The Narrowing Path
“I can’t believe this! Another raid has been completely wiped out!”
Irene and the others rose in shock from their seats.
“First, let’s gather ourselves. Then we’ll all move together as instructed by Sir Michael. Everyone, hurry!”
At the knight’s words, they quickly prepared to depart.
The knight led the way.
They walked deeper into the twisting path between the winding cliffs, and a sharp, foul odor wafted over on the breeze.
It was the stench of blood.
When they rounded the bend, the entire raid of Irene let out a collective gasp of horror.
“What… what is this…?”
The small plaza they had stayed in moments ago was now filled with corpses far more numerous and even narrower.
Every body was in a grotesque state.
Heads severed clean off. Limbs hacked apart. Torsoes ripped open by something sharp.
It was unmistakably the work of monsters.
At that moment, Michael rose from where he had been inspecting the bodies.
“These are the people who entered through Entrance Two. A few faces I recognize.”
“Entrance Two, you say…”
Cecilia, the princess, had been at Entrance One.
The group that had come here was a raid containing a high-ranking purifier who was close to the princess and several others.
No matter how strong she was, the princess had been an exceptionally powerful purifier, and her knight was one of the continent’s most renowned heroes.
With just the two of them, they had easily taken down a mid-tier dungeon.
A large-scale raid like this, with such people, wiped out like this…
“What kind of monster could cause something like this…”
Someone’s muttered words spread. The others looked around nervously and gathered in the center.
At that moment, Michael spoke again.
“There are too few survivors. I heard this raid had around three hundred people. They split into three teams. That means there should have been about a hundred. But only about fifty bodies are here. They’re not enough to say everyone is gone.”
His calm tone made everyone’s skin crawl even more.
Then where had those fifty gone?
If they had run away from this catastrophe, it would be a mercy. But if they had disappeared for some other reason…
“Did they get eaten?”
Someone finally voiced what others had been unable to say. The air around them grew colder.
Meanwhile, Reina, facing this unprecedented horror for the first time, staggered to a corner and began to vomit.
Others covered their mouths or wept from shock.
Those who had entered the dungeon many times before had never witnessed such a ghastly sight.
Irene also covered her nose and mouth with her hands. Even so, the thick stench of blood could not be blocked.
Thoughts of the reward box had long vanished from her mind.
*This can’t be happening.*
The Eye of Exploration had said this was a high-to-mid tier dungeon. There had also been no unusually strong monsters detected among those judged to be inside.
Suddenly, a change from her past life flashed through Irene’s mind. She hurriedly pulled out the paper she had stuffed into her bag.
One corner of the complex dungeon map was completely blacked out.
Red letters above it read **[Unexplorable Region]**.
Irene was certain. The monster that had massacred them all was definitely in this area.
“Michael.”
Irene immediately grabbed the hem of his sleeve. He opened his palm and gently wrapped her trembling hand.
“It’s fine. I don’t sense any demonic energy nearby.”
His words eased her trembling slightly. After a moment, when she had barely regained her composure, she said,
“We have to go back. Right now.”
There was no time to think about the reward box. First and foremost, they had to get out alive.
Unlike before, the other pairs who would normally have shouted about how ridiculous that was stayed silent this time.
The dead had been far stronger pairs than themselves.
Even they had died without properly fighting back. How could they possibly defeat an unknown monster?
But the reason they weren’t panicking was thanks to Michael’s calm presence in this situation.
He would protect them from danger.
As long as they stayed beside him, they would be safe.
That was the absolute trust of the entire raid.
Michael examined the wounds on the corpses, wiped his hands clean, and addressed everyone.
“We’ll return the way we came while maintaining formation. I’m giving up on recovering the bodies. The numbers we can handle are far too few.”
In the dungeon, if a teammate was injured or killed, it was the fortress’s rule to protect and recover them even if they were not from one’s own team.
But this was an emergency situation where even that basic rule had to be ignored.
At Michael’s command, everyone moved with the speed of well-trained soldiers. They felt instinctively that the smallest mistake in this situation would cost them their lives.
Unlike when they had entered, the return path was filled only with the sounds of suppressed breathing, muffled sobs, and vomiting.
Their group moved at nearly a run, faster than when they had first arrived.
At first, with only thirty-two people, some had grumbled. Now, with the numbers even smaller, they truly felt relieved.
If more people had been present, moving this fast would have been impossible.
After passing the entrance path and resting in the wide space where they had eaten their snacks, they headed back toward the way they had come.
But soon, all their footsteps stopped.
“…What?”
Even if the plaza had multiple branching paths, they could not have mistaken the route they had taken.
Yet everyone was unable to find the path they had come down.
Amid the others’ confusion, Irene counted the number of paths connecting to the plaza with her fingers.
“…Eight.”
At the number she had counted, goosebumps broke out across her entire body.
When she had first entered this plaza, it had clearly been connected by nine paths.
One path had disappeared.
* * *
In the end, the group could only stop in the plaza.
The paths had narrowed. At the same time, their positions had shifted slightly.
“I’ve never heard of a dungeon that changes shape inside.”
Irene swallowed a sigh and recalled every bit of knowledge she knew.
If a wall had collapsed from fighting a monster inside, maybe. But a dungeon that changed form midway?
*It must have been an unstable dungeon.*
One that had not yet fully stabilized in this world.
If it had crossed over from another world, the incomplete form might have changed.
*Of course, this is just my guess.*
Moreover, even if the dungeon’s appearance had changed for that reason, it would not have been particularly helpful information in their current situation.
The purifiers gathered in the center stared at Irene with eyes filled with fear.
No one blamed the fool who had said, “We came here because of you.”
*If they had gone the other way, I might have been rolling around among those corpses right now.*
Thinking that way, it was truly a blessing they had stayed here.
Besides, Michael was right here. The other teams had been wiped out, but this one might still hold out, either by fighting or by enduring longer.
But thinking that way and deciding what to do next were two completely different matters.
“Miss Irene, what do we do now?”
“Where should we go?”
The purifiers crowded around her and clung to her. Irene felt suffocated.
The fact that so many people were relying on her, who hadn’t even been able to properly care for one, weighed heavily on her.
*My choice has cost these people their lives.*
With that thought, a heavy weight pressed down on her shoulders.
*It was my mistake.*
If she had quietly hidden in a corner of the fortress, what on earth had she been thinking to cause this chaos?
She should have taken Cecilia’s hand and boldly asked for a loan of money. Or she should have refused Michael’s pair application…
If she had made even one different choice among all those, they wouldn’t be in this situation now.
At that moment, Michael knelt on one knee in front of Irene and met her gaze, which had been fixed on the ground.
“Do not blame yourself. This is entirely my responsibility.”
“No, Your Highness… wait, Michael—”
“Michael.”
Even in this situation, did that matter?
Irene let out a faint, resigned laugh at his stubbornness.
“Yes, Michael.”
When she smiled, Michael finally relaxed, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
“As your pair, I made you uneasy. It is my responsibility. If I had been stronger, I would not have faced such a dungeon at all.”
*If I had been stronger…*
Even now, he had already exceeded human limits. He could not become any stronger.
“Still, do not worry too much.”
He stood up and turned his head.
“I will make sure you return safely, no matter what happens to you.”
He stared at the spot on the map marked **[Unexplorable Region]**.
As if gazing at something lying beyond it.