“Did I make it too big?”
Business is good in the dungeon today.
Beast-kin arrive, and are converted into mana and experience.
At the first branching path, the oil-and-fire combination takes out half. Of the rest, those who choose the central maze at the next three-way split get eliminated. Those who take the left and right paths instead — left is a dead-end room packed with low-tier monsters, so they rampage for a bit and turn back. Right has the Gargoyle and boulder trap, and no one has made it through that yet.
“No beast-kin has gotten past the oil path, the maze, or the Gargoyle.”
“That’s just for now, though~ Some are retreating. I’d thought they couldn’t do anything but push forward, but there seem to be a few sensible ones after all.”
Pilukaya’s right — at this point we can no longer wipe out every beast-kin who enters.
Some survive the fire, barely. Some have poison resistance, or get lucky finding their way back to the maze entrance. Some manage to flee from the Gargoyle.
Those ones may return to town and share what they learned with others.
“Gradually mapping the dungeon and eventually clearing it — that’s a real possibility.”
“Yeah~ So the spots they’re struggling with now might get solved eventually. And if that’s the end of it, that’s too easy.”
“True. Looking long-term, the deeper rooms and mechanisms will matter more. Bigger is better.”
“As Pilukaya says, the beast-kin aren’t to be underestimated. Look — the maze.”
I looked where Lady Fiona was pointing. A rabbit beast-kin was moving through the maze.
Herbivore type, maybe? There’s something hesitant about the way she moves — less aggressive-looking than typical beast-kin.
And yet she keeps advancing steadily.
“Remarkable. She hasn’t taken a wrong turn once.”
Primila evaluated the enemy with what sounded like genuine admiration.
She’s different from the others. Instead of charging ahead at random until she gets lost, she stops at each junction, seems to think, and then moves.
Was there some kind of pattern? …No, I didn’t build one into that maze.
I’d traced the map myself just to check, and it was genuinely difficult. Actually navigating it in person would be harder still.
“…She’s avoiding the Basilisks too. And the Poison Fog.”
“Wow, she really is. Is it her hearing? Rabbit ears and all.”
Hearing might explain dodging the Basilisks — but Poison Fog has no sound signature.
And knowing the correct path in the first place suggests something beyond hearing alone.
Without any encounters, passing entirely outside range — the maze’s mechanisms can’t touch her.
The rabbit beast-kin cleared the maze without taking a scratch.
Well. That happens.
But the dungeon doesn’t end there.
This is actually the first chance to see how well the rest of the traps perform.
First up: pitfall combined with the rolling boulder.
“…She’s not moving.”
“No. She doesn’t appear to be resting, either.”
She keeps pushing her foot forward, then pulling it back. Over and over, as if she can’t quite commit.
…Strange. A plain corridor shouldn’t produce that kind of hesitation.
“Why would she stop here? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It shouldn’t. Which means… she might know the pitfall is there.”
“…Trap-sensing? So the maze earlier — she might have navigated it as a trap?”
“The optimal route avoiding enemies and hazards. Some kind of special ability seems very likely.”
But then why is she stuck at just this one pitfall?
If she knows what’s there, avoiding it shouldn’t be hard.
What’s she hesitating about?
“Oh.”
Nobody could say who made the sound.
But it was probably the same sound from everyone present, so in the end it didn’t matter.
The rabbit had done something that unexpected.
“…She jumped in. On purpose.”
Lady Fiona was right. The rabbit steeled herself and leapt directly into the pitfall.
Not a failed dodge.
She had clearly detected the trap’s presence — and deliberately jumped in anyway.
“The boulder came down too, but she’s probably fine in there.”
“Yeah. Still — it did achieve what I planned. Sealed her in.”
“The other intruders have all been repelled. What do we do about the one we’ve trapped?”
…Right. The pitfall was meant to divide and delay, but it turns out the rabbit was the only one who made it this far.
I can’t just leave her there.
I want to reset the pitfall and boulder before the next wave arrives.
“For now, let’s go reset the traps we used.”
“I’ll accompany you. The rabbit may attempt to attack you, Rei-sama.”
Reassuring to have Primila with me.
If I’d been alone — she could have taken me down easily.
Because this intruder is a reincarnate.
Tokitou Serika — Mana: 12 / Strength: 10 / Technique: 27 / Fortitude: 9 / Agility: 28
She’d been moving suspiciously smoothly, so I’d checked her status — and the display was unmistakably wrong for a beast-kin.
The name is clearly from my world. Nothing like the beast-kin names I’ve seen.
So she’s a reincarnate, same as me.
Her stats are lower than Kunimatsu’s. They’re not far off from mine, which means they’re on the low side.
Lower than any of the beast-kin who’ve challenged this dungeon.
And yet she’d been navigating it so efficiently — that has to be a skill.
I’m not expecting much, but since I’ve actually caught one this time, I might as well go meet her.
◇
I created a passage between the nearest point to the underground demon realm and the beast-kin dungeon.
That gives us access to come and go.
Once we’re done, I’ll wall it off behind us with solid blocks — that prevents anyone using it to reach us from the other side.
The mana cost is considerable, so I’d rather not do this often.
We arrived past the maze and I reset the activated traps.
The boulder sealing the pitfall vanished cleanly, and at the bottom — a rabbit face looked up at me.
“I surrender! I’ll do anything! Please, just help me out of here!”
The reincarnate called up to me.
Anything is easy to say — but she’s a beast-kin. A player-side character. Definitely not a demon-side ally.
Honestly, I have no idea when she might turn on us. The last thing I want is another complication.
“What about a spy?! I could betray the beast-kin — or all of humanity, even!”
…Spying. Pilukaya’s surveillance already gets us most of what we’d need. Hardened targets are out of reach, but I don’t see this reincarnate having access to that kind of intelligence.
“Ah, um… you’re not going to believe me, are you. Probably think I’m joking — oh forget it! This is all I’ve got!”
She’d been muttering to herself, then suddenly shouted like she was talking herself into something.
…Is she in contact with someone? If so, she could be dangerous.
“Wait, wait! I’ll work the shop! What do you say?!”
…
It’s true that I just built a shop.
And it’s true that I couldn’t think of a use for it and I’ve been hiding it behind walls.
If someone could actually make use of it, that would be genuinely helpful.
But how does this reincarnate know it exists?
“For now… I should consult Lady Fiona.”
Whether this reincarnate is scheming something — I don’t know.
Whether this is a genuine plea for her life — I don’t know.
Whether anyone outside the demon side can be trusted at all — I don’t know anymore.
So I’ll leave the decision to my supervisor.
I called out to Lady Fiona, who was presumably watching through Pilukaya’s eyes.