The Unremarkable Man Who Fell Into The Dungeon's Pit Survives By Acquiring A Plain But Useful Skill, and Through Persistent Effort While Enduring The Absurdity, He Gradually Rises to Success - Episode 6

Shogo woke up with a headache.

“It hurts…”

I sit up, stand up, and rub my temples vigorously. The pain starts to gradually subside—

“A goblin?!”

Remembering the reason he had lost consciousness, Shogo hurriedly looked around.

A dimly lit cave, a fork in the path, ah, I remember this way, but… an unpleasant premonition passes through me at the slimy feeling underfoot.

As if drawn by an invisible force, I cast my gaze downwards to see the corpse of a small goblin rolling on the ground.

“Eek!”

Shogo’s legs gave out, and he fell on his butt, sitting down.

The memories up until just before losing consciousness come flooding back.

Even though it was a monster, the fact that I killed it, a slight sense of guilt and excitement. My teeth chattered unconsciously, and my body began to tremble.

Kemomecho: “Hey, hey. Can you see me? Calm down. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Passerby Tanaka: “This reaction. It really is the real deal.”

The letters that emerged on the cave wall. The familiar Japanese characters and the remembered video format asserted themselves in Shogo’s field of vision, on the right edge.

“Huh? What is this? An injury? Right, the place where I was stabbed… it’s healed?! …Why?”

Kemomecho: “If it’s closed up, it might be a mana adaptation level-up. It’s a phenomenon that sometimes occurs when you absorb a special type of mana that only comes out when a monster die. It heals injuries and strengthens the body.”

“This, this is the chat text box for the stream… Wh-why? Huh? Magic adaptation level up?”

The frame with a distinctive design shaped by a sequence of numbers immediately connected to Shogo’s memory.

And perhaps because of the slight sense of reassurance that someone is watching over me, my body stops trembling.

Kemomecho: “Hey, who are you? Where is this place?”

“Who are you…? I’m a worker from Dungeon Resource Development Co., Ltd…. This is the place where I fell through a hole in the Shibuya Dungeon. …That thing disappeared… No, it’s probably because it’s being projected from the WD Watch Device.”

Shogo noticed the light from the WD and placed his right hand in front of his chest so that the surface of the beam faced the wall.

Kemomecho: “Fell into a hole? Uh, first, let me explain the current situation. There are three people watching this stream live. I was doubting whether it was staged or not, but judging by your condition, it seems like this is the real deal.”

“Real…?”

Kemomecho: “I apologize in advance, but the rescue request was impossible. The place you’re in is some ridiculous place called the 533rd floor of the Shibuya Dungeon, and they won’t accept reports from there. Plus, you fell into a hole… right? It seems even more unlikely to contact the administration directly.”

“Ah… rescue is impossible, is it? Such a thing… I see.”

Shogo involuntarily showed irritation in response to what was written in the text chat, but quickly suppressed his feelings.

If you think about it for a moment, you’ll understand. Rescue is not possible. Even if we were to get in touch, how would they get here in the first place? By falling into the hole?

Shogo shook his head weakly.

Kemomecho: “That’s why I apologized first. But we also intend to do everything we can.”

Night’s main cannon: “Red Super Chat donation / Keep it up, Worker-kun!”

Passerby Tanaka: → The Night’s Main Gun “Are you familiar with the term TPO?”

“Red super chat tip… No!? That’s not allowed!?”

Super chats, which are sometimes sent by viewers as support for hunters, are marked in red and amount to 50,000 yen.

Shogo was bewildered by the fact that a complete stranger, especially someone he had just met, would go that far for him.

“What is this, what’s happening? Is this really a live stream?”

Kemomecho: “We’re the ones who want to know that. But for now, more importantly, you… what’s your name?”

“Oh, right, I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Shogo Nakamura. As I mentioned earlier, I work as a laborer at Dungeon Resource Development Co., Ltd.”

If the person couldn’t be seen or heard, Shogo wouldn’t be nervous or hesitate.

Kemomecho: “Um, what are we? What should we say?”

Passerby Tanaka: “Isn’t it just a hobby for a bored person to discover new hunters? It’s just as it is.”

Kemomecho: “Yeah, well then, Nakamura-san… Hmm, is Shogo okay? Since hunters are mostly called by their nicknames or first names, it feels weird to call them by their last names.”

“Shogo is fine.”

Kemomecho: “Then, Shogo. Right off the bat, you’re not a hunter, are you? You came here because you fell into a hole. That happened while you were working in the Shibuya Dungeon. And it was also the first time you fought a monster.”

“Yes.”

The memory of facing death resurfaced, and Shogo’s voice tensed.

“Sorry to bring it up again. But it’s important, so I’ll continue. Are you feeling okay?”

“Your body… is okay, right? It’s strange, but…”

Kemomecho: “The wound closing up can be explained by mana adaptation, but I don’t really understand why mana poisoning isn’t happening.”

“That’s right… so that’s why this broke…”

Shogo stared at the WD watch device.

Kemomecho: “Well, I know I said it, but there’s no point in thinking about it now, so let’s put it off. Besides, there’s no way this ends with just one, so if you want to survive, we need to find a safe zone as soon as possible.”

“This isn’t the end of it…”

Shogo looked down at the small goblin with a hole in its chest.

When I think about it calmly, that’s true. There’s no way it could end in one go.

And then, when he thinks that there are still many more… Shogo’s spine chills.

“Yeah, if this is a dungeon, it shouldn’t end with just this. There should be more monsters. I don’t really know how Shogo managed to defeat them, but it must be some kind of combat skill. However, newly awakened skills often can’t be used repeatedly. So, first, we need to hide in a safe zone.”

“……”

Shogo clenched and opened his palm, trying to see if he could once again feel the sensation just before passing out. However, although he felt something… silence.

If we can’t recreate it immediately, and if the same situation happens again, this time Shogo will die for sure.

Then there’s only one way to take it.

A temporary retreat to the safe zones on each floor of the dungeon, where monsters do not approach. This is something we learned in the training.

However, the safe zone cannot be detected by the WD watch device provided to the workers. The Shibuya Dungeon has no monsters, and the entire floor is considered a safe zone, so it was deemed unnecessary to include this feature.

Shogo must find a safe zone on his own. He dredges up memories of the training he received at the company and recalls its characteristics.

“Surely… places where stones are arranged in a regular pattern, or unnatural depressions and out-of-place structures, were like that, right? Do you understand…?”

Since safe zones in dungeons take various forms, it is difficult to make certain judgments without knowledge or experience.

“If you find any suspicious places, show them to me. Shogo’s device isn’t for hunters, so it won’t detect them, right? We’ll also check the past records on our end.”

Thank you very much.

“Also, we intend to deliberately not spread this stream. Right now, only those who are supportive of Shogo are watching, but there are all sorts of people in this community… For instance, the chat could get flooded with meaningless comments, making it hard for Shogo to see useful information, and there’s a possibility we could be reported for being anti-Dungeon faction. That seems more likely. If that happens, this stream will stop. If you still want to spread it knowing this, we can do

Shogo, who had been staring at the text chat projected on the wall for a while, answered, driven by a strong intuition he had never felt before in his life, that this was the only way to survive.

“…No, there’s no need for spreading or rescue requests. I trust you all.”

In Shogo’s eyes, as he stood up with a light sigh, there was indeed a glimmer of light, albeit weak.