ch61-ch80 · 080-ch67

Chapter 67

Shinjuku Tower, floor nineteen.

In terms of difficulty, floor nineteen was aimed at high-level adventurers in Japan, but in the other world, it was mid-level adventurer territory.

That said, the monster encounter rate was high, and there were plenty of troublesome enemies.

For example, the Thunder Spiders encountered on floor seventeen might appear several at once, or large monsters like the Bloody Horn (large by dungeon standards) would show up.

Sai was exploring such a dungeon alone.

He quickly took down whatever could be defeated, and left alone whatever seemed troublesome.

With that general approach, he dealt with things as they came, continuing the dungeon exploration and confirming the shortest route to floor twenty.

After that came the blessings of the Shinjuku Tower dungeon.

He headed toward the treasure chest rooms he'd checked in advance, opening them one by one.

By the time you got to this level, opening treasure chests started to carry a bit of a thrill.

There were monsters disguised as treasure chests, and the traps were getting more annoying...

But of course, he was a seasoned scout.

He dismantled the traps with experience and skill.

Incidentally, all of these movements were visible to his viewers, but staying true to his instructor persona, he explained the traps while disarming them in practice. When he said "See? Easy, right?" his manner of speaking was completely reminiscent of that old TV show featuring an American painter's art class, earning him some resentment from certain adventurers.

Not everyone could make things work out that easily.

Anyway, opening the chests, he scored about three high-grade recovery potions. As for equipment, there was a water-attribute short sword and a ring. There was also some magic ore among the minerals, but it was low-grade.

Sometimes Shinjuku Tower's chests contained gold, silver, or minerals.

They were all raw lump form. Gold was a pretty good find in the current climate, but since similar items came out of dungeons worldwide, their value was said to be gradually declining.

Conversely, gemstone rough could be a huge jackpot depending on what you got.

As for ores, there were types like the magic ore Sai had just obtained — minerals that weren't produced anywhere until dungeons appeared.

In the past, there'd supposedly been debates like "Which one is mithril?" or "Isn't that red ore hihi'irokane?"

As for mithril, its definition matched the other world. It was silvery, and when you flowed magic through it, it glowed faintly green. Apparently that sight had been enough to identify it as mithril. A bullseye.

As for hihi'irokane, it was off.

In the other world, it was called magic ore, and by mixing it with several other materials, you could make what the other world called magisteel.

The other world's hihi'irokane had a much stronger reddish tint — it was a completely different substance.

Sai hoped that someday, through Hexaria, the shared terminology would spread and standardize.

He thought about that as he went about his merry treasure chest opening session.

That was when he sensed a presence approaching.

A familiar presence — his partner. Hexaria's presence.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Nah, your timing's pretty good actually."

There was a reason Sai was alone on floor nineteen.

Hexaria had reached floor sixteen on their previous adventure. To speed up their conquest pace from here on, Sai had gone ahead to explore floor nineteen, while Hexaria would make her way from floor sixteen to nineteen.

Once they regrouped, the plan was to reach the floor twenty boss together by the end of today.

"You were opening chests?"

"Yeah. I opened every chest on floor nineteen. These are all the things I got."

"Hmm... Not too bad, it seems."

From behind Sai, Hexaria looked over the acquired items.

Her face held a look of contemplation.

"Well, fine. Let's talk while we push forward."

"So from here on, I'll be heading to floor twenty with her. I'm muting my voice, so please understand."

The moment he muted his voice, Hexaria sighed.

"Honestly. What do they mean by 'hihi'irokane'? It's clearly a different substance — that's magic ore. As I thought, reports alone are unreliable."

"What's with you all of a sudden?"

"Oh, I may have mentioned this before, but I talked about how there's little mana on Earth, didn't I?"

"Yeah. Because of that, you can't even use half your full strength, Saria."

"Forget that. The problem is that Earth's people currently cannot observe mana."

"You don't mean—"

At that point, it clicked for Sai.

Back when he was young, Sai had taken lectures on 'magical engineering' at a school in the other world.

Just like learning the basics of 'science' in Japanese elementary school, he'd studied the basics of magical engineering there.

"Exactly that. If magic ore exists, even Earth's people should be able to make devices for measuring mana and magical power — in a primitive form, at least."

That was good news.

"That's great. Looks like Earth's magical engineering science is finally gonna move forward."

"Mmm. It depends on the grade of the magic ore, but it'll be a major step."

They both smiled.

"Alright then, let's continue this conversation at home. We're gonna blow through floor twenty."

"From here on, I'm leaving the scouting to you."

Up until now in Shinjuku Tower, Hexaria had taken the lead while Sai followed from behind. But from here on, that changed.

They would fight the way the two of them originally fought.

"Obviously. Leave the offense to me."

"Hmph. I'll save some for you."

"Much appreciated!"

The way these two fought was for Sai to take the front line while Hexaria followed as rear support.

The monsters Sai had been leaving alone as troublesome — all of them, everything.

The moment they were together, they were mowed down one after another.

Sai held them in check at the front while Hexaria attacked with magic from the rear.

Hexaria was the kind of adventurer who embodied overwhelming firepower and overwhelming defense.

Moreover, her internal magical power was on a bottomless level.

So Sai's combat method involved luring monsters into Hexaria's line of fire — so-called 'kiting' — or dealing a certain amount of damage beforehand so Hexaria's magic attacks could secure the kill.

This suppressed Hexaria's mana consumption and compressed the combat time per engagement.

Furthermore, these two were the developer of the Hexa Shield — which was currently causing a stir in adventurer circles — and a veteran adventurer skilled in its use, both professionals.

They casually treated the Hexa Shield as if it were stairs or walls, executing three-dimensional attacks without breaking a sweat.

They processed monsters at a speed that made the monsters they faced seem pitiful, and at a pace that would make adventurers struggling on these floors question their own worth.

Thus, they arrived in front of the floor twenty boss room about two hours after reuniting. A speed that would be unthinkable for other adventurers.

"The floor twenty Floor Boss is a Dullahan Lord, right?"

"Oh? What does it ride?"

"A six-legged horse with dragon-like scales and horns."

"Tch. To encounter one in Shinjuku Tower, of all places..."

Hexaria made a sour face.

"Tell me about it..."

Sai also looked frustrated.

These were not good expressions to be making when they were about to fight a Floor Boss.

Viewers who couldn't hear their muted voices noticed their expressions and started buzzing on social media: "Even they might find it tough with just the two of them?"

"A six-legged horse with dragon scales and horns... That's the phantom beast Grani Keiron, isn't it? In the other world, every single material from it is treasured... and yet all we can do is hope for a drop item..."

"Yeah. If adventurers from the other world heard about this, they'd cry."

...It turned out they were just counting their chickens before they hatched.

Incidentally, Grani Keiron was a phantom beast — a legendary, ultra-rare monster said to inhabit a certain island in the other world.

Few individuals ever made it to the central continent where the trade city was located, and getting to that island was itself difficult.

So for top-tier adventurers, Grani Keiron was treated as something of a bonus monster.

Because if you sold its materials in pristine condition, you'd get enough money to live comfortably for several years at minimum.

"Well, I guess the silver lining here is that since it's Shinjuku Tower, we don't need to be careful about preserving the hide and horns."

"Yeah. Let's prepare some lightning rods against its lightning attacks."

"The Dullahan Lord uses a greatsword and spams slash-type skills, so watch out for that."

"That's precisely why I'm leaving the front line to you. Handle the processing."

"Roger."

Then Sai suddenly realized something.

"Come to think of it, my voice is muted anyway. Wanna use your ability, Saria?"

Hexaria's innate ability — 'Charm' — worked on monsters with a certain level of intelligence.

Against the Dullahan Lord and Grani Keiron, 'Charm' would get through.

That said, giving an order like "kill yourself" might result in Sai being judged as not having fought, which would be hard to watch. But an order like "don't move from that spot" would be immediately effective and make the fight much easier.

"No, it's probably best not to. I don't know how whoever is watching me would judge it."

The creator of Shinjuku Tower — no, of the dungeons on this Earth.

Hexaria was being watched by that entity.

"What a passionate admirer."

She sighed.

"Hmph. They're not affected by my charm charms either, but if we go a few floors higher, they'll probably show their face."

With that, she looked at the ring on her left hand.

"Alright then. Let's get going."

"Mmm."

The floor twenty Floor Boss — 'Dullahan Lord.'

Normally a foe that a full six-person party would struggle to defeat with all their might, but Grani Keiron's lightning attacks were nullified by the magical lightning rod devices.

That left only the charge attack and the Dullahan Lord's sword-based skill attacks. Sai kept dodging them, and in the meantime Hexaria attacked. The moment it targeted Hexaria, Sai punched the Dullahan Lord.

The Dullahan Lord had been looking down at Sai and Hexaria from atop its steed, but apparently it hadn't anticipated Sai using the Hexa Shield to elevate himself to eye level.

And so, while Sai had the boss's attention, Hexaria attacked again. Repeating this cycle several times, the floor twenty Floor Boss 'Dullahan Lord' was vanquished.

The drops were Grani Keiron's horn, a shield styled after the Dullahan Lord's head, and two large magic stones.

Viewers wondered, "What was that frustrated look about?" — but apparently, these two weren't going to give them an answer.

And so, the pair broke through Shinjuku Tower's twentieth floor.

They set foot on floor twenty-one and ended their adventure for the day.

Some time later.

During one of Hexaria's lectures, the first 'mana observation device' on Earth was created.

Humanity's magical engineering capabilities had taken another step forward.

================ Thank you very much for reading.