Honoka yawned. Takeo blinked a couple of times, like he was trying to force some energy into his system.

  "Sorry to pull you guys out of bed, but we have an unstable dungeon," Suzume explained. "One guy. Got stuck a little while ago. If we get moving, we should be there soon."

  Takeo and Honoka glanced at each other and then back at Suzume.

  Takeo asked:

  "Uhm... One dude?"

  "Yeah."

  "Uh..." He scratched his chin. "Ya don't think he might be..."

  "Hey," Suzume cut him off sharply. "Don't even bother saying that. The entire point of our guild is that we don't leave anyone behind. Could he be dead? Maybe. But, if he isn't, we aren't going to leave him stranded in darkness."

  "O-Oh, uh, understood. Sorry."

  "It's fine," Suzume waved his apology away. "Come on. Let's get to it."

  ---

  The portal sat at the edge of a construction site in Toshima, surrounded by caution tape that had already been trampled by responders who'd arrived before them. A couple of Association officials stood nearby, clipboards in hand, looking bored, despite the fact that someone's life was on the line. They were probably writing him off as dead already.

  Suzume ignored them and walked straight toward the portal. Honoka and Takeo followed after her.

  The moment she stepped through, the air changed. Thick, humid, carrying the smell of rot and stagnant water. Her boots squelched against something soft and she looked down to find herself ankle-deep in murky greenish water.

  [A swamp-type dungeon.]

  She'd seen layouts like this before, back when she was still studying dungeon footage obsessively in her apartment. Not a dungeon type she was particularly eager to explore, but they were usually straightforward. Linear paths disguised by winding waterways, monsters that relied more on ambush tactics than direct confrontation, and visibility that ranged from "bad" to "suicide without a flashlight."

  Takeo emerged behind her, grimacing as his feet sank into the muck.

  "Oh, gross. This is nasty."

  "You'll get used to it," Suzume said, already scanning the area ahead.

  Gnarled trees rose out of the water at odd angles, their roots tangled together like fingers interlocking. Patches of fog drifted between them, thick enough to hide anything that might be lurking nearby.

  "Honoka, heads up. Swamp dungeons mean poison-type damage. Lots of it. Venomous creatures, toxic plants, sometimes even the water itself can cause status effects if you're not careful."

  Honoka splashed through the portal behind them, her face scrunching up at the smell.

  "Got it." She nodded, and then, with a little bit of pride creeping into her voice, added: "I actually learned Cure Poison a few days ago. Just in case we ever ran into a place like this."

  Suzume turned to look at her.

  She reached out and ruffled Honoka's hair, messing up the careful way she'd tied it back.

  "Hey, good thinking!" Suzume said with a smile. "That's exactly the kind of initiative I like to see."

  Honoka's face lit up, putting on a bright smile of her own.

  "T-Thank you!"

  "Alright." Suzume turned back toward the swamp ahead, activating Detect Life. A ping echoed back from somewhere deeper in. "Okay, that way. Here, let's do this..."

  Suzume summoned her Toolkit. She pulled some rope out and held it in front of the others.

  "Let's tie this around ourselves. In case I fall into a pit or something, you guys can pull me up."

  Takeo and Honoka looked at each other, surprised, like they hadn't thought of that.

  Soon, they were connected at the waist.

  The swamp stretched on ahead of them, an endless maze of murky water and half-submerged trees. Suzume took point, her eyes scanning the fog for any sign of movement while her feet searched for stable ground beneath the waterline.

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  It wasn't easy going.

  The first time she stumbled, her foot slipping off a hidden root, Takeo's hand shot out and grabbed her arm before she could faceplant into the muck.

  "Careful there, boss."

  "Thanks," Suzume muttered, steadying herself.

  The second time, she stepped on something that gave way beneath her, and the rope around her waist went taut as Takeo braced himself and kept her from sinking further.

  "I got you, I got you."

  Suzume pulled her leg free with a wet sucking sound and grimaced at the dark slime coating her boot up to the knee.

  "This is pretty rough," Takeo said.

  "... I'm gonna have to get us some better equipment for these kinds of dungeons," Suzume muttered. "There has to be something out there that can make this less annoying."

  Regardless, they pressed on.

  The fog thickened the deeper they went, visibility dropping to maybe ten meters at best. Suzume kept pinging Detect Life every few minutes, tracking the faint signal ahead. Still there. Still alive. That was all that mattered.

  A buzzing sound cut through the silence.

  Suzume's hand went up, signaling a stop.

  "You hear that?"

  Takeo drew his sword, his easygoing demeanor vanishing as combat instincts took over.

  "Yeah. Sounds like... bugs?"

  The buzzing got louder.

  Three shapes emerged from the fog, each one about the size of a large dog. Bloated, grotesque things with iridescent wings and stingers that dripped with something green and viscous. Suzume's eyes flicked up to the levels hovering above them.

  Level 20. Level 20. Level 20.

  Bloatflies. Poisonous, aggressive, and fast.

  "Takeo!"

  "On it!"

  He was already moving, swinging down to cut the rope tying him to the girls before dashing closer with his sword flashing as he intercepted the first one before it could reach Suzume. The blade bit deep into the creature's thorax and it screeched, a horrible high-pitched sound, before crumpling into the water.

  The second one ignored him altogether and dove for Honoka.

  Suzume used Rescue Line, pulling Honoka to her and out of the bloatfly's path. The creature's stinger missed by inches, plunging into the black-brown water where Honoka had been standing a moment before.

  Takeo pivoted, his sword arcing through the air, and took the second bloatfly's head clean off.

  The third one tried to retreat, wings buzzing frantically as it rose higher into the fog.

  "It's trying to leave!" Suzume called out.

  "Oh no you don't." Takeo grabbed a rock from somewhere beneath the water and hurled it, striking the monster in the back. The bloatfly dropped like a stone, twitching once before going still.

  Silence settled over the swamp again.

  "Everyone okay?" Suzume asked.

  "I'm fine," Honoka said, her voice a little shaky but holding steady. "That was close, though."

  "Nice throw," Suzume told Takeo.

  He grinned, sheathing his sword.

  "Played baseball in high school. Knew it'd come in handy someday."

  "Okay, Ohtani, get over here so we can tie ourselves up again."

  They kept moving.

  ---

  Before long, the signal was getting stronger now, clearer, which meant they were close. Suzume pushed through a curtain of hanging vines and stopped.

  There, slumped against the base of a massive tree, was a man.

  He wasn't moving.

  Suzume splashed forward, dropping to her knees beside him, and checked his status. The numbers floating above his head made her stomach drop.

  HP: 5/340

  Status Effect:

  Paralyzed

  Poisoned (-1 HP per minute)

  "He's alive, but barely." She looked back at Honoka. "Poison and paralysis. Can you handle it?"

  Honoka was already moving, kneeling by the man's other side.

  Green light washed over the man's body as Honoka used Cure Poison. His face, which had been an ugly grayish color, slowly started returning to something more human. Honoka's brow furrowed in concentration as she shifted to a healing spell, the light changing from green to warm gold.

  "His HP is climbing," Honoka reported. "Slowly, but it's working."

  Suzume nodded, but something was wrong.

  She couldn't explain it. There was a prickling at the back of her neck.

  [Isn't this... too calm?]

  She looked around. Her eyes swept the fog around them, searching for movement, for shapes, for anything.

  The swamp was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  [So the monsters got the better of him and chose to leave him here paralyzed and hurt instead of finishing him off? Why would they do that?]

  The answer quickly came to Suzume's mind.

  "It's a trap."

  Takeo's head snapped toward her.

  "What?"

  "He's bait." Suzume reached down for the rope with her knife again. If her gut was right, they needed to run and being tied up wasn't going to help. "They left him alive to lure in more prey. We need to move. Now."

  The buzzing started.

  Not one bloatfly this time. Not three.

  A dozen shapes materialized out of the fog, wings sounding so loud, stingers gleaming with that same viscous green poison.

  "Shit!" Takeo drew his sword.

  "Don't fight them!" Suzume yanked the rope free and shoved it into his hands. "Take him and run. Back the way we came. Honoka, go with him."

  "But what about—"

  "I'll be right behind you. GO!"

  Takeo hesitated for half a second, then grabbed the unconscious man and hauled him over his shoulder in one smooth motion. He took off through the water, Honoka splashing after him, and Suzume turned to face the swarm.

  She didn't plan to fight them. She wasn't stupid.

  But she could buy a few seconds.

  Suzume activated Guardian Light, the shimmering barrier springing to life around her just as the first bloatfly dove. Its stinger bounced off the shield and the creature reeled back, confused. Two more slammed into the barrier. Three. The shield flickered.

  [Ten seconds. That's all I've got.]

  She turned and ran.

  The water dragged at her legs, slowing her down, but she pushed through it, following the path they'd carved on the way in. She could hear the buzzing behind her, getting closer, and she didn't dare look back.

  Ahead, she could see Takeo's silhouette in the fog, Honoka right beside him. They were almost at the portal. Almost safe.

  [Just a little further.]

  Her foot came down on solid ground.

  And then it wasn't solid anymore.

  "What-"

  The surface gave way beneath her, crumbling into nothing, and Suzume plunged downward. Water rushed up around her, briefly filling her nose and mouth, and then she was falling through empty air, tumbling into darkness.

  She didn't even have time to scream.

  Above her, the hole sealed itself shut, murky water flooding back over the gap like it had never existed at all.

  Takeo and Honoka kept running. They burst through the portal a moment later, gasping, the unconscious player still draped over Takeo's shoulder.

  They didn't notice she was gone.