arc1 · 026-ch26

Episode 26: Kokushi Musou's Reaction

side Shinonome Gaia

This dungeon attack was truly dangerous. I never expected the boss of the final floor to become a dungeon error. No, I had anticipated it, but its persistence was beyond expectations.

Just thinking about what would have happened without the drone SS-san operates sends shivers down my spine. His drone showed quick thinking and helped me defeat the Ogre Wizard. Not only that, thanks to him loading potions onto the drone, we were able to save Shizuka.

I can't thank him enough. Yet he doesn't let that make him arrogant, never losing his humble attitude. I think he's a truly admirable person as well.

And this morning, three videos arrived from SS-san. Three videos, each three hours long. There's no doubt he pulled an all-nighter editing them. Our respect for him only grows seeing him take such responsibility for his work.

Well, the four of us gathered to watch the first video, but...

"Oh man, this is seriously bad. This is amazing, to put it mildly."

Starting with a shot of us passing through the gate from the front, this video filmed me defeating the Wing Eagle from a perspective I'd never seen before, and comically portrayed Soraku letting the Horn Deer escape—both the filming technique and editing technique were perfect.

For the boss battle and such, not only us but even the Lightning Deer were vividly captured, and everyone involuntarily let out an "Ooooh." And what's amazing about him is how his camera work seems to know in advance who's going to attack next.

It clearly captures us creating our weapons, and it perfectly captures Shizuka and me chanting. In particular, Shizuka chanting with such a dignified expression was truly beautiful. Later I'll secretly copy just that part and send it to my phone.

The other members also praised it as valuable even for battle analysis, since they'd never seen themselves fighting so clearly.

Next came the battle with the Drool Tiger. The drone couldn't keep up with Soraku's serious movements and sometimes went out of frame, but that actually highlighted Soraku's speed, and he himself can't stop grinning.

"That solo defeat just now was the best! You're definitely gonna get more female fans!"

Maybe because he was so happy, Soraku keeps talking to himself.

"That drone can't talk. Weren't you listening? Hurry up and dismantle it so we can move on."

Then comes Shizuka's calm voice from the computer. Everyone except Shizuka involuntarily flinched. Shizuka herself looks a bit embarrassed. That appearance is beautiful too.

But to think he captured such moments too. I'm repeatedly made to feel how excellent he is.

Besides combat scenes, even camping scenes were filmed. At our level we're used to camping, so things like how to set up tents and what meals to eat might be helpful for beginner parties. I think SS-san probably filmed with that in mind too. Our favorable impression improves, and above all, making such information public connects to evaluation from the Explorer Association. For us aiming for S-rank, this is extremely beneficial.

SS-san, who even thinks about such things, is gradually becoming scary. How far ahead does this person read?

Though it's three hours—normally a long-format video—it felt like it ended in the blink of an eye. Wanting to immediately watch the second video as is, we decided to order delivery for lunch.

The second video started from us descending the stairs toward the sixteenth floor. The silhouette of our backs in this view looks indescribably cool.

The first battle was with the Fierce Centipede. Our coordination worked well in this fight. Since I'd wanted to watch it again later, I ended up watching intently, even getting a bit excited.

It was filmed pulled back so coordination could be confirmed, and when Soraku's spear pierced through the Fierce Centipede's head, we involuntarily gave each other high-fives.

Around this area, we started getting injured more often. Especially Soraku, who charges into monsters first, gets injured the most, but seeing Shizuka carefully heal his wounds with a "sheesh" expression made me feel a bit frustrated.

Then before the boss room on the twentieth floor, our strategy meeting was filmed. I hadn't noticed at all, but this was filmed too.

It's not like we were hiding anything, and I think it would be good if this could be of even a little reference to other parties.

Oh right, those three Ogres on the twentieth floor boss cheekily swapped their specialty weapons to confuse us. But judging by this video, SS-san seems to have realized the middle one was the Magician. The chanting mouth movements were shown in close-up.

However, he probably had no way to convey that to us. If only this drone were equipped with communication capabilities, how helpful that would be.

This boss battle too captured all our best points with magnificent camera work. Especially that scene at the end where Soraku gets his ear pulled by Shizuka will surely be a hit. I wanted to have my ear pulled by Shizuka too, but that's a secret.

Then reaching the twenty-fifth floor and including the camping scene, the second video ended.

When we finished watching the second video, it was already past two o'clock, but by unanimous decision we decided to watch the third video as is. Even if today ends with this, there's no problem. Rather, I've started to become terrified of the reaction when this is released.

I had thought the first and second videos were the best, but the third video far exceeded that. The journey itself was of course good, but the final boss battle was incredible. Thanks to SS-san joining the battle with his drone, it had an overwhelming sense of realism.

Shizuka collapsing also ended up setting up a touching scene, and when we finished watching, everyone was involuntarily in tears.

I had thought there might be scenes we'd want to cut on our side, but the balance of everything was perfect and there wasn't a single thing we needed to add.

We decided to release one video per day over three days starting tomorrow. I had thought the Hyakka Ryouran videos were amazing too, but this definitely exceeds them in quality.

Soraku had seriously said he wanted to make him an exclusive cameraman, and we felt exactly the same. But that's for the other party to decide, so we'll ask him once more, but if he says no, we'll have to accept it.

However, having watched this video, I've completely lost the motivation to film with rental drones from here on.

By the way, he wanted to obtain a high-grade potion. To not sever our relationship with him, we want to obtain one by any means possible and do him a favor. For that, we swore to use every connection we have to obtain a high-grade potion.