Chapter 101

It was right after I woke up that I found out the gate had disappeared.

“Uaaaaah! The gate!”

“What’s happening?”

The group of students, including me, had spent the night setting up tents in the entrance clearing.

When morning came, a scream from outside the tent served as my alarm, and I woke up. Slowly, I stepped outside the tent. I could see other students who, like me, were waking up, rubbing their eyes and peeking out.

“What’s going on?”

When I asked, the last student on watch was trembling, pointing towards the entrance.

“Over there! Look at that!”

I was taken aback. What in the world happened?

The gate that had been there a moment ago slowly vanished, as if water was being sucked down a drain. The gate, which shrank to a singular point, flickered with tiny embers before disappearing entirely. All that was left in its place were a few blades of grass.

The students, who had been blankly observing the situation, belatedly realized what was happening and screamed.

“Th-the gate is gone! What the hell? Where did it go?”

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Hey! Wake up! We’re screwed!”

Everyone was in shock at the unexpected situation, and from beyond the fog outside the entrance clearing, roars began to echo.

“It’s monsters!”

“Wake up! Grab your weapons!”

Before we could fully grasp the situation, we were forced to engage in battle early in the morning.

After the chaos of battle, the fog started to clear little by little.

“I can’t believe the gate just vanished.”

Irene said this while tearing open a packet of instant food. She maintained an outwardly calm demeanor, but her gaze kept drifting toward the spot where the gate had once been. Typically composed, Irene now seemed a bit shaken by the unexpected turn of events.

I also opened my packet. It was surprising, but first, I needed to eat and regain my strength. Today’s breakfast was instant risotto with a chicken flavor.

As we ate, we gradually began to talk.

“For the gate to completely disappear, is that even possible?”

“I’ve heard a few tales of such things happening rarely, but I never thought we’d experience it ourselves.”

“So, are we supposed to be stuck here forever? That’s horrifying.”

“Actually, it’s all of us except Violet. What’s going on outside?”

When Irene asked, I recalled what I had discussed earlier with Instructor Frederick.

“The external gate hasn’t vanished. Stabilization work is still ongoing.”

“Really? If the outer gate hasn’t disappeared, then the connection itself must still be intact. That means it must have formed a new one somewhere in this dungeon.”

“…That’s a given. Once a connection with a higher dimensional space is made, it doesn’t completely sever. That’s common sense.”

“Hmm?”

An unfamiliar voice broke into our conversation. I turned to see Lucian holding an unopened packet of instant risotto.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Violet. I came to switch this for a chicken flavor. I don’t like mushroom.”

“Chicken? That’s all gone.”

“Dammit…”

Lucian muttered quietly when he heard me.

Right now, I was supplying food for the students. I had prepared a variety of canned goods and ready-to-eat meals that were convenient to cook. This was all stocked up in the kitchen to sustain dozens of Violets. To the other students, I claimed I had merely stumbled upon some emergency rations left by the instructors.

“Well, since it’s instant food, the surplus is no problem!”

“Also easy to eat.”

“But didn’t you just mention something about the connection between spaces?”

I asked Lucian, who was heading back to his spot. He replied, “Are you seriously asking that? And you got a perfect score on the exam?”

“You said another gate might have formed! Explain!”

“Do I really need to explain something so simple?”

Now that I realized it, he had the attitude of “Why are you even asking that?” I seized the moment when the other students were not looking and pulled out a chocolate bar from my pocket and handed it to him. Lucian quietly accepted it.

“Well, it’s simple. A dungeon is a space that has become isolated, separated from the real world, and the gate is the passage created between the real world and that higher dimension. Think of it as a wound that won’t close, continuously bleeding.”

“Keep explaining.”

“Once opened, a gate can’t completely close. The dimensional pressures acting between the two worlds keep that ‘wound’ open. However, the size of the dungeon is not fixed. The boundaries of the dungeon can expand or contract, causing the positions of the gates to change. Those gates that randomly appear in town and release monsters are an example of this—where the location of the entrance in the real world is shifting.”

“Oh, I see. That reminds me of the conversation I had with Daphne the day before about the fog and boundaries of the dungeon.”

“And the location of the entrances inside the dungeon can also change.”

“Correct. But to take this for granted and still need a lengthy explanation to understand it, are you sure you’re first place? How on earth did you do well on the exam…?”

Well, that’s because I used collective intelligence, of course.

While Lucian returned to his seat with the mushroom risotto, I gazed outside the clearing at the jungle. The thick fog that had surrounded us just yesterday was gradually dissipating.

After we finished our meal, Irene gathered the students. She summarized and explained what Lucian had said earlier.

“The gate hasn’t disappeared. Its position has just shifted. From now on, we need to search within the dungeon to find the new gate.”

A male student raised a question.

“Can’t we just stay here? Outside is teeming with monsters; it’s dangerous.”

“Being close to the gate increases the chance of a quick rescue. I won’t force anyone. If you think it’s too dangerous, you can stay here. I’ll be accepting volunteers. Understood?”

Another female student questioned skeptically.

“How can I believe that? Do you have any proof?”

“I don’t have direct proof, but based on academic statistics, magical knowledge, and physical theories, the probability is quite high.”

“That’s not a hundred percent! What if there isn’t one? What do you know about magic?”

The girl with the staff began to scold Irene. Seeing that made me feel irritable. Just as I was about to get angry, Lucian suddenly intervened.

“Hey, you shut up.”

“What? What did you just say to me?”

“Yeah! Why are you saying anything to my friend?”

As the girl began talking with her friends, Lucian raised his gloved hand and snapped his fingers. Colorful magic circles appeared behind him.

“And what’s wrong with magic? Those who can’t even use it like you should keep your mouth shut!”

“Eeep!”

The girl shrank back, and Lucian, now puffed with pride, looked at Irene and beckoned.

“Hey, first-year representative. Get on with it.”

Irene nodded lightly, showing her gratitude.

“So, as I said earlier, we will be looking for the position of the newly formed gate. I’m not forcing anyone. Only volunteers.”

When she asked for volunteers, the students exchanged nervous glances, waiting for others to make a move. I whispered into Irene’s ear.

“Irene, just let them be. It’ll be quicker if we search ourselves.”

“Should we? Okay, if there’s not a single person, I’ll ask for your help.”

Just as Irene and I were concluding the plan for a solo search—the Violet Recon Unit—the moment came when a male student decided to raise his hand and shouted.

“We’ll go!”

This was the team I referred to as the “Hero Party.” It seemed their discussion had wrapped up, and five members confidently looked towards us.

Lucian, who had been standing with his arms crossed, also raised his hand.

“Then I’ll go too.”

“Oh… then so will I!”

“If the group leader is going, there’s no way I can stay behind.”

After that, several students began to step forward, either individually or with their teams, declaring they would join the search. A total of about twelve students signed up to participate.

The rest decided to stay in the clearing for the time being. It couldn’t be helped.

Once we finished preparations, we began to disperse and search different areas.

“Violet, I’m counting on you!”

“Yeah, I’ll find it!”

“Okay, the search operation begins. Everyone, move out!”

“Everyone, run quickly!”

I headed toward a location far from the clearing. Shortly after, a total of 120 Violets began to scatter and move in various directions.

“It’s my first time being active in a dungeon after being created!”

“398! Stop daydreaming and stay alert. Don’t get killed quickly!”

*

After a whole day of searching, we returned to the clearing. In conclusion, we found nothing.

“I never expected the dungeon’s boundaries would have expanded…”

“We didn’t find a single thing.”

Instead of lifting, the fog had lifted, but the size of the dungeon had grown unimaginably larger since we first arrived. It felt like the size of the dungeon we first entered was equivalent to a single floor of an apartment, but now, the scale felt like the entire apartment building had expanded. It was endless.

Moreover, with the dungeon’s expansion, monsters had begun to swarm. Other search teams must have navigated the dangers appropriately and returned safely, but some Violets who ventured too far outside had been eaten by monsters.

“Ugh…”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Violet. No one’s going to scold you for moving slowly.”

“Ugh… thanks.”

I felt some relief as Daphne comforted me. Being chewed up alive was certainly not a pleasant experience.

While I was settling down with Daphne’s healing, Irene cautiously approached us.

“There’s something you all need to see,”

Daphne and I followed Irene. There were corpses of various monsters scattered about.

“These are the ones we smashed earlier, right?”

“Yep, but look here. Doesn’t it seem strange?”

We examined the monsters one by one. Something seemed odd.

“What the heck, are these a giant crab and a polar bear?”

“Specifically, they’re monsters derived from them. They shouldn’t typically live in the Chloris Great Forest.”

“Could they have been imported from an external dungeon?”

“That’s impossible. Unless someone deliberately brought them here…”

I tilted my head. It was baffling, leaving me with more questions.

“Looks like we’ll have to continue searching tomorrow.”

“Yeah, let’s get some rest and think it over.”

Thus, we welcomed the morning of the third day in the dungeon.

In the meantime, I witnessed something strange.

Violet 406 was one of the members of the Violet Recon Team. Following the orders of the Temporary Command Center, they had been tirelessly rotating watch and generating new clones in search of the location of the new gate that had formed within the Chloris Great Forest.

In the humid weather, 406 quietly complained while cutting through the foliage obstructing their way.

Then 406’s eyes caught sight of a peculiar passage.

“What’s that?”

“Is that a gate? But it looks a bit small.”

It was indeed a gate, but it was smaller than the previous one, and its color was unusual.

The area around it looked as if a storm had wreaked havoc. Trees were broken. While scanning the surroundings, Violet spotted something buried in the dirt.

Kneeling down and brushing it off with their hands, they uncovered a warning notice. 406, curious, sent it to the Violets at the temporary command center.

“Do you see this?”

[This is a controlled area. Unauthorized access is prohibited.]

Seeing this made one want to go in. I instructed 406.

“Go check it out. You’re wearing a mask, right?”

“Yeah, I checked!”

Violet 406 leaped through the small gate. The scenery before their eyes changed. Violet’s eyes widened in surprise.

“W-where is this…?”

Looking around, they found themselves in a space filled with structures of various sizes.

“Who built a place like this?”

I cautiously stepped inside. There were makeshift structures divided into several levels, and artificial lights illuminated the surroundings.

Suddenly, I heard multiple footsteps.

“406! Hide!”

Violet 406 immediately ducked into the corner. A group of several people was seen chatting. Among them, I recognized a familiar young man with ash-gray hair, which startled the entire Violet Temporary Command Center.

“It’s the Student Council President! The one next to him— isn’t that the treasurer?”

“What’s he doing here?”

An unusual gate existing inside the expanded dungeon, as well as the suspicious facility beyond it. Even the Student Council President walked alongside his subordinate.

Who on earth constructed this place, and why was the Student Council President here?

The Violet Temporary Command Center immediately ordered a search. 406 began to stealthily explore the identity of the unknown facility, weaving between shadows.

“Be careful not to get caught!”

*

At the same time Violet was investigating the suspicious facility, a group of students arrived one after another at the location Violet had just passed.

“Nathan, was it really necessary to come this far?”

“You saw it too. The powerful monsters are gradually increasing. We need to find an exit quickly.”

A group comprised of students from what I called the Hero Party found a small gate.

“Is this the exit?”

“It seems to be working. Let’s just go in for a moment and come right back. We can also let the others in the clearing know!”

The students cautiously stepped through the gate.

A moment later, a second group arrived.

“Hey, Lucian. Look over there. Is that the exit?”

“Y-yeah, but doesn’t something feel off?”

“I don’t know what it is, but we need to check. If it gets too dangerous, we’ll just leave.”

The Lucian party also entered through the gate without considering what kind of place it could be.