Dungeon Refrigerator 71

Test

Infiltration, Underwater Dungeon

[Splash... Splash... Bubble...]

Five figures swim in the starlit depths of the midnight sea, heading offshore. 

3 bikini-clad beauties are holding wooden sticks, a small black diver, and a mysterious insect-humanoid. It's us, for some reason.

With a sleek movement, I carry an Excalibar attached to my belt as I swim. Extracting a hefty bar from a Boston bag felt excessive, so I decided against it.

"Master, how can you swim so gracefully in that getup?"

"Yeah, seriously. If you dressed like that, you'd drown!"

"... (grumble)"

"Oh no, it fits snugly and isn't heavy. Swimming is just as easy as usual."

"Well, he's coach."

"Yeah... he's master."

Hey, what's with that suggestive tone? If you have something to say, just say it.

After swimming for a while, Shark, who was leading, stopped and started looking around.

"Hmm, Shark, what's up around here?"

"Oh, I'll dive once to check the terrain below. (Kapow! Whoosh! Splash!)"

As Shark dived, I submerged my face underwater, aided by the King Gogi's eyes, which allowed me to see clearly. 

Shark moved her webbed limbs gracefully and dived upside down to the seabed.

"Oh, nicely done, diving smoothly. Impressive."

For her age, Shark knows a lot. She seems knowledgeable about military matters, which is interesting.

As I observed from the surface, Shark, swimming aimlessly at the seabed, signaled towards a dungeon by spinning her light towards me. She wanted me to dive in.

"Shark found a dungeon. I'll check it out; you guys wait here."

"Sure thing."

"Be careful, Coach!"

"Oh, wait, I'm coming too!"

"No, Seira, stay. Ruu, I'm going (splash...)"

[Glop... Glop-glop-glop...]

I dove into the dark depths of the sea. Wearing the Bug King Suit, the cold seawater didn't bother me. 

The suit's high defense provided a sense of security, making me feel at ease. Yeah, the suit didn't hinder my swimming at all. It's comfortable.

(Depth is around 15 meters. Probably not more than 20.)

I quickly reached Shark's location, who was waiting with a light, guiding me towards a rocky area underwater.

[Glop... Glop-glop-glop...]

I placed my hand on Shark's shoulder as I grabbed onto the rough underwater rocks. Shark's eyes widened in surprise behind his underwater goggles. Well, how's that? Swimming at twenty times the normal speed is impressive. I was also a bit surprised at how fast I swam.

[Glop... Glop-glop-glop... Bubbling]

Shark took off her mask and tried to offer me oxygen, but upon realizing the Bug King mask had no mouth-like feature. She awkwardly put the mask back on. It's alright. I gave her a thumbs up to assure him.

[Huuu... Glop... Glop-glop-glop...]

Seeing that, Shark pointed her light towards a rocky area behind me. Turning around, I saw a dark entity swaying and creating ripples in the water due to the waves. It was larger and protruded from the rock under the water.

Hmm... It's jutting out under a large rock, so you wouldn't notice it unless you dove this deep. It's circular, about a meter in diameter, similar in size to our refrigerator dungeon at home. I poked it and tossed a feeding whelk into it, but it seemed normal.

(Alright, should I dive in?)

I nodded to Shark behind me and plunged my head into the dark entity.

"... Puff! Oh, it's a dungeon! It has an antechamber too... And it's completely dry."

Entering the dungeon, I found a layout similar to my Refrigerator Dungeon, though with slight differences.

The familiar ceiling glowed pale blue, and walls and floors were assembled like blue bricks. But what was intriguing was that the dungeon blocked the seawater. Living beings or humans could pass through... It's an incredible filtering system.

"Alright, it's safe here, so let's call Ruu and the others. I'll go get them."

As I pulled my head out of the dungeon, I realized I had startled them.

"Bang!"

"Eek!"

Oops, my bad. I should have surfaced a bit farther away.

"I found it! It's a dungeon!"

"Yay!"

With this, smiles returned to their faces.

"It's about 15 meters deep underwater. The immediate entrance is safe."

Upon hearing this, Nina-san furrowed her brows and looked a bit worried.

"It's that deep... I'm not the best swimmer, so will I be okay?"

"......"

Hearing her question, Ruu and Serai-san exchanged glances.

Hmm... 15 meters is roughly the length of the giant prehistoric shark Megalodon. It's a huge shark. To put it in perspective, utility poles are about that height. 

While pondering, I noticed the watermelon-cracking sticks we had.

"Oh, these are perfect! Just hold onto the sticks and take deep breaths. I'll take you down to the seabed."

I handed them the sticks to hold onto, and I grasped the other end. By diving while holding the sticks, I could take them down to the seabed at a depth of 15 meters.

.....

"(Boing!) Wow...! There is a dungeon at the bottom of the sea♪"

Serai-san is wearing a sporty black swimsuit and was the first to be tossed into the deep sea. She exclaimed in admiration, spinning around and gazing up at the pale blue ceiling.

"(Boing!) Cough! Cough...! Hey, Maachi, give me a hand here~"

Nina-san wearing a white bikini, came in second, coughing as she entered the dungeon. She leaned on the floor and reached out for help. In a rush, Machi approached and offered her hand.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! Here, grab my hand... I got it. I was practicing holding my breath, so I'm fine♪ How about you, Shizue?"

"Hmm... I'll think about it."

Just then, Ruu, wearing a black diving suit, emerged from the entrance to the black dungeon.

"(Boing!)... Huh, what!? (Looking around)"

"Look, Ruu! Stand up quickly! It's amazing! There's a dungeon right here at the bottom of the sea!"

"Wow, I'm really surprised... Ruu, are you hurt anywhere?"

"N-No, I'm okay..."

Serai-san and Nina-san lent their hands to help Ruu, who was in a light purple one-piece swimsuit to stand up. Since the entrance was about 60 centimeters higher than the dungeon floor, it was easy to lose balance upon entering.

Then, I'm in a Bug King Suit, emerged from the black entrance. Finally, I pulled Shark, dressed as a diver, into the dungeon. I supported him because carrying the heavy air tank on his back could easily throw off his balance.

"Amazing. It was a dungeon after all!"

Shark sat down on one knee and removed the air tank from her back, letting out a voice of awe. Her eyes were directed towards the pale blue ceiling, shining brightly, and his gaze kept moving around.

"(Psssh!) Phew, we made it into the dungeon safely. Is everyone alright?"

Among us, I was the one with the most peculiar appearance. With a mask resembling an insect's mouth, I stood up and glanced at everyone while spraying seawater from my mask's mouthpiece.

"Yes♪ (Beep)"

"We're fine. It was a shock when we dived with sticks into the sea bottom."

"Y-Yeah."

"(Turn, turn) How about you, Shark?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, this seems to be like a foyer of the dungeon, and based on experience, it should be safe. Rest here for a while, everyone. I'll go ahead and investigate."

Saying this, I'm in my Bug King Suit, opening a single iron door on the blue wall of the dungeon. I then entered through it.

......

"(Looking around...) Hmmm, the layout of the passage is almost the same as my dungeon's. It's as if the same manufacturer made it."

As I continued down the dungeon's passage, a monster appeared before him.

[Wobble, wobble, wobble... Ding, ding, ding...]

Bathed in the pale blue light of the dungeon, its semi-transparent body glowed a translucent blue, quivering like jelly and inviting a sense of coolness.

Its appearance was akin to a high-quality Japanese confection that one might find at a sophisticated tea house.

Yeah, the monster on the first underground floor was a slime.

"Hmm... Is it this thing? (Poke, poke) I never thought we'd share a dungeon with monsters."

Well, it's a dungeon. I can't let my guard down. I'll take a quick look around to make sure there are no issues and then return.

.....

"""........."""

After I headed off for dungeon exploration, the room was left with three female college students in swimsuits and a female high school student in a diver's outfit.

However, the millennial female high school student in diving gear, Shark, quickly removed her wetsuit. She transformed into a black swimsuit-clad figure, adjusting the belt that held a row of knives around her waist. With a black headband on her forehead, she was fully focused on preparing for battle.

"Hey, Shark. Where did you meet master?"

Serai-san called out to Shark as she prepared for battle next to a tank.

"Hmm? Inside the dungeon. We were doing airsoft battles, and he happened to join in. Then, Jung hit it off with our leader, and he invited him to play. He spent about three hours playing with us."

"Oh? Are all the guys there?"

Nina-san is wearing a white bikini, joined in Shark and Serai-san's conversation.

"Yeah, mostly. People who are into airsoft are usually guys. Recently, there's been a slight increase in the number of girls like me. Oh, and there's even a guy who participates in cross-dressing."

"Wow, that's interesting."

Slightly taken aback, Nina-san's response was followed by Ruu, who had a light purple one-piece swimsuit that turned violet when wet.

"Coach, how were you playing back then?"

"Hmm... What do you mean? Well, just normally. I was shooting monster targets with an airsoft gun and saying, 'Die, you bug bastards!' I was having a good time."

"..."

Unwilling to talk about myself, I revealed an unexpected side, leaving the three college girls looking a bit awkward.

"But he's amazing! He tossed around a dung beetle monster that usually takes two guys to flip over. He did it all by himself!"

As the millennial high school girl with sparkling eyes talked about my accomplishments in the dungeon, the 3 college girls were relieved, convinced the high school girl and I were just acquaintances. If I had a close relationship with her, they would have had to plan some punishment.

"I see. Hey, Shark, that's a nickname, right? What's your real name?"

"Yeah, I'm Toga Ruri. They used to call me 'Sharp' because my last name is Toga and I have a sharp personality. But when my friends found out my family runs a beach house, the name somehow changed from Sharp to Shark."

"I see. Hey, maybe we should come up with nicknames too?"

"Oh, that's a good idea! It would be good for dealing with stalkers and not wanting our real names known."

"Seriously, Maachi, are you being chased by stalkers? That's scary."

"Come on, Machi! You're so rude."

"But you can't go around calling each other 'san' on the battlefield, right? It's the same in the dungeon, right? If we're doing it anyway, we might as well come up with names that are easy to call."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"... But what kind of names should we choose?"

"Ruu, why don't we discuss it with our beloved master?"

"Y-Yeah... (Blushing)"

As Serai-san placed her hand on Ruu's shoulder, Ruu shyly nodded and blushed.