Two days after the fitness test that yielded such shocking results, we headed to the nearest dungeon as planned. I had been here recently with Mika and her group, but it had been a while for Yuji and Hiiragi-san, who hadn't visited since before the sports festival.
Since this dungeon was located in a town with excellent transportation access, it was predictably packed with users—mostly student explorers taking advantage of summer break.
"It really is crowded," Yuji remarked.
"Well, it’s summer vacation," I replied. "And it’s been a while since Obon ended, so the crowd levels have probably returned to their usual peak."
"I suppose you're right."
As we stood in the long queue stretching toward the reception window, Yuji and I traded grumbles. Since I had seen the dungeon during the Obon holidays when the crowds had thinned out, the wait felt even longer than usual.
I had to remind myself that this was just the reality of the dungeon industry during the summer.
"Still, with this many people, sticking to our original itinerary might be difficult," Hiiragi-san noted, her expression clouded with concern. "Depending on how long it takes to move between floors, we might have to consider withdrawing even if we haven't reached our goal."
"Yeah, well, all we can do is stay flexible," I said. "Who knows? Things might end up going smoother than we expect."
"I’d like to believe that... but the hope is slim, don't you think?" She looked at me with half-closed eyes.
"Haha, well, yeah..."
I offered a lighthearted reply to her observation, though privately I agreed that the chances of a smooth run were low. As I had told her, though, we just had to take it as it came.
We stood in line for about ten minutes, venting our frustrations until we finally finished the registration process.
"Seriously, if it takes this long just to register, I hate to think what it'll be like once we're actually inside..." I sighed, feeling fed up with the sheer number of people.
"We’ll just have to pray for the best," Yuji added.
"I guess so..."
I parted ways with Hiiragi-san to change in the locker room. I was already worried about whether we could make the round trip to the Big Ogre’s floor within the day.
Even if we managed to reach the destination, there was a risk that corporate explorers would be camped out in front of the door. If that happened, we wouldn't be able to achieve our goal of practicing high-speed combat. If we came all this way for nothing, it would truly be adding insult to injury.
"Alright, I'm ready. Shall we?" Yuji asked.
"Yeah."
After changing, Yuji and I met up with Hiiragi-san and headed to a rented private room for our warm-ups. We could have done our basic stretching in the main hall, but it was so congested that we decided to pay for a room since there happened to be an opening.
Once we’d finished a quick check of our planned route, we moved toward the building containing the dungeon entrance.
"Oh, come on..." I groaned.
"It’s going to be a long wait," Yuji muttered.
"I hope it doesn't take an hour," Hiiragi-san added.
Seeing the massive line snaking toward the entrance gate, we all looked exhausted before we’d even started. The queue doubled back on itself until it filled the entire building—it was incomparably longer than the one at reception.
It took forty minutes of shuffling forward before our turn finally came.
"Thank you for waiting. Next, please," the Staff-san called out.
Following his instructions, we stepped up to the gate and held our explorer cards over the scanner.
"Access granted. Please proceed. Stay safe in there."
"Thank you."
Sent off by the Staff-san, we passed through the entrance gate and finally stepped into the dungeon proper.
"Finally... we’re actually inside," I said.
"It’s the same every time, but the wait to enter really is the worst part," Yuji agreed.
"I wish they’d issue something like priority entry tickets, the way theme parks do," Hiiragi-san suggested.
It was an interesting idea, but I suspected that even if they did, so many people would buy them that they’d eventually become useless. Any explorer of a decent level could easily pay off the cost of a priority ticket—even if it cost tens of thousands of yen—with the loot from a single run. I suppose it might be a nice perk if it allowed higher-level players to bypass the beginners on the surface floors, though.
Shaking off those thoughts, I lightly slapped my cheeks to focus and turned to the other two.
"Anyway, we're in the dungeon now, so let's switch gears. We’ll be moving with the crowd for a bit, so an ambush is unlikely, but you never know when a monster might jump us."
"Right. This isn't our usual dungeon, so we can't afford to be caught off guard," Yuji said.
"Exactly," Hiiragi-san added. "If we assume everything is the same as back home, we might stumble into a disaster. It's better to stay a bit more tense than usual."
Dropping their earlier complaints, Yuji and Hiiragi-san steeled themselves, their gazes sharpening as they looked down the corridor.
We officially began our exploration.
Two hours later, after moving with the general flow of traffic, we finally descended to the 20th floor. As it was summer break, there were a lot of new student explorers, making the descent to the 7th floor incredibly congested. However, after passing the 10th floor, the number of student explorers dropped significantly, and our pace picked up.
It seemed that even in this dungeon, the higher-level explorers were successfully spreading out across the deeper floors.
"So far, so good... I think?" I said.
"I’d say so," Yuji replied. "The crowds have thinned out down here, and at this rate, the path ahead shouldn't be too congested."
"Yes. Now that the student explorers have branched off, the travel speed has increased. I think we can call this a smooth run," Hiiragi-san said.
We pushed forward, glancing at the groups who were stepping out of the line to take breaks. For a trip like this, we didn't need to rest yet. If we kept this pace, we should reach our target floor in another hour or so. We could take our break then.
We continued through the dungeon without incident until we reached the 23rd floor, where the line of explorers vanished almost entirely. Apparently, this was the threshold for the top-tier adventurers in this dungeon. I started seeing corporate explorers setting up base camps in the staircase plazas here and there.
"The crowds are gone," I noted. "Time to get serious about monster attacks?"
"Yeah. Up until now, there were so many other explorers around that we only had to fight a few times, but from here on, we're on our own," Yuji said.
"It would be nice if we could just enjoy the extra drop items, but that's not why we're here today," Hiiragi-san reminded us. "Let's push through as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary encounters."
"Right."
After confirming there were no other explorers in sight, we picked up the pace to a light jog. We weren't moving anywhere near the speeds we’d clocked during the fitness test—at most, we were running at a marathon pace. Explorers capable of reaching these floors should be able to manage this speed without looking suspicious... probably.
As we continued, we spotted a corporate explorer base camp in the 26th-floor staircase plaza. Since there hadn't been one on the 25th floor, this team had likely just moved their camp, or they were the leading team in this particular dungeon.
"Good work," I said as we passed.
"Eh? Ah, good work..." the man standing sentry replied, sounding a bit surprised.
While we could have ignored him, I preferred to be polite. You never know what might trigger a misunderstanding or a dispute, so a courteous greeting was part of my risk management.
Since we didn't usually use this dungeon, he looked at us with a suspicious expression, clearly not recognizing our faces. Explorers who can reach these depths usually know each other by sight, even if they aren't friends. I just hoped he’d write us off as some newcomers. I definitely didn't want him taking a sudden interest in us or trying to scout us.
"Phew... I wonder if that's the last of them?" I asked once we were out of earshot.
"I hope so," Yuji said. "If there are other teams with base camps further down, we might just have to turn around and go home."
"I’d hate to leave with nothing after coming all this way. But being discovered would be an even bigger problem," Hiiragi-san added.
We walked briskly past the camp, venting our hopes and worries. Corporate explorer teams usually don't dive as aggressively as independent parties; they prefer to move only after stabilizing their profits and supply lines.
Because of that, there was a good chance that the team we’d just seen was the one at the front of the pack.
"Well, there's no point in guessing. Let's just go see for ourselves," I said.
"Right."
"Let's go."
Praying that the last camp was indeed the final one, we pressed on.
After a few monster battles along the way, we finally reached the large door to the 29th floor. We’d made it in just over an hour—roughly three hours total since entering. It had actually been a smoother trip than the one in our usual dungeon, likely because the population density plummeted after the 23rd floor.
Standing before our goal, we all let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.
"Great. No one’s here either."
"Yeah. Looks like it wasn't a wasted trip after all."
"I'm so relieved."
Seeing that there was no corporate explorer base camp on the 29th floor was a huge weight off our shoulders. We had come all this way with that fear hanging over us, so confirming we had the place to ourselves was a major win.
"Now that the stress is gone, I'm suddenly feeling the fatigue," I admitted.
"We did rush all the way here while worrying about it," Yuji said. "Mental exhaustion is only natural."
"It's the perfect time for a break," Hiiragi-san suggested. "We haven't stopped once since we entered the dungeon."
"True."
"Agreed."
We decided to take a break in the staircase plaza right in front of the massive door to the 29th floor. Since there were no other explorers in sight, I pulled a table and chairs directly out of my spatial storage instead of bothering with my decoy bag.
"What do you two want to drink?"
"Green tea for me," Yuji said.
"I'll have black tea," Hiiragi-san added.
"You got it."
I produced some cookies and their requested bottled drinks.
"Well, for now, nice work getting this far, everyone."
"Cheers."
"Good work."
We were still inside a dungeon, so we couldn't relax completely, but the sense of liberation from clearing our biggest hurdle made the mood light.
"Phew. This is great. Now we can practice without any distractions."
"Yeah," Yuji said. "Though I expect the corporate explorer teams will move their base camp here before long. This might be our only chance to use this place."
"You're right," Hiiragi-san agreed. "Even if the progress in this dungeon is slower than our usual one, they won't stay behind forever. For the corporations, exploration progress is directly linked to their market share."
"And losing share could lead to bankruptcy or being bought out by a rival," I added.
The fate of a non-competitive company was obvious.
The dungeon industry was still in its early stages, and as time passed, mergers and acquisitions would only increase. If a company's share was cemented while they were trailing behind, their future would be grim. To survive, they had to push themselves to overtake anyone who got a step ahead. Currently, several companies—including those in our usual dungeon—had likely already surpassed the 30th floor.
"Once summer break ends, we student explorers won't be able to visit as often," Yuji noted. "The corporations will probably pick up their pace then."
"And if they can shorten the time it takes to travel between floors, they can dedicate more time to actual exploration," Hiiragi-san said.
"Yeah, that's the main bottleneck right now."
In other words, this was likely our first and last opportunity to use this floor as a training ground. Listening to their conversation, I sipped my coffee and glanced at the massive door looming before us.
I wondered if the Big Ogre would actually show up for us this time.
We had come all the way to visit, but I had no idea if Ogre-san would come out to play...