[Dungeon and Stone] is a hardcore type game.

Even without making mistakes, characters you carefully raised die repeatedly throughout play.

So this news wasn’t that surprising.

Ibaekho’s team’s archer, Layton Briot, had died.

It was something that could easily happen.

He fought fiercely with the Bon Dragon and was later teleported to a random coordinate.

Surviving alone on the ninth floor is never easy, especially when injured.

Jaina Flier, the healer, would have died right there too if she hadn’t been lucky enough to meet me.

But...

“...What?”

Still, hearing such news so suddenly was inevitably shocking.

“W-What do you mean...? Briot is dead...?”

The GM asked again with a shocked expression, but the Old Doom Grandpa calmly stated the facts without emotion.

“I found his corpse on the way here. It seems this area was too harsh for him to survive alone after using all his strength.”

“T-That’s....”

The GM was speechless at the news of the companion’s death.

How ironic.

The Old Doom Grandpa, who spent far more time with him than us, seemed not to care at all.

“Anyway, since Briot is dead, my conclusion is that the only one left to hang cloth on trees to pass on news is Ibaekho and his friend.”

“I-I see...?”

“Briot’s fate is sealed. So, what’s the situation here? And what’s that structure?”

“W-We don’t really know. It suddenly appeared when we arrived....”

“Hmm, very interesting.”

We briefly looked at the Old Doom Grandpa, who was excitedly heading toward the structure.

I closed my eyes for a moment and silently mourned.

“Layton Briot...”

Judging from how he traveled with Ibaekho, he probably wasn’t a good guy.

Still, I should offer my condolences.

If there’s no romance at all in this desolate labyrinth, that would be too sad—

“...Briot always wanted to quit everything.”

I turned my head at the sudden voice and saw Jaina.

“Well, he got what he wanted. Now he doesn’t have to do anything anymore.”

What? Is she a psychopath too?

That thought flashed through me, but seeing Jaina’s expression made me chuckle.

Though it sounded sarcastic, it felt like her own way of mourning.

“Your comrades are lucky. When they die, there’s someone who will mourn them more than anyone.”

“Then why don’t you just defect?”

I joked, and Jaina hesitated, then smiled slightly.

“I can’t. I need a lot of sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices? You can just kill the raiders or those Noark bastards and get enough.”

“...You do know I’m one of those Noark bastards, right?”

Ah, good point.

“Thanks for the suggestion, but I’ll pass.”

Fair enough.

I wasn’t serious anyway.

If the clan found out I took Karui’s priest, I’d have the ‘Trinity Church’ as my enemy.

Just thinking about the royal family gives me a headache. That’s not something that should ever happen...

“So now it’s just Rex Aures and Ibaekho left to arrive.”

After that, the Old Doom Grandpa and GM started investigating the new phenomenon, while the rest waited.

One day, two days...

On the third day, Rex Aures appeared.

He looked like a total wreck, beyond mere tatters.

“H-Haha... I-I survived...”

Just looking at him, you could tell how much suffering he’d endured.

As soon as he saw us, he relaxed and fell asleep, while Jaina cared for and healed him.

And then...

“So you weren’t the one who hung the cloth...”

“Embarrassingly, no. I barely escaped the monsters and stepped into the ancient land, and right then—”

“Enough.”

I cut off Rex Aures’ story sharply and shared a look with the party.

“...Isn’t it strange? By all indications, Ibaekho hung the cloth to pass on the news, but he hasn’t shown up.”

“Definitely odd. At first, we thought he might’ve been hanging cloth in other places the first few days...”

“I also think it would be rational for him to have returned once by now to check things.”

With Rex Aures joining us, doubts grew.

If it wasn’t him either, only Ibaekho remains — but where the hell is he and what is he doing?

While discussing this, the Old Doom Grandpa suggested a possibility.

“Maybe Ibaekho already went inside there first.”

He pointed with a finger to the newly appeared structure to the left of the monument.

It looked like an entrance.

We investigated from outside but still don’t know what’s hidden beneath.

Since we don’t know what awaits, we decided to gather everyone before making a move.

“Certainly... If it’s Ibaekho, he might’ve gone in alone, saying he’d check briefly before we arrived.”

“...That’s reckless, but somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.”

The party nodded in agreement with the Old Doom Grandpa’s explanation.

But ironically, he shook his head.

“No, it’s definitely strange. No matter how you see Ibaekho, from my point of view, he’s the most cautious person here.”

“...What?”

“Despite appearances, Ibaekho never does anything reckless. Sometimes I get frustrated because he’s overly cautious.”

“...That Ibaekho?”

“Confidence and caution are two completely different things.”

“But wasn’t it Lord Ruingenes who said he might’ve gone in?”

“Yes. By process of elimination, no other possibilities come to mind. If such a cautious person did enter there, then he must have had a very good reason.”

Hmm...

“Well? Bjorn Yandel, what do you think?”

My mind was tangled in many thoughts.

If the Old Doom Grandpa’s guess is right, once you go in, it’s hard to come back out.

Makes sense. If he could freely come and go, he would’ve shown up at least once by now.

“Let’s wait one more day, just one day, then decide.”

I gave a one-day grace period, but Ibaekho still didn’t appear.

So now it’s time to decide.

“Havelion, do you have any idea what’s down there?”

I asked, looking down the stairs covered in dark vision that obscured view.

GM shook his head.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this existing in the Primeval Land.”

“Right, same here...”

Not just the Primeval Land, nowhere in the Star Grave have I seen such an entrance.

It was especially suspicious that it appeared suddenly when it hadn’t been here before.

But...

“Alright, it’s decided.”

“So we’re going in after all?”

“Yeah.”

I never planned to avoid entering.

After all, we searched the Star Grave risking danger to find something ‘suspicious.’

Something suspicious appeared right before us; we wouldn’t just pass it up.

“I wanted to wait for Ibaekho a bit longer, but since he hasn’t appeared, we have no choice. Maybe he’s inside already, so we’ll enter ourselves.”

Let’s go in.

I decided to treat this as a sort of dungeon.

There would be unknown gimmicks, and traps that must be triggered if you don’t know better.

With that in mind, we carefully descended the narrow stairs.

Step by step, with me at the front and Rex Aures at the rear, ranged fighters lined up in the center.

Step, step.

One cautious step after another.

A dungeon without info is always like that.

In the game, the first try was always about gathering information; unknown areas are dangerous.

Step, step.

For that reason, all five of us tied ropes around our waists, linked like a bundle of fish.

The ropes were fixed outside with stakes like for rock climbing...

“Ah! Big trouble! Big trouble!”

Before we descended far, a loud shout came from the rear.

“The rope’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ cut!”

“...What?”

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t do anything! I was just following—!”

“Doesn’t sound like a lie. Looking at the rope’s cross-section, it seems cut by something sharp...”

“Everyone stick close to the wall.”

We squeezed up the narrow stairs to inspect the rope’s end.

It wasn’t a mistake by Aures.

The magical engineering rope is designed to stretch hundreds of meters, so it wouldn’t break accidentally.

“Follow slowly.”

We stopped descending to investigate what happened and climbed back up.

But...

“Aren’t we going back much higher than we came down?”

“Yes. Correct. We went down 213 steps but now have gone back up over 240.”

No matter how many steps we climb up, we see no exit.

In other words, the way back has vanished.

“...Isn’t this a big problem? We’re trapped here!”

“Don’t panic. We all expected this before entering.”

“R-Really?”

Jaina scolded Rex Aures as the GM approached me.

“Since the way back is blocked, why don’t we just proceed forward as originally planned?”

Reasonable advice.

But something felt off.

Not exactly off, but...

‘When you go down the stairs, the entrance disappears, and when you try to return, the stairs appear endlessly...’

I had a sense of déjà vu.

There’s a place like this in one of the rifts.

The ‘Golden Ruins.’

At the entrance of that rift on the fourth floor, there was a similar effect.

‘Looks like the walls are similar too...’

If this place is based on the ‘Golden Ruins,’ then just going down isn’t the solution.

There’s a ‘piece’ hidden here too.

If the entrance is closed and you keep going up the stairs, you might trigger a special event.

‘Better to clear that event just in case there’s something behind.’

Of course, there’s no guarantee the event will happen here.

Trying once more only costs a bit of time.

“Keep close so no one falls behind.”

“What? But—”

“Go ahead.”

After that, I strode forward quickly, climbing stair after stair.

And...

“How long do you plan to keep climbing? There’s nothing but stairs.”

“Going back is a hassle too.”

At about halfway up, strange footsteps suddenly caught my attention.

I hastily ordered the formation to halt.

“Stop.”

“Ah, you’re turning back—”

“Quiet.”

“...?”

“Someone is coming down.”

I have no information on this ‘someone.’

This kind of special event doesn’t usually happen.

‘Who the hell...?’

Unknown, but the tension was high enough to signal battle readiness.

And then—

“......”

“......”

The approaching footsteps stopped abruptly.

‘Did they notice us too?’

The air stiffened like a taut string.

Swallowing reflexively, I gripped my shield tighter.

Ta-dat!

The sound of a sudden rush filled my ears.

“Prepare for battle!!”

Breaking the brief silence, a shout sounded as something swiftly charged from the darkness.

I reflexively raised my shield, freezing in place.

Pat-

Two playful feet stopped just in front of the shield.

“Surprise! How’s that? Scared?”

Looking at the innocent face, I sighed deeply.

‘Is this guy really crazy?’

It was Ibaekho.

Just as I was debating whether to hit this bastard, Ibaekho poked my side and chuckled.

“Wahaha! You’re so surprised! Really surprised, huh? You seem really shocked. Are you okay? Scared?”

“...Know when to joke.”

“Aw, how could I hold back? Finally reunited with my precious comrades!”

“......”

“Seriously though, I didn’t expect you to be inside. How could you just go in without waiting for me?”

...What?

“My lord, don’t be mad that I was just joking—”

“...What did you just say?”

I lowered my voice and asked. Ibaekho gave me a puzzled look.

I quickly checked one important thing.

“This is serious, so don’t joke around. Did you hang that cloth on the tree?”

Until now, I was almost certain.

But Ibaekho tilted his head and frowned at the question.

“What do you mean? Wasn’t that cloth hung by you, my lord?”

That response sent a chill down my spine.

‘...If it wasn’t Ibaekho...’

Then who the hell told us to come here?