Volume 8 Chapter 5 Mansion Exploration
"Eeek, a ghost!"
"It's just a painting."
"Ewww, human bones?"
"It's just a vase."
"There's a footstep sound?"
"That's just yours, senior."
'Yawn~, I'm getting up――ouch!?'
"Now, I hear a girl's voice?"
"...I didn't hear it, though."
"No way!?"
It's been 10 minutes since we started investigating the haunted mansion.
Senior Rikka, who boldly started exploring, is already hiding behind me.
Or rather, she's already clinging to me from behind.
Just a while ago, she said, "An investigator should walk separately," but...
"Um, it's hard to walk like this. Can you please move away a bit?"
"Huh? If Noa falls down behind me, who's going to catch your body?"
"I'll take the fall."
"Why do you say that? Do you like taking the fall that much? Are you choosing to take the fall over me?"
"It's not like that."
"If you like taking the fall that much, why don't you just marry it?"
"Even if you say that..."
Senior Rikka's fear gauge is maxing out, and she's getting more and more weird.
She probably doesn't even understand what she's saying herself.
"Ugh, you ghost... Using a mental attack is so cowardly!"
"It's probably 90% self-destruction, though."
I guess it's better to investigate alone.
Not to mention, I want to investigate the "hidden passage" in this mansion, Parasite Palace, by myself.
Are they enjoying our situation?
――Kusukusukusu....
A girl's laughter echoed through the dimly lit corridor.
"! Where!?"
Senior Rikka, even though she's scared, quickly moves away from me.
She takes out a goggles from her west pocket and equips it.
The Goggles of Resentment.
A D-rank appraisal equipment for finding cursed items.
I saw it before in the special equipment appraisal section of "Monthly Equipment Mania". It was said that if you stared at the cursed equipment for a few seconds, it would start to look red.
Since it's D-Rank, the accuracy isn't that high, and it has the drawback of making it hard to see the surroundings when worn....
"Ah I just saw something red! There must be cursed equipment here!"
"Huh, huh...?"
If I carelessly keep it in her line of sight, it'll react again.
I hastily hid the Gluttony Mimic Bag and The Collar of Cruel Pleasure with my robe and moved behind Senior Rikka's back.
"Noa, be careful! The opponent probably has 'invisibility cursed equipment'!"
Despite being scared, she was analyzing it somehow. No, she was trying to convince herself it wasn't a ghost. Well, either way, it was a misunderstanding.
"Damn it, where did it go?!"
Senior Rikka turned her head around in a flurry.
Ah, this is bad... she's looking this way.
I reflexively caught Senior Rikka's head.
And――.
"It's over there!"
――Crack.
"Aah!"
...It made a better sound than I expected.
Senior Rikka took off her goggles, her eyes welling up with tears.
"What are you doing?!"
"I, no... your head was in a fragile position, so..."
"Psycho pass!?"
"I'm sorry, just kidding."
"Seriously, stop messing around."
"Ah, ahaha, sorry."
"Don't make light of it, it's all because of Noa that they got away."
Senior Rikka got angry, pouting.
No, I'm really sorry...
After a while, Senior Rikka's anger subsided.
"Still, this mansion... isn't it too big?"
She looked around, tilting her head.
"It's definitely huge."
I thought the same when I saw the entrance hall, but the inside of this mansion is just too vast.
It's already enormous, to the point where we could even call it vast. No matter how far we walk down the corridor, we can't see the end.
When I saw it from the outside, it looked like a pretty compact mansion, but...
Even if it's a big mansion, this scale is still abnormal.
'This is a Dungeon, isn't it?'
Juju poked her face out from behind my waist bag.
She must have woken up from her nap and gotten bored.
"There's a girl's voice or something..."
"Ah, I'll cover your ears, senior."
"What's the hurry?!"
While tightly holding onto senior's ear, I whispered back to Juju.
"What's with the Dungeon, anyway...?"
'I told you before that dungeons are equipment, didn't I?'
"Yeah, I think so..."
A Dungeon is a space that's detached from the logic of this world, where mysterious phenomena like infinite monsters occur.
I had heard from Juju before that the true identity of the Dungeon is cursed equipment.
And if you check the effect of Parasite Palace, it's indeed written as "armor (Dungeon)".
But still, it's hard to believe. I've never heard of such a huge piece of equipment.
'Well, it's pretty rare to find an unequipped Dungeon, though.'
"But if it's equipment, isn't it something you can basically carry around?"
'Yeah, you can carry it around. It's equipment, after all.'
"Huh?"
'Dungeons can usually change their shape freely, as long as they have a core.'
"A core...?"
"It's like the main body of the Dungeon. There are various types of cores, though."
"Wow."
I don't really get how Dungeons work, but that's how it is.
You carry the core around and set up the Dungeon wherever you want to use it.
Then, your own Dungeon will be created in that place, or so it seems.
"So, there's a way to do it, huh?"
With the cost of dying if I leave the mansion, and the core that can operate the Dungeon...
"I see... so that's the 'loophole' of this cursed equipment."
Cursed equipment usually comes with a harsh cost, but in many cases, there's a "loophole" to that cost. By using it in a way the creator didn't intend, you can cancel out the cost.
But, this time's shortcut is pretty simple.
If I can just find the core, I'll be fine.
'It seems like this Miss Juju's wisdom came in handy, right?'
"Yeah."
There are some weird things happening, aren't there? Maybe fire will start falling from the sky soon.
"Well, let's just search for the core anyway"
I don't need to search the entire labyrinth-like mansion randomly.
If I use Compass Eye (Ra Shingan), that'll be enough.
"Show me the 'Parasite Palace's core'"
I whispered the instruction, and the pattern on my left eye's compass lit up.
A needle-like pattern appeared in my vision, spinning around in all directions.
Before long, the needle stopped, pointing to one spot.
That means the core of "Parasite Palace" is in that direction.
"...Behind?"
Senior and I just came from that way. Did we miss something?
Maybe we should head back. It's not like it's safe to keep going deeper.
"H-hey, Noa... can you let go of my ear now..."
"Ah, sorry."
I forgot about Senior Rikka. I hurriedly released her ear.
"What were you trying to do...?"
"It's just a hobby. I enjoy covering people's ears."
"You should stop that hobby."
I got seriously scolded.
"Rather than that, shouldn't we head back? There's no goal ahead anyway."
"Umm...yeah, it's not like it's safe to go deeper."
As expected, Senior Rikka is cautious. She's aware of the risks.
So, we decided to head back the way we came, and turned around.
And then, I was speechless.
"...Eh?"
There was a wall.
A sturdy-looking wall right behind us.
It wasn't an illusion, and Senior Rikka was also stunned.
"What's with this wall..."
"It wasn't here just a minute ago"
I mean, it's not like it was here.
We just walked through the spot where this wall is now.
"Or is this wall...moving closer?"
"Ah, I agree. I thought the same thing"
Rumble, rumble, rumble... The wall is closing in on us!
The expensive-looking decorations in the hallway are being smashed and crushed. The wall is still not satisfied with the destruction and is speeding up even more.
It's clear that it's trying to crush us.
"Let's run!"
"Okay!"
We hastily escape from the wall.
As if it's calculated our move, the wall's speed increases even more.
"W-what's going on...?!"
"Senior, can't you run any faster?"
"No way! I don't have any agility-boosting gear!"
"Is that so? Then, I'll just have to apologize a little..."
"H-huh?!"
I grab Senior Rikka's hand and hoist her onto my shoulder.
Her small body is a blessing in disguise. With this much luggage, I can still run with ease, thanks to my experience carrying heavy loads!
"Don't treat me like luggage!"
Senior Rikka is protesting, but I don't have time to care.
I just keep running down the hallway.
It's a straight path, and there's no way to escape or hide. The only way out is forward.
I keep running, running, running... and finally reach the end of the hallway.
I'm relieved for just a moment...
But there's no turning path. It's a dead end.
When I look back, the wall is already right behind us.
"W-wait...!"
"Ugh..."
There's no choice. I hug Senior Rikka's head and focus my consciousness on the wristband on my right hand.
In my hand, a slender, water-blue sword appears.
Slime Sword. The Attack 2000 sword that can change its form at will.
I grip the sword tightly and prepare to face the wall...
① Slash ② Don't slash
Which one do you choose?
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