000-020 · 014-ch12
Chapter 12: Heading Toward the Surface
Robo began accelerating, reaching cruising speed in a mere two seconds.
"Ugh, guuuu!"
"Ooh, mmmph!"
The sudden G-forces nearly threw both of them backward, but I held them in a forward-leaning position by supporting their backs against Kanata-ojou's.
"Come on, hold tight."
"Hah, hah, too fast, ugh!"
"N-no way...!"
"You're gonna bite your tongue."
It wasn't just the acceleration in a straight line—Robo tore through his own route toward the paths leading to upper layers, or toward magic circles. He jumped, turned, and repeated insane movements as he charged forward. Because of this, G-forces constantly hit from various directions, and both of them were already at their limit.
"Well, I'll keep you from falling off."
When their bodies threatened to fly backward or sideways due to sudden acceleration or sharp turns, I restrained them with my body and arms. When they were about to fly forward during sudden stops, I pulled on the reins attached to Akane-ojou's stomach to hold them back. I thought I heard voices like "Uueee" that an idol streamer absolutely shouldn't make, but well, they wouldn't die.
『Bau!』
"Aiaiaiai."
Supporting the two of them, we physically powered through about two layers, then reached the location of a magic circle for moving to the next layer.
I could see several monsters gathering in front of the magic circle connecting to the floor above, directing hostility toward us. Most monsters either couldn't react to Robo's maximum speed or would avoid it, but inorganic monsters like golems, wood puppets, and automatons would show hostility toward humans like reactions, so instead of running away, they'd get in the way.
And dealing with those was my job.
The mana I consciously channeled flowed into the bracelet on the arm opposite from the storage magic tool ring. Then the activated bracelet used the mana as fuel, creating several translucent knives on my right side.
The knives, which weren't yet materialized, didn't get blown backward by the wind, and when I grasped the hilt, only the knife I grabbed would materialize.
"Tch...!"
While gripping the reins with my left hand, I grabbed a translucent knife with my right, threw it, then immediately pulled my arm back to grab and materialize another, and threw that too.
In hardly any time at all, all the thrown knives pierced through the three-meter-tall humanoid golems, stabbed into their cores, and destroyed them.
Robo, who had charged through the collapsing golems, stopped while sliding sideways as if suddenly braking on top of the magic circle.
"Hah, hah... hah..."
"Ugh...!"
With the load temporarily at zero, the two of them breathed heavily in ragged gasps, trying to take in oxygen as their bodies relaxed.
Below us, the magic circle activated, and we, riding Robo, transferred to one layer above.
"Alright, go Robo."
"W-wait, wha—"
"No way..."
Without letting them finish their sentences, Robo started running again.
I, who was used to Robo's maximum speed, sighed deeply at the fact that we probably wouldn't proceed as planned, all while supporting the two of them as they moaned painfully with their mouths sealed shut by the G-forces.
In the end, not only did strength drain from their upper bodies, but also from their legs, and their bodies started floating, so I judged it dangerous and stopped Robo's feet. We had only moved about four layers, which took about two hours.
"...No stamina at all, huh."
"Hah, hah, don't say that's impossible... hah hah."
"A, a little, too fast..."
I stopped Robo's feet at a reasonable spot and let the two of them down. They didn't even have the energy to untie the rope connecting them, so they just lay down on the hard ground.
"Whoa... this is like a scene from hell."
Since we decided to camp here tonight, I deployed the drone again and floated it casually nearby.
"I'm always saying this, you know."
While replying to the comment section with that, I was setting up monster-repelling magic circles surrounding where we were, when the comment section started getting noisy.
>>Found it here! Found it!
>>Is this where John-san's stream is?
>>Is this the insane streamer who made girls completely wrecked!?
>>If you're going to stream, at least advertise it!
As I watched, viewers flooded in—though only about ten of them.
"What's going on here!?"
>>John-san streaming was shown on Amamiya-san's stream a while ago
>>I tried hard to find you! Seriously, with only 2 subscribers, you really can't find them!
>>What kind of content is this stream about?
It seems someone found my stream somehow. Well, the name is just John Doe.
"Hm? Isn't that a bit small? I thought more would come."
Since I hadn't advertised, only my lonely viewer-kun was there, but I had the unpleasant expectation that if information got around, a decent number would come, so I was a bit disappointed.
>>Only people from the same thread know about it
>>I found the channel, but you seemed like you'd hate having that kind of thing spread, so I didn't spread it
>>Because the worst thing would be if you stopped streaming!
It seems my anger when I showed up in Kanata-ojou's stream the first time was surprisingly effective.
"Is that so. Well then, let's keep it that way for a while. Nice going, lonely viewer-kun, you made friends."
>>I told you over and over that I'm not lonely...!
>>Being harsh to just one single viewer lol
"The purpose of this stream was supposed to be explaining the random transfer trap while demonstrating it, but since it turned into this situation, I'm just streaming raw."
>>For real!?
>>I'll go back and watch
>>So you're going to share攻略情報?
>>攻略情報? Is that what you mean?
"No, not at all. This time I'm just going back down. Normally I'd like to just record beautiful scenery and things like that."
While talking with the new guests, the two who had been breathing raggedly seemed to have somehow recovered and got up.
"What... are you doing?"
"Monster-repelling magic circles. If you scatter them around casually in a place with few monsters, you can get through about one night without encountering any enemies."
"Repelling...? A barrier?"
"No, just something monsters really dislike. So enemies with maximum hostility or super aggressive opponents will just break through normally."
It's not like I can't set up a barrier surrounding the campsite, but the mana consumption is completely different. The repelling circles spontaneously drive monsters away, whereas a barrier blocks monsters with mana, so if monsters gather, the consumption increases exponentially.
"Is this John-san's skill?"
"No, it's a technique."
When you say "skill" in the dungeon, it either refers to game-like skills that manifest when you first enter the dungeon, or skills with proper names like in games again that you acquire later through exploration experience. For example, my "Clone (Degraded)" is like that.
Mine is a technique from knowledge, so it doesn't fit into skills.
"A technique..."
"John-san, are you camping here today?"
"Yeah. We probably can't go any further."
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry, I mean, but that was way too fast, seriously."
"Me too, that speed and load would be tough for me."
The two spoke apologetically but clearly said it was impossible. If you remember the movement on Robo today, you could understand well that for the two of them, it wasn't about being scared or anything like that—it was a physical ability problem.
"Well, I'll think about it starting tomorrow... but if we go too slow, we'll get tied up by monsters this time."
"Ugh... I'll do my best..."
"With today's speed, this much movement is the limit. Is half the speed no good? Even at half of today's, I don't think there are monsters that would get in the way. It was super fast, right?"
"I hope there aren't any above here."
Honestly, I couldn't say for sure. Because I don't remember the layers above this.
"Well, I'll figure something out. Don't worry."
To the two who seemed anxious, I stood up, turned around, and patted Kanata-ojou's head gently.
>>He patted her head naturally
>>So this guy really is just streaming raw
(Ah, crap, I treated her like a kid.)
Looking at the comment section, I pulled back the hand I had extended toward Akane-ojou.
"Sorry, I just showed the habit I have when dealing with my cousin."
"N-no, it's fine."
I panicked that my hand came out as if I were treating a child, but fortunately, she didn't seem to dislike it that much, so she forgave me while looking embarrassed. This is bad. Because I haven't interacted with people in a long time, I don't really understand the sense of distance toward unrelated opponents. However, if I consider that they're people I'm supposed to worry about, I think keeping too much distance isn't good either.
"If there's anything we can do, just say anything. Having you rely on us for absolutely everything is really unfair to you."
"I, I'll do whatever I can too! If you want to set up a tent, leave it to me!"
In dungeon camping, I basically don't set up tents. But, thinking about it, the two of them are women, and it's possible they won't be able to rest in the same place as a member of the opposite sex. Not asking them to do anything here probably isn't good for their mental health either, so I'll ask them to do some tasks.
"Ah, then this tent, the one for the two of you to sleep in... and could you use this to make a campfire?"
I took out a small tent for a small number of people and several pieces of firewood that I was carrying as spares from the camouflage magic bag, and handed them to the two.
"Is one tent okay?"
"I'm in the don't-use-tents faction. But with members of the opposite sex here... anyway, the two of you use it."
"...Thank you. We'll use it with gratitude."
They were suspicious about having only one tent, but after I explained, they accepted it. Meanwhile, Kanata-ojou was looking at the several bundles of firewood I had placed on the ground. Certainly, in a video I saw when investigating on the surface before, explorers entering from the surface would normally use small gas canisters or combustion magic tools using magic stones, so they probably aren't very familiar with firewood.
"A campfire?"
"Yeah, for cooking. While I'm at it, I'll spread the repelling circles."
"You're going to cook? Then leave it to us. I'm good at cooking. Ah, and is it okay to film how we're doing on video?"
"I won't mind during cooking at least. Then I'll leave the cooking to you too. Robo will probably bring back some prey soon—"
Before I could finish that sentence, Robo poked his head out from around the corner. Since he was in the deepest recess at the back of the layer, there were no monsters nearby, so it probably took time.
『Bau!』
"Take care of that too."
"Got it! First up is dismantling! Kana-chan, let's go!"
"Ah, okay!"
What Robo brought back was a deer-type monster. The size was larger than the wolves of the upper layers, but not as large as a thoroughbred horse.
As expected of both of them being excellent explorers, they seemed used to dismantling monsters.
"John-san! How do we cook this!?"
"Leave it to you! We have skewers or frying pans, so if you need them, say so!"
"Understood!"
Kanata-ojou, who had called out from a place she had moved to, immediately returned to dismantling the monster. While the two of them were working, I decided to finish spreading the repelling circles too.