Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
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After all this time following this long, dangerous tunnel through the lower depths, I’ve finally, finally, found it! A fork in the path! …uh, the path?
Yeah. An impossibly large cavern stretches out into the distance before me. Here, the path forks… er, here, the path opens wide… uh, here, the path disappears…? If you asked me to tell you how big it is, I couldn’t; even with my ultra-powerful night vision cutting effortlessly through the darkness, I can’t see the other side.
Uhhhh… which way should I go now? I couldn’t get lost while I was following a single straight line, but in this enormous, empty space, I’m kinda worried. It’s kinda like… suddenly finding yourself in a desert with no path or landmarks to guide you. I don’t even know which way I should be facing! This is dreadful.
I heard that if you keep constantly walking forward in a place where the scenery doesn’t change, you’ll subconsciously wander in a huge arc and eventually wind up back where you started. Of course, I’m a spider, not a human, so I actually have no idea how true that is for me. There’s not really much around here that I could use as a landmark, just crags and pillars scattered here and there. I can’t really find anything unique about any of them, so using them as landmarks isn’t really possible. There’s snail-bugs around here, so even in the worst case scenario I’m not going to die of hunger, but there’s going to be no way for me to notice if I’m getting lost.
Well, it’s time once to break out the most basic maze-solving skill: follow the wall. I’ll keep the wall on my right side as I advance.
But, man, this place is huge. It’s not just extremely broad, horizontally, but it’s ridiculously tall as well! The pillars holding up the ceiling have to be over a hundred meters tall. What a spectacular height. Even though I’m still stuck in this dungeon, I don’t feel like I’m cooped up anymore. How do I say this… even though there’s nothing here but rock, this cavern exemplifies the glory of Mother Nature. In here, I am reminded of how small I truly am.
In my previous life, I saw a TV show that talked about the unexplored parts of the world. Honestly, I can’t say that I felt moved at all when I was watching it back then. No matter how beautiful the images on the screen were, in the end they were just figments of a distant world that had absolutely nothing to do with me. I felt no excitement, no wonder; just indifference. I honestly don’t even know why I was watching it.
But now, I’m here. This is the world I’m living in. This isn’t irrelevant. I can’t be indifferent! Being this moved by my surroundings is something I had never experienced when I was a human. I probably wouldn’t have ever been able to come here, too, if I had kept myself cooped up in the nest I called my home. I really should thank that pyromaniac human for forcing me out into the outside world.
…Ah, but even just thinking about it still makes me mad. Yeah, right. Like there’s any way I could be grateful to a jerk like that. Next time I meet him, I’ll roll him up nice and tight in my [Spider Thread], drag him around the dungeon for a while, and then finish him off with a [Poison Fang].
Hoooof. That’s an unpleasant memory to drag up. Let’s put that aside, gaze once more at the grandeur of nature, and be calmed.
{Bagragrach – LV 14 – failed to appraise status}
A giant monster lumbers into view. From its build and attitude, it looks kinda slow and lazy, and a little bit stupid too… but that mouth shatters that impression immediately. That giant, crocodile-like mouth, bursting with countless jagged teeth. The monkey-like body attached to that terrible maw looks kind of unbalanced, but brutal.
This isn’t calming at aaaaall…
Yeah, that’s right. This is a dungeon. This isn’t nature; this is danger. Comprende? Yeah.
And, so, I slip away into the murk and make my escape.
Somehow, I made it out without being seen. You know, I just had a really terrible thought that I really wish I didn’t have. Could this enormous cavern be, uh, could it maybe be the Bottom Stratum?
I don’t really know how far apart layers are supposed to be, but it’s not unthinkable that I could have gone down a level while following that extremely long road. With such a long, straight tunnel, if it had just a tiny little slope to it, I could easily have gone up or down a fair way without noticing anything at all. It’s a possibility, right…?
No, no, no. It can’t be, right? That’s just an ordinary huge cavern. Yeah. Or maybe it’s part of the Middle Stratum! Aha, let’s go with that! This is definitely the Middle Stratum! Haha, oh man, it was way easier to get out of the Lower Stratum than I had expected!
{Bagragrach – LV 8 – failed to appraise status}
{Bagragrach – LV 4 – failed to appraise status}
{Bagragrach – LV 11- failed to appraise status}
Man, what are these guys doing in the Middle Stratum? I make like the Invisible Man… wait, no, the Invisible Spid… ah, forget it. I sink into the shadows and sneakily scuttle away.
After I put a bunch of distance between me and them, I remember that I haven’t actually gotten around to appraising their species yet.
{Bagragrach: A monster with a giant, deformed jaw. They work together, bringing down their prey as a pack.}
Uh-huh… so they’re not just strong, they hunt in packs, huh… I’ve really got no chance, huh…
Yyyeah. It’s starting to look like this isn’t the Middle Stratum after all. How could it be, with this kind of difficulty level? Ugh. I really, really hope this isn’t the Bottom Stratum.
APM - Translation 