arc1 · 021-ep21

Episode 21: Slip In and Whap

Past the dungeon's entrance, a cool, stone-built corridor went on, sloping gently down.

Magic lamps for lighting were embedded here and there in the ceiling, bright enough to make out even the seams in the stone flagging underfoot. The path was wide enough for three adults to walk abreast, and it hardly smelled at all of the damp earth and moss of the dungeon they'd dived yesterday.

Down that bright passage, Fukazumi Iori was walking at a far slower stride than his usual solo dives.

A little way behind, in midair, the white spherical tracking drone hovered at a fixed distance with a faint hum of its drive. And just at Iori's left walked the newcomer, Kirise Fumino, back ramrod straight, right hand resting near the hilt of her hip dagger so she could draw it at a moment's notice.

"In the shallow layers, the path is wide, and there are few dips that could become blind spots. For now, plan on getting used to the feel of the air around you and the way the sound of footsteps carries—just relax and walk."

"Y-yes! But Chapter Two of the safety manual states that even in the shallow layers, surprise attacks caused by carelessness account for thirty percent of all harm, and instructs us to constantly alternate checks between ten meters ahead and the walls to either side!"

Fumino answered in a rapid-fire burst, glare fixed straight ahead, and her profile was seriousness itself.

Still, ever since her terminal's settings had been fixed up for her at the entrance just before, Iori could tell her shoulders had been carrying quite a lot of tension. Apparently she'd watched yesterday's clips of Tsukishiro Saya's stream—so perhaps, duly conscious of just what sort of explorer the instructor walking beside her was, she had wound herself up all the more.

Iori eased his mouth into a somewhat fond smile, dropped his pace by another half step, and came level with Fumino's shoulder.

"You don't have to tense up that much—it's fine. Today's the first day, so even if a monster does show up, I'll give a demonstration first, and if anything starts looking dangerous, I'll stop it from right beside you in a hurry."

"Yes. Thank you, senpai."

Fumino breathed a small breath out and nodded.

Beyond the lens trailing smoothly along just behind the pair, a great crowd of viewers was already watching over this exchange.

『Onee-sama is having a normal conversation......!?』

『Is this really the same person who, back in that first rescue stream, spent a whole hour saying nothing but "......Huh."? lol』

『The mic audio is so good that Onee-sama's cool, clear voice comes through crisp—simply godly』

『Did she just say "boku" as her first-person pronoun right now!?』

『"Boku" paired with that androgynous, composed voice is much too dashing—it is simply against the rules......!』

『Newcomer-chan has the manual memorized cover to cover—such a serious one, lol』

『Well obviously—when the person who pulverized an Iron Behemoth solo just yesterday shows up as your instructor, anyone would be tense!』

『"First, boku will show you how it's done," she says—but can Onee-sama actually teach the fundamentals? lol』

『Going by yesterday's text chat, she'd probably come out with something like "You win if you fell them before they attack"』

『Newcomer-chan's gear—both the dagger sheath and the leather pouch shiny brand-new, how fresh-faced』

Just as they rounded a gentle curve and came out into a slightly open straightaway of passage—

from a crack in the wall some twenty meters ahead, a monster came bursting out into the corridor with a dry clatter of claws.

It was a little over a meter long. A shallow-layer quadruped covered in stiff gray fur—a gray wolf. Spotting them, the wolf let out a low growl, yellow eyes gleaming as it lowered its stance.

"—A monster! One Grey Wolf dead ahead!"

Fumino cried out instantly, planted her feet, and drew the dagger at her hip.

Left foot half a step forward, dagger held diagonal before her chest, center of gravity sunk low. It was a textbook-basic stance, neat as if lifted from a diagram—the kind that would have earned a perfect score on the preliminary training's practical exam just as it stood.

The growling wolf kicked off the stone flagging and closed the distance in a straight line.

Fumino kept her dagger ready, trying to read the creature's movement—but faced with a real-combat monster bearing down on her with bared fangs, her shoulders twitched and went stiff. Her breathing turned shallow, and the soles of both boots in her stance seemed glued to the stone flagging, unable to move.

Iori, watching this from the side, spoke up in a calm voice as the monster crossed the midpoint between them.

"Then I'll take this first one—so just watch me, okay?"

Iori quietly stepped forward.

He didn't even do as Fumino had—plant his feet and lower into a stance. Yesterday in the middle and lower layers he had mixed in ice magic and heavy footwork, but today's opponent was a shallow-layer monster, and beside him was a junior on her very first dive. Iori made no show of hurrying either; at a perfectly natural walking stride, he walked straight into the onrushing wolf's path, head-on.

Five meters short, the wolf sank down onto its hind legs, about to pounce—and that was the moment.

Iori's stride stretched by the barest fraction, and a heartbeat sooner than the monster's body could lift into the air, he stepped in through its guard, slipping past it in the same motion.

The familiar one-handed sword drawn from his hip made no grand swing—it slid sideways, tracing a thin silver line.

That was all there was to it. The wolf mid-pounce crumpled on the spot without even time to cry out, faded into black mist seconds later, and left one small magic stone rolling on the floor.

『Eh, it's already over!?』

『Don't one-shot it with movements like you're out on a stroll, lmao』

『Wait, the sword she drew is still that same plain old one-hander as always! That pricey-looking dagger from yesterday's box—is she not using it? lol』

『For real—she actually left behind that masterpiece blade that was shining all divine? lmao』

『Newcomer-chan watching from behind with her eyes turned to dots is killing me』

『Showing this as the very first demonstration—as newcomer training, how is that okay? lmao』

Iori sheathed the one-handed sword, scooped up the small magic stone from the floor, and turned around in one little twirl.

And to Fumino, still frozen dagger-at-the-ready, he smiled like it was nothing at all.

"Just like what I did now—slip in right before your opponent comes leaping at you, and whap! Land your sword on it, and you're in no danger."

Through the quiet corridor rang that advice, concise far past all reason.

Fumino slowly lowered her dagger from its ready position and stared at Iori with eyes like she was beholding something unbelievable. Then, sucking in a great breath, she stepped a pace forward and opened her mouth.

"Senpai! That 『slip in and whap』 of yours doesn't tell me a single thing about what's what!"

"Eh? Ah—sorry, I suppose that was hard to follow."

"It's an issue before 'hard to follow' even enters into it! When I saw yesterday's clip video of Tsukishiro-san's stream—where you, senpai, replied in text chat on your very own stream with how to fell middle-layer monsters: 『Freeze them before stepping in and they can't move』『Aim for the joint gaps, and even a shallow cut gets through』—I've had a bad feeling about this ever since, but what you just did is not the procedure for teaching a newcomer, is it!?"

At Fumino's forceful voice, all her tension from moments ago scattered as if blown clean away, Iori cocked his head—"Huh?"

"In the basic-training text, we were taught that against shallow-layer quadrupeds you first plant your feet and take your range, bait the opponent into leaping and evade, then strike the stiffening the instant it lands! It's written that stepping in head-on before the opponent moves means clashing head-on with its pounce and being gravely wounded—and that you must never do it!"

Fumino rattled off the theory exactly as taught in training, with the momentum of someone flipping through the manual shelved inside her own head.

"And yet you, senpai, walked in without even taking a stance, and stepped forward right on the verge of the opponent's leap!? How did you know you wouldn't clash head-on at that moment? Don't just settle for a by-feel 『slip in and whap』—explain properly, in words, where you looked and how you judged it safe!"

Faced with Fumino's head-on persistence, dagger regripped and staring him down, Iori showed no trace of anger—only flicked his gaze briefly down to the stone flagging on the floor between the two of them.

Then, with a finger to his chin—"Hmm, explaining it in words, huh......"—he fell into troubled thought right there on the spot.