I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 345: Cave Prison

We all entered the dungeon together.

But it was pitch black - we couldn't see anything.

Was it an after-effect of passing through the portal?

Even after blinking several times, the darkness remained.

It seemed we'd entered a space completely devoid of light.

Beast-kin could usually see quite far with just a tiny bit of light.

But now I could barely see right in front of me.

Was this a space where not even a speck of light existed?

I quickly tried drawing up mana but was startled.

'Is this a world without mana?'

No.

It wasn't that bad.

The situation was better than my world where mana didn't exist at all.

First, we needed to find some light.

Maybe Levinas's smartphone would work?

I naturally turned toward where the children were.

"King! Levinas can't see anything!"

"Master...!"

Were they startled because they couldn't see?

Gaeul and Levinas, who had been walking unsteadily, bumped heads.

"Levinas, could you take out your smartphone and shine some light?"

"Oh! Right! Smart!"

Levinas pulled out her smartphone.

Holding it out in front of her, she called out softly.

"Sunny, turn on the light..."

-What level of output would you like?

"The brightest!"

-Maximum output selected.

With Sunny's mechanical voice, the smartphone's flash turned on.

It was an overwhelming light that exceeded the smartphone's normal limits.

In the darkness, the light rivaled a flash grenade.

"Nyaaaah!"

"Eeek!"

"Ah!"

Our screams echoed back to us.

How could a smartphone light be so strong?

It was bright enough that direct exposure could have temporarily blinded someone.

"L-Levinas, why is the light so strong...?"

"I-I think it got stronger from the upgrade..."

"Ah...!"

That's right, Eiva One said they would upgrade Sunny more.

Did they enhance the smartphone's functions themselves?

Eiva One seemed to specialize in handling machines.

"Ugh."

The light was too bright.

Just as I reflexively turned away from the light-

-Lowering output.

Without anyone commanding it, Sunny adjusted the light's intensity on its own.

It was now comfortable for our eyes while still letting us see clearly.

"Wow."

So this was what becoming smarter meant.

This was quite impressive.

Sunny's light illuminated our surroundings.

The walls appeared to be natural - we seemed to be inside a cave.

"Where could this be?"

I looked up at Choi Jinhyuk, who had the most dungeon experience among us.

But he just shrugged his shoulders silently.

'Does he want me to figure it out alone?'

Getting help solving this would defeat the purpose.

Dungeons were places for adventurers to grow, after all.

I decided not to ask for help unless truly in danger.

"Should I try figuring it out myself?"

"Yeah. Try doing it on your own as much as possible. I'll help if it gets really dangerous."

"Yes."

So it was for my growth after all.

Having Choi Jinhyuk behind us was reassuring.

Thanks to him, we could move forward fearlessly despite being in a dark dungeon cave.

"This is..."

As I was looking around wondering where we were, Levinas tugged at my clothes from behind.

"King! Levinas figured out where this is!"

"Already?"

"Yeah! It's a prison!"

Levinas pointed to the edge of the cave.

Iron bars like a prison cell were visible in the distance.

The gaps between the bars were slightly narrower than our heads.

"Who's locked up?"

We moved toward the iron bars together.

Saebyeok, who grabbed the bars first, spoke up.

"Looks like we're the ones trapped."

"Oh."

Is that so?

Then our first task must be escaping the prison.

I looked around and spoke to the children.

"There might be tools around here we can use to get through the bars. Let's look together."

"Yeah."

Just as we were about to start searching with Gaeul's response-

Crack!

I turned around at the sound of breaking metal.

"Uh..."

Saebyeok was holding a broken iron bar.

She had broken through the bars with pure strength.

"I did it."

"Y-yeah..."

It felt like we'd solved the problem in an unintended way.

Though dungeons probably didn't have intended solutions.

Should we just go out now?

I went out first, keeping the children behind me.

"No one's outside. It's safe here."

"Okay."

I slowly moved forward as Saebyeok followed behind me.

At the end of the long row of bars, I made eye contact with Gaeul who was searching the area.

"Master?!"

It sounded like she was asking how we got out.

Were they too focused on searching to notice the broken bars?

I pointed toward where Saebyeok had broken through.

"Over there, Saebyeok..."

Before I could finish, Gaeul stuck her face between the bars.

The pressure made her eyes stretch into straight lines.

Her cheeks were so squished her lips protruded forward.

"Gaeul?"

Could that work?

I watched with wide eyes as Gaeul struggled.

"...!"

After pushing hard, Gaeul's face suddenly popped through the bars.

Once her head was through, the rest of her body followed more easily.

"Wow."

While I had been looking around for ways to get through the bars.

Gaeul just stuck her face through and squeezed out.

Did her animal instincts tell her she could fit through?

In a way, Gaeul's judgment might have been better than mine.

"That's amazing, Gaeul."

"Heh...!"

Watching Gaeul's tail wag happily, I thought.

Maybe I could stick my head through the bars too?

Though I had my ghost form ability, having multiple options couldn't hurt.

'Should I try?'

I pushed my face between the bars like Gaeul had done.

My face got squished, but thanks to its natural softness, it didn't hurt.

"Ngh, nngh..."

When I pushed as hard as I could, my head popped through to the other side.

Wow.

I thought it wouldn't work because of my skull, but it did.

Was it thanks to the natural softness of young beast-kin?

My tail wagged from an inexplicable sense of achievement.

As my tail swished, Saebyeok approached from that direction.

"Gyeoul, why'd you stick your head in there?"

"Gaeul put her head through and got out, so I wondered if I could too."

"Did it work?"

"Yeah."

Now that I'd confirmed it, time to pull out.

When I tried pulling my head back, it got stuck on the bars.

Getting it out seemed different from putting it in.

"Oh no."

"Master!"

Levinas and Gaeul stomped their feet beside me.

Did they think my head was stuck?

For me with my ghost form ability, this wasn't a problem at all.

Swoosh-

I used ghost form to pass through the bars.

Since it had a time limit, I canceled it right after escaping.

"That method!"

Levinas's horned rabbit eyes went wide as she started giggling.

Gaeul, who had been confused, smiled brightly following Levinas.

It felt like everyone was laughing together.

"Let's go now. We need to stay alert since we don't know what might appear."

"Okay."

Usually Saebyeok, being a close combat fighter, would take the lead, but this time I went to the front.

Because I had ghost form as my trump card.

We formed up and moved along the straight cave tunnel.

It was a bit scary being in such a dark space.

But it would be fine.

Because we were together.

I walked forward without hesitation.

**

Dungeons are born from someone's desperate wish for help.

It could be the world's wish to reverse its destruction, or the wish of a pitiful soul in a desperate situation.

Despair could arise from various situations.

That's why there were countless cases and types of dungeons being born.

Some dungeons had monsters, some had beast-kin.

And some could even be the laboratory of a mad scientist.

"Fuck..."

Deep underground in a research facility.

In its prison was a woman who had lost an arm.

Covered in wounds, she wanted to stroke her arm for comfort, but unfortunately it wasn't there.

'Is this how I die?'

It had been a week since the mad scientist's visits stopped.

That also meant a week without food rations.

She was skin and bones from surviving on just water from the fountain.

The woman hugged herself with her remaining arm and sat in a corner, looking up at the iron door that imprisoned her.

Through the bars above the iron door, she could see a dark cave.

Even if she escaped this damned prison, there was no way to reach the surface.

Just as the woman bit her lip-

"Huh."

A child with beast ears appeared outside the bars above the door.

What was that?

Was she seeing things before death?

Just as the woman opened her mouth-

"Eeek!"

The girl pushed her face through the bars.

The way she twisted her head around was so lovable that the woman momentarily forgot her situation.

"Gaeul, is there something there?"

"Yeah!"

"Really?"

Voices murmured outside the door.

Then another child stuck their face through.

A child so white they could be called pure white.

The woman's eyes met those of the child who could be called a symbol of purity.

Blink blink-

The two stayed silent for a while after making eye contact.

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