Rotting wood, damp water vapor, and the faint, barely-there sticky sensation of fleshy lumps.
When Isagi woke, he found that he and Cecil were sitting atop some long-decayed cotton stuffing. It might originally have been a sofa or something of the sort, but right now it looked like a rotten fish that a kitten had been gnawing on for several days — its former shape was utterly unrecognizable.
"?"
The two of them stared blankly at each other, until Isagi got his cheek pinched by Cecil.
"We don't seem to be dreaming, do we?"
Isagi pinched this fellow's chubby little cheek right back.
"Mm."
"That hurts!"
"Shh."
The sudden change instantly put Isagi on his guard.
The cape that served as his "backpack" wasn't at his side, so there was no weapon in his hands either. Even so, Isagi still stood up to survey his surroundings first.
It was pitch black all around.
This place must originally have been Cecil's room, but it had long since become utterly unfamiliar.
A ghostly blue glow came creeping out from a gaping hole in the distance.
Like firefly-algae clinging amid a swath of decay, it lit the surroundings into a profoundly gloomy scene. From far away, one could even hear the snarling roar of some kind of creature.
Cecil swallowed her saliva in tiny gulps, instinctively seeming to reach for the iron hammer at her waist, but she too grasped at empty air.
"Isagi, this couldn't be that thing Tiona mentioned… the Ghost Ship, could it?"
It really did seem to match exactly what the Amazon girl had described.
"Let's take a look around first."
"Mm."
There were holes broken through the hull everywhere.
The two of them had no destination at all and simply wandered about. Soon they came outside the ship's cabin, to what looked like the deck.
Their field of view suddenly opened up. Overhead, a ghostly blue radiance spilled abruptly down, like a blurry mass of light suspended above.
And following that light.
One could see the rippling of the surrounding water — or rather, its ripples.
At this moment, the two of them seemed to be in an underwater world. What was going on? Although he had smoothly obtained the [Diving] development ability after leveling up to Lv6, there was no way he could move so freely underwater — and what's more, Cecil had no [Diving] ability at all.
Beneath the sunken ship was a pitch-black abyss with no visible bottom.
Just one glance at it gave the feeling that it would swallow everything, leaving one with nothing but a heart-pounding sense of dread.
According to what Tiona had said.
Once you entered the [Ghost Ship], you only needed to find the so-called "treasure" to leave, so sailors would regard this terrifying encounter as, in a certain sense, an opportunity.
Turning his head, Isagi looked at that enormous hull that seemed to be coursing with ghostly blue light, and exchanged a glance with Cecil beside him.
For now, it seemed the only option was to head back and take a look.
And next.
The two of them ran into quite a few Monsters.
Humanoid zombies, long since rotted, draped in water weeds or growing bizarre coral;
Fish-men in swarming throngs, short as dwarves, gleaming with ghastly pale scales;
And pitch-black, ancient, headless empty suits of armor;
None of them were especially strong.
At his current Lv6 level, he could deal with them bare-handed, but for Cecil, taking them on was still rather strenuous, so one could judge that she was probably at around the Lv4 level.
What surprised Isagi somewhat was that these fellows were actually Monsters, too — after defeating them, a Magic Stone could be dug out from inside their bodies.
"Hm?"
This was truly perplexing.
Why was it like this?
Could it be that this place actually existed — that it was even a part of the Dungeon?
But Isagi quickly dismissed that idea, because the Monsters here didn't seem to respawn; it even gave Isagi the feeling of clearing some kind of stage.
Making his way all the way to the deepest part of the ship's hold.
Here, twisted mechanical bodies were densely clustered, their surfaces covered in pinkish-white tendrils, heaped and tangled together, extending toward the front like pipes conveying something or other.
Until, at the very end.
Isagi saw a wreckage that had already burst open. It must originally have been some kind of extremely hideous, twisted Monster.
At the same time, in this dim, fishy-smelling "cave," he also ran into an acquaintance he never would have expected.
"Alfia?"
"..."
The woman wore a rather plain gray robe, and from beneath the hood, a few strands of her long, slender gray hair had slipped out.
She looked toward him and Cecil with a pair of bright eyes, yet her gaze was somewhat evasive, giving the appearance of embarrassment.
Mm—
It was indeed a little awkward.
No matter how you put it, she would certainly have to explain why she was here right now.
And once that question came up, didn't it become a matter of her having been tailing and surveilling them all these days?
Alfia had indeed been doing exactly that.
Ever since the [War Game] between Astrea and Freya Familia had ended, she hadn't left the city either, but had instead been observing Isagi's movements from time to time all along.
While in the city, she had heard about the matter of the boy and the "special Dungeon."
And while it made her curious.
She also seemed to understand why the boy was called the new [Hero].
Being able to make the Dungeon undergo changes, becoming even more dangerous and terrifying and so on — although it was utterly absurd, when you considered that the other party could even "travel through time and return to the past," it then seemed rather acceptable after all.
And so, naturally.
Alfia became extremely interested in Isagi, and thought, moreover, that she'd like to go take a look at that so-called "special Dungeon" next time.
She was witnessing the birth of a [Hero].
And most importantly, if all went well, then the boy would, at some point in the future, set out to subjugate the [Black Dragon].
Alfia, in truth, was unwilling to let her thoughts run in that direction, but at this moment, she could not defy her own heart.
The pain and injuries of her body had already vanished, and her life was no longer perpetually caught in a countdown. So the things she had once been unable to do — or rather, things that would have been meaningless to do — could now, on the contrary, be done.
And so, meeting the perplexed gazes of Isagi and Cecil.
Alfia could only give a few light coughs, and then, somewhat beside the point, took out the "treasure" from off to one side.
It was a fragment of a Magic Stone.
It was the very one Isagi and Cecil had held before — Leviathan's "Magic Stone," obtained from the [Dragon Palace] — or rather, its heart.
"A Monster's Magic Stone differs, in essence, only in size and purity."
Alfia lowered her eyes.
She clearly didn't want to say that she'd been tailing the boy all these days, that she had even followed him onto the cruise ship tonight and begun enjoying the holiday.
In fact.
Before being "dragged into" this world.
The woman had been lying at the very top of the cruise ship, watching the fine snow drift slowly down across the pitch-black winter night sky, drinking wine, savoring the quiet, hushed darkness of the night.
How nice.
Who could ever have imagined that Isagi would actually be carrying Leviathan's "heart" as well.
And that it had resonated with the one she herself possessed, causing them to enter this "underwater" realm — or rather, it should be called the
"[World in the Mirror]."
"Huh?"
Isagi couldn't understand a thing Alfia was saying, and next, naturally, came the moment for her to begin explaining.
"Have you heard that legend?"
The woman spoke leisurely, and then told a story that was truly hard to wrap one's head around.
"The water's surface is actually a mirror — and also a doorway to another world. As long as you cross the sea, you can go to another world."
____
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