arc3 · 203-ch203

Chapter 203: Gatekeeper ①

With Hayate at the front, we made our way through floor thirty-five. Since I was using the Mana Detection Radar at regular intervals, we could spot them first pretty much one hundred percent of the time.

Well, even if we ate a first strike, it would just end with Hayate getting wiped out — no problem at all. No, if anything, it might even hand us the opening that comes right after an enemy's attack.

Either way, nothing on earth makes a better scout. Sieg seemed to be the type to exploit that fact to the hilt, and I'd been handed scout duty practically from the start. Which is why I was relaying the monster my radar caught past the next corner to Sieg and Kokushi Musou, when—

"Man, I still can't see a thing... No such thing as gettin' the drop on you, is there."

"Picking up enemies you can't see is flat-out scary, huh."

"Wait — did you realize? Every single fight so far, they struck first."

"Forget striking first — they're gathering intel on the monsters without risking so much as a scratch."

Sieg looked over at Hayate with a mildly exasperated face. Well, obviously it's better never to eat a sneak attack in the first place, but I guess we're cheaty enough that even the viewers are a bit dumbfounded.

"Right — I'll take this one myself. SS, just feed me the teleport destination."

This time, Sieg said he'd do it himself, but—

"We're fighting too!"

"Yeah, no way we're leavin' it all to you lot!"

Maybe just following along in silence was more than their pride could take — Shinonome-san declared that they'd fight too, and Nishikyo-san followed suit.

"Kokushi Musou's fired up too!"

"Well, yeah — their pride would never let them just tag along in silence."

"Well said, Gaia!"

"Good. Then the Lich is yours. The Soul Eater is mine."

He'd take the Soul Eater with its instant-death effect himself and leave the Lich — the one they had combat experience against — to Kokushi Musou. A man capable of the most natural kind of consideration.

"Volunteering for the Soul Eater — quietly considerate of him, huh."

"Well, they just fought a Lich, after all. Beats instant death, I'd say."

"I'm rooting for Kokushi Musou too!"

"You got it! Leave it to me!"

Trusted by the world's number one, Nishikyo-san was raring to go.

"In that case, I'll head over first and get the shot from the far side."

I sent Hayate and Shiden around the corner. The Lich and the Soul Eater seemed to notice at once, and the Lich's magic came flying. Hayate drew the enemy's attention while firing the Magic Machine Cannon, and in that gap, I slipped Shiden around to the far side.

Hayate got wiped out, but just as planned, I'd gotten Shiden around behind them. Now the enemy would have to fight while watching their backs too — good support, if I say so myself.

"Call it more than a good shot — that's good support, no?"

"The Lich and Soul Eater have their backs turned, though..."

"That's our SS-san!"

"Now's your chance!"

I signaled the timing of the charge with the resummoned Hayate.

"Right — let's go!"

Trusting those words, Sieg charged straight for the corner, Kokushi Musou following after. Their movements were so free of hesitation that it made me happy to think they trusted me. No — more likely they had the confidence to handle whatever they dove into.

"Left."

Sieg called out the Lich's location in a word and leapt right. Both the Soul Eater and the Lich had their backs to us, distracted by Shiden. The Soul Eater whirled around in a panic — and there was Sieg already airborne in front of it, fist drawn back.

"Yo — my bad!"

Maybe because Shiden's support had come through, Sieg offered the Soul Eater a word of apology and drove his fist into its face.

"Gyooooh!"

The fist, carrying the Destruction attribute, cracked the Soul Eater's skull, and it crumbled apart piece by piece along with its shriek.

Giving it no time to teleport, Sieg's flurry of blows drove the Soul Eater into a corner.

Meanwhile, the Lich facing Kokushi Musou — perhaps unwilling to spare the time to turn around — tried to make straight for the sky.

"Not letting you get away! Earth Lance!"

Perhaps he'd read the move coming — Shinonome-san fired off his Earth Lance. It stabbed the Lich square in the throat just as it tried to flee upward, and the black shadow grew thinner.

"Soraku, now."

"Now we're talking! Meteor Thrust!"

Then Kitora-san cupped his hands together, Nishikyo-san set his foot on them, and he launched himself at the Lich. Riding Kitora-san's strength into the air, Nishikyo-san's gleaming spear pierced the Lich through the body.

"Kooooh!"

The Lich let out an unmistakably pained cry, its body shuddering.

"End it, Ryuga!"

"On it. Thunderclap Fist!"

Having landed, Nishikyo-san drove his spear into the ground. Kitora-san leapt onto its haft, then launched off it into the air once more — and served up the Brawler's skill.

Bash!

That single blow blew the Lich's body apart. Yes! Kokushi Musou had shut the Lich down completely! Their movements felt better than back then. Maybe the members of Kokushi Musou had leveled up too.

"Hold up — not just Sieg, even Kokushi Musou came out without a scratch!?"

"SS's support was great, but have Kokushi Musou's levels gone up too?"

"Their movement's improved. Looks like they've leveled up."

The viewers all seemed to feel the same way.

With the two S-rank monsters down, Sieg and the Kokushi Musou members shared high fives. Yeah... I'll admit I'm jealous.

From there, they beat down the S-rank monsters that cropped up now and then as they pushed on — about two hours later, we arrived before a monster radiating tremendous mana. Mana stronger than the Lich or the Terror's Symbol.

"Something's up ahead, past the next corner. I can sense mana equal to the Lich or the Terror's Symbol — or beyond it."

I reported to Sieg and Kokushi Musou on the monster that had been sitting on my mana detection ever since we entered floor thirty-five. It hadn't moved from this spot one bit. As if it were guarding this room.

"There it is — that's the one they call the Gatekeeper. Now then, what'll we do?"

So this was the Gatekeeper. The Kokushi Musou members — remembering Sieg's story, perhaps — swallowed hard.

"First, I'll scout it out with Hayate and Shiden."

"Ha — right, you can do that, can't you! Honestly... Listen, SS. Any time's fine. One day, come to America for certain and help us conquer our dungeons."

Here of all places, Sieg came out with that. But his face was so deadly serious that to me it sounded like the earnest plea of the world's number one.

"Yes. I don't know when it'll be, but I promise."

"Ehh!? SS-san's off to America!?"

"SS, getting personal requests from the world's number one lol"

"Whoa — now that's a serious recruitment pitch."

At my answer, Sieg broke into a grin. Well — no word of caution from Arihara-san so far, so it should be fine.

"Alright, heading out now."

Hayate and Shiden showed me what lay past the corner. At the center of a spacious room stood a monster much like the Soul Eater. A deep-purple robe, a huge scythe, no face — just yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. The hands gripping the scythe looked like bare bone.

"Oh, right — discover an unknown monster and you get to name it. You're the first person ever to lay eyes on this Gatekeeper. Go on, name it!"

Sieg's words drifted over to me through Asahi, waiting on standby.

"The Grim Reaper..."

Hearing that, the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.