ch361-ch380 · 374-ch374

Chapter 374: The Next Stage

(No good—it doesn't connect anywhere...... Ah......)

I'd let my guard down completely.

Just me and Kasumi-san in the dungeon.

I've got a spear in my hands, so I was idly wondering if we were about to spar.

Then I saw the enemy standing before us, and understood everything.

I pulled Kasumi-san to me and used 【Gate】 on reflex.

But that was all I managed......

"Haru, ki-sa..., run, get......"

Kasumi-san, her chest pierced from behind, still tries to shove me into the 'Gate.'

But my shoved body bounces right off it.

'This Gate' connects to nowhere......

I catch Kasumi-san as she crumples, the spear pulled free.

Next attack incoming!

......But my body won't move.

What am I doing—fight!

......But Kasumi-san.

It's all right, Kasumi-san's all right, so stand up and fight!

......My hands are shaking.

It's all right, because this is......

......Because it's a dream.

︙ ︙

"Kasumi-san!"

I bolt upright.

"Haruki-san!? Are you all right!?"

Kasumi-san rushes over.

She's alive.

Thank goodness.

Right—it was a dream, so......

Wait. Let me get my thoughts in order.

What even was that......

"You're awake. ......No fever either—you're fine now."

Shiraishi-san, a white coat over her Association uniform, beeps a thermometer at me and takes my temperature.

This is...... the Association clinic inside the dungeon, huh.

Shiraishi-san's workplace.

I got beaten head to toe training with the armored warrior—Hiramatsu's elder brother (probably)—so Shiraishi-san treated me.

It didn't hurt at all while we were going, though.

No—it hurt, it just didn't bother me.

Adrenaline, I suppose?

The pain kicked in around the bottom of the shrine steps, and I dragged myself back to the branch.

Then Shiraishi-san told me to lie down for a while, and......

"What time is it?"

"Seven. We've already had dinner, you know?"

7 PM, huh. I should've reached the branch around noon, so I slept quite a while.

"Did you have a dream? One with me in it? Ah......"

"Oh—sorry. That hurt, didn't it?"

I'd squeezed back hard on the hand Kasumi-san had laid on mine.

But I can't let go.

I add my other hand, cradling it gently.

"It's fine. I was just a little startled, that's all......"

"Oh my, am I interrupting? Then I'll go take down the Hiramatsu-san hanging outside."

Hm?

"Hiramatsu-san?"

What's "hanging"?

"No—the thing that used to be Hiramatsu-san. Ohohoho."

I look at Kasumi-san.

"By the time I got back, he already was......"

Was hanging, you mean?

"Well, the little boy had broken BONES, you know? Special training or not, that's too far. And it was surface training, at that. So I just asked everyone to catch him. Everyone's been holding a grudge against Hiramatsu-san over that 'Sword Saint-chan' match, you see. They got carried away. His recent closeness with Endo-san is part of it too. Frightening people~. But don't worry—a 【Heal】 and he's good as new! My 【Heal】 is amazing, you know!"

So it WAS broken after all......

It snapped when I charged straight in and ate a counter.

This is a bad pattern forming.

Probably the dream's fault.

Dreaming of dying and redoing it over and over put things like "as long as I don't die, I'm fine" or "it's just a broken bone" into my head.

I've been cut apart and blasted away by charged attacks, so a broken bone feels like nothing, you know?

Broken bones, blown-off arms—if you stop there, you just get killed......

The trip back to the branch really was rough, and that's why I had a fever.

That's why Shiraishi-san told me to lie down and rest.

It was training, so I need to be careful not to run a fever again.

From now on: no overdoing it on the surface.

Hm?

"But why did Hiramatsu-san end up like that?"

"Eh? You were beaten by Hiramatsu-san, weren't you? That's what you said. The newbie was all 'can't forgive Hiramatsu, ssu' too......"

Ah—when they asked who beat me, I'm pretty sure I answered "Hiramatsu-san"......

"Wrong Hiramatsu. I think it was Hiramatsu-san's elder brother. The one training me was......"

"Ehh!? Oh no!? ......Well, same crime, I suppose? I'll go take him down either way!"

It's not like the elder brother is at fault either, though.

He told me to stop any number of times, and I'm the one who kept pressing in......

"Mmm-mmm-mmm. I'm in no position to talk, but—training until bones break?"

"Sorry for worrying you. I dove in with dungeon reflexes. I'll be careful from now on."

I need to get armor too, huh.

Once my stamina's up, I shouldn't get hurt.

I'd love to have Mia-san make me some heavyweight armor, but she seems busy with the new dungeon.

"Haruki-san......? Are you all right?"

I still haven't let go of Kasumi-san's hand......

The trembling hasn't stopped either......

The dream replays in my head.

What pierced Kasumi-san's chest was......

"The dream was...... no, it's nothing. More importantly—about tomorrow. Is Mia-san in tomorrow?"

"......Right. Apparently she's due back from the new dungeon in the afternoon. She'll stop by the shop for equipment maintenance too. We'll set it off there. I'll work out the story. The question is Soushi. He hasn't come by today either—can he manage tomorrow? Ideally we'd set them both off at once......"

Kasumi-san lays her other hand over ours as she begins to plan.

Did she sense something?

She never asked about the dream after that.

......The dream.

The dream had moved on to its next stage.

I fully expected to dream of the goddess thanking me.

That's where I meant to ask what the goddess even is, and about her connection to Mizuki......

Instead, I got a dream that had advanced to the next stage.

The forum says you stop dreaming a future once you've overcome it.

The dream of me dying on Floor 50......

That one counted as "cleared," I suppose, and it's gone now.

At first it was just me and Kasumi-san.

Then five familiar skeletons appeared, and I understood the situation.

The Floor 50 dream.

I used 【Gate】 to block the 【Dimension Slash】—but that only handled 'Sword Saint-chan skeleton.'

The one that pierced Kasumi-san from behind carried a jumonji spear.

......My own skeleton.

So in the real thing, I'd be facing all five at once—and with the Lich, six at once.

And in the dream I just had, I didn't die.

And yet the dream ended there.

What that means......

Even on Floor 50, I probably won't die.

But Kasumi-san will.

That's what the dungeon is telling me......