Chapter 2 – First Encounter

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The flickering light of torches surrounded me. The only option to choose was forward through a straight corridor.

Impossible. Just moments ago I was in a residential district, and now this? What the hell’s going on here?

I surveyed my surroundings, trying to grasp this completely incomprehensible situation. Somehow it looked like the area behind me had turned into a dead end. So, how did I get here in the first place then?

“…Guess I have no choice but to go forward.”

The corridor was dim, making it hard for me to see the ground at my feet. But, after activating my smartphone’s lamp, I finally became able to see well. I stroked the rugged wall so as to make sure that it was real.

“Haha…what a load of nonsense.”

I slapped my cheek several times, confirming that it actually hurt. This place clearly appealed to me that it wasn’t a dream by assaulting all my senses at once. I had no choice but to accept this as reality.

I came to this place when I launched the game called 『Dungeon Seekers』. So that game must be the reason behind it all. Maybe there’s some sort of clue inside the game?

Operating my smartphone while leaving the lamp on, I opened 『Dungeon Seekers』. I immediately spotted a pop-up window showing some info on the game screen.

『Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City – 48th Labyrinth – In Raid』

“…Does that mean it’s a dungeon…for real?”

48th Labyrinth. When I tried to get some more information by tapping that entry━━━━

Suddenly I heard the footsteps of something slowly coming closer.

“……Is anyone over there!? Please answer me if you can hear me!”

I thought the footsteps I could hear from further down the corridor might stem from another person who was lost here like me. And although I called out to the source of those footsteps, they sounded somewhat light…as if someone was walking barefoot with a pitter-patter.

I pointed my smartphone’s lamp ahead. And what I found there while straining my eyes was…

“Kukiki, gakyakyakyaykakikya.”

…a small, blood-smeared club, green skin, glowing, crimson eyes glaring my way, and a small figure that didn’t even reach up to my waist.

You could rightfully describe the thing over there as standard trash mob inside games ━━ a creature similar to a goblin.

And as I was standing around dumbstruck, that thing raised its club and charged at me━━━━!

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeehhh!?!?!?!?!”

I ran away at full speed while tightly gripping my smartphone. The club━━━━thrown at my back━━━━hit the wall with a dull thud. I’d have definitely been in deep shit if that would have hit me.

Swinging my arms at full force, I moved my legs, driven by fear of death. Somehow I managed to open up some distance between us.

I mean, I have no choice but to scoot when faced with such a dangerous-looking creature.

Even so, nothing but a stone wall awaited me in front. Shit! I forgot that a dead end had been right behind me!

“Kyakyakakyakakya!”

Seeing me having no intention to fight, the goblin apparently labeled me as easy prey and slowly sidled up to me while revealing a faint grin.

Fuck! The likes of a shitty goblin totally looks down on me…!

“Yaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!”

Using all my strength, I threw my schoolbag, which I had still held in my right hand, at it. Although it hit its face, the bag wouldn’t be capable of killing a living being, but it was more than enough to suppress its movements for a moment.

Next, I ripped one of the torches off the wall, and keenly brandished it at the goblin. Sparks scattered. Somehow, this torch seemed strangely sturdy.

“There! There! DIEE!”

“Gakyagagagaya! Gaaa!”

I struck the goblin, which had fallen to the ground, close to ten times with all my might. And at the moment all life left it, its body turned into gray dust and melted away into atmosphere after bursting.

“Haaahaaahaaa…”

With my breath going hard, I gazed at the spot in front of me where the phenomenon took place just now. The goblin corpse…disappeared. This is almost as if this is a real━━━━

At that moment, the smartphone in my hand vibrated strongly. Following that, my heart leaped hard. It felt as if something had been sent into my body.

After returning the torch back to its original place, I looked at my trembling right hand where I could still feel the sensation of having killed that thing.

Recalling the earlier notification, I checked the smartphone in my left hand, just for my eyes to widen. That message has been sent by Dungeon Seekers, hasn’t it?

『Congratulations! Your level has gone up!』

“Hey, hey, wait a sec…”

It was a situation making me ask myself whether all of this actually wasn’t a hallucination. However, the sensation of having beat the goblin to death with my right hand wasn’t just me dreaming.

An indescribable feeling of rapture ran through my body.

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