## Chapter 40 – Dungeon
We cleared every room, taking out three more mimic stragglers. Once we started smashing anything that looked like a box, it didn’t matter how perfectly they hid. Unfortunately, all they coughed up were some ancient copper coins, ancient trash, and ancient crumbs. Those ancient bastards.
“How did the ancients even build these structures?”
“Probably ground up manpower.”
In my experience, there’s nothing you can’t do if you grind up enough manpower.
There was nothing more to see around here. Having grabbed anything valuable, we immediately moved on to the next area. Multiple forks in the path appeared, and we found several more entrances leading underground. We agreed to explore this level further before heading down another floor.
—Flap flap!
“Giant bats. They live in places like this too?”
“Aren’t they ancient giant bats?”
“Slapping ‘ancient’ in front of everything doesn’t make it better, Barbarian.”
“Damn it.”
The giant bats flew past us overhead. Elise watched them for a moment, then turned back and said,
“Would it be alright if I killed them?”
It seemed she was itching to kill something. Since the giant bats were flying, we had no way to catch them and kill them. Unless Elise used the holy spell Light Bolt. But using such a spell on mere bats would be a huge waste, so I decided to stop her.
“Wouldn’t it be better to follow them for now? They probably nest here, so following them might lead us to something. If nothing comes of it, we can kill them then.”
“Hmm, a reasonable judgment. Very well.”
Even as we endlessly followed the bats, we saw forks in the path, underground entrances, and doors of unknown purpose. It was a complete maze; once you got lost here, you’d be done for.
We stopped to draw maps from time to time, but I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that we might get lost forever and become ghosts wandering the dungeon. Well, if something happened, Elise would probably figure something out. The nuns of the Holy Light Cross Society are very reliable.
“The bats are going that way.”
The giant bats entered a corner to the right. As we approached, a strange breeze blew. It was a room with a high ceiling. Or maybe it wasn’t a room, but just a large passage, as it was too dark to see the overall shape.
The bats seemed to be gathering on the ceiling here. Was this where they nested?
“Oh, there’s a lot of stuff around here.”
“…Slimes.”
Slimes were scattered all over the room. They seemed to be living off the giant bats’ droppings. Elise ignored them and looked up at the ceiling.
“Is there no way? There’s nothing I can do with them hanging so high.”
She said it as if she still had lingering desires for slaughter. I hoped she would be satisfied with the slimes around, but it seemed slimes weren’t a very attractive collectible for Elise.
“Shouldn’t we explore the room further to see if there’s anything besides giant bats and slimes? It seems like a kind of ecosystem has formed, so there might be something to gain.”
“Ah. I agree.”
“I also agree with the Barbarian’s opinion.”
Everyone agreed with me.
“I understand. It seems like a good idea.”
“Shall we go then? Everyone behind me.”
Not knowing what might pop out, Maria took the lead this time, holding up her shield and advancing. Kopson lit the way in the center, Elise guarded the flanks, and I guarded the rear as we moved into the darkness.
This wasn’t a huge room, but a huge passage after all.
“Doesn’t the scenery seem a little familiar? Barbarian.”
“Yeah… it definitely looks like I’ve seen it somewhere before…”
Kopson and Maria said. It was bothering me too. This high-ceilinged space felt somehow familiar. Where had I seen something like this before?
“It looks like a night church.”
“That’s it.”
“That’s the one.”
“That was it.”
It looked exactly like a church chapel. Elise muttered that it felt ominous. The Orcotta Catacombs. As the name suggested, this dungeon was probably a facility for storing remains. So it wouldn’t be strange to have a church inside.
—Swish.
“Water sounds?”
The further we went, the more we heard something like water. Was there an underground stream flowing? Then the bats flapped their wings again and flew off.
—Flap!
“Aaaah! C, crap!”
Kopson screamed in surprise. Then, embarrassed by his scream, he glanced around and smiled awkwardly, as if he thought of himself as something cute, which was unpleasant.
“You coward.”
“…Eesh.”
Were the bats going there to drink water? Anyway, I wanted to check out the water sounds, so I followed the sound.
“What’s that?”
As I approached the sound of water, I noticed something wriggling in the corner of my vision. Monsters? I had Kopson shine his light on them. Whatever it was, if things of that size were moving, it was definitely a monster.
—Scritch scritch.
—Scritch scritch.
Maria stood in front of Kopson, holding up her shield. Kopson raised his lantern high, and I stuck close to Maria’s back, watching ahead. And we faced an amazing sight.
“Seriously creepy.”
“Good heavens. What are all those?”
“Can I close my eyes? Can I?”
—Squirm.
They were large larvae, the size of elementary school children. It was hard to see children back home due to the low birth rate, but these were real larvae the size of those children. The sight made me feel like a small larva had fallen on my neck, and I got goosebumps all over my body. It was the same for everyone except Elise.
—Wiggle wiggle.
Pulsating flesh, wriggling wrinkles. A hideous maw spewing fluids… and above all, six eyes. The hideous, disgusting things were swarming and crawling. Their movements weren’t very fast, but that made them even more disgusting.
“…Disgusting worm things. Those are cursed, evil larvae called [Tooth Grubs]. It would be wise to quickly eradicate them and cut them off from the world.”
Touch those? I didn’t know much, but I didn’t think I could find anything valuable in the corpses of larvae. It would be better to just ignore them and go around… But Elise’s eyes were already burning with a desire similar to fighting spirit.
“Are they dangerous monsters?”
“Each individual isn’t much, but a swarm could be a little dangerous. Getting bitten by those jaws would cause a big wound.”
“I don’t really want to touch them…”
“But we have to get past them to check the water sounds.”
That was true. We didn’t know how much longer we’d be inside, so if we found an underground stream, we had to check it out first.
“Then we have no choice but to kill them? Water is important.”
“But there are too many. How do we kill them all?”
While we were plotting to kill them, one of the creatures, which had been gesturing as if gnawing on something on the floor, looked up at us.
—Kyung?
…Did we make eye contact? If insects had that kind of perception, that would be the right way to put it. The creature tilted its head with an uncharacteristic cute gesture ☆. With that hideous, disgusting larva body. I got goosebumps all over again.
After staring at us for a few more seconds, it suddenly opened its maw wide and made a noise.
—Kieee!
—Kieee!
As if that cry was a signal, dozens of Tooth Grubs rushed at us. We were horrified and screamed at the rainbow-like sight of those huge worms swarming towards us!
Crazy! Shit!
“W, we’re screwed! Where’s CESCO!!”
“U, ugh! Barbarian! Barbarian!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!”
It was Elise who bravely stepped forward in front of us!!!
“You evil larvae!!! Return to where you belong!!!”
—Thwack!
—Kweek!
She didn’t seem afraid of the larvae, even with her small stature, and kicked the Tooth Grubs like soccer balls. The grubs hit by her combat boots exploded like bombs with an unpleasant sound of bursting flesh.
Damn it. I couldn’t just let Elise fight alone. We soon pushed through the two and joined in.
“Die!”
I also recalled my soccer memories and unleashed a soccer kick applying taekwondo footwork (I’m a 3rd-degree black belt in taekwondo). The tip of my foot pierced the Tooth Grub’s forehead. Sticky fluid splattered. When I pulled my foot out, my boot was covered in blood clots and brains. Damn it!
“K, kyaat!”
Making a cute sound for the first time, Maria jumped and knocked away the creatures attacking with her shield. Then she stabbed them one by one with her sword. As expected of someone who had learned, her movements were clean. Block, stab. I’d have to watch and imitate her when I got a shield someday.
“Hiyah! Whoosh! Hiyah!”
Kopson also seemed to hate bugs, using all sorts of mysterious evasion techniques and stabbing the creatures in the back with his sword, accompanied by strange shouts. I didn’t know that guy had a dancer’s talent.
“Unpleasant… sticky… fluid is splattering. That’s why I hate bugs.”
“I feel like I’m going crazy right now.”
Elise kicked the Tooth Grubs with her feet, bursting them, while also swinging her morning star at the ones that jumped at her. I stood back-to-back with her, continuously dealing damage with my invincible taekwondo kicks and sword slashes.
After slaughtering about 20 of them, the creatures seemed to realize something was wrong with their small heads and began to scurry away into the darkness. It was our victory. A victory without loot. Covered in unpleasant fluids, we didn’t bother chasing them.
“Ugh… sticky…”
“Damn it! It’s all over my clothes! What’s this… b, bug legs?! Eek!”
Maria was on the verge of tears, and Kopson was freaking out. As for me, I was both. I was freaking out while foaming at the mouth.
“Perhaps monsters are gathering around the waterway… Let’s move on for now. But first.”
Elise said, coolly shaking off the chunks of flesh that had landed on her shoulders. Good. If there was water flowing, I had to go wash it off. The others seemed to realize that too, and hurriedly stuck close to Elise’s back.
First, Elise collected the jaws and small claws of the Tooth Grubs that had splattered everywhere. She seemed to be wondering what exactly she had killed.
While waiting for Elise, we noticed something strange again.
“This is…”
“A corpse.”
It was a human corpse, half-turned to bone. It seemed the Tooth Grubs had gathered to tear it apart. Judging by the flesh remaining on the corpse, it didn’t seem to have been dead for that long.
