Floor 667, Second Path—-
Hayate and Marin landed in a large mangrove swamp, with waterlogged trees, tangled roots, and thick fog.
"Well," Hayate remarked. "This is better than starting in a slaughterhouse, no?"
Marin responded by punching him in the face. "Gah! Marin!"
"Don't Marin me!" she hissed. "I told you the hellhole this place would be, and you didn't listen! What, are our members' lives just fodder to you?"
"Marin..."
"And not only that, we don't know what happened to everyone else! Kaoru, Gakuto, Atsushi, Yuka, Kōichi, Mizuki, and all the other survivors! Hell, we don't even know if Omariro and his group are ok! Why would you gamble like this?"
Hayate stood up, rubbing his jaw. "I'm sorry. It's just with the monster invasion, Mujinsha, Heralds, the whole mess, it's in the best interest of the Kaitansha to get stronger. And this is the fastest, most surefire way to gain the strength we need to defend our home."
"And lives just be damned, huh?" Marin scoffed. "Now we have to clear it, because if we don't, we'll be stuck here."
"We can focus on this chat later. In the meantime, we should figure out the rule and clear this floor. Do you see the UI anywhere—-?"
A gate opened, dropping Isamu face-first onto the ground. "Ow."
Isamu got up, noticing Hayate and Marin, and his eyes widened. "Whoa! My luck has been on fire today! First the Legendary Kaidanchō and now the Director and Vice-Director? Hell yeah! I might just make it out of this shit!"
Marin narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? Who are you?"
Isamu pointed to himself. "Isamu Shidō. Fresh blood from Naraku-Kaidan."
Hayate's eyes widened. "You're Atsushi's missing student! But wait, how long have you been here?"
"Ever since Kagoshima, to be honest. Huntress sent me here. I got a little mouthy."
Both Hayate and Marin stared, confused.
"Surviving in a place like this for months?" Marin questioned. "As a rookie, nonetheless?"
He nodded. "It wasn't easy, trust me. Had to duck and cover my ass every few minutes, but thankfully the monsters aren't all that interested in weaklings like me."
Hayate had a look of hope on his face as he grabbed Marin. "You see, Marin? Not all is lost! If young Isamu here can hold out this long, then surely we can too!"
Marin glared at him. "Get your hands off me."
Isamu looked between the two. "Uh, everything cool, peeps?"
Hayate cleared his throat. "Yes, of course. Stay behind us, Isamu. It's likely to get dangerous."
"Will do, sir!"
Marin huffed, folding her arms as she walked beside Hayate, with Isamu close behind. A UI popped up above their heads.
〈Rule: Do Not Stand.〉
"What?" Isamu blurted out. "Don't tell me they want us to—-!"
A slash flew over their heads, nearly taking all of them off and forcing the trio to the ground. Hayate craned his neck to look back at Marin and Isamu. "It's no joke. We stand, we likely die."
"Then let's hurry," Marin insisted. "If we're doomed anyway, I'd hate to prolong my death."
They began crawling along the ground, following the muddy path before them. Bugs and insects crawled onto their skin, and Isamu nearly succumbed to the temptation of standing to get them off, but Marin tapped him with her foot.
"No, don't."
"But—-!"
"Stay down. That's an order."
"Right. Yes, ma'am."
Hayate continued to lead the way, but three large crocodiles were standing in the way up ahead, their jaws abnormally large and their eyes bursting with dark energy.
"Oh, boy," Hayate muttered.
〈Enemy: Raging Crocodiles. Level: 220,000〉
〈Domain Effect: Mud-Stained Rampage. When touching a *muddy surface* for the first time, all Crocodiles will *double* in size.〉
Sure enough, the three crocodiles grew bigger, towering over the Kaitansha. The first one lunged for Hayate, who quickly rolled out of the way as it bit into the mud.
"Jugen-Mahōshi: Void Capsule!"
A purple capsule formed around the three, briefly repelling the crocodiles and shielding the Kaitansha from their attacks. Marin summoned her fans, waiting for the capsule to drop before throwing them at the beasts.
It carved into their flesh and caught them off guard, but they quickly recovered. One stomped on Hayate's back, pinning him to the ground.
"Jugen-Mahōshi: Kokū no Gaitō!"
Void wings sprouted from Hayate's back, batting the crocodile into the air and sending it flying head-first into a tree. The other two looked at their fallen partner before they both stepped foot into a muddy pond nearby, growing even larger.
"This...could get bad," Hayate admitted.
"Oh, could it now?" Marin mocked. "Like it always does?"
"Marin, please, it's not the time!"
"Whatever. We'll discuss this later."
As the crocodiles approached, wings began to ripple from Marin's body. "Jugen-Tōshi: Otome no Seifū!"
A large gunbai fan appeared in Marin's hand, and just as the animals were about to bite into Hayate, Marin swiped to the left and unleashed a powerful wind current that pushed both of them backwards, allowing Hayate to smack them with his wings.
"Thanks for the assist," Hayate told her.
"I don't want your thanks," Marin replied. "I just don't want to see anyone else die."
Hayate gave a silent nod of acknowledgment as the crocodiles came back for one last round. Isamu worked up the nerve to crawl between Hayate and Marin. "Jugen-Kōbisha: Hippu Hoppu Būmubokkusu!"
The boombox formed on the ground, and Isamu wasted no time getting to mixing as the music kept the crocodiles in place. Both Hayate and Marin watched, blank stares on their faces.
"What on Earth...?" Hayate murmured.
Marin shook her head. "Snap out of it! This is our chance!"
"Right!"
Hayate unleashed a powerful void attack on the first two crocodiles, tearing off their limbs, while Marin delivered a barrage of slashes to the final crocodile, blinding it, and eventually carving deep enough that it collapsed to the ground, lifeless. With all three crocodiles immobile, the muddy lakes erupted and swallowed them whole.
Once the threat was over, both of them turned to Isamu.
"I've never seen an ability quite like that," Hayate admitted. "And Kōbisha? How remarkable."
"Well," Isamu chuckled, nervous. "I'm totally a music man, so, music is my superpower. Literally."
Hayate put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, we're glad to have it."
Marin stuck her head between them. "Ahem. We don't have time to waste, so let's go."
"Ah, yes."
They resumed the path, ducking under vines, navigating through bushes, and dealing with the insects that pecked and prodded at their skin.
The path continued until they reached a large scorpion, which was sleeping right next to the mud path.
〈Enemy: Vengeful Scorpion. Level: 265,000〉
Hayate put a finger to his lips, whispering. "Everyone move in silence. We do NOT wish to wake that thing up."
They nodded in response, slowly shifting from left to right as they treaded the mud path. The scorpion opened one eye, and Hayate quickly formed a void capsule around the trio to shield them from its view.
It looked around, noticing the void capsule and prodding at it for a few seconds before closing its eye and going back to sleep.
Hayate dropped the void capsule and crawled a bit further as the scorpion turned around, its sleeping face facing directly towards them.
"Whoa—!" Isamu exclaimed, before Marin quickly covered his mouth.
She pulled him along, dragging him through the mud and past the scorpion. It stirred in its sleep, one of its legs extending outward and landing near Isamu's head.
Once they had gotten far enough away, they saw a gate waiting for them in the distance. "There it is!"
The scorpion suddenly woke up, and it began chasing after the group, closing the distance almost immediately.
"Shit, shit!" Hayate shouted. "Crawl as fast as you can!"
They all crawled down the path as the scorpion ran above them, matching their pace as it attempted to pierce them with its stinger. Marin threw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding being impaled. She slashed the scorpion's belly, causing a small cut that oozed gray blood.
"Yuck," Marin commented.
The scorpion wound up to attack again as Hayate formed his wings and grabbed the two, dragging them along the mud. "Hold on!"
With a flap, Hayate propelled them several feet away from the scorpion, leaving behind a shockwave that pushed it back.
Regardless, it kept stomping towards them, even managing to nick Isamu in the leg as it advanced. Isamu held in the urge to stand and yelp, with the gate moving closer and closer within striking distance.
The scorpion jumped over them, landing directly in front as its stinger thrashed out, targeting Hayate first, who formed a void capsule around his body and deflected the strike. Marin tried to cut it off with her fans, but she only managed to scrape the skin. Isamu formed another boombox, using the music to keep the scorpion in place while Marin delivered another powerful slash to its tail.
"Almost there!"
Marin formed her fans and threw them both into the scorpion's eyes, stunning it while Hayate created distance between them using his wings, and with one final rush, he burst through the gate just as the scorpion leapt onto them.
〈Level 668 Clearance Granted.〉
And behind them, the gate crumbled and closed.
Floor 10,001—-
Sōshin woke up inside a ruined temple, with scattered pillars and damaged walls everywhere. Through a hole in the roof above, he could see a red sky peering down on him.
"Ooh, what's that?"
A sharp voice answered him. "The Hellsfloor. I take it you've never been before?"
Sōshin whirled around, where he found Neraziria sitting in a chair nearby, legs crossed and arms folded. "Oh! A new friend? Who are you?"
Neraziria slowly stood up. "I'm a dark elf. Have you heard of those before?"
Sōshin shook his head. "Nope!"
Neraziria put her hand to her chest, almost in a mocking gesture. "My, my! I'm hurt. I'm sure your Master has spread rumors of how we're terrible people, no? What if I told you he was a terrible person?"
"Mmm?"
Neraziria dropped to one knee, a tear falling from her face. "All I wanted, all we ever wanted was a home! But alas, 'Omariro Nyugawa' can't even let us half that. For so many years he's opposed us, ravaged our kind, ruined our livelihoods. We're just people. We deserve a chance at life too, don't we?"
"Yeah?" Sōshin replied. "But Master doesn't attack or capture people without a reason! So if he's against you guys, you've done something wrong!"
Neraziria slapped her forehead, rambling to herself. "Why did Lord Kijin leave this to me? Even if the boy is young, his faith clearly won't be shaken so easily..."
Neraziria gently took Sōshin's arm. "Come with me, Sōshin. I have much to show you."
Sōshin followed Neraziria outside the temple, which revealed a land of broken red grass and decayed trees filling his view.
"This is where most of us reside," Neraziria explained. "The Hellsfloor. And those of us that come back to life, we return right back here."
She looked at the ground. "It's so sad. We Mujinsha are tasked with overseeing and ensuring the monsters under our jurisdiction are safe and protected. It's wrong to come into our homes and slaughter us, don't you think?"
Sōshin rubbed his chin. "Hmm! Good point! But you guys are always attacking, and a dungeon even turned me into a computer, hehe! Shouldn't it be fair on both sides?"
Neraziria folded her arms again. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You guys stop fighting and we stop fighting! A fully peaceful friendship bond!"
For a second Neraziria's face dropped, confused, but she quickly recomposed herself. "Hmm. As tempting as that idea sounds, I'm afraid that the likelihood is impossible."
"Why?"
"You'll come to understand, soon enough."
She tugged on his arm. "I'd like you to meet the others. They're waiting for you, just beyond this path."
A large castle-like ruin could be seen from far away, and Neraziria pointed to it.
"No need to worry, Sōshin. They'll all be very happy to see you."
And Sōshin could almost catch a glimpse of lightning crackling from the ruins.
——