It took three days before Mikoto got over her depression. She decided not to hope so much and simply be satisfied with what she got.

"Right... I got the power to make my own dungeon. I should just stick to it instead of trying to reach an unrealistic goal." She said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

She felt sad, but she knew she had to move on.

"... Well then, I think I should check how my dungeon is doing..." She stood up from the bed and went to her living room where both of her dungeon models were located.

She hadn't seen any activities in her dungeon in the past three days. Which should be obvious as the association declared an entry ban for the duration of this week.

She was just thinking what to do next when she saw a group of small people appear at the entrance of her dungeon model. They looked like they were holographic simulation on her eyes as they walked towards the sketch of stairs on the cardboard floor, which made it look like they were stepping on actual stairs as they descended to the first floor.

"Oh! I want to see this!"

She already explored her dungeon three days ago. She knew how it looked inside, and even as the creator of it she felt satisfied with the dungeon. She wondered if they would like her dungeon too, and how they would evaluate the second floor of her dungeon.

She was excited as she sat on the tatami floor and watched the holographic simulation of the Adventurers who were exploring her dungeon.

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Sgt. Kazama Sugou moved cautiously towards the stairs that led to the second floor above. Along with him were three of his men, dispatched to evaluate the threat of the new floor. They had quickly taken care of this first floor, and they haven't seen anything new on this floor so they quickly got to this part within half an hour.

"Everyone ready?" After their nod, he gestured with his head. "Isshimaru, take point."

Their pointman nodded before he moved forward. Rushing towards the stairs that goes above. After a while, he yelled out.

"Clear!"

With his confirmation, the others followed. Getting to the second floor and quickly getting into position.

The second floor started at the edge with a single path moving forward. It showed another peculiarity within the dungeon. Normally, dungeon floors always move down, and the start of each floor is a large room. Stairs that start or end at the edge of a narrow path are uncommon, mostly for weak dungeons like this.

'Not like that matters to an Evolving Case.'

Evolving Case was a term used for dungeons that could change or expand itself. The majority of the dungeons remained the same, even the first dungeons that popped up ten years ago. The very first Evolving Case occurred in Moscow, the one they called the Moskva Hell. This kind of case was extremely rare, and was normally a difficult dungeon even for high ranked adventurers.

Out of the thousands of dungeons that appeared all over the world, 1% of them were recorded as an Evolving Case. Japan only had one Evolving Case, and it was on Okinawa. This would be the second one.

Their squad was dispatched for accurate evaluation of the change. Evolving cases were always dangerous, so his squad was picked as a first attempt for evaluation. All of them were equipped with military grade light weaponry, sidearms, and military suit fused with dungeon-based materials. This gave them a high chance of survival that they could flee in case of a sudden crisis.

After they looked at their every angle and didn't find any hidden paths around, they decided to continue. Sugou was a bit unused at the feedback on his steps. The cardboard floor felt fragile on his soles that he felt like he would fall if he didn't control the weight he was putting on each of his steps.

His training about dungeons and his recollection about their drill instructors who constantly reminded them about the indestructible nature of the Dungeon made him continue without showing any signs of nervousness.

"There's a bend. Left side." Their pointman briefly conveyed.

The others slowed to a stop. The others positioned on the wall near the bend, while one of them stood on the farther wall on their right, on the spot where he could check what was beyond the bent path. His assault rifle's flashlight equipped above the muzzle pointed at it as he took a crouched position.

"Clear." The man crouched with his rifle pointed on the curved path stated.

Sugou nodded. "Isshimaru, take point." Their pointman nodded before he lowered his stance for a bit.

After that, he moved quickly with his shotgun raised. Checking below, his side, and above as he moved through that left path.

"Clear!"

With Isshimaru's words, the others followed suit.

After a few minutes, they stopped when they encountered a room. Beyond this cardboard hallway was a wide opening, which let them immediately know that it was a room.

"Hostiles detected beyond the room." Cpl. Yuuya Shidou stated. He was their spotter, which was usually reserved to snipers, due to his skill which was a detection skill.

"Numbers?"

"Six."

Sugou nodded before he made some hand gestures. Everyone moved behind their pointman, while their pointman took one of his flash grenades. After he took the safety pin off and threw it in the room, they waited. When they heard the sound of spark and ringing of metal, they quickly moved.

With quick precision, they pointed their guns at the first humanoid being they encountered within the room. Based on the brief time they saw them, Sugou quickly deduced that the flashbang hasn't affected them.

A burst of fire occurred within this cardboard room as they peppered the humanoid monsters with lead. They haven't heard any screeching from the monsters as they sprayed them with bullets.

As they shot them, Sugou noticed the features of the monsters.

"... Paper?"

These humanoid beings were made of paper. They were like those art projects from elementary. A human-shaped paper that they were now shooting with a hale of bullets.

The sentient papers flopped aimlessly to the ground, their body slowly crumbled and turned into ash. The bodies of the sentient humanoid papers were replaced by a small crystal the size of their thumb. One of them moved towards the monsters to take the mana stones that the monsters had dropped, while the others decided to talk for a bit.

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah... they're made of paper..."

Sugou felt it was surreal seeing a monster made entirely out of paper. It looked flat. It was like someone animated a children's art project.

They were expecting to fight something stronger, but this felt like another disappointment.

"... Sir, I just checked. Those monsters dropped a larger mana stone than the ones at the first floor." PFC. Isshimaru Kyohei stated as he showed the mana stone on his hand.

"Let me check." Pvt. Yukitani Kimura quickly took the flashlight from his toolkit and then peered at it as he pointed the light on his head.

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After a while, they verified his words. The mana stone dropped from the peculiar monsters of this floor was a fourth of an inch larger than the one dropped by those sentient clumps of dust.

"Okay, we will add it to the report. Is there anything else?" With a shake of their heads, Sugou quickly continued. "Okay, let's continue with the operation."

With that, the others quickly took their positions and then moved forward.

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"They're really weak..."

An hour later, and they have explored every nook and cranny of the dungeon except one. For evaluation's sake, they didn't have to strictly stick to military protocols. They were also here to check just how strong the monsters were inside it.

So while it would be foolish for a normal military operation to let go of their guns, here they had to. They tried their batons first which quickly killed the moving paper man. The knife easily cuts through their body.

Other than that, they discovered that these paper men couldn't hurt them. Their pitiful attacks only consist of swinging their paper-y fist and harmlessly making contact with their specialized suit and body armor. Even taking their attacks on their face doesn't harm them.

The other soldiers had relaxed considerably after they learned about this. They were still vigilant about their surroundings. It would be foolish not to as it was drilled to them, but they weren't as tense as the time they first came to this floor.

Other than the disappointing enemies of this floor, they had discovered the chest of this dungeon. It was a chest entirely made out of cardboard. The chest contained some disappointing loots within it.

They encountered at least three cardboard chests. One in a room and two on the hallway deadends. The loots they got from it were a wooden sword, a small flask of red potion, and a bundle of paper sheets. Out of everything, the small flask of red potion was more important, as it could heal fatal external wounds. With enough of it, they could even reattached cut limbs.

The wooden sword doesn't matter. Even if it was better than a normal bokken due to being a dungeon loot, it was still a wooden sword. As for the bundle of paper sheets, it was a new loot so they had to get it appraised later.

Other than that, there was nothing else. They had left the largest room for the last as they felt it might have something important in it. Dungeons always put some strong monsters on a larger room. It was a common pattern that they followed. It also had a door, a large difference compared to the other rooms which had no doors on it, so they decided to check it for last.

They haven't encountered any traps on this floor, lowering it's threat rating further to nil. It was just four times larger than the first floor. Anything else, and it might as well be the same as the first floor due to how non-threatening it was.

"Are you all ready?" With their nods, they quickly took position as their pointman moved forward. Going a few meters in advanced than them towards the large room.

This would be the final room that they would check. They had already mapped everything other than this. If there was nothing beyond this large room, then their exploration would be done and they could start with their reports.

When they got closer to the entrance pf that large room, they stopped when their spotter suddenly exclaimed.

"Sergeant!"

The others turned to him, a bit startled and also curious.

"What is it, Yuuya?" He noticed that the guy was trembling for a bit. It made him tense.

"... I am detecting a strong aura within that room. It might be a boss monster!"

"... What!?" Just like him, the others were surprised when they heard that.

Boss Monster. A type of monster within a dungeon that had to be defeated before they could move forward. They usually protected the door that would lead an adventurer to the next floor, though sometimes they protected something else, or they were just there as a challenge to Adventurers.

Regardless, Boss Monsters were always stronger than any monsters within that dungeon. Even the weakest dungeon, if it had a boss, would have its threat rating elevated by two ranks. That was how dangerous Boss Monsters were.

Boss Monsters always had valuable drops, so the risk was sometimes worth it. Though only strong adventurers attempt to defeat a boss monster. Weak adventurers could only stay on the weaker dungeons if they wanted to survive.

Though this was an anomaly. Boss Monsters only occurred on larger dungeons. At the minimum, they would start appearing on the tenth floor. The hardest dungeon on this date, The Path to the Abyss, also was an anomaly but the earliest Boss Monster they would encounter there would be at the Fifth Floor.

To encounter a Boss Monster on the second floor was absurd.

"... Prepare yourself. We will enter after my count."

They quickly positioned themselves with their pointman in front of the door.

"At the count of three. One, two, three! Go go go!"

After that short count down, Kyohei took a large stride and then kicked the door down. The stylistic cardboard door opened wide and they quickly entered the large room with their guns trained around them.

"... Ah..." Sugou looked up and couldn't help but gaped in amazement and horror as they watched the being in front of them.

It was a large humanoid figure. It's whole body was so slender, and it's entire body was wrapped by a bandage. It looked like a doll that had been wrapped with multiple bandages around its body. It's incredibly long limbs felt really creepy to look at. Ot was currently crouched, and it's entire arms were huddled on each side of the room, entirely covering their entire area with it's arms.

The door they came through closed on its own, indicating that this room wasn't normal.

They had entered the boss room.

"Open fire!" Sugou quickly ordered which snapped his teammates out of their stupor.

They quickly pointed their muzzles at the featureless head of the large humanoid monster. The large monster reeled from the hale of bullets, it's head that leaned closer to them pulled back and raised its head at the ceilings of this dungeon.

Then one of its arms swept towards them. It looked slow, but they were sure it would hurt due to its humongous size.

"[Iron Wall]"

Kyohei, their pointman, shouted as he moved in front of the large bandaged hand that was coming fast at them. A shimmer of brown light covered his emtire body before it solidified into a holographical shield shape.

The hand slammed onto that shield shape, and air itself seemed to have exploded due to the impact. A short shockwave passed through them, the blow causing wind to dispersed and creates a breeze of air that brushed through their hair and skin.

"Kyohei!"

"Guu! It's nothing Sergeant, I can handle it!" He said as he held his shotgun properly and then shot the large hand that was trying to press it's palm on his shield, intent on breaking it with sheer force.

"[Damage Boost]"

Their field support, Pvt. Yukitani Kimura, quickly shouted. After his shout, a shimmer of red light covered their figure before they felt a sense of power deep within their guts.

After the boost in power, Kyohei pulled the trigger of his shotgun. A sound akin to an explosion occurred as buckshot shredded the bandaged hand of the titan. It reeled in pain even when no noise left its mouth, if it ever have a mouth at all.

"Bullets can affect it!" Kyohei yelled as he pumped his shotgun. Spent casing falling on the cardboard floor of the dungeon as he prepared to shot another buckshot on the retreating hand of the large monster.

With their pointman's words, they resumed their attack on it's face while the titan tried to cover its face with its other unharmed hand. The hand it used to cover was quickly shredded from their bullets, and added more holes on its face. Their shots penetrated more due to the boost their field support gave them.

Sugou watched for anything that might happen next, though when he saw the titan fell to its knees and slowly crumbled into nothingness, he suddenly became dumbfounded.

"... Huh?"

He was expecting that there might be more. It was a large boss monster. He was checking if it would suddenly surprised them with something, like using some mysterious skill to instantly wipe them out or something.

Instead, it just died.

The others were also dumbfounded that they stopped shooting. They were already expecting for a long battle, but not even a minute had passed since they started fighting, and now it was already crumbling.

The paper titan exploded into magical particles after a few short moments.

"... Seriously?"

The tension that gripped their heart were quickly released with disappointment.

This dungeon was too underwhelming for them.

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"Wow... they took care of the paper golem that fast?"

Mikoto was amazed at the JGSDF soldiers from dealing with her very first boss monster. That boss was actually a paper doll that she then wrapped with more slips of paper to look like it was bandaged. She didn't manage to control the dimensions of the doll, making it's limbs a lot longer than she was expecting.

It couldn't be helped. She had to make it the same height as her hand, because it wouldn't be able to move in that large room if she made it larger. She tried to make its hands detailed by putting fingers on them, and it was the cause why its arms were long. She thought it might have added some creepy factor so she decided to leave it as it was.

She couldn't hear what they were talking about, though she could read what they were saying through popup messages that only she could see so long as they were within her dungeon.

"They find it underwhelming... huh..." She felt a bit down at that.

She made the second floor as an escalation to the difficulty of the first floor, and at the same time as an experiment.

"Traps too... I think I have to add some traps on the future extensions for this dungeon." She nodded to herself.

Then she continued to watch, feeling excited at their reaction when they saw the chest beyond the boss room. It was the only door other than the entrance to the boss room where it would lead to a deadend. On the edge of that deadend was the cardboard chest where it gave skill orbs. That's how she set it's loot whenever a boss was defeated.

As expected, when they got to that room and opened that chest, they were surprised. She felt happy when they said this dungeon might be worth it with the Skill Orb alone.

"I think it's a success, right?" She said, at least satisfied with the reaction of the military about her dungeon.

She hoped it would make her dungeon popular enough. She wanted other adventurers to try her own designs and see how they would fare within it.

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"... I knew it..." She said with a sigh as she looked at the poster on the outpost.

After a week, an announcement for this dungeon stating that the second floor could only be ventured by Licensed Adventurer that were at least ranked F. Unlicensed Adventurers could only venture up to the first floor.

She felt a bit depressed at that, as it would be impossible for her to enter the deeper parts of her own dungeon.