He dragged them for a long time, perhaps several days, until they became mere flesh slaves, and now, to his lair—the second floor of the dungeon.
He almost flew away.
Using the dungeon entrance and the town’s marking point nearby as a guide.
He flew to an unmarked spot in the north, assuming no one would be there.
“But, right now, I…”
A colossal vessel body.
The queen ant, who had also become a flesh slave, was also enormous.
Even though there was no one around.
The villagers and townspeople near the dungeon entrance noticed something large suddenly appearing.
“I messed up――――”
I used the earth of my vessel body.
I disguised the flesh slave as a rocky mountain.
I summoned a humanoid vessel body from subspace.
The rocky mountain is my earth magic.
I explained to those whose hoofbeats and shouts were now heading this way.
“I really screwed up…”
I didn’t use the sage mode that could have followed, nor did I get carried away with excitement.
I’ll be more careful next time, yes, I’ll learn from this.
It felt like only a few minutes had passed.
An armed group from the village and town visited to assess the situation.
There were two from the village and six from the town.
All were mounted on horses.
(Me on a horse, that’s nice)
“Excuse me. I was practicing magic.”
I failed, you see.
Rayos apologized to the group who had arrived in a humble manner.
“…”
“…”
The group from the village and town remained silent but communicated with their eyes to decide who would speak.
The representative from the town asked Rayos his name and profession.
Rayos, like flowing water.
He smoothly spouted false information from his mouth.
“I see. Please be careful from now on.”
“Yes. I am truly sorry for the trouble.”
Rayos bowed repeatedly to everyone, feigning sincere remorse.
Since the townspeople had asked what they needed to know, the two who had come to check on the village also decided they had no business here and returned to report.
All eight of them looked at Rayos’s apologetic demeanor, thinking, “He seems unusually composed?” Well, as long as he’s careful about future magic runaway incidents, that’s fine.
They all wanted to end this troublesome matter quickly.
The eight who had been called out to the scene thought.
If they had thought a little more, they would have realized he was a suspicious man.
Because, logically, wouldn’t it be?
Who would be able to respond so smoothly to an apology while being threatened with pressure from horseback?
No matter how you look at it, even if you ask, he’s a D-rank adventurer. A mage.
A young man in his late twenties, new to the world.
He didn’t have any special lineage—no heritage of being descended from the world’s strongest.
However, the eight chose to quickly report and relax until a genuine emergency occurred, rather than realize it.
Hmph, I managed to deceive them.
“Now, to think rationally.”
Rayos faces a serious problem: how to get the queen ant into the *dungeon*.
It wouldn’t be impossible to shove her in through the entrance, but…
She’s a new flesh slave.
He cherished her.
Violence was sufficient when he was subduing her.
And then there’s the village in front of the entrance.
This is the biggest problem.
Digging into the ground to connect to the dungeon’s descending tunnel?
That would definitely be discovered.
Besides, the dungeon entrance is the same as a subspace entrance.
Digging into the ground wouldn’t connect to subspace.
He absolutely had to go through the village first.
“Nnnnngh.”
Rayos thinks. His brain cells, which usually only think about how to lead women to heaven, were working at full capacity, like constructing a solution to make women moan on the bed, at full capacity.
He felt a headache from thinking too hard.
Experiences from Earth flashed through his mind like a slideshow.
He mistook the phantom sensations of pain and nausea coursing through his body for reality, but his inner self reminded him that it was just memory.
And he couldn’t come up with an answer.
The queen ant is large—huge.
Where could he hide something that large?
A mountain, of course.
Then, using his magic power and concentration, he meticulously scanned the positional information of the individuals he had mentally marked.
He chose a mountain where the queen ant could be left alone and wouldn’t be discovered immediately.
He then transported himself and the queen ant, who offered no resistance to teleportation.
***
The town after Rayos and his party had departed.
Monsters on the second floor of the dungeon formed groups, determined not to let any intruders reach the third floor.
The adventurers, frustrated, fought amongst themselves day after day.
They would pick fights or try to provoke each other by eavesdropping on their conversations.
They just wanted to vent their frustrations.
“Grrr! You bastard!”
“Yeah——♪! Take him down!”
“Go for it——♪! Right there!”
“Come on, come on! Bet on who wins!”
The eatery for adventurers who came from afar upon hearing about the discovery of an unexplored labyrinth and dungeon was once again violently smashing tables and chairs today.
However, since compensation and apology fees were paid, the shopkeeper didn’t seem too concerned.
Inside the shop, the Yoko Fox clan sisters, disguised as friendly young adventurers, were complaining about their morning expedition.
“What was that? (A mixed unit of monsters cooperating) ———! Normally, a dungeon floor doesn’t have this many species (usually just two or three types of monsters, plus a floor ruler/boss monster)… *gulp*”
“You’re drinking too much. But, this is a problem…”
The Yoko Fox Elder Sister’s “this is a problem” wasn’t about her feminine speech slipping out when complaining.
Nor was it about her younger sister exploding and picking fights with the rowdy crowd.
No, the problem was that she couldn’t reach the ruler who had summoned her—a rather foolish man—and the monsters living in the fortress built in the center of the dungeon’s second floor.
“Hey~, can I go start a fight~?”
“Alright, just take it easy… sigh…”
“Yo——! Let me join!”
The younger Yoko Fox sister joined the commotion where bets were being placed, relentlessly punching, kicking, and occasionally applying joint locks to the strong, unhealthy-looking men.
“Gyaaaaahhh. I give up! Someone stop hereeee—” *CRACK*
“WHOAAA! She did itttt!”
“DAMN, WE LOST! … Guess we’re going to the labyrinth.”
The younger Yoko Fox sister mercilessly broke the arms of the cowardly opponent, who had concealed blades and needles within his bracelets.
Her cowardly companion, and those who had bet on him, suffered great losses.
They had no motivation, but their livelihoods depended on it, so they headed to the dungeon.
Those who won the bets cheered.
The younger Yoko Fox sister responded by raising her arm with a “Hoo, hoo.”
Just then.
A party of adventurers who had heard rumors of Rayos’s magic runaway incident visited the shop.
Those who had lost badly were drawn in, wondering if this was some kind of good opportunity?
The Yoko Fox Elder Sister overheard them.
(Magic runaway? I don’t feel any such magic, but…)
Suspicious. I should investigate.
“Hey!? Let’s go!?”
She called out to her younger sister, who was at the center of the commotion.
They went to the location where Rayos and the queen ant had been, but found nothing. The Yoko Fox Elder Sister also participated in the betting matches for dinner.
“Next up, who is it!?”
“He’s so scrawny, yet with those thin arms… *sob*”
“Damn it! Someone end his winning streak!”
“Lucky me, I’m making money. Keep it up♪!”
“This guy… *mumble mumble*”
“Seriously!? But if they find out…”
The town saw an increase in population-related incidents.
Abundant resources and materials were extracted from the dungeon.
The town grew day by day with development, destruction, reconstruction, and expansion.
Sauron, wandering further to the west, quietly gazed out at the sea.
“…”
Rumor had it that a giant sea serpent appeared on the coast, devouring anything it found.
“…!”
“GYAAAAAAAAAA——O!?”
A flash.
The sea serpent, opening its mouth wide to swallow him whole.
Sauron, slicing across its cheek, halved the sea serpent.
“…”
He shook the blood from his blade.
And looked down at the sea serpent’s corpse.
What was he thinking?
Sauron, for some reason, wandered off elsewhere again.
