What just happened…?

Forcing my aching body to move, I slowly lifted myself up. Through the swirling dust clouding the air, countless groans echoed all around me.

Scattered around the sand-covered ground, riddled with stones, my classmates lay collapsed.

“Ugh… grgh…”

“...Ugh...”

“Ah… ah…”

At Lili's signal, all twenty of us, the entire class, began exploring the dungeon together.

We weren’t planning to explore in a friendly, unified group, but the first floor—our initial gathering point—was a vast open area typical of natural dungeons. So, we ended up moving together by coincidence.

As we searched for the stairs leading to the second floor, a magical creature, likely released by the instructors, appeared before us. It was a massive wooden golem. Presumably, it was meant to build the students' confidence. Its movements were simple and painfully slow.

Everyone was tense during this first combat encounter, but the golem was ultimately nothing more than a lifeless puppet. It was quickly pierced by blades and reduced to wood shavings.

Predictably, this emboldened the students. What had been cautious steps suddenly turned into hurried strides. We advanced, cutting down the successive waves of wooden golems, large and small.

Eventually, some groups, now full of confidence, broke into a sprint, determined to be the first to reach the second floor. Other groups chased after them, unwilling to be left behind.

Our party—comprised of me, Miku, Void, and Oujin—trailed lazily at the back of the procession.

And then it happened.

It appeared suddenly, right in front of us.

Just before the staircase to the second floor—the very staircase we’d been searching for—it emerged from the darkness. The students rushing toward the stairs came to a halt as it rose from the shadows beyond.

It was a smaller magical creature compared to the wooden golems we’d encountered thus far. But its body was not wooden. Instead, it had long black hair that seemed to blend into the darkness and bright red eyes that lacked pupils. It was unclothed—not even armor—but it had no genitalia. Neither male nor female.

It looked human. Yet, it looked like a monster. The classmates were undoubtedly confused.

My first thought was of training to kill humanoid targets.

On the battlefield, unlike in dungeons, you’re often required to kill other humans rather than monsters. This might have been a magical creature designed as a practice target for such situations.

But—

The creature’s red eyes, which swept over us, seemed to hold an eerie sense of intent.

Magical creatures—whether golems or gargoyles—do not possess intent. They are programmed during their creation to follow simple commands and nothing more.

For instance: “Eliminate students within the dungeon, but do not kill them.” They do not intimidate. They do not observe.

But the creature before us was different. Its red eyes scanned us, as if evaluating us.

My instincts screamed a warning.

Something is wrong…?

My reason echoed the alarm.

Would anyone bother to program such behavior into a magical creature…?

The conclusion in my mind was clear: this was an irregularity, an unknown anomaly.

Even the instructors likely had no idea this creature existed. Lili had mentioned that the dungeon's lower layers, beyond the third floor, were sealed by iron doors. Perhaps unidentified lifeforms thrived deeper within.

Determined to keep Miku from charging ahead, I grabbed the back of her uniform.

“Don’t go, Miku…”

“...”

Or perhaps, even now, I underestimated the girl named Miku Orunkaim. The uniform I grasped was damp. Sweat. Despite having walked only a short distance.

She seemed to have noticed it too. Her face was pale.

“…This is bad…”

She had realized it wasn’t a magical creature.

Amazingly, so had Void and Oujin, who had been trailing behind us. Perhaps Void sensed it with his animalistic intuition, and Oujin through the martial artist’s knack for detecting subtle signs. Both readied their weapons simultaneously.

“What the hell is that?”

“...”

But the other groups were different. Seeing that the creature wasn’t attacking, they assumed it to be just another wooden golem and drew their swords, rushing forward to strike it down.

I shouted desperately.

“Wait—!”

A male student in the lead charged forward, his broadsword raised high. He brought it down in a knightly sword technique, aiming for the creature's head.

He must have been confident in his skill.

“Daaaaah!”

But just before the blade made contact, the creature’s red eye flickered. Its left arm rose casually, deflecting the sword with its bare hand.

A sharp metallic clang reverberated through the first floor.

It deflected the blade with its arm. The edge of the sword. Its skin was hardened. This was no ordinary being.

“Wha—?!”

The broadsword flew from the male student’s hand. But by then, he had already realized his mistake. He had angered a monster far beyond his comprehension.

The creature’s right hand formed a fist and struck. The punch hit the male student square in the chest, sending him flying several meters backward, knocking over several other students in his path before they all crumpled to the ground.

“...Ah… gah…!”

Blood bubbled from his mouth as he convulsed. His chest was caved in, grotesquely misshapen in the shape of the creature’s fist.

Our uniforms are made of metallic fibers. While not as strong as armor, they are durable enough to withstand shallow cuts. But against blunt force, they are ineffective.

A female student, likely from the same party, frantically unbuttoned his uniform. His chest was unnaturally sunken, rapidly darkening with bruises, and seeping blood.

One glance was enough.

…A fatal wound. His internal organs had been crushed. Without intervention, he would die.

The atmosphere shifted.

The majority of the students, who had been approaching the creature, now hesitated, trembling as they stepped back.

“H-Help…”

“What… what is that thing…?”

“No way…”

Ah, it’s over. Their spirit is broken. They’ve lost the will to fight.

If I were my past self, I would shout words of encouragement. But the voice of a ten-year-old, whose body hasn’t even gone through puberty, is powerless to stop this tide.

A male student, unable to stand, was abandoned as others turned their backs on the creature. At once, the entire group erupted into panicked screams and scattered in every direction.

All I could do was curse under my breath.

“Fools! You never turn your back on a beast! You’ll be attacked!”

At that moment, the creature leapt into the air. Its right hand began to glow faintly with magic.

As I suspected. It ignored the three of us standing firm, instead soaring over us toward the fleeing crowd headed back to the entrance where Lili waited—

Void shouted.

“Hey!”

The creature landed on its right hand. No, landed isn’t the right word. That was an attack.

Its glowing right arm pierced through the dungeon’s stone floor, shattering and upturning it. Its entire body sunk headfirst into the ground.

—Kehihihihi…

It laughed. Its red eyes twisted with glee. A chill ran down my spine.

The result was obvious.

Cracks spread rapidly across the first floor. They reached the feet of the fleeing students, who were soon engulfed by the collapsing ground.

The first floor of the dungeon crumbled.