"Uwah… This is kind of gruesome."
Barubara gulped beside me.
The floor was covered in flesh and blood.
The walls were soaked in blood to the point that it was impossible to estimate how many people had died here.
Even the ceiling was splattered with bloodstains.
Amidst it all, a corpse lay slumped against the wall.
Both arms and legs had been neatly severed, and a gaping hole had been pierced through the abdomen.
Blood dripped from the mouth, and the unfocused eyes stared blankly into space.
It was a familiar face.
Mashina’s corpse.
"Looks like the Behemoth team came down first."
"Then that means Cerberus is here too, right? Weren't they teaming up?"
Barubara and Mero discussed while looking down at Shina’s corpse.
At the same time, both of them glanced at me.
It wasn’t just Barubara and Mero.
Son Narin, Choi Gaho, and even Sora were watching me.
It was as if they were asking me:
What do we do?
"Are you going to revive them?"
In the end, Sora spoke on behalf of the party.
Behemoth, a team in direct competition with us.
But were we really fighting them in a fierce, bloody rivalry? Not exactly. It was more like a friendly competition where everyone respected each other and played for fun.
So, keeping them alive wouldn’t be a bad thing.
It could even help with image management, showing the composure of a victor.
Of course, if I revived Shina and then ended up losing because of it, I’d get a flood of hate from the viewers. But that wouldn’t happen.
For that reason, someone else might have chosen to revive Shina.
"If necessary, I will revive Shina, but not right now."
"Why not?"
"There’s a limit to how many times I can use my skill."
I explained.
Before coming here, I had spent some extra gold to level up my skill.
Now, I could revive others up to seven times a day without restrictions.
Seven times.
That wasn’t a lot.
"I need to use it wisely."
Preferably, I wanted to prioritize using it on allies.
Of course, reviving Shina to get information was an option too.
What exactly had happened in this basement?
Why had Shina been killed?
What had killed Shina?
If I revived her, I could get answers to those questions.
'Shina’s corpse is near the entrance of the basement.'
That meant she had likely died right after entering.
It was an obvious logic, but the second person to die would always have more information than the first.
The second victim would have seen how the first one died and would also know how they themselves died.
By that same logic, the third victim would have even more information than the second.
And the fourth would know more than the third.
"So if we’re going to revive someone, it should be the person who died the latest."
"That makes sense…."
Sora nodded.
***
The current party composition was as follows:
《Recovery》 Aurora
《Exploration》 Ayanokouji Sora
《Survival》 Kaga Mero
《Exploration》 Son Narin
《Collection》 Gaho
《Protection》 Barubara Rian
I had contacted Rui as well, but unfortunately, she had replied that she was out.
She did say she would try to join later, but whether she actually would was uncertain.
Kirin, too, had said they were busy preparing for a stream and wouldn’t be coming for now.
They mentioned that if we were really short-handed, they would force themselves to come, but it wasn’t necessary to go that far. We wouldn’t call them unless absolutely needed.
So for now, our party consisted of six members.
"Let’s split into two groups of three."
Naturally, Laura took on the role of leader.
No one objected. Laura had the most experience in Dungeon Seeker.
Since the basement wasn’t the best place to move around in a large group, splitting into two teams, as Laura suggested, seemed like the best option.
Thus, the first group consisted of Narin, Laura, and Gaho.
The second group was Sora, Mero, and Barubara.
'Ugh… I’m separated from Sora…'
Narin felt disappointed.
Getting closer to Sora was one of Narin’s goals.
Not for any particular reason?
Just the other day, they had gone to karaoke together, and they had recorded it.
Her voice must have been recorded too.
She was curious about how her singing sounded.
But asking Sora for the recording outright might lead to some ‘weird misunderstandings.’
It would be best to build up some rapport first.
To raise Sora’s favorability, and then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, casually say, "Oh yeah, we recorded that, right? I wonder how my voice turned out~."
That way, she could get the recording without any misunderstandings…!
So lately, she had been trying to talk to Sora whenever possible.
'Well, it can’t be helped…'
Since both Narin and Sora had the 《Exploration》 role.
Even if they were in the same team, it wouldn’t be efficient.
Feeling slightly disappointed, Narin stepped forward.
"…Is this a prison?"
Narin muttered without thinking.
The basement of the mansion was a prison.
A dark, dimly lit underground facility where even light barely reached.
Rusty iron bars were faintly visible.
The stench of rot.
A mix of blood and the smell of decaying corpses filled the air, and pieces of entrails were scattered around.
"This is surreal… I've only seen this place in 2D before."
Choi Gaho murmured as he followed behind.
"Weren’t there zombie-like creatures roaming around here? They had ridiculously high health bars. Do you remember?"
"Of course, I remember. But technically, they weren’t zombies. They were called ‘The Cursed.’"
"Oh, right. That’s what they were called."
At Laura’s correction, Choi Gaho nodded.
They were reminiscing about the first Labyrinthos series.
"Zombies? The Cursed?"
"Yeah. The head of the household conducted secret experiments on immortality here."
Laura answered in response to Narin’s curious expression.
The Iris Duke.
He had been born as the third son and originally had no claim to the title.
In a family known for its justice, he had been the most greedy and corrupt.
By assassinating both his older brothers, he had seized power and wealth.
But as the saying goes, human greed knows no bounds.
Even after securing his position as head of the family, his ambition remained insatiable.
What he desired next was immortality.
He kidnapped peasants and orphans—people whose disappearance wouldn't cause any problems—and conducted human experiments.
He dared to break the 'taboo' that should never be touched within the Iris Ducal Family.
And in the end, he planned to use his entire family as sacrifices to attain immortality.
'If things had gone as planned, I would’ve been sacrificed too.'
Laura thought to herself.
Even the son of the third wife had been offered as a sacrifice. That man had no attachment to anyone.
To him, children were nothing more than tools to elevate the family's honor and reinforce his authority.
It was because she had known about his cruel nature and secret schemes that Laura had managed to survive.
"…Wait a moment. I think there's something ahead."
Son Narin, who was walking in the lead, stopped.
As someone with the 《Exploration》 role, Narin had heightened visual and auditory senses, along with various other sensory abilities.
Thanks to that, even in the darkness, she was able to make out a silhouette beyond the shadows.
'Could that be the monster that killed Shina…?'
Feeling a bit tense, Narin quickly hid herself.
Laura and Choi Gaho followed suit, concealing their presence.
After waiting for a moment, a monster silently passed by.
A Parasitic Spider.
'…Huh?'
Narin blinked in confusion.
She hadn’t seen it wrong.
A woman was walking past, her body covered in leech-like creatures burrowing into her flesh, with dark, thread-like veins spread across her skin like spiderwebs.
Anyone playing Dungeon Seeker would recognize it.
Laura had discovered an unusual farming method involving this monster, which had allowed her to amass a ridiculous amount of gold. Because of that, the Dungeon Seeker developers had nerfed it recently.
It was a monster that no participant in Fantasy League could be unfamiliar with.
But…
"Wait, wasn’t that monster supposed to appear in 'The Witch’s Nest'?"
"That’s right."
"Then why is it here…?"
"Isn’t it obvious?"
Laura looked at her as if she was stating the most self-evident fact.
"It means the Witch has come here."
From then on, more monsters familiar to Narin appeared.
The Innocent Girl, whose body was preserved using deadly poison.
The Chimera, a grotesque fusion of human and beast.
The Living Doll, where a human soul had been sealed inside a puppet.
'They’re all monsters from The Witch’s Nest….'
Of course, there were also creatures she hadn’t seen before.
Zombie-like beings dragging around massive tumors.
Monsters dressed as maids or butlers.
They were likely the ‘sacrifices for immortality’ that Laura had mentioned—humans who had been cursed after being used in the Duke’s forbidden rituals.
This dungeon contained both ‘The Witch’s Experiments’ and ‘The Cursed Ones.’
Perhaps because of that—
There were too many monsters.
Way too many.
"It can’t be helped."
Due to the nature of the underground prison, the map was extremely simple.
Which meant there weren’t many places to take cover or hide.
Some iron-barred doors were open, but what good would it do to hide inside? If a monster passed by, it would see them anyway.
The deeper they went, the denser the monster population became.
Turning back wasn’t an option anymore either. Whether they moved forward or retreated, they were surrounded by monsters on all sides.
"This calls for Shina."
In the end, Laura had no choice but to use her trump card.
【System: <Resurrection> Uses Remaining: 7 → 6】
Laura used her resurrection skill.
On Mashina.
She had anticipated this situation, which was why she had taken Mashina’s severed wrist with her.
The method was simple.
Cast <Resurrection> on Mashina’s wrist.
As soon as the skill activated, throw it into the middle of the monsters.
Mashina revived.
A perfect aggro-tanking Mashina.
"Huh? What the—?! Why am I here?! Ack?! AAAAHHH?!"
The surrounding monsters immediately swarmed and started beating her up.
"Why the hell am I surrounded by monsters the moment I come back to life?! HEY! AURORA!! I SAW YOU PASSING BY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?! AAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAAHHH! AURORAAAA! AURORAAAAA!!!"
Shina, having spotted Laura sneaking away, desperately screamed Aurora’s name.
She must have really liked Laura to be calling out to her like that.
This was pure, undying love. Pure love, indeed.
May that love remain unchanged in the next life as well.
***
Shina’s tearful sacrifice and unwavering love.
The power of love was truly great, and paradise awaited those who fled.
"There’s a secret passage here!"
Son Narin, with her 《Exploration》 role, had discovered a secret passage.
Beyond it lay a safe zone.
And inside—
"I-I’m not leaving this place…! Anna is going to live here forever!"
Huddled in a corner, hugging her knees, was Anna, trembling violently.
She looked just like Takeshi from Akaoni.