I lost Rif's group. The golem moved slower than I'd expected. While I was busy smashing other groups, Rif's party had already reached the dungeon entrance.
I abandoned the chase. The golem only had 2 HP left, which was another reason I gave up the pursuit. In the end, including the one who'd fled first and all five members of Rif's party, I lost six enemies.
The second battle was fierce. I ordered the golem to crouch in a dark corner of the cave — making it look for all the world like an ordinary boulder — and hid behind a stalactite. The moment the adventurers passed through the corridor, the golem ambushed them. The ambush itself was a success. Two adventurers died within a minute.
"Why are there still monsters left?!"
"Son of a bitch — is this a naturally spawned one?"
That was where the real trouble started. The three were beginners, but they'd apparently dealt with monsters a few times before. They knew from experience that as long as they didn't panic, they could fight back. Two of them blocked attacks with wooden shields while the third swung an iron club. The golem's HP, which had been at 6, plummeted in an instant.
Growing desperate, I stepped out from behind the stalactite. I gambled on the chance that the golem might die if I did nothing. To draw their attention, I let out a wild scream.
"AAAAH! Adventurers — a whole bunch of adventurers are swarming in!"
At my sudden shout, the people reflexively turned toward me. The moment a "Why are you here?" look began forming on their faces, the golem smashed its fist down on an inattentive adventurer's head. One person eliminated. The adventurers, thrown into chaos by my sudden appearance and the claim that more adventurers were pouring in, lost their formation and were wiped out.
Was the last one barely managing to grasp what was happening? Even with both legs shattered, the man who died last glared at me with murderous hatred.
"Demon Lord — you bastard, you betrayed us!"
He hurled his spear at me. I crashed to the ground in terror. Since he'd thrown it without using his legs, the spear couldn't reach me and fell limply to the ground. Before the spear even finished rolling to a stop, the adventurer's skull was crushed in the golem's grip.
Right after that, a fanfare blared — "CLEAR!"
— Tutorial Mission cleared.
— As a tutorial reward, you have been granted 1 skill. Skill type is determined by your play style.
— Congratulations! You have acquired the skill 'Acting.'
A female voice, mechanical and flat, rang in my ears. The word "CLEAR!" flashed before my eyes. The capitalized letters lit up in vivid colors like a casino slot machine.
I stared blankly at the lights. A moment later, a voice announcing 'Presenting results' came through as a hologram appeared. It was a report on the outcome of defeating the enemies.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Results Report]
*Level UP Monsters: 1 Incapacitated Monsters: 0
*Captured Prisoners: 0
Gold on hand: 611 gold
Plundered: +2 gold Looted: -201 gold
Total gold: 412 gold
*Dungeon EXP: 0026/1000 (Lv.01)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Corpses strewn across the cave. Crushed skulls, brains. The sound effects were absurdly cheerful against such a grotesque scene. My brain couldn't bridge the gap. I curled my body up and stared blankly into the void.
Tap.
Something touched the tip of my foot. The spear shaft thrown by the last adventurer had rolled over and come to rest against me.
"Ugh…!"
All the profanity I'd been holding back surged up at once. It was vomit I'd barely managed to suppress, using the battlefield's adrenaline as an anesthetic. I tried to hold it in again. But once my lips parted, stomach acid and bile erupted like a fountain. A foul brownish liquid dripped and spattered over the spear shaft.
When I was a freshman in college, a senior from my club had dragged me to a red-light district and I'd lost my virginity. The smell of a woman's lower half I'd caught a faint whiff of then had been truly revolting — so much so that it was hard to imagine anyone willingly putting their mouth on it. But that was nothing compared to this. The stench of blood flowing from a human skull, from internal organs, was the most nauseous thing in the world. I never had any idea blood could smell this bad.
"Blargh! Ugh, bleeeagh!"
The thought that something identical to those bloody pools on the floor was flowing inside my own body right now made the nausea ten times worse. It felt like my brain was being vomited out along with everything else. My vision blurred, and once again that chime — that goddamn sound effect — rang out.
"Your level has increased."
I collapsed where I'd thrown up and passed out.
I have no idea how long I slept. There was no sky to see inside the cave. Some kind of magical lighting fixture — a spherical orb — emitted only a faint, pale glow. I blinked. The cave ceiling was impossibly high, its darkness swallowing the light.
I was exhausted enough to die. I wanted to just keep lying there. But the stench was unbearable. I groaned and pushed my upper body upright. Out of habit I planted my right foot on the ground to stand, then suddenly realized something.
'Ah. My right leg doesn't move.'
I was surprisingly calm accepting that fact. Maybe it was because my head was still foggy and heavy, like shrouded in mist. I looked around. The golem was standing quietly beside me, keeping watch over its sleeping master.
"…Thanks."
Low-level monsters couldn't possibly understand language, but I expressed my feelings honestly. The golem was the only being in this world that I could truly trust — not a single other soul was on my side.
— Krrraa.
Something quite surprising happened. The golem let out a low cry, as if it had understood my words. Could this also be one of the Demon Lord's abilities?
I crawled across the ground on my belly, making my way to each of the adventurer corpses one by one. It was to strip the gold coins they had hidden on their bodies. The very first thought that crossed my mind the instant I opened my eyes was 'I have to survive,' and the one right after that was 'I need money.' Guilt over the first murder I had committed in my life?
There was none.
To be precise, I didn't have the luxury to feel anything like that.
I had let one adventurer escape in the first battle. He would definitely report to Rift's party that I had betrayed them. Rift's party would be furious. And upon learning that their comrades had been brutally slaughtered, they would be enraged all the more.
I had no idea when they might storm the dungeon again for revenge. Or perhaps yet another adventurer party really could come charging in. Not fifteen, but twenty-five, maybe even thirty-five members. I had to gather as much money as possible before that day came.
'Demon Lord — you bastard, you betrayed me!'
As I pulled the gold coins from the last adventurer's clothes, I heard that ringing voice in my head. I clenched my teeth. I had wanted to laugh it off dismissively, but it didn't come out right. What escaped my mouth wasn't a scornful laugh but a slightly trembling voice.
"You brought this on yourselves. It was your own carelessness."
If you hadn't come charging in, you wouldn't have had to die.
I gripped the gold coins tightly with hands stained in blood and vomit. Right on cue, a hologram materialized before my eyes. It was a notification that Affinity with Rift and the other adventurers had dropped to zero. I staggered to my feet. I sat on the golem's shoulder and ordered it to head for the Demon Lord's chamber.
What would become of me from here on?
I had no way of knowing. What kind of place this was, why Dungeon Attack was identical to the world I knew, and above all, why I had ended up in this situation. But there was one thing I knew for certain.
That I would be spending the entire day lounging around on the bed in the Demon Lord's chamber.
— Tutorial complete.
─ Player Status.
[Player: Lolita]
Real Name: Dantalion
Race: Demon Lord Affiliation: Dantalion Demon Lord Army
Alignment: Neutral (-10)
Level: 2 Infamy: 16
Class: Dungeon Operator (F), Demon Lord (F)
Command: 14/19 Might: 2/9 Intellect: 25/25
Politics: 10/20 Charisma: 4/7 Skill: 1/10
* Title: You have no title.
* Abilities: You have no abilities.
* Skill: Acting
[ Achievements: 0 ]
[ Subordinates: 1 entity / 30 entities ]
─ Proceeding to the next stage (stage no. 01).