as the Dungeon full of monster that wanted to eat him that he was about to traverse to gain money.
"Get your head in the game, Red! This is just your first step into greatness!" Slapping his face to pump himself up, Red hit the next button on his music player, so that he could have some heart-pumping background music to his monster slaying.
After turning the volume way down, of course, losing his environmental awareness would be a death sentence here.
Play Music Fierce Battle, SMT III Nocturne OST
"Err, maybe not this one? Using this as background music would probably jinx myself something fierce… Like dying on the tutorial stage."
Especially since he's now technically part of the Law faction? He's fighting under the umbrella of a Goddess after all, and a Goddess of Justice at that. Plus, with that music blaring in his ears, it felt as if Mot would appear out of the darkness and blasts him with a Megidolaon if he keeps listening to that… Wait, Mot's not supposed to be a god, right?
Shaking his head to clear that nightmare away, Red simply hit the next button again, hoping for something better.
Music Bling-Bang-Bang-Born by Creepy Nuts
"There, much better!" The nice booming bass tones pumped Red's heartbeat as he hefted his staff out of his holster.
*Whoosh* *Whoosh*
Swinging the staff once, then twice, Red nodded to himself then he started walking to find some goblin to kill, preferably far away from the main crowd so that he could get more monster to kill.
Turning around to a corridor with no Adventurer around, Red once again affirmed himself.
"Watch out monsters, here's Red!"
Walking along the same looking corridors for a long period of time, Red had to use his latent power of mental mapping trained by all the old Dungeon Crawlers that hasn't gotten the idea that Maps are a thing, to not get lost…
"When I go back out of the Dungeon, and get some Valis, the first thing I'll be buying with my loot money would be a pencil and a notebook…"
Getting lost would be one hell of a stupid way to die.
Sure, there's the basic of just go up, but that would hardly help him with the meters of solid stone blocking his way… Maybe he could make some TNT to help with exploring? That's the bread and butter of isekai stories, right? Too bad that he didn't pay enough attention in chemistry class, or that much of a misanthrope to know how to make explosives out of hand.
With that stupid thought in mind, Red had unconsciously found himself finally far enough away from the main thoroughfare, from the crowd of Adventurers, which is when he encountered his first monster. The abruptness of it caused him to have to fight his own instinct to leap back in fear.
It's a Goblin!
They looked kinda goofy? If he wanted to be honest about it, they don't really look all that dangerous? Of course, his hesitation almost costs him dearly, as the Goblin turned around and as it had spotted Red and immediately leapt for his throat with its mouth wide open, showing off its rows of dagger-sharp teeth.
Red did not appreciate the fact that his mind immediately noted that their teeth looked razor sharp.
"Oh fuck!"
Swinging his staff around, Red struck the jumping Goblin straight in the head, a head on hit with his full strength behind the hit, powered by hysteric strength… And its head just exploded.
"Fuck! Some of that got into my mouth!" Spitting out as much of the giblets as he can, Red surveyed his first kill. A mistake in hindsight.
It was a very gruesome sight, with the Goblin stupidly trying a jump attack like an idiot, the parabolic angle it had made, made for the perfect swinging angle for his wooden staff.
And with no way to dodge once its feet left the ground, it was rather a foregone conclusion for the Goblin to die then and there. Something that he would note in his head forevermore.
Jumping attacks are a dumb way of getting yourself killed.
"Blurrggh…!" So of course with that gory sight, Red then went on to empty his stomach contents once again…
He's forever thankful that monsters' viscera and brain matter doesn't actually smell of anything, otherwise he's going to have to spend another minute or so just spewing the contents of his stomach once again.
"Jeez, at this rate, I'm never going to rid of that stupid ass nickname…!"
~ĐłɆ!~
At that moment of weakness, the same voice that Red had heard back at the top of the Dungeon came back, louder than before. Goosebumps rose all throughout his arms and legs, as a sense of foreboding and danger suddenly appeared, making him instantly alert once again.
The palpable sense of malice only meant bad things.
CRACK.
"There!"
There was something coming from behind him, Red noticing even the smallest of sound as it sounded like gunshots to his frayed nerves.
Right behind him, where the sound had come from, Red could see the walls of the Dungeons breaking… And from the Darkness of the walls Red could see the familiar red, hateful eyes of the Goblins and another kind of monster? It was some kind of man-dog hybrid? A pair of them.
If he were in a much better state of mind, he might even comment on the strange look the dog monster have, sadly, they are way too eager to see his insides become his outsides for him to be in a joking mood.
This is just like Lina had warned him, the Dungeon wanted the Adventures dead, and would take any weakness as a sign to attack.
And Red had just shown plenty of weakness.
That was why all Adventurers are advised to never actually spend all their energy diving as deep as they can, but to at least reserve 60% of their energy going back up. Because it is then that the Dungeon would be doing their best to kill them… It was at that moment that Red put two and two together as to the source of the voice he was hearing all this time.
"Wait, does that mean that the noise I was hearing all the time was the Dungeon? That's freaky, man."
Taking the idea of haunted caverns out of his mind, Red used the advantage of reach and made sure to kill each Goblin and Kobold as soon as they popped off the walls… Even the new monster which kinda looked just like a normal human man, well a midget, wearing some mangy dog costume.
But even as he killed the first pair, more cracks could be heard, and Red had to do his all to run to each one and kill the monsters that appeared before he could be overruned.
After killing at least a dozen goblins and Kobolds like a demented game of whack-a-mole, each one telegraphed rather clearly by the Dungeon exclaiming its very personal hatred for him, at least it felt that way, before the walls began cracking. It was only after a few dozen such happenings that the Dungeon finally got the idea that he's not an easy target, and the walls stopped spawning monsters.
Wiping a sweat out of his brow, he had to admit that the lasts ones were a bit of touch and go for a moment, Red haven't exercised that hard in decades ever since he graduated high-school! In fact, if he haven't been blessed by Astraea's Falna he would probably be gassed out after only a few Goblin and Kobolds cracked heads ago.
"Shit, that was way too close for comfort. And now I have to start digging around bodies for a small stone hidden inside body cavities… Joy."
Unsheathing the Dagger Lina had gotten for him, he started digging around the Goblins and Kobolds chests, the area around where their Magical Cores are around. Of course, by some blessing of suck from RNGesus, the Magic Core's location is not always at the same spot, with some of them moving a few centimeters in a general area, requiring him to dig around the body a bit to find it.
If it was not for the body dissolving into ashes as soon as the Magic Core is pulled out of the body, along with any blood or viscera the body had spilled, especially the ones spilled on him, Red would seriously think of quitting being an Adventurer right then and there.
Well, no, Astraea might be understanding and kind about it, but Red doesn't want to be a wastrel, living out his life by the dole.
Red would probably pick up a drinking habit, though.
Slowly and painstakingly, as even with the sharp dagger, digging carefully for the small crystals that he could sell to make bank was still a chore and a half. And since damaging the Core would only lead it to shattering, the difficulty rose up by an entire notch. Add on the fact that Red was never the most dexterous of people, and the chore took way too much time to complete.
Having to do something carefully and quickly, as who knows when the Dungeon would start spawning monsters again, took quite the toll on Red's psyche.
His mood definitely became better when, for a few of the bodies, rather than dissipating entirely, some pieces of it remained on the ground.
Red's first Drop Items, despite looking rather ridiculous, that being a fang and a nail for the Goblins and Kobolds respectively, they are worth banks. Well, for a newbie like Red, anyway.
"Drop Items! These are supposedly very rare, and I've got a few handfuls here!" Of course, Red would be ecstatic, each one of those bits of remains are worth five times more than just than their Magic Stone. According to Lina, only 1 in 25 monsters produce Drop Items, so he is pretty lucky to have more than two drops when he had only killed ten.
Red's spirits buoyed by the loot, his previous fatigue was soon forgotten, which made him just even more cautious.
"That was close… is that how the Dungeon lures in the Adventurer, give them a taste of wealth to lure them into forgetting their fatigue and go deeper, only to be killed?"
If that was the case, then damn you Dungeon, you be scary! Red had heard of hostile architecture and even hostile terrain, but never would a building or a mountain be trying to actually kill him.
Taking special note to pace himself, and maybe carry some food or water the next time he went Dungeon delving, Red decided that caution is the better part of valor and started on his way back out of the Dungeon.
Ten monsters killed, and two drop items should be a good enough haul for a day, right?
The Dungeon of course had other ideas.
Fucking hell Lina, what do you mean spend 40% on the exploring and keep 60% for the return, this is a 10-90 situation!? 10% of your energy spend going into the Dungeon and 90% to actually get out!
What kind of ridiculous dungeon delving genre is this!?
Red's first encounter with monsters had him fighting ten monsters in total, returning to go back out had him fighting 40… Fucking 40!
It was like every five steps he had to fight yet another monster, did the encounter rate get busted for him? What the fuck is this bullshit?
Sure, it was more like a chore having to bash in the heads of the monsters coming out in pairs, but Red barely finished plundering the corpses before another monster pair plopped its ass out of the Dungeon walls.
Once he tried experimenting, and he tried something extremely stupid. Red gave up the first mover's advantage to see if he was triggering more monster spawn because he kept killing them before they could do anything coming out of the Dungeon's walls.
Rather than bashing the heads of the diminutive bastards as soon as they are born, Red had let them actually attack before killing them.
Big mistake.
Worse than not making any difference, Red had to scramble and kill the monsters as fast as possible or risk getting himself overrun as even more monsters spawned in faster than he could kill them. It is to the point that he just thought of running, or just not taking out the Cores of the monster he killed and just booking it.
A heretical thought, but needs must when the devil drives and all that.
The first plan was out because Red doesn't doubt that the Dungeon would just pull some bullshit and spawn even more monsters ahead of him. And dealing with that while tired and disoriented would just get him killed faster. The second plan is untenable because leaving a monster with their core inside might get him an Advanced Monster, and Lina had stressed that that's bad news… Plus, he liked money, and just leaving money behind is just anathema to Red.
But finally, slowly, encounter after encounters, he was about to reach the main hallway that leads to the stairs out, there would be Adventurers around to deal with the monsters then.
That's when Red heard the scream, and it was not the Dungeon cursing at him again.
~Help!~
In fact, for the past few minutes, the Dungeon seemed to have let up a bit… Which just makes Red even more paranoid.
"This better not be a fucking mimic situation, the bestiary Lina gave me didn't have anything like that, not even in the Deeper Floors… Fuck it, I would feel bad if I ignore this, and it turns out someone actually needed help."
Turning around from the corridor that would have led him to safety, Red rushed towards where he thought he had heard the plea for help from.
It turns out that the Dungeon had stopped messing with him because it was focused on someone else, so of course, he still remained paranoid for anything the Dungeon might pull.
That's just common sense, after all.
It barely took him a minute before he could see what seems to be a group of goblins crowding around something, or more likely, someone. There were four of them, a small group, Red would need help if he wanted to take them on.
Luckily for Red, the element of surprise is also on his side.
~Hel…Hmmph!~ Sneaking quickly, closer, Red could hear the voice much clearer, it was female, and Red's reasonable fears of rape goblins once again reared its ugly head.
Hearing the plea being muffled, Red feared the worst, so once he actually reached close enough that with a leap his weapon could reach the goblins, Red leaped forward and started swinging. Helped immensely by the fact that the Goblins were too taken in doing whatever it is they're doing to the poor Adventurer, Red had killed two of them in short order, their corpses being flung into the far walls, before they knew he was there.
Swinging the staff around, Red flicked the butt of the staff into the chin of one of the last two goblins, his head bursting like watermelon. And with a thrust ended the life of the other one as the tip of his staff crushed their throat.
The time it took in between the kills were so fast that the previous un-blessed Red would have probably missed it in a blink, and here he is doing moves straight out of martial arts novels.
If there were any benefit in the Dungeon trying its best in killing him, it was that Red had become very familiar in using every part of the staff to kill goblins in the shortest amount of time possible.
Turning around, Red came face to face with his damsel in distress.
"Hrrkkk!" And almost got a heart attack out of it, his damsel in distress was definitely in "distress" as Red could see two huge melons from her ripped top and bra, hanging in the breeze, swinging hypnotically with every move her sinful body made.
The Goblin were too preoccupied to notice Red killing them all in short order. Of course that left only dealing with the 'lucky' survivor...
'Shit.'
"Oh, back already Red? How was the Dungeon? It is quite the experience, isn't it? All the new Guild staff are brought to the 1st Floor with an Adventurer escort as part of their training. Knowing how the Adventures feels, my trainer said, I think they just want us to be so afraid that they can use it as Blackmail material… Huh, Red, are you okay? The First Floor are full of other Adventures so it should be the safest part of the Dungeon, where's your jacket?"
When Lina saw Red entering the Guild lobby, she just started machine-gunning questions his way, but he kept silent till he crossed the distance to the till she was manning.
The worried Lina simply took him aside to the side rooms, worried about his disheveled state.
As Red had finally returned to the Guild hall and led away to a side room by Lina, with him now being sans jacket, there was only one thing that he wanted to do.
Too fast for the sheep girl, which is yes, the actual official name of the race as his tutoring by said sheep girl had forced him to learn, Red pinched Lina by her checks.
"Eh!? What are you doing, Red! Uweeehhh!"
And began shaking her head as he pinched her cheeks.
"Uweehhh! That hurrrts!" Lina tried her best to pry Red's hands away from her cheeks to no avail thanks to his Adventurer enhanced strength.
He made sure not to overdo it, however, Red didn't actually want to hurt her.
Permanently that is, some temporary pain is, however, fair game.
"Was it this mouth!? The lying mouth that says that I would probably not even find five goblins in all throughout the First Floor because they would be killed as soon as they spawn by the other Adventurers!? Or that killing 3 would be all I need to do before returning, 'just a taste' it said!?"
"Bwhat are byou talking about!"
It was only five minutes later that Red let go of Lina's reddened and puffy cheeks as tears streamed out of her eyes, and he started feeling bad about it. In lieu of a proper explanation, however, Red simply took out his loot bag, his very much bulging to the seams loot bag.
"That hurts Red, why are you so mea… Huh?" Testing the weight as if she couldn't actually believe her eyes, Lina moved the loot bag up and down. Finally, after seeing that the bag wouldn't suddenly shrink or get lighter, she finally opened the string drawers, and tilted the contents out of the bag.
"Did you put rocks inside? That's so childish, there's no need to…" Stuck silent as the Magic Cores and Drop Items started pouring, all 54 Magic Cores and 13 Drop Items from the Goblins and Kobolds, if Lina's eyes could open any wider, her eyeballs would probably pop out.
"Uweehh!?"
"Yeah, my reaction exactly." Smiling wrily towards Lina, the proof of his struggle spread around the table, Red could only barely stop himself from blurting his complaints.
In the silent side room, Lina's aborted comment about how above average Red's take were as she counted the Valis, especially for a Solo Adventurer and only after a short dive as well, only made the situation even more awkward.
She would open her mouth to speak, stop, then looked downwards guiltily, and Red finally couldn't handle it anymore.
"Gah! Stop looking so goddamn guilty, it's not like it's your fault, Lina! And I'm not dead, so stop looking as if I'm about half a step away from croaking!"
"But! You were so close to dying, all because of my lacking advice!"
"Tch, you did say that it was an anomaly, right? And I believe you as well, another newbie Adventurer like me was also ambushed, and according to her the Dungeons were acting very strangely as well."
Searching his jacket's pocket for his handkerchief to wipe the snot and tears off of the sheep girl, it took a moment for Red to realize that he didn't have it, the jacket that is.
'Ah, right, I gave my jacket to that girl… Meteria was it? I had almost called her Materia by mistake. Wonder if she is doing okay.'
~Flashback~
Placing his jacket on the half-naked woman, Red are finally able to actually look at her in the eyes, rather than have to put his self-control to the test all the while.
"Are you decent now?" Well, he knows the answer, since he had handed his jacket and all, but better be safe than sorry. No hell like a woman scorned after all.
"Uh-huh." Hearing the rather weak reply, you quickly became worried, did she hurt herself? Turning around, you could see that she was simply blushing red from embarrassment and even breathing in deeply.
Ah, you suppose that makes sense, you did found her in a rather compromising position, both literally and figuratively. You were pretty sure that the goblins were about to kill her when you came to the scene, pulling in strength from your very tired body that you didn't know you had.
"Are you alright, my name's Red, by the way. What's yours?" Red wanted to hold out your hand for a handshake or even pat the girl down for any injury, but he didn't think it would be a great idea right now. Seeing her breathing so deeply and rapidly, it was easy to see that she was in shock.
Red remembered that the first step in calming down someone who had just suffered shock-inducing trauma is to establish a safe place, not really something possible while in the Dungeon, but he suppose just acting normally and talking softly should work somewhat.
Meteria POV.
It was just supposed to be a small act of rebellion.
Even after her sister and Goddess Hera had spent a small fortune getting her the Branch of the Elven Tree, and she were feeling much better, her sister wouldn't allow her to step even one step outside of her room. Let alone leaving the Hera house entirely, even just going to the toilet, Meteria's sister, or another member of her Familia would be constantly on her side. Just in case they would say, as if she would die from just one slip or a scrap on her knees.
She might be sickly, but she was not an invalid! Despite the pain and the weakness she could still move around, and especially with the medicine, no matter how short it would last, she could move around freely and without the choking pain that made it hard for her to breath present.
She wanted to enjoy the limited freedom she had, to see the outside, to walk the streets of the city that she had heard from her sisters and friends, so many stories about!
And maybe, just maybe, her sister could even allow her to go to the Dungeon! She is an Adventurer too, after all, just like her sister! On Meteria's back lies the same Falna as the strongest people she knows, she too is a member of the Hera Familia, the strongest Familia.
No matter what those stupid braggarts of Zeus would crow about, at least that's what her sister and the others like to complaint about, there was no way that Meteria would be allowed to meet any of the other Adventurers outside of her Familia.
As once again she was being protected from the 'dangerous' Zeus Familia members.
So, as her sister once again denied her the chance to even just walk around the garden, you decide to pull off a daring plan.
You know that your Sister and the others would be going on a short Expedition, to gain some Drop Items or other, and would not be home for the whole day. Usually on days like these, Goddess Hera would be the one accompanying you, making sure that you wouldn't be getting into trouble, and to make sure you don't get yourself 'hurt'.
You know that they are only thinking about your well-being, some days just getting out of bed felt like one of the Great Quests. Too bad your Falna does not think that going to the bathroom by yourself is a feat worthy of a Level Up. You know that it's for your own good… But their worries sometimes stung like nothing else.
So, today, when you know that Hera had to go on a meeting with the other Gods, where the only thing between you and freedom is just the guards on the door. And when every step no longer felt like walking on glass, you took your chance.
You put on one of your cloaks, a gift from your Goddess because you apparently 'look cute' in them, and you gave the guard a slip. Heading to the Dungeon using one of the broken Chandeliers chains as a weapon, you would like to get one of the swords or other weaponry from the Armory… But you know that it's locked thanks to the many times that you asked to see the weapons only to get a chiding in return.
It quickly became locked when you sneaked inside anyway, and almost got yourself crushed by one of the swords on display.
Getting to the Dungeon, at least, is pretty easy, and you doubt that you could get lost with the towering edifice marking the entrance of the Dungeon so starkly.
You were so afraid of being recognized somehow, or worse get mistaken for your sister, that you huddled under your hoodie, trying your best not to catch any attention. It was just as well, since you noticed one of the Adventurers looking intently your way, before you joined the crowd of Adventurers and started going down the spiral staircase.
Your heart was beating a mile a minute, and it was not just because of your sickness, you were so excited! So much so that you had to fight the impulse to just start jumping and shouting excitedly.
It didn't take long for you to encounter trouble.
First of all, your choice of weaponry, a Chain? How are you supposed to use it? A sword or any other bladed weaponry at least could easily be understood on how you are supposed to use it. Just stick the pointy bits at the enemy, while preferably keeping it away from yourself.
Second, the lack of monsters as they were hunted by the other Adventurers, so much so that they started marking territories for themselves. A small slice of the Dungeon where they could hunt without danger, you were lulled into a false sense of security.
You had forgotten the first rule of the Dungeon that everyone must remember.
The Dungeon wants you dead.
It was supposed to be just another tunnel, but seeing as you had not seen any monsters for your entire Dungeon delve, you had forgotten all about it. And so, when the presence of Adventurer had, unknowingly to you, dwindled to zero and there was no one around to save you, the Dungeon had struck.
From the walls in front and behind you, the walls began cracking, and before you could react in any way, even to shout for help, the monsters were already around you.
Goblins, supposedly the weakest monster in the Dungeon, But as their hands gripped you, when your flailing of the chain only gotten you tangled and helpless and about to die, they might as well be the Goliaths.
Just as despair enveloped you as your continued struggle only resulted in your clothes getting ripped apart revealing your bare breasts, compounding the terror you felt at being so exposed and close to death… He arrived.
Moving as fast as lightning, he easily dealt with the goblins that had seemed so insurmountable to you. Within a blink of the eye, just when you were about to die, regretting your rash decision to go into the Dungeon so unprepared even despite the stories that your Familia would tell you, you were saved…
And by such a dashing hero too! Just like in your stories!
Black hair and red eyes that seemed to pierce through your chest, he looked so gallant as he crushed the heads of the goblins that were about to do Goddess knows what to your body.
And he looked so cute as well, when he blushed as he noticed your bare breasts, you wanted nothing more than to make him look more, or better yet, just hug him and make him…
As he handed you his jacket to cover yourself, and introduce himself, it was then that you realized just what is it you're imagining doing with your hero…
And so you did the only thing you could.
You run away, his jacket and his smell surrounding you.
Back to Red's POV
"I'm… Meteria." Good she's talking now and… she's gone.
What the hell! How come she was so fast in running away! As she spoke her name, before you could even respond in any way, the last thing you see is her white hair is she passed by you and ran away.
"Wait, my jacket!"
~End Flashback~
Jeez, just remembering that event pissed you off a bit, no good deeds go unpunished, huh? And there it goes, one less item of clothing for you… You hope that your first haul would be worth enough to buy you some clothes, because at this rate, you would be going to the Dungeon naked next.
Seeing that Lina was still crying, even as you were lost in your memories, you looked around for something that she could wipe her eyes with. You spotted a tissue dispenser in one of the small shelves to the side.
Taking a couple of sheets of tissues, you handed them over to Lina, who proceeded to blow her nose quite loudly, jeez woman I was the one ambushed and had his property stolen, why are you the one bawling?
"Sniff… Ah, thank you, Red, by the way the total came to a 11900 Valis, a very large sum, especially for your first day diving. A team of Adventurers could get, at most, 25000 Valis, even with a whole day of Dungeon Diving, and that's with a much lower Floor!"
Looking at Lina weirdly, seeing her serious look, Red had to acknowledge the fact that she was indeed telling the truth, and it was not just a sleeved lie to tell him to be more careful in the future. It seems that facing almost 5 dozens monsters on the 1st Floor was something that just doesn't happen.
How it had happened, though? Well, she doesn't know, and before he could ask Lina about the loud, strange noises he had heard when he had gone into the Dungeon, Red were shooed away as she had to write an emergency report in a hurry.
The First Floor having an anomaly is a very big deal apparently, since there's a lot of Adventurers, Veterans, and Newbies alike that hunt exclusively on that Floor. Though what kind of Veteran would stay exclusively on the First Floor escapes him and just kill Kobold and Goblins all their career, it was more of an insult if he think about it.
Well, just like his questions about the Dungeon strangeness was pushed aside, so is he unable to discuss more about Adventurers' lingoes, as Lina pushed him out of the room and was told that Astraea was already waiting for him.
Being the devoted Husband that he is, for all of one day! And without the ceremony at that…
No time to get depressed, it's time to return his Goddess!