They were troublesome enemies, the kind that were just a pain to fight. And the staircase we’d found was almost too convenient. It felt as though we were being driven toward it, and the moment we reached the stairs, the attacks ceased. Of course, since the opponents were monsters merged with the walls and unable to move, it might have been natural for the assault to end once we were out of range.
But… something about it weighed on me.
"Tort? Is something wrong?"
Before I knew it, Halfa was peering into my face. Everyone else was looking at me with concern as well. It seemed I had been lost in thought.
"Actually—"
There was no point in keeping it to myself, so I voiced the concerns welling up inside me. As they listened, everyone’s expressions turned grim. They likely found my fears impossible to dismiss.
"Could there be a trap further down?" Rei muttered, his eyes fixed on the path below.
We had been deliberately guided here. That made the possibility of a trap being set very high. Or rather—
"There’s a chance the staircase itself is the trap..."
If the enemy had truly seized control of the dungeon, they could easily manifest a fake staircase.
"What do you mean?" Sally asked.
I didn't have a specific scenario in mind, but as I thought about it, a chilling image crossed my mind.
"What if it only looks like a staircase, but we’re actually walking right into the mouth of a massive monster?"
I managed to scare myself just by saying it, and I instinctively glanced back at the entrance. Sensing my movement, the others followed suit. Fortunately, the entrance remained unchanged.
Still, that was no reason to relax. There was always the chance it would reveal its true nature further down, once we were far enough in that escaping would be impossible. Since the walls had turned into monsters, there was no guarantee the stairs wouldn't do the same.
"Shall I go ahead and scout?" Allen offered.
He was right; standing around paralyzed by anxiety wouldn't accomplish anything. Scouting to see if a trap awaited us was a sound idea.
"No, let’s send the Air Golems. Allen, I need you to act as the relay."
"Understood."
Just as we had done at the dungeon entrance, I added more materials to the Air Golems to expand them and sent them ahead as scouts. I waited with bated breath, expecting something to happen, but contrary to my fears, the golems reached the next floor without incident. We searched the area around the base of the stairs, but found nothing resembling a trap. In the end, the golem continued its exploration until it encountered a standard monster and was destroyed.
Perhaps I was overthinking it. And yet, the suspicion remained.
The others seemed to feel the same, looking unconvinced by the scouting results. We decided to descend the stairs in small groups while maintaining high alert. I was part of the final group.
The groups ahead of us reached the exit without a hitch, and then it was our turn. I descended alongside Rei and Mil. With every step, a warning flared in my mind, screaming at me not to go any further. Yet, despite that intuition, not a single trap was triggered. Eventually, our entire party gathered safely at the exit of the staircase.
"Doesn't look like there were any traps," Mil said, letting out a breath of relief.
"Yeah..." Rei agreed, though his face showed no signs of ease. Everyone else seemed caught between relief and lingering doubt.
"So... what now? Do we keep going?" Spira asked, her expression clouded.
We all looked at one another, but no one spoke. The sense of distrust was still there, but since nothing had happened, the logical choice was to proceed. Everyone seemed to be weighing those two conflicting thoughts.
However, my mind was already made up.
"No, let’s turn back. We have to."
With every step down those stairs, the urge to return had grown more intense. I had wondered if it was just my own anxiety, but I was certain now that it wasn't. Something inside me was pleading with me.
"Yoseph is probably still on the previous floor. He’s planning something catastrophic, and the only reason those wall monsters were herding us was to get us out of the way. They wanted us to descend so we’d waste our time searching the lower depths while they bought themselves a window of opportunity. I don’t know exactly what he’s doing, but I have a terrible feeling about this. We have to stop him now."
"Tort! No, stop it, Tort! Please, come back!"
"Eh...?"
I suddenly realized Halfa was clinging to me. Rei and Lowell were also staring at me with hardened expressions.
"Everyone, what’s wrong?"
"I... I don't even know how to put it into words," Rei stammered.
I had no idea what was happening. Halfa was still clinging to me, sobbing like a small child. Confused, I let my gaze wander until I met Shiroru’s eyes; she looked unusually sharp and focused.
"Tort. You’re on the verge of becoming a god. You were leaking Divine Aura just now."
"Divine Aura? What are you talking about?"
"That! You know, like Garna’s Malice and all that!"
Apparently, "Divine Aura" was a general term used to describe things like Malice or Ren-kun's Destiny Element. Essentially, it was the power of a god. They explained that when a being emits that aura, people perceive them as being "god-like." That was why they thought I was undergoing some kind of transformation.
Even hearing that, I didn't feel any different. I didn't even really understand what Divine Aura was supposed to feel like. To be honest, I’d never felt anything particularly "godly" from the actual gods I’d met, aside from their appearances or the way they manifested. Maybe I’m just dense.
"Hmm, I see. Well, I have no intention of becoming a god, so that would be a bit of a problem..."
"You’re awfully nonchalant about this," Lowell said, looking exasperated.
But obsessing over it wouldn't change anything. Besides, I had a feeling things would work out somehow.
"Anyway, we can worry about that later. Right now, we need to move."
If this bad feeling of mine was a result of some divine intuition, then every second we stood here was a second closer to an irreversible disaster.