“Orpheus…”
I’ve heard of it. It’s not just a deep Dungeon, but a special place where various ruins are generated.
“That place should be around the 300th Stratum. Well, it seems like only about 100 Stratum have been cleared, though.”
The president picked up some edamame and grabbed the extra beer he ordered.
“There are so many things we don’t know about Deep Dungeons. Even in the ‘Red Dungeon,’ Seekers have only reached the 82nd Stratum. Beyond that, there are powerful Monsters of the Dragonkind.”
“Dragonkind, huh… I’ve heard they’re in the Deep Dungeons.”
“Well, yeah. It’s said that Dragonkind are always in Dungeons beyond the 100th Stratum, but it doesn’t concern us since we don’t go that far.”
The president tilted his glass and poured the beer down his throat. He exhaled with satisfaction, his face turning red.
“Besides Orpheus, what other famous Dungeons are there?”
“Famous Dungeons? Let me see…”
When Yuma asked, the president ate edamame while trying to recall.
“There’s the yellow Dungeon ‘FD2’ in America, the green Dungeon ‘Odin’ in Germany, the red Dungeon ‘Svarog’ in Russia, and the blue Dungeon ‘Tlaloc’ in Chile. Those are the famous ones… They all exceed the 200th Stratum.”
Yuma thought about how many Dungeons there were as he reached for the Karaage that had been brought over.
“Speaking of which—”
Tanaka, who was still picking at the hot pot, raised his voice.
“There’s also one in Antarctica, right? The Ice Dungeon. It’s said to be a type of Blue Dungeon, but I heard it’s hard to progress because it’s too cold.”
“Ah, that’s right! That’s also a Deep Dungeon.”
“I think it was around the 190th Stratum.”
“Is it a rare Dungeon?”
Yuma leaned forward, intrigued by the Dungeon he was hearing about for the first time.
“Well, yeah, it’s the only one found in Antarctica, and the ‘Labyrinth Mirage’ doesn’t occur there. It’s said to be covered in ice as far as the eye can see.”
“Wow, there are some strange Dungeons in the world.”
As Yuma was impressed, Tanaka happily started talking, “There are so many more!” It seemed he liked these kinds of stories.
“There are Dungeons where the entire Stratum is covered in lava, or the inside is intricately maze-like, or even Dungeons that show female illusions to Seekers. It’s interesting, isn’t it?”
The president, slightly drunk, laughed heartily as Tanaka spoke with delight, saying, “Come to think of it, there was something like that.”
“But if you’re talking about the rarest, it would have to be that one.”
“What is it?”
When Yuma asked with interest, Tanaka chuckled.
“The Elevator Dungeon.”
“E-Elevator Dungeon?”
Yuma was confused by the unfamiliar name.
“Well, this is just a rumor, so I don’t know if it really exists, but it’s said to have been discovered in England.”
“What kind of Dungeon is it?”
“A Seeker found a small cave in the forest. There were Monsters inside, and he immediately knew it was a Dungeon, but that Dungeon was different from the usual ones.”
“Different?”
“Normally, there’s an entrance inside the cave that leads to the lower Stratum, right? But that Dungeon didn’t have one. Once you defeated the Monsters, there was nothing left. Then you start to wonder if it’s really a Dungeon.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess so…”
Yuma felt a chill run down his spine.
“The Seeker was wondering about it when Monsters appeared again the next day. If they revived in one day, it was definitely a Dungeon. The Seeker decided to defeat all the Monsters and observe the situation.”
While the president and Maika were enjoying the food, Yuma couldn’t take his ears off Tanaka’s story.
“Monsters appeared again the next day, and the day after that. As the days went by, the Seeker felt that the Monsters were getting stronger. After doing that for eighteen days, a very strong Monster suddenly appeared. A Monster as big as a grizzly bear with ferocious fangs. The Seeker thought he couldn’t win alone, so he brought his companions to fight.”
“A-And then what happened?”
Yuma asked, leaning forward.
“They managed to defeat the Monster. But what’s really strange is what happened next. The next day, the Dungeon had disappeared!”
“Disappeared!?”
“Yes, there’s only one reason why a Dungeon disappears. It disappears only when you defeat the Monster on the lowest Stratum. That’s the characteristic of a Dungeon.”
Yuma shuddered. That was exactly like the ‘Tiny Dungeon’ that appeared in his backyard.
Was that an Elevator Dungeon!?
“In other words, it was thought that this Dungeon was raising one Stratum each time the Monsters on the Stratum were defeated. The Dungeon had eighteen Stratum, and by defeating the Monster on the last Stratum, the Dungeon disappeared.”
Yuma fell silent. If that story was true, he had made a terrible misunderstanding.
“Hahaha, that’s a nostalgic tall tale. It’s a rumor circulating among Seekers!”
The president, who was starting to get drunk, laughed it off. Tanaka also laughed, saying, “Yeah, yeah, it’s just a rumor,” but Yuma couldn’t ignore it.