"How do you solve this puzzle?" Aura asked Lily.
"Wait a sec, I'm trying to figure it out right now."
Right now they were taking a break — or more accurately, they were stuck. A ridiculously sturdy gate blocked their way, so tough that even someone as strong as Gorilla-like Aura couldn't break it.
"This kind of thing is what a big brother like me should handle—"
"Stay out of this, Mr. Siscon. I don't trust you at all." Lily glared at Kai, immediately making him deflate.
"I-It's fine, Kai! Just rest for a bit! You've been working so hard already!" Kanna came over and started gently massaging his shoulders.
She felt like she was being a burden, so she wanted to do at least something useful.
"Kanna… You really are the little sister I love the most! When you grow up, you have to find a guy who takes good care of everything for you, got it? Of course, I'll have to test him in a death match first."
Kai immediately pulled her close, pinched her cheeks, ruffled her hair, fixed her bangs, then gently pressed his forehead against hers and rubbed it affectionately.
Aura and Lily watched as Kanna's face turned tomato-red — she looked like she was about to get a nosebleed any second.
Back to the main issue: the gate was designed extremely solidly and looked surprisingly modern too.
"Doctor…"
"Yeah, no mistaking it anymore. Someone has definitely been here before."
That might be the reason this dungeon was suddenly classified as Rank A.
"The puzzle design is a bit… confusing."
"What do you mean?"
"It starts off easy, but then it gets insanely hard. There's definitely some kind of pattern here that I haven't figured out yet," Lily guessed.
"Ohhh… so it's really difficult, huh?"
"Are you even listening to me?"
Both of them put their hands on their chins, thinking hard — until Kai walked over.
"If you girls can't do it, just ask for help. It's always free, you know."
"…Fine, if you say so."
Kai stepped forward, looked down at the puzzle on the floor… and froze.
"What? Too hard?"
"…Hard? You call *this* hard?" Kai's eye twitched slightly.
"Huh?"
THIS IS A FREAKING MINESWEEPER GAME, DAMMIT!
"…Well, I can't really blame you guys. You probably haven't seen this kind before. Let me handle it."
"Wait wait hold on, why are you suddenly—"
He immediately reset the board to start over, then pressed a square on the ground.
Instantly, the whole area cleared, revealing numbers 1, 2, 3 appearing all around the untouched squares.
Then he clicked right next to the 1 and planted a flag there.
Immediately, a huge flag popped up right beside them, startling everyone.
"…Huh?" Aura looked confused.
"…Oh no, this puzzle… the entire room is the puzzle!!" Kanna said in panic.
"Oh wow, so surprising, I had no idea," Lily said sarcastically.
"You hate me or something?"
Then everyone watched as Kai played it masterfully, almost making zero mistakes.
*How is he so good at this?* Lily thought to herself.
And with the final click, Kai cleared everything and correctly flagged all the mine locations.
The gate immediately opened. The three of them clapped and cheered for Kai, who was grinning smugly.
"How did you do that? Is there some kind of rule?"
"Actually, Minesweeper is pretty simple. As soon as the game starts, pick any square and look at the numbers that appear. For example, a 1 means there is exactly one mine in the eight surrounding squares. Same logic for 2 and 3 — just more mines."
"Ohhh."
"And if there's only one unopened square next to a 1, then that square *must* be a mine. Once you flag it, you can safely open the other squares around that 1."
"A 2 works the same way — it means two mines in the surrounding squares. If you already found and flagged one mine nearby, then the remaining unopened square next to it must also be a mine."
"After you've flagged all the mines you can confirm, the rest of the safe squares around them can be opened without worry. Got it?" Kai looked at the three of them; they were all absorbing it.
"Hmm… sounds headache-inducing. Anyway, let's just go," Aura said bluntly.
"Eh? No one's gonna praise me anymore? Hey hey, wait don't leave yet!!"
And so the four of them went inside. As expected…
It was a laboratory.
"Ugh, yuck," Kai muttered, looking at the tanks containing strange, unfinished creatures.
"These… look like monsters with high adaptability," Kanna said nervously.
"Exactly. There's no way a humanoid monster with such absurdly strong abilities came into existence naturally," Lily reasoned.
"But I'm curious — who could possibly give those monsters the ability to adapt like that? That kind of ability isn't a joke."
Kai looked around and noticed a desk in the corner, so he went over to check it.
"…A notebook."
"Hey, what's that huge machine over there?" Kanna pointed at a massive device connected to the tanks.
Aura and Lily walked over to inspect it too, then noticed a lever.
"Looks like this opens it… Aura, you do it."
"You're such a coward."
Aura walked up and pulled the lever. Immediately the machine hissed with steam and slowly opened.
The three of them peered inside curiously — and cautiously.
Then Kanna's eyes widened and she nearly threw up. Aura was utterly shocked. Lily grimaced.
Inside was a massive creature whose appearance disturbingly resembled female reproductive organs — but far more grotesque. It had two eyes on the sides and… its mouth was located exactly where you'd expect.
And yes, it was dripping fluids. Absolutely revolting.
"This thing… is probably what gave birth to all those monsters. Disgusting," Lily said, then glanced at the horrified expressions of the other two and sighed.
If they were already this shaken by this thing, she wondered how traumatized they'd be when they saw what was waiting outside in the city…
"…Everyone."
Kai's voice rang out. The three turned to him.
"What is it, Kai?"
"…"
The moment Kai turned to face them, all three saw his expression had completely changed.
Pure, unfiltered rage.
"That thing you three are looking at… used to be a 7-year-old girl."
…
…
Kanna vomited.
***
"There are signs of combat here."
Baron looked at the rotting corpse, then scanned the surroundings.
"Doesn't look like Aura's work. If it was her, there probably wouldn't even be a corpse left."
Then he looked at the mark on his body and smiled happily.
A "mark" (or brand) was when a being (usually a god) bestowed a portion of their power onto someone. That person would become extraordinarily strong.
Normally, only the most trusted and powerful followers of a god would receive such a divine mark.
"And who would've thought that thing was a god? Even giving part of its power to me… I don't know what scheme it's playing at, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts."
And with that, he continued running forward.