arc2 · 023-ch23

Episode 23: Current Strength

"Ugh. It feels kinda tense."

　Suzuka, having entered the dungeon, stretched and voiced his impression.

　His first solo activity since the first dungeon exploration. He was feeling a tense atmosphere he hadn't felt when he was with Yasu.

　Now that I think about it, how much can I actually do alone?

　Today he had planned to head to District 2, continuing from his previous exploration. But that was when he was with Yasu.

　Now Suzuka is solo. He didn't really know how far he could go in a solo state.

　Ugh. If it's just Clay Pot Turtles plus small fry, I think I can handle them alone. Maybe I'll go beat up some Underling Foxes.

　Figuring that to get to District 2 he'd have to go through District 1, so he could test himself on the Underling Foxes along the way, he set off walking casually.

　The dungeon interior is wide and takes an hour to reach District 2, so he decided to hunt any Drunken Sheep he found along the way. Drunken Sheep mutton is delicious, so he wanted to secure some.

　However, he defeated five Drunken Sheep before finding any Underling Foxes, but nothing dropped at all. Things don't always go smoothly.

"Howdy howdy, hello~"

　Suzuka approached three Underling Foxes. The other side was on guard and raised their weapons, but he felt no fear at all. Was it because he had fought Boss Fox, the area boss? Underling Foxes, which were threats in the Boss Fox battle, were just small fry without Boss Fox.

"You've got a nice weapon there. Hand it over."

　Suzuka pulled a mugging move that would shock even street thugs.

　Guarding against attacks from three directions, he approached the Underling Fox on the right by circling around, and swung his magic iron pipe down aiming for the arm. Perhaps due to the status difference, the Underling Fox couldn't handle Suzuka's sudden approach and could only barely bring its own magic iron pipe to match.

　Inevitable. Unable to withstand Suzuka's attack with the status difference, the magic iron pipe flew from the Underling Fox's hand.

"First one!!"

　Kicking the Underling Fox that dropped its weapon, he obstructed one of the Underling Foxes that was trying to close in on Suzuka. The one that went into the air kept approaching regardless, but Suzuka also ran to close the distance.

　Because Suzuka approached, the Underling Fox tried to attack in a panic with its magic iron pipe, but an attack that was just swinging wildly with no power behind it wouldn't connect.

　He caught the descending pipe with his left palm and grabbed it. The Underling Fox tried to pull it back, but the magic iron pipe Suzuka grabbed didn't budge an inch.

"Second one!!!"

　The magic iron pipe Suzuka swung down caught the Underling Fox's face and turned it to smoke in a single hit. He stored the remaining "Underling Fox's Pride" into storage through the Snatch skill effect.

　Looking back, the disarmed Underling Fox was heading toward the blown-away magic iron pipe, so he punched its exposed back and turned the second one to smoke as well.

"I won't be too mean to you! If you hand over your weapon, I'll let you die easy, okay!?"

　The remaining Underling Fox was already losing its nerve, but like the other two, the magic iron pipe it was gripping was forcibly taken and it turned to smoke.

"That's three!! That's enough for backup, right?"

　He picked up the blown-away magic iron pipes and stored them in storage. The Snatch skill was still secret so he couldn't sell them, but this time the goal was to secure backup weapons. If he's operating solo, if his weapon breaks like the metal bat, he'll be in trouble.

　Having three as backup is sufficient preparation.

　After all, Underling Foxes aren't even worth talking about. My Body Control level went up to 2 too, so Underling Foxes are unsatisfying. Let's hurry to District 2.

　Just as Suzuka thought this and was about to start walking, something reflected in his vision. By the time he perceived it, Suzuka was already running.

"If I'm doing this solo, I'll kill you solo too!!!"

　Where Suzuka was heading. There was the figure of Boss Fox accompanied by ten Underling Foxes.

　◇

"Yasu-kun! Could you teach me how to solve that problem from earlier?"

"Me too! Teach me together?"

"Sure~ here you go,"

　In the air-conditioned cool room, students were working hard at their studies. Had class entered break time? There were those stretching to loosen stiffness, those contacting others on their phones, and those gathering with friends to chat—various people.

　But among them, there was someone who was clearly standing out.

"If you use this formula here, then you just solve it from there."

"Really! So that's how it works! Thank you, Yasu-kun!"

"You really are smart, Yasu-kun!"

　Amidst the circle of girls clustering around, there was a handsome guy that even models would run away from barefoot. Tall with a well-built physique. Well-ordered facial features with thin, narrow eyes. Yasunori Ando, or Yasu.

"Hey hey, Yasu-kun. Let's go home together today?"

"I'm heading the same way too, so I'd like to go together part of the way."

"Eh! You're cheating saying you go the same direction! I want that too."

"Now now. I'm planning to go to the bookstore near Miki-chan's place next time, so let's go together then."

"Eh! Really? Yay!!!"

　To Miki-chan's delight, what flew from the surrounding boys were clicks of the tongue and eyes of hatred. It's summer cram school, right? The extremely reasonable curse "Study!" didn't reach Yasu's ears.

(Man, summer cram school is amazing! It's this fun?)

　Yasu suppressed his face that was about to grin as much as possible and changed it into a smile, chatting with the girls.

(I should have invited Suzuka to summer cram school too.)

　He remembered his best friend, who had given him the opportunity for his great transformation. Even though he had been excited about becoming explorers together, Suzuka had unilaterally announced the party dissolution saying he was going to summer cram school, yet he was a friend who even supported him rather than getting angry.

(That guy has a good nature deep down. But when he's fighting monsters, it's like one screw is loose... no, like ten screws are loose, so I'm worried about him.)

　Even though he's only in middle school third year, he goes to the dungeon alone, he goes to fight monsters without researching dungeons at all, and his overall thinking is fuzzy and he acts on impulse. When Yasu was there, he could stop him, but now that he's not, what's he doing?

(Well, since he's exploring solo, he probably won't do anything unreasonable. About now he's probably fighting Drunken Sheep aiming for mutton meat.)

　Thinking he hopes he'll bring me some mutton as a gift, Yasu devoted himself to his harem summer cram school.

　◇

"Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Even small fry are troublesome when they swarm! Hey!!"

　Suzuka charged alone into the midst of the Underling Fox swarm. He didn't whittle down their numbers one by one from the outside, nor did he drag out a small group to fight. If he wanted to do that, he wouldn't have challenged Boss Fox from the start.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is it, this is it, this is it!!! My brain's totally firing up!!!"

　Underling Fox attacks don't just come from the front. They attack from the side, from behind, and even jump up and attack from above.

　This isn't a laid-back battle where you only need to defend the front. Attacks from all directions. Can't let your guard down for even a moment. Now there's no Yasu who can use recovery magic.

　Thinking kept accelerating faster and faster and faster and faster and faster. Light was bursting in his vision pop pop, but his thinking was surprisingly clear.

"That kind of obvious attack won't hit, Boss Fox!!!"

　The metal club swung down from a blind spot hidden by Underling Foxes was dodged by Suzuka. With Body Control having reached level 2, he was able to dodge more smoothly than before.

　If evasive movements become smooth, they also connect smoothly to attacks.

"Third one!!!"

　He struck his magic iron pipe into the back of the head of one Underling Fox, which had been played with by Suzuka weaving through gaps between them.

　When fighting many opponents solo, you die the moment you stop moving. Suzuka, whose stamina had also increased thanks to raised stats, kept moving endlessly like flowing water.

　He could still move. Faster. Stronger. Accelerating thoughts. Moving until his brain was about to burn out.

　Suzuka reduced their count to three, four, five, but then his movement stopped.

"Huh?"

　Even when he tried to move, his body didn't follow. Looking closely, one Underling Fox was clinging to his waist like a tackle.

　Shudder

　A chill ran down Suzuka's spine.

　"The moment you stop moving, you die." The one who said that was none other than himself. Thinking this was bad, he tried to shake it off relying on his stats, but another, and another Underling Fox jumped on, and he couldn't even move his arms properly.

　Before the bound-up Suzuka, there was no enemy watching quietly. Boss Fox didn't even care that Underling Foxes were clinging to him, and put his full strength into a full swing of his metal club.

"GUHAH!!!!"

　As one Underling Fox turned to smoke, Suzuka was blown away sideways with tremendous force. His vision went pure white, the air was forced from his lungs, and a strange voice came out.

　He didn't even know if he was flying through the sky or not, and unable to even take a defensive roll, he bounced on the ground three times before finally stopping.

"——Ha!?"

　His consciousness had flown. His body screamed in excruciating pain and told him not to move, but he ignored it and hurriedly stood up. Before his eyes was Boss Fox. It was raising its large metal club.

"Damn it!!"

　By rolling sideways, he dodged the descending metal club. He tried to immediately get into position, but perhaps knowing this was the critical moment, the Underling Foxes also launched a pursuit attack.

　While letting those attacks pass by him, he checked his own condition.

　His left arm, which had taken the attack head-on, was unusable. It wasn't pointing in a weird direction, so he didn't think it was broken, but when he tried to move it, it wouldn't move properly. It was like the sensation of a leg that's gone numb from sitting in seiza style.

　Because he had been embraced by the Underling Foxes, at the moment of the attack he couldn't jump to divert the impact either. The only thing he could do was twist his body as much as possible at the moment of impact, and barely taking the attack off-center was the best he could do.

　Boss Fox probably attacked his upper body sideways because it's less likely to be fatal but still reduces the risk of being dodged.

　And because of that came this pursuit attack. They hadn't thought they could finish him in one hit, so they were swarming and attacking.

　Suzuka couldn't have predicted that Underling Foxes would take such action sacrificing their own lives. Actually, one had turned to smoke from Boss Fox's attack, and the other two probably took damage too. Even if they die, they drag the opponent down with them. To such a suicide-attack-like behavior...

　Ah, I see. For these guys, this battle is like war. It's not just about whether I die or live. It's about whether they can kill the explorer or whether they get wiped out.

　They're different from Drunken Sheep that just charge in without thinking. They think, they try to take the best action they can take. In order to kill Suzuka. They're taking it seriously.

　The battlefield Suzuka is throwing himself into right now is not one-sided hunting, but a battlefield of eat or be eaten.

"Splendid."

　While dodging the thrust magic iron pipe by the narrowest margin, he kicked the Underling Fox's belly and blew it away. Boss Fox's attack flew aiming for his unstable posture after the kick, but Suzuka caught it with his magic iron pipe.

　He wasn't using his left arm. Suzuka was catching the metal club that Boss Fox was attacking with both hands at full power, with only his right hand. Looking closely, the magic iron pipe Suzuka was gripping was glowing a dull deep green.

"I never asked for a one-sided battle!!"

"GWUAAAAAA!!!"

　Boss Fox struck down the metal club again and again, but every single time it was blocked.

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah YEAH!! This is the best!! Fighting in dungeons has to be like this, right!? Hey!!"

　Even though his left arm had taken a heavy blow and couldn't move properly, Suzuka's face was plastered with a grin.

　The Underling Foxes tackled again to support Boss Fox. However, the same trick doesn't work twice.

　He strongly deflected Boss Fox's attack and when he swung through with the dull-glowing magic iron pipe, two Underling Foxes turned to smoke together.

"More more more!! Squeeze out what little brains you have!!!! You bastards are gonna die if you don't!!!!"

　Boss Fox glanced at the Underling Foxes, waiting for the signal to jump in. However, they couldn't move. If they moved, they'd die. Their intuition was sounding alarms and they couldn't take a step forward.

"You not coming? Oh well. You guys were fun!!"

　Faster than Boss Fox attacked, faster than the Underling Foxes started moving, the only thing left behind after Suzuka charged through was smoke.