"The note said the world of Arifuerta, right? I only managed to watch the first episode of the series—everything after that is blank to me."
Arifuerta had never really caught his attention. Compared to other shows he'd binged without sleep, it felt slow, almost forgettable. He hadn't bothered continuing it, and eventually it slipped from his mind entirely.
He opened his mouth to think the thought through when—
BOOM.
A deafening explosion tore through the air above him, rattling the ground and sending a tremor up his spine.
Meanwhile, far above Sylas, within the upper layers of the Orcus Labyrinth—
A battle raged.
"Don't break formation!" a brown-haired boy shouted, his voice straining as he swung his sword with both hands. Steel met bone in a spray of splintered fragments as another skeleton collapsed at his feet.
A group of high school students—barely trained, newly summoned to this world—fought desperately for their lives. Skeleton-like monsters surged toward them in an endless tide, rusted blades and jagged spears raised high. Their hollow eye sockets glowed faintly as they clattered forward without fear or hesitation.
Behind the swarm loomed something far worse.
A massive, triceratops-like beast nearly ten meters long stomped forward, each step shaking the bridge beneath it. Its thick hide looked like layered stone, and its three horns curved forward like executioner's blades. The sheer weight of its presence radiated menace. A true behemoth.
A black-haired girl in a white-and-blue uniform tightened her grip on her staff. Her lips trembled as she forced mana into her spell.
"Wind Wall!"
A translucent barrier burst into existence just as a rain of arrows and crude weapons came crashing down toward their backline. The projectiles struck the barrier and ricocheted away in a shower of splinters and sparks.
"More are coming!" another student at the front yelled, fear bleeding into his voice as he staggered backward.
Near the center of the formation stood a quiet boy with short black hair—Hajime Nagumo. He remained slightly apart from the others, his expression tight but focused. His eyes scanned the battlefield, calculating angles, distances, timing. He wasn't the strongest. He knew that. But he could still be useful.
They had been teleported to the sixty-fifth floor of the labyrinth after one of their classmates triggered a trap by touching an abnormally large Glanz Crystal on the twentieth floor. The sudden displacement left them disoriented—and directly in the path of monsters far beyond what they were prepared to face.
Nagumo slammed both palms against the stone bridge.
The ground distorted.
Stone rippled like water beneath the charging skeletons before violently buckling upward. Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface, splitting the formation and sending several undead tumbling into the abyss below. The disruption bought the group several precious seconds.
"Well done, Nagumo!" Captain Meld called out, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Everyone, fall back to the stairs!"
The students and knights regrouped in frantic motion, boots pounding against stone.
"On my command, prepare magic missiles to cover his retreat!" Meld ordered, raising his blade.
Mana thickened in the air, humming as spells formed in trembling hands.
"Ready…" Meld's arm rose. "Fire!"
A volley of magic missiles streaked downward in brilliant arcs, slamming into the bridge beneath the behemoth. Explosions chained together in rapid succession.
The massive creature roared as the structure beneath it gave way. Stone shattered. The bridge collapsed.
The behemoth—and countless skeletons—plummeted into the abyss.
Nagumo exhaled and turned to retreat—
Something felt wrong.
One spell hadn't followed the others.
It veered.
Straight toward him.
'Is that… heading for me?'
The missile detonated directly in front of his escape path.
The explosion swallowed his vision in white.
The shockwave hurled him backward—onto the collapsing remains of the bridge.
Stone gave way beneath his feet.
"No—!" Kaori Shirasaki screamed as she watched him fall, her voice breaking.
Nagumo's body disappeared into the darkness below, swallowed by the abyss alongside the monsters.
Kaori surged forward, desperation overtaking reason. She tried to leap after him—
—but Shizuku Yaegashi struck her sharply at the base of the neck.
Kaori collapsed into her arms, unconscious.
"Why did you do that?!" Kouki Amanogawa shouted, fury flashing in his eyes.
"She did what had to be done," Captain Meld said firmly. "If she had followed him, she would have died as well. We cannot afford to lose anyone else."
Kouki's fists trembled at his sides. His teeth ground together, but he said nothing. They had barely survived this floor. There was no saving someone who fell deeper.
"Fall back," Meld ordered grimly. "We regroup and return to the surface immediately."
Far below—deeper than any of them had ever ventured—
Hajime Nagumo was still falling.
Wind screamed past his ears as jagged rock tore across his body. He struck stone—once, twice, again. Each impact shattered bone and split flesh. Blood sprayed in hot arcs before vanishing into the darkness below.
'So this is it…'
His consciousness flickered.
'Guess this is how I die.'
His body finally slammed into solid ground, skidding violently across rough stone before crashing into a cavern wall.
THUD.
He collapsed in a broken heap at the edge of a vast underground chamber.
…
Minutes passed.
Or perhaps hours.
His fingers twitched.
Nagumo's eyes snapped open, unfocused and glassy. Every nerve in his body screamed as he tried to move.
"Still… alive?" he rasped, coughing up a mouthful of blood that splattered against the stone.
He forced his head up.
"Am I… still in the dungeon?" His voice barely carried. "It's so dark…"
As his vision slowly adjusted, a shape came into focus a few meters away.
Dark gray fur.
Strange red patterns along its limbs.
Two large, floppy ears.
"…It's just a rabbit?" he muttered weakly. "Aren't monsters supposed to get stronger the deeper you go?"
"Rrrrr."
A low growl answered him.
Two gray-furred wolves with matching red markings lunged toward the rabbit.
SLASH.
SLASH.
In a blur too fast to follow, both wolves collapsed—headless. Their bodies hit the ground a second later.
Nagumo scrambled backward, palms scraping against stone.
'That's not a rabbit…'
ZMMM.
The air vibrated.
The creature vanished—then reappeared directly in front of him. Crimson eyes studied him with unsettling curiosity.
It tilted its head.
Then attacked.
SLASH.
The strike missed by a hair's breadth, carving a deep trench into the stone beside him and kicking up a choking cloud of dust.
COUGH.
As the dust began to settle, the creature tensed to finish him—
—and froze.
High atop a jagged rock formation stood something far worse.
A monstrous bear with grayish-white fur and a crushing presence that seemed to press down on the entire cavern. Drool dripped from its jaws as its cold eyes locked onto the smaller predator.
The rabbit fled instantly, using its Quick Step ability to blur across the cavern.
The bear roared.
Energy gathered around its claws.
ZINGGG.
Three green energy sickles tore through the air.
The rabbit's head separated cleanly from its body.
Its corpse hit the ground in silence.
Nagumo forced his battered body to move.
'Run.'
Adrenaline flooded his veins, dulling the agony just enough to function. Each step sent lightning bolts of pain through his shattered frame.
Behind him came the wet crunch of flesh as the abyss bear began feeding.
He stumbled after only a few meters, his foot catching on uneven stone. He barely managed to roll before slamming shoulder-first into the cavern wall.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs.
"Gah—!" He choked, coughing blood as he struggled upright.
"Graarrr…"
A deep, rumbling growl vibrated through the cavern.
The ground trembled as the bear rose to its full height—easily several meters tall. Its shadow swallowed him.
Its eyes locked onto him.
Predatory.
Cold.
'I can't outrun that.' His thoughts spiraled. 'Think—think!'
The bear charged.
Stone cracked beneath its weight as it crossed the distance in seconds.
Nagumo dove aside on instinct just as a massive claw smashed into the ground where he had been.
Before his body could process the pain of the impact—
The second strike came faster. Far faster than his broken body could react.
Massive jaws clamped down around his left arm.
CRUNCH.
Bone shattered like brittle glass. Flesh tore apart like thin paper.
"AAAAAAHHH—!"
He felt everything.
The pressure. The ripping. The warmth draining from him as blood sprayed across the cavern floor.
With brutal ease, the bear tore his arm free as he hit the ground, spinning as shock consumed him.
His left arm—
Gone.
The bear barely spared him another glance before lowering its head and chewing on the severed arm.
The sound echoed obscenely through the cavern.
Nagumo's body convulsed violently as blood poured from the ragged stump, pooling beneath him. The coppery stench filled the air, thick and suffocating.
His breathing grew shallow. His vision dimmed. Darkness pressed in from all sides.
To be continued…