I stared in dazed silence at the two girls who had suddenly appeared. After a brief delay, the meaning of their question finally clicked, and I hurriedly nodded my head repeatedly without a word.
I wanted to say something—a thank-you for the rescue or anything else—but the words were stuck in my throat. Cut me some slack, okay?
"I see. I'm glad we weren't mistaken. We jumped in to help in a hurry, but if we'd gotten it wrong, it could have turned into a whole mess about kill-stealing or whatever."
"Judging by the look of you, it seems you're all right for the time being."
"......"
Though we couldn't find our voices, they seemed to accept that we were indeed the ones who had called for help. They let out light sighs of relief, their expressions tightening as the worry over potential kill-stealing vanished. They turned their sharp gazes toward the hound dogs, which were currently cowering after the suppressive attack.
However...
"Um... is it just you two?"
"Hmm? Yeah, why?"
"Oh, no... it's nothing..."
"?"
My throat was parched with tension. When I finally managed to squeeze out my first words, they weren't a thank-you, but a question. When I asked with a slightly anxious tone, she gave a casual affirmative as if it were no big deal. I was grateful that they had heard our cries and rushed to our aid so quickly, but since our rescuers were just two small girls... I couldn't help but feel they were lacking the strength for the job.
Honestly, my eyes were useless back then. I should have known that an explorer's true strength isn't something you can measure by appearances.
"More importantly, looking at your movements and equipment, you're rookies... beginners, right? Why are you in a place like this? Until you have more experience in dungeon exploration, it's dangerous if you don't stick to the upper floors."
"Uh, well... the upper floors were so crowded..."
"...So you came down this far looking for monsters?"
"...Yeah."
She questioned me with a dubious expression, her eyes never leaving the hound dogs. When I briefly explained the circumstances, the two girls let out long, exasperated sighs.
"......Sigh, not again."
"......"
After those heavy sighs of exhaustion, they shot us looks with sharply narrowed eyes, their faces practically screaming how fed up they were. Despite the fact that the hound dogs were right there and ready to attack, we instinctively recoiled under their gaze.
You think we were being too defenseless in front of the enemy? No, I mean... these girls silently staring us down were many times scarier than those hound dogs.
"There have been a lot of people lately who've been pushing their luck and coming down here for the same reason as you."
"It’s true that since the schools went on summer break, there's been a surge of rookies, and the number of dungeon users has skyrocketed. But even so, it's reckless to come down this far without gaining proper experience."
"Seriously, how many parties is this just this week? Coming across groups we have to rescue because they dove deeper than they could handle..."
"With it happening this often, I'd really like people to cut it out..."
It seemed we weren't the first ones; they had apparently encountered similar situations many times before. They muttered complaints under their breaths, hands to their foreheads as if they had splitting headaches.
We looked down with apologetic expressions, casting tentative glances at them to gauge their mood.
"Grrr-ruff!"
As we were having this exchange, the hound dogs recovered from the suppressive fire and began growling menacingly as if to say, Don't ignore us!
Oh, that's right... I'd almost forgotten these guys were still here.
"...Hey, just checking, but is this your first time in a dungeon?"
"Uh, ah... yes. This is our first time."
"Which means, from the look of it, you haven't actually fought a monster yet?"
"...Yes."
"......"
As she asked while keeping her hand to her forehead, I remembered our current situation—diving recklessly beyond our abilities, encountering enemies we couldn't beat, and immediately calling for help. I looked away from them, answering with a sheepish expression as my voice trailed off.
Naturally, the look they gave me was one that said, Seriously, what are you even doing? Well, that’s a fair reaction.
"...Sigh, I guess it can't be helped. Saori-chan, is it okay?"
"Yeah, I think it’s fine. These guys were the ones who encountered these enemies first, after all..."
"You're right... Whew. Hey, you guys? I have a proposal..."
Then, a surprising offer came out of their mouths. They said they would pin the hound dogs down, and we should deliver the finishing blows. To be honest, I didn't understand what she was saying at first, but as the meaning sank in, I stared at them in shock. It was an incredibly generous proposal that gave us all the benefits.
However, with the hound dogs growling and about to attack behind them, we didn't have time to question their true intentions. We were forced to decide. And then...
"...All right. We'll gratefully accept that offer."
"It's a deal, then. Well, it looks like those guys over there are at their limit too... we'd better get to work."
"But Mika-chan, if we're just pinning them down for the rookies, we're using that, right?"
"Yeah, that’s the plan. If we use direct attacks, we might end up killing them ourselves. If we want to make sure they're incapacitated, then that has the best track record."
Without any sign of nervousness, the girls walked past us—we were still dazed and struggling to keep up with the rapidly shifting situation—and stepped lightly in front of the hound dogs. I didn't know what "that" referred to, but judging by their stride, they clearly had a very reliable method for disabling enemies.
As I watched their backs as they stood boldly before the monsters without flinching, I felt a surge of envy, and my fists clenched unconsciously.
Standing before the hound dogs, the girls—whom I gathered from their conversation were named Mika and Saori—didn't even level the spears in their left hands. They faced the enemies without a hint of tension. To an onlooker, it was enough to make one wonder if they even recognized the vicious monsters in front of them, or if they truly intended to fight.
But that worry was immediately dispelled.
"Bark!"
"Saori-chan."
"Got it."
As the hound dogs lunged with a roar, the girls exchanged a brief call. They immediately reached for their right thighs, pulled something out of their pouches, and aimed it at the monsters.
They calmly read the movements of the leaping hound dogs, evading them with plenty of room to spare, and then attacked with whatever was in their right hands. And then...
"Yipe!?"
"......Huh?"
The leaping hound dogs face-planted into the ground and began rolling around violently, clutching their faces with their front paws as if in agony. What... what just happened?
The tense atmosphere vanished instantly, replaced by something almost comical. We stood there dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, tilting our heads in confusion. Then, the nonchalant voices of the ones responsible reached our ears.
"This really is super effective, isn't it?"
"Yeah, we learned it straight from our seniors. They said this is more than enough to strip the resistance from monsters that appear on the upper floors."
I hadn't been able to see clearly before because my attention had been on the hound dogs' attacks, but now I saw what they were holding. They were small, handgun-style water guns, just like the ones I used to play with in the park during summer vacation.
...Did they really just take down hound dogs with those?
"Now then, we've done the prep work for you. Hurry up and finish them off before the hound dogs recover. If today is your first time in the dungeon, a single hit from each of you should be enough for a level up."
"We've incapacitated them, but there's still a chance they might counterattack, so please don't let your guard down."
"Oh, th-thanks..."
At their incredibly casual tone, I gave a distracted reply, my face likely looking quite gormless. What on earth was that feeling of despair we were just experiencing?
I suppressed the feelings of frustration and confusion bubbling up inside me. While feeling relieved that the immediate danger had passed, I called out to my friends, who were just as shell-shocked as I was.
"Phew... Tatsuji, Eishun, you okay?"
"Ah, yeah, we're fine. But Tatsuji is..."
"I-I'm okay. It hurts a bit, but I can walk if someone lets me lean on them."
I helped Tatsuji and Eishun as they climbed out of the pit trap and checked their condition. Tatsuji, who had been grimacing and clutching his leg, seemed to have had the pain subside a bit after some time. However, while he could walk, his leg was clearly injured, so further exploration was out of the question.
Well, either way, our exploration for today is over once we get through this.
"Fujino, Tadao."
"I'm okay. Still, talk about 'appearances can be deceiving'..."
"How do you even put them out of commission in one hit like that...?"
Fujino and Tadao were still staring back and forth between the girls and the writhing hound dogs whose movements were slowing down. I understood the feeling. I'd thought they were "lacking strength"—how blind could I be?
In any case, since they'd set the stage this far for us, we had to do it.
"For now, Tatsuji, you get a hit in. Eishun and Fujino, support him. Tadao and I will finish the others off."
"Got it."
With two people supporting the struggling Tatsuji, we gripped our weapons and approached the hound dogs, which were now cowering and letting out thin, whimpering growls.
By the way, the weapons we had prepared for our dungeon exploration were machetes and gas pipes wrapped in non-slip tape. We had originally planned to buy proper weapons at the Dungeon Association shop, but we couldn't because of the age restriction. We ended up with these after researching opinions online. Well, at least they were cheaper than our original weapon budget.
"......"
Standing before a cowering hound dog with my weapon raised, I noticed my hands gripping the gas pipe were shaking. I had already aimed for its head; all I had to do was swing it down to kill it. But I couldn't make that single movement. My breath was shallow as I stared at the fallen monster with wide eyes.
After a long silence, I steeled my resolve, closed my eyes, and swung the gas pipe down with all my might.
"...I'm sorry."
The apology left my lips unconsciously. The sensation of something being crushed and pulped traveled up the iron pipe and into my palms. A powerful, metallic stench wafted up, and I felt bile rise in my throat, but I forced myself to swallow it down. It might have been my imagination, but I felt something wet seeping under my soles.
I slowly opened my eyes to confirm the result of my actions.
"...!"
Where I had swung the gas pipe, the hound dog lay dead, its head crushed and bleeding. It was, without a doubt, the result of my own actions.
At that sight, this time I truly felt something sour surging up from the bottom of my stomach... and I couldn't hold it back.
"Urgh... bleh!"
I retched, oblivious to anyone watching, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand while gasping for air. My left hand, still gripping the gas pipe, shook even harder than before, and I stumbled back several steps on trembling legs.
I... I did this.
"......"
As I watched the bloodied hound dog in silence while holding the back of my hand to my mouth, the corpse began to glow and dissolve into particles of light. After watching for a while, the hound dog vanished, leaving a single bottle rolling where it had been.
That was likely what they called a drop item. But I couldn't bring myself to pick it up right away. My legs were frozen; I couldn't move.
"......"
It seemed I wasn't the only one. Tatsuji, Eishun, Fujino, and Tadao were all showing varying degrees of distress, silently staring at the spots where the hound dogs they had killed had once lain.
So this is dungeon exploration. This is what it means to be an explorer who fights monsters...