Step by step, I followed the hero's party deeper into the dungeon.
They were strong. Really strong. Their coordination was flawless, taking down waves of orcs like it was nothing.
I watched from the sidelines. "Huh. You guys make it look easy."
Lily, the priest, wiped her staff clean. "We're still on the upper floors. The deeper we go, the stronger the monsters get."
That sounded suspiciously like a game. "And we're going deeper because…?"
She gave me a knowing look. "We told you—we need mana crystals. The dungeon core is one of the largest sources of mana."
Ramon, the so-called hero, walked up to us. "We can talk while moving. Let's keep going."
The group picked up the pace. I kept following. According to Lily, the church needed a large amount of mana to communicate with the goddess Glyss and receive her blessings.
"If you don't mind me being nosy—why do you need the blessings?" I asked.
Silver, the elf archer, raised an eyebrow. "So you finally admit you're nosy?" He sighed. "Fine. We need the blessing to defeat the Demon Lord."
…A Demon Lord?
This whole situation was getting more and more generic. If things kept going like this, I wouldn't even need magic—I could just predict the plot.
Still, I decided not to make a joke. The mood in the party had suddenly dropped.
For a while, we walked in silence. Whenever monsters appeared, the party handled them with ease while I trailed behind, watching like a spectator.
Then—_tap, tap, tap._
A faint sound came from behind us.
I glanced back. "Hm?"
The sound reminded me of something sharp tapping against dirt. But no one else seemed to notice.
Was I imagining things?
I looked behind us but saw nothing—just the same dungeon floor we had walked across moments ago.
"What's wrong, Alve?" Lily called out.
"…Nothing. Probably just my imagination."
We moved forward. The path suddenly opened into a massive hall-like chamber.
Emma, the mage, looked around in awe. "This space is huge… I didn't even know it existed."
Ramon frowned. "Because no one has ever reached this floor before."
Silver scanned the surroundings. "An empty hall in the middle of the dungeon? That's odd."
Something clicked in my head. The sound from earlier. The sudden empty space.
I put the pieces together.
"It's a trap."
My voice echoed through the chamber.
Then, the sound I had barely noticed before returned—louder, heavier. A deep, rhythmic _thud_ filled the space.
Now, everyone could hear it.