God's Blessing on this Wonderful Dungeon

By Icura and Special FX

~o~

Chapter 3: The Dungeon

~o~

Within one of the largest offices in the Guild's headquarters, Pantheon, the current head of the Guild, Royman Mardeel, was sitting in his chair behind his desk, but the feathered quill in his hand was not moving. Instead, he merely stared down silently at the document, his already unseemly features distorting to the point of grotesqueness.

Royman Mardeel, despite his lofty position, was reviled amongst his race, the elves. That was because he was a creature of avarice, looking more like an overweight goblin with his intense layers of fat and bulging eyes. The only thing that even resembled his elven racial traits was his pointed ears; however, that was far too little compared to the many long decades of indulgence clearly visible on his sagging skin. If it were only just this, it would be somewhat acceptable to other elves, but his personality was one of malicious greed and towering arrogance, preferring wholesale the decadence of city society instead of the naturalism of the forest.

In spite of all his flaws, his hard work led him to become the head of the Guild, the largest organization in Orario. With the backing of one of the first gods to step foot onto the world, Ouranos, they were unquestionably the most powerful neutral organization within the city despite not having any standing military force. Their power was in their financial prowess and their ability to move thousands of adventurers through quests and emergency orders.

However, in recent years, trouble had been brewing, and the document in front of him simply displayed the extent of it.

"Our profit margins are thinning…" The low mutter, spoken under his breath even though there was no one else in his empty office, just showed how disturbed he was. The trouble started less than a decade ago when Zeus and Hera's Familias were annihilated while attempting to subdue the last of the three Great Quests, the Black Dragon. With their Familias gone and those two gods exiled for both safety and selfish reasons, that was when the city's troubles began.

Without the policing that the two former most powerful Familias did, the members of dark Familias under evil gods and goddesses went rampant with their newfound freedom. Collectively, they called themselves Evilus even though, most of the time, they didn't even work together and often fought each other. In this period of turmoil, there was no way to cover up the happenings from the outside world.

Less and less adventurers were immigrating to Orario, whispering of the dangers of the city. The problem was that these arguments were actually reasonable. Even if they could live longer by leveling up–with the fastest method of doing so being the dungeon–they wouldn't be able to enjoy those newly gained lifespans if they were then killed by Evilus members.

Royman dropped the quill and held his head. The dungeon was immensely dangerous, but with the addition of Evilus, it had gotten far worse. The death rate of adventurers in the dungeon was on the rise, and it was obvious that Evilus had their hand in it. With fewer adventurers overall, the profit from buying magic stones from the adventurers and exporting them to other countries was thinning since supply was not meeting demand. Even worse was the fact that they couldn't even raise the price of magic stones that much since Evilus was somehow smuggling magic stones out of the dungeon and undercutting their prices significantly.

To be frank, this was the worst period that the Guild had ever been through in its one thousand years of existence. Things had not gotten so bad even when Zeus and Hera Familia were battling Sobeck and Horus Familia every night out in the streets, though that was before his time. Thankfully, the existence of the Guild was not in question. No matter what happened, Ouranos would not allow it to collapse. However, with the decrease in their profit margins, employees would have to be let go and support functions for adventurers would have to be scaled back.

For something like this to happen under his administration–his reign–was aggravating, and it was nausea-inducing to think that there was a chance of this resulting in his sacking despite it all not being his fault. It made him want to go to the Red Light District and forget all about his troubles, but that would have to wait until after work.

If he was fired, would he have to give up on such pleasures?

No matter what, Royman would not and could not return to how he was before this life of decadence. The very idea of losing his extravagant lifestyle made him grind his teeth in agitation.

The only person he could set his hopes on fixing this situation was Finn Deimne from Loki Familia, but even that hope was starting to become fleeting over the years as the situation worsened. If Freya Familia, who were competing for the top position against Loki Familia actually participated in defending the city, then it wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did, but their agenda was their own, and they couldn't be negotiated with. Ganesh Familia and Astrea Familia had stepped up to patrol and protect the populace, but that hadn't been enough.

Evilus had recently gotten incredibly brazen and had attacked the city in broad daylight, no longer satisfied with sticking only to the dungeon or under the cover of night. Those attacks had spurred a small exodus of merchants and civilians from Orario. Nothing too significant at the moment, but if Evilus' efforts continue, it wouldn't be hard to imagine the movement growing. It was all too obvious that Evilus was trying to bleed the city, and there was very little that he could do about it personally.

Slowly, Royman Mardeel unclenched his jaw and picked up his quill.

In the end, all he could do was work so that was what he did.

~o~

"...and that's the end of today's lecture. If you have any questions, now's the time."

Rose Fannett finished writing the last bits of information on the chalkboard and reluctantly turned around to look at the students in the classroom. Why the reluctance? It was because of the five students who were sitting at their individual desks in this room inside the Pantheon.

They were all members of Eris Familia, the newest one to come to Orario. However, only four of them were Familia members. The last one was their goddess, Eris, who was wearing nun clothing and sitting attentively in her seat, staring at her with the studiousness of an actual student. Why a goddess would want to participate in a dungeon primer, she didn't know, but that forced her to be extra thorough in her teachings.

It was one thing if an adventurer submitted a complaint and another thing entirely if a goddess did so.

Kazama raised his hand.

"You don't have to raise your hand. There's only five of you in here," Rose said in a tired voice. "Just say it."

"How many floors does the dungeon have?"

"Nobody knows, but the deepest that has been recorded is the 71st floor."

"Oh, me! Me! Me!" Megumin raised her hand high up and waved it around.

"Didn't I just say you didn't need to do that?"

"Is there something that can make my explosion stronger?"

"Is that one of your spells?" Rose's frown deepened when Megumin nodded in response. "You shouldn't tell people what spells you have."

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous," she said. "If they know your spell repertoire, they might attack you in the dungeon or sell your information to someone who will."

"But then I can't show people the greatness of explosions."

"You're not supposed to!"

"Tch." Megumin looked away with an aggrieved and unconvinced expression.

Darkness stood up abruptly from her seat with her palms on the table.

"Are there orcs in the dungeon?!"

"Yes," Rose said as she stared at the blond woman with a questioning gaze. "They start appearing on the 10th floor."

"After they beat their opponents, do they take the females as prisoners and bring them back to their lair to torture them into propagating their species?!"

"...no." Rose's expression blanked out from watching the knight's cheek reddened while drooling at the corner of her mouth. "The dungeon automatically spawns more orcs so there is no need. They just kill and eat defeated adventurers."

"Oh…" Darkness deflated at the thought and quietly sank back down into her seat.

The last member of their group, Aqua, didn't even bother asking questions and was asleep on her desk instead. There was even a small lake of saliva pooling under her cheek. Even while sleeping, the blue-haired woman had as much beauty as any goddess in Orario. There was no doubt that if Aqua hadn't already been in a Familia, most gods and goddesses would have been itching to grab her just based on her appearance alone. Rose had to admit that she was even slightly jealous.

Only just slightly because of the perfectly lustrous hair, symmetric breasts, perfect figure…

"Any other questions?" Rose spat out those words with far more venom than she intended, just barely hiding her bad mood from showing up on her face.

"So," Kazuma began. "Can we go into the dungeon today?"

"It'll take more days to go through all the lectures," Rose replied. However, noticing a couple of defiant looks, she continued. "However, I can't stop you. Only advise you. That is my role as an advisor to your Familia."

"Good to know." He rose up from his seat. "We'll be going now then."

"Wait. There's just one more thing I need some of you to fix up on your forms." Rose picked up two sheets of paper from her desk and held them up. "Megumin, you listed your race as Crimson Demon."

Megumin stood up from her seat and flung out her arms, sending her cape flapping in the air.

"I am Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan, wielder of the strongest offensive magic, Explosion!" She grabbed the edges of her pointed wizard hat and rotated it on her head ominously. "None can stand in my way, for only the abyss awaits them if they do!"

Rose stared at her blankly.

Megumin met her gaze with a confident grin.

"...I'll list your race as pallum."

"At least put me as human if you're not going to believe me!"

"And you, Aqua!"

Ignoring Megumin's bitter retort, Rose threw the chalk. The piece of chalk hit Aqua in the middle of her forehead, knocking her head back and startling her awake.

"Uwaaah! What's happening?!"

"Why did you do this?!" Rose held up Aqua's form and poked her sharp fingernail at the spot in question, almost tearing through the paper. "You listed your race as goddess!"

"But that's what I am!"

"This is borderline blasphemy! Goddess Eris, please say something to her!"

The Goddess, Eris, who had looked serene and peaceful during all of this commotion, suddenly didn't quite look as content. Sweat dripped down her brow and her smile turned wobbly. She nervously raised her hand and scratched the back of her nun coif.

"Um, senpai is allowed to."

"Why are you calling a mortal that?" Rose asked incredulously. "Aren't you her goddess?!"

"It's…um, complicated…"

"...she's obviously not an elf or a dwarf," Rose finally said, having partially given up. "I'll just list her race as human as well."

"But I am a goddes–mmpgh!?"

"Just ignore Aqua," Kazuma replied as he covered Aqua's mouth with his hand. "Thanks Rose, and sorry for the trouble."

~o~

By the time they had finally left the guild, Kazuma was starving.

He hadn't eaten since waking up early in the morning, and it was already midday. It was too late for breakfast so the only choice left was brunch. Although, with how little money they had left, the next meal was probably going to be the last until they could scrounge up some more Valis. The pain of living paycheck to paycheck was starting to remind him of the early days back in Belzerg.

"Kazuuuumaaaaa," Aqua whined. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," he replied with a tired sigh. "We'll get something to eat first before dungeon diving."

Kazuma didn't feel like going back to the pub that they had all eaten at yesterday, especially since it was all the way on the other side of the city, so they would have to settle for something nearby. He did recall passing by a pub near their temporary residence on the way to the Guild though. It wasn't open yet when he passed by early in the morning, but now that it was already the middle of the afternoon, they should have opened their doors by now.

It didn't take very long to reach the pub that was known as the "Hostess of Fertility."

Pushing open the large wooden double doors, he was greeted with the sight of a rather comfy looking establishment. It was pretty empty aside from a group of girls enjoying a plate of sandwiches over at a table by the window. He stepped inside and picked one of the many empty tables in the center of the room while his party followed closely behind.

It didn't take long for a girl with cat ears in a green uniform to approach their table.

"Welcome, meow!" The cat girl waitress greeted with a welcoming smile. "Here are the menus, meow. Let me know when you all are ready to order, meow."

Kazuma couldn't help but dumbly stare as the waitress stepped away and walked over toward the bar counter. Did she really just meow after every sentence? Had he really just seen a genuine cat girl waitress? One that even meowed too!?

Now this was the kind of isekai adventurer that he had been wanting to experience!

"Kazuma, wipe that dirty grin off your face," Megumin demanded with narrowed eyes.

"...I don't know what you're talking about," he simply replied as he picked up his menu and hid his face behind it. "Don't order anything over ten thousand Valis, guys."

"What?" Aqua frowned. "But that's more than half the menu gone!"

"Well, it's too bad that someone spent all of our money on drinks last night then."

"Urk…" Aqua then hid her face behind her menu as well. "I'll get the pasta then…"

After hearing everyone's order and doing a quick bit of mental math to make sure that it was within their meager budget, he called the waitress back over.

"Are you all ready to order now, meow?" The cat-eared waitress asked.

"I'll have the pasta," Darkness replied.

"Same," Kazuma echoed.

"Me too!" Aqua repeated.

"Chicken soup for me," Megumin answered.

"Alright, meow," the waitress said as she took down everyone's orders. "Anything to drink, meow?"

"Yeah, some booz—mmphg!" Kazuma covered Aqua's mouth with his hand and gave the waitress a forced smile. "Just water's fine."

"Okay, meow," the cat-eared waitress replied with a smile. "I'll be back with your orders as soon as it's ready, meow."

Kazuma suddenly felt something wet touch the palm of his hand and quickly pulled it back.

"Aqua! What the hell!?" He squawked in disgust as he wiped his hand with a napkin. "Did you just lick my hand!?"

She just stuck her tongue out at him in response.

This useless goddess…

"Hey guys, I've been thinking," Darkness began with a troubled look on her face. "Since Lady Eris isn't allowed to come with us into the dungeon, what is she going to be doing while we're gone?"

Ah, right.

Rose had mentioned that gods were not allowed into the dungeon. When Eris asked about dungeon diving with them, the werewolf lady had looked at them as if they were insane. Apparently, the dungeon was supposedly alive, and it hated the gods. Thus, whenever a god entered the dungeon, extremely dangerous monsters would spawn in retaliation in order to hunt down the god who dared to trespass.

"It's alright, Darkness," Eris replied with a kind smile. "I'm sure I can find something to occupy my time with. The city here is quite large after all."

"...will Aqua be fine?" Kazuma asked. The last thing he wanted was for the dungeon to single out their resident useless goddess like all the undead usually did.

"I believe so," Eris answered with a nod. "Senpai no longer has her divinity so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Stop bringing that up!"

"A-ah, senpai! Please stop pulling my cheeks!"

~o~

After they ate their meal, Kazama and his companions–including Eris–made their way down the main road toward the tower at the center of the city.

The street was bustling with activity, though it was mostly civilian in nature since most adventurers had already gone into the dungeon in the morning. The majority of adventurers–according to Rose–were level 1 and 2, and many of them considered it a daily job like a salaried worker. For that reason, they liked to go into the dungeon early in the morning so that they could leave in the evening rather than go later and exit during the night or take a shorter workday.

What did this mean for them?

It meant that the main road had far fewer adventurers going to the dungeon at this hour. If anything, Kazuma would have preferred going in the evening and getting out in the morning so he wouldn't have to deal with the crowd. In Belzerg, there were so many hunting locations and dungeons that meeting other adventurers was only an occasional or even rare occurrence. In fact, it had been similar to that outside of the city as well. Only in Orario were things a lot more crowded.

Heading on the road, it wasn't long before they came before the looming sight of the tower.

Now that they were close by, they could see just how large the tower actually was. Despite being told that it had 50 floors, it seemed far taller than that. The area around the tower was a place of stone and trees, providing a courtyard where there were plenty of adventurers lounging around and chatting with each other. There were even stalls and stands, selling everything from snacks to potions and even dungeoneering gear.

"I suppose this is where we have to split up," Eris said with a good amount of reluctance in her voice. Her thoughts were complicated. If she had lost her divinity as well, then she would have been able to come along as a thief for the party. Despite her role now being significant in its own way, she couldn't help but futilely clench her fists.

"What are you going to do in the meantime?" Kazuma asked, though his eyes glanced toward her clenched fists.

"I'll take a look around the city and then head back in the evening." Eris unclenched her fist, attempting to still look cheerful. "Well, even if I'm a little late, I can protect myself."

"...be careful when it gets too late and we're still not back," he replied, remembering Ardee's advice from the day before. "Apparently, there's been a group of criminals that have been active at night."

"W-what? A band of brigands scouring the nightly hours?" Darkness stuttered as a light blush filled her cheeks. "T-the kind that kidnaps young women to do unsightly things with?!"

"..."

Kazuma chose to ignore her.

"I'll be fine, Kazuma," Eris replied with a wink. "I'm more worried about all of you. From what Rose said about the dungeon, it seems like it'll be quite dangerous."

"Hah, that's why I'm here," Aqua proudly stated with her hands on her hips. "I'll just heal whoever gets hurt!"

"Please look after everyone then, senpai," Eris sadly replied with a slight bow of her head. "I'll see you all later tonight."

Kazuma couldn't help but feel a bit bad as he watched Eris walk off and disappear into the streets of Orario.

It couldn't be helped though. Rose had been very adamant about the dangers a god trespassing in the dungeon could create, and he didn't want to cause any more trouble if he had a choice in the matter. Just dealing with the regular problems his party members created on a daily basis was already a full time job in and of itself.

It didn't take them long to reach the entrance of the tower.

There weren't any guards stationed outside of it, though with how many armed adventurers there were in the area, there probably wasn't a need for them. Stepping inside the tower, the first thing that Kazuma noticed was the massive stone staircase hugging the wall that descended down into the ground in a spiral. On the other side of the room, there were a group of fancy-looking elevators embedded in the wall.

He was surprised that a fantasy world like this one had elevators, but he wasn't going to complain.

Who liked walking up and down stairs anyway?

Rose had mentioned the floors above the dungeon housed many shops owned by the various Familias in the city, so that was probably what they were there for. They probably fulfilled the same role as convenience stores. While he was a bit curious about what kind of things they sold upstairs, it wasn't like he had any money to spend.

He did make a mental note to check out the shops once his money pouch wasn't so empty though.

As they walked down the long-winding staircase, he couldn't help but marvel a bit at the sheer size of the place. He didn't think that there was anything like this place back in Belzerg. Not even the high-leveled dungeon Wiz and Vanir had brought him to in the past could compare. Various adventurers were coming and going so while the staircase itself was a bit narrow, everyone had adopted a system where people going down hugged one side while those going up stayed on the other.

"Kazuma, Kazuma." Megumin poked him in the ribs.

"Yes, I'm Kazuma," he dryly replied as he raised his hand.

"Remember your promise."

"Yeah, yeah," he answered with a sigh. "I'll let you blow up the first couple of monsters we see, alright?"

Megumin flashed him a grin and a thumbs up in response.

With how big the dungeon was and its apparent ability to repair itself, he didn't think that Megumin's explosions would collapse the entire place. Maybe a tunnel or two at the worst. At least, that was if she went with a chantless explosion. If she decided to add something like a ten-verse chant to it though, then he wasn't so sure.

"Hey, Megumin. Just make sure to shorten your chant as much as possible when you cast Explosion."

"Waaah? Why?" She pouted. "You're asking me to hold back?"

"Do you want to bring down the whole tower on us?"

"...fine," she eventually relented. "I won't do a chant."

"Also, don't use your staff."

"I'm not like Darkness," Megumin said in a disgruntled and pouty voice. "I'm not into despair play."

"Just do it for now," he replied. "I'll let you go all out if the place doesn't collapse on us."

"I'm holding you to that, Kazuma!"

They continued to idly chit-chat as they kept at it with their trek down the long-winding staircase. Though surprisingly enough, the staircase was probably only around ten meters deep so it actually didn't take them too long to reach the bottom. There was a large tunnel at the bottom that was carved into a wall, where adventurers were constantly coming in and out.

That was probably the first floor.

Once inside the entrance, he could see there were a few tunnels leading down different directions. Not really knowing where to go, he simply picked a tunnel based on instinct and walked down the path. Within the walls of some of those tunnels, he could see that there were openings that led to carved-out rooms where he saw a few adventurers fighting what looked to be typical fantasy goblins.

Essentially, it was a labyrinth maze in a cave environment that was reminiscent of older role-playing games. It would probably seem far more ominous if there weren't so many people in it.

After a few minutes of walking, they finally found an empty room where a singular goblin stood inside waiting.

In terms of monsters, it looked pretty weak, though that was probably to be expected since this was only the first floor of the dungeon. That also probably meant that there wasn't much money to be made from killing these things either. Honestly, most of the monsters that they ran into on the way here looked far more dangerous than this goblin did. Even the giant toads back in Axel were probably a bigger threat.

Kazuma was about to pull out his sword and finish off the beginner-friendly mob when Megumin dashed out in front of him.

"Explosion!"

There was a loud echoing boom as he covered his face with his arms from the sudden rush of air that came from Megumin's magic.

The entire room that they were about to head into was lit up in an explosion, filling it to the brim with fire and heat. After a brief moment, the flames settled down as the dust and debris finally began to clear out. Slowly opening his eyes, the spot that the goblin had once been standing on was completely gone, and a large crater resided in its place instead. There wasn't even anything left of the small green monster; only a bunch of loose rocks and debris that had fallen from the nearby walls.

Kazuma caught Megumin as she fell backward.

"Ah. That felt…kind of good," she said with mixed feelings. Despite that, she didn't forget her gratitude. "Thanks for catching me, Kazuma, but you promised me more explosions. Better ones."

"...oi, there isn't even a corpse left, you know," he dryly pointed out. "How the hell are we supposed to dig out the monster's magic stone now?"

"Urk…w-well, I guess we'll just have to find some stronger monsters then!"

"Hah…" Kazuma let out a tired sigh as he transferred over some mana to her with [Drain Touch].

Well, it wasn't like she was wrong.

With how weak the monsters on this floor were, the pay was probably just as meager. And considering how much it would cost to feed his party members—Aqua's drinking habit included—he didn't think that the mobs here would generate enough money for the night. Not to mention the fact that he didn't want to have to slum it out in the abandoned church again.

"Let's head deeper then."

~o~

As they passed through the many rooms and hallways of the cave labyrinth, Kazuma and his three companions kept a wide berth since adventurers–both solo and in groups–acted skittish whenever they got too close. Sometimes, it was unavoidable due to the narrowness of some of the passageways, but they would get antsy.

Still, to Kazuma, it was reasonable enough why they were acting like he had started using the restroom urinal next to theirs when there were free ones further away.

It was because they were worried about kill-stealing. That was the act where someone "helps" out in a fight when their help was unwanted or unneeded, and it usually ended with the interfering party demanding a share of the monster drops. The resulting argument and conflict could even go as far as murder when the tensions were high enough and the motives were less than clean.

Having previously been in Axel, the Town of Beginnings, that had never been an issue for them.

There were plenty of hunting locations and dungeons that, even if another party of adventurers was encountered, the meeting would often be cordial unless there was a prior grudge. However, here in Orario, more than half of the rooms and hallways on the first two floors were occupied with roaming adventurers. It was crowded enough that these adventurers would try to rush around to claim a room with newly spawned monsters before their peers could, as if they were parking spaces in a filled-up parking lot.

Of course, besides the change in the skin color of the goblins and kobolds on the second floor compared to the first, they presented absolutely no challenge to their party.

That was why they headed down to the third floor and then the fourth. By the fourth floor, there were definitely fewer dungeon divers than the previous floors. The enemies were differently colored goblins and kobolds, though they were now traveling in bigger packs than the floors before.

However, for them, that didn't make these monsters any more difficult than before.

"Can't we go deeper?" Darkness pleaded, just standing there while a pack of six kobolds surrounded her, ineffectively smashing their similarly sized stone axes against her thigh armor. She kicked out her foot, somehow hitting one of them in the chest and sending it flying away from her in spite of her abysmal accuracy. When that happened the first time, she was surprised, but by this point, she was just bored. "I can't even imagine anything if they're this weak."

"What do you want me to do about that? This is all we have," Kazuma stated, holding up the map and slapping it with the back of his free hand for effect. "They only gave us maps for the first four floors. Until we get more achievements, they won't give us the maps for the deeper floors."

"Why do we even need those? Can't we just explore?"

"No!" Megumin interjected into the conversation. "Explosions now! You promised!"

"What she said," Kazuma replied. "The maps have the location for the pantries, the largest rooms on the floors. Megumin will be able to let off her explosions there without having to worry about collapsing the room or the tunnel. If we go to the fifth floor, it'll take us forever to find it."

"Then can we go after?" Darkness asked hopefully.

"Sure."

"Yes!" Darkness smiled happily as she swung her sword out in a sideswipe. It wasn't so much that she was aiming for the kobolds; instead, it was more like they were so distracted and exhausted from trying to break through her armor that they didn't even bother to dodge, probably not even realizing it until their bodies fell apart.

A couple of the kobolds turned into ash from Darkness inadvertently slashing through their magic stones in the process.

"Hey, Darkness! You were supposed to kick them!" Kazuma looked frustrated, even as he took out his carving knife. "How are we going to earn money if you keep breaking them?"

"Are you…" There was a blush on Darkness' cheeks, even as she pulled out her own carving knife. "Are you going to punish me?!"

Before Kazuma could respond, Aqua screamed out in frustration as she stabbed her carving knife into the kobold corpse's chest and pulled down on it to rip a slit open.

"Why does a goddess like me have to do something like this?!"

Even as she shouted out, Aqua jammed her hand inside the wound and felt around in there. A moment later, she pulled out a magic stone, though her hand was covered in blood and viscera. However, those gory bits soon turned into ash and fell from her skin. Even the corpse itself turned into a pile of dust at the same time.

"Why wouldn't you? I don't see any divinity on you," Kazuma dryly retorted. "If Eris switched places with you, she wouldn't be complaining. In fact, if you were up there, you'd probably be spending all your time drinking anyways!"

"Don't compare me to her!" Aqua threw the magic stone at Kazuma, but he simply caught it, just as the corpse beneath him faded into ash. "I'm a head goddess and she's a normal, ordinary goddess!"

"Former head goddess," he corrected.

"Kazuuuumaaaa!"

Just before Aqua could charge at Kazuma, Megumin stepped in between them, holding out her hands to stop the fight.

"Explosions," the crimson demon member simply said.

"But–"

"Explosions."

With slightly glowing eyes, Megumin stared at Aqua. It was only when the former goddess seemed to finally calm down that she allowed the infamous 'Crimson Demon glow' to fade from her eyes.

"Let's go already!" Megumin said impatiently. "I can't hold it in any longer!"

~o~

The way to the pantry was far off the main path toward the next floor.

The closer they got to the pantry, the less adventurers they saw. Though, that was to be expected since adventurers tended to stay away from the pantry due to the large gathering of monsters there. For the low-level adventurers who inhabited this floor, running into a large mob of monsters like that would be incredibly dangerous. Level one adventurers could probably handle a small group, but a dozen or more?

That was just asking to be overrun.

However, even an army of kobolds wouldn't pose much of a threat to Kazuma and his party. In spite of how useless his party members could be at times, they were pretty much all veteran adventurers at this point. Hell, they had even managed to defeat the demon king and most of his generals!

What were a bunch of kobolds going to do to them?

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Aqua called out. "Try not to die to a bunch of kobolds again, alright?"

He felt his cheeks flush red in embarrassment. Why did this damn useless goddess have to bring up that terrible memory again!? Didn't she know how hard he tried to forget about that embarrassing event!?

"T-that was a long time ago!" Kazuma weakly defended. "...and I just got a little too cocky at the time, that's all."

"Hey, look. I think I can see the pantry!" Megumin pointed in excitement before she ran up ahead.

"Hey, hold on!" Kazuma called out as he chased after her. "Wait for us!"

When he caught up to her and reached the end of the tunnel, the room at the end was unlike any of the previous rooms that they had seen before. To say that it was massive would be an understatement; it was probably the size of an entire neighborhood. How was it even possible to have such a large room underground?

Though, the most striking feature was the giant crystal pillar residing in the center of the room.

The crystal pillar stood tall, stretching almost to the top of the room, overseeing everything like the tower of Babel did back up on the surface. At the bottom of it, he could see a small lake around it filled with some strange green-ish colored liquid. A horde of goblins and kobolds were gathered around the lake, drinking from it or simply loitering around.

"Kazuma, Kazuma!" Megumin excitedly pulled at his sleeve as her eyes lit up. "Can I blow up that crystal!? Please!?"

"Uh…" He wasn't sure if that was the best idea.

"Kazuma, if you let me blow up that crystal, I won't ask for any more explosions for the rest of the day!" Megumin offered as she looked up at him with stars in her eyes. "You won't owe me anymore for the other explosions you promised me, so please!?"

Honestly, that seemed like a good deal to him. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? The pantry room looked big enough that even a fully-powered chant from her probably wouldn't cause a collapse.

"Alright, go for it." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Yes!" Megumin cheered in excitement before she pulled her hat over her eyes and struck a pose. "Oh, frenzied flames clad in darkness, the time for slumber has ended. Arise and strike true, deliver judgment to all of my enemies before me."

Large glowing magic circles began to appear in the air near the crystal pillar. The creatures at the base of the crystal looked up in confusion.

"Let the name Megumin be known to all. Now, burst forth, Explosion!"

A shockwave rippled through the air as an explosion of cataclysmic proportions unfolded upon the crystal pillar. Even though they were a good distance away from the point of impact, Kazuma still needed to squint and shield his eyes due to the bright light and roaring winds. The giant crystal pillar split into mere fragments as flames of different hues danced along the falling pieces. Any monster caught within range of the blast was instantly reduced to ash or crushed by the falling debris coming from the once massive crystal pillar.

The once tranquil feeding ground was now nothing more than a distorted landscape of destruction and hellfire.

"...I'll give that one an 87," Kazuma eventually said. "It was definitely one of your more impressive ones."

"Ah… that felt wonderful," Megumin replied as she began falling to the ground. Kazuma walked over and caught her before she hit the floor. "Thanks, Kazuma."

"Sure, no prob–"

The ground suddenly began to shake, cutting off his words. Kazuma looked up at the ceiling and saw the stalagmites begin to break off. A piece of rubble fell from the ceiling and landed near the initial blast zone, crushing a kobold corpse underneath.

Oi…

Was the whole pantry about to collapse in on itself!? Was it because Megumin blew up that crystal pillar? He didn't know, but he sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to find out either. Kazuma quickly threw Megumin on his back and began to run back toward the tunnel they had come from.

"Let's get the hell out of here, guys!"

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Special FX: Megumin No! Megumin Yes!

Icura: Thanks for reading~!