Chapter

c1-c20 · 013-ch13

Chapter 13: It's Surprisingly Easy (According to an Expert) POV: Negomin

The Lance Tiger bones turned to dust and vanished with a single stroke of the deck brush. As I stood there dumbfounded, Shibasaki-san spoke to me in a perfectly normal tone.

"How was that?"

"I heard some kind of weird noise and suddenly the bones in front of me just disappeared."

"Huh?"

"Ah, no... that's amazing.": Made to say it; He totally deflected that one; Did Negomin just say something rude?; What actually happened just now

W-w-wait a minute! What is this guy doing!? And what did he even do!?

"W-what exactly did you do just now?"

"Oh, as you can see, I crushed the bones with a deck brush.": As you can see?; We couldn't see anything; Nobody saw it. I thought my device was glitching

You just tap it with a deck brush and bones turn out like this?! Even with a dedicated bone-crushing hammer, I don't think it would turn to dust!!

But Shibasaki-san didn't give off any vibe of having done something special. This must really be just his everyday work scene. You've got to be kidding me.

"Um, if you don't mind... could I see it one more time...?"

"Sure~": Nice, he's doing it again; Saved, I missed it; I'm watching carefully this time

Shibasaki-san walked deeper into the cave just like before, approaching a monster corpse lying there. This monster was one size larger than the one that just turned to dust.

"Alright, here I go then~": No way he can do it with that size; Th-this is impossible; Even if he could, it should take longer than last time

Shibasaki-san smoothly brought the deck brush down.

SUOOOON!

Again, some incomprehensible sound rang out, and the bones before me turned to dust.

"...haha. Ahahahaha!"

"I-is it really that funny?": It disappeared; Huh?; www; Negomin broke; Wait wait wait; I'll make monster corpses disappear; It's amazing but my brain can't keep up

Okay, let's just give up on understanding for now.

Also, based on that exchange, everyone seemed to acknowledge that Shibasaki-san was the real deal. The concurrent viewership reached numbers I'd never seen before. And it was still climbing.

Ahaha. At this point, all I can do is laugh.

"Shibasaki-san, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"That brush you're holding... I thought about it yesterday too, but is it maybe some kind of magical tool with magic or enchantments on it?": I was thinking that too; Or maybe legendary wood for the material; It's definitely a deep layer artifact

"No, it's a commercial product. I bought it at a supermarket near my house."

"Ah I see, a supermarket near your house...": Huh?; Don't just accept that, Negomin; Ehh...; What is this person saying; Stop lying; I bought one at my local home center!
"...Wait, hold on! Yesterday you deflected that huge monster's attack with that thing! Regular wood couldn't handle that! How do you explain that!!": Yeah, yeah!; If you don't explain that, I won't be able to sleep; Tell him more, Negomin; We're on your side, Negomin!

All substances, not just weapons, normally have their performance and durability enhanced when you channel mana through them. However, it's known that each material has a limit for mana enhancement.

For example, let's say something with a strength of 1 becomes 2 when you channel mana through it. If the limit is 2, then channeling more mana won't make it 3 or 4.

I'm pretty sure wood has low compatibility. I read somewhere that no matter how hard you try, it can't exceed the hardness of iron. You'd be way better off just using a steel sword normally.

And yet, this wooden stick right in front of me is clearly showing performance and durability beyond common sense. Between yesterday's combat and the bone-crushing just now. Something's not right if there isn't some kind of magic enchanted on it.

"Oh, well... materials with low mana compatibility like wood, if you force a massive amount of mana through them, you can temporarily raise that limit."

"...hah."

"So I time my attacks and such to match that moment."

"...hah?": ???; What is that, some kind of bug exploit attack thing; Uwah, it's the mana resistance talk. This came up in my university lectures; That's impossible, that limit boost only happens for a split second, imperceptible to humans; I think it was less than 1F or something

I was given an explanation but I still don't get it. Raise the limit? Temporarily? What does that even mean...?

As I stood there dumbfounded, Shibasaki-san handed me the deck brush he was holding.

"You can do it pretty easily once you get used to it. There's another corpse right there, want to try?"

"H-huh?"

The deck brush I was handed was definitely ordinary. The feel of it was normal, and I couldn't sense any special mana flowing inside it either.

Anyway, I'll try doing what he said. First, channel a large amount of mana, right?

"...hnngh!": Oh; How's it looking? Can you do it?; Negomin straining is cute

Yeah, the mana isn't flowing at all. My usual dagger must have been really good quality.

Still, I pushed through and tried forcing it in with all my might. I can feel some mana flowing, but there's no way I could perceive the moment when the limit is raised.

Hmm, how's this...? Oh, it seems like quite a bit got through. Now!

"YAAAAAAH!": Ooh!; Here it comes!; Negomin awakening!

I swung the deck brush down at the bones in front of me with all my might. The hard part of the deck brush went clunk against the bones. Of course, they didn't turn to dust.

"...": Yeah; Figured as much~; Saw that coming; Negomin tried her best

The comment section sympathized with me over the completely expected result. Can I cry?

"U-um! I don't feel like I can do this at all!"

"Ah yeah, it is a bit difficult.": A bit?; Just a bit?; Being able to do it is what's weird; This isn't Negomin's fault; Is it actually difficult?; If you can seriously pull off "theoretically possible," then yeah you can do it; Channel large amounts of mana ← doable I guess; Time it to deflect enemy attacks in that split second ← insanely high difficulty but not impossible; Doing that throughout an entire fight ← idiot, no way that's possible; It's like saying you'll win if you get a hole-in-one on every hole in golf

Even with my desperate protest, Shibasaki-san remained completely relaxed.

I get it now, this person genuinely thinks of it as just "a bit difficult" of a technique. What kind of environment do you have to grow up in to end up like this?

Still not fully convinced, I returned the deck brush to Shibasaki-san.

"Thank you for letting me borrow it... but isn't this a pretty reckless way to use it?"

"You're right, it breaks quickly. That's why I use this one."

"Ahaha~ I see..."

"So please be careful not to imitate this with your favorite weapons or anything."

"Yes.": "Yes" my ass; Kids, don't try this at home; We couldn't copy it even if we wanted to; Like I could do that, idiot; Realm of godlike skill

I didn't even have the energy to point out how meaningless that warning was, but in terms of stream content, this was already more than enough. If I keep following Shibasaki-san's work like this, I'm sure I'll get even more great footage!

"I understand the work now! Let's get going, full speed ahead!"

"Understood.": Negomin gave up; Isn't she getting kind of throwaway about this?; Uncle is too amazing...

Just as I was about to start walking, Shibasaki-san crouched down right there. No, looking closely, he was doing squats. What's this all of a sudden, doing some kind of warm-up?

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Huh? We're going full speed ahead, right?": Huh, what; Scary; Why am I feeling dread

Shibasaki-san finished his warm-up and got into a running stance.

"Make sure to keep up with me."

With that, Shibasaki-san took off and in the blink of an eye, he was far away.

Huh?: Huh?; He's gone?; Hey, that old man just ran off!; Negomin, you gotta chase him, chase him!

"H-huh? Ah... 《Magic Step》! 《Red Boost》!"

The moment I realized I was being left behind, I hurriedly cast obstacle nullification and speed enhancement enchantments and started running. Thanks to my quick judgment, I was fortunately able to spot Shibasaki-san's back getting smaller in the depths of the cave.

I chased after him in a complete daze. Shibasaki-san ahead would stop occasionally, turn rolling corpses to dust, then start running again. Thanks to those actions, I somehow managed to keep up...

F-fast! Honestly, speed was the one thing I was confident in. My max speed should be A-rank level, that's what I thought...!

"Um! Please wait...!"

I called out with all my voice to Shibasaki-san, who was crushing bones in the distance. My voice barely seemed to reach him, and he stopped in place.

"Is something wrong? Negomin-san?"

"Too... fast..."

"Oh, was it? Sorry, I got a bit more excited than usual...": If he gets excited, THAT happens?; Too fast; How is he not out of breath after running at that speed; Isn't Negomin amazing for being able to keep up with him?

I desperately caught my breath while I could. If Shibasaki-san starts running again, I'll really be left behind this time.

Once I calmed down a bit, I had the presence of mind to look around. We ran quite a bit, but where are we now? We must be at floor 12 or so by now....

"Huh, this is... floor 17?!"

"That's right.": Whoa, it's true; No way; In this short amount of time!?

I didn't notice... we've already made it to floor 17.

Floor 17 would normally take me 3 hours by myself, but less than 10 minutes had passed since we started running. This is a first.

I was running so frantically that I don't really understand what happened, but I could tell that Shibasaki-san running ahead was defeating monsters that attacked him left and right as he progressed.

Wait, dungeons are supposed to be something you explore carefully, right? Managing your stamina, food situation, deciding what to keep based on your bag capacity and the materials you've collected... that's how it normally works!

This person really is on a completely different level...

'Shibasaki-san! Think more about Negomin!'

The voice of the operator named Maika-chan that Shibasaki-san mentioned leaked from his incam.

Thank god, at least someone around him points out how absurd he is... Honestly, I'm grateful. I've never run at full speed like this before, so I want to take a break.

Shibasaki-san replied with a troubled expression to the voice on the other end of the incam.

"Even if you say that, what should I do?"

'Just running the whole time is boring! For the stream, add more variety or something.'

"I see, variety. Then the middle layer lower section would be better."

"...Huh?"

Something seems off.

Did he say middle layer lower section? Could it be, we're going to floor 21 now?? Floors 21 to 30 of Shinjuku Dungeon, the middle layer lower section—I can go there, but it's not an easy place by any means. Even experienced explorers can die easily if they don't prepare properly.

I've only made it as far as floor 27 yesterday. And right now, I only have minimal equipment, and I doubt Shibasaki-san is properly prepared either. Actually, this person only brought work clothes and a deck brush, didn't he?

Surely... surely he wouldn't actually go to floor 21 dressed like this! No way...

"Mm, alright then, let's go to floor 30."