The Monsters Go Berserk Again

In the early morning, sunlight fell between the shadows of Orario's towering structures, and the labyrinth city was as bustling as ever. Adventurers moved through the streets, some in groups of three or five, others alone, each walking toward a goal of their own.

Wearing a pair of utterly unremarkable boots, I blended into the crowd. Keeping a low profile, being ordinary, fitting seamlessly into my surroundings—this was everyday life for a background character, and it happened to be my goal as well.

As I passed the Guild, I heard a group of adventurers talking around the bulletin board.

"Have you heard? Something happened on the twelfth floor again recently."

"Those monsters are getting more and more violent. Even the upper floors are starting to be affected, aren't they?"

"Yeah. A party got trapped on the twelfth floor yesterday. If people from the Loki Familia hadn't helped, they probably would've all been wiped out."

People in the crowd murmured among themselves.

The strange activity on the twelfth floor... It sounded like an ordinary problem. To others, it might be a sign of danger, but to me, it was just another piece on the board to observe.

Although I wanted to walk straight past, my intuition told me these events were probably connected to the crystals I'd found in the Dungeon before. Besides, only by looking into them could I become more familiar with the darker side of this world.

But I have to be careful not to overstep, I warned myself. My actions had to be precise but inconspicuous; my observations had to be thorough without arousing suspicion.

I made my way over to the bulletin board and pretended to glance casually at the quest notices, then picked out the most ordinary quest form and slipped it into my pocket.

Hmph, ordinary quests are standard fare for ordinary adventurers. I nodded to myself.

The tavern was as lively as ever. It was a gathering place for information, and a place where ordinary people came to pass the time.

I sat in a corner, sipping cheap fruit wine while paying attention to the conversations around me.

"Have you heard? Someone got into trouble on the twelfth floor again today."

"What's going on with those monsters? Even ordinary slimes have been going berserk lately."

"I heard someone spotted a strange crystal. That has something to do with the changes deep in the Dungeon, right?"

I listened quietly, my gaze passing over the speakers, but my expression remained calm, making me look as though I didn't particularly care.

Although what they said matched my earlier speculation, I still had no intention of acting. After all, an ordinary adventurer should keep his distance at a time like this, not rush in. It wasn't time for me to take the stage yet.

However, just as I was drinking at my leisure, the tavern doors were flung open.

A breathless adventurer ran inside and shouted, "This is bad! Someone's surrounded by monsters on the twelfth floor! Those things... they're completely abnormal!"

The tavern fell silent in an instant, and the adventurers all turned to look at the newcomer.

"The twelfth floor? What happened?"

"Is that person still alive?"

"Sounds like serious trouble."

The atmosphere in the tavern immediately grew tense. Several adventurers put down their drinks and stood up, apparently intending to set out and rescue the person. I, meanwhile, sat calmly in the corner, observing their reactions.

Hmph, this is when the 'protagonists' make their entrance, I chuckled inwardly. In situations like this, some passionate adventurers would usually step forward, while I only needed to watch quietly.

But that wasn't the end of it.

"The one who needs saving is... that white-haired boy from the Hestia Familia!" someone suddenly shouted.

The Hestia Familia? A white-haired boy?

Those keywords immediately brought one person to mind—Bell Cranel. The adventurer who always drew attention, yet worked hard to pursue his dream.

"So it's him..." I murmured. Although my intuition told me this had nothing to do with me, subconsciously, I kept feeling that I should go take a look.

So I silently stood up and quietly left the tavern behind the adventurers who intended to mount a rescue.

By the time I reached the twelfth floor, the passage was filled with the smell of scorching, as if something had been burned by a fierce fire not long ago. Scorch marks that had yet to cool completely were scattered across the rubble on the ground, and several deep claw marks had even been left on the walls.

"The situation is worse than I thought," I murmured, scanning the dim passage.

To avoid attracting attention, I kept my footsteps carefully controlled, avoiding the rubble and debris on the ground. I wasn't in a hurry to advance, focusing instead on picking up any unusual movement around me.

Before long, hurried footsteps and the roars of monsters came from the distance. Firelight flickered in the depths of the labyrinth like some kind of ominous omen.

I slipped into the shadows of the passage and approached the source of the sounds. When I peeked out, my gaze settled on the center of the battlefield—Bell Cranel and his temporary teammates were locked in fierce combat with a gigantic monster.

It was a dragon-man monster with black wings. Its appearance was imposing: it stood a full three meters tall, and the black scales covering its body gleamed like metal in the firelight. When spread, its wings almost blocked the entire passage, and its claws and tail were even more chilling to behold.

More striking still were the flames it spewed from its mouth—intense orange-red fire that came with a fierce wave of heat each time it erupted, burning blackened cracks directly into the ground.

"Bell, cover me!" a man in armor roared. He was the party's shield, and he was barely holding back the dragon-man's torrent of fire with the massive shield in his hands.

"Got it!" Bell shouted, pushing off and quickly approaching the monster from the flank. Crimson flames sprang up around the shortsword in his hand as he aimed it straight at the monster's abdomen.

"Firebolt!" With a roar, his shortsword became a streak of fire, stabbing fiercely toward a vital point on the dragon-man.

However, the monster's reactions were astonishingly fast. Just as Bell's attack was about to land, it beat its wings, rapidly retreating and easily dodging the blow. Immediately afterward, it opened its gaping maw, and a ball of searing fire shot straight at Bell.

"Ugh!" Caught off guard, Bell could only roll aside in a hurry, but the flames still grazed his shoulder, leaving a scorched mark.

"Bell!" a teammate cried out from a distance, but there was no time to hesitate, because the dragon-man had already turned and locked onto its next target.

This thing... is smarter than an ordinary dragon-type monster. I silently observed the battle, noticing that the dragon-man wasn't attacking blindly. It remained vigilant at all times, avoiding almost every lethal attack.

It seemed to be playing with its prey.

Tch... What a hassle. Leaning in the shadows, I couldn't help making that judgment to myself.

Bell's party wasn't large, but each member had a role, and they could just barely keep the dragon-man occupied. However, I knew full well that it wouldn't be easy for them to deal with this creature on their own.

But... so what?

"They look like they can hold on for a while longer... Besides, this kind of trouble has nothing to do with me." I shook my head slightly, turned around, and quietly left the battlefield.

After passing through several winding passages, I prepared to leave the twelfth floor as soon as possible, but I hadn't gone far when a strange fluctuation suddenly entered my range of perception.

"This presence..." I stopped and looked ahead warily.

Before me stood a monster extremely similar to the dragon-man from before.

Unlike the previous one, however, this monster's scales were a vivid red, a scarlet light burned in its eyes, and the flames it spewed were an eerie blue.

"Blue flames?" I frowned, watching the dark blue fire burn on the ground. Although I hadn't touched the flames, the surrounding air had already become piercingly cold.

The cold and the flames should have been incompatible, yet they were strangely combined, making the atmosphere throughout the area even more eerie.

"This thing... is connected to that black dragon-man over there, isn't it?" I said quietly.

The red dragon-man had clearly noticed me. It stared at me, spread its wings with a low growl, then spewed a ball of blue fire straight toward me.

"Oh?" I tilted my head slightly and pushed off the ground, quickly dodging the lethal blow.

The flames exploded against the ground, and the surrounding temperature plummeted in an instant. Even though I hadn't been hit directly, I could still feel the piercing chill.

"This is rather troublesome..." I raised my hand, and the shadow beneath my feet rapidly expanded, swallowing up all the light around the passage.

"But since you came to me of your own accord, I might as well deal with you."

The red dragon-man roared and lunged at me with incredible speed, its sharp claws slicing through the air straight toward my face.

"Too slow," I said softly. The shadow in my right hand condensed into a pitch-black dagger, which I stabbed precisely toward its heart.

"Squelch!" The instant the dagger pierced its flesh, the red dragon-man's body shuddered violently. It let out a piercing shriek, struggling as if unwilling to accept its fate and trying to make one final counterattack.

However, my shadow had already locked all four of its limbs in place, and its struggles were futile.

"It's over." As I pulled out the dagger, the red dragon-man's body crashed to the ground and gradually crumbled into a pile of dust.

The instant it vanished completely, a crystal stone flashing with intertwined red and blue light dropped from the ashes.

"What is this?" I picked up the crystal stone and examined its patterns closely. The fluctuations it emitted were very similar to those of the crystal I had found on the fifteenth floor before, but its energy was far more chaotic.

"Just as I thought, there's something wrong behind all this." I gripped the crystal stone tightly and tucked it away inside my clothes.