chapter02 · 050-ep44
Episode 44: Beyond Floor 125
The five minutes became ten.
Hati's sleeping breaths looked so comfortable that waking him seemed cruel.
That's the excuse. Honestly, I had lost to the warmth on my knee too.
"All right. Up we go."
At a stroke of his fur, Hati's eyes snapped open.
He stood and gave a full-body shake. The white coat puffed out.
I stood too and kicked off the air.
At my feet, the trail of stardust stretched out.
From Floor 116, the air changed again, another notch down.
The water was black.
The paddies so far had glowed faintly blue. From here on, the water was dark past seeing the bottom. The rice, too, had gone a withered brown.
"This place has a bad feel to it."
Hati growled low.
The surface heaved upward.
Mud Frog Lord Difficulty: D (higher)
A huge frog. Easily three times a Mud Toad. A body of black mud, studded here and there with things like rusted armor.
It opened its mouth.
The tongue came out at spear speed.
"—!"
I kicked off and jumped sideways. The tongue pierced the space I'd just occupied.
Pierced it — and kept going, sweeping sideways.
"You're kidding me?!"
Unavoidable.
That instant, something white cut in front of me.
Hati.
He bit the incoming tongue head-on.
KACHIN — fangs rang. The tongue stopped. The frog let out a strange "gwehh."
Hati, jaws locked on the tongue, braced himself in midair.
Now.
I kicked the air with everything.
Looping to directly above the frog's head.
Twisting my body — heel drop.
The light blade on my leg bit deep into the black mud of its skull.
The frog slumped apart and sank into the black water.
"Whew... that was close."
Hovering, I let out a breath.
Hati spat out the mud — ptui — and came back to my side.
"You saved me. Thanks, Hati!"
I reached to pet him — and my hand stopped.
The fur around Hati's mouth was caked in black mud.
"We'll wipe that off later, okay?"
Hati made a slightly put-upon face.
Floor 117. Floor 118.
Mud Frog Lords started coming in packs. Heron Knights came from the sky. Even snakes of black mud rose out of the water.
Brutal.
Honestly, the worst of the day.
From kicking the air nonstop, my thighs were swollen tight. Every kick, the tops of my legs cried out.
But.
Lv: 144 → Lv: 145
"All right — still going!"
It's rising.
Five to go.
At the bottom of the Floor 119 stairs, Hati stopped short.
Ears pricked straight up.
A low growl.
"What is it, Hati?"
Where Hati was looking.
At the center of Floor 120's wide paddy.
It stood there.
A body made of straw.
A bamboo frame.
A battered woven hat.
Arms spread wide to either side, balanced on a single leg, planted at the center of the black paddy.
Scarecrow King Difficulty: D (higher, layer boss)
"Huh? A scarecrow?"
The master of the rice-paddy dungeon.
Was a scarecrow.
Well — it's a paddy dungeon, so, fair enough.
It was about the size of the Kiln-Warden back at Akazu. Beneath the hat, a face with eyes and mouth like strokes of ink.
Those eyes rolled toward us.
The scarecrow's arms swung round, whooshing.
From the tips of the whirling arms, bundles of straw flew like arrows.
Dozens of them.
"Hati — scatter!"
Hati right, me left.
The straw arrows passed between us and stabbed into the black water.
Columns of spray shot up.
I kept kicking through the air. Stop, and I'm hit. Right, left, up. The straw arrows chased at my heels, scattering my trail of stardust.
Hati, too, was darting through the air. Straw arrows grazed past the white coat.
"I can't get close like this!"
Too many arrows.
I wanted to kick that single leg. But charging head-on meant taking the arrow rain full-on.
Wait. A single leg, huh.
The scarecrow stands on one leg.
Both arms stay spread out sideways. It can swing them, but it can't aim them down.
In that case—
"Hati — circle around in front of its face!"
I didn't know if it would get through.
It got through.
Hati darted in before the scarecrow's hat. The white body circled, round and round, in front of those ink-drawn eyes.
The scarecrow's eyes chased Hati.
Its arms turned toward Hati. Straw arrows flew, aimed at Hati.
Hati dodged them by the smallest margins.
In that opening—
I kicked down to just above the water's surface.
Over the black water, mere centimeters up, I skimmed like a glide.
The scarecrow's eyes were on Hati above.
Not on what was below.
The single bamboo leg loomed right in front of me.
"—RRRAH!"
Roundhouse.
The light blade bit into the bamboo.
A deep, groaning creak.
The scarecrow swayed. For the first time, the ink eyes looked down.
Too slow.
One more.
With a sharp crack, a fissure ran through the bamboo.
The scarecrow's arms began swinging toward me.
Onto that arm, a white shadow bit.
Hati hung from the straw arm with his full weight.
"Nice, Hati!"
The third.
I kicked the air with everything I had left — the hardest of the day.
Twisting my body, swinging the kick through.
The light blade severed the single bamboo leg at its base.
The scarecrow tilted, slowly.
And toppled into the black paddy.
Spray flew all the way to the ceiling.
The straw body crumbled into grains of light.
Only the hat floated up, bobbing on the water.
After a while, that too turned into a magic core.
Hovering, I couldn't move for a while.
Breath ragged. Thighs trembling.
Hati came back to my side. Straw clung all over the white coat.
Then he carried over the magic core floating on the water, held in his jaws.
And set it gently in my palm.
Looking up at my face, steadily.
"You really are something, you know that?"
I petted him.
Both hands, rough and thorough.
"Hati, that was incredible. Without you, there's no way we'd have won."
Hati's tail wagged hard enough to fly off.
Floor 121. Floor 122.
Floor 123. Floor 124.
I barely remember any of it.
Just kicking the air, kicking, kicking, and kicking again. Hati guarded the back; I carved the way forward.
And then — Floor 125.
At the center of the black paddy, a transfer circle glowed white.
The clock had passed seven in the evening.
"Made it..."
My voice came out hoarse.
Together with Hati, I stepped into the circle's light.
Held my Guild card over it.
Toda dungeon, Floor 125 — transfer circle registered
"One twenty-five!"
That instant, one more screen floated up before my eyes.
Lv: 149 → Lv: 150
Wait, seriously?
At the very last moment, it went up.
Probably the Scarecrow King and everything since had just now tipped over the line.
"YESSSSSS!!"
On an empty Floor 125, I shouted with everything I had.
As if drawn in, Hati howled — awooo.
Two voices' worth of sound rang across the black paddy.
And then, one more screen.
Condition fulfilled. Unlocking skill. 【Disguise】
- Lets you falsify your status display
"Disguise?"
I can make Lv 150 look like not-Lv-150.
A fifteen-year-old registered barely over a month ago, at Lv 150. If the Guild saw that, the Deputy Director's eyes would go somewhere far away again. Even if a rank-up exam ever made me show my status, with Disguise, I could fudge it.
"Lifesaver!"
I meant that from the bottom of my heart.
Why me-from-back-then wrote a skill like this, I have no idea. Probably thought "a king who hides his true self" sounded cool.
Right now, I was thanking past-me with everything I had.
Before returning to the surface, I had to send Hati home.
"Hati."
At his name, Hati sat at my feet.
Pale gold eyes looked up at me, steady.
He probably already knew.
"Thanks for today. Having you with me — it was so much fun."
I crouched and scratched his head.
Hati gave my face one single lick.
This time, it didn't leave me drenched.
At my feet, a magic circle rose. Light climbed Hati's white legs, slowly.
Hati's tail wagged until the very end.
"—I'll call you again."
The light reached the tips of Hati's ears.
Just before vanishing, Hati barked once — small — wan.
The magic circle was gone.
On the Floor 125 transfer circle, only I remained.
It was quiet.
Quiet as if the white wolf at my side all this time had been a lie.
"I'll definitely call you again."
After I said it, a thought struck me.
Hati has a twin. Skoll. The wolf that chases the sun.
Was he, right now, sulking outside the universe because I called only Hati today?
Next time, I'll give Skoll a turn.
Even if I can only call one at a time.
From the Floor 125 transfer circle, I returned to the surface.
Outside, it was already pitch dark.
At the field office window, I cashed in my drops. The staffer was the same one as three days ago.
"Good work out there... Floor 125, is it?"
"Yes. All in one go today."
"...Your first visit three days ago — you stopped at Floor 50, if I recall."
"Yeah. Three days, and here I am already."
"...I see."
The staffer was silent a while, then said, quietly:
"There's a man who's been coming here seven years. His deepest is Floor 112."
"Oh — you mean that man? The one in the queue?"
"So you know him."
"We talked in line three days ago. He clapped my back — told me to hang in there."
The staffer gave a slightly helpless smile.
"...Please don't go telling him too much about this."
"I won't. I promise."
The payout was a number I had never seen.
I did a double take without meaning to.
Walking the single road to the station, I opened my status.
Lv: 150
Then, as a test, I tried 【Disguise】.
The display rewrote itself, smooth as sliding.
Lv: 52
"Ohh — it actually changed."
With this, I'd look like a slightly strong D-rank newbie at fifteen. Well — still plenty weird, but far better than 150.
I dropped the Disguise and looked at the real number once more.
- Toda, Floor 125. Twenty-five floors to the C-rank requirement.
Golden Week ends tomorrow.
But there's always next weekend.
"Heh."
On the pitch-dark farm road, I grinned to myself.
My legs were like sticks, I was soaked head to toe, my face still faintly smelled of Hati's drool, and tomorrow was guaranteed muscle pain.
Even so — the best Golden Week ever.
On the station platform, I changed into spare socks. Per Akane-senpai's orders from yesterday, I'd brought two pairs today.
Dry socks were astonishingly wonderful.
Next time I see her, I'll thank Akane-senpai properly.
She'll probably snap, "I-It's not like I said it for YOUR sake or anything!" — but still.