Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka - Volume 9 Chapter 0 PROLOGUE CHANCE MEETING

Sharp, labored breaths rang out.
The ceiling, walls, and floor in this area of the labyrinth were all tree bark.

Moss thickly covered its surfaces, illuminating the passageway in a bluish-
green light. It gave the impression that not a soul had ever set foot in this part

of the Dungeon. The reverberations of distant monster howls made leaves
tremble, prompting beads of silver to dribble off sundry fantastical flora.
In this giant tree labyrinth that was completely removed from the world
up above, a lone shadow ran with every bit of energy it could muster.
The figure had supple, delicate limbs that closely resembled those of a
young girl. Azure-silver hair glistened in the light of the moss.
Besides its long, silky tresses, the being possessed skin of a bluish-white
hue.
The many scales covering its shoulders, lower back, and the long ears
framing its face, tapering to even finer points than those of elves, were
similarly colored. But the most notable feature by far was the glimmering
crimson jewel embedded in its forehead.
Blue-white skin and a crimson jewel were just the first of many features
that proved this creature was a monster.
Thump, thump, thump! The monster held its thin, branch-like arms against
its chest as it ran through the Dungeon.
Why?
It was bleeding.

Claws, fangs, and blades had inflicted many wounds on its body. Deep-
red blood trickled from open gashes with every step. The attacks had ripped

entire scales from its shoulders, dyeing its cerulean skin completely red.
Why?

Terror showed in its eyes. Confusion. Grief.
Several water droplets accompanied the blood on its way to the floor
below. The clear liquid flowed from the monster’s stunning amber eyes as its
thin throat began quivering.
“Why…?”
The sound that escaped from its small lips was not the crude howl of a
monster but a single hoarse, mournful word.
The voice was like that of a sobbing child. As if disdaining the sounds
strung together to make a word, the barks of monsters echoing through the
labyrinthine Dungeon closed in. The lone figure’s bluish-silver hair and slim
shoulders trembled in fear.
Sorrow had distorted its face, which was out of place on a monster and
attractive enough to leave a person breathless.
The monster—the “girl” was crying.
Why, why is everyone…?!
She was alone.
She was only a newborn, recently delivered from the Dungeon walls, but
everything she had encountered rejected her.
She had memories of her birth, of breaking out from the wall before
falling to the floor. Still unable to tell left from right, she wandered the
Dungeon, trying to make sense of her dim surroundings. While she was
anxious at not knowing her location, she picked up a familiar scent—one of
her own kind. Her instincts drove her to follow it.
It led her to a different corner of the Dungeon, where a creature much
larger than herself stood. She approached it to ask:
“Where am I?”
The creature’s response was a monstrous roar. After raising its voice in
anger, the monster slashed her with sharp claws.
Skin torn, she ran away without understanding why.
As confusion seized her body, the red blood seeping from her wounds and
the first-time sensation of pain inspired terror in the newborn.
Since then, she had been attacked again and again. The beings that shared
her scent, no matter their shape or size, threatened her life. There were no
exceptions. She fought desperately to hold back something that threatened to
flow from her eyes as her injuries continued to increase.
Rushing out from the depths of the Dungeon, the exhausted “girl” next

encountered creatures of a completely different species.
They were humans equipped with swords and bows.
Accompanying them were a fairylike male and female. The long-eared
pair nestled close together, protecting each other.
She approached them, unaware that her eyes betrayed her envy.
Not wanting to startle the newcomers, she hid her sharp claws from view
and opened her mouth to speak.
“Help me.”
In an instant, a blade opened a new wound on her body.
The group appeared more confused and shaken than she, but most
apparent was their terror as they rejected her.
Faced with this new animosity, she fled once again. The men scattered as
they swung their swords, and the pale-faced women readied their bows with
muffled shrieks.
Arrows streaked at her from behind as her tears finally spilled over.
Pain. Suffering. Sadness.
The scales on her back deflected the arrowheads but cracked with each
impact. Her torn, lacerated shoulders felt as if they were on fire. The world
excluded, alienated, and rejected her; it had branded her an outcast.
She questioned herself over and over. Why, why?
Cries of I’m scared, I’m so scared slipped from her mouth.
Her weeping did not stop.
What…am I…?!
No matter how many times she asked, the Dungeon, her mother, gave no
answer.
She fled for some time, but in the end her pursuers appeared again.
Astonished by her beauty, they adopted unfamiliar expressions as they
gruffly yelled, “Stop!”
The hunters, wetting their lips and gazing sadistically at her, had no
reason to halt their advance. The madness in their eyes as they stalked her
was far uglier than anything she had seen from her fellow monsters. She tried
to escape on her two slender legs, having already learned to fear everything.
The reason she was regarded as a beast lay in the latent power she used to
shake off her pursuers, dodge other monsters in the Dungeon that continued
to attack her, and race through the arborous path alone. The lonely echoing
tap, tap, tap of two feet hung in the air of the seemingly endless Dungeon.

Translucent tears spilled from her amber eyes again.
“Ahh!”
A downward slope.
She lost her footing like a child and tumbled heavily down the hill
crisscrossed in tree roots.
After falling to the very bottom, the “girl” noticed she had injured her leg.
She couldn’t stand.
Distant monster howls and the footfalls of people prompted a shiver in her
body. She examined her surroundings before setting off, dragging her
immobile leg along. Her wounds had already clotted enough to stem the flow
of blood, allowing her to hide her trail. In one corner of the Dungeon, she
found a single tree and an abundance of plants. Using the leaves as a shelter,
she hid within.
Her back pressed to the wall, she held her breath. Trembling, she
squeezed her badly injured body tightly with both arms and fought back
against the endless waves of terror.
Then she realized something was approaching.
Her breath caught again.
She could hear steps coming closer and closer with each passing moment.
The crescendo of footsteps made her recall the biting pain of a sword, almost
as though the memory itself radiated heat, paralyzing her with horror.
Her body shook uncontrollably.
Her cheeks still wet, another wave of fear crossed her face.
Looking up at the human figure drawing near, the girl hugged herself with
all her might.
Then.
The “girl’s” tearful eyes looked up as the newcomer appeared.
“A monster…a vouivre?”

White hair and rubellite eyes.
In a dim corner of the Dungeon, she had a fateful meeting with one boy.