Aulum Dungeon, fourth floor underground.
　After meeting up with Alice, she said heavily.

''This is the last place to be, isn't it?''
Is that so?
Yeah, I don't think there's a way down.
All four floors, the shallow end.

　Most of the dungeons in Cyclo are up to a dozen floors underground, and Seren, who was born after I came to this world, is up to ten floors underground.
　Compared to that, this Awlum is up to the fourth floor, which is pretty shallow.

''Now, what kind of monsters are the monsters here?''

　I check my bullets and prepare for battle.
　Suddenly, I noticed that Alice was staring in the direction of the day after tomorrow.

'What's up,'
Eve, you were so powerful.

　Alice spills a sigh of relief.
　Eve is in the basement level right now.
　She went into the dungeon with us and stayed in the basement because she was bored.

"You've been cracking balls of light with your chops. Well, she's a veteran adventurer who became famous much faster than me. When I was in my last party, he seemed to be going down deep levels of the dungeon.
Hey, what's up with that party?
According to Eve, they broke up because of a 'dungeoning disagreement'.
Dungeonicity?

　Alice asks while tilting her head.
　I don't want you to ask, I don't really know what it is either.

I have a guess that it's similar to the way they use it, to their musicianship or something like that, but I don't know much about it.
'I guess I could go to ...... and be that strong.

　Alice murmured just a little sadly.
　Hone Hone and Pru-Pru appealed to her with their shoulders.

'Thank you, that's right, we should increase the number of friends we have.

　Alice was almost depressed for a moment, but quickly got back to normal.
　She's already canned at the highest level of 2, and her abilities are extremely mediocre.
　The only way for her to become stronger was to increase the number of her fellow monsters.
　Right now there's a skeleton Hone Honehone and a slime Purpur, but since there are still two of them and neither of them are very strong, I can't count her in the strength of the dungeon, even though she's here with Alice.

　After walking for a while, I met a monster.
　It's a small demon that looks the same as the three levels above, only slightly different in color.

　That guy swung his hand down as soon as he encountered it.
　My hand glows - the ball of light is coming!

　I prepared myself and was about to duck the ball, but then I heard a pssst and the light in my hand went out.

''It's not coming out, what's going on?
Come on.

　The little devil waved his hand down once more.
　This time the hand turns black.
　Black as if there was nothing there, sucking in every light.

　So the black ball of magic attack is the real deal!
　I braced myself for it, but I heard another pushy, airless sound and nothing came out.

'No answer,'
He's getting impatient. It's kind of cute.

　I agree with Alice.
　It's a monster, and yet that guy sees his hand and waves it in a panic.
　It's an oddly charming gesture, like a child in a hurry.

'What do I do now?'
What do I do now?
I feel a little guilty about taking down .......
Do I miss it?
Yes. ......

　The little devil's movements changed as he picked his chin and thought about it.
　He waved his hands, but nothing came out, and gradually his eyes became more and more giddy as he blew steam out of his head.
　Right after he made a gesture of stepping on the ground as he flew through the air, he thrust his hands lightly into the heavens with his fists clenched.

　When he posed in a fist-clenched banzai pose ...... he began to emit light from his body.
　No, not from his body, but from deep within his body.

　His body was cracked and light was leaking out from deep within it.

''--Not good!''

　Quickly, I stepped forward and covered for Alice.
　Immediately afterwards, a magic circle spread out at the little demon's feet - and it just burst.
　The monster burst!

　Self-destruction.

　A powerful blast hits me as I defend Alice.
　I grit my teeth and bear it.

　For a time that seemed like no more than an instant or an eternity, I was engulfed in a rush of light and sound.
　After a few moments, the light and sound stop, and I feel a pang of relief.
　My body is chirping and my ears are ringing, but it's not that damaging.

'Fufu......'
Lyota!　Are you okay!
I'm all right. You're the one who's all right?
I have Lyota to thank for covering for me at .......
If you're okay, that's fine. More importantly, it's the suicide bombing now.
Yeah, it felt like it.
"Suicide bombing or ...... let's brace ourselves.
Yeah!

　She covered for Alice and continued onward, her guide, who could sense where the monsters were, led her to the closest group of monsters.
　This time there were three of them, little demons that looked exactly the same.

　They shake their hands down with a glow, unsuccessful.
　Hand blackened and swung down, a dud.
　And then - self-destruction.

　Three times the blast hits us.
　I realized something as I defended Alice.

　The scene I saw just before the explosion.
　Only one of them blew itself up by stepping on the ground, and the other two are still in the process of turning their hands black.
　And yet, the magic circle had detonated those two animals as well.
　One of them was triggered and all three exploded.

''Teteete .......''
You okay?
Yeah, it's nothing to worry about. But it's tough, this floor. The monsters that blew themselves up didn't drop, right?
No, you didn't.
'Do we have to take them down before they self-destruct?
Let's try it.
Okay, come on, then. This one's a loner.

　Alice guides me to a single little demon and encounters it.
　Swinging my arm down, glowing and unexploded - a normal round of reinforced bullets mashup at the place.

　I didn't want it to explode, so I tried to blow it away with one shot.
　Headshot, blowing the little devil's head off exactly.

"Well?
Dropped.

　It's a new level, so I don't equip the pouch, I go to the spot where the little demon crashed to the ground and disappeared, and see that the sand and gold has fallen.

　I look for more, this time I let it self-destruct.
　The third self-destruct, I created a wall of ice with a mashed-up frozen bullet to block the blast.

　It didn't drop this time.

"I guess it's no good.
'Yeah, I got the gist of it. The little devils on this floor act in rotation. Shoot a glowing bullet and dud, shake a black ball and dud, then step on the ground, bring out a magic circle and self-destruct.
You'll have your people around you when it happens.
'Yeah, it looks like all the monsters in the magic circle are self-destructing. The power is straight up for the number of people.
What would happen in a monster house?
Don't be afraid to say it!

　I was horrified to imagine it for a moment.
　A monster house, a large number of small demons in a space like a gymnasium.
　After any one of them deactivated twice, I imagined the scene of a chain of huge explosions in the magic circle.

''This is another special floor, isn't it?''
''Yeah, I'll need a license for sure. Well, but I don't think the adventurers would have come in the first place if they couldn't take it down as fast as they could if they knew about it, since they wouldn't drop it by self-destruction.
That's a good point.

　99% of the reasons to dive into dungeons in this world are dropped goods.
　If those dropped items are self-destructive and don't appear in the first place, then there's almost no point in forcing yourself to go through them.

　I'll make it a license, but I figured I'd be fine without it for all practical purposes.

'Ah.'
What's going on?
I'm calling you.
You wanted to see me?　It's a little--

　Alice ran out, I followed after her.
　A dungeon on a narrow path, I turned a few corners and saw one of the little devils there.

　The little devil swung his arm down, glowing and unsuccessful.

'Wait and stop, listen to me.'

　Alice, however, tried to speak to him for some reason.
　The little demon waved her hand down further.
　The second time in the routine, one before the self-destruction.

'Hone hone, pull. Stop the bong!'

　Skeletons and slime have returned to their original size from the size of their shoulders.
　Original size, but deformed and sculpted.
　Two of Alice's friends went at the little demon.

　The little devil stepped on the ground - not good.

　Quickly swapping bullets.
　5 reinforced bullets, 1 restraint bullet.

　I shot the striped restraint bullets at the little devil.

　The rope of light binds the little devil up, the dungeon stops.
　The magic circle did not appear.

'Thank you Lyota!

　The little demon, completely bound, and Alice went to it, too.
　Alice, Hone Hone, and Pull.

　The three of them attacked the little demon.

　A level 2 Alice, both a skeleton and a slime that inhabited the basement floor.
　It took a minute to defeat the little demon, who was completely bound and left beaten.

　The rope of light disappeared and the little demon crashed to the ground.
　Just before it disappears, Alice picks up its body.
　The little demon popped up in her hands and disappeared - taking on a new form.

　It's a deformed, deformed, hand-nori-sized little demon, just like Hone Hone and Pru-Pru, with a deformed shape.
　Her name is probably Bon Bon, as she's been calling it for a while now.

'Nice to meet you from now on, Bonbon.'

　Alice squinted at her new friends.
　Having completed their roles, Hone Honehone and Purpur returned to SD size and rode on her shoulder.

'I'm Alice, this is Hone Honehone and Purpur, nice to meet you.'

　Monsters (stuffed animals) greeting Alice with body language, a bit of a funny sight.
　But then, for some reason, Hone Hone and Pru-Pru hid behind Alice's back.
　I wondered what was going on, and I soon found out why.

'What? Self-destruction involves Hone Honehone and Pullle too?　Forced to stay in the magic circle?　I see.

　It was kind of an interesting and horrible story.