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“It’s a gelatinous cube.” Diamond made a face.
“In the middle of the cube is the key to the next room,” Misty noted.
It was a very typical dungeon trap. These creatures were similar to slimes, except they gave up mobility for a larger size and a greater acidic ability. A living slime was capable of keeping a person it ingested from escaping, but the digestion would be extremely slow. Other than the fact they’d probably drown after a minute or so, it’s probably taken a week to finish digesting them. This is why the girls didn’t fear climbing through the slime guts earlier, as they only could etch armor and ruin clothes. Even if they slept on it, it was unlikely it would cause more than a mild skin irritation.
The gelatinous cube was different. It cost twice what a slime cost and its acidity was enough to dissolve a person in a few minutes. The key had to be made of a substance that wouldn’t dissolve, or this puzzle wouldn’t work.
“Do we need to take off our clothes again?” Misty asked hesitantly.
Diamond looked at her with disgust. “How can you be so book-learned and also so stupid?”
“Y-you know this is the first dungeon I’ve ever been in. All my information is theoretical. You’re the one with practical experience. Do you know how to get through this trap?”
“Tsk, such a puzzle is child’s play.” Diamond sighed, waving her hand and causing a long pole to appear from her storage ring.
When she first brought the storage ring out, I had cried that such a cheat-level item would be in the hands of a mere C-rank adventurer. Weren’t storage rings supposed to be exceptionally rare? I didn’t know enough about this world to know one thing or the other, but I did know this storage ring could store all three of their armors as well as an unknown number of analyzers and other cheat-like equipment. How was a dungeon supposed to compete against magical scanners?
This pole was exceptionally insidious. It appeared to have some kind of mechanism on the handle with controlled a three-finger claw on the end. It was a fantasy reacher grabber!
“Won’t it dissolve?” Misty asked worriedly.
“It’s magic. Acid and heat resistant. It extends out to a twenty-foot reach. It’s the dungeon company’s most popular tool, the dungeon reacher. It’s great for opening treasure chests from a safe distance, triggering traps, or grabbing out-of-reach items. No serious dungeon explorer would come to a dungeon without one.”
She pushed the pole into the cube, and as if to mock me, she didn’t even use the grabber function, just pushing it until it popped out the other side, clanging to the floor. My trap was defeated so soundly that I felt like crying. I didn’t want Misty to dissolve to death in the cube. Even though I feared her, I didn’t hate her. She was my first, after all, and such a death would be far too pitiful for her. If she had been left to herself, this trap definitely would have killed her.
Had it just been Misty, she wouldn’t have died. I can control the cube like everything else in my dungeon. I was moderately looking forward to being able to touch her all over and in every crevice. I was curious how that would feel as a gelatin mold. Either way, once she passed out from lack of oxygen, I could eject her before she dissolved.
With Diamond, my only hope had been if Misty climbed in and then Diamond was trapped trying to save her. Diamond walked over and grabbed the key, making sure to shoot Misty a mocking look. Misty blushed, looking embarrassed. Yeah, I wouldn’t have minded if Diamond died. Unfortunately, she had too much dungeon experience. Standard traps wouldn’t work on her.
After that, she unlocked the door, gesturing smugly for Misty to go first. The pair entered my final puzzle room far too soon for my heart to handle it.
“Gross…”
“What is that thing?”
“It’s a wall of hands.” Diamond held up her monster identifier. “It’s creepy.”
“The door is there.” Misty pointed.
“And every hand is holding a different key.” Diamond finished.
It was as they described. The final room was closer to a hallway, except that both sides of the hallway were lined with hands. There was only just enough room for one person to walk. If you got too far to either side, the hands would grab you and pull you close. There were dozens of fake keys and only one real key. Furthermore, the hands continued to pass the keys off from one to the next. If you were trying to get a key and became flustered enough to forget the hands could grab you, this was a surefire trap. For a clumsy girl like Misty, I thought this was an ace up my sleeve, but now it all felt laughable.
Of course, I had also expected them to be naked by now. If the previous level hadn’t destroyed their clothing, the gelatinous cube would have. Thus, they would have a wall of hands reaching out for their naked body. It was mental warfare at its best. How could I have predicted that Diamond had a storage ring and could protect clothing? If it was just Misty and her backpack, the backpack would have dissolved along with any extra clothing long before she had made it to the other side.
I could only sigh. I had to stop thinking like that. I hadn’t properly prepared for a second person to come, let alone a C rank. In the end, I only had myself to blame. No, screw that. This wasn’t fair at all. I was an F rank and they were bullying me. I didn’t want to die!
“There, that’s the key, see the one with the heart? It matches the heart on the door.” Misty announced.
That was another dumb requirement. If I had multiple keys, I couldn’t just force them to have to gather them all. The right key needed to be obvious at a glance. Thus, the symbol on the door matched the key. Had I had a choice, I’d still have the symbol on the door, but then I’d have a different key just to screw with them and waste their time.
“Let’s go then…” Diamond took the lead, heading right down the middle.
The heart key started to move away from them, going from hand to hand quickly to the back. The girls weren’t easily confused though, and kept their eyes on it. That was until Diamond stopped, her eyes brightening as she looked at an alcove in the wall.
“What is it?” Misty asked.
When she followed Diamond’s line of sight, she made a noise of excitement. “A shield!”
I had three treasures in the dungeon at the moment. The first treasure was hidden in the ice cave as part of a trap. The second treasure was here, and the final was after the boss. It was my most expensive treasure, and it was less something I intended to use, and more a bribe so that whoever finished my dungeon would take over my life. Such a treasure was meaningless to these girls, but at least my second treasure caught their eyes.
It was a simple steel shield, but it looked shiny and new, and more importantly, it was sitting at the end of an alcove arms-width deep. On either side were hands, so you had to get in range of the hands to grab it. Well, that’s what I thought, but she pulled out her dungeon reacher and after a little bit of finagling, was pulling it out. Feeling aggrieved, I took control of the wall and just as she got it out of the hole, my hands grabbed onto the edges.
“Hey! Let go!” She snapped, grabbing the other end with her hands and putting the reacher away.
Misty pulled out her sword, and as she lifted it to slash, I imagined the feeling of all my fingers being cut off. I instantly let go. Diamond flew back with a cry, landing against the other wall. Success! My hands began grabbing onto her. Specifically, one had grabbed her belt, trying to pull her sword out. Fuck! My wrists didn’t have enough range of motion to get it out of the scabbard.
“Stop touching me!” Diamond screeched.
Misty’s blade flashed, and my hands were cut down in moments, freeing Diamond. Thankfully, when I went to the other wall, I shot off my senses so I couldn’t feel the pain. Even though I couldn’t feel anything, seeing my fingers cut off still left me with some trauma. Diamond seemed to experience some trauma too, as she was flailing, even hitting Misty on the chest a few times.
“It’s okay! It’s okay… you’re free…” Misty tried to soothe the other woman.
Diamond finally settled down. She looked at the shield and then made a face.
“A piece of junk.” She still tossed it into her storage ring, before looking up. “What the hell are you looking at?”
Misty looked away. “I lost track of the key.”
“Fuck! Can’t you do anything right?” She cursed Misty unfairly before looking around.
It took them another fifteen minutes to track down and grab the key. I wasn’t able to stop them with my many hands. They were much more careful now, and even Misty didn’t give me any opportunity. Maybe part of that was because I was afraid of getting cut, but once they had the key, I knew it was all over. Maybe if it was just one of them, I could win. No, both of them were skilled with weapons. My rat king would be cut to shreds. It’d be even more pointless for me to control the rat king. I had no fighting experience.
My life had finally come to an end. It was a short life in this new world, and acknowledging that felt bitter. At the least, I didn’t have to die a virgin this time. I would be killed by the woman I lost my virginity to. Maybe there was a kind of fairness in that. I got sex, and in exchange, she’d take everything I made and cut my heart out for profit. Wasn’t that marriage in a nutshell?
With the key found, Diamond stepped aside and gestured for Misty to go first. Misty nodded and walked over to the door. Just before she touched the door, Diamond’s face turned murderous, and then she shoved Misty to the side. Success! My hands managed to grab onto Misty. In particular, her hand had loosened and I managed to get the key. My hands went for her sword too, but it was the same as the previous one. Why couldn’t these people have any daggers equipped?
“What are you doing?” Misty cried out as Diamond stood there looking at her.
It was only when she spoke that my hands stopped groping her body, realizing how suspicious this all was. Diamond wasn’t trying to help Misty, she was just staring at her with a curled upper lip.
“Look at you,” Diamond spoke angrily. “You’re the guild mistress’s beloved golden child that can do no wrong, but you’re nothing so incredible.”
“I-I didn’t ask for Guild Mistress’s favor.” Misty looked away, a bit of shame on her face.
“Even if you didn’t ask for it, you certainly were fine taking it,” Diamond responded. “You haven’t even managed to finish a single dungeon, and yet she acts like you deserve C-rank? I earned my C-rank through blood, sweat, and tears… and you read a book and suddenly think you can do what I do? You’re not an adventurer! You’re an embarrassment.”
Misty shook. “Don’t you think I already know that? I don’t do this because I want to be famous. I don’t do it for glory. I just want to be able to protect my little sister.”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about her.” Diamond drew her sword. “When I get back, I’ll use some of my reward money to treat her real nice.”
“Y-you bitch…”
“Sticks and stones… but I prefer a sword!” With that, she stabbed Misty right in the stomach.
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