Fernand realized that if he stayed there, he would die. So he made a decision: get out of there as fast as possible, without caring about his friends. The frog then used its tongue to strike another member of the group.

  Its tongue hit the adventurer's head, an attack stronger than they had expected. His head exploded into pieces before he could even react.

  'This is madness,' Fernand thought, and then shouted, "Attack it! What are you doing!? These frogs have low defense!"

  After shouting, he began to move away as quickly as possible.

  Since he was one of the few there who had the "Night Vision" skill, even if it was only at a low level, he was able to find his bearings. He began to hear the screams of his friends. Looking toward the frog, he saw his companions striking it.

  However…

  Their swords only made shallow cuts on its body. What kind of madness was this?

  Fernand began to cry and turned around to flee as fast as possible. He was the most experienced member of the group and managed to find his way. He ran out of the dungeon as quickly as he could.

  As soon as he reached the outside, he fell to the ground with tears in his eyes and pced his hand over his face. He knelt there, remembering the melted face of one of his companions.

  Fernand didn't have a strong stomach. He vomited right there.

  "Hey, what's going on!? Hey!" one of the guards who usually stayed at the dungeon entrance asked. Soon after, more guards appeared, wanting to know what had happened.

  Fernand began pulling his hair as he spoke. "A frog, a strange frog appeared inside the dungeon! You need to do something! That thing isn't normal—you need to call the Hero! It's far too strong!"

  The guards heard his words and struggled not to ugh.

  "Call the Hero because of a frog? Do you even realize what you're saying? We're in the middle of a war!"

  The guards knew Fernand; they knew he wasn't strong. This guy had been beaten by a frog? What a joke.

  Even with all the recent deaths and the rumors of strange monsters appearing in the dungeon, the guards didn't believe him.

  "If this continues, a catastrophe will happen. You won't be able to contain these monsters! If they leave the byrinth, we're doomed!"

  The guards looked at him and ughed.

  Only one guard nearby took what he said seriously.

  The guard approached and helped Fernand to his feet.

  "I need to get far away from here," Fernand said.

  The guard began asking a few questions, curious. He himself had already seen a strange monster near the entrance of the byrinth—but it wasn't a frog. He had seen a snake, much rger than normal.

  He had been the only one to see that monster, and the other guards hadn't believed him.

  That pce was full of idiots.

  They should start taking this seriously, or a catastrophe really would happen.

  ####

  POV: Shiraori

  A few days passed, and the messages kept coming. Anomalies and more anomalies began appearing inside the byrinth—thousands of them. However, Ariel didn't notice that something was wrong. Only I did.

  'Should I go there to see what's happening?'

  Honestly, what happens inside the byrinth isn't my responsibility. I was born there, but I already left and don't have any good memories of that pce. 'But this seems to be getting out of control.'

  "What happened? You've seemed very thoughtful these past few days."

  "The system keeps telling me that anomalies are appearing inside the byrinth," I told Ariel.

  "Anomalies? I noticed something strange was happening, but what does that mean?"

  "I don't know," I replied.

  D hasn't contacted me about this either. It's as if she hasn't noticed. Or maybe she's behind this. She likes to have fun.

  [ I'm not behind this. ]

  Then I heard her voice in my mind, but I pretended not to hear it. So she's not behind this—but does she know what caused it?

  [ Honestly? I have no idea. These so-called anomalies aren't connected to the system. I can't do anything to help. ]

  Wait, these anomalies aren't connected to the world's system? Then why am I receiving these messages from the system? That makes no sense at all.

  [ I have no idea either. How about going there to check it out? I'm sure it'll be fun. ]

  No, I'm not going to do that.

  [ Do whatever you want. ]

  After saying that, D disappeared.

  But this is surprising. These anomalies aren't connected to the system—I didn't expect that. 'Could a new administrator have appeared and created a new system from scratch? Is something like that even possible? But why am I receiving these messages?'

  And if a new administrator had appeared, wouldn't D know about it?

  How strange.

  In the middle of the war, a new problem had appeared.

  "Shiro, is something wrong?"

  "Something in the world is changing," I answered Ariel.

  Her eyebrows rose. "What do you mean by that?"

  "I discovered that these anomalies aren't connected to the world's system."

  "Oh?" Ariel became even more surprised upon hearing that.

  "I don't know why I'm receiving system messages about it, but I don't like this."

  "As I said, it's better if we go to the byrinth and take a look," Ariel said.

  I stared at Ariel for a few seconds and then sighed.

  "In the middle of a war?"

  "Everything is under control, don't worry," Ariel said confidently. "The commanders can handle everything. Besides, it won't take long for us to go there, right?"

  "Mmm…" What a headache.

  Why did a problem like this have to appear so suddenly?

  ParodyGirl