Vol. 1 Chapter 2 – Dungeon Dive

The second day of school.

Just when they thought classes were finally going to begin, their Class C was assigned to a special practical training course starting from the first period.

What was distributed to everyone was not a hinoki wooden stick but rather a rod resembling a one-meter-long police baton. hinoki¹

Along with that was a light, small shield made of some kind of special plastic, small enough to be carried in one hand.

“Haah, this seriously sucks.”

“Ahaha. Since it’s our first time, it makes you nervous, huh?”

“It does, doesn’t it…”

Seiichi, Mai and Shizuka were all standing by with batons and shields just like mine.

According to the explanation, actions inside the dungeon would basically be carried out in squads of four to five people.

Apparently, with the average width of the internal passageways, moving with any larger number of people would be unsuitable.

“──Now then, this will be your first special practical training session.”

Their homeroom teacher, Midori-sensei, turned toward the facility behind her while holding a binder containing the class roster in one hand.

A crimson shrine.

That was the very first image that came to mind.

Vermilion-painted pillars, a sharply pointed roof, and a shrine building placed atop a pedestal stacked with granite stones.

The location was probably beneath the courtyard-like central garden in the middle of the academy buildings.

We should have descended about three floors worth of stairs past the shoe lockers.

Beyond a massive door, the kind that looked exactly like the underground vault doors sealing a bank treasury you’d see on television.

The place they had been led directly to from the classroom was a gigantic subterranean cavern.

“This is called the Rashoumon. You will learn about its mechanisms and functions in future lectures during Dungeon Theory. …Ordinarily, it might be more proper to first study it in classroom lectures before coming here, however, to explain it simply…”Rashoumon²

As if she had some unwilling feelings about it, Midori-sensei slightly averted her gaze.

“This is a kind of gate that opens a hole into the world. And at the same time, it is also a safety mechanism that protects your lives.”

The Rajoumon, lined with numerous crimson torii gates at the front, certainly lacked the depth one would expect from an actual shrine.

Just where did the space beyond those sealed gates connect to?

Even when described with such fantasy-like wording as 『opening a hole into the world』Touma had no idea what it actually meant.

“Even if a fatal situation occurs inside, you will return to this place. Therefore…”

For some reason, Midori-sensei, who looked as though she was desperately trying to convey something, also seemed as if she were apologizing to us.

However, her preliminary explanation was cut short by what looked like janitors standing on both sides of the gate.

Closing her eyes with a sigh, Midori-sensei smoothly erased the expression from her face before giving instructions once more.

“Now then. Proceed through the Rajoumon in your party order.”

As they passed beneath the crimson torii gate, it felt as though the wind went hyuu as it swept through it.

＊　＊　＊

When the first party activated the Rajoumon, the space between the pillars distorted and the students’ figures vanished as though melting into the distortion.

The commotion sounded less like fear and more like cheers in front of an amusement park attraction.

“To be honest, even I’m getting kinda excited.”

While the transferring parties lined up in order, Touma and the others ended up near the back of the queue.

“Haah…You really are carefree, you know that?”

“Hey, don’t go calling me『you.』At least call me by my name properly.”

Perhaps because she was a little excited, Mai’s cheeks were flushed with healthy redness as she snapped back at Seiichi.

Meanwhile, Seiichi, whose face had gone somewhat pale from pure depression, let out a sigh.

“Well, it’s kinda late now and the people who know already know, so I’ll tell you. The first dungeon dive is basically designed as a one-way trip.”

“…Huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Not just Mai but even Shizuka, who had been stiff with tension, gave a sharp twitch and froze up.

“Apparently it’s tradition to make everyone experience death-and-return the first time. The purpose of this first practical is just to register the freshmen’s biological data or whatever into that shitty gate.”

About halfway through the waiting line had already passed and the towering Chinese-style double-roofed gate above them radiated nothing but intimidation.

The Rajoumon had five doors installed within it.

Three were for normal use, one was for new registrations and the final one was controlled by the academy.

The door on the far right when facing the front stood wide open, and this session’s closing time had been set for noon.

Until then, there was no way to return from the other side of the Rajoumon.

The current time was nine in the morning.

If you thought of it as an attraction, then it was essentially a survival game where the objective was to stay alive until time ran out.

“Everyone says you should think of it like a game but it’s still kinda scary.”

“Well, whatever happens, it won’t leave trauma or anything. You forget whatever happened inside once you come back out.”

“I understand that but…”

Shizuka’s complexion had gone beyond blue and was beginning to turn white as she forced out an awkward smile.

“Still, Touma, even after coming this far, you totally look calm.”

“…No, I’m confused too.”

“Really? You look completely coolheaded to me.”

Seiichi shrugged as though saying he’d wait and see.

Touma didn’t seem like the type to intentionally stand out from the start but Seiichi was genuinely interested in this incomprehensible guy.

Even if something happened inside, nobody could leave while still remembering it.

Without any particular trouble, Touma’s party finally arrived at the Rajoumon’s『Gate of Beginning.』

Their homeroom teacher, Midori, was waiting in front of the gate, providing support for the students’ first dungeon dive.

“Now then, it’s your turn. Please gather in the center of the double circle located in front of the gate. During transfer, the members standing inside the circle will be moved to the same location. Very rarely, people may become separated, so physical contact, such as holding hands, will ensure that does not happen.”

“’Kay.”

“Okaaay.”

“U-understood.”

“…Roger.”

Gunyari.

Touma and the others’ figures distorted like drops of black ink spreading through water.

From Touma’s perspective, however, what appeared distorted was the surrounding space itself.

“I’m sorry. Please… don’t lose.”

Knowing they could not hear her, Midori apologized to every one of her students.

＊　＊　＊

『ｐｅｒｍｅｓｉｖａｎｅｌａｃｉｔｔａｄｏｌｅｎｔｅｐｅｒｍｅｓｉｖａｎｅｌｅｔｔｅｒｎｏｄｏｌｏｒｅｐｅｒｍｅｓｉｖａｔｒａｌａｐｅｒｄｕｔａｇｅｎｔｅｇｉｕｓｔｉｚｉａｍｏｓｓｅｉｌｍｉｏａｌｔｏｆａｔｔｏｒｅｆｅｃｅｍｉｌａｄｉｖｉｎａｐｏｄｅｓｔａｔｅｌａｓｏｍｍａｓａｐｉｅｎｚａｅｌｐｒｉｍｏａｍｏｒｅｄｉｎａｎｚｉａｍｅｎｏｎｆｕｏｒｃｏｓｅｃｒｅａｔｅｓｅｎｏｎｅｔｔｅｒｎｅｅｉｏｅｔｔｅｒｎｏｄｕｒｏｌａｓｃｉａｔｅｏｇｎｅｓｐｅｒａｎｚａｖｏｉｃｈｉｎｔｒａｔｅ』

A string of incomprehensible alphabet letters came into view.

Beside it was unfamiliar classical Chinese text, probably some kind of ancient Chinese.

Above it were brush-written Japanese characters so beautifully written they were impossible to read.

At his feet was a tangled set of overlapping circles and squares, along with numbers and something resembling pictographs.

But even if he couldn’t read them, he could somehow 『understand』their meaning.

The alphabet, the kanji, the cursive script, the numbers, the circles and squares, all of them carried the exact same intent.

To put it bluntly, it was tasteless. A vulgar mishmash of Eastern and Western styles.

And yet, that desperate lack of composure behind it felt utterly disgusting.

A chaos born from desperately trying to give shape to something, cramming everything together without caring about appearances.

That string of alphabet letters.

For some reason, this time he could『read』its meaning.

It resembled the inscription on the Gate of Hell from Dante’s Divine Comedy, something I vaguely remembered seeing referenced in a manga or somewhere else before.

──All who pass through this gate, abandon your lives──

At that instant, the scenery that had lost all form regained its shape as though time itself were playing in reverse.

Not just my sense of balance, but even the inside of my body felt as if it had been flipped upside down, making me dizzy.

The place where we stood had completely changed.

The dimly lit space was wide and rectangular. The ceiling wasn’t especially low, yet there was an overwhelming sense of pressure.

No, the pressure wasn’t just from the ceiling but from everything around us.

Touma didn’t really know how to describe it but it felt like the time he got caught up in a fight and ended up surrounded by dozens of delinquents.

Remembering how much trouble it took to convince them it was all a misunderstanding made me grimace.

“…Fuu. Looks like we got lucky, at least.”

After glancing around, Seiichi let out a relieved sigh.

There weren’t any lights or anything of the sort, yet strangely enough, visibility wasn’t bad enough to cause problems.

“This wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.”

Perhaps she was unexpectedly brave or maybe just slow on the uptake but Mai immediately began glancing around restlessly.

“So this is… inside the dungeon…”

Shizuka’s face was pale as she tightly gripped the baton and shield in her hands.

This was one incredibly elaborate attraction.

No, there was no point in trying to deceive himself anymore.

This school was clearly far beyond anything he had imagined.

“Seiichi, explain this situation to me in three lines.”

『Dungeon RPG.』

『Hell-level difficulty.』

『Level one.』

It was almost exactly as he had imagined.

Conquering a dungeon in real life had long since gone beyond simple roleplaying.

For now, once he made it out of here, he was absolutely going back to his hometown and giving his middle school homeroom teacher a full-force punch.

With a running start.

“This is more normal than I expected. I thought it’d be more of a savage death world.”

“To be blunt, we just got lucky. Apparently some people spawn into monster houses and shit.”

“Uwah, that’s not even funny. You mean some people experience death-and-return the instant they dungeon dive?”

“Every year there’re supposedly two or three unlucky groups… Though if you enter through the normal route, you usually spawn at an official fixed point.”

Seiichi seemed surprisingly well-informed.

He had probably gathered information from upperclassmen in the dorms. Honestly, I had to respect that.

“So what are the conditions for clearing this mission?”

“Hah? I told you, it’s already over. Now we just get killed by monsters or whatever, get spat back outside, and that’s the end. Or what, you wanna try surviving until the gate closes? Yeah, good luck with that.”

At the word『killed』Shizuka’s complexion once again turned white like paper.

Mai’s shoulders also drooped as though all the air had left her.

Apparently her earlier high spirits had just been forced into bravado.

“Aah… I really don’t like this after all. I wonder how we’ll get killed. Are we gonna get eaten or something…? I hate pain.”

“It’ll be fine. You won’t remember the pain or the fear anyway.”

Earlier, Midori-sensei had said something similar.

That their safety was guaranteed.

Still, it would make sense if there were safety measures preventing death, but I couldn’t understand what they meant by『it’s okay even if you die.』

“In what sense is this supposed to be okay?”

“You seriously complaining now? Even at a time like this, you’re way too calm.”

Rather than sounding confrontational, Seiichi himself probably just had his emotions thrown out of balance.

When you failed to get swept up in everyone else’s rising tension, it oddly had the opposite effect and made you calm down.

“Well, whatever. Before the monsters get us, let’s do what we can, yeah?”

“W-wait… Seiichi-kun.”

A sloppy grin twisted across Seiichi’s face as he grabbed Mai’s arm and pulled her closer.

Letting go of both his baton and plastic shield, he wrapped an arm around Mai’s body from behind.

“Either way, none of this’ll matter afterward. So getting a little sample in advance is fair game, right?”

“J-uust… wait. I don’t mind, but don’t be rough, nn…”

The hand that slipped in through the collar of her jacket began kneading her breasts through her blouse.

His other hand moved around to the front of her skirt, half lifting it as he stroked the inside of her thighs.

Touma honestly had no idea what was going on anymore but when he looked toward the remaining Shizuka, he found her peeking over at him with her head still lowered.

Was this that thing where people’s reproductive instincts intensified when facing a life-threatening situation?

Still, engaging in improper relations with the opposite sex during class hardly seemed appropriate.

“Mai’s got pretty nice breasts too… Now then, let’s see how it feels down here.”

“Nn… ah, that hurts… the inside’s still…”

“We still gotta test Shizuka too, so we don’t have time to take it slow.”

The hand Seiichi had slipped between Mai’s legs squirmed around beneath her skirt.

Since she was facing toward Touma, he could clearly see Mai’s increasingly flushed, seductive expression.

“…Touma-kun.”

Apparently unable to hold back any longer, Shizuka slowly edged closer until she was within reach.

It wasn’t the scent of cologne but the raw, unmistakably feminine smell unique to a woman.

Maybe his sense of smell had become sharper or perhaps Shizuka, gazing up at him with moist eyes, was giving off pheromones from excitement.

Probably both.

As though it were the most natural thing in the world, Shizuka lifted the hem of her own skirt.

“Please…go ahead and see whether I…meet Touma-kun’s standards…”

Her pale pink low-rise panties had a cute design decorated with frills.

As though she had known from the beginning this would happen, prioritizing sexual appearance over practicality.

The soft-looking lower half of Shizuka’s body, which didn’t seem suited for much physical activity, was completely exposed.

Her black hair, reaching down to her shoulders, had been neatly trimmed, and her slightly long bangs, cut evenly as well, partially concealed her expression.

She seemed like the kind of girl who would quietly read books alone in the classroom, which made the sight of her exposing her lower body in the corner of a dim dungeon feel surreal enough to make me dizzy.

“Ah, ah…”

While Touma’s attention was captured by Shizuka’s striptease, Seiichi and Mai had already moved on to the real thing.

Both remained standing as Seiichi, pressed against Mai from behind, thrust his hips.

Bent forward, Mai supported herself with both hands on her knees, eyes shut and throat arched back.

Each time Seiichi slammed his hips against her, a breathy『ah』escaped from her still-open mouth.

One of Seiichi’s hands gripped the back of her skirt, resting on Mai’s exposed butt, plump and smooth like a peeled boiled egg.

“Seiichi-kun is already doing it too…”

As Touma looked over there, Shizuka suddenly grabbed his wrist with an almost panicked expression.

Still holding up her skirt with one hand, she guided his hand underneath it.

From the very start, she pressed his fingers beneath her navel, slipping them under the elastic waistband of her panties so naturally that his palm slid deeper across her lower stomach.

Shariri.

The texture of her pubic hair was thicker than Touma had expected and his fingertips slid into the moist cleft of her outer folds beyond the soft mound of flesh.

Even before the excitement of touching female genitals for the first time hit him, Touma was bewildered by how feverishly hot and damp it was, enough to make his fingertips feel humid.

Keeping her head lowered, Shizuka’s ears had turned bright red while she continued holding both her skirt and his hand.

“I… won’t be any trouble… so just keep going…”

His wrist was firmly pushed downward, and as her panties were tugged lower, Shizuka’s crotch was fully exposed.

The thick black growth of pubic hair covering her mound struck me as strangely lewd.

“If Touma-kun doesn’t like it, I can shave it all off too… ah.”

The fingertips that had been stroking through the coarse hair accidentally brushed against the small bud hidden deeper inside.

Almost instinctively, Touma’s fingers began to move, tracing along the soft folds of her womanhood.

Using his fingertips, he practically reviewed the structure of female genitals that he had studied so many times in online videos.

It was far softer than he had imagined.

Jii…

The hand Shizuka had used to hold my wrist reached toward his crotch and lowered the zipper.

The erection that had naturally been straining against the front of his pants sprang free together with his underwear.

Shizuka’s fingertips guided the contents out through the opening in my boxers.

“Wah…… th-this”

Touma wonders what it is but it really makes him curious.

Shizuka, who was properly taking the lead, probably had a fair amount of experience.

But for a guy, the issue of penis size was an extremely delicate matter.

Fortunately, Shizuka, who rested the penis on her palm as though supporting it from below, said nothing and gently stroked along the underside as if soothing it.

Shizuka looked up at him with moist eyes that seemed ready to spill over at any moment, then slowly closed the distance from the front.

Seeing that the tip of the penis might rub against her blouse because of their height difference, she bent her knees slightly to match the height.

Shizuka placed the hand clutching her skirt in front of her chest and with her other hand, she gripped the base of the penis and firmly pushed it downward.

The tip became sandwiched between soft, squishy  flesh and the angle of entry for the penis aligned perfectly.

The swollen, dark red gland, stretched taut to its limit, sank just like that into the flesh inside Shizuka.

“Nn…… haa”

The glans was enveloped by a sticky sensation like thick clay.

Shizuka arched back slightly against his chest, closed her eyes and let out a hot breath from her lips.

Touma slipped both hands beneath Shizuka’s skirt and tugged down the shorts that were digging into her plump buttocks just a little.

At the slick pleasure that ran across the glans, her gluteal muscles tightened and the penis that had been pushed outward slipped past halfway and into the vagina.

The expression on Shizuka’s face as she kept her eyes shut, looking as though she were enduring something, was adorable.

The penis, harder than it had ever been before, bulged upward at a right angle inside Shizuka’s womb.

Keeping the posture like a sumo wrestler stomping in a shiko, he moved in and out of Shizuka’s crotch from below upward.Shiko³

The unfamiliar motion was clumsy and with every thrust the penis slipped back out from the entrance of the vagina.

But thanks to Shizuka holding firmly onto the base of the penis to keep it in place, Touma was able to smoothly insert it again and again.

“……Ah…… ah…… ah……”

Nupo nupo, each time the penis slipped through the entrance of the vagina that felt like a rubber ring, sweet moans leaked from Shizuka’s lips.

Perhaps the groove beneath the penis was scraping out the inside of Shizuka, because the surrounding pubic hair became sticky with clinging fluid.

The way Shizuka’s fluttering inner folds were pulled tight and turned outward as it slipped free felt pleasant.

At last, a feeling of fulfillment welled up inside me. Ah, so this was really sex.

“Looks like it’s gonna take a little longer?”

“──. Aa”

He nodded at Seiichi’s voice, now free from the sharp tension from before.

More than anything, it surprised him.

He had been completely absorbed in it.

The excitement that had almost reached its finish suddenly dropped away, shifting instead into a cool, restrained excitement.

“Well, let’s enjoy this slowly. Once Touma fires one shot, we’ll switch. Let’s compare who’s best suited for which girl. Though once we get back, we’ll probably forget it all and compare again anyway.”

“Aaa,Aaa……Nnn,nn”

“Mai’s pretty tight, y’know. I figured she’d be more worn out than this. Ended up cumming inside her nice and quick.”

While Seiichi licked his lips, Mai, whose body was being pounded with loud smacks against her hips while her private parts were appraised, could only let out cute moans.

Had Seiichi calmed down because he had already relieved himself once?

On this side, the mood had strangely cooled midway through, leaving only the erection while refusing to let him finish.

It felt just like when an overwhelming amount of results from masturbation came pouring out at the finish.

At this point, there was no choice but to accept it and thoroughly savor the sensation of this first insertion.

At some point, Shizuka had pressed the side of her face against Touma’s chest, reduced to doing nothing but letting out cute little『ah, ah』cries. He wrapped both arms around her buttocks.

Standing on tiptoe, Shizuka released her hand from the base of the penis and instead wrapped both arms around his neck as though hanging from him.

Their joined private parts sank even deeper together, now wrapped tightly in sticky soft flesh without any chance of slipping out.

“Nnn……Aaa”

“So Shizuka’s the one cumming first? You teased her too much.”

No, maybe not. It didn’t really feel like she had climaxed.

Since Shizuka’s fingers had been holding it back until now, the gland that pushed deeper inside seemed to have gouged against the deepest part of her vagina.

Either way, it looked like it would still take time to reach the end, so he kept the same pace.

Virgin sex probably wasn’t anything impressive, but he gently stroked Shizuka’s head as she clung to him with an entranced, lovestruck expression on her face.

“Aaa……Aan……”

“Nnnn,Aan!”

“Heheh…… I’m cumming again. Make sure you take it deep in your ass.”

Seiichi, whose loud smacking against Mai’s hips echoed through the dungeon, gripped her tightly with his fingers digging into her buttocks.

Mai, being filled with a second round without him pulling out, trembled with her knees pressed inward.

Holding Shizuka, who seemed to have reached her limit as though stirred on by the play beside them, he continued caressing her while still joined together.

She looked on the verge of tears, almost apologetic but the delayed climax was my own issue, so I wished she wouldn’t worry about it.

“Hoh…… Haven’t let out this much in a long while.”

“Ahn, seriously, there’s so much coming out. Nn, it’s dripping down already.”

Once their connection came undone, Mai pulled tissues from her pocket and crouched down while pressing them against her crotch.

“Yaa, don’t let it open~”

“That pussy seemed pretty usable…… maybe we’re not a bad match after all.”

Seiichi wore a vulgar grin as he rubbed the hand resting against the bottom of her buttocks in little circular motions.

“It wasn’t bad, right? Nn…… do I, pa-ss?”

“We’ll see after we get back and savor it properly one more time.”

The sticky string trailing from his fingertips was wiped on Mai’s skirt before he slapped her buttocks.

“Is your side still not done yet? Don’t tell me Shizuka’s got a loose pussy?”

“No. I’m testing her carefully.”

Touma covered for Shizuka as she clung to him with a frightened flinch.

When he whispered,『It’s okay』by her ear, her spine trembled with a shiver and she seemed to reach it again somehow.

Maybe she was a sensitive girl.

“Heeh……Shizuka, you’re pretty repressed, huh. I didn’t think you were that erotic of a girl. Aren’t you seriously cumming?”

Mai, having thrown the tissue she had finished wiping herself with onto the floor, curled her lips like a cat.

“You’re the same kind, Mai. I mean, girls who come to the General Course are…”

“Sorry, stop.”

“That’s why I’m telling you. Don’t act all high and mighty.”

“Yah, wai……”

Seiichi grabbed Mai’s wrist, carelessly flipped her skirt up again from behind, and pulled down the shorts she had only just put back on.

“Know your place, yeah. Understand it.”

“Nn. Ah, not there!”

“Relax. I don’t hate training strong-willed women.”

About the fact that his roommate turned out to be a sadist.

As for Shizuka, maybe she hated the thought of being tested by Seiichi, because she stayed glued tightly to me.

She had quietly finished but she was still clinging to me tightly with teary eyes.

Touma was still easily maintaining his erection and the result stayed pooled deep inside Shizuka’s belly without leaking out.

When he adjusted his hold on her buttocks, she happily wrapped both legs around the back of his waist and clung to me like a Dakko-chan doll.

It was probably the position called the『station bento』 style.

Somehow, this was different from the virginity-loss scene he had imagined.

“Come to think of it, Seiichi.”

“What is it, yo?”

Seiichi, who had started spanking Mai’s buttocks, had a look on his face that was not good.

If this guy loses control, I should stop him.

Though Mai’s face was gradually becoming hot and moist, so maybe they were well matched.

“What happens if we survive?”

“Here you go. It just means you’ll remember it. That you were getting your asshole drilled and going 『an-an-ahe』yeah.”

“N-ah! Ah, ah!”

Into Mai’s buttocks, swollen bright red with handprints, Seiichi’s penis was thrust back in.

“Either way, around the school grounds, these girls won’t get preganant, so once we get back, we can keep doing it raw without worrying.”

“I would think the academy’s public morals guidance would step in.”

“What the hell are you talking about? These female students were sold off for that purpose, y’know? There are school rules about how to handle them so it doesn’t turn into trouble, so make sure you properly check your student handbook.”

“Ah.”

This deviated far too much from the common sense inside my head.

It wasn’t only the dungeon. The academy itself was a fantasy zone.

But Shizuka, who showed no sign of denying Seiichi’s words at all, clung to him with teary eyes and quietly pleaded,『Don’t forget me.』

＊　＊　＊

“Ahh, I feel damn refreshed. After shooting four times, there’s no way I’m getting hard again.”

Seiichi zipped up his pants, tightened his belt again and declared it with a refreshed look on his face.

“So Shizuka’s test will have to wait until we get back, huh. Taking turns with Touma and carefully comparing the taste doesn’t sound bad either.”

Mai, with half-lidded, reproachful eyes, threw away the empty tissue packet and rubbed her own buttocks through her skirt.

“Uu, it still stings. I didn’t expect Seiichi to have this kind of S&M taste……”

“Well, it’s all gonna reset anyway. I got to do whatever I wanted. Once we’re back, I’ll hold back properly, so don’t worry.”

Ignoring Seiichi as he laughed without the slightest shame, Touma and Shizuka, still facing each other, were cleaning up together.

With Shizuka lifting the front of her skirt with both hands, Touma’s fingertips, wrapped in pocket tissue, carefully traced the groove between her legs.

Shizuka, her lowered face bright red, suppressed her voice at the sensation of his fingers moving over every corner.

In the middle of the valley between her labia, the tissue at his fingertips rubbed up and down with a motion, while cloudy white sticky fluid kept dripping from deep inside her opening without end.

The crumpled tissues scattered at their feet had already run out, so Touma pushed the final tissue into the inside of her opening as if plugging it.

His fingertip was squeezed by the plump pressure of the soft flesh around it.

He pulled up the shorts around her thighs and helped her put them back on, then supported Shizuka’s waist, which still had not lost its pheromone-like scent.

“Sorry……”

Shizuka, hearing him whisper softly by her ear, shook her head slightly and smiled at Touma.

Touma was the first person who had ever treated her so sincerely, and the first who had been gentle with her even after the act.

Being treated like a hole to shove a sexual organ into and discharge semen into.

That had been what sex was to her.

She had hesitated a little at the unfamiliar size but after he had slowly eased her into it, she had been able to accept him all the way inside.

She had already prepared herself for the fact that once they returned, everything would go back to normal and he would forget, but since she had intended to cling to Touma from the start, that was not a problem.

So, even though she knew she would be forgotten, Shizuka at least put on the best smile she could.

And then a red droplet trickled from the corner of her mouth.

“──Ha, ah.”

She opened her mouth at the sensation of something foreign rising from deep in her throat but the lung that had been pierced open from behind only let out thin wheezes as the air escaped.

“Shizuka……!”

Touma reflexively pulled Shizuka into his arms, and from the valley of her chest, a claw tip that had also pierced through Touma’s body dug into him.

The moment that claw tip withdrew back into Shizuka’s body, from her back came the sound of something being torn apart.

A black mass crouched on the floor like a coiled lump.

It looked like a person’s shadow made three-dimensional. In the hand of that pitch-black figure, a bright red lump of flesh pulsed with a throb.

The shadow’s head split open left and right and rows of pure white comb-like teeth, like a shark’s, appeared before they chewed the lump of flesh with wet guchu-guchu sounds.

More than pain, Shizuka felt a burning heat in her back. Held in Touma’s arms, she gave a troubled, bitter smile, and the outline of her body scattered in a flash like fireflies.

“Crap! This thing’s probably a『Natural Enemy』! We stayed in the same place too long!”

“A, a, aa……”

Beside Seiichi, who shouted with his face twitching in shock, Mai collapsed to the floor after seeing the scene of Shizuka’s heart being gouged out from her back.

For them, things had proceeded properly, smoothly.

The brief rest granted by a small stroke of luck had ended, and the fantasy world known as reality began to trample them down.

Even if they had assumed death from the very beginning, once the embodiment of terror appeared before their eyes, the instinct was still to struggle and try to escape.

There was already no warmth left in Touma’s hands. All that remained was the trace of Shizuka, who had scattered apart like dust of light, dissolving into the air.

Shizuka’s trace.

It was a small crystal that had rolled into Touma’s hand from deep within the body that had scattered like fireflies.

It was a polyhedral crystal, faintly and modestly glowing, much like her.

The black human-shaped shadow, which had been licking its own red-stained fingertips with a pero-pero motion, tilted its split mouth into a half-moon shape and reached its hand toward Touma.

“Shitsu!”

Touma threw a straight punch by conditioned reflex against the one who had taken something from him.

The impact felt like punching a thick tire. Coming back to himself, he clenched his fist firmly and drove in a second punch, then a third.

“Stop! You can’t defeat that thing. That thing’s one of the bad ones!”

“I see.”

Like a child wanting something, the black human-shaped shadow stretched out its hand and approached him. Touma dodged it like a bullfighter while driving straight punches into it.

The human-shaped shadow, which looked as though it were covered in black rags, was not particularly large, nor were its movements fast.

Its movement looked less like it was attacking Touma himself and more like it was reaching for a carrot dangling in front of its eyes.

Because of that, even while suffering cuts from those sickle-like claws, Touma was able to keep silently punching the black human-shaped shadow.

Touma could hear Seiichi’s voice trying to stop him but he could not understand the meaning of it.

She was not someone he had held any special feelings for, and even if she had not been the first woman he had ended up having sex with through circumstance, rage still welled up from the depths of his stomach at the something that had been stolen right before his eyes.

So much so that fear toward the monster, and the pain of his bloodied fists from punching it, no longer mattered.

Touma was furious at the first enemy he had ever faced in his life that he absolutely could not forgive.

He punched, punched, punched, punched, punched.

He simply kept punching it, single-mindedly.

His left hand was the first to become unable to form a fist, so he continued punching with his right hand, still gripping Shizuka’s crystal.

The black human-shaped shadow began to warp into a strange, uneven shape, and without even stretching out its hand anymore, it turned into a black, rock-like lump.

Before long, inside the chamber where neither Seiichi’s voice nor Mai’s groans could be heard, the remains of the black human-shaped shadow had flattened out.

Expressionless, Touma drew back his right arm and was about to slam his bloodied right fist, its fingers broken, straight down.

“It’s over.”

Seiichi, who had grabbed Touma’s shoulder from behind, kicked the black rag left on the floor.

What remained on the floor was only what had spilled from Touma’s wounds and the bloodstains that had sprayed from Shizuka’s back.

“……It is.”

“Yeah…… Actually, maybe that wasn’t a『Natural Enemy』but some other monster. I’ve heard those things are immortal.”

Seiichi felt more fear toward Touma, who was quietly breathing in ragged breaths, than he had toward the monster, but he pretended to stay calm.

“But seriously, you’re insane. Beating a monster to death with your fists? What the hell are you?”

“My hands hurt.”

“Of course they do. I can see your bones and everything. Your fingers are bent the wrong way, too. Super gross. By the way, I’ve decided I’m absolutely never fighting you, so if I ever do something that pisses you off, tell me with words, okay? I’ll run.”

Touma stared silently at his own hands, and Seiichi, who had approached him timidly, pulled a strained face.

His left hand, which had lost the ability to clench first, had its middle finger and little finger broken, dangling loosely.

Even so, it was still better than his right fist, where every finger except the little finger and ring finger was broken, torn, and peeled back, exposing bone. The crystal he had been gripping had dug into his palm and pierced through it.

“Sorry, there’s no way to treat this. Want me to wrap it with a strip of cloth and keep it fixed? Mai.”

“Hiii.”

Mai, who had been sitting blankly on the floor where a puddle had formed, looked up at Seiichi’s call and backed away as if refusing.

“……Guess I can’t blame her for being scared.”

“Yeah, she lost her roommate.”

“Well, there’s that too…… Yeah, for now, I’ll use my shirt instead…”

“Agiii.”

The strange cry or what sounded like one, was Mai’s final death scream.

Mai had been sitting there like an overturned frog after her legs gave out. At the position of her neck, a club swung down from directly behind had sunk in.

The blow to her head landed before she even had time to brace herself, crushing the bones of her neck and killing her before she could feel pain.

At the same time all strength left her body, just like Shizuka, her body turned into firefly-like light and vanished.

“Mai! Damn it, now it’s a goblin?”

Standing where Mai had vanished was a humanoid monster with murky, sewage-colored skin.

It held a shield like a pot lid and a club like a knotty log. Around its waist, it wore a rag as a loincloth, and something swung at its crotch.

It turned its head, searching for Mai, whom it had personally sent back through death. The erect thing that had been expecting what came after beating her down also trembled.

“Goddamn it!”

Seiichi realized what kind of scene would have happened if Mai had survived and rushed toward the baton and plastic shield he had thrown onto the floor.

Touma gradually gritted his teeth against the dull pain in both hands, which was growing stronger as if they were being roasted by fire.

He opened his barely moving left fist and grabbed the rag left behind on the floor by the black human-shaped shadow.

The rag did not reflect any light at all, as though it had been woven out of shadow, and it felt like the skin of a living creature.

He bit into it, tore it apart and wrapped it around his right fist like a bandage.

The shadow cloth stuck tightly to him like adhesive tape, clinging even to his left hand, then winding over his tattered uniform and around his upper body.

He endured the revolting feeling of being wrapped in freshly peeled rawhide and the coldness that seemed to seep into him.

“Behind you, Seiichi!”

Touma turned and shouted on reflex.

A body slam while holding up a plastic shield.

Seiichi had mounted the goblin that had flipped onto its back and was wildly swinging the baton down on it, when a stick-like spear was thrust into him from behind.

The second goblin let go of the spear that had pierced from his back through to his chest and cackled in delight.

It was a monster with enough intelligence to feel joy at having finished off its prey.

However, it was also stupid enough to be so absorbed in that joy that it took Touma’s neckbreaker while completely defenseless.

“Kh, haha……Yeah, I’m definitely never fighting Touma…”

The goblin, whose throat had been firmly locked by Touma’s elbow before being slammed into the floor, vanished into firefly-like light, just like Shizuka and Mai.

The same happened to the goblin disappearing at Seiichi’s feet.

The spear of the goblin whose neck Touma had broken also vanished along with its main body.

With the support gone, Seiichi’s body collapsed onto his back.

Even if he had not died of shock, Touma could tell that Seiichi, whose uniform shirt was dyed bright red, had suffered a fatal wound.

“Shit, it really does hurt…… If I’m gonna die anyway, make it instant. But, kaha…… I did it…… I did it too…”

“Seiichi.”

“Guess revenge really doesn’t suit me……Sorry, Touma…… I’m going ahead.”

“──Go in peace, my friend.”

At Touma’s feet, Seiichi’s body turned into firefly-like light, leaving behind a pool of red blood.

＊　＊　＊

Where Seiichi had vanished, a crystal like quartz had, as expected, rolled onto the floor.

Together with the crystal left behind where Mai had died, he collected them as keepsakes and put them into his pocket.

In the dim chamber, he had become alone in the blink of an eye.

When he strained his ears again, what echoed from far away like a lingering reverberation was an eerie groaning sound.

Looking in the direction from which the monster Seiichi had called a goblin had appeared, part of the wall overlapped like a trick picture and a passage continued beyond it.

On the floor, only the baton and plastic shield that seemed to be the ones he had brought in were lying there.

The batons and plastic shields belonging to Seiichi and the others, which had likewise been thrown onto the floor, had disappeared cleanly and completely, just like their owners.

He thought about it for a little while but decided to leave the baton and plastic shield where they were.

Not only his right hand, which had been fixed in the shape of a fist but even his left hand could probably only barely move its fingers and would not be able to grip anything properly.

Actually, this mysterious black cloth sticking to him like rubber was creepy too.

The mysterious cloth wrapped around his arms, and for some reason his upper body too, was pressed tightly against his wounds, acting as a bandage to stop the bleeding. At least that much was helping him.

The feeling that it was sucking his blood was probably just his imagination.

Fortunately, the pain in both hands had passed its peak and was beginning to fade into numbness.

It seemed he would at least avoid the disgrace of having his spirit broken by pain.

He could not allow himself to do anything that would leave him unable to face his best friend, who had died so admirably after carrying his convictions through to the end.

All that remained was to press on until the very end.

“Let’s go.”

Muttering those words as if declaring them to himself, he turned his steps toward the depths of the passage.

When he clenched the fist wrapped in the mysterious black cloth, he felt a faint warmth in his right hand.

Interlude: A Certain Student’s First Dive

The Dungeon Imp『Goblin』was a new conceptual monster that had appeared several years ago.

Having acquired the strong conceptual image of a 『small-fry monster』goblins continued to multiply, as though replacing the conceptual monsters formerly known as Thirty-Six Hungry Ghosts.

Even if the conceptual monsters that basically inhabited an area were replaced, the level of threat did not change.

That was because the compressed concentration of miasma, the material composing conceptual monsters and known by names such as magical power, spiritual power, prana, or od, was fixed by stratum.

On the First Stratum, close to the surface world, the density of miasma was low and they were not much different from youkai that occasionally formed naturally even above ground.

The deeper the stratum, the higher the threat level of the conceptual monsters that appeared there.

If it was a monster from the surface strata, it was possible to defeat it through physical means of attack.

However, unlike the Thirty-Six Hungry Ghosts, whose behavioral pattern was basically『bite and eat』goblins had undergone a mutation in their behavioral pattern.

Rather than fairy anecdotes like those found in European folklore, what was reflected in them was the image of『small-fry monsters that appear in the sort of games young people imagine.』

A projection of fantasy, something people feared, dreamed of, and turned their eyes away from.

That was the true nature of the conceptual monsters that appeared inside the dungeon.

The reason the Thirty-Six Hungry Ghosts had decreased while goblins had increased was the influence of changing generations, which had shifted the image of a convenient small-fry monster.

This was not a function of the academy’s dungeon facility but could be called a common system shared by the Three Thousand Worlds.

Goblins’ behavioral patterns were often foolish in proportion to their low rank.

Their intelligence, such as『forming groups』and『setting ambushes』was a threat that the Thirty-Six Gaki had not possessed. On the other hand, weaknesses such as『falling for provocations』,『getting frightened and running away』and『easily falling into traps』had also appeared.

From the academy students’ perspective, their habit of gathering the items scattered inside the dungeon was considered convenient.

And the habit that had recently begun to be newly added to goblins was especially loathed by the female students.

“……Hih…… hih……”

“……No…… noo……”

Seina and Shiho, female students of Year One, Class C, had been lined up side by side in front of the dungeon partition wall.

Both of them were on all fours, knees and hands on the floor, reduced to motionless figures who only let out voices in response to the stimulation being forced on them from behind.

The student uniforms of Toyoashihara Academy, whether for the Special Grade Course or the General Course, were custom-made items supplied by the academy.

Except for underwear, the issued uniforms were high-tech garments woven with Spectra fibers and possessed strong slash-resistant properties.

They had no countermeasures against bullets because firearms were useless inside the dungeon for both enemies and allies.

To deal with mass-impact attacks from hammers, maces, and the like, students generally equipped additional hard armor, similar to trauma plates.

However, from several years ago, under the pretext of reducing costs and prioritizing comfort, the uniforms for the General Course had been made much cheaper.

Even so, the fabric could not be cut by an ordinary knife, nor was it clothing that would tear easily.

In fact, Seina and Shiho were both properly wearing their uniforms, and they still had on the black knee-high socks that formed part of the official dungeon-dive uniform.

Their knees, rubbing against the floor, were properly protected.

One of the goblins crouching behind Seina froze in place after finishing its act.

Drool dripping from its somewhat comical hooked nose and pointed chin fell onto Seina’s exposed bare hips, revealed by her skirt that had been flipped up like blooming petals turned upside down.

Even in the dimness of the dungeon, the white curve of her hips stood out clearly and there were no wounds on either her body or her legs.

Under certain conditions, goblins had begun to take a completely different behavioral pattern from the Thirty-Six Hungry Ghosts.

Without harming the prey they captured, they would 『secure』them and use them for『entertainment.』

“……Hi……”

The goblin that had been holding Seina’s buttocks until he had squeezed every last drop out of his scrotum, finally pulled away.

After being assaulted repeatedly by numerous goblins, Seina’s vagina remained open and was not able to close completely, leaving its contents, filled with milky fluid, exposed.

Before anything could spill out, another goblin moved behind her.

“Hih, hii”

With sharp sounds, Seina’s bare hips were struck and the throbbing in her nipples inside her bra intensified.

After the assault continued for too long, after violation became gang rape and then orgues, their bodies had begun to respond helplessly to the forced stimulation.

It was as if their womb were being ceaselessly toyed with by a distorted, flesh-like vibrator.

The goblins that Seina’s party had first encountered had quickly slaughtered the others, leaving only Shiho behind and from that point on they had continued to torment the two girls without pause.

Normally, the pattern would have been that the goblins grew bored after about an hour and disposed of them.

But partway through, another group of goblins had joined them.

A vicious cycle occurred in which their stamina recovered while waiting their turn, and Seina and Shiho were allowed to survive as human toilets for the goblins’ lust.

If their strength lasted until the Rashoumon closed three hours later, they would probably be able to return without losing their lives in the dungeon.

Girls who survived after falling into the same pattern often became mentally ill, and such students would be placed under the academy’s thorough protection and have their memories altered.

“…Noo～… ah～”

Shiho let out sweet, fawning moans she could no longer suppress, shaking her disheveled hair as her hips trembled.

The foul odor of the semen being released by the goblins, like rotting cheese, now stimulated her already saturated sense of smell in an almost sickeningly sweet way.

With a supotto, one goblin pulled away, and without even a moment’s pause, another took its place with another.

Her female genitalia, endlessly kneaded and manipulated by an object that was the same size as or even more gnarled and distorted than, a human genital organ, continued to respond as a female.

The boys in their party had been casually tortured to death, and after the unexpected assault, the end point of her broken spirit was the thought,『At least this means I won’t be killed.』

She could tell that the middle of her hips, whose owner changed without pause, had been left gap opened and numb.

Deep inside, she was being repeatedly filled as though washed through by the goblins’ discharge.

For Shiho, and for Seina as well, their final hazy thought, with their throats being squeezed and their minds fading, was that if the dungeon practical training they would not remember was nothing more than forced time with monsters, then perhaps it was still better than being beaten to death.

After receiving one final involuntary spasm from their own vaginas that had gone slack,useless and fully received by goblin sperms, the two girls’ bodies vanished into firefly-like light, as though melting into the dungeon.

Their surface memories would be lost, and Seina and Shiho would be regenerated at the Rashoumon, but faint scars from their broken spirits would remain quietly etched into their essence.

Having vented their bestial urges, the goblins showed no concern for the prey that had disappeared and lounged about however they pleased.

After a while, once their instincts returned, the goblins began circling the dungeon again according to their pattern.

They became stage props once more, intercepting intruders and gathering dungeon-born items.

However, strangely enough, they showed no interest in the crystals left behind where Seina and Shiho had vanished.

As monsters, they instinctively understood that those were things they must not touch, offerings dedicated to the dungeon.

The faintly glowing crystals eventually crumbled as though slowly sinking into the floor, and were swallowed by the dungeon.

Per me si va ne la città dolente,

per me si va ne l’etterno dolore,

per me si va tra la perduta gente.

Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore;

fecemi la divina podestate,

la somma sapienza e ’l primo amore.

Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create

se non etterne, e io etterno duro.

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”

English translation:

Through me you pass into the city of suffering.

Through me you pass into eternal pain.

Through me you pass among the lost people.

Justice moved my exalted creator.

Divine power made me,

supreme wisdom and primal love.

Before me, nothing was created

except eternal things, and I endure eternally.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

The most famous line is:

“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”