Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

...

What's death supposed to feel like?

If you asked Fanen now, he would say it's like the scent of flowers.

Indeed, a subtle floral aroma, accompanied by slightly moist air that seemed hazy, gave a unique sense of relaxation, as if immersed in a beautiful dream.

A faint sound of wind brushed past his ears, a petal swept across his face, tickling him until he sneezed, then suddenly opened his eyes.

What he saw were unknown white flowers covering the ground, and a building whose style closely resembled the structures in Yarn.

Small paths leading to the building were lined with gravestones, offering a peculiar feeling.

Supporting himself, Fanen sat up, gazing at the scene before him, somewhat dazed.

[Hunter's Dream]

These words appeared before his eyes, even the music accompanying them softened, suggesting that this was a place to relax.

Only then did he react, hurriedly touching his body, finding no wounds, no bloodstains, not even any damage to his clothes!

"Am I... still alive?"

He couldn't believe it, absolutely couldn't believe it.

He had never felt so unreal about the fact that "he was still alive."

Suddenly, he slapped himself, feeling the burning pain on his face, yet he grinned.

"Hahaha, I'm really still alive!"

Joy surged in his heart, he wanted to praise something but, not usually believing in god, after some contemplation, he exclaimed:

"Praise this unnamed Dungeon!"

It was a Monster from this Dungeon that killed him just now, praising it felt somewhat strange, right?

"What was I doing just now?" Recalling the bloody fight with the Wolfman, Fanen felt that wasn't him at all.

However, the sensation of blood surprisingly felt pretty good.

He quickly shook his head, trying to dispel this terrifying thought.

"Must be something wrong with my brain."

If such a strange change occurred normally, he'd sit down and seriously reflect.

But given today's many unexpected situations, he felt everything was fine as long as it wasn't the end of the world.

He stood up in the white sea of flowers, brushed off the petals from his body, a scene appearing somewhat poetic under the moonlight.

Just when he intended to investigate the nearby building, his gaze was involuntarily drawn elsewhere.

In the distance, surrounded by flowers, a lady in a dress sat quietly.

Fanen held his breath for a moment, cautiously calling out: "Hello?"

The lady remained motionless.

Fanen grew even more confused, cautiously nearing her, realizing her porcelain-like skin was almost inhuman, with features surpassing any woman he had seen, so beautiful she resembled a puppet.

Wait a minute, a puppet?

He suddenly realized, upon closer inspection, it was indeed just a puppet and not an actual person.

"The craftsmanship is so exquisite."

Fanen clicked his tongue in wonder, feeling the puppet might open its eyes to look at him at any moment, though beautiful, it made him uneasy.

Not daring to touch it disrespectfully, he took a few steps back, performing a gentlemanly bow towards the puppet, then continued towards the only building in the Hunter's Dream.

However, after only a few steps up the stairs, he suddenly felt something tugging at his trouser leg.

"What is it?"

When he looked down to see what it was, Fanen's expression suddenly froze.

Because clinging to his trouser leg was the same white little Monsters that previously swarmed over him in the Yusefka Clinic!

They emerged from the ripples on the ground, tugging at his trouser legs and shaking their arms, seemingly greeting him.

"Why are they here too!"

Fanen almost kicked them—if not for the fact that these small Monsters were offering him a variety of weapons.

Watching the small Monsters approaching him with three strange weapons in hand, Fanen blinked, frozen in place.

He didn't seem to sense any hostility from them, and their tiny arms and legs looked non-threatening.

Could he communicate with them?

"Are you... trying to give these weapons to me?"

Fanen crouched down, reaching out to accept, but the little Monsters shook their heads, raising a finger—it seems he could only choose one weapon?

"You really can communicate."

His fear turned into curiosity, examining the weapons offered by them closely.

Saw Meat Blade, a weapon he had seen before; the other two were a cane and a Big Axe—could a cane be used for fighting?

After some thought, he asked: "Do you have any weapon recommendations?"

The little Monsters remained motionless, with Fanen scratching his head, ultimately relying on instinct to choose the Saw Meat Blade.

Why instinct? Because he felt that if fighting those wild Monsters, it was best to wield a wild weapon, right?

Also, he inexplicably found the Saw Meat Blade very cool, suiting his aesthetic, feeling like a Hunter should wield such a weapon!

"Thank you." He felt necessary to express gratitude to the little Monsters, despite whether they understood.

It seemed the small Monsters completed their mission upon delivering the weapon, ready to burrow into the ground to leave, but Fanen suddenly asked:

"Uh, how should I address you?"

Calling them little Monsters seemed a bit rude.

The little Monsters left, yet they left behind a single line:

[Messenger]

"Can they be called Messengers?"

They really did seem like Messengers by the way they delivered items.

After walking a few steps further, he encountered new Messengers, this time holding two guns as equipment meant for him.

Fanen was quite moved, mimicking the stance of Yarn Hunter seen in his dream, choosing the Hunter's Pistol.

In reality, the Hunter's Trumpet Gun would be more suitable for a novice, but since he had never used these weapons before, choosing as he did was fine.

Seeing the Messengers waving goodbye, Fanen waved his fingers in response, oddly finding the little creatures sort of cute.

Though he took another look at their faces.

Well, if I look a few more times, I'll probably get used to it, best to look at inner beauty, inner...

Continuing upward, surprisingly, the building above didn't open, he tried pushing it.

[The door didn't budge]

"...What is this?"

This was the first encounter like this for the Reid people, as well as for the Yanor Kingdom folks' similar confusion.

All he could do was turn to explore the Hunter's Dream, yet after circling around, aside from seeing more gravestones and unreactive altars, there was nothing else, let alone a Teleportation Gate to leave.

"Am I going to be trapped here forever?"

Just then, he felt another tug at his trouser leg, looking down again, it was still the Messenger.

The little Messenger pointed a straight arm at a gravestone.

Unlike before, the gravestone was glowing now.

Fanen cautiously touched the gravestone, and suddenly a lantern emitting a faint glow appeared in his mind.

The environment around the lantern was strangely familiar—it was the Yusefka Clinic!

He froze briefly, then his lips formed a slight smile, gripping the Saw Meat Blade tightly, muttering:

"This time, it's my turn to fight back..."