—
The closer Will got to the tiline of the original story, the more he felt like he was soone who had traveled back from the future.
It was as if…
Certain phenona and events described in the original story began to show signs and ons before they fully “beca” what they were in the story.
For example…
Right now…
“Little Will, look! It’s an ice sculpture! Though it looks like it was made by freezing a water sli.”
Shuna held up the head of a classic dungeon dragon ice sculpture in her right hand, striking a “peace” sign as she grinned at him.
—The eighth floor of the Moonlit Ice Extre dungeon.
The two of them walked slowly through a cave that resembled a frozen cavern, surrounded by various ice sculptures.
“Wow… it’s so cool. Let touch it.”
“Right? Over there, it looks like there’s a giant stone golem.”
Shuna pointed toward the far end of the path.
“Alright, alright… wait a second! Aren’t we here to clear the dungeon?!”
“Well… uh… being here doesn’t really feel like dungeon-clearing, does it? Eh, let’s just enjoy it like everyone else.”
As soon as Shuna said that, she ran ahead.
—
It was their fifth day in Yavik City.
After waking up at 4 a.m. and muttering about “seeing Yavik City at dawn,” they had finally managed to secure entry tickets for the first ten floors of the dungeon.
The tickets were so highly sought after that Will had been tempted to pull out a green card and shout, “I’m Carver Hysterm’s son!” to get in—only to realize he hadn’t brought one.
But…
The first ten floors of “Moonlit Ice Extre”…
Were nothing like what he had imagined.
He had expected to fight ice-elent slis.
To duel with icy creatures.
To face off against ice-covered golems.
But instead…
“Mom, I want to see that one—”
“I told you, we’re here now. Stop clinging to your finance reports and enjoy yourself.”
“Wow, it’s so cool here. Let’s take a break.”
—The place was filled with tourists!
Although the limited entry numbers kept it from feeling overcrowded, it was still far from what you’d expect in a dungeon.
Rather than a dungeon adventure, it felt more like…
A rare sumr ice sculpture exhibition?
Even Shuna, who was usually all about the thrill of dungeon exploration, had started admiring the scenery.
The first ten floors were tranquil, with only the tenth floor featuring an elite monster to mark the end. The rest of the area felt like a carefully curated sumr ice sculpture exhibit, designed to beat the heat.
A year from now, this kind of setup would beco the norm, thanks to the Hysterm family. They would spearhead the effort to turn dungeons into entertainnt hubs, industrializing them and making them accessible to the masses.
What Will was seeing now felt like a precursor to that transformation. The Hysterm family hadn’t yet reached this level of developnt, but the seeds were clearly there.
As Will walked past an ice sculpture, he ran his fingers along its cool surface.
Touching it, he realized that body heat didn’t seem to lt it, and the surface was free of any water droplets.
Although it was indeed made of “ice” and felt refreshingly cool, it had the texture of a large, cold crystal. The surface even refracted light into colorful rainbows.
Interestingly, perhaps because it was “inside a dungeon,” there were no rules against touching the sculptures.
People could freely explore and satisfy their curiosity.
This definitely wasn’t sothing the Adventurer’s Guild had designed as a tourist attraction.
So…
Will guessed it was the work of the dungeon’s “Empress,” the so-called “Ice Queen.”
Each dungeon ruler, as described in the original story, had their own unique style, which was reflected in their respective dungeons.
Will was still examining an ice sculpture made from a frozen water sli.
The frozen texture of the sli revealed patterns that were otherwise invisible.
Co to think of it, from a “story” perspective, weren’t he and the slis supposed to be arch-neses?
Suddenly, as his hand rested on the ice sculpture, another slender hand covered his.
“Shuna?”
He looked up, and in that instant, Shuna’s hand clasped over his, still resting on the ice sculpture.
“Little Will~ I found a really beautiful spot over there. Co with , co with !”
“Wait, you’re really here to sightsee? What kind of scenery could a dungeon possibly have—”
“You’ll see what ‘Moonlit Ice Extre’ really ans.”
Shuna led Will by the hand, pulling him toward a brighter part of the cave. She held his hand tightly, like an older sister afraid her little brother might get lost.
Although…
He wasn’t exactly the kind of little brother who needed looking after, was he?
Really, he wasn’t, right?
The direction they were heading seed to be the end of the eighth floor, where the door to the ninth floor would be.
However, most of the visitors were still enjoying the ice sculptures and hadn’t ventured out of the cavern.
“Co—look—here—”
As they neared the cave’s exit, Shuna gave a firm tug, pulling Will out into the open without any warning.
“This is…”
In front of Will was a vast, open ice lake. Above it, the sky shimred with a pale green aurora, stretching and spreading like a veil that blurred the boundaries of reality.
The aurora’s presence was so srizing that it made anyone who looked up feel dizzy.
Amidst the aurora, a full moon stood out prominently.
Even the ice lake below reflected the aurora above, creating a mirror-like effect.
If this dungeon weren’t so “peaceful” and tourist-friendly, Will might have assud this aurora-covered ice lake was the battleground for a powerful elite monster.
But…
Shuna jumped down a small step onto the ice lake, landing lightly.
She turned around, her smile radiant with joy.
Right now, there was nothing else.
Just a serene, quiet ice lake.
“What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful? You wouldn’t see sothing like this in the outside world, would you?”
“Yeah…”
Whether in his previous world or this one, Will had never seen an aurora before.
Moonlit Ice Extre.
So that’s where the “Extre” in its na ca from.
But…
If the na referred to the aurora above and the cold, polar-like environnt…
The origin of the na and the sight before him reminded Will once again that this was all part of a “story.”
Because here, the world hadn’t yet reached the level of exploring the poles of a “planet.” Yet the na and the scenery still existed.
Perhaps it could be described as a “miracle of the dungeon,” but to Will, who ca from outside the story, it felt more like the “fictionality of the story.”
As Will stared at the aurora reflected on the lake’s surface, his vision suddenly blurred.
“Huh? My glasses…”
“I’m mad, you know?”
While Will had been lost in thought, Shuna had stepped back up and taken his glasses.
His nearsightedness wasn’t mild—probably a result of so high-quality family genetics.
Without his glasses, the aurora on the lake beca a hazy blur.
The aurora, which already seed to blur the sky, now appeared even more indistinct to him.
“W-why are you mad? Did I do sothing wrong, Lady Shuna~?”
Will could tell that Shuna’s anger was playful, so he didn’t try to snatch his glasses back.
However…
Through his blurry vision, all he could see of Shuna was her legs in black stockings and the absolute territory exposed between her shorts and thighs.
To be honest, the haziness added a certain… allure.
“Little Will always has this ‘I’m so objective and perceptive’ look on his face.”
“So…”
“I’m mad!”
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