"My other half, I did not wish to disturb you while you were in the heat of battle. However... I did not expect you to possess such... interesting little tricks?"
Just as Greg had managed to steady his mind, Nightmare's voice echoed leisurely in his head once more.
Her tone carried a clear sense of amusement and curiosity, obviously referring to the Tentacle Entanglement skill Greg had used earlier to bind the monsters.
"It seems the secrets you hide are even more numerous than I initially presumed."
Greg knew she was probing him.
But given that the Goddess had played the part of a riddler earlier, Greg decided to return the favor with some courtesy of his own.
"Everyone has their own secrets that they're either unwilling or unable to share with others, don't they, Goddess?"
Nightmare clearly hadn't expected such a response, as she paused for a noticeable moment.
Then, she let out a low, helpless chuckle of realization.
"Heh... what you say is indeed reasonable."
She seemed to accept that explanation and didn't press further, but her tone quickly shifted as she brought up another matter.
"Additionally, I can sense that the source of the 'foreign noise' I mentioned earlier... seems to be within the abdominal cavity of that lizard-like creature. If you harbor even a shred of curiosity, perhaps you should cut it open and see what exactly is causing the disturbance."
Greg didn't even have to think before flatly refusing. "No, I'm not curious at all."
He already knew exactly what was in there.
It was almost certainly the prototype Screech magic conduit that had gone haywire and was emitting a constant high-frequency noise. It had likely been swallowed by the Spine-back Lizard or was stuck somewhere inside its body.
Knowing was one thing, but he had zero interest in personally rummaging through a monster's stomach.
"Is that so? That is truly a pity."
Nightmare's voice sounded genuinely disappointed, as if she were missing out on a good show.
After all, a cat's curiosity was always quite strong.
Greg didn't plan on wasting any more words with her. His current plan was simple:
Safely escort those three terrified upperclassmen back to the entrance leading to the middle layers as quickly as possible, taking the chance to warn them along the way. Then, he would double back with Silvia and head straight for the Floor Boss room at the deepest part of the first layer to complete the quest.
After all, the excuse he had used to convince Silvia to come down here was that he was "worried some students might be in danger and needed rescue."
Now that they had found them, it wouldn't make sense to just abandon them in front of Silvia and run off to fight a boss.
However, just as he made up his mind and prepared to walk toward Alvin and the others—
RUMBLE—!!!
The entire massive cavern space began to vibrate violently without any warning!
It wasn't a localized tremor; it felt as if the entire deep structure of the dungeon was shuddering!
The rock walls high above groaned under an unbearable burden as small stones and dust rained down. The ground surged like waves, making it impossible to stand steadily.
From the darkness in the distance came the terrifying sounds of collapsing rock and structural crushing, followed by the heavy, muffled vibrations of something unimaginably massive marching toward them... and approaching fast!
"W-What's happening now?!"
"A-An earthquake?!"
"Something else is coming! Something even... even..."
Alvin, Leonard, and Leah—who had just thought they had escaped death and hadn't even caught their breath yet—turned pale instantly. The fear that had only just begun to subside seized their hearts once more, even more intensely than before!
They had to lean on each other just to stay upright, staring in absolute terror toward the source of the vibrations. There was only a bottomless darkness there, along with an increasingly suffocating sense of pressure.
Silvia also stumbled, subconsciously moving closer to Greg. Her pink eyes were filled with tension and worry as she looked at him.
"Greg-senpai! What is this...?"
Even Greg's heart tightened.
This movement... it wasn't right!
He had never seen this kind of event in the original game!
"To think... it would actually leave its nest of its own accord?"
Nightmare's ethereal voice chimed in at the right moment. This time, it clearly held a hint of... genuine interest.
"It seems developments have become increasingly interesting."
"Who is 'it'?"
Greg asked urgently in his mind, the ominous feeling in his chest growing stronger.
Nightmare chuckled softly and uttered a name that made Greg's pupils shrink.
"Naturally, it is the lord of this layer, Lady Eight-Legs."
"What?! Lady Eight-Legs?!"
Greg was well aware of that title.
That was supposed to be the Floor Boss he was eventually meant to conquer on this trip.
Even though it was only the lord of the first layer, it was level 35, far exceeding the average level of players at this stage.
More importantly, as the lord of the dungeon's first layer, it carried a powerful Divine Protection granted by the area itself, making its strength far surpass that of ordinary monsters of the same level.
In the original game, if a player wanted a decent chance at challenging it, they usually had to wait until halfway through Chapter Three. They needed their level, equipment, and skill proficiency to be sufficiently high, and they had to bring reliable teammates and be fully prepared to have a shot at winning.
When the game was first released, many players lacked this knowledge. Thinking they were doing well because their level had gone up a bit and they'd found a few decent items, they would rush in to challenge the boss.
The result, without exception, was experiencing what could only be described as "pure prison time"—interminable battles, chip damage that felt like paper cuts, the boss's berserk onslaughts, and one total party wipe after another.
It was from that point on that the player community began to truly realize the absurd difficulty design of this game's dungeons. They affectionately used various nicknames to praise the boss that had left a psychological scar on countless people, such as: the Sadistic Spider Spirit, the Mysterious Eight-Legged Insect, the Nightmare Spinner, and the Newbie Crusher.
He knew all this, but... the boss had voluntarily left its own boss room? What kind of situation was this?!
This was completely outside the normal flow of events!
Rate on N.U.
