arc2 · 072-ch72

Chapter 72: Indomitable

Now then, today I'm filming an E-rank party. I stored all the potions I bought yesterday inside Hayate's Storage. I also packed onigiri, snacks, and drinks I got from the convenience store. I'm not planning to show off my Storage skill to the Indomitable duo, but just in case something happens—you can't exactly say "oh I was hiding this" when someone's bleeding out.

I summon Hayate and take the elevator up to the roof. Today I'm going to try launching Hayate from the roof.

After making sure with the telephoto camera that there's nobody around, I shoot Hayate upward at full speed. Once it disappears from sight, I direct it toward the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon. Having the map makes this so much easier!

▽▽▽

Arriving over the Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon, I have Hayate descend to find the Indomitable duo. I spot them right away—a pair of older men. Has to be them. I move Hayate in front of the one carrying a spear.

"Hyoop!? Oh, it's SS-san. Thanks for coming today!"

"Please, thank you for having me."

Hayate appears silently in front of them, surprising Tajiri-san and Tawarada-san as they bow their heads in greeting.

"Yes, I'm SS. Thanks for having me today."

Older folks really are polite. I can't help but respond with polite language myself. Well, I mean, being polite is fine though.

"We watched the video you filmed. We're grateful you agreed to film our expedition this time. Our goal this time is to defeat the boss of the Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon's tenth floor—the E+ rank Persistent Hound. It'll be a close fight, but I want you to capture every moment of it."

Tajiri-san confirms the purpose of this expedition. It feels less like he's telling me and more like he's reassuring himself...

"Genji-san, honestly—didja hear? My daughter's a huge fan of SS, so she begged me to sign up for this! Gaha-haha-haha!"

"What's that supposed to mean! You're the one whose wife is the SS fan, aren't you?!"

"Hey, don't say that!"

The serious resolve I thought Tajiri-san had earlier feels kinda undercut compared to this...

People are gathering around the two of them as they get hyped up. I've gotten pretty famous, so I need to be careful not to get recognized.

"Let's head inside, shall we?"

I go ahead and head toward the entrance. I'm filming the two of them as they walk slowly toward me. Yeah, I've filmed a lot of young folks, but these seasoned guys actually make for great footage. Their battered armor and scars on their hands and face really scream veteran warriors.

This expedition is mainly about filming. They're E-rank, so they can handle combat well enough. That's why they don't want combat support. Too bad. But they did ask me to jump in if the boss fight gets dangerous. If it goes well, I might be able to earn some EXP there. In that case, I'll jump in with everything I've got.

Now, I've captured them entering the dungeon, so next I want to film the combat scenes.

(Oh, conveniently a Crowcat appeared. They haven't noticed yet, but I wasn't asked to do reconnaissance either, so I'll just watch for now.)

I keep the camera pointed at them to capture their reaction when they spot the monster.

"Tajiri-san, there's two Crowcats. You wanna handle 'em?"

"Yeah, let's warm up with a fight."

Tajiri-san checks his grip on the spear, and Tawarada-san swings his flail. Both of them are raring to go. Yeah, these two are great. Every single one of their moves is so cool and deliberate!

Tawarada-san, holding the flail, takes the lead and closes the distance, with Tajiri-san following behind—his spear giving him long reach.

The two Crowcats that noticed the approaching duo come zigzagging toward them.

"ORAaa!"

Tawarada-san completely reads the Crowcat's erratic movement, and when it springs at him from the right side, he lands a sweeping blow that sends it flying.

The Crowcat gets sent flying like a ball.

The other Crowcat, launching itself from the left side, gets skewered by Tajiri-san's spear that's thrust out from behind Tawarada-san's back.

"Haah, always a lifesaver."

"That's my job right there."

What's with this sense of stability? It's because the two of them understand their roles, sure, but beyond that, you can tell they trust each other completely. They've probably been fighting together for a long time. Even though their rank isn't high, watching experienced explorers like them fight is really educational.

"Alright, let's keep pushing forward."

"Yeah."

After Tawarada-san finishes picking up the magic stones, Tajiri-san follows behind him. Based on that earlier fight, this formation must be their usual pattern. I follow further behind them to film the two of them walking while watching their front, back, left, and right.

Sure enough, these two really know their way around this dungeon—making good progress without waste, they descend steadily. Handling occasional fights along the way, they reach the sixth floor in about four hours.

"Well, let's stop here and eat."

"Yeah, good timing."

Tawarada-san agrees with Tajiri-san's suggestion, and they sit down on the stairwell they just came down. Hoh—so they eat onigiri, pickles, and tea. Even their food is so classy.

"Tajiri-san, that onigiri looks pretty tasty. Mine are always amateur-made since I make 'em myself."

"Oh, today's different—my daughter really put her back into it because there's filming, you know? Haven't had one like this since my first time jumping into a dungeon."

Tawarada-san ribbing Tajiri-san over the nicely shaped onigiri in his hand. Ah, so his daughter went all out because she's excited about the filming. I zoom in on Tajiri-san's happily smiling face.

"Speaking of which, Tawarada-san, you've got more types of pickles than usual today, don't ya?"

"Busted! My wife usually hates even entering a dungeon, but she's even more pumped than me this time. Wish it was always like this! Gaha-haha-haha-haha!"

So the same thing happened with Tawarada-san, huh. These two really are like-minded even in their personal lives.

It's an older guys' meal scene—totally unmarketable from a visual standpoint—but watching it gives you a strangely calm feeling. Sometimes it's nice to have an exploration that doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat.

But E-rank monsters should appear from here on. It won't be as easy as before. Of course, the two of them know that too—when they finish eating, they look more serious than when they entered the dungeon.

"Alright, Tawarada-san, from here on we tighten up."

"Got it. We want to conserve as much stamina as possible for fighting the boss, so let's avoid combat as much as possible."

The purpose this time isn't level grinding—it's defeating the boss. So from here, they're taking paths where there aren't many monsters. It's too bad the combat scenes will be fewer, but I'll make sure to film how they avoid monsters.

The two of them walk without hesitation, knowing exactly where the next stairwell is. They skillfully use the ruined buildings, carefully walking so monsters don't spot them. I see—those pauses are to check for sounds, smells, and monster traces.

The two of them watching different directions is to minimize blind spots. And they're perfectly coordinated with each other—impressive.

Still, it's not so easy that they can get through without fighting at all. But even among the fights, it looks like Tawarada-san is adjusting so they engage as few monsters as possible at once. The way they maneuver like this is educational too.

Looks like they've decided to engage this time.

"Tajiri-san, leaving this one to you!"

"Sure thing, leave it to me!"

Two Clever Foxes—which are E-rank fox monsters—being methodically and surely cornered, though not overwhelmingly. Their fighting style is so pragmatic. They never force it, always staying within their own range.

It takes a bit more time, but they're able to take down monsters with minimal damage on their side.

They proceed cautiously like that for five hours until they finally reach the tenth floor.

They take a short break in front of the boss room, then formulate a strategy together. Tajiri-san reaches for the boss room door.

"Tawarada-san, let's do this."

"Here I go."

Tajiri-san opens the door and the two enter together. I deliberately position the drone where the boss can see it and enter with them.

"One Persistent Hound. Info was correct."

Tawarada-san charges in first as usual, mace in hand. Tajiri-san follows behind, and I take a wide detour from the right with Hayate.

Good, good—the Persistent Hound is also keeping an eye on Hayate, so it can't act recklessly. For us it's a two-on-one, but for them it's three-on-one. Let's see it try to ignore Hayate's movements!

The Persistent Hound, while paying attention to Hayate's movement, tears its gaze away from Hayate to deal with the two in front of it. I use that opening to shoot Hayate up so it's just barely beneath the ceiling.

Filming their coordination from nearly directly above. Tajiri-san cleverly uses Tawarada-san as a blind spot, thrusting his spear at the Persistent Hound from a blind spot. That alone would've been enough to take down any monster rank E or lower, but an E+ rank monster responds to even that attack.

Tawarada-san's mace and Tajiri-san's spear—weaving past them, the Persistent Hound looks for an opening to counterattack.

Wait—after dodging the consecutive mace and spear attacks, the Persistent Hound bites down on Tawarada-san's leg.

"Guaaaah!"

"The nerve of this thing!"

The Persistent Hound tries to follow up, but Tajiri-san's spear stops it. I film Tajiri-san fighting desperately to protect his partner while circling around behind the Persistent Hound.

Tajiri-san steps forward to shield Tawarada-san, who's crouched over holding his leg. But taking on their opponent alone—when they'd been faring even in a two-on-one—is a bit reckless.

It dodges the all-out strike and closes distance in one go. At this point, the long reach of the spear becomes a disadvantage. The first and second attacks barely managed to dodge, but there's no way to avoid the third.

(This is the only chance!)

I accelerate Hayate to full speed and shout at the Persistent Hound that's just now crouching to jump for the finishing blow.

"SEI!"

It has absolutely no attack capability, but the Persistent Hound reacts to the sudden voice from behind and leaps to the side. Because of that, the distance from Tajiri-san opens up a little. Hehehe—that distance is range for the spear!

"SS-san, thanks for the help!"

Saying that thank you, Tajiri-san doesn't miss this greatest opportunity—while in mid-air, nowhere to escape to—he thrusts his spear with all his might at the Persistent Hound.

The spear pierces the Persistent Hound's throat beautifully.

【You defeated the Persistent Hound】

Ohh—didn't even touch it directly, just my voice, but it counted toward my contribution. Didn't level up since the EXP wasn't much, but what matters is that Tajiri-san and Tawarada-san are safe.

The two of them, having defeated the Persistent Hound successfully, use the low-grade potions they brought to stop the bleeding. After embracing each other in joy, they collect the magic stones and drop items, then use the transfer stone in the back to return to the first floor.

"This time you really saved us—thank you!"

"I'm alive thanks to you too. Thanks!"

After exiting the dungeon, Tajiri-san and Tawarada-san thank me again. I learned a lot from them too, so I pass along my thanks.

"Thank you both—the way you two explored was very educational. Thanks for having me."

Neither of them seem to use social media or anything, and they didn't know how to distribute videos either, so I'll upload it to my HP. Though I will send them the video separately. Seems like their families are looking forward to it.

They're E-rank explorers making a decent living, and since they're tax-exempted, they said they don't need the share—but I can't exactly let that happen, so I split it half-and-half.

As for the content—they asked me to upload it without hiding anything, for rookie explorers to learn from, including their fighting style and how they avoid monsters. These two have broad hearts. I don't know how much this video will blow up, but I'd love to see it used as teaching material in university lectures.

I say goodbye to the two of them, and just like always, I make Hayate vanish in a spot where there aren't many people.