It was a desert.
A desert stretching out in every direction. What was more, it was a sandy desert with dunes rolling endlessly like waves upon the sea.
After being teleported by Jackson-san, before I knew it, I had ended up in this desert.
The sunlight pouring down from the sky was scorching enough to burn skin, and the heat radiating from the ground mercilessly sapped one's stamina. For the first time, I felt like I could truly understand how a slice of short rib feels being grilled on a mesh grate.
"Whaaat!?"
"A desert!?"
"Where the heck is this!?"
"Why did the location change all of a sudden!?"
"No way, some kind of teleportation magic!? Jackson could use something like that!?"
"Wait, wasn't teleportation magic supposed to be undiscovered!?"
"An unknown magic!? Why can Jackson use that kind of thing!!?"
"I mean, Leveling Junkie Bro! Where the hell is this!? Where's Hinata-chan and the others!?"
"I'd like to ask that myself, you know."
Were Hinata-san and the others not here? At any rate, they weren't in the immediate vicinity. If so, had they been thrown to a completely different location than me?
Where on earth were they? How was I supposed to find them? And after that, what happened to Saito-san? Was he fighting Sakura-san and Jackson-san?
No, right now, shouldn't verifying where I was come first?
"Is there anyone among the viewers who can tell where this is!?"
I asked the drone camera floating beside me. Apparently, the drone had been teleported along with me.
"No... how could we possibly know that?"
"Inside a dungeon... if so, is it the Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon? It's neither a cave-type nor a ruins type."
"Even if it's the same dungeon, it doesn't look like Floor 1."
"Wait, isn't there a chance it's not even inside a dungeon?"
"That's definitely impossible. Skills and magic can't be used on the surface, so no matter how you slice it, there's no way you got teleported to the surface, right?"
"I see. That means the dungeon theory is pretty solid."
"It's somewhere on Floor 2 or below in the Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon!!"
Come to think of it, the viewers didn't know that depending on one's stats, magic could actually be used on the surface as well.
So, truth be told, the surface was a possibility, but... as I looked around the area.
"...At the very least, it doesn't look like Tottori Prefecture."
"If that were the Tottori Sand Dunes, even we'd recognize it, obviously."
"Look for the ocean, the ocean."
I suppose I could rule out Tottori Prefecture. Which meant... either somewhere in a foreign sandy desert, or truly inside a dungeon.
The method to verify whether this was a dungeon or the surface was simple. All I had to do was look for monsters. However, assuming this was inside the Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon...
"I really don't want to run into any monsters. Not in my current state."
"Monsters?"
"Ah, right. If there are monsters, it confirms it's inside a dungeon."
This situation was extremely bad. While I wanted to hurry up and rescue Hinata-san and the others, depending on the circumstances, I might actually be the one in dire need of rescue rather than Hinata-san.
After all, my current skill build was entirely premised on having Hinata-san around. Without Hinata-san's healing and support, far from being unable to fight at full power, my actual strength would be cut down to less than half.
No, perhaps if I had the intermediate heal potions I'd brought along, I could have managed to fight for a little while, but...
(Damn it, I don't have my expansion bag...!!)
Apparently, the only things teleported to this desert were myself and the drone; the rucksack that had been resting a short distance away was nowhere to be seen.
In other words, I had no means of recovering HP other than natural recovery.
With my combat style that consumed HP like water, if a battle were to occur, my HP would run out in no time. That was why—
"Come to think of it, Leveling Junkie Bro, you could create footholds in mid-air, right?"
"Why not scout the surroundings from above like Saito did?"
"No, I'd rather not do that if possible. The chances of being spotted by monsters would be high."
"Ah, true."
"Unlike a forest, there's nothing to block line of sight, so if you were flying in the sky, monsters would definitely spot you, yeah."
"Yes. Furthermore, if this is indeed the Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon, it might end up just like the grassland on Floor 1."
"That thing, huh..."
"Certainly, if monsters swarmed with that kind of momentum right now, it'd be bad."
"And Leveling Junkie Bro is all alone, too."
"Then what should we do?"
I pondered deeply for about three seconds.
Even if I were to scout the surroundings, I had no choice but to do it carefully while hiding so as not to encounter monsters. That would likely take time as well. If so, I figured I'd first like to know what was currently happening with Hinata-san, Saito-san, and the others.
"Everyone, could you check Mayurin-san's channel and Saito-san's channel to see what's happening over there right now?"
"Huh!? Good point!"
"True that."
"Hold on! I'll open three tabs right now and check!"
Immediately after that, the viewers relayed the information they had gathered.
"Hinata-chan is with Mayuri and the others!"
"They're in a place that looks like a ruins type dungeon!"
"They're engaged in combat with Lamia undead!"
"No, they're on the run!"
A ruins type dungeon... Was it not the Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon? If so, I was completely out of options. Worst-case scenarios flashed across my mind.
"I checked Saito's chat, and it looks like he was fighting Sakura-chan and Jackson together until just now!"
"Seems he already repelled them, neither of them are in sight!"
"Ah, wait! Saito has a message for Leveling Junkie Bro!"
"He said he'll dive into Floor 2 right away to search for you, so hang in there for a bit!"
I see. So Saito-san was also grasping our situation through the DungeonTube channels.
Since Saito-san could probably use teleportation magic as well, would he be able to come right away?
No, I had heard from Headshot Yakuza that teleportation magic normally only allowed one to leap to places they had been to before or within their line of sight. The Sendai Castle Ruins Dungeon had only just formed, and Saito-san shouldn't have visited it before today. If so, regrouping via teleportation was impossible. That was why he said he would dive down to Floor 2 to search for me.
In that case... what I needed to do was either "run around avoiding monsters and buy time until Saito-san and the others come to get me" or "regroup with Hinata-san and the others."
Well, the latter might be difficult since I didn't know where Hinata-san and the others were... but if they were nearby, nothing would be better than regrouping.
—Just as my thoughts reached that point.
"Yahoo~! Leveling Junkie Bro-kun! How're you holding up!?"
A voice.
It was Sakura-san's voice, but the tone was entirely different from the Sakura-san I knew.
"—!?"
"Sakura-chan!?"
"From where!?"
I flusteredly looked around the area, but Sakura-san was nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, it was difficult to tell where the voice was even echoing from. —No, for some reason, it felt like it was echoing from above.
"The plan was to show up before you and say something cool with a suggestive vibe~, but sorry! Right now, my appearance isn't really fit to be seen in public, you see~."
"...Just in case, let me ask: would you mind returning me, Hinata-san, and the others to where we were?"
"Sorry, that's impossible~. We went out of our way to prepare this dungeon, so wouldn't it be a total buzzkill if there weren't any casualties~? Besides, it'd really tick me off if people misunderstood and thought dungeon conquest was easy~. Having casualties will convey the danger of dungeons to everyone, so we'd like you guys, Leveling Junkie Bro-kun, to become the noble sacrifices for that purpose~."
Prepared this dungeon? Sakura-san and her group did? Seriously? Were they friends with the Dungeon Master or something???
There were many things I wanted to ask, but... well, she probably wouldn't answer. More importantly, I had a very bad feeling about this.
"Well, so that's why we really don't want you running around and hiding like this, Leveling Junkie Bro-kun."
"Hey hey hey hey!"
"She's saying some seriously ominous stuff."
"What are you planning to do!?"
"Run, Leveling Junkie Bro!"
"And so, here's a present for Leveling Junkie!!"
Immediately after.
About twenty meters directly above my head.
KABOOOOOOOOM――――!!!
An explosion—likely from magic—went off.
The roaring blast echoed across a vast expanse of the desert.
"She actually did it...!!"
After the sound of the explosion subsided, I felt a faint vibration beneath my feet.
"Wait, what!?"
"They're coming...!!"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on!! That's way too many!!"
From the crests of the dunes swelling like waves, numerous monsters made their appearance.
Not just from one place. From all directions, surrounding me, a diverse variety of monsters that must have inhabited the desert gathered together.
The faint vibration still felt beneath my feet was surely the grand sound of footsteps from monsters beyond the dunes, out of sight, still converging on this location.
"Well then, good luck with that~! Bye-byee!"
"Hey, no way...!!"
"Seriously, these numbers...!!"
"Wait, aren't all these monsters way higher in species values than the ones that showed up on Floor 1!?"
"There's only monsters that normally appear on Floor 11 and beyond!!"
"This is bad! Figure out a way to run, Leveling Junkie Bro!!"
There was no longer time to run. There probably wasn't anywhere to run to, either. These weren't the kind of monsters that would let me escape. Nor was it a number that I could defeat all on my own right now.
Hinata-san wasn't here, and the intermediate heal potions that were supposed to be my last lifeline weren't on hand.
In other words... to put it mildly, it was checkmate.
"...Phew..."
I let out a deep breath.
A situation so utterly desperate it was almost laughable. No matter how much I thought about it, it was obvious that nothing could be done.
And yet. No, perhaps precisely because of that.
Impatience, anxiety, and fear all vanished—and my mind was clearer than it had ever been before.