arc3 · 190-ch190

Chapter 190: Kokushi Musou & Queens ②

"Heeh, so they really can be piloted by remote control, huh. I knew that much from watching the streams, but seeing one move in the flesh is a strange feeling."

Right after the transfer to floor thirty, Hayate picked up the voice of the Archer woman called Vivvi, murmuring as she watched Asahi.

"Vivvi-sama is speaking Japanese!?"

"Vivvi-sama is so cool!"

So Vivvi's pretty popular here in Japan too, huh.

I'd explained that this time Asahi would be used to film Kokushi Musou, and Hayate to film Queens. That was my strategy to keep Asahi away from Queens as much as possible. Shiden hasn't been summoned yet. I'm keeping it that way so I can summon it right next to Asahi in case anything happens.

"Don't tell me this is rigged? There isn't somebody nearby operating it, is there?"

Mikey, doubting the remote control, was glancing all around him. There's no way, though.

"Does Mikey not watch SS's streams?"

"Like there'd be one there lol"

See? Even the viewers are giving him grief about it.

And yet — with floor thirty-one just ahead of us, the Queens members show not the slightest bit of tension. They seem to have plenty of confidence in their own ability.

Meanwhile, Kokushi Musou had already shifted into combat readiness.

"As I recall, there are Dead Wizards here. A fine opportunity to demonstrate our strength. We shall take those down ourselves."

Leader Jim declared it, all in a light, offhand way.

"Then we'll leave it to you."

Shinonome-san said so and took a step back, and the Kokushi Musou members yielded the way.

"Hey, hey — is that alright? Dead Wizards are A-rank, y'know?"

"Oh no, is that okay? Those things are A-rank, right?"

"Rather confident of you. It'll be embarrassing if you lose after that."

The sheer casualness of it had Nishikyo-san a little worried. The viewers all shared the reaction. Dead Wizards wield two attributes of magic, after all. If you get careless, they're dangerous opponents even for Kokushi Musou.

"What's that supposed to mean? You think we'd lose ground to a mere Dead Wizard?"

Mikey, with sharp ears, caught Nishikyo-san's mutter and fired back a provocation.

"Sorry about that. Even we sometimes have a hard fight of it. It just made me a touch worried, is all."

Shinonome-san stepped in between them and smoothed it all over. As expected of Shinonome-san — a grown-up's response.

"Mikey, don't provoke them. Show them in practice and they'll understand soon enough."

Jim, the leader on their side, did chide Mikey as well. Though the tone of it was awfully high-and-mighty.

"Mikey's a kid lol"

"Fufufu, I want Mikey for my little brother."

"Gaia-sama is the grown-up one, desuwa."

What's this — so the "number three on the want-him-as-a-little-brother ranking" wasn't a lie after all!? And hold on, everyone's calling him by his nickname! Where did that "only people I've approved may call me Mikey" policy go?

The four Queens members set foot on floor thirty-one. Mikey at the front, with Jim and Vivvi behind him. At the very rear was Elsie the Priest.

"Alright, off we go. Vivvi, cover me! Create Weapon!"

Like he was off for a picnic in the park, Mikey headed straight for the Dead Wizard without a moment's hesitation. In his hand, a gleaming silver dagger had taken form.

"Creating weapons like it's nothing"

"Heeh, so over there they call it Create Weapon."

"All eight of them can use Weapon Generation? That's busted."

With Mikey producing a weapon, the viewers' excitement shot up all at once.

"Kishaaaaah!"

The Dead Wizard, spotting Mikey, rose high into the air and began its incantation. A fireball had formed above its head, but...

Bash!

Before that fireball could be loosed, the Dead Wizard's arm was blown clean off. With that, the fireball fizzled out as well. What Hayate's camera caught was the figure of Vivvi — who, without my noticing, had already finished loosing her arrow.

"Huh!? What just happened!?"

"Nasty!? What was that just now!?"

"Vivvi-sama is the best, y'hear!"

"Thanks, Vivvi!"

Trusting in Vivvi's covering fire, Mikey made a beeline for the Dead Wizard and leapt.

"Take that! And that!"

With a jump no human should be capable of, Mikey reached the Dead Wizard and hacked away at it with the daggers in his hands.

"Quoooon!"

Letting out a pained wail, the Dead Wizard thrashed about. Its form had thinned — down to about half of what it had been at the start.

"Leave the rest to me."

Stepping forward was leader Jim. In his hands, a gleaming silver sword and shield.

"There it is! Job: Knight!"

"Able to create a shield with Weapon Generation — that's a cheat Job."

"So seriously cool!"

The Knight, being a rare job, seems to be quite popular.

"Kishaaaaah"

In a weaker voice than before, the Dead Wizard chanted its magic. A fireball appeared above its head once more and flew straight at Jim.

Don!

The fireball struck Jim's shield and vanished. Well, color me surprised — so Weapon Generation can create shields too. And apparently that shield can block magic as well.

"Grand Cross"

Jim thrust his sword out, and a cross of silver light shot forth, colliding with the Dead Wizard and wiping it out of existence. A Knight skill. Pretty powerful, that.

"Uho! Thanks for the free skill showcase!"

"Knights are supposed to be defense specialists, right? And they've got this much power!?"

"Grizzled and gorgeous!"

As someone in the comments had said, Knights are supposed to be better at defense than offense. And yet they carry attack skills with that kind of power? Isn't that just a bit unfair?

Priest Elsie-san had no role to play this time around. To take down a Dead Wizard one-sidedly like that — the world rank-3's ability was no sham after all.

"Incredible."

"Strong."

Both Nishikyo-san and Kitora-san admitted to the strength plainly. Hearing those voices, Mikey gave a pleased little snort. This guy's a simple soul, isn't he.

"Shall we press on?"

At Jim's urging, everyone set off walking in a line. Come to think of it, this is my first time doing a dungeon clear with eight people. Quite the big group, and every one of them a proven powerhouse. If it's this lineup, maybe they really could beat a Lich or a Terror's Symbol.

In fact, the whole world watching this stream live was boiling over with delight. The concurrent viewer count for this stream has already passed one hundred million. The Japanese government prepared servers specially reinforced for the day, but the number keeps climbing. Is it going to hold, I wonder...

This floor greets you with an A-rank Dead Wizard waiting right off the bat, but after that, it's nothing but B to B+ rank monsters. With this lineup, if anything it feels a touch too easy.

The monsters that appear are taken down alternately by Kokushi Musou and Queens. So far, neither party shows the slightest sign of struggling. Which means, of course, there's no role for me. I'm putting all that spare attention into the filming instead, so no complaints here.

Progressing smoothly along, we found a Possession Phantom and Wonder Armor combo in the room at the end of the corridor. Two pairs, same as last time.

"Hey there, Kokushi Musou! Why don't you all take us on? How about a contest — which party can bring down its Possessed Wonder Armor first?"

Bored out of his mind by this point, Mikey went and said that. This is a dangerous dungeon, you know. It's not a game.

"Mikey-is-a-kid theory confirmed lol"

"Floor thirty-one and they've got this much slack, huh."

"What'll it be, Kokushi Musou?"

"We won't accept a contest — but I'm in favor of each party taking down one apiece."

As expected of Shinonome-san. A grown-up's response.

"Gaia, such a grown-up response!"

"That's Gaia for you."

"Well, obviously..."

No one was going to take that bait. Plenty of voices backed up Shinonome-san's handling of it. Maybe this, too, is a matter of national character.

"Hey, hey, Gaia! You shoulda accepted that contest! Let's just do it, eh!"

Nishikyo-san... are you a child?

"There's an idiot here too!"

"What are you trying to accept, man!?"

"This guy's a kid too lol"

The viewers seemed pretty stunned by Nishikyo-san's words and deeds.

"Oh-ho, so there are some folks on your end who get it too! We start the moment we enter the room! And as a handicap, I'll leave the closer one of the two to you!"

Somehow, Nishikyo-san and Mikey feel like a couple of peas in a pod.

"Mikey, that's enough. I'm always telling you — no matter what happens in a dungeon, never let your guard down."

Oh, and now Mikey's getting scolded by their leader too. Serves him right!

I don't imagine the two parties will actually race each other, but with that subtle, hard-to-place mood hanging over them, they dove into the room where the monsters waited.