ch301-ch320 · 311-ch311

Chapter 311: The Mia-san Wall-Butt Incident

"Looks like there's plenty of room for improvement."

We beat the third Manticore, and Mia-san's golem-dropping-from-the-cliff work has wrapped up too.

Today's leveling is done, but we have a little time to spare, so we're holding a debriefing at the warehouse.

"Right. First off, the golems we drop from above—we should stockpile them in advance before entering Floor 40. In the latter half it was a real struggle just to find isolated ones. If we cut out the waiting time, I think we could put that 25-minute limit to much better use."

Going back to Floor 39 to shatter just the magic stones and haul them into the warehouse sounds good.

Wait, would it all even fit in the warehouse?

Maybe the spare desk in there and the Silver Golem-san should move to Mia-san's shop?

Well, we get about 15 minutes of waiting time, so I guess we could gather golems then too?

It'd eat up our break, but while Mia-san is dropping golems, the rest of us are on break anyway—should be fine, right?

"In that case, maybe we should just do the Flirting Strategy up top after all. Gathering everything and bunching them up in one place makes them way more efficient to kill."

"Nooo. Flirting is BANNED! If a metal golem shows up, that's dangerous!"

Aikawa's proposal is shot down by Mia-san in half a second.

"They can't climb the cliff anyway, so it'd be the same, no?"

Good point.

"Are you two just itching to flirt with each other?"

"Mmm-mmm-mmm. How rude. If we wanted to flirt, we could do it any time. Shall we demonstrate?"

"Stop, stooop! Pointless flirting is banned too!"

There IS a point to it, you know......

Well, Mia-san will be busy throwing golems, so we'll flirt discreetly behind her.

Stealth Flirting Strategy, then.

"Anything from you, Soushi?"

"Hmm. Just the number of tries, maybe? I get one, Haruki gets two—three shots total is all we can manage."

My max MP is 880.

If I pace it right, I can fire twice at 400 each, but making that three times is rough.

Below 300 MP, 【Charge・Spear】 feels like it can't work unless the spear touches the magic stone directly.

The Manticore's chest is pretty thick, and it's got height to it.

Hitting that spot the instant it spawns is hard.

So MP-wise, getting three shots is tough until we're past Level 50.

"After school, isn't this plenty? We gather golems to throw while Kasumi-san finishes work, and once we've done three shots, that's the day, right? I figure this'll do for a while."

Collecting the throwing golems is a job for Aikawa, though.

Soushi and I are both MP-dry, so it comes down to Aikawa's dance.

The Flirting Strategy is obviously out, and I want to keep 【Gate】 activations to a minimum too.

"How come I'm the only one getting dumped on? I'm 37 now—hang in there till I hit 40. Then I can learn the skill I wanted from the start plus 【Naming】."

Today it went up by 2, but from here on it's a question of whether she even gains 1 level a day.

Still, a week of effort should get her to Level 40?

At that point I want her to make the new weapon, but the priority is the one for Anego-san and her crew.

Come to think of it, 【Naming】 took 5 skill points to learn, didn't it?

I spent 5 on 【Charge・Armor・High】 myself......

We're not going to Floor 50, so it's fine to spend the rest, right?

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"Hey! We can't get back!"

Mia-san shouts.

Oh dear.

We gathered a whole pile of golems for throwing—good and all—and now the warehouse is stuffed full and we can't get back in.

Worse, they've collapsed on the far side, so we can't even pull out the last golem.

"Should we wait for Watanabe-san to notice and rescue us?"

It's nearly 5 o'clock, so Kasumi-san should be coming to the warehouse soon.

Lifting golems is no trouble for her.

Past time, we could stick just a mouth through to the other side and call out......

"That gap up there—Mia-san, couldn't you fit through it?"

Aikawa, patting around the 'Left Eye Gate,' spotted a gap near the top of the Gate.

"Where? All right—Haruki, be a platform."

The topmost gap is about two meters up.

Aikawa found it on tiptoes.

Mia-san couldn't reach it herself.

Nothing for it—I get down in a leapfrog stance and have her climb on my back.

"Oh? Looks doable. ...All right. Push my feet."

Hopping onto my back, Mia-san leans her face into the warehouse side and says she can make it.

Following her instruction, Soushi and Aikawa push on both her legs and......

"How did it come to this......"

She's snagged at the hips—pushing or pulling, she won't budge.

And since Mia-san's head is on the far side, we can't even talk to her.

Her lower half is hanging down on our side, two meters above the ground......

"We really should wait for Watanabe-san's rescue after all."

"We're leaving Mia-san like this? She's kicking her legs pretty hard, though."

We couldn't even tell her we'd given up.

"Can't be helped. In this state Watanabe-san is bound to notice soon, so it all works out, right?"

"I mean, maybe. Fifteen more minutes and...... Ah, that could be bad. There's the 'Gate cutting' thing. No wait, 30 minutes should be safe, but if it takes longer, Mia-san gets sliced in two......"

"Huh? You mean like those power cables it cuts? But 30 minutes is......"

"A huge pile of cash-in items showing up right at 5 sharp, or Shiraishi-san fumbling something...... Both plenty possible."

Soushi lays out the possibilities......

Lately the women have been transferring in from headquarters, so the cash-in traffic has grown.

And Shiraishi-san forgetting to record a buyout is also, rarely, a thing that happens.

No wait, the newbie's back at the branch too, you know?

"Soushi! Be a platform!"

"O-Okay."

This time Soushi becomes the platform and Aikawa hops on.

"It might be the armor snagging. Let's get it off her. Ah, c'mon! Haru-kun, hold her feet steady! And take the leg armor off while you're at it!"

Armor is rigid—it doesn't stretch—but bare skin can compress a little, so she might squeeze through......

That was my thinking, but when Aikawa tried to pull the armor off, Mia-san started thrashing.

It's her life on the line, so no helping it.

I grab hold and work the boots off her.

You can't get the thigh guards off without first removing the greaves below the knee.

Mia-san's feet are tiny, huh......

"Pushing now?"

"Yeah, pushing here too. One, two, and three!"

"Gwah!"

"Kyaaah!"

The moment we pushed, the thrashing Mia-san's tiny foot scored a clean hit right on my face.

Aikawa lost her balance and went down too.

But it must have paid off—Mia-san seems to have made it through to the other side.

"HEY! Who touched me in the weird spot?!"

Poking just her face back through, Mia-san starts complaining.

"Aikawa."

Aikawa is the one who pushed her butt.

"Liar! Natsuki can't reach that high! It was you! I'm telling Kasumi-san on you, so you just wait!"

That's cruel!

At least suspect Soushi......

"Maaan, and we went to all the trouble of rescuing her."

Absolutely.

"......Um, hand me the armor under-layer."

Mia-san withdraws her face, then pops back out again.

The armor under-layer is that thick-tights kind of thing, right?

Which means Mia-san is currently wearing nothing but tights from the waist down.

No shoes either, so she couldn't step outside, apparently.

All right—the lower-body armor must be defended at all costs......

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"【Status】"

Name: Kasugano Haruki

Job: 【Charge Shielder】【Charge Armorer】new【Charge Spearman】【Scout】

Lv: 44

HP: 3300/3300

MP: 875/880

Strength: 176

Endurance: 220

Agility: 154

Magic: 88

Skills: 【Gate】【Charge・Armor・High】new【Charge・Armor・Armor Enhancement・Armor・High】new【Charge・Armor・Strength Up・High】new【Charge・Armor・Endurance Up・High】new【Charge・Armor・Agility Up・High】new【Charge・Armor・Magic Up・High】new【Charge・Shield・High】【Charge・Shield・Armor Enhancement・Shield・High】【Charge・Shield・Strength Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Endurance Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Agility Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Magic Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Shield Shock】【Charge・Shield・Magic Shield】【Charge・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Aiming】【Presence Concealment】【Presence Detection】【Scouting】【Night Vision】

Skill Points: 3

Until Mia-san finishes tidying the warehouse and the 'Gate' is passable again, I figure I'll spend the time acquiring skills.

I took the full 'Charge Armor' super-mode set from 【Charge Armorer】—all 10 points of it.

So now I can activate three kinds of super mode......

Two together is hyper mode, so with three, should I call it Ultra Mode?

I'd like to test-drive it, but it burns 5 MP a second, you know.

I'll hold off until Mia-san's leveling is done.

And with 3 skill points left—since we're not going to Floor 50, I can spend them all.

What should I take......?