Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

With a forceful kick to his chin, Bell fell to the ground on the stone slab.

The man who had been chuckling softly in his throat gradually disappeared into the distance. Bell felt his consciousness blur for a moment, and the swaying vision made him nauseous, but he still bit his lip and kicked the floor to his feet.

Bell staggered and ran in the direction Dix had gone—deep into the hall.

Deep within the hall were several passageways, several "doors" made of the hardest metal (ostrichite), and long, deep, vertical shafts that appeared to be half-finished and abandoned, with the metal exposed. Far behind him, the tremors caused by the "heretics" going out of control carried all the way, and Bell rushed into a dark passageway.

There was only one flickering magic stone lamp there.

The darkness swayed.

Bell pushed aside the persistent darkness, wiggling his clumsy legs, and ran through the short stone passage.

"—Bell!"

The dragon girl was bound there by chains hanging from the ceiling.

"Winnie!"

Bell, who was leaning against the wall, opened his eyes wide.

It was a small, empty space, with only traces of blood on the floor.

The girl's hands were bound by chains, reminiscent of the word "offering." Her legs were also fixed in place by shackles, and her upper body, which was in a forward-bent position, had several heartbreaking bruises, just like Bell's at this moment.

Winnie swayed her long, silvery-blue hair, her pale skin covered in scars and scales. With her amber eyes brimming with tears, she looked back at the injured Bell.

We finally met. We finally reunited.

But that's not right, it's not like that.

Neither of them wanted to reunite in this place, in these states, wounded both physically and mentally. Neither of them had ever prayed for it.

In an instant, countless emotions overflowed from Bell's heart.

At that moment, the goggles-wearing man, the mastermind behind the whole incident, stood beside the girl.

"[Rookie], let me test you."

Dix sneered and grabbed a strand of silver hair.

"ah……!?"

Winnie let out a groan as her face and delicate jawline were forcibly pulled up.

Bell's anger reached its peak in an instant, and he was about to yell at him to stop, but...

"What would happen if we removed the rock from this guy's head?"

“——”

When Bell saw Dix place his hand on the red stone embedded in the girl's forehead, his heart was crushed.

"Vivel's Tears".

That is a red stone that brings people enormous wealth. A mysterious gemstone known as the "Stone of Happiness".

However, the moment the redstone is taken away, the dragon girl (Vivel) becomes ferocious and loses control—

"stop--!?"

Bell shouted desperately.

"No, no! No—I'll stop being myself...!"

"Haha, you know that yourself, don't you?"

Bell charged forward.

He moved forward with his legs that seemed to defy his will and made one want to fly into a rage, toward the girl's side.

He went to Winnie, who was bound by chains, trembling with fear.

So far. So far that there's no end in sight. The short distance between them felt infinite, an unbearably distant distance.

Bell called Winnie's name as she reached out her hand.

Just as her amber eyes, streaked with tears, seemed to reach out in response, they gazed at him.

Goodbye, monster.

The man's hand peeled away the girl's red gemstone.

“————”

Bell's time stopped. Vision lost its color. The world came to a standstill.

The red stone, forcefully pulled off, left the girl's forehead, trailing a sliver of light.

"ah--"

The girl, gazing up at the ceiling, let out fragments of sound.

Her pupils contracted in her amber eyes, and her slender hands and feet trembled.

"Ah, ah..."

A jolt.

The girl's body convulsed violently like waves, trembling incessantly.

The chains binding her began to clatter and rattle in fear the very next instant.

The girl's throat emitted an astonishing scream.

"—Aa ...

Before Bell, who stood there stunned, the girl released a scream from her body.

Accompanied by the mournful clanging of chains, the body began to change. As if following the single wing that had been there before, the raised, pale blue skin sprouted a pair of enormous wings.

That's not all. The girl's hands and feet swelled repeatedly.

Constantly changing. The girl is constantly transforming.

Playing a strange, bloated sound, the girl transformed into a "monster".

"...Veigh, Ni..."

The chains were broken, and the ground was shattered.

In the heart of the deafening space, bathed in a hazy dust storm, Bell couldn't help but let out a hoarse, barely audible voice.

"Haha, so this is how it turned out."

Dix laughed as he picked up the red stone and quickly left the scene.

"Ahhh..."

Before Bell stood motionless, gazing upwards, "that" ended its transformation and raised its lowered face.

With its emotionless amber eyes, it roared the moment it saw the boy's eyes.

"—————————————————————————!!"

assault.

Grabbed by those two arms, Bell was pushed as if flying to the back of the stone passage.

His vision flashed by in a terrifying speed, and with the sound of "that" colossal body smashing through the passageway, Bell was slammed onto the floor of the hall.

"Th-what is that...?"

The burly man (Gran) and his companions, wielding weapons, were stunned when they saw the figure appear from the distance behind them.

"Could it be... a dragon girl (Vinnie)...!?"

Cornered by them, Fels, his black clothes tattered and leaning against the wall, couldn't help but let out a trembling sound.

The "heretic" monsters roared wildly without regard for anything else, greeting the newcomer with purely violent shouts. In front of them, the huge figure slowly rose up.

"……ah……"

Bell was slammed onto the stone floor. He propped up his burning back, looked up at the massive body in front of him, and froze again.

Including its tail, its total body length is probably over seven meters.

Its legs merged into one, and its lower body transformed into a serpentine form. Ominous wings covered in gray membranes sprouted from its slender upper body, creating an extremely unbalanced and chilling appearance.

Her sharp, elongated dragon claws regained their sharpness. They became more twisted, covered with scales all over her body. Only her long, silvery-blue hair hanging from her wings and cascading down her back, and her bright, supple, pale-blue skin, retained a trace of her former girlish appearance.

The head resting on the neck looked like it had been painted with dragon makeup, its cheeks covered in fleshy spikes, and its entire face hardened. Its empty eyes had become white eyes without pupils, bloodshot as if to prove its ferocity.

The forehead, now devoid of the ruby ​​gem—the third eye—is dark and sunken.

The dragon girl (Vivel) raised her body and looked down at Bell from a height of three meters, leaving him speechless.

"Hahahaha!? Why are you looking so dazed, Rookie! You've just turned back to normal!!"

The man who returned to the hall a step later burst into laughter, which shook Bell's ears.

That's right.

This is "Vivel".

Bell's knowledge also includes dragon-like monsters that are half-human and half-snake in shape.

Dragons, "monsters".

"...Ah, ah, ah, ahh ...

With a deafening scream, the dragon monster wildly tossed its long hair.

The deafening volume, coupled with the vibrations from the dragon's tail repeatedly slamming into the floor, left Bell standing there, completely bewildered.

There, the dragon girl (Winnie) that Bell knew no longer exists.

That alien face had lost its innocent smile, warmth, and tears.

Bell simply cannot deny it.

It truly is a genuine "monster".

"After seeing this, can you still talk like that in your sleep, 'Rookie'?! Say it, Bell Craney!!"

As if a crack had appeared, Bell's expression twisted.

Dix's words were like the whispers of a demon, violating the boy's heart.

A menacing body unlike any other human, cruel claws symbolizing blood, and terrifying, bestial cries.

So ugly.

It's really ugly.

The astonishing sense of disgust and rejection that drove humanity to war surged into my heart.

Dix is ​​right.

This emotional reaction is perfectly normal.

The dragon "monster" that had regained its original appearance truly made Bell feel nauseous.

"...Ugh... Waa ...

“Ugh!”

With a swift sweep of its furious tail, the dragon sent Bell, who was frozen in terror, flying.

Struck by the massive, tree-like tail covered in scales, Bell kicked up a cloud of dust and slid across the floor. The pouch at his waist, struck hard, shattered with a cracking sound, spilling its contents—the potent medicinal solution—leaking out completely.

Bell finally stopped gliding, lying prone on the ground, coughing up blood and in great pain.

"Now you understand, right, Bell Craney!?"

Dix's shouts echoed again from afar.

Bell let the blood drip and stain the cobblestones, his arms trembling as he propped himself up; Dix, as if to deliver the final blow, shouted again:

What's in front of you and behind you?

In front of Bell.

It reveals the true nature of the "monster," the ugly dragon monster.

Behind Bell.

It was a horde of monsters roaring like wild beasts and wreaking havoc.