arc5 · 077-ch77

Arc 5: The Immortal's Coup d'État

Episode 77: New Year's Day

January 1st, New Year's Day. The one day in the year when busy Japanese people take it easiest.

"Happy New Year."

As usual, the Jozenji family spent New Year's Day relaxing in the living room watching the ekiden. After gathering in the living room and exchanging greetings, they dug into the osechi and ozoni. It's the quintessential Japanese household.

"Really, Suzuka, you're late. I told you to be back by New Year's, didn't I?"

"Sorry, sorry. I got a little carried away, so it got late."

Suzuka returned home at 11 AM. Everyone was already up and gathered in the living room.

Even though Suzuka had emailed about an estimated return time when leaving the dungeon, there was probably some dissatisfaction about the week of no contact before that.

"I said Suzuka would be fine. You worry too much, Mom."

"Well, you might say that, but when we can't get in touch, Dad worries too. You're not staying in the dungeon for a whole week or anything, so from now on, make sure to contact us properly when you come out."

If I said I'd been holed up deep in the dungeon for a week, they'd probably worry even more, so I stayed quiet and ate the ozoni.

"Mom, can I have a second helping of ozoni?"

"There's plenty. Go microwave some more mochi."

I was so hungry I felt dizzy, so while trying to appear as calm as possible, I consumed a massive amount of mochi.

"You've always liked mochi. There'll be a lot of it tomorrow too when we go to Grandpa's house."

The Jozenji family planned to visit their grandparents' house for New Year's greetings starting tomorrow.

"Sugō, are you going to be okay for exams?"

"It's fine, it's fine. My grades improved a lot after my level went up. Taking breaks is important too, important."

Sugō, my older brother facing the center exam, was apparently coming along on the New Year's greeting rounds too. With not many days left until the exam, Suzuka was worried, but the person in question seemed completely relaxed.

His nervousness from autumn when his grades had plateaued seemed like a lie. Status increases from leveling really do have big benefits.

When intelligence stats rise, brain processing speed increases, which improves not only memorization and comprehension but also thinking speed when solving problems, reducing time spent on each question and creating leeway. Even if intelligence increases, academic ability itself doesn't improve, so it's not like he can take university entrance exams easily without studying. Still, it will probably work quite advantageously for exams.

"And that's all thanks to Suzuka. You could give him some otoshidama, you know."

"Why do I have to give it?"

"Is there not a single generous bone in your body to bestow upon your unemployed older brother!?"

Since I have absolutely no such kind feelings, I ignore him and eat the datemaki.

"Ah, Suzuka, here's your otoshidama. From Dad and Mom."

Saying that, Mother handed Suzuka a pochibukuro. Even though I earn money in the dungeon, that's that, and this is this.

"I'll save whatever you don't use, so hand it over."

"Then please save all of it."

Since I couldn't think of any games or manga I wanted right now, I just handed it back to Mother. Although I have money and wanted to buy the manga I'd collected, space is limited and I don't want to be distracted by that right now.

Suzuka, who loves manga, once she starts reading, can't stop. Since I want to focus on the dungeon for now, and I don't even feel like reading manga, I didn't intend to force stimulation by doing it now.

"Thanks for the meal. I think I'll sleep until dinner, so wake me up when it's time."

Now that my stomach was full, sudden drowsiness attacked me this time. It was such intense sleepiness I wanted to sleep right now, even on the floor.

"I recorded the Kamen Rider special for you."

"Oh, thanks. I'll watch it later."

Saying that, Suzuka took his dishes to the sink and entered his room.

◇

After taking a nap, eating dinner, and finishing my bath, my head finally cleared up. The fact that I could recover my physical condition to this extent was undoubtedly thanks to the skill that had been garbled.

Suzuka, who returned to his room without watching the New Year's specials, was reflecting on what had happened during this expedition to Tokyo Dungeon.

"A lot happened, huh. First, there was meeting the Sword God."

The day before exploring Tokyo Dungeon, when I went to scout the dungeon, I was spoken to by a special-rank explorer. Without thinking about it, being directly invited to a guild by a special-rank explorer would probably be a joy beyond expectations for any explorer.

But Suzuka's answer was NO. Since I had no intention of joining a guild, I declined, but the Sword God left without particularly minding it.

"I got a lot of attention because of the invitation, huh. Once you're special-rank, the level of attention really is different, isn't it."

The surrounding area got incredibly noisy wondering who that guy was, so I fled back to the hotel as if escaping.

"Still though, the Sword God was incredible. So if you do existence evolution twice, you can gain power on that whole other level, huh."

Special-rank explorer, the pinnacle of explorers. The conditions to reach special-rank explorer are level 200 or above, and achieving existence evolution twice.

What awaits beyond that level? I'm looking forward to it from now.

"Well, whatever the case, it was good to be able to look upward. I was keenly reminded that I've still got a long way to go."

The Hachioji Dungeon is a low-layer dungeon, so the explorers active there aren't that high-level either. Since explorers who have surpassed level 100, where existence evolution occurs, are active in middle-layer dungeons. In that respect, since Tokyo Dungeon is a deep-layer dungeon, and there are explorers who have surpassed existence evolution like the Sword God rolling around everywhere, it was good stimulation.

Suzuka's stats are still high, and having surpassed level 50, he's made significant leaps. Because of that, recently I felt like the tension toward other explorers had weakened. If I act arrogantly and just operate however I want, I'll get one-sidedly crushed by explorers who are above me. Being able to re-recognize that I'm still at the level of having just one foot in as an explorer, and that there are many explorers stronger than me, was a big harvest.

And then, the day after meeting the Sword God, on the first day of Tokyo Dungeon exploration, I encountered him.

"Identity Unknown. I wonder what that guy was."

For monsters that appear in dungeons, if you stare at them, their name and level are displayed. But for Identity Unknown, I couldn't see any information at all. The name "Identity Unknown" is a provisional name I assigned arbitrarily.

When I found Identity Unknown, the words the Sword God said at the end crossed my mind.

"'A trial'... huh. So that was indeed a trial."

When I investigated about "trials," it seems something called "dungeon trials" exists in all dungeons. Deep-layer dungeons including Tokyo Dungeon are also called dungeons of trials, and they have the characteristic that trials occur more easily than in other dungeons.

The reason they're called trials rather than traps is that you can obtain powerful items and skills by overcoming them.

Currently, there are two things defined as trials. Monster trains and special individuals.

Monster trains occur as Suzuka did this time, by not killing monsters and running away, causing them to happen. Monsters chase after explorers, and they multiply like a snowball to become a massive swarm of monsters.

This is a normal monster train. But trial monster trains are different. A massive swarm of monsters suddenly arrives without any warning.

There's a theory that the explorer who created the monster train died, and the monster train continued as-is, involving other explorers. However, even when cross-referencing the registered exploration schedules with the terminals in advance, no corresponding explorers could be found, and since similar phenomena were confirmed in dungeons worldwide, the artificial origin theory was denied.

By the way, you can also run away from trials. If fighting a monster train seems impossible, you just need to run away. However, that would make it seem like the explorer on whom the trial occurred created the monster train.

To distinguish between monster trains caused by trials and monster trains created voluntarily, explorers always activate recording drones inside dungeons.

And then, the other trial is special individuals. The Identity Unknown Suzuka encountered this time probably falls into the category of special individual.

Special individuals refer to monsters other than those that normally appear in that area. Most are monsters like enhanced versions of normal monsters, and they often have strength equal to area bosses.

However, the Identity Unknown Suzuka encountered this time had no combat ability at all. Its speed was such that even with Suzuka's full power he couldn't catch up, so if you said it was area boss level, I could accept that, but everything else was too weak. Without any resistance, Suzuka's hand sank into Identity Unknown, and it didn't do any resistance or attack at all.

What can be considered is a special trial to lure to District 1-5. Or perhaps it's a trial of whether you can catch up to Identity Unknown.

Regarding this, even if I investigate now there's nothing that clicks, so I can only assume it's a trial by a special individual.

"Well, whatever Identity Unknown is, that's fine. The problem is what came after, the clergyman—Renoa."

The mysterious space that occurred right after defeating Identity Unknown. And the mysterious man who was there at that place. At that place, there were many things I couldn't hear like names, but later in the round table room I saw him being called Renoa. That's probably his name.

"About Renoa too, I don't get the feeling I can think about it and come up with an answer. It doesn't make sense. A person from another world?"

Suzuka met Renoa twice. When he defeated Identity Unknown, and when he was beaten up by the ape monkey.

The first time, Renoa also recognized Suzuka. Because of that, the pressure Renoa emitted was directed directly at Suzuka, and unable to withstand that pressure, I couldn't hear what I wanted to at all.

"No, that couldn't be helped. The pressure was insane. The pressure was. And on top of that, he got high-tension in weird places, noise got on conversations at key points, and he disappeared right away—getting sufficient information from there is impossible with my communication skills."

The divine aura Renoa wraps himself in. Anyone seeing that would mistake him for a god and start worshipping, and it wouldn't be strange. I somehow understood there was no hostility, but the power contained within was too great, and he was just simply terrifying.

It's like being in a cage together with a lion whose stomach is full. Even if you're told he won't attack because his stomach is full, the terror of not knowing when he'll have a tantrum and attack is considerable.

The information I learned when meeting him the first time was two things. One is that thanks to the skill's effects, I can use holy magic, and in exchange for not being able to hold weapons, I get automatic recovery. The other is that since the skill hasn't assimilated with his body yet, the skill name is garbled and I can't use holy magic either.

"I don't get what it means for a skill not to assimilate, though. Well, if Renoa says so, it must be so. At least he seemed to know more than I do."

And then, when my body was collapsing after being contaminated by the ape monkey's poison, I achieved a second encounter. The information I learned then was also two things. One is that there are multiple people with Renoa's level of ability, and that there exists something that can even make people of that level die.

Well, this information isn't that beneficial. They're stories about people who might be from a different country, or if things go wrong, even a different world. I tried looking up the explorer named Renoa, but he didn't come up. There's no way someone with that level of ability wouldn't be known to the world, and since he said things like Your Majesty and His Holiness, he might really be from another world.

As for this, it's just that Suzuka was shocked. In the sense that it tightened my loose attitude, it wasn't bad information.

What's important is the other one. The information of the clergyman's name, Renoa. It's just a name, but the moment I heard that name, I felt like something took shape inside me. The moment I heard the name, Renoa's face, which until then had looked blurry like it was out of focus, became visible—that's probably because I learned the name.

"Renoa... Renoa... I've never heard it, and I don't recall it either. It's not like the only change is just that his face became visible... Ah, the skill? Did the skill assimilate?"

Come to think of it, I was told the skill would assimilate, but I didn't ask when it would assimilate. When I heard Renoa's name, I felt like something clicked, and maybe that was the sensation of the skill assimilating.

Thinking that, I opened my status to check the skill.

"Ah, it looks like the garbling is fixed... eh?"

The skill column in the status. There, something unexpected by Suzuka was happening.