A Demon Lord's Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

Into the Forest Depths(5)

As soon as I activated the traps, a heavy, gut-wrenching thud rushed through the air, sending a cloud of dust high into the air.

The forest shook, and the force of the impact reached us.

The impact was on a scale that would have left not even a bone in the body of an ordinary creature, but for that monster – well, it was not technically a monster at all. It was a golem. A man-made artifact.

But anyway, it was still an inhabitant of the Demon Forest.

It was not impossible that it would not even get a scratch from the impact. It looked really hard after all.

So first, I would like to bury it.

It was the same method we used to bury the disgusting parasite before.

Cover the top with soil and harden it all up.

The only difference from that time was that the enemy this time was inorganic and would not be disabled by asphyxiation, but our aim was simply to disable it, so we could enter the cave it was protecting.

In reality, we didn’t even have to destroy the thing.

As soon as the explosion occurred, I set a new trap above the hole and immediately activated it.

This would create a large amount of sediment to pour in.

It was impossible to set up the above-ground part of the trap beforehand because there was a possibility that golem would have detected it – or, rather, I already tested it once, and it was quickly detected and destroyed.

The mudslide created in the air flowed into the hole at a tremendous speed.

While doing so, I suddenly detected a crisis incoming using my Danger Perception skills.

I wondered for a moment if this thing had a way to detect enemies even if it couldn’t see them, but from the random beams it was firing, I concluded that it was just firing in rapid succession.

This made it clear.

It seemed to have the ability to sense danger, but the only way it could perceive its surroundings was with its eyes.

I quickly hardened the ground, but it seemed lacking in strength as it was pushed back by its attacks, and I could see the hardened ground being thrown around.

This was a little troublesome, I had never experienced having my hardened dungeon ground being broken before… which showed just how ridiculous the power of this golem was.

“Damn…I’m not sure what’s inside but let’s move, Rir. We’re rushing in!”

“Kuuu!”

I decided that it wasn’t worth attempting to beat the golem, so together with Rir, we rushed toward the cave. The dungeon area continued receiving damage from the golem.

Even though the cave might be dangerous, we could still manage to escape, since we had the dungeon return device.

It was about a kilometer and a half away, but with our physical abilities, it would only take us a moment to get there.

We dashed as fast as we could, and with a sense of dread behind us, passed the point where the Asura golem had been, and jumped into the cave.

Then, to at least delay the golem from crawling out of the hole and finding us, I brandished Enne and fired a [Magic Blade], slashing a section of the ceiling of the cave as we went in.

The ceiling collapsed, and the falling debris blocked the entrance, and also blocked the sunlight.

“…Did we manage it?”

Outside, I could still hear the golem rampaging about, but it seemed to be designed to not attack this side of the building.

It continued firing beams but no sign of it crawling out of the hole yet.

The only remaining question was the danger inside this cave…but thankfully, I was not detecting any hostile reactions from inside here.

Not one single response to our scouting skills as well.

It was just too dark to see what was around.

I couldn’t see well at first because my eyes were still gradually adjusting to the sudden dark environment.

I used primordial magic to create a light ball to keep the lights on – and Enne was the first to notice.

[Master!]

“What? Whoa!”

There were Asura Golems, lined up in a row by the wall inside.

No matter how you looked at it, they were the same size as the one rampaging outside.

It would be impossible to take on this number.

What awaited us was certain death, was what I thought for a moment.

I almost activated the dungeon return device, but barely managed to stop myself.

“…They’re not moving, are they?”

[I couldn’t feel any magic power in them.]

Unlike the one that was working outside, these guys lined up by the wall were either just for display purposes, or their power had run out.

They remained still and did not move.

The jewels in their eyes didn’t glow, and they weren’t looking at us.

Rir, with a wary look on his face, walked up to the Asura Golem, sniffed it, and then shook his head as he barked.

I guess these guys were just not turned on at the moment, but I was afraid that if I stepped on some trap around here or something, they might start moving all together.

It was a common trope in ruins, like in Ind**na Jones and the T*mb Ra*d*rs.

I had to make sure I avoid touching anything strange.

“…Onward, let’s go.”

With tension in my hands as I gripped Enne, we made our way down the single passageway that ran through the central area of the cave.

The interior, whether by Asura Golem standards or not, was extremely spacious and had a high ceiling.

Unlike the front, which had decayed and become almost one with nature, the inside still retained much of its shape.

It was definitely old and faded, but the detailed decorations were still there, and if Layla were here, she would have charged into the area in a frenzy of excitement.

At the end of the aisle, large pillars dotted the floor, and the whole place appeared solemn and majestic.

This decoration on the pillars….

“…”

With a premonition in my heart, I continued onward and eventually arrived in the room.

It was the throne room.

A familiar layout, a familiar throne.

Yes, it was very similar to the throne room in our house.

“Is this…a dungeon…?”

[…very similar to our house…]

“Yeah.”

…No, similar but not exactly the same either.

The difference in particular was the construction of the throne.

The position of the throne was the same, but the design was different, as if it was made by a different craftsman.

I wondered if those designs were meant to show individuality between dungeons.

Well, in my place, the throne room was treated as our living room, but this one seemed to be treated differently. It had an atmosphere that looked like an actual throne room based on the decorations and furnishings in it.

However, I just couldn’t feel a certain thing here.

If this was really a dungeon space, it should have been filled with the magic power of a dungeon.

I wasn’t a man of keen senses, but with my experience in entering different dungeons, I knew that the peculiar feeling of a dungeon was absent here.

I searched the area around, but…I couldn’t find the dungeon core either.

Then, there was only one possibility of what this structure was.

This place was probably a former dungeon….

Or should I say, a dead dungeon?