ch1-ch20 · 010-ch10

Chapter 10

Sai's second Shinjuku Tower conquest.

The sky over Shinjuku was clear and beautiful again today. A few clouds dotted the sky, adding color to it.

Under that sky. Sai was checking his own channel on "Tower Tube" with his smartphone.

The view count was around thirty.

That meant people other than his parents and sister's family were watching.

Sai himself was one thing, but apparently there were people who just casually watched someone's dungeon conquests.

Also, the AI patrols counted toward the numbers, apparently.

The AI patrols were apparently a system where a computer checked the streams for any illegal activity.

To Sai, it sounded like something out of a sci-fi future.

Incidentally, the streams of top adventurers who reached as far as floor 25 regularly got millions of views. Fights with Floor Bosses reached tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of views.

Those battles were apparently getting attention overseas too, which led to those kinds of numbers.

Having his adventures seen and monitored by countless strangers.

Having his know-how on display was something Sai, raised in the other world, could hardly wrap his head around.

You hide your trump cards.

That was the iron rule of an adventurer who lived in the other world.

But in Japan, you could say they aimed to reduce lawlessness and save more lives by forcibly making one's methods public.

Thinking of it that way, well, he could kind of accept it.

He didn't know how much of the know-how he'd developed in the other world viewers could absorb, but it probably wasn't something they could learn overnight.

Besides, if someone's adventuring got better from watching his movements, that was a good thing.

He was fine sharing know-how as much as they wanted.

But his trump cards... he probably wouldn't be showing those for a while.

Thinking about such things, he entered Shinjuku Tower.

He'd already seen floors 1 through 3 last time, so he dashed straight through to floor 4.

Incidentally, once you reached floor 6, teleportation devices became usable.

A convenient feature of dungeons born on Earth.

The will of Shinjuku Tower was kind to serious adventurers.

It wouldn't tolerate cheating or cowardly acts, but it wanted to be conquered.

About eight to ten types of monsters appeared on floor 4 as well.

Insect-types, mostly.

There were skeletons too.

He kicked away large mantises, struck down flying insect-types with unaspected magic, killing them in a single blow.

Many of the enemies were the kind that rookies would face in the other world.

They were the kinds of monsters that beginners or lower-rank adventurers would deal with.

Not the kind Sai, with thirty years of adventuring experience, would struggle against.

Occasionally, he saw adventurer parties fighting.

Front line and back line were all mixed together in combat.

Their coordination still had a long way to go, but their efforts moved him.

"Everyone in Japan is working hard too."

Thinking that, he walked and found the stairs to floor 5.

Floor 5.

Here lurked a troublesome presence in dungeons.

Zombies.

Zombie-types were a nasty bunch, and the worst part was the smell.

The intense stench was quite problematic, and depending on the situation, it could even stop a person's movements.

The reasoning was that the more you moved, the more the smell wafted toward your own nose. People hated that and became sluggish in their movements.

Furthermore, after fighting, the smell clinging to your clothes was also a problem.

Therefore, it was best to deal with zombies using ranged attacks.

But Sai could use air purification magic, so he spread a wind barrier around himself while also purifying the air, allowing him to fight normally.

It was one of those spells adventurers would do well to learn.

Not only could it counter minor breath attacks, but it also allowed you to be active in places with thin oxygen, like caves.

And so, whenever zombies appeared, Sai quickly lopped off their heads.

Nearby adventurers who saw Sai beheading zombies let out "ooooh" cheers. They were surprised to see someone fighting at close range when zombies were normally fought from a distance. Wondering if he wasn't bothered by the smell.

He mowed down monsters like an assembly line, collecting drops as he went. He found treasure chests along the way on the floor, but deliberately ignored them. Treasure chests around floor 5 were better left for rookie adventurers. It was also a matter of the spirit of "get upstairs faster" rather than the hassle of opening them.

Without any particular hardship, he beat them down one after another and arrived just before the floor 5 Floor Boss room.

The Floor Boss chamber was challenged one party at a time.

If the fight seemed hopeless, fleeing was an option, but under no circumstances should you head to floor 6. If you escaped to floor 6 and left it at that, you'd be judged as having received a penalty, and the Floor Boss would double and come after you. Incidentally, if that somehow happened, it was apparently safe if you could go back down the stairs, pass through the Floor Boss chamber, and escape to just in front of the Floor Boss chamber's door.

Also, there was a lamp in front of the Floor Boss chamber. If it was lit red, someone was fighting, and the door couldn't be opened from outside. If the lamp turned blue, you could enter.

Fortunately, the lamp was currently blue, but there was a party in front of the door.

They seemed about to challenge it.

A five-person party was discussing things in front of Sai.

They looked about the same age as Soma and the others from the other day.

Their gear told the story of their hardships getting here—a badly damaged chest piece paired with a brand-new shield, a shiny magic wand paired with a shabby old robe.

"We're doing it this time for sure!"

"It's okay, we can do it...! This time for sure...!"

"I learned a spell for dealing with the Skeleton Knight, so relax."

"Watch us! We'll show you we can do it this time!"

The whole party showed their confidence toward the cameras that were streaming.

Sai cheered them on in his heart and decided to wait at a distance from the party.

"Huh? You're alone, old-timer?"

But a woman who probably found it odd that a middle-aged guy was waiting alone in front of the floor 5 Floor Boss chamber called out to Sai.

"Yeah, just testing my strength a bit."

"Hmm, that's kind of impressive, maybe."

The woman glanced at the short sword at Sai's waist.

An ordinary, run-of-the-mill short sword he'd bought just for show.

"You're gonna fight with that...? Against the giant Skeleton Knight?"

"Nah, my specialty's this."

He said that and wiggled his hand.

"By that, don't tell me you mean unarmed!?"

"If you train it, you can do everything—striking, cutting, parrying."

"Y-you really think that'll work...?"

There were many weapons for adventurers, but few made unarmed combat their main style.

However, apparently boxers and martial artists who did adventuring as a side gig sometimes fought unarmed, so it wasn't that weird a concept.

Still, fighting a large enemy unarmed was something he hadn't really heard of, and he could understand why she'd feel uneasy.

"Hey, we're going!"

"Oh, sorry. Well, I'll do my best!"

"Yeah. I'll be rooting for you from here."

And so, the five-person party opened the door to the Floor Boss chamber and headed into the battlefield.

The lamp above the door lit up red.

Their challenge had begun.

From beyond the door, he couldn't hear any of their voices or battle sounds.

There was probably some kind of countermeasure in place.

All Sai could do was pray.

He hoped they could all make it to floor 6 without anyone missing...

And then, over ten minutes later.

The five returned to the room in front of the Floor Boss, crying, gasping for breath, scrambling in panic.

All of them were half-dead.

Two of them—a man and a woman—were especially badly injured.

"Ugh... why... Haruka..."

The woman had a large gash on her stomach.

It was the woman who'd spoken to Sai earlier.

The man with the shield had his left arm, which supported the shield, drenched in blood and tattered.

"Pant, pant... more than that, we need healing..."

"I'm thorry... the thield bath... I couldn't handle it..."

The man who'd probably been managing the potions showed a broken recovery potion bottle.

All the potions they'd had in their bags were ruined.

The man was bawling his eyes out.

Because of his mistake, his friends might die. The worst-case scenario was flashing through his mind.

Sai wasn't about to abandon them.

"Use this."

"Th-thank you so much!"

Despite being injured themselves, they frantically used the recovery potions on the two who were seriously hurt. The potion Sai had given them was an intermediate recovery potion.

In an instant, the two's injuries healed.

The remaining three sighed with relief at the sight.

Sai felt relieved seeing that too.

"Here. You guys use these too."

Saying that, he handed low-grade recovery potions to the other three.

"We don't deserve—"

"Just take them. The way things are, you'll get seriously hurt escaping."

Hearing that, they accepted them with gratitude and each began recovering.

The man who seemed to be the leader thanked Sai.

"I'm really sorry for all this trouble..."

"Don't worry about it. Times like this, you help each other out."

"More importantly, how did this happen?"

Sai was curious about why they'd lost to the Skeleton Knight.

"...When the thing swung its sword horizontally, our shield-bearer managed to withstand it, but he got injured in the process..."

Then, apparently when they were panicking over that injury and trying to recover, the woman named Haruka got her stomach slashed.

"I see. Sorry, that was tough to bring up."

"No, it's fine... ngh..."

Before entering, they'd seemed to have thoroughly prepared counters for the Skeleton Knight, yet they still couldn't win. He must have been frustrated. Tears of regret spilled from the man's eyes.

"I bet you wanted to win."

"Yes..."

"But all five of you are alive. There'll be another chance."

"...Yes..."

His voice was weak.

They'd prepared thoroughly, yet still couldn't win. It must have been infuriating.

Sai stood in front of the five-person party.

"Come to think of it, you can use smartphones inside the tower too, right?"

Saying that, Sai took out his smartphone and showed them his channel.

On the streaming screen, the dungeon was being broadcast.

"I'm going to challenge the Skeleton Knight now. I'm fighting alone, so take a rest and watch how it's done."

It was uncalled-for meddling.

But if it could become the nourishment for these crestfallen adventurers to take their next step... Sai told them his name, "Yamana Saito," and urged them to watch the stream.

"All alone...!"

They'd lost as five.

There was no way one person could manage it alone.

The man hurriedly tried to stop him.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty capable, you know."

Saying that, Sai readied his short sword.

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Thank you for reading.

Today also marks a two-chapter update. Another update was made at 9 AM as well.

Thank you very much.