ch81-ch100 · 094-ch94
Chapter 94: The Crying Crow Now Laughs
"Huh?"
Boy, is she surprised.
A complete success.
But the surprise isn't over yet.
"【Status】. 【Charge・Spear】. In one minute the Ogre King spawns right over there. I'll take it down nice and quick, so please stay by the 'Gate.' If it feels even a little dangerous, go through the 'Gate.' We can return to the warehouse anytime, so it's fine."
The surprise isn't complete until I beat the boss and gift her a high-rank job.
And I'll finish it in one strike and look cool doing it—but that part is pure circumstance.
Fufufu.
Name: Kasugano Haruki
Job: 【Charge Shielder】【Charge Spearman】【Scout】
Lv: 30
HP: 2236/2250
MP: 590/600
Strength: 120
Endurance: 150
Agility: 105
Magic: 60
Skill: 【Gate】【Charge・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】【Charge・Spear・Aiming】【Presence Concealment】【Presence Detection】【Scouting】【Night Vision】
Skill Points: 9
My HP is slightly short of full.
Not enough blood, maybe?
MP is fine.
【Charge・Spear】, with 【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】 right before the strike—those will do.
Compared to my 【Charge Spearman】 days, my stats have exploded.
I can put out more power than when I was stacking all my stat-up skills.
I overdid it last time, but with 50 MP poured into 【Charge・Spear】, nothing can stop it.
Aim carefully for the head and it's one strike.
The magic stone change should come back to me as pocket change.
"It really is Floor 30? That's... Ah—wait, can't you leave a boss floor? Don't tell me..."
Kasumi-san reaches her hand toward the 'Left Gate' behind us.
"So this is possible... Then, the Floor 50 boss area too? No—first, dealing with the boss monster. Ah, Haruki-san, your armor—you're not wearing any armor."
"Eh? Oh. It got wrecked when I was here last time, and the dungeon absorbed it... It's fine, this ends in one strike."
The helmet's gone, after all.
But it's fine.
'If you have no armor, just wrap yourself in skills'—that's my philosophy.
Huh? I'm not using any skills right now, am I...
"One strike...? No, that's not the issue. Let's go back for now."
"Ah, it's about to spawn."
MP: 590→540
Starting from MP already 3 down, I began the skill about three seconds after entering Floor 30.
It should spawn at exactly one minute.
Blow its head off the moment it appears...
"Wha—"
The Ogre King jumped forward while still materializing.
Since when is THAT allowed!?
I had its back—and yet it knew my position before it even spawned?
Crafty bastard.
(Fine, have it your way. Stack the skills and finish it with a throw. Aiming too...)
The Ogre King twisted in midair, landed facing me, and used the momentum to leap at me—no, to charge.
Pouncing the instant you show an opening—just like last time.
Did it take my surprise at having escaped as an opening? Or my twist to throw the spear?
(Can I dodge? No—stack the skills...)
I hesitate for an instant.
In that instant, the Ogre King's fist is right in front of me.
A dull THUD.
The Ogre King's fist slammed into the ground.
It was deflected. Not by me.
(Kasumi-san!)
Jet-black armor and a spear had appeared from my side and shielded me.
And the Ogre King's head was now sitting at just the right height.
([Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear])
Then, the release of 【Charge・Spear】's MP.
The halberd punches into the wide-open face of the Ogre King.
There was barely any resistance—it felt less like piercing and more like passing straight through.
I thrust with the halberd held vertical, so the head split clean in two, the crack running down to its chest.
The Ogre King's body sails back about two meters and skids along the ground.
(Aaand I got saved.)
I tried to show off, and instead got shown up.
"Kasumi-sa..."
Kasumi-san dashes to the Ogre King and plants her spear in its chest.
A follow-up attack... no—she's going for the magic stone. She reaches into the hole in its chest and pulls the stone out.
Well practiced, that.
And the magic stone is huge.
"Grrr. GRRRAH."
The attendant Forest Ogres start riling up. We have to get out before they all come flooding in—but we also need to buy time for Kasumi-san's job selection.
"Kasumi-sa..."
Faster than I can call out, Kasumi-san is back, grabs my hand, and hauls me toward the 'Left Gate.'
"Kasumi-san, your job, your job. I'll hold the enemies..."
Ahhh.
My call goes unheard, and Kasumi-san and I pass through the 'Left Gate' and back into the warehouse.
We both go sliding across the floor in a tumble.
"Hahh, hahh—can 'Gates' only... stay out... once you've placed them?"
Still sprawled on the floor, I answer her breathless question.
"Eh? Oh. I can dismiss them. Vanish, vanish."
Watching the 'Right Gate' smoothly fade away, Kasumi-san lets out a long breath.
"Kasumi-san, your job?"
"It's fine..."
Saying that, Kasumi-san removes her helm.
Her hair spills loose—it looked like a scene from a shampoo commercial.
Oh, right, no glasses.
A real beauty... Ah, tears?
Is she crying?
"Sob, sob. That was scary, that was so scary."
Ah, the surprise worked too well...
I thought it was safe since we can come back anytime, but of course it's terrifying if you don't explain things properly.
"Um..."
Kasumi-san clings to me, still sitting on the floor.
"Sob, sob, waaah..."
What do I do?
She's crying...
No—I MADE her cry...
For now, I rub the back of Kasumi-san, her face buried in my chest.
There, there.
I made her cry, and yet somehow I'm the one coming out ahead—the thought stings my conscience.
This wasn't the plan...
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Kasumi-san."
"It was scary. I've been scared this whole time. Ever since the day I hit Level 30 last year..."
Kasumi-san starts talking, haltingly.
"I started having a dream. One I'd had years ago... A dream where an adventurer is killed by the Ogre King on Floor 30... But in the dream I started having again, the one being killed was me..."
I gently embrace Kasumi-san, whose shoulders have gone stiff.
A dream like that?
"There were chances, plenty of them, really. If I paid more than the going rate, I could have challenged Floor 30. But I was scared—scared I'd be killed just like in the dream... So I made excuses: the price was too high, I had an appointment that day I couldn't move..."
Kasumi-san's shoulders tremble.
What have I done?
This time she might truly hate me...
"And you call that... a surprise... Pfft—what even IS a 'surprise'? Hehe."
Huh?
Her shoulders are still trembling, but is she laughing?
"What kind of surprise is that? Fufufu. Me, who couldn't reach Floor 30 in five whole years—and it gets cleared in an instant. What a ridiculous story, fufu."
Kasumi-san lifts her face.
Tears are streaming down.
She really is crying.
But she's laughing too.
Laughing through her tears.
"Hahaha. Amazing. Ufufu. I've gone and become a high-rank job holder. In a single instant, like a joke. Ah-haha."
Seems the absurdity finally hit the funny bone.
Thank goodness.
I was afraid she'd never stop crying.
"And on top of that, Floor 30 without any armor—I was too scared to move. But I moved. My body moved on its own. I thought, I have to protect Haruki-san."
"Yes. You were so cool."
So in the end, she conquered herself.
She overcame her fear and protected me.
What a wonderful person she is...
And compared to her, I...
"Haruki-san... Did you know everything all along, and do it anyway? That I was scared, that I'd freeze up... If you'd asked me normally to go to Floor 30, I might have run away. So you called it a surprise... Pfft. And you didn't even wear armor... Hehe. What a ridiculous thing to do?"
I'm sorry.
I'm just an idiot.
Right now, sitting as we are, we're holding each other.
The distance between us is small.
"We can't. The newbie might come again..."
"It's fine. My hearing is incredibly sharp right now. There's no one nearby. And I'm stronger now too—if she comes, I'll throw her clear to the altitude limit."
Said cutely or not, that's just cruel...
I can hear my own heartbeat.
Ba-dump, ba-dump.
Kasumi-san with her new sharp hearing might be able to hear it...
And the distance between us is...