Proofread: Shiro

Teruru Dungeon, 19th floor.

After getting the information from Celeste, the first I went to was this floor.

Transportation used was the Teleportation Room.

Thanks to Eve, we have access to every single dungeon and floor in Shikuro.

Previously I was brought to this floor by Eve, but this time I actually came here for a reason.

There was a lively activity in this floor where the Dungeon Snow fell, and many adventurers were fighting inside this floor.

I mentally prepared myself before coming to this floor knowing that it would be a special floor, but it seemed rather normal to me which took me aback.

Then, right in front of me, a Slime appeared.

The Slime which was sp.a.w.ned just now was looking at me straight in the eyes. I know that look, it was the look that I have been targeted as its enemy.

Taking out my revolvers,  I would strike first—–was what I thought when suddenly the Slime split up.

It was rather common of this type of demon to as.e.xually reproduce, but to have split into 3 Slimes, and they looked exactly the same as each other.

Pulling the trigger, I shot one of them first before letting it have a chance.

Bang! !

The sound of gunfire rang in my ear, then I felt a shock as if I was. .h.i.t in the face.

My vision turned white, and everything was blurry.

I quickly crossed my arm and guarded, then the next attack came.

I felt something attacking my arms, and the feeling was similar to that of a Slime.

I didn"t sustain any damage thanks to my HP and Stamina being SS.

However, if this continues it"ll be bad, so I quickly used the Absolute Rock"s effect and turned into Invincible Mode.

After my sight gradually returned, I could see the three Slimes again.

The Slimes furiously attacked from every direction, and shuffled around its position everytime they attack.

I kinda figured out what"s happening as I looked around with my Invincible Mode active.

I was looking at how the others were fighting, and they had the same deal where the Slimes split up, but they carefully picked and defeated it.

Among the numbers that split up—–it could be from a range of 3 to 5 —–but once they defeated one of it, the rest would disappear, and a circular cabbage dropped.

The other adventurers normally defeated it, but I could see that it took a lot of cautiousness in order to defeat the right one.

Only one of the split Slime is the real one, and if you don"t find it you"ll never defeat it.

Switching to my Homing Bullets, I fired it and it flew right on top of the three Slimes.

The direction of the Homing Bullet immediately changed, moving towards the left Slime"s direction.

After hitting the Slime, the Cabbage dropped.

So I really have to defeat the real one.

Cancelling my Invincibility Mode, I encountered another Slime.

The Slime immediately split up, and this time it shuffled around first.

[…..] (Ryouta)

After the shuffling was completed, the three bodies came after me.

I used a normal bullet and fired at one of the bodies.

The Slime that was. .h.i.t by my bullet died, and the cabbage dropped.

I understood how to find the right one.

As long as I focus when it splits, even if they shuffle around, all I have to do is focus at the real one and not lose sight of it.

Well, it wasn"t really moving that fast that could trick your eyes, so I"m sure it"s not at a level where it can trick a skilled adventurer.

But, it"s good training.

It"s good training for looking at the high speed shuffle and spotting the right one, so let"s do that for today.

Meeting a Slime, allow it to split, then focus on the right one, and attack.

I was pushing my Magic Cart while walking around the Dungeon while killing Slimes.

[……Un?] (Ryouta)

The Magic Cart was full, so I sent them off to the Mansion, and as I was sending it I noticed something.

I was half believing it, but can it be—-this feeling.

Needing to confirm my thoughts, I looked for another encounter and let it split up.

I can hear the sound, the sound of the Slime splitting up and shuffling around.

Then noticing that the sound has stopped, I opened my eyes.

This time, the amount that was in front of my eyes were 5 of them. My "luck" was good this time to have 5 of them.

I gazed at the 5 of them.

Then, I could see that out of the 5, one of them looked slightly different.

Something was off, or more like it looked troubled.

It was more of an intuition than anything.

I heard of this saying before, that intuition is like [having your instinct make the judgement first], or so it seemed.

Probably, the fact that this happened is because of the countless experiences I have in the dungeon.

Using the normal bullet, I fired at the Slime that my intuition thought was the one.

It didn"t counter attack, and the rest of the Slime disappeared and the cabbage dropped.

Once won"t confirm anything, I"ll have to test it more.

Thus I continued to test it out.

[I hit it.] (Ryouta)

Hitting the target with the Normal Bullet, the cabbage dropped.

[Ah I missed.] (Ryouta)

After missing the right target, my eyes turned white and the attack was. .h.i.t from all directions.

[Yes it was the right one.] (Ryouta)

After failing, I fired at the Slime that I won"t know which is which anymore, and the cabbage dropped again.

After repeating that time and time again, I"ve confirmed it. And as such, every hit was correct.

Somehow, I knew which is the real one, and I memorized that [somehow] part into my body.

Accomplishing the task that I placed for coming to this floor, my chest was filled with overwhelming happiness.

Once I get back to the mansion, I better thank Celeste no matter what.

While thinking of it, something happened.

[Hm?] (Ryouta)

I noticed a man. And I felt something off about that man.

I immediately realized that uncomfortable feeling, as that adventurer did not push his Magic Cart which should be called an essential item of adventurers.

Looking at him closely, he doesn"t have any equipments at all.

It"s as if he was going on a pleasure jaunt, or more like a tourist kind of vibe.

What"s more, why is he sneaking around.

Without minding his surroundings, he walked up the stairs and disappeared.

[……So suspicious.] (Ryouta)

He looked dubious, whatever he"s doing, it"s very suspicious.

I"ve seen adventurers moving about like this before, and especially in this world, it was easy to spot their behaviours based on their movements.

Being safe to go around is the first thing an adventurer would consider, so that is second nature for them.

And that guy just now had a completely different movement.

I thought for a moment as to whether I should chase after him, and ended up chasing after him.

The road was a straight line, and what"s more he was gone.

There were no adventurers around, neither was there any monster.

Nothing was around…..and as I was about to leave…

As I wanted to return back to where I came.

I gazed at the dead end of the dungeon.

[What the…..?] (Ryouta)

I unknowingly mumbled.

This discomfort, something"s pulling me towards this discomfort.

It was just a dead end, however my feeling tells me that something bad is there.

I dare to say even the atmosphere has changed.

How I know exactly…..the air around me felt nostalgic.

When I stared at it, it was just a dead end.

Even when I turned around, the surroundings didn"t change.

However, something was pulling me.

[Something is there.] (Ryouta)

Again I mumbled to myself, and my suspicion was kicking in like crazy.

Over there…..somethings there.

[To be the representative of Shikuro…..I shall give you my thanks again.]

Inside the Dungeon"s a.s.sociations office, Cell was bowing down to me.

Even though I don"t know whether something is there, but when my intuition told me something is there, I couldn"t help but went out of the dungeon and met up with Cell.

After explaining to Cell what I felt, this was the result.

In between me and Cell, and on top of the table was a stone.

It was just a stone, no matter how you looked at it, it"s just a normal stone.

[After Satou-sama asked us to look at the location, this was what we found.] (Cell)

[This is?] (Ryouta)

[It"s a Dungeon Debris.] (Cell)

[So it"s just trash?] (Ryouta)

[No it isn"t, it"s the name of the Drop Item.] (Cell)

[……Mu?] (Ryouta)

Even I who was furrowing my eyebrows knew what it was.

A Drop Item, which meant a monster dropped it.

With that logic, this could possibly be…..

[This is the one and only Dungeon Master"s, The Grand Eater"s drop.] (Cell)

[One…….Dungeon Master…..] (Ryouta)

[Usually monsters would drop water, or air, and a third item which is dropped by unique monsters.] (Cell)

[Aah.] (Ryouta)

[Grand Eater is different where it doesn"t drop water and air, but that it only drops this stone. Just by itself, it"s just a regular stone, and there"s no difference with those pebbles you find. However, some researchers have found that it wasn"t just a stone. However….] (Cell)

[Because, it"s still a drop item…..] (Ryouta)

Cell heavily nodded.

[It"s different from the pebbles, when placed at a location where no humans are within its radius, it"ll hatched into a rogue monster. And by itself, the Grand Eater is already a challenging monster. Problem is, once you leave it there alone……] (Cell)

[…..No one else can find it?] (Ryouta)

[Correct, besides it just being a pebble, it"ll turn into a rogue monster once left alone.] (Cell)

Is that why I could feel it.

A drop item which would hatch into a rogue monster. It"s a familiar atmosphere.

For this world"s people, these things are supposed to be avoided, but because it has merits for me, I needed a s.p.a.ce to hatch these rogue monsters, so I had an underground bas.e.m.e.nt beneath my mansion just for that.

I"m sure I"m the first person that had seen a rogue monster being hatched.

Hence why I would know about the existence of this pebble.

[Why would there be something like this laying around?] (Ryouta)

[It"s to kill the dungeon.] (Cell)

[Eh?] (Cell)

[The Grand Eater, there"s another special name that others call it.] (Cell)

[Another name?] (Ryouta)

[Yes, some call it the Dungeon Eater. Normally, a Dungeon Master that is in a Dungeon would change the ecosystem of a dungeon, but this would straight up eat the dungeon, and destroy it in the process. Luckily we managed to stop that before it happens by finding it.] (Cell)

[Killing dungeons…..] (Ryouta)

[Since the culprit is using it, so it"s only a speculation, but Shikuro has been making leaps and bounds, and there have been an increase of dungeons. So I"m sure someone out there is doing it on purpose.] (Cell)

[So it kills the dungeon, and the dungeon would be born at a different place…..?] (Ryouta)

Cell nodded.

So there"s something like that….

[But the heavens are on our side. Fortunately, Satou-sama found it before that happened. The area of human distance for the Grand Eater is wide, so it needs to be at a floor where there is absolutely n.o.body for it to hatch. I think their aim was to place it there, and wait for when a Dungeon Master sp.a.w.ns inside Teruru Dungeon which is a perfect time where no one would be inside which would lead it to hatch.] (Cell)

[I see.] (Ryouta)

[If a Dungeon Master doesn"t appear, then adventurers wouldn"t disappear from the dungeon. I"ll hire people to slowly and carefully search for other Dungeon Debris.] (Cell)

[I see, well then—–] (Ryouta)

For a second, there was a chill from my back.

After the conversation was over, I suddenly felt it.

[What"s wrong, Satou-sama.] (Cell)

[…..This is bad!] (Ryouta)

I clearly understood this chill coming, as I immediately ran out.

Running out from the Dungeon a.s.sociation"s building, I ran pa.s.sed the crowd from within the streets.

Going out of Shikuro, I went to a dungeon.

That dungeon, Nihonium.

Since even water or air doesn"t drop, this dungeon is practically a dead dungeon.

Since there"s no dungeon——it"s easy to hatch rogue monsters.

I used my momentum to run into the dungeon, and I was relieved.

I thought I didn"t make it in time, but I did.

The air around the dungeon changed, it was the feeling I get when a Dungeon Master is around.

However, Skeletons are still there, which is a monster that lives inside Nihonium.

When a Dungeon Master appears, the monsters that inhabits that dungeon would not sp.a.w.n.

So right now, there was a different Dungeon Master inside Nihonium.

I couldn"t make it in time to prevent the rogue monster from hatching, but I"ve made it before it destroys the entire dungeon.

When I look closely, there was a small figure beside me.

It was the half-transparent spirit woman wearing a traditional dress.

Her expression was showing that she was troubled.

[Don"t worry about it, I"ll get rid of it.] (Ryouta)

As I said that, the woman disappeared with a relieved face.

Well then, shall I get on with it.