Under orders from the Explorer’s Association, we had traveled a full day from Chiba in three police escort vehicles to Sakurajima, Kagoshima Prefecture. Now, we were standing at the foot of an actively erupting volcano.

Around us were about ten trucks from the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), with roughly a hundred fully armed soldiers lined up beside them.

Our group of five parties, 60 people from Chiba, joined forces with a “Neet” party from other regions, forming a 150-strong “Neet army,” and we were all staring blankly at the mountain.

“That’s it, right, Baba?”

“Yeah, it must be.”

“It’s way bigger than it looked on TV, isn’t it?”

Even from here, we could clearly see the massive entrance of the dungeon, located slightly up the mountain. It seemed to be about 50 meters wide.

“It looks even bigger than the entrances of advanced dungeons in Japan or overseas.”

“In advanced dungeons, ogres appear on the first floor, and guns don’t work on them, right?”

“Yeah, that’s why the SDF soldiers are equipped with portable rocket launchers, leather armor made from monster hides, swords, and spears. I’ve heard there are quite a few who can use magic, too.”

“Meanwhile, we’re stuck with just anti-stab suits and reinforced plastic protectors. We don’t have a single person who can use magic.”

“If things get dangerous, the C-rank explorers will hold them off. Just focus on escaping when the time comes.”

We only had five C-rank explorers against our 150, and they seemed like a rough bunch. Would they really be our shields?

While Baba and I were having this conversation, one of the explorers approached us.

“Hey, you guys must be the rumored Neet army, huh? I’m Mutou, the leader of the ‘Blade Demons.’ Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Baba from Chiba, representing our dungeon party. We’ll do our best not to get in the way, so please guide us.”

“Oh, I thought you Neets would be all socially awkward, but you seem surprisingly normal. Don’t worry, we’ve been in advanced dungeon surveys many times. Ours is the only party in Japan with five C-rank members. You guys just handle the comms and supplies. We’ll protect you if it comes to it.”

“Thank you very much. That’s very reassuring. This is our first time on a survey, so everyone’s a bit nervous… We’d appreciate your help if things go wrong.”

“No problem, leave it to us. See you later.”

Listening to the conversation between Baba and the explorer leader, I felt relieved—they seemed more decent than I expected.

Yeah, you shouldn’t judge people by appearances. After all, these people made it to C-rank in just a year and a half. Fighting monsters at that level probably makes you look rough. Their gear was impressive too. That leather armor looked like it had better protection than the SDF’s.

Following the SDF’s orders, we moved toward the dungeon entrance. The formation was led by three Blade Demons members, followed by us Neet army, and at the rear were two more Blade Demons members and ten SDF soldiers.

The inside of the dungeon was just as vast as the entrance, with softly glowing walls that illuminated the surroundings along with the lights attached to our shoulders.

This dungeon wasn’t like the cave-style ones we usually explored. It was more like a cleanly cut stone corridor. Though the passage narrowed at some points, it still seemed at least 20 meters wide, and the ceiling looked at least 10 meters high.

Dragging our backpacks and handcarts, we entered this expansive dungeon. Sure, a jeep might have been able to navigate, but tripping a trap would be fatal. Walking was the safest bet.

The SDF soldiers seemed to have skills for detection and night vision, so they advanced while scanning for traps or approaching monsters. With their skills, progress was quick. We continued steadily while installing wireless relays. The rear guards were setting up pressure-based detectors at intersections to protect against rear attacks. I envied their use of the latest equipment.

“There aren’t any monsters, are there?”

“Yeah, we’ve been walking for 30 minutes, and nothing’s shown up. Not even at the side paths or intersections. It doesn’t seem like this dungeon’s already been cleared, though…”

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“Exactly. This dungeon just appeared, and it’s clearly an advanced one. There’s no way it’s been cleared.”

It was strange. As Baba pointed out, there was no way this place had been conquered. No one in the world has cleared an advanced dungeon yet. Even intermediate dungeons have only been cleared a handful of times.

After advancing through several intersections for about 30 more minutes, the leading soldier suddenly stopped. Seeing him crouch and raise his hand, tension rippled through us.

He probably encountered a large room. Dungeons often contain wide rooms or plazas where many monsters tend to roam.

I quietly set down my load and drew my weapon. Everyone around me did the same.

A drone flew ahead into the room, and the SDF soldiers checked its feed on their monitors. Unfortunately, the range of detection skills depends on the user’s proficiency, so the SDF soldier with detection skills couldn’t scan the entire massive room. That’s normal, though.

After about five minutes, the drone returned, and after some conversation among the soldiers, the unit moved forward into the room.

“There don’t seem to be any monsters in the room.”

“Yeah, but it’s strange for there to be no monsters, even in a large room…”

“Considering the traps we’ve seen so far have been simple pitfalls, maybe this dungeon just looks intimidating but is actually low difficulty?”

This enormous dungeon at the foot of an erupting volcano certainly gave off an aura of danger.

But no, I can’t let my guard down. I read in some of novels in times like this, people only believe what they want to believe. I have to stay alert and be ready to run if anything happens.

When we entered the room, I realized it was the largest I’d ever seen.

Whoa… this place is at least 200 meters across. And how many branching paths are there? About 20? The wide path directly in front of us looks like the main route, but why so many branches?

The room was a perfect circle, with entrances to other paths all around. But the SDF soldiers seemed to have decided to head down the large path straight ahead, advancing cautiously across the center of the room.

Naturally, we clustered together, tense and watching the paths as we passed.

Suddenly, we heard a beep from behind us. A soldier monitoring the rear shouted.

“Something’s coming at high speed from the back!”

“It’s coming from the front too!”

“A trap! Everyone, prepare for battle! Explorers, take your gear and retreat down the left path!”

“Roger!”

“Understood!”

Damn it! I knew something was going to happen! This is bad. Really bad!

Following behind Baba and the leader of the Blade Demons, I grabbed my gear and sprinted into the passage along the left wall.

But just then, monsters burst into the room from the path we came from and the main route ahead.

“What the hell are those dinosaur-looking things?!”

The monsters resembled bipedal dinosaurs about 1.5 to 2 meters tall, with raptor-like talons, long snouts, and rows of sharp, jagged teeth.

“Those are Velociraptors. They’re C-rank monsters, attacking with their speed, claws, and sharp teeth. Our armor won’t stand a chance against their tails and kicks.”

“You know a lot about them. I think I remember seeing something like them in the Association’s archives. They only appear in advanced dungeons, right? So this really is an advanced dungeon…”

“That’s what’s strange. Velociraptors are usually found on the sixth underground floor of advanced dungeons. I’ve never heard of them being on the first floor.”

“That means this dungeon is even more dangerous than we thought…”

“Probably.”

While we talked in the passage, the SDF soldiers were already engaged in battle with about 30 Velociraptors. They had formed a semicircle, with their shields up, using spears and magic to attack the monsters. But the Velociraptors were using the wide space to gain momentum, ramming into the soldiers’ shields one after another.

With each impact, the shields buckled, and a Velociraptor would shove its snout through the gap, biting the soldiers behind the shields.

“Aaaghhh!”

“Suyama! Magic team, suppress them! Cast healing spells and stop the bleeding!”

“Captain! We’ve detected monsters coming from the right passage as well!”

“What?! Damn it… we’ll have to retreat and fight as we go. Explorers, fall back with the Blade Demons in front! That way is dangerous too!”

“Damn… we’ll take point. If the Velociraptors came from that path, it might be safer than here. Leave your gear! Follow us with everything you’ve got!”

“Yes, sir!”

We abandoned all our gear except for the bags strapped to our waists and drew our weapons, following the Blade Demons as they sprinted ahead.

In the chaos, I heard screams from those who were caught by the Velociraptors, but I couldn’t afford to look back. My party is still here. I have to make it out alive. I won’t die here!

From that point on, it was pure desperation. The SDF soldiers reached the exit first and held off the Velociraptors to let us escape.

Thank you, SDF soldiers. I’ll never forget your sacrifice. I’m sorry for being weak and cannot help.

I passed by the Self-Defense Force members who were being bitten by the Velociraptors, dragged to the ground, and devoured one by one. I apologized to each of them in my heart as I went by. Because we hadn’t been here, they could have escaped…

Fighting back tears, I dashed toward the exit of the plaza.

“Run! Keep going until you reach the dungeon exit!”

“Mutou, wait! The Self-Defense Force members are still—”

“If you stay here, you’ll just get in the way! Just run!”

“Akutsu, Mutou’s right. These monsters are way beyond stronger than us. If we linger here, even the Self-Defense Force members won’t be able to escape.”

“…Understood. I’m sorry.”

He was right. Out of the 150 of us, the Neet army, almost half had fallen in just the 100 meters we’d run. We were nothing but fodder for these dinosaurs. And without the oil we’d left behind, we had no way to support them.

With a heavy heart, I followed Blade Demons and the others.

We were about halfway to the exit when, at a branching path, we encountered a new wave of monsters.

They were red-scaled lizards, about three meters long, falling one by one from holes near the ceiling as we entered the intersection. The lizards landed to our left and right and along the path leading 20 meters ahead toward the dungeon exit, slowly surrounding us while flickering small flames from their mouths.

“Damn it! Fire lizards?! What are they doing this close to the surface?”

“Leader, this doesn’t look good. There’s too many of them.”

“Ah… yeah, this isn’t going to work. Well, we gave it our best, right?”

“Yeah, it can’t be helped. The Association did say to give it a try. No one’s gonna blame us.”

“There won’t be penalties for this one.”

“Let’s hurry; they’re going to block the exit.”

“Neet army, sorry, but we’re out of here.”

“Wait, Mutou, what do you mean by—”

“No… you can’t be serious! You’re abandoning us?!”

No way. No way! They’re leaving us behind to escape on their own? Their job was to protect us!

And what did they mean about ‘no penalties’ if we didn’t make it out?

“Don’t be so dramatic. If you’re explorers, think of a way to survive on your own. We do whatever it takes to stay alive—that’s how we got strong. You can’t get stronger if you’re dead. Well, this is probably the last time we’ll see each other, but I guess we were both just unlucky. Let’s go!”

“““Yeah!”””

“Wa-wait… please…”

As I tried to call out, two members of Blade Demons moved to create walls of water along both sides of the path leading to the dungeon exit. The leader charged forward between the walls, and the two followed, creating water barriers behind them as they went.

The fire lizards on our sides reacted, spewing fireballs toward the Blade Demons, but the walls of water absorbed the attacks, preventing any damage. When the water walls finally disappeared, there was no sign of Blade Demons—only the scattered corpses of a few fire lizards.

They left us. They abandoned us and ran, ditching their job as our protectors. The Self-Defense Force members had risked their lives to shield us, but Blade Demons only cared about saving their own skins.

The Explorer’s Association sending us with guards like them, never intended to protect us seriously.

Damn it… we were set up.

Why does everything go wrong every time I try to work?

Damn it… damn it…