"Where is this...?"
Staring at the sprawling, vibrant primeval forest before him, Allen stood frozen. He reflexively spun around, looking for the Dark Portal he had just stepped through.
But the moment he turned, the massive gateway, shimmering with the sickly green light of Fel energy, vanished without a trace. Had his surroundings not completely changed, and had his clothes not reeked of the distinct brine of seawater, he might have believed he was hallucinating.
Compared to his previous transition where he had fallen unconscious, his mind was perfectly clear this time. Most notably, at the moment the Dark Portal manifested, Allen had felt a faint, ethereal connection, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
Just as he was about to find a spot to sit, rest, and deduce the prerequisites for summoning the portal, he noticed a dense swarm of massive green worms surging toward him from all directions.
"Where did these things come from?"
A look of surprise crossed Allen's face. He immediately summoned his pets and drew his bow, preparing for combat.
As the oversized insects entered attack range, his three silver wolves didn't hesitate. They lunged forward, using their abilities to tear into the enemy with feral intensity.
Lupos II was particularly aggressive, manifesting a colossal Susanoo to lay waste to the swarm. The others were not to be outdone; the newly matured Lupos III used Bansho Ten'in to pull hundreds of worms into a single point, while the original Lupos controlled Shadow Chakra clones to charge in and detonate themselves.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amidst the deafening roars and explosions, the worms shattered, dissolving into a fine, invisible crystalline powder that dissipated into the air. Furthermore, they left behind a large number of multicolored crystals upon death.
Acting on instinct, Allen leaned down to pick one up. Sensing the peculiar energy contained within, he smiled. "Alright, I know where I am now."
Among all the anime and manga he had seen, only one world matched these circumstances perfectly: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Danmachi). Given the environment, he estimated he was likely around the 50th floor of the Dungeon.
According to the lore, this was a world where gods, bored to tears, sealed their divine powers to descend to the lower world. There, they lived, worked, and even fell in love with mortals. Most deities resided in the Labyrinth City, Orario, where they established Familias and bestowed the "seed" of power upon mortals.
These empowered individuals, known as adventurers, fought monsters within the Dungeon to increase their basic attributes and awaken powerful skills and magic. Put simply, it was a real-life RPG world.
The Dungeon continuously spawned monsters, and killing them yielded various materials and Magic Stones. The latter served as an inexhaustible energy source in this world, used to power lamps, elevators, and other conveniences. Crucially, the gods here were not distant; they lived like ordinary people, forced to cooperate and trade with mortals to meet their daily needs. Otherwise, even a god could end up as a beggar on the street.
The only real difference was the gameplay: the gods played a management-sim and gacha-raising game, while mortals played an action-adventure RPG. Though most adventurers addressed their patron deity as "Lord God" or "Goddess," their relationship was less like a strict hierarchy and more like a mutually beneficial partnership.
Because of this, Allen didn't feel any aversion toward these deities; in fact, he found them rather interesting.
Once he had a grasp of the situation, he swept up the Magic Stones from the ground. Before the Dungeon could spawn more monsters, he retreated from the danger zone and began looking for a path to the upper floors.
Since the 50th floor was beyond the reach of most adventurers and Familias, there were no signs of human activity along the way, only an endless stream of monsters. These creatures possessed bizarre abilities; if one wasn't careful, they could easily suffer a heavy loss.
Lupos II, for instance, underestimated the enemy and had its Susanoo dissolved by a terrifying acid spray from the giant worms. The corrosion was so severe it exposed the bone on the wolf's back. Fortunately, under the effects of the Mend Pet skill, it was restored to perfect health in no time. From then on, the wolf became more observant, analyzing a monster's abilities before deciding whether to launch a frontal assault or dodge cautiously.
For several days, one man and three wolves wandered through the complex, winding corridors without seeing a single soul. Allen couldn't even determine which floor he was on, or if he was heading deeper or climbing toward the surface.
No landmarks. No map. And he certainly didn't know the way.
Fortunately, Allen was in the habit of stocking his backpack and bank with plenty of Smoked Herb Dumplings, Roasted Quail, and Runn Tum Tuber foods, along with beverages to restore mana. He didn't have to worry about hunger or thirst. While his current life-tier meant he could survive quite a while without sustenance, long-standing habits were hard to break. Besides, eating was a supreme pleasure he wouldn't abandon lightly.
Another week passed. When Allen noticed the spawned monsters becoming significantly weaker and the dropped Magic Stones shrinking in size, he realized he had reached the middle-to-upper floors.
Before he could decide which of the seven or eight branching paths to take, a faint, shrill scream echoed from the end of one corridor.
"People?!"
Allen, who hadn't seen a living person in nearly half a month, felt his eyes light up. He patted the original Lupos's head and commanded, "Go! Find the source of that sound. If someone's in trouble, give them a hand."
Awooo!
Lupos gave a slight nod and bolted forward like an arrow. With senses far exceeding human hearing and smell, it quickly located the target within the labyrinthine Dungeon.
In a particularly dimly lit area, several armed individuals stood before a massive skeletal figure, their faces masks of shock and despair.
"H-how... how can this be?! Wasn't Udaeus just taken down by the Loki Familia? How did it respawn so quickly?" The voice of a man, seemingly in his thirties, trembled slightly.
"Idiot! The Dungeon is alive! It's over... it's really over this time! We're all going to die because of you!" a woman complained, her voice equally shaky.
Clearly, this party lacked the strength to defeat a Floor Boss. they had simply hoped to exploit the cooldown to explore deeper, but they had walked straight into a deathtrap.