#1242 A Living Dungeon 

"What a terrifying dungeon! You can’t even get inside!" 

Seriously. 
Who would’ve thought there’d be a dungeon that basically says ‘Turn around and go home’ right at the entrance? 

What do we do here? 
There’s no way this is everything, right? 

How are we supposed to move forward? 
Do we need some kind of item? 
Don’t tell me it’s one of those systems where you can’t enter until you’ve progressed far enough in the story?! 

"Looks like… we have no choice." 

Uh-oh. Momoko’s decided something. 
Whenever this girl makes a decision, it’s never good. 

"Someone once told me that a path is something you carve yourself. That principle still applies here. If there’s no path, you make one!" 

Yep. Definitely not good! 
And what exactly do you mean by that?! 

"If what’s blocking the path is just trees, then we knock them down! Sure, you can’t exactly do that with bedrock or walls, but that’s no problem with trees!" 

That’s not an explorer’s mindset, that’s a destroyer’s! 
Calm down, Momoko! I’m sure there’s some clever way to solve this mystery! Even Professor Indy always found a way to open the door without doing that, right?! 

…Huh? What’s up, Platy?! 

"…The wind’s blowing from that way…" 

Why are you checking the wind direction?! 
Is this about fire? Are you planning a fire attack?! Calling forth the southeast wind?! 
Are you seriously thinking of burning down the whole forest?! 

The determination these women have to utterly annihilate things is honestly terrifying. 

"Weset the worlddd." 
"Here comes the dark histowyyy." 

Hey, Junior, Norito!  
Don’t watch those kinds of adults! That’s terrible for your upbringing!!! 

While I’m still trying to figure out what to do… 

"Quite a lively bunch you’ve got here." 

At just the right moment, someone who could very well be our savior appears! 
Sensei the Lifeless King! 
Why are you here?! 

"I was supposed to meet you here from the start, but I got delayed after mistakenly ending up in the Mayonnaise Forest." 

…So, he got caught by the Aoume-Aoumi trap too?! 

I see, but still, why come here? 
Could it be… you came because you were worried about us? 

"That’s part of it. But I also wanted to meet a certain acquaintance here face to face. Without a reason like this, this old body doesn’t move much." 

You say that, but your footwork seems pretty light to me, Sensei. 

Ignoring us, Sensei strides forward without hesitation. 

"Sensei goes firstttt." 
"Sensei, written as the one who lives aheaddd!" 

The kids run after him. 
Why though? 

Well, he is genuinely liked by children. 
And when kids run, parents have no choice but to run after them. That’s just how it is. 

Wait for me, my kids! 

"Ah! Hold on! I haven’t finished packing up lunch yet!" 

Platy’s’s carrying our third son, Shotaro, so folding up the picnic sheet is tough for her. 
I hurry to help, stacking up the empty lunch boxes before we dash after the others. 

"Ahhhhhhh! Don’t leave me behind!" 

Which naturally leaves Momoko by herself, and she doesn’t like that, so she runs, too. 
And so, like it or not, everyone ends up following Sensei. 

*** 

And so, we arrive at the notorious U-turn point inside the Forest of Lost Paths. 

This is where you just can’t move forward, no matter what. 
If this were a real RPG, this is exactly the spot where you’d need some special event item, like an Orb of Sight or a Molotov cocktail. 

But how is Sensei planning to break through without any of those? 

"Forest, oh forest, an old friend has come to visit. If you’re willing to talk, then open the way." 

At the sound of his voice, the trees in front of us part to either side, opening a path. 

…Hm?  
I almost brushed it off as just another fantasy world thing, but that’s careless. 
The trees just moved on their own?! 
How?! 
Plants aren’t supposed to move on their own, right?! 

"Well, it’s the Forest of Lost Paths, so of course the trees move like theater curtains." 
"Yeah." 

These are the comments of people who are way too used to this world! 
Don’t let your sense of normal get warped like that! 

"The trees here move freely under the will of their guardian. Since this is a dungeon, an alternate space, altering the structure itself is nothing unusual. Other dungeons do it, too." 

Ah, so it’s not that the trees have legs and are toddling around. 

"So that means… this forest can change its layout in real time?!" 
"That’s like a high-level version of an auto-generated dungeon! You could mess with intruders forever!" 

Exactly. If the layout’s always changing, the old ‘keep your left hand on the wall’ maze trick wouldn’t work at all. 
It’s basically a dungeon designed to never let you reach the exit. 

"Other dungeons can alter their structures too, but only the Forest of Lost Paths can do it with this kind of flexibility and speed. That’s the advantage of using a living organism like a forest." 

I see… so it’s a unique dungeon with abilities way outside the norm. 

… 
But from the way Sensei’s been talking… 

"Sensei, could it be...?” I ask. “Does this dungeon also have a guardian? Like you or Veil?" 
 

You even dropped the word "guardian" earlier, didn’t you? 
Some dungeons have them, though rarely. 

Dungeons with a guardian are in a whole different league of difficulty. 
Not just because the guardian is strong, but because they can use the dungeon’s defenses in the most efficient way possible. 

This forest really feels like one of those. 
A dungeon specialized in repelling intruders thanks to its guardian's tight control. 

"There is… or rather, there was." 

That’s a weirdly vague answer. 

"The one considered guardian of this forest is a Lifeless King about my age, over a thousand years old." 

If they’re on your level, that means they’re seriously strong, right? 
A Lifeless King is the lord of the dead. 
Usually, a great mage or high priest who, in pursuit of deeper magical study, turned themselves undead to gain an endless lifespan. 

So, if they’ve been alive even longer, they’d logically be even stronger. 

"But the Lifeless King of this forest was attacked early on by agents of the church. Though he managed to repel them, he suffered heavy damage and could no longer move." 

So even a Lifeless King is vulnerable in their early levels. 
If you’re going to take one down, best to do it while they’re still starting out. 

"Had he holed up in a dungeon-rich mana, he could’ve recovered quickly. But as a novice, he didn’t even have his own dungeon yet. He had no choice but to slowly absorb the faint mana outside, hiding deep within the woods so he wouldn’t be easily found." 

...Hm? 

"Over a long, long time, he tried to repair his damaged body and replenish his mana. But something happened he never expected... The forest’s greedy vitality surpassed even his imagination." 

First, moss began to cover the motionless Lifeless King’s body. 
Moss is said to be one of the most primitive plants, yet it can also behave like fungi or algae, spreading even over bare rock, painting charred earth green. 

Next came mushrooms. 
Like moss, primitive life forms that could also be called fungi. 

After countless cycles of death and regrowth, the Lifeless King’s very body became tilled like soil, roots spreading through him. 
Covered in rich humus, he gradually lost his original form. Plants sprouted from the immortal king, withered, and sprouted again, until no one could tell where the king ended and the vegetation began. 

Freed from the constraints of a physical body, the immortal king expanded without limits, eventually becoming a vast forest, dominating the surrounding lands. 

...So that’s what humans now call the Forest of Lost Paths? 

"Yes. This forest itself is one of my kind, my comrade… Forest the Lifeless King." 

That’s some shocking information I just heard.