chapter04 · 102-ep102
Episode 99: The Camouflaged Rookie
That day, Mafuyu was watching Karin's stream at home.
She had been more than a little worried about the lesson being aimed at a fourteen-year-old beginner—but in the end, that concern proved unfounded.
Having already experienced teaching rookie police officers, and with Mitsuki's support, surely helped too.
The participating middle schoolers' goodwill had been high from the start, and the instruction was nothing if not precise. The training stream was proceeding extremely smoothly.
"She's totally become a popular streamer, huh."
Watching Karin stream—nervous, yet clearly having fun—Mafuyu smiled faintly.
Of course she still had plenty of issues, and Karin's remarks still kept Mafuyu on edge as always... but even so, seeing Karin streaming in high spirits was a genuinely welcome sight.
(Well, if there's one thing that bugs me a little, it's that she's been collabing with Mitsuki more and more lately...)
So thought Mafuyu, harboring somewhat complicated feelings while continuing to keep watch over Karin's stream... when it happened.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
The anti-wiretapping smartphone reserved for Public Security contacts announced a call.
"Hello?"
"Sorry, things have gotten bad."
Straight to the point. With no preamble whatsoever, Kasumi Makihara's opening words made Mafuyu narrow her eyes.
Wondering what on earth had happened, she listened.
"You remember how I told you we'd lost track of the squad that received the retaliation order against Karin Yamada? Well, we've found them. On the coast of the Sea of Japan side, in a cave—all of them charred completely black."
"...!? What did you say...!?"
Mafuyu couldn't believe her ears at Kasumi's report.
The retaliation squad—previously suspected of having simply gone into hiding rather than accept such an absurd order—had been found inside Japan.
But something about the report was plainly off.
Nearly twenty members of the retaliation squad, all above level 2000, had been charred black without a single exception (their extraordinary high-level vitality barely keeping them alive), and they had clearly been hidden away out of public view. Probably by someone's hand, over a week ago.
"So that means..."
"Yeah. If a domestic aramitama had done it, there'd be no reason to hide it from us... the possibility that something dangerous has slipped into the country is extremely high."
It was unmistakably the work of a foreign country-toppling explorer.
But the intent was unclear.
Judging by the timing, their purpose in entering illegally was undoubtedly Karin. But if they were planning assassination or assault, there'd be no need to crush a level-2000 group and take on the risk of being discovered.
It could also be read as eliminating a rival in advance... but no one behind this could be unaware that a level-2000 group could never do anything to Karin. And if they simply didn't want Karin on guard, they should have smashed the retaliation squad to pieces and scattered them into the sea rather than deliberately keeping them alive and hidden. Mafuyu furrowed her brow at this overwhelming force whose identity and intent were both unknown.
"Thinking about it won't get me anywhere. For now, locating that dangerous element and warning Karin take absolute priority—"
Mafuyu moved swiftly into action—but it was already completely too late.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!
"Wh...!?"
At the sudden, drastic turn of events unfolding on Karin's stream, Mafuyu froze completely for several moments.
The fourteen-year-old training applicant had suddenly unleashed an insane spell, with cloud-piercing force, at Karin as she took flight into the sky.
A scene that couldn't possibly be real.
Even Mafuyu wondered for a moment whether it was some daytime hallucination—but the moment she recognized the video as reality, sweat burst from her entire body and every possible line of thought exploded in parallel.
(Africa... no, those Egyptian-looking features combined with this insane magic skill...!? Impossible, but these traits—the identity of the dangerous element that slipped into the country, could it be...!?)
(How!? The Dungeon Bureau was being careful with applicant selection precisely to rebuild trust, so how did she get in...!? Don't tell me—a high-precision fake ID combined with that absurdly childish appearance...!? If so, then just how many years is she shamelessly shaving off...!?)
(And what is she even trying to do!? If she wanted to make contact secretly, that'd be one thing, but a country-toppling explorer—no, potentially an effective head of state showing her face and abilities openly on a stream...!? And those attacks carrying no bloodlust even through the screen, the self-defeating attacks—don't tell me she's doing it all deliberately to show she's not here to assassinate...!?)
(No, but even so, I can't read her goal! After lying low for days, why would she attack Karin in broad daylight now, of all times...!?)
Countless questions rose within Mafuyu—but as was the case with Karin herself, the thinking of a transcendent being, equal to the bothersome gods of myth, was not so easily understood, and Mafuyu called out to Kasumi.
"...! Immediately report that age-fraud woman's estimated identity to the upper brass and have them urgently confirm with the African Federation! And get people to the site! I'm coming too, so send everyone who can move!"
'...I was just planning to take about a week of paid leave and go on a hot springs trip, you know.'
"Stop escaping reality and hurry!"
At that emergency situation, like an earthquake, typhoon, and volcanic eruption arriving all at once, Mafuyu and the others began moving in a frantic scramble.
※
【WHAT IS THIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!?】
【Wait, hold on hold on hold on hold on, seriously wait, WHAT IS THIS!?】
【What is that, a magic skill!?】
【No matter how good a magic skill is, nothing has the power to blow away clouds from the ground, AAAAAAAAHHH!】
【No, wait, huh, wait...?】
【Scary, but pretty】
【Did the clouds seriously just get blown away and the sky turned beautiful? Is that a thing?】
【Hey, wait, is Karin ojou-sama okay!? HEY!】
【Karin ojou-sama just got swallowed by a beam as thick as a building, DESU WAAAAAHHH!】
The comment section of Karin's rookie-training stream had descended into utter pandemonium.
After all, the training applicant (fourteen years old) had suddenly fired lightning at her, and then unleashed a beyond-belief spell aimed at Karin as she leapt into the sky.
Thickness exceeding a building's, with power and range to blow away clouds.
The attack's area was one thing, but its speed was also abnormal, and viewers screamed as Karin—airborne in her Swift Wind and Thunder equipment—was swallowed by that flash of light.
But—
"That was CLOSE, desu waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"
Karin was unharmed.
The reflexes of <Swift Wind and Thunder> mode—which enhanced both components' abilities through simultaneous deployment—and its strengthened mobility had let her evade the beam. The Karin that had been swallowed was an afterimage born of extreme speed.
"Wahaha! As I thought, a sloppy cannon like this is no match at all!"
And amid the uproar everywhere, the girl who had fired the spell—the African Unification Dungeon Queen—broke into a beaming smile at Karin, who had evaded her first shot.
But at the same moment, a question suddenly crossed that refined face.
(Strange, ja. Given the nature of that Kazenari equipment, pressing a ground battle rather than fleeing upward would let her make use of both her strengthened physique and the storm-enhanced mobility—far better for facing a magic-user like me. Why flee into the disadvantageous sky?)
But that question was resolved at once.
Seeing Tokyo Bay spreading out behind the spot where Karin had been standing, the Queen went "ah, dear me" and grasped Karin's intent.
(In Japan, explorers may generally use their power above ground only within the 300-meter-radius construction-restricted zone around dungeons. And I believe firing magic into the sea was also forbidden, ja? Ah, and she likely wished to avoid the ground being destroyed by the aftereffects too... Had the sea remained at her back, I planned to fire a correspondingly large spell... In any case, I've made her go to the trouble of accommodating me.)
But well, either way—
"So long as we battle above ground, a certain degree of restraint is necessary for us both. I consider that no handicap! In accordance with this country's rules—let us fight COMPACTLY!"
The instant she spoke—DOGOGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOOON!!
"—!"
Countless magical barrages were fired at Karin in midair.
A rain-and-hail storm of flame and lightning, condensed from dense mana.
An insane barrage, filling the sky above the construction-restricted zone surrounding the dungeon, scattered without pause from the tiny girl's two hands.
And that bombardment never once spilled outside the construction-restricted area.
Every single shot of the barrage was accurately tracking Karin, chasing after her.
A magic skill with homing performance rivaling Karin's Elegatling guns.
And furthermore—DOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOON!
Homing was not the only ability granted to that magical barrage.
Without Karin or the shots even touching one another, they all detonated simultaneously the instant they drew near her.
Like artillery shells or missiles with proximity fuses, they bloomed flowers of roaring flame.
【HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?】
【WHAT IS THIS MAGIC SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL!?】
【It's wrong, it's wrong, it's all wrong, what IS this!?】
【What is even happening here, seriously!?】
【A war... even wars don't have firepower like this, I can't even tell what's going ON!?】
【Did a Gigant Fortress come up on land or something!?】
【This is way worse than a Gigant Fortress, WHAT IS THIIIIS!?】
【Hey, is it just me or is none of the magic spilling outside the construction-restricted area at all...?】
【Too fast and the barrage is too dense, I can't make out ANYTHING, DESU WAAAAAAHHH!】
【What kind of precision IS that!? Wait, don't tell me every single shot is homing in on Karin ojou-sama AND exploding up close!?】
【↑ Estimated-top-explorer bro, do your job and give us more commentary】
【M-My, magic is truly amazing, desu wa nee】
【Like hell anyone can deal with a magic skill like THIS!】
【And why is there no charging or anything, it just keeps FIRING, desu no!?】
【There's not even time to joke about "lil girl stronk" or whatever—WHAT IS THIS!?】
The floating camera, left behind on the ground by Karin's own choice.
Viewers descended ever deeper into chaos at the otherworldly magical barrage it displayed.
Magic skills: the general term for skills that wield vast quantities of mana to unleash near-certain-kill destructive force.
However, contrary to the name "magic," they were not actually so freely controllable.
For example, prioritizing power meant sacrificing controllability and firing in a straight line, while magic skills with homing capability tended to trade away power.
Furthermore, since they required kneading enormous amounts of mana, they came with many troublesome limitations: long charge times, limited numbers of shots, and so on.
Veteran magic-users overcame these weaknesses to a degree, of course, and the destructive power that could turn the tables on bosses and other superior foes, or the wide-area annihilation that could blow away masses of monsters in a single strike, were boons that more than compensated for those weaknesses... but in any case, they carried certain restrictions.
But—
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
As if such restrictions were irrelevant.
The silver-haired, dark-skinned girl was scattering an ultra-high-performance barrage that made even the Elegatling guns and <Gigant Fortress> bombardments that had once stunned viewers seem laughable, all with a smile showing not the slightest fatigue.
【No no no no, it's wrong! What IS this girl!? SERIOUSLY, WHAT!?】
【This is too abnormal, WHAT IS THIS MAGIC SKILL!?】
【Power, speed, granted effects, fuel efficiency, simultaneous multi-attribute deployment—NONE of it makes any sense!?】
【Magic skills are normally something you master in ONE attribute, you know!?】
【Is this seriously not really well-made CG? If this is reality, the world is ending!?】
【The kids carried off by the wind earlier are posting on social media... this is genuine footage...】
【It can't be, ja...】
【Hey, don't tell me this girl is some foreign assassin disguised as a kid after Karin ojou-sama!?】
【Who'd sign up for training and then attack her on-camera mid-stream, huh!?】
【She did let the other participants go, and she's carefully keeping her magic within bounds—she really doesn't seem like an assassin...】
【Then what IS this girl!?】
【Well, obviously... a perfectly ordinary fourteen-year-old girl who wants Karin ojou-sama's guidance, ja...】
【No way a fourteen-year-old like THAT exists!】
【A MONSTER OJOU-SAMA WHO SOLOED AN ABYSSAL BOSS AT SIXTEEN】
【AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Because of Karin ojou-sama's very existence, every possibility has become impossible to deny, DESU WAAAHHH!】
【The noise in every analysis thread: OJOU-SAMA!!!!】
【Anyway it's all so fast I can't follow anything—is that Karin ojou-sama even safe, desu no!?】
The comment section remained in total chaos at the imagery, which seemed to belong to another world entirely.
And as for Karin, whose safety everyone feared—
"—!"
She was weathering and dodging the storm of homing barrage-fire that detonated the instant it entered a fixed range, entirely unharmed.
Her finely honed detection skills accurately grasped the barrage's movements, the timing of the explosions, and their blast radii.
With the reflexes and mobility boosted by <Swift Wind and Thunder>, she dodged relentlessly, and the occasional inescapable blast wave she simply deflected with her strengthened armor of storm wind, continuing to evade without so much as a single hair harmed.
The Dungeon Queen—the only one clearly tracking that inhuman skill and those movements—deepened her smile and surged mana through her entire body.
"Extraordinary magic equipment forged with <Divine Artisan>! Its performance is truly magnificent, ja! And the skill of the one drawing that performance out is splendid as well! Most splendid indeed! But that equipment... it was completed only recently, and you have yet to fully master it, have yoooou!?"
The instant she spoke—BOFF!!
Cloaked in wind from head to toe, the Queen flew with a velocity rivaling a supersonic missile.
"—!"
Karin's eyes widened, the first to sense and catch sight of that approach.
Closing in on her, the Queen maintained the flame-lightning homing barrage while unleashing further magic from medium range.
"Dual-attribute composite magic skill—<Wind-Thunder Cannon>!"
Countless tornadoes wreathed in lightning came crashing down toward Karin.
Her retreat already constrained by the homing barrage, Karin deflected those tornadoes with the storm winds she wore and continued evading.
But—
"—!?"
As if sensing something off about a tornado she had just repelled with her gale, Karin's brow twitched and she reflexively turned her awareness toward drawing further equipment from her item box. That very instant—
"I shall not allow it!"
As if to obstruct Karin's action, the Queen closed in again. The barrage intensified further.
(I would gladly do battle with her true equipment as well... but not now! Whether one can produce it mid-battle is itself part of one's ability, after all!)
DAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!
From medium range, a storm of fire with virtually no avenue of escape.
Presumably even with all her abilities enhanced by <Swift Wind and Thunder>, Karin could barely manage to evade and deflect the barrage through manipulation of her gales. As if fully occupied by these rule-breaking magical attacks, Karin continued fighting without bringing out any new equipment.
Then, amid it all, one exceptionally massive lightning-wind tornado assailed Karin, and she instinctively attempted to neutralize it with her gale.
But the next instant—
"—As I thought, you have yet to master that equipment one hundred percent."
In the middle of their ultra-high-speed battle, those words, compressed as if telepathy, reached Karin's ears.
"In the manipulation of wind, it seems I hold the advantage, ja."
DAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
"—!!!"
Karin's eyes flew open.
The instant the unleashed lightning-wind tornado collided with her armor of storm wind—her gale armor scattered, as though swallowed whole by the tornado. As if the wind obeyed the more refined mana!
Yet even then Karin instantly redeployed her armor of wind and completely blocked and evaded the homing barrage pressing in from every direction. But—that momentary opening proved fatal.
"<Wind-Thunder Mighty Cannon>!"
"—!!!"
Unleashed precisely because the Queen was certain she could strip away Karin's storm winds: an even wider-range tornado.
That bombardment fired from above Karin's head—and DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!
It pierced the armor of storm winds with effortless ease.
Swallowed by the tornado, Karin was blasted toward the ground with tremendous force—and DOPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!
She fell into the sea adjacent to the construction-restricted zone.
Vanishing beneath the waves, raising a colossal pillar of water.
【Huh?】
【!?】
【Wha!? What!? A bomb went off in the ocean!?】
【Hey, what just happened!?】
【Wait, for like ten seconds now dark-skinned-chan's been disappearing and explosions keep happening and I genuinely cannot tell what's going ON!?】
【Valstrax VS Valstrax, what is this!?】
【The magic fell into the sea!?】
【No, wait, this is...】
【Hey, don't tell me...】
【Huh!? Did that thing that just fell into the sea just now—was that ojou-sama!?】
【Ojou-sama seriously took a direct hit!?】
【Wait, that can't—hold on, ojou-sama isn't in the air or anywhere!?】
【Then it really was the sea!?】
【Hey, you're kidding—she only got grazed on the hair against that ridiculous abyssal boss, you know!?】
【This is a joke, right!?】
【So someone CAN land a hit on ojou-sama as a human being!?】
【Is ojou-sama okay!?】
【What the hell IS that silver-haired little girl!?】
"Now then. At the very least, it should amount to injuries that heal with a day's rest, but..."
As the comment section grew more uproarious than ever before.
The Queen, having finished her "Let's try landing a hit on Karin Yamada" segment and alighted gracefully on the ground, exhaled in satisfaction at her first rampage in ages—and at the same moment, turned her gaze toward the sea into which Karin had sunk.
What reflected in her eyes was the exhilaration of her first all-out fight in so long. The afterglow of a battle with Karin that was more fun than she'd expected, and a childlike, innocent light of wanting to play more.
But at the same time,
(Karin Yamada. This strength at sixteen is truly nothing short of abnormal. But... having now crossed blades with me like this, with what eyes will you look back at me...?)
Those same eyes also held something like a clinging plea—or perhaps a worn-out resignation.
(However fierce or remarkable they were, anyone who crossed spears with me once, even if it made for something of a good fight, ended up cowering, awed, or worshipping me in the end. It was precisely the weak—no, rather, those called country-toppling or near that rank—who understood my power accurately and harbored awe in their hearts.)
The Queen looked back over her past, from her earliest memories to now.
One of the countless orphans born of war. A childhood in which, by the time she was self-aware, she had been thrown into the dungeon as convenient labor—no leisure to make friends, not even the thought of it.
Thanks to a certain unique skill, she escaped that situation early, gathered comrades, and spent her upstart days fighting to smash to pieces the whole rotten state of that godforsaken continent.
It was a triumphant march anyone would envy—a savage yet faultless Cinderella story.
But—for the Queen, born with talent too far beyond the norm, those were also days trailed endlessly by solitude.
(In conquering the wars and founding a nation, I was blessed with good comrades, ja. But... every one of them, somewhere along the line, stood in awe of my overwhelming power and unconsciously drew a line. It is not that I am shunned—far from it, I have many casual, familiar companions. Over this whole affair, my retainers will no doubt simply be furious with me in the ordinary way. And yet a truly equal friend, I never once... What of you, Karin Yamada?)
The Queen narrowed eyes in which both expectation and resignation flickered.
(Even if it was a mock battle in which neither of us could bring our true strengths to bear, after fighting this hard, we can each roughly gauge the other's ability. Well, as things stand, all I can see of you is your strength clad in Swift Wind and Thunder... but in any case, you, who surpass me in detection, must surely have grasped my power firmly even within this limited exchange.)
And on top of that—with what eyes will you look at me?
What will you think of me?
All she wanted was a friend she could play with, wholeheartedly, without reservation—a wish that went unfulfilled even after she obtained a peaceful nation. For the sake of that modest desire alone, the Queen had pulled off this outrageous stunt, and with a face she showed no one, she stared at the sea surface where Karin had sunk.
However extraordinary the other party, she must not hope for too much. Even if the other feared her, simply demonstrating that a battle this fierce was possible under mutual handicap would let both nations advertise their fathomless strength, which was worthwhile in itself... or so, in one corner of her heart, she unconsciously built her defensive line.
And then it happened.
"~~~~! A-MAY-ZING, amazing, amazing, DESU WAAAAH~!"
DAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
"—!?"
Suddenly.
Aside from her dress's forearms, which had been blown away guarding against the magic with both arms, Karin emerged from the sea without a single wound, shooting out of the water with monstrous vigor.
At the expression on Karin's face, the Dungeon Queen was taken aback.
After all, the eyes of Karin, returned dancing from the sea, sparkled brilliantly, and the beaming smile on her face was as pure as a toddler seeing an elephant or a giraffe in real life for the first time after only ever seeing them on TV—and.
"This is SERIOUSLY, GENUINELY amazing, desu wa~! How can you be so strong, desu no!? I actually took a full hit, and there's almost nothing I could even teach you! If anything, it's I who got to learn from your wind manipulation! What middle school are you from, desu no!?"
"...Hah?"
Hm? Don't tell me this girl still genuinely thinks of me as an ordinary fourteen-year-old seeking training...?
And wait, could it be she took that entire battle as completely just part of the instruction for an event participant...?
As the Queen stood dumbfounded, Karin continued in ever higher spirits.
"Nnn~! Two whole years younger than me and this strong! I heard you're a second-generation naturalized citizen? But perhaps you've had dungeon exploration experience overseas since before, desu no!? Ahh, but in any case—just as I saw in Dungeon Alive, the world truly is full of hidden masters, desu wa! With someone like you alongside, even Ma... even my best friend would surely give her permission, desu no!"
So chattering away at full enthusiasm, Karin matter-of-factly auto-repaired the blown-away forearms of her magic dress through mana supply, then—BRRRRRR! GRAB!
Shaking her body like a dog to thoroughly shake off the water droplets, she seized the bewildered Queen's hand—
"And so... if it pleases you, would you care to challenge the pit alongside me!?"
(..................Ah. I may have gotten entangled with a considerably worse one than I imagined.)
Before Karin, extending the most outrageous invitation with the friendliest smile imaginable, cold sweat—her first in roughly a decade and change—trickled down the Queen's cheek.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Karin ojou-sama is overwhelmingly light-attribute (Cherenkov light).
Also, thanks to her upbringing, the Queen doesn't really seem to know how to make friends either. She has no equals, but as her exchanges with Kagerou-sama show, her relationships with her retainers are actually quite casual—so if she does end up going back to Africa, she'll get thoroughly chewed out, just as the Queen predicted.
The Dungeon Queen's full name—I hope to present it to you before long, desu wa!
※Incidentally, the material behind ojou-sama's dress, <Venom Jelly>-san, possessed not only camouflage but high regenerative capability, so the dress was always set to have auto-repair... but the dress never once got damaged until now, so I never had the chance to depict it properly, desu wa...