ch101-ch120 · 111-ch111

Chapter 111: No. 3 — The Purgatory Area

"Guess I'll take a look at the #5 video too. Ah, this one's from today."

It's my mock battle with Hiramatsu-san.

Completely one-sided, start to finish.

Actually, I get the feeling there are more comments about Hayashi-san and Endo-san, who keep popping into frame behind us, than about the two of us.

Going by the timing, the video's only been up a few hours, and it's already climbed into the top ranks.

Which just goes to show how much attention the world is paying to the #1 video—or really, to Kasumi-san's true identity.

Not that Kasumi-san shows up in this one...

"Watching it again, my movements are awful. The comments are awful too."

・So this one's the male staff member♂?

・When's this video from?

・This from last year?

・Can a human really get that strong in just a year?

・But the other video's got a uniform too, no?

・Look closer—there's a car. They're OUTSIDE, genius.

That's how the comments open.

We're outside the dungeon, after all.

The movements are nothing alike.

Looks like a lot of people hopped over from the #1 video, so everyone seems to think this is footage from about a year ago.

Who knew simply being slower could make you look this amateur...

Well, I am an amateur.

・Haruki lol

・Haruki-kun. Rip.

・The staff one might be Haruki

・Name that trouser color in Chiba and he'd be identified in five seconds

・Ippon. Magnificent.

・Serves him riiiight

・You lost, so you know what that means, right?♂

・Ahh—!

・Never mind that, show us the bespectacled beauty

'Haruki-saaan, go for iiiiit!'

Hayashi-san's voice is in there, loud and clear.

And my name along with it...

Almost the instant the match started—right as Hayashi-san called my name—Hiramatsu-san's attack landed a clean hit on me.

Magnificent.

・Whoaaaa—what a beautyyyy—I wanna get cheered on too

・So jealous I could die

・And by two of them at once, no less

・Massive

・This is the Chiba branch? Glasses-san and now this—the quality is high

・It jiggledddd————

・Ohhhhh————

・Amaziiiiing

・Thank you. Thank you very much.

・REC

・Transferring to the Chiba branch

・Theory: nobody is watching the match anymore

I got pressed back, and Hayashi-san and Endo-san came into frame.

The moment I moved in to attack, my weapon was swatted skyward, out of my hands.

Even Endo-san leapt up and cheered at Hiramatsu-san's feat of skill.

The comments absolutely explode at this moment.

And THAT is why this video is sitting at #5.

There is not one comment about Hiramatsu-san's skill.

If the Chiba branch's receptionists are this caliber, I can hold my head high too.

・Enough already, film the receptionists

・Huh? No Glasses-san appearance?

・Camera, get further back

・Same crappy camera and crappy brat as ever

・Brat's way too weak. Even I could beat him

・※This is outside the dungeon

・So inside the dungeon there'd be even MORE bouncing?

・Next, have him challenge the Sexy Receptionist

・Part 2 when

Not a single comment about me or Hiramatsu-san anymore.

Honestly, none about Hayashi-san either.

It's a full-on "film Endo-san" campaign.

And the Sexy Receptionist...

Seems my read on things wasn't wrong after all.

"Is Kasumi-san still on the phone, I wonder? Guess I'll watch some other videos..."

I glance at my phone—no movement there—so other videos it is.

Let's head up the rankings.

First, #4.

'Blue Shadow's Dungeon Cooking Part 10'

A video from the personal channel of Ao-san of Blue Ocean.

The series started after Blue Ocean made Quadruple-Rank—a mystery ninja appears and cooks.

This is the tenth installment.

"Just what kind of Shadow is he, anyway?" is the standard comment here.

The episodes featuring the 'Judge Chairman'—a.k.a. Sword Saint-chan—are especially popular, and Japan's most-viewed video last year outside of music was from this channel too.

So Ao-san is 'Japan's Number One Adventurer' and, at the same time, Japan's number one video creator.

Ao-san's special skill is 【Cooking】, but this time, he isn't the one doing the cooking.

The premise of this one: if you buff a 【Chef】 job holder, does the cooking actually get better? Except the 'Judge Chairman' calls everything she eats "tasty" and never awards anything but a perfect 10, so the result is a draw.

The other members really did taste-test the finished dishes, but buffing the 【Chef】 only made him work faster—the flavor didn't change a bit.

What they DID discover is that buffing the eater sharpens their sense of taste and makes the food taste better—and that discovery is why this video went viral.

Even the 'Judge Chairman' was all smiles at that.

"Number 3... this one's Blue Ocean too, huh."

'【HQ】Purgatory, June 13 【41F】'

The latest footage from the 40s floors.

In every dungeon in the world, the 40s floors are undead territory.

In Japan, they call it the 'Purgatory' area.

The area's terrain is a fortress.

You start at the 'Gate to the Previous Floor' outside the fortress walls, and your goal is the 'Gate to the Next Floor' at the fortress's heart.

Basically it becomes a castle siege: storming a fortress held by humanoid skeletons.

One quirk of this area: it throws each country's dungeon—and its adventurers—right back at them.

Word is, the monsters stationed outside the fortress are skeletons of the monsters most frequently slain in that country.

On Floor 41's 'Purgatory,' that's almost all goblins, with the occasional beast-shaped skeleton.

Floors 41 to 43: skeletons of Floor 1-10 monsters.

Floors 44 to 46: skeletons of Floor 11-20 monsters.

And Floors 47 to 49, it's said: skeletons of Floor 21-30 monsters.

Then the skeletons that appear inside the fortress mimic the weapon trends of that country's adventurers.

In Japan, lots of katanas.

America's are heavy on guns, so they say you can witness true hell over there...

Make it to Floor 47, and even in Japan, skeletons start showing up wielding Self-Defense Force equipment.

All of it mad-modified by the dungeon, and more powerful than anything the adventurers themselves carry...