They are… actually pretty cute.
Stop that
Stop developing feelings for our cannonfodder
They don’t matter
How can you be like this?! Just look at it! It’s adorable!
The small slime that Izuku was currently focused on seemed to have detected that their Dungeon Master, or however you called it in this world, had their attention on them, as they began to… cutely swiggle around.
Or at least that’s the theory, as there is just no other reason for them to act like that.
Awwww.
Don’t ‘Awwww’ it! Stop that! This is stupid!
You’d enjoy it too if you had, you know, human emotions.
Fuck you!
The first creatures that populated their dungeon were already there, moving around largely at random. Astral Slimes resembled blobs of gelatinous matter the color of stars, they could actually see small lights glitter inside their largely black ‘body’. They were moving around rather slowly, but could actually jump off the ground and hopefully latch themselves onto people to restrict their movements.
The way they moved around was actually cute. Izuku could only wonder how girls from his class would react if they could see those. Ashido and Hagakure would probably hug them, wouldn’t they?
Astral Shards were significantly less cute. They resembled floating crystals in a color palette similar to Astral Slimes. They could float and fire small crystal projectiles at designated targets. They were also pretty slow.
Really, really slow.
When he saw them move for the first time, Tomura complained that if they were just a tiny bit slower, their game would be legally reclassified into a tower defense one.
On a sidenote, what's the next expansion planned?
We’re making the dungeon deeper
And we move ourselves again, to a much deeper point of it, obviously
I hate the moving blackout.
yeah, same
Anyway, do we have to just keep staring at the RM level until it grows, for who knows how many days?
I hope not.
There should be some sort of way to skip time, right?
Hopefully, otherwise that would suck
Unless you learn how to have fun by just observing the Slimes at their peak cuteness level.
N o
Thus far everything worked pretty intuitively, didn’t it?
Maybe if we just… think about it hard enough, the time will start moving faster?
Are you serious
Are you actually serious
I don’t think that being the closest thing our world had to a shonen anime protagonist gave you the power to manipulate time through the power of Belief In Yourself
We can at least try, right?
Ugh
You know what, fine
Let’s just… skip time until we have, say, 50 RM units
And
WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS IT SUDDENLY AT FIFTY
And where are all the slimes?!
Or, there they are.
Just scattered around.
Still kind of endearing though.
What the fuck?! Did you just willed the time to go forward or what
Uhm, no? I think we just kinda fell asleep in our Dungeon way of doing it.
For who knows how long.
I’m staring at you suspiciously right now
Or, well, I would, if I had eyes
Fucking hell, this is weird
Alright, let’s just invest all of the mana into deepening the Dungeon, alright?
No issues on my side.
What do you want the new layout to look like?
In the end, there were quite a number of changes. To begin with, the side corridor intersecting with the main route was somewhat expanded, in big part due to this possibly making any invader take it for the main route and heading off in the wrong direction. Buying them some time.
As for the actual corridor going deeper into the Dungeon and heading to their new throne room, Tomura made it as narrow as possible to create a second chokepoint.
It was a three meter long crawl through the hole in the wall, well concealed at the corner of the side corridor, which could easily be missed while someone would instead follow the false route beside it, due to its positioning.
Both choke points were supposed to be garrisoned and work as the best, and only defense they had. First one, with seven Slimes and three Shards, scattered around the exit of the tunnel. Second one, by three Slimes and two Shards.
So, I have a question.
Is it finally a stupid one?
No.
I experimented with the Slimes for a while while you were ignoring me and I figured out that they could attach themselves to a solid surface. Not permanently, but for a while.
What’s the question?
Can we, in case of an attack too strong for our first line to stop it, order the second line Slimes to attach themselves to the wall above the tunnel exit, to fall onto the enemy from above?
The first line will be attacking them from the ground, so they might expect the same thing to happen at the second exit.
That’s… actually a pretty good idea, okay
Hmph
We could also try to put them in the tight passages instead of after them.
I’m kind of surprised that we didn’t do that to begin with.
And now you’re talking out of your ass
Magic, remember?
You want some local Endeavor to purge the entire passage at once with one flame attack
They’d have to be stupid not to make sure that such a tight crevice is clear from enemies before crawling in
Ah, good point.
What next?
We wait. Again.
image [https://images.squidge.org/images/2024/03/09/image0321be740b0f0584.png]
1. Entrance, 2. Narrow Tunnel. 3. Narrow Tunnel. 4. Dungeon Core
***
The interesting fact that Izuku discovered soon later, was that it was entirely possible for the two of them to ‘sleep’ separately. In short, Izuku could set different conditions for the end of his nap. And be active around the Dungeon without having to stomach Shigaraki’s presence.
Not like he had a lot to do. If he actually tried to change anything in the Dungeon, it would likely awaken Shigaraki. Similarly, he decided not to try to speak to his unfortunate co-administrator, as considering how streamlined and optimized everything was in the system, it would likely awaken him.
Instead he let himself spend some time, sitting in the middle segment of the Dungeon and observing a few of the Astral Slimes moving around, still in a rather cute way.
Sitting was more like ‘sitting’ though. He didn’t have a body, he just focused his consciousness in one place and did his best to imagine his body actually being there.
If he actually had a body, he would likely sit in the corner, hugging his own knees and burying his face between them. And then probably cry. In the traditional Midoriya way. So with enough tears to flood the place and probably generate a completely new Flooded Limestone Cave biome.
He… wasn’t coping well with the situation. He was the exact opposite of ‘well’. It greatly contributed to how intensely he clashed with Tomura Shigaraki. And how… sassy he got, to the point where it surprised even himself.
What would All Might do? What would his mom do? What would Kacchan or Uraraka-san do? He, regretfully, couldn’t just ask them. And how would they all react to finding out that their past was…
A lie?
Was it really? Did the past him actually exist , he just wasn’t the same individual? Was he a lie?
He wanted to be a hero. Now he was apparently supposed to help kill one. And the alternative was to risk everyone he knew suffering. But… Did he actually know them? Were they truly his friends, teachers and his mother, or someone completely different, just wearing their names and faces?
And, more importantly, did it really matter to him? They were innocent people with a potentially horrible fate looming for them on the horizon. His very character still urged him to do his best to save them from it.
But he was also supposed to help kill a hero. Did that mean that trying to act like a hero himself would make him into a hypocrite? Was he… supposed to be evil? But he had no idea how to even start being evil! Nor did he really want to be evil.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
In short, it was a very important moment of introspection that might have led him somewhere , except it didn’t. Because that’s when something completely unexpected happened.
Shigaraki!
SHIGARAKI!
What
Wait
oh fuck
OH FUCK
Someone has just entered their Dungeon.
It was a woman, in her late twenties/early thirties with black hair, wearing a cloth black shirt with a red hood, leather belt and boots and largely exposed legs. She was also carrying a leather backpack and two knives.
Anything else to mention?
Oh, yes.
She had a pair of cat ears above her head, and a really active feline tail, both of them in the same, black color.
She was also very, very wet, as it seemed that it was currently raining outside of their cave dungeon. It was of little surprise to them all when she immediately put her backpack down on the ground in their opening room, and began to pull what looked like camping supplies out of it.
Once it was unloaded, she then promptly left the cave with an empty backpack. Huh?
Huh?
Probably went to look for a dry wood to set up a campfire
It’s raining though?
It’s not raining for a long time
It’s entirely possible to find wood that’s still reasonably dry, for example due to something shielding it from water
How do you know that?
Training
You had wilderness survival training?
Yes
When I wasn’t doing well in my usual training, Sensei had me spent a week or two in the forest, Kurogiri only warping me back if my life was in danger
…
That’s child abuse.
It’s called training.
I’m going to vehemently disagree.
All Might never dropped you in a forest and told you to survive there on your own?
Wha… of course not?
And that’s why you have no idea how to survive in a forest, duh
Tomura Shigaraki’s survival training wasn’t for naught, as the woman did return with a backpack filled mostly with wood. And quickly began working on a campfire. And no, not inside the cave. There was apparently a slight rock overhang right outside the entrance, and she started to work on the campfire there.
Which was logical, as setting a campfire inside a cave shaped like this would cause her to asphyxiate due to the carbon dioxide poisoning.
Wait, it just occurred to me.
She wants to wait here until the rain ends, right?
Yeah, probably
If she wants to do that, she probably won’t be resting in her current, wet clothes, right?
She’d want to dry them and probably not while wearing them, right?
Is she going to, uhm, disrobe?
I will answer your concerns with one, short word
N i c e
No, it’s not NICE. It’s unethical!
You literally have the grape pervert in your class and you don’t seem to be concerned about it
What sort of argument is that?! Mineta’s behavior might be troublesome at times, but he’s still working hard to become a hero and actually became a better person since I met him.
He wanted to become a pro-hero because he saw pro-heroes as people who were cool and admirable because of being pro-heroes, now he understands that they were ‘cool and admirable’ because of who they were before becoming pro-heroes, because of their hard work and bravery.
He actually puts in a lot of effort and isn’t crossing lines anymore, being just a normal teenager, albeit rather horny.
Wow protective much
Yes.
So his character development is from being a stupid hero wannabe into being a less stupid hero wannabe, wow, what an improvement
You have no right to criticize anyone on their character development.
When you wanted to have a character development, you ended up sneaking into a mall, threatening to murder a teenager, me, and then telling them to explain to you what you’re doing wrong with your life, or else.
Which is objectively speaking the spiciest and dumbest way of seeking psychological help in existence.
And then you completely misread everything I said and did a completely different thing altogether!
Wait, so what you tried to tell me back then wasn’t that it was all about All Might?
Of course not!
I was trying to tell you that Stain unlike you had an understandable and to some people relatable sociopolitical agenda that made people at least consider what he was saying before refusing.
You in the meantime were the equivalent of a preschool kid throwing a fit in the sandpit because you don’t like your daycare unit and being given access to deadly weapons by a morally dubious parental figure with nefarious goals that they don’t share with anyone, with none of the aforementioned traits inspiring confidence in your agenda and organization.
Oh
Well, that’s kinda awkward
I’ve been running with the idea that everything is All Might’s fault ever since
Trust me, I noticed.
Everyone noticed.
What do we do with the intruder?
To go by standards of normie isekai, since she’s a catwoman and she showed up early into our journey, she’s the designated Native Guide Slash Love Interest.
Are we in a normie isekai story though?
Probably not.
We should thus avoid any sort of contact with her and let her leave
We’re not ready for a fight either way
Fair
I expected you to try to come out to her and talk about your lord and savior, All Might
Can it.
Oof.
And that’s when everything went wrong.
They have no idea what made it, but soon before the catwoman get to undressing, she suddenly froze in place and looked in the opposite direction of the cave entrance… and right towards the narrow passage leading to a deeper level of the Dungeon.
Oh no.
That’s when… a dot showed up on the minimap of the level, one that neither of them thought existed. It was orange. Did it mean that there was a trespasser in the Dungeon? Did it only work when they knew that they were in a dungeon?
And that’s when the dot suddenly changes to a red one. And this instant, they understand what it means, purely instinctually.
Not a simple trespasser. But an active hostile. The catwoman just realized that she was in a newborn Dungeon… and decided to kill it.
I fucking knew that it wasn’t a standard isekai!
FOCUS! Can we block her road by altering the corridor or something?
We can’t do any updates to the entire Level, the system is locked and says that we can’t do anything if there’s an active source of interference anywhere on it
I guess no changes while there’s someone inside
Damn it.
The woman draws her knives and walks over to the entrance to the first passage. Shigaraki and Midoriya immediately start gathering up the astral shards and slimes on the other side for a fight.
They expected her to spend at best a few seconds on passing through the crevice, letting them order the shards shoot at her through the passage but no such luck. She gets through the hole with incredible agility, immediately stabbing the slime nearest to the exit with one of her blades.
The slimes, it seems, had a solid core, and she immediately stabbed it, killing the slime instantly.
She also threw the other knife at the nearest arcane shard, and somehow it instantly pierced all the way through. Judging from the slight glow that accompanied the throw, magic was involved.
Slimes try to slam into her and restrict her movements, if only by attaching themselves to her legs. One of them gets instantly stomped to death, another is kicked with enough strength to splatter its remains over the wall.
The other two shards fire at her, but she manages to dodge both of them. First one immediately dies to another thrown dagger.
That leaves the catwoman temporarily unarmed, but she clearly doesn’t need it, her hands and legs being dangerous enough. One slime did manage to wrap itself around her arm after somehow managing to leap at her from the ground, but she immediately pushed her other arm inside and pierced its core.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit
we’re getting trashed
fucking trash mobs
They are dying for us, don’t call them ‘trash’!
NOT THE ACTUAL PROBLEM RIGHT NOW DAMMIT
The remaining defenders of the first line of defense are dispatched in short order, the catwoman receiving one hit from the last remaining astral shard, but it’s at worst a small bruise.
Despite the cave being almost pitch black, the catwoman manages to fight almost without any problems. Was it the sounds? Was it her lightly reflecting eyes giving her some measure of nightvision?
They have no idea, and they have no time to figure it out.
The second room being somewhat confusing in layout pays them maybe two minutes, but eventually the catwoman manages to find the second passage.
Time to see how good my plan was.
It better fucking be good, this is the last line of defense we have!
And it doesn’t work.
Oh, it had a pretty good start. The catwoman was definitely surprised by the slimes falling off the ceiling and wall above the passage exit. One of the slimes almost managed to wrap itself around her face, which might have achieved something, and the two Astral Shards had about three seconds of uninterrupted attack window before the invader managed to free herself from the slimes’ slimy embrace.
I think she has a broken rib
I don’t think that it’s enough.
No, no it’s not
I think this is the end of the run
Since we’re going to die there’s something I wanted to tell you
?
I fucking hate you and I regret not killing you in that mall
I’m not sure why I hoped for something more than that.
And I’ll reply by saying that I regret not managing to punch you in the face during USJ.
Oh? Aren’t your full power punches deadly?
Yes. Yes they are.
Wow, what a great moment to show your fangs
The catwoman dispatches the last of the enemies, before spending a few seconds gasping loudly, her position remaining unchanged. Then she hides her daggers, while flinching lightly, and quickly checks one of the injuries to the left side of her chest.
Judging from another pained flinch on her face, Tomura’s diagnosis was correct. They’ve managed to break a rib there. That was … nice? They’ve almost won. Of course, it still wasn’t enough, and they were going to die but…
The moment the Core enters the line of sight of the catwoman, Luna’s ‘one time get out of jail free card’ activates.
In a heartbeat, something towering materializes behind her back, somehow manifesting straight out of the darkness of the corridor. She reacts fast, but not fast enough before the thing grabs her by the shoulder and slams her into the nearest cave wall.
At this point both Izuku and Tomura managed to get a good look at the thing. And Izuku immediately realizes that Tomura was wrong when he compared Luna to a sleep paralysis demon. Because what was standing in the corridor before the Dungeon Core was the real sleep paralysis demon.
It was almost two meters long and humanoid, but with unnaturally long limbs, giant glowing red eyes, an inhumanly wide mouth twisted into an inhuman grin and a nearly pitch black body.
To Tomura, it looked like the Generic Creepypasta Creature. But it was now standing right there, and that made it look actually terrifying.
It slammed the catwoman into the wall with enough strength to almost knock her out and likely break a few bones. She fell to the ground, face down, and before she could recover, she was pinned down to the ground by the creature.
Its left knee was pushing her left elbow to the floor. This freed both of its arms to grab her other arm… and start rotating it. Slowly.
The woman screamed when the shoulder joint couldn’t handle it anymore. But the rotation continued. It was at this moment that Izuku couldn’t handle it anymore and moved his consciousness away from the corridor.
But he could still hear her screams. Ones which lasted for a much longer period than they should.
I think she’s dead
Izuku makes the mistake of glancing at the corpse’s direction to confirm it. The pile of flesh and blood on the floor barely resembled a…catwoman? Did they have quirks in this world? Limbs were torn off, eyes gouged out and…
I have no mouth and I must puke
mood
Whatever it was, it left already
It continued to torture her until she passed away, then just disappeared
great
I don’t want to see it anymore
Let’s… let’s just assimilate her. Because I don’t want to see that corpse for even a second more.
you know what
big mood
***
Yes. There'll be AI-generated pictures in this story, at least from time to time.
This is the first visitor that just got shredder. You'll learn her name...
... a bit later.
image [https://images.squidge.org/images/2024/03/09/image5da24674e92437d3.png]
Ignore the oddly shaped tail, it's just bend like that behind her hand.