arc3 · 054-ch54

Episode 54: Water Blade Weasel 2

Despite this being the final area boss rush for Floor 1 District 3, Suzuka had hung his head in disappointment as he headed home, unable to fight the main course Water Blade Weasel. But now, he was cracking up.

"Ah hah hah hah!! S-so Sphere Moon Snakes move by rolling too!?"

Before his eyes, a Sphere Moon Snake was rolling desperately toward some destination. Sphere Moon Snake was a snake monster that coiled its own body into a ball shape, and when attacking, it would charge in as a ball.

Naturally, Suzuka had fought them before too, so he knew they rolled, but he hadn't thought they rolled even when moving.

The sight of it rolling so earnestly seemed to hit Suzuka's funny bone hard—he was laughing so hard he had tears in the corners of his eyes. Just moments ago, he'd been severely depressed about not being able to fight the Water Blade Weasel, yet now this explosive laughter. His emotions must be unstable.

"Ta-Tama-chan, did you become a ball to go somewhere? lol Going home? lolol"

Laughing away, Suzuka chased after the Sphere Moon Snake. Since he couldn't fight the Water Blade Weasel, it was a bit too early to go home, so he had enough time to make a detour.

"Hey hey, aren't you getting dizzy? You must have strong semicircular canals. An old man like me would feel sick right away."

He spoke to the Sphere Moon Snake while running alongside it, but naturally, no answer came back. Thanks to the Presence Concealment skill enhanced by the Mimicry Mantle, even though he was nearby, the Sphere Moon Snake couldn't detect Suzuka.

If he got any closer or tried to do harm, it would probably notice, but just talking seemed fine. Following the moving Sphere Moon Snake, he started to hear clamor ahead.

"Hmm? Other explorers fighting? Maybe Tama-chan is going to provide backup?"

Climbing over the small hill like an embankment, the source of the clamor became clear.

"Whoa, that's a huge gathering... wait, Water Blade Weasel!?"

There, it was a chaotic battlefield with explorers and monsters mixed together. With over ten explorers and twenty or more monsters, the numbers were significant.

Among them, what naturally caught the eye was the area boss Water Blade Weasel. The prey Suzuka had been targeting was fighting other explorers.

"Ugh. Seriously? Are you telling me to just sit and watch while someone else beats it?"

Looking at the battlefield where many explorers and many monsters were mixed together, Suzuka recalled something that fit.

"This must be a raid. Even Floor 1 District 3 has raids, huh."

A raid is a large-scale subjugation by multiple explorer parties working together. When fighting area bosses or special monsters, I read that they often challenge with joint parties where all members of the affiliated guild participate, or mixed parties that gather aces from each guild.

"Those are Explorer High students, right. It's like a sports festival. At least wait until summer vacation ends..."

Aside from exceptions like Suzuka, most explorers active in Floor 1 District 3 are Explorer High students. If they're all from the same school, it's probably easier to gather joint parties.

"Making summer vacation memories? Damn, my Water Blade Weasel gets toyed with for the sake of outgoing kids' youth..."

The Explorer High students fighting had a higher ratio of males, but there were many females too. Seeing them fighting happily in a group, it looked like a dig at himself for dungeon exploring alone. Suzuka had spent his youth surrounded by men, so seeing a group getting excited with both men and women made him jealous.

"Hmm? That's Kirin, right?"

Among those fighting the Water Blade Weasel, there was an explorer with a face she recognized. A woman with long white hair featuring pink mesh that caught the eye. Even from a distance, you could tell her features were refined.

That woman—Kirin—she'd met about twenty days ago when District 2 exploration ended. They met at Seekers Shop when she visited to buy new armor. She just wanted to talk, so they had tea, but since Kirin is the only explorer Suzuka could call an acquaintance, the encounter left an impression.

Explorers often have flashy hair colors due to mana's influence, but there are few people whose appearance is refined enough to suit such a flashy hairstyle. There's no mistake about it.

"She said she'd fight Rabbit Demon Iron Skin too, so she'd fight the Water Blade Weasel as well. We talked quite a while ago though. She's probably already in District 3 by now~"

When they talked before, Suzuka was challenging District 3 while Kirin was exploring District 2. She doesn't know when Kirin came to District 3, but with twenty days, it wouldn't be strange.

"Well, if Kirin is fighting, it can't be helped. Yeah, let's give up."

If it were some unknown explorer fighting, he'd have regrets, but if an acquaintance is working hard, supporting them is the right thing to do. It looks like a joint party, and Kirin seems to be mainly fighting the Water Blade Weasel, so let's cheer for them.

"Even so, are they going to be okay? It looks pretty dangerous."

Kirin and the others seem to be trying hard, but whether their stats are insufficient or not, they're barely dodging the Water Blade Weasel's attacks. They don't seem to be using evasion like Suzuka does—it looks like they're somehow managing to fend off attacks. The woman with the large shield looks like a tank role, but she looks barely able to withstand the Water Blade Weasel's powerful tail attack.

And the explorers not fighting the Water Blade Weasel are terrible too. They're explorers you couldn't even call strong with a compliment.

They look like they have their hands full just fighting the Madness Serpent Mimics, and some are fighting Curtain Frogs in pairs but not beating them at all. The woman over here seems to be in a different party from Kirin and the others; she's not strong and looks mentally unstable, practically in tears.

Seeing it like this, it makes you realize how cruel being an explorer is. The members who are probably Kirin's companions fighting the Water Blade Weasel are all incredibly beautiful. Whether cute, beautiful, or cool, each has a different style, but all have refined appearances.

On the other hand, while the other explorers' appearances are refined, they fall a few steps short compared to Kirin and Yasu. Especially the explorers who seem least skilled here have the most ordinary faces. With their showy outfits, they look like second-rate hosts.

Of course, even they have raised their stats as explorers, so they look cool. But compared to Kirin and the others, the difference is like between a class handsome guy and a national-treasure-level idol.

And the difference in appearance was directly the difference in stats, and the difference in strength. In the original world, if you were judging strength by appearance, it'd probably be physical build. Macho guys look strong, and skinny people look weak.

But in this world, physical build doesn't matter. Those with refined appearances are strong, and the uglier they are, the weaker. It was a world that looked like the extreme of lookism.

"Even so, there are a lot of monsters. Well, I guess that's how it is?"

When Suzuka fights the Water Blade Weasel, there are only two Rock Earth Dragons and three Nut Bombarrel Chipmunks around it, but when many challenge it, probably other monsters increase accordingly. If five appear for Suzuka alone, in this place with over ten explorers, it wouldn't be strange to have fifty. Considering that, bringing people with such half-baked abilities to challenge an area boss is probably a bad move, isn't it?

When he talked with Kirin, she didn't seem like the type to make such a choice, but perhaps the school constraints forced them to form parties, or something like that. After all, belonging to something has such disadvantages too, so Suzuka concluded it's not for him.

If you enjoy rights, first you must fulfill obligations. Instead of receiving a lot of support from Explorer High, they probably can't coldly refuse the school's proposals.

Anyway, instead of being defeated by the Water Blade Weasel, these explorers looked like they were going to be defeated by regular monsters.

"I don't know these people, so there's no need to help them, but if they're Kirin's acquaintances, maybe I should help out..."

Suzuka doesn't have a very good impression of Explorer High because of the guys who were forcefully hitting on Yasu's cram school girl. If they die, he'd only think it's bad that they took the Water Blade Weasel from him with that level of ability.

Wondering what to do, Suzuka heads toward Kirin and the others. If nothing happens, he'll go home as is, but from Suzuka's perspective, Kirin and the others seem like they don't yet have the ability to challenge the Water Blade Weasel.

Suzuka himself gets beaten to a pulp the first time he challenges area bosses, so he can't criticize others, but even if his own actions are fine, seeing others' dangerous actions makes him anxious about how precarious it is. Since he has the Presence Concealment skill, he decides to watch from a distance where the Water Blade Weasel won't notice.

"Oh! Poison magic! Did they already beat the Twin Poison Serpent? They can use paralysis fog, so maybe their skill level is higher than mine. Nice."

A woman with black-purple hair in twin tails was creating paralysis fog and enchanting other explorers' weapons with paralysis. Suzuka can also use poison magic thanks to the Ring of Twin Poisons, a drop item from the Twin Poison Serpent, but she still only applies poison and paralysis to weapons—she can't use poison or paralysis fog yet.

In other words, this black-purple twin-tail has a higher poison magic skill level than Suzuka.

" People with magic talent are amazing after all. I can't even activate magic without the ring, you know..."

Yasu's face, who can use recovery magic, flashes through his mind, but acknowledging his talent is irritating, so he decides not to think about it.

"Can Kirin use water magic? That's nice. Is that small girl a high school student?"

Suzuka has seen Explorer High parties fighting from a distance before, and sure enough, zoo, fighting an area boss with proper individual roles, was in a class of their own from other parties. The shield holder firmly catches the powerful tail attack, the black-purple twin-tail and the small girl avoid the Water Blade Weasel's dual scythes while waiting for an attack opportunity, and Kirin uses water magic to harass attacks from surrounding monsters and keep them from approaching.

They were fighting as a proper party.

"Oh! What's that? Paralysis fog can be used like that!?"

The paralysis bullet fired by the black-purple twin-tail was cut by the Water Blade Weasel and burst, becoming paralysis fog that enveloped the Water Blade Weasel. At this completely surprise attack, even Suzuka cheers.

"Oh!! Amazing! It's paralyzed!! The situation's turned completely... huh?"

Even though they'd managed to paralyze the Water Blade Weasel, Kirin and the others immediately turned around and fled. She thinks now's the perfect time to attack, but do they have some other strategy?

The black-purple twin-tail is also wobbling as if her earlier movements were a lie. Is she okay? Suzuka chases after them just in case, but that worry hits the mark.

The Water Blade Weasel recovered from paralysis—not that it had reached the point where it was paralyzed and couldn't move, but its movements had just slowed down a bit. The Water Blade Weasel didn't even spare a glance for other explorers, instead chasing after the fleeing Kirin and others while hiding behind monsters.

With high agility in exchange for low stamina and defense, it caught up before Kirin and the others could escape from the ring of monsters. The girl serving as rear guard, with the shield, took a Water Blade Weasel attack full force without being ready, and got blown away along with her shield.

"Ah"

Before Suzuka could intervene, the black-purple twin-tail took the Water Blade Weasel's attack and rolled away. Kirin and the others are somehow trying to attract the Water Blade Weasel's attention, but water blades are pouring down from water magic and the Water Blade Weasel's tail is raging like a separate creature, so they can't easily approach.

"Nyako!! Stand up! Please stand up!! Run!!"

Kirin, who had been wearing a thoroughly composed expression until now, shouted with a changed expression. There was no sign of acting there—you could tell she was seriously panicked.

Ah, this is bad. Probably no strategy at all, seriously bad.

When you see other explorers in the dungeon, ignore them no matter the situation. That's a lesson that comes up endlessly if you research explorers even a little. If you'd be sincerely thanked for helping, you should actively help, but the problem was whether they're at a disadvantage or not depends on their own hearts. There are many cases where even if they're clearly at a disadvantage, after you help they argue that they could have beaten it on their own.

Furthermore, there are cases where even though they're not at a disadvantage, they say they'll assist and maliciously steal only the kill, and incidents have occurred where they pretend to be at a disadvantage to lure explorers and attack them from behind, stripping them of everything.

Since it's a sad world where the helping side loses, whether in books, on the internet, or at Explorer High, unless they're companions from the same school or guild, you're basically taught to ignore. They even threaten that temporary sense of justice could get your companions killed. So, even while thinking that at this rate they probably won't be able to beat the Water Blade Weasel, Suzuka stayed silent, hiding his presence and watching.

Just like how the black-purple twin-tail made the paralysis bullet into fog and paralyzed the Water Blade Weasel, even though it looked like a pinch, they might have set up a strategy. If he carelessly cut in and interfered, that itself would become a source of conflict.

But if it stays like this, the black-purple twin-tail looks like she'll be killed. No matter how you look at it, the black-purple twin-tail is Kirin's companion, and if she's the companion of Kirin, his only explorer acquaintance, he should help her.

"At worst, if they make a fuss saying I interfered or whatever, I can just beat them up. For explorers, force is power after all."

If there's conflict, punch. Watching this battle, he's confident Suzuka is stronger than them, so even if there's conflict, he'll manage with gender-equal punches. Probably. It's a last resort, but. That's why Suzuka stepped forward.

From storage, he took out the weapon made of magic iron, shaped like an iron pipe—Underling Fox's Pride—and infused it with mana. He didn't use the Calm Short Sword. That looks too different from normal drop items. With so many explorers present here, he can't let the existence of his unique skill be revealed.

Ducking under the Water Blade Weasel's wildly swinging tail, he whacks the scythe swinging down with the magic iron pipe infused with mana.

CLANG

A high-pitched sound echoed. The match seemed to favor Suzuka. The Water Blade Weasel's dual scythes were deflected into a pose like someone celebrating with their arms raised. The Water Blade Weasel probably noticed Suzuka's approach, but since he hadn't expected the attack to be deflected rather than just blocked, anger mixed with surprise on its face.

Ah, I forgot to check. My Body Reinforcement and Mana Control definitely leveled up during the Jūryō Frog fight. With this, the Water Blade Weasel might not be enough.

The Water Blade Weasel changed target to Suzuka and swung its scythe down, but Suzuka wouldn't allow that. Now it's his attack. He needs to teach it the word "turn-based."

Without even blocking the Water Blade Weasel's attack, Suzuka stepped in. Raising both hands, he swung the magic iron pipe down at the defenseless torso.

As expected, you might say. The Water Blade Weasel was mid-attack motion, but it read Suzuka's aim and switched to evasion. It stabbed its tail blade into the ground, forcibly moved its body, and pulled back behind another monster.

A momentary rest.

Kirin and the others, who couldn't see what was happening hidden behind the Water Blade Weasel, discovered the black-purple twin-tail—Nekoyashika Kaoru—and Suzuka now that the Water Blade Weasel had pulled back.

"Suzuka-chan!?"

"No, that's not right. Well, saying that's not right is also not right, but... no, that's not what I mean. I didn't come to interfere with Kirin and the others. Really. I just thought you looked like you were in a pinch, so I jumped in, but if I'm interfering, I'll go home right away. Should I go home already? Am I in the way?"

Though he'd been fired up saying he'd punch if they made a fuss, once he actually stood there, Suzuka got cold feet. With so many explorers watching now that the Water Blade Weasel had pulled back, that probably made him panic. He started thinking he should have just left them alone and gone home.

Suzuka does dungeon exploration, but since he doesn't know any of the unwritten rules of explorers at all, he still couldn't judge whether helping was the right decision or not. If they said he was in the way here, he'd go home and they'd probably forgive him. Probably. It should still be in time.

"No, you saved us. To be honest, can you fight the Water Blade Weasel, Suzuka-chan?"

"Huh, of course."

"As expected. I know it's asking a lot, but could you help us?"

"Huh! I can fight!? Seriously? I can't believe you're letting me have it, Kirin, you're a good guy! Whoa, lucky lucky!!"

He didn't think they'd tell him to fight, let alone that he was interfering rather than in the way. Being able to finally fight the Water Blade Weasel, who he thought he couldn't fight, is like falling into something better than good fortune.

The main course that had been taken away from him appeared before his eyes again. He couldn't help but be happy.

Ideally, he'd want to use the Calm Short Sword to harvest the tail and get a spare Calm Short Sword, and he wanted to practice fighting with a short sword against the high-attack-count Water Blade Weasel.

But being able to finally fight an opponent he thought he couldn't fight—he can't just make selfish demands.

Now knowing he could fight, Suzuka stored the Mimicry Mantle in storage. He could fight while wearing it, but he's not used to fighting with the mantle on. Since today's fight is the final opponent, he wants to enjoy it with full power.

Light from mana leaks from the magic iron pipe, but it's not the rippling mana like before—it has a uniform faint glow. This is evidence that Mana Control level has risen and the unevenness of flowing mana has decreased. Thanks to Body Reinforcement level rising too, he moves more easily than usual.

"Come on, Water Blade Weasel. Player change."

Suzuka's face as she said this wore a smile like a ferocious carnivorous beast.