Episode 107: Green Dungeon
Onojo City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The 63rd floor of the “Green Dungeon” located in Onojo General Park.
A place teeming with trees, the chirping of birds, and the rustling of insects.
Though bright light poured down from the sky, the dense broad-leaved trees blocked the sunlight, and the area was perpetually dim.
“A swarm of Meisa Needles, huh?”
Yoshioka, a Seeker from the Fukuoka Headquarters, lowered his posture and looked up at the sky.
Weaving through the trees were insectoid monsters resembling hornets. About the size of a medium-sized dog, they flew around in a swarm of hundreds.
Yoshioka grimaced at their sheer number.
Behind him, five members of his Seeker Clan, “Exterminator,” crouched low, surveying the surroundings just as he was.
All of them wore combat suits from DeNA Elceed Corporation and helmets.
Yoshioka turned and nodded, and the woman closest to him nodded back and raised her hand.
The Seeker Clan members immediately dispersed and took their designated positions.
The swarm of Meisa Needles, circling high trees, returned and passed over Yoshioka and his team once more.
“Now!”
At Yoshioka’s command, the Seekers stood up simultaneously and readied their weapons.
Yoshioka wielded the Magic Enchanted Armament, “Wind Swift Katana – Mark II.” What he unleashed was a Wind Blade.
The other Seekers also imbued their katana-shaped Magic Enchanted Armaments with Wind Magical Power and swung them down in unison.
The countless Wind Blades intersected in the sky, creating a complex vortex of air.
The swarm of Meisa Needles plunged into it. With a series of popping sounds, small Wind Blades scattered in all directions.
The Wind Blades tore through the monsters’ legs, wings, and bodies, causing them to fall to the ground one after another.
The insects shrieked in high-pitched voices, writhing in agony.
However, not all of the Meisa Needles were killed, and the remaining swarm of several dozen broke through the forest.
“Hey! They went that way!”
Yoshioka shouted. Beyond the rows of trees, on a small hill in an open area, stood a lone man.
The man drew his Katana from its scabbard, holding it without any particular stance, the tip dangling low.
As the “Red Magic Gem” at the base of the blade glowed eerily, flames flickered to life along the edge.
As the Meisa Needles approached at high speed, Amasawa Rui raised his weapon, the “Flame Heat Katana – Mark III,” above his head.
The moment the monsters aimed their poisonous stingers, the Flame Katana flashed.
As the sword’s arc danced through the void, more than a dozen Meisa Needles were sliced in half. Igniting from their wounds, they burst into flames and vanished into ash.
From beyond the sparks and smoke scattered in the air, the surviving monsters reformed their ranks and charged.
Without panicking, Rui readied his sword, intensifying the flames on the blade.
The slashes drew fiery trails as they flowed, cutting down the rapidly approaching Meisa Needles one after another, turning them to ash.
In the blink of an eye, Rui had engulfed over thirty monsters in a vortex of flames.
“Haa…” Rui exhaled, sheathing his Katana. From a distance, he heard Yoshioka’s voice calling, “Hey!”
Yoshioka and the Exterminator Seekers emerged from the forest thicket, rushing towards him.
“As expected of you, Rui! More than I thought went over there. I was worried… but it seems I didn’t need to be.”
“No, it’s thanks to Yoshioka-san and the others for taking down the majority of the enemies.”
“It helps to hear you say that. Let’s take a short break.”
“Yes.”
Behind Yoshioka and Rui, the Exterminator members found something on the ground and picked it up.
“Captain! It’s a Magic Gem, ‘Jadeite’ (翡翠). About 1.5 carats.”
“Oh, is that so!”
Yoshioka accepted the Magic Gem from his subordinate and handed it to a team member carrying a large backpack.
The team member took out a special case from the backpack and carefully stored the Magic Gem. Rui and the others were about to head to the hilltop with a good view to take a break.
But at that moment, the sound of an engine came from deep within the forest.
Yoshioka frowned. The only vehicles allowed in the Dungeon were motorcycles. Even then, they were prohibited unless there was an extreme emergency due to the danger.
“That’s… an Elceed Corporation off-road bike!?”
As Yoshioka had guessed, what emerged from the forest was a special motorcycle modified for Dungeon travel.
It sped towards them, its rear arm moving up and down.
The rider braked just in front of Rui and the others, took off his full-face helmet, and dismounted.
“Oh, Sasaki. What’s wrong?”
The newcomer was a Seeker from the Fukuoka Branch and Yoshioka’s subordinate.
“Yoshioka-san, there’s an urgent email from Headquarters.”
Sasaki handed over the tablet he had brought. Communication devices were almost unusable inside the Dungeon due to the influence of “Mana.”
In case of an emergency, the only way to deliver a message was by a method similar to a motorcycle courier.
Yoshioka immediately checked the contents. He scrolled through the tablet in silence for a while, and after finishing reading, he looked at Rui.
“Rui, it seems you’ve been requested by Headquarters.”
“Me?”
“There seems to be a problem in the ‘Red Dungeon’ in Ibaraki. Tennoji, who was in Hokkaido, has also been summoned.”
“Even Tennoji-san… it must be quite serious.”
Yoshioka showed the tablet to Rui, allowing him to confirm the details.
“I wanted to advance to a lower floor, but I can’t disobey Headquarters’ orders. Let’s leave immediately.”
“Understood. But, will I be of any use in Ibaraki?”
Rui’s “Fire Magical Power” was not compatible with the monsters in the “Red Dungeon.”
He was worried about that, but—
“Don’t worry. You’ve raised your Mana Index to over 2400 in this short period. That’s a faster growth rate than Tennoji. You can be more confident!”
“Thank you… but the monsters in the Red Dungeon are different from the monsters in the Green Dungeon, so I might not be able to fight well.”
“Well, it’s true that ‘Fire Magical Power’ is completely ineffective against monsters with stronger ‘Fire Magical Power.’ But you should be able to incinerate weaker enemies without any problems. You’ve been called in as support, so you can leave the strong opponents to Tennoji.”
“That’s true… I understand.”
Yoshioka patted Rui on the back, who smiled brightly, and instructed the Seeker Clan members to withdraw. Rui was about to prepare, but his eyes fell on Sasaki, who was trying to dismantle the motorcycle he had ridden.
“Yoshioka-san. If it’s urgent, wouldn’t it be faster to use the motorcycle? I do have a license, just in case.”
“Hmm? No, no! Motorcycles are too dangerous to use normally. Permission is only granted to contact us in emergencies like this.”
When Yoshioka said that, Sasaki, who was working with a wrench in his hand, gave a wry smile.
“Seriously, it was tough getting here! Monsters were jumping out at me while I was riding, it was so dangerous. At least let me walk on the way back.”
Hearing Sasaki’s grumbling, Yoshioka patted Rui on the shoulder, saying, “Well, that’s how it is.”
Then, he looked at the Seeker Clan members lined up in front of him, straightened his back, and opened his mouth.
“We’re heading for the Dungeon exit now. We need to send Rui to Ibaraki by Friday, the day after tomorrow! To do that, we need to leave the Dungeon by noon tomorrow. Of course, we’ll send Rui off safely without a single scratch. You understand, right, you guys!”
“Yes, sir!”
Each of them shouldered the backpacks they had left in the shade of the trees, and they set off towards the Dungeon exit to send Rui to the surface.