Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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The Dungeon was riddled with hidden paths.

"That monster rookie... he's catching up!"

Three rough-looking Adventurers sprinted through the tunnels, fear clear on their faces. None had the courage to look back, sure that if they did, they'd be shot. All they could do was keep running.

August had blocked their escape to the Middle Floors.

Trapped, they stumbled through hidden tunnels that once belonged to the group called Evilus. Now, they couldn't hide their tracks anymore.

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT PSYCHO WANT??"

"What do you think?? He noticed us! He's trying to bury us down here to keep his secrets safe!"

One of the men realized August was after them because they had seen his fight with the talking monsters. Killing them for witnessing that? To them, he seemed utterly insane.

The roar of a motorcycle engine resounded through the tunnels. The machine was right behind them.

"I thought he didn't attack other Adventurers! I thought he was just a rookie!" The squad leader was terrified. "That bastard is a wolf in sheep's clothing! He'll eat us alive!"

On paper, the leader and August were both [Level 2]. But stats meant nothing here. August took down Level 2 monsters like they were nothing. A regular Adventurer had no chance against him.

They targeted August because rumors spread that shady buyers outside Orario would pay a fortune for him. Driven by greed, they planned to capture and sell him.

He was supposed to be just a [Level 1], but his rapid growth ruined their plan.

Just seeing him turned them from hunters into prey. Now, it was every man for himself.

"MOVE!" The leader slashed open a concealed passageway.

The two [Level 1] behind him hurried into the dark tunnel built by Evilus. They ran as fast as they could, hoping to reach the surface.

"Just make it to the surface! He won't attack us up there!"

They ran in a panic. Thanks to their knowledge of secret smuggling routes, they avoided most of the maze and arrived faster. After many sharp turns, they finally reached the huge spiral staircase leading to the first floor.

"We made it! We're here!"

"We actually escaped!"

They slipped into the crowd of Adventurers near the exit. It wasn't strange to see three people running out of the Dungeon in a panic. The bystanders just laughed, guessing they had been frightened by a monster. The three ignored the laughter and kept heading for the Babel Plaza exit.

The motorcycle noise faded away. The tension eased, and they finally felt safe.

What they didn't know was that the moment they stepped off the spiral staircase...

A machine attached to the wall above them suddenly moved. A red laser turned on as the automated turret aimed right at the three.

They reached the first floor. The main exit to Babel Plaza was just ahead. They took a deep breath.

"We survi—" The leader opened his mouth to celebrate.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!"

The next second, a sickening mist of blood and brain matter painted his cheek.

A headless corpse collapsed onto the stone floor.

The leader stopped in shock, staring at his fallen teammate's body.

The last lackey screamed, "Boss!"

He reached out and tried to grab his leader's arm.

Something fast tore through the air. The lackey's arm was blown off.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!"

BRRRRRRRRRT!

Multiple rounds tore through the air. Right in front of the leader's eyes, his final lackey was shredded like a broken ragdoll.

In a split second, the body was left unrecognizable.

"..." The leader's eyes bulged out of his skull. Disbelief washed over him.

His team had been killed at close range, right in the middle of a crowd during the day.

The Adventurers nearby jumped back in fear. Weapons came out right away as everyone became alert. They followed the path of the attacks back down the stairs.

"It's him!"

"The monster rookie!"

"Why is he attacking people up here??"

Everyone looked toward the spiral staircase. One person walked up the steps calmly. The air around him shimmered as his [Spatial Backpack] revealed the muzzles of advanced weapons.

Many Adventurers immediately recognized August. To those stuck grinding the Upper Floors, his apocalyptic fighting style was impossible to forget.

Staring at the butchered remains of his crew, the leader snapped. "YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU??"

He couldn't comprehend it. How could August just casually murder people in the safe zone?

But instead of getting angry, the leader gave a twisted, mocking grin. He thought August had just sealed his own fate. August had provoked all the Adventurers and openly broken the law.

The Ganesha Familia, the city's peacekeepers, would hang him for this...

"Are you insane?? Committing murder right in front of the Ganesha Familia's territory??" The sleazy leader sneered, making fun of August's reckless move. "This isn't your playground! You're dead meat!"

But August didn't flinch. His face showed no panic, no anger, nothing at all. Only cold indifference.

He ignored the stares from every Adventurer in the plaza and kept walking forward.

He responded—

BANG!

A bullet tore through the leader's shoulder.

"AARGH!" The sleazy leader grabbed his bleeding arm. His mocking grin disappeared, replaced by pure terror.

Only one thought ran through his mind.

This guy isn't listening. He's a psycho. A total psycho!

He had seen crazy Evilus cultists and cruel Familia captains, but August was something else. He didn't care about rules, laws, or what people thought. If he wanted you dead, you died.

The Adventurers around him fell silent in shock. Was the monster rookie really hunting his allies? This would cause chaos. Even so, they kept their weapons up, forming a loose circle to stop August from attacking everyone.

August walked forward without any hurry. Then, his cold, blank face changed.

He smiled.

That smile made everyone uneasy. He looked like someone who was completely in control.

"What's wrong? You were so eager to catch me and sell me to those corrupt nobles. Now you're acting like the victim? That's pretty pathetic, isn't it?"

August's words hit the crowd hard.

They had seen monsters captured and even commoners being sold. But adventurers too? What did that even mean?

Any Adventurer who survived the Dungeon was clever. August made it clear: this group was hunting other Adventurers inside the Dungeon. They had to worry about more than just monsters—they had to watch out for greedy people willing to sell their own.

Right away, the anger toward August disappeared. No one tried to help the wounded leader. If August was even partly right, that man deserved what was coming.

"You're lying!" the wounded leader shouted, panic in his voice.

He realized August had known about their whole operation from the beginning. Getting rid of him was just cleaning up. He had to change the story quickly.

But he was up against someone who had spent years winning arguments online.

August ignored his desperate denial. He was ready to make a scene.

"Tsk... I wonder what happens to those kidnapped Adventurers after they're sent off as toys for those fat and repulsive nobles?"

August gave a dramatic, sarcastic performance. He put on an exaggerated look of despair. "Oh, do they cry out? 'Captain, save me!' 'Commander, I don't want to die!' 'Please God...' "

August looked over the crowd, making sure every Adventurer understood the seriousness of his act.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it ends just like this—"

He snapped his fingers, and a huge 3D display appeared in the air. Even within the dim light near the Dungeon entrance, it was easy to see.

The footage displayed a gruesome scene.

"..."

Looking at the awful image, August went on. "After all, those noble pigs love these twisted games, and when they're finished with the trash, they kill the Adventurers to cover it up."

Everyone in Orario knew just how corrupt the nobles outside the city could get.

When the crowd saw the battered Adventurer on the screen, a fighter who had probably fought bravely but was now just a broken victim, they were filled with rage. The Adventurers nearby gripped their weapons so tightly their knuckles turned white.

"I... I didn't do that!" the leader stammered, shocked by August's mind games. He never thought the rookie would take over the story with fake but very convincing images. It struck the Adventurers right in their deepest fears.

"You didn't?" August said with a smirk. "Then tell everyone how your squad knows about the hidden tunnels that aren't on any map."

As August spoke, he waved his hand and changed the hologram. Now the screen showed drone footage following the trio as they escaped through dark, hidden passageways.

"Don't tell me you just happened to find them by accident."

The crowd understood right away. Those paths were hidden areas, unexplored and secret.

Regular, rule-following Adventurers had no idea they even existed.

Finding an unmapped area was one thing. But making it through a hidden maze from the Middle Floors to the surface without running into any monsters? That had to be a smuggling route built for that purpose.

"That doesn't prove we're smugglers!"

The leader wasn't stupid. He realized admitting to using secret paths looked bad, but actually confessing to kidnapping Adventurers would get him killed by the crowd on the spot.

"Then how did you enter the Dungeon?" August asked, delivering the final blow.

"You didn't use the Babel entrance today. You came all the way up from the Middle Floors. But honestly, you're much too weak for that."

The crowd saw that August was telling the truth. This so-called "monster rookie" was basically a [Level 2] powerhouse who could take on whole groups alone. He could judge strength with total accuracy.

"With your weak stats, you wouldn't last five minutes in the Middle Floors. The only way you work down there is by using those secret tunnels to avoid danger." August's voice was cold and firm. "Those tunnels were made to smuggle kidnapped Adventurers out of Orario without being noticed."

August's reasoning was solid, and it made the crowd angry. Using hidden Evilus tunnels to get around Babel's checkpoints was the only way a smuggling ring could work.

It all made sense. A newcomer from outside the city wouldn't know about Evilus or the hidden tunnels. Since August caught them using these paths, it was clear they were guilty.

Could they trust the rookie? Definitely. He was strong, and if someone could drive a sane man to kill in broad daylight, those people had to be truly awful.

"Spill it! Tell us everything you know!"

"What the hell is your operation??"

"You damn traitor!"

A few experienced party leaders started shouting, and the rest of the Adventurers quickly joined in. Nobody wanted to be linked to someone who betrayed their own people.

Smuggling Adventurers was a crime that could get you hanged. With August's vivid, modern holographic projection, the crowd was sure he had solid proof.

The smuggler had nowhere left to run.

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