chapter01 · 011-ep11

Episode 11: The Powerhouse Ojou-sama!

Seventy-one thousand... seventy-two thousand... With clips spreading and her name trending, Karin's concurrent viewers kept climbing as she entered the middle layers.

【She's STILL carrying tea in the middle layers!?】

【The upper layers are one thing—you can get through them right after you first gain levels—but the middle layers are another story...】

【Still, a fair number of explorers work mainly in the middle layers, do they not? Surely she'll manage?】

【Yeah, but monsters get stronger and more numerous from the middle layers on. It's where full-time explorers work in parties, right? Isn't this gonna be too much?】

Comments worried about Karin as she forged onward with her tea, just as she had in the upper layers. But—

"Take that! Desu wa!"

DOPAPAPAPAPAPAAAN!

Their worries were entirely unfounded.

The middle layers, with their greater numbers of stronger monsters.

Even here, Karin continued to employ her invisible punches and flawless dodging.

Turning the oncoming monsters into stains on the walls, she pressed on without spilling her tea.

【Fwaaa lmao】

【Insta-kills and a completely untouched dress in the middle layers too lol】

【This ojou-sama is actually insane lmao】

【Wait, I heard she was doing an acrobatic run of the upper layers, but this is the MIDDLE layers!?】

【She's clearing so fast the news can't keep up lol】

【Can we even keep up... with the speed of this ojou-sama...?】

Comments erupted as Karin carried on exactly as she had above. But after she'd traveled through the middle layers for a while—

"""GORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"""

A chorus of roars echoed around her.

A mass of monsters had appeared ahead of Karin, far outnumbering even the coordinated hellhound pack she'd met in the upper layers.

And beyond the pack came a buzzing—BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

An insect monster like a giant caterpillar with wings: a fly caterpillar.

【Ugh, there it is】

【The worst shitty monster in the middle layers!】

【And it's got a pack with it!?】

【The worst, desu wa!】

【If these things kill the momentum of her viewer count, I'm blaming THEM!】

Chat filled with abuse for the fly caterpillars.

They were monsters loathed by explorers and dungeon-streaming fans alike.

The reason was the sharp spines covering their bodies.

Fly caterpillars fired those needles from a distance, relentlessly.

Their obnoxious tactics generally fell to explorers with bows or rare magic skills to handle. But they kept their distance, and their bodies were fairly small for monsters; landing a hit on one buzzing around was extremely difficult.

Worse, when they appeared with a large pack of other monsters, as they had now, dealing with them was a serious pain. Explorers risking their lives hated them, and streaming fans disliked the drawn-out battles caused by their constant retreating and firing. In every circle, they were universally reviled as 'shitty monsters.'

【Karin ojou-sama, don't you lack a ranged attack if you're barehanded!?】

【Karin-sama could probably catch up fast, but with that pack too, it's gonna be a pain either way】

【You should put down your tea for a moment and deal with them properly, desu wa!】

DAGAGAGAGAGA! Countless needles flew, and chat flooded with warnings for Karin. But amid it all—

"Heave-ho."

"BMOH!?"

While dodging attacks from every direction and the volley of needles as though it were nothing, Karin grabbed the head of a medium-sized boar monster with her free hand.

"I'm glad the fly caterpillars appeared together with a pack, desu no."

She wound up, dungeon boar and all.

"This works best on those troublesome flying monsters!"

FWEEEN—DOGOOOOOON!

"BMOOOOOOOOOOH!?"

"GIIIIIIIIIIIIH!?"

A tremendous whistle as something tore through the air, a crash, and the death cries of monsters rang out.

Karin had hurled a boar monster some 1.5 meters long and shot down a fly caterpillar.

【Fwah!?】

【No, wait, what?】

【Huh?】

【Did she just THROW a dungeon boar!?】

【Hold up, I must've seen that wrong...】

Comments of bewilderment flooded in. But—

"Take that, and that, and that, and that! Desu wa!"

DAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!

"""GUGYAAAAAAAAH!?"""

"""GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!?"""

Karin hurled monster after monster in rapid succession, shooting down fly caterpillars until no one could possibly call it a trick of the eye.

With tea in hand, she did miss now and then.

But the shock waves accompanying her hurled monsters knocked fly caterpillars to the ground with even a glancing blow. Before they could fly again, her next throw struck and smashed them to pieces.

The middle layers' worst menace was being utterly trampled.

【Fwaaaaa lmfao】

【What IS this!? What IS this!?】

【What's going on!? Is this REALLY not a fake!?】

【One-handed dungeon boar throwing isn't something a human does, desu wa!】

【How high does your level have to be to pull this off!?】

【The clip makers are pissing themselves with joy by now lmao】

【Since when was fighting fly caterpillars this satisfying!?】

【'Satisfying'... More like overwhelming...】

【Monsters aren't baseballs, you know!?】

【Even a baseball wouldn't turn into an interdimensional fastball like THAT...】

【Karin-sama!? Is this 'Elegant' too!?】

"This method takes out the monsters on the ground and in the air at once! It is efficient—therefore, Elegant, desu no!"

【This self-proclaimed ojou-sama is off her rocker lmao】

【The scary part is she's still holding tea and glancing at chat in the middle of this massacre】

【Someone please get Karin ojou-sama to look it up in a dictionary...】

【The dictionary (original Dungeon Alive manga) is probably something she's studied very closely】

【Ohhh, I see. I've been plinking at them with arrows and throwing knives, but this way you can kill them efficiently with no consumables and no risk of losing your weapon...】

【Well, that sounds easy!】

【Gonna copy her on my next run】

【Dungeon boars were natural cannonballs all along...?】

【Get a grip!】

【The entire explorer community losing their minds lmao】

【Well, yeah (after watching THAT)】

【Seriously, how much leveling does it take to do this...?】

"Phew. That's all the fly caterpillars gone, so all that's left is to defeat the pack normally, desu wa."

Having exterminated the troublesome flying monsters in no time, Karin took a sip of tea and looked at the monsters around her. At once—

Flinch.

"""G-GUH, GROOOOOOOOOOOH!"""

"Eh?"

The monsters, who'd watched their companions used as cannonballs, seemed to realize they were doomed without the fly caterpillars. They all fled together.

【I can't lmao】

【Monsters can run AWAY from humans? lmao】

【Of course they'd run. I'd run barefoot from a gorilla ojou-sama like that too】

"W-wait! Then I won't get any good footage, desu wa! Please come back!"

【Don't chase them lmao】

【'Good footage' lmao Karin ojou-sama is a model streamer lol】

【Not exactly ojou-sama behavior though lmao】

【I can't tell which one's the monster anymore】

Leaving those viewer comments behind, Karin pushed on through the middle layers.

And then—

"I-I did take a little detour, but I've cleared the middle layers safely, desu wa!"

Remembering that today's goal was to clear the lower layers, not to exterminate monsters, Karin had reached the very back of the middle layers without difficulty.

【Congrats!】

【Way too fast...】

【This time she's more than twice as fast as a veteran party lol Seriously, what IS this ojou-sama?】

【Running into a pack with fly caterpillars of all things and STILL setting this time makes no sense lol】

【I heard the person using dungeon boars as cannons was streaming here—is it true!?】

【I saw so many people posting about her on other streams and came over to see what was up lol What IS this ojou-sama lol Forget just insta-killing Puke lmao】

【Tons of new people here】

【Well, after they saw footage THAT ridiculous... (again)】

【She's hit eighty thousand concurrents!】

"Oh! Really, desu no!?"

Karin looked where the comment directed her—and sure enough, she had passed eighty thousand concurrent viewers.

As in the upper layers, clips and highlights of her middle-layer run were spreading everywhere.

Apparently there were even 'messenger pigeons'—people going to other videos to post about Karin's exploits—helping to bring in viewers at a rapid pace.

(I-I never imagined I'd grow this much just over an hour after starting the run... It's almost frightening, desu wa... I did add tea to the act because I was feeling ambitious, but otherwise this is more or less how I always stream, desu no.)

The continuing boost from her viral moment left Karin awestruck.

But that was no reason to shrink back and let this momentum go to waste.

"W-well then, I cannot keep all the viewers who've come waiting. I'd best hurry onward, desu wa. I said I'd cleared the middle layers, but that was only 'technically.'"

With renewed enthusiasm, Karin turned to the huge door behind her.

"Clearing the middle layers for real starts here, after all."

She pushed open the thick door and stepped into the enormous space beyond.

Immediately—

"—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!"

The air shook.

The dungeon shook.

Bursting from the sandy ground found only at the room's center came a giant skeleton over ten meters tall.

The monster, clad in heavy armor and bearing a massive sword, was called a Titan Knightbone.

The enormous space connecting the middle and lower layers.

Commonly known as the boss room.

Its master, a skeletal giant, looked down on Karin with unmistakable murderous intent.