Ch 86 – A Strange Dungeon
'Huh?' That was the first thought Honda had when he opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a wooden wall with a large piece of white paper plastered on it with a line of words written on it.
"Within every living being lies a malignant shadow, the other side of the same coin. The incarnation of their impurities, the other self. This island is plagued with such a disease, the Shadow Sickness. Your other self, given life, yet not given a soul. Their true bodies lie within the darkness, trying to take ahold of the light and receive a soul. Remember, trust no one, not even yourself." Lute's voice was instantly heard from the side as Honda turned his head to see Lute was sitting beside him. An intrigued grin was on his face as he read the ominous message on the wall.
As he finished reading the passages of text, Lute chuckled and said out loud: "Now isn't that ominous? Like Shadow Sickness? Really? Gosh, what else, would it also be called the Shadow Plague?"
After hearing his voice, Honda let out a relieved sigh to know that he wasn't alone. But his eyes soon widen as he felt no mana in the air, nor any mana in his soul, and his body was a lot weaker with the mana that permanently reinforced it suddenly gone.
Not only that, as he turned his eyes to the left, he saw Kira standing beside a wooden table with certain objects that made him shocked to the core.
'Are those guns?!' Honda thought as he slowly stood up, the feeling of weakness made him uncomfortable but he slowly got used to it. The dark room felt a bit cold considering it was almost night, and as he looked out the window, he saw the orange sky slowly turning into the dark night.
"Hmm? Isn't this the same thing Anastasia Melokva-sama uses? A gun? Though what are those other "guns"? They look quite different from the one she usually wields." Lute's intrigued voice reverberated throughout the silent room as they were all standing beside the table, and Lute can be seen fiddling around with a pistol while Kira holds a rifle, and Honda was holding a shotgun.
'This is an actual gun! How is there a gun in this world not powered by magic!' Honda thought, his core shook and spooked from the existence of the guns.
'Another person that got reincarnated?! But wasn't Kilt the first Reincarnate?! The first member of Insurgents of God?! Then how could these guns exist?' Honda thought, his breath trembling as he fiddled around with the gun. He has a bit of experience considering Anastasia thought him a little bit about guns, and the bullets indeed contained a powder-like substance inside their shells, meaning it was an actual gun powered through gunpowder, or whatever the powder was.
"Hmm? Is that powder explosive? Hmm, so if this thing can ignite it, then it should probably shoot out the shell quite fast and be a dangerous weapon. Oh, so that's how a gun works." Lute muttered from the side as Honda saw Lute disassembling the gun within moments and he felt shocked how Lute instantly understood the inner workings of a gun quite fast, considering this was the first time he held a gun his whole life.
"Huh, what do you guys think would happen if this gets sold and mass-produced? Won't that radically change the whole course of humanity where non-magical items can overpower most mages?" Lute muttered from the side as goosebumps formed on Honda's arm. He knew too well what would happen if this gets mass-produced, billions would die in wars as magic became futile.
"… Yeah, it would probably lead to a lot of bad things happening." Honda gulped from the side.
"Hmm, it's already almost night! Sigh, now this dungeon is just too strange. First, there is no mana. Second, the reinforcements done to the body by using mana are temporarily gone considering there is no mana filling our body. And then we are inside a house. Which is considerably the strangest part of this dungeon. Yuuya, are you okay with staying here while me and Kira scout outside for a while? We might encounter other adventurers and we could help them by leading them to this safe house," Lute said as Honda contemplates for a while before nodding his head.
"Okay, stay safe in here," Lute said, the duo then walks to the door while holding a gun each. For Lute, it was a pistol colored silver and seems heavy, while Kira holds a rifle which probably holds quite the punch, and might bring a lot of stress to those who wield it.
As Honda quietly watches the two get out of the room, he grabs his shotgun and took in deep breaths. 1, 2, 1, 2, he used a breathing technique to calm himself while listening to his breath.
'Now, can I still use the Storage Ring?' Honda thought, his concentration trying to activate the Storage Ring but to no avail as he has no mana to activate it which made him click his tongue.
'No mana, no supplies, and we haven't eaten dinner yet. My body is also now weak, sigh, at least I'm still relatively strong physically with the training I have done and the physical stress I went through this past year. But why are we three currently inside this house right now? And why are there guns? A Reincarnate? But we are the only Reincarnates in all of this world's history… Wait, we have all been reincarnated due to God reincarnating us, so what if somebody else managed to reincarnate accidentally?' Honda started to theorize a lot of things, the fear of the unknown kept him on edge as he tried to look for answers.
'Or maybe, somebody in the world a long time ago managed to make a gun and it somehow ended up in this dungeon as a treasure, but how come we already have the treasure early on without doing anything? This dungeon is just too weird.' Honda thought as he paced around the room with a raised eyebrow.
'And the Shadow Sickness, why is that written on the wall? Is it related to the dungeon? And what does it mean to trust no one?' Honda glanced at the wall, trying to find anything about it.
'Wait, what if there is something behind the wall!' Honda thought as his eyes widens and he went to peel off the large piece of white paper, and what was behind it was expected, just the same wooden wall. But it was a lot cleaner, meaning a lot of time must have passed inside this dungeon…
'Wait?! How come there is dust here if this dungeon has just newly opened?!' Honda realized this inconsistency, or perhaps, this strange mystery.
'Sigh, I hope I get to find something like a clue soon.' Honda thought as he started to snoop around the room.
(An Hour Later)
As Honda silently sat down on the floor with a rumbling stomach, he looks up and saw the night sky outside the window.
'Where are those two?! Why are they still not back yet? Wait… Are they in danger?' Honda thought, irrationality and hunger clouding his mind as he stood up hastily, he then quickly grabs the shotgun and walked out the door, as the thought of hunting some animals for food filled his mind.
As he silently walks through the dark forest with…
'No moon, huh?' Honda thought, his eyes glancing to the sky where instead of a moon, there was just a giant ball of luminescent light that replicates the moon.
Continuing to walk, Honda felt his mind becoming more alert due to the creepy silence in the jungle, it was only him, all weak and pathetic, with his gun that he had little training with after practicing with Anastasia months ago.
Walking alone made Honda feel paranoid, it was as if the shadows around him are monsters that would come kill him swiftly. But as minutes passed, the sense of danger slowly went away and Honda became more relaxed.
'Strange, a monster should have appeared by now.' Honda thought as he walks forward with absentminded eyes, that was until he heard rustling sounds in front of him and he was instantly alerted awake, his shotgun hastily pointing forwards and he puts his finger on the trigger.
"W-who?" A voice was heard from behind the bushes, which instantly made Honda a lot calmer as he lowered his gun slightly, but he can still quickly respond to any danger if something bad happens.
As the leaves and bushes rustled, a figure came into his view and it was actually a woman with flowing blond hair, emerald green eyes, and wearing leather armor over a green shirt and brown pants. And strapped to her chest and back was a quiver that holds tens of arrows along with a bow grasped by her right hand.
"Gasp, another human!" the girl said as she met eye contact with Honda, and she instantly let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him.
"Hmm? Are you okay?" Honda said, instantly walking up to her with an amicable smile.
"The name is Yuuya, by the way." Honda greeted the girl and stretched his hand out for a handshake.
"My name is Bella, it's nice meeting you!" Bella said, she then grabs Honda's hand and shook it.
"Uhm, why are you out here anyway? And did you find yourself in a house after walking through the portal?" Honda asked, trying to acquire any bits of information would be helpful in the long run.
"Oh, well me, and my sister Silvy appeared in the middle of the forest after walking through the portal. And she accidentally scratched her knee so I'm grabbing some stuff to make a healing concoction for her, maybe a paste or something." Bella explained her situation to Honda and he nods his head.
"You need any help?" Honda said.
"You're okay with helping. If so, then thank you!" Bella said as Honda nods his head. And so, the two went to walk around the forest and in a matter of minutes, they found enough herbs and plants to make a healing paste for Silvy.
"So, where is she staying right now?" Honda asked while they walked through the forest silently, the sound of leaves rustling made them alert for any danger.
"She's currently inside a cave we accidentally stumbled into, it's just right around this corner," Bella said, and just like what she told, they walked through the foliage and encountered a cave entrance leading down to the ground.
"Silvy! I'm back!" Bella shouts as they entered the cave, and Honda could barely see in the dark cave. After a few steps, they finally arrived at Silvy's location and saw a young girl with the same appearance as Bella with a "slightly" smaller chest currently lying down on the ground, her quiver and bow were laying right beside her. And Honda could see the wound on her knee.
"There, there. Just wait while I make the healing paste, okay?" Bella said as she kneels down beside Silvy and started to mash the herbs with her bare hands while Silvy and Honda kept quiet.
'Strange, why is there a human shape scorch mark on the ground here?' Honda thought as she saw the marks beside Silvy and his senses instantly flared up, even though it was pretty dark, Honda adjusted his eyesight enough to notice the strange markings.
'Wait! Why is her shadow moving?!' Honda thought as she saw Silvy's shadow on the ground suddenly moving around the green splatter that shot to it from Bella's rough smashing. Not only that, but Honda also noticed Silvy's eyes were lifeless, as if it has no…
'No soul!' Honda thought, and without any warning, he pointed his gun and shot Silvy's head, the danger sense he developed the past year coming through when it was needed the most as Bella shrieked in shock.
"That's not your sister, Bella! That's a monster!" Honda shouts as he hastily grabs Bella's arm and drags her out of the cave, the difference in physical strength appearing as he was able to hastily drag her out of the cave and onto the open patch of grass around the cave entrance.
"What do you mean… Monster!" Bella shouts as they both saw a shadowy hand poking through the cave entrance which made their eyes dilate in fear.
'Shit! Is this the monster the text said?!' Honda thought as he cocked his gun, for a new discovery had appeared that was far from Honda's initial expectations.
AN: This is 2129 words, you're welcome.
Who would have fucking expected for bootleg Summertime Render to pop out of nowhere? I know, I'm a fucking genius, like fucking Summertime Render inside an isekai fantasy trash? That's just a move nobody would expect!
Writing is hard, so sending me your power stones would motivate me to keep writing.
(July 12, 2022 – 230th day of writing)