Chapter-10 · EP-156
Episode 156: These Guys Are Hopeless
Exploration of the third floor was progressing smoothly.
Murasakimura, Sendo, and Akaishi were extremely capable. One-on-one, they probably wouldn't struggle against mere third-floor goblins anymore.
If they continued fighting like this and all reached level 3, they could probably challenge the third-floor boss.
It might be difficult to achieve in a single day, so they could come explore again another time.
Thinking about that, I realized I hadn't been very useful today.
Well, at least I had brought them here and given them guidance on efficient leveling – that was good enough.
The third floor had many explorers, but also a fair number of goblins. On the first floor, you had to search for slimes, but goblins would come to you.
So if we walked away from other explorers, we could keep fighting.
So far, we had defeated ten goblins. We expected Sendo and Akaishi to level up after about 30 more, and Murasakimura after about 70.
Wanting to raise Sendo and Akaishi to level 3 today, we continued walking, looking for the next prey.
Then Sendo, using his "Presence Detection" skill, found something strange.
"There are several explorers and several goblins up ahead, but… they're barely moving. Aren't they fighting?"
I tried using Presence Detection too. Indeed, there were presences, but they didn't seem to be fighting. Neither side seemed to be moving much.
At Sendo's words, I had a bad feeling.
"Maybe the explorers are badly injured and lying down?"
Hearing that, Murasakimura said in a panic.
"I'm worried. Let's go help!"
"No, we don't know that for sure yet…"
Ignoring my words, Murasakimura ran off.
Sendo and Akaishi followed.
Ah, I guess it can't be helped. Let's go.
Murasakimura and the others had been rushing, thinking there might be casualties, but as they got closer, they noticed something strange.
They heard loud laughter.
If someone was seriously injured to the point of being unable to move, there would be no laughter.
Yet there were also goblin presences.
It was also impossible for them to be chatting amicably with goblins.
So what was happening?
The question was answered when they arrived.
"Intestines are super long!"
"Gyahahaha!"
"Viewer count: 853…"
It was an abnormal sight.
Several bound goblins were lying around, all with parts of their bodies cut open, near death.
And in the center of the four explorers, a similarly bound goblin had its belly cut open by a man covered in green blood, who was pulling out its intestines.
"What are you doing?!"
Murasakimura shouted.
Hearing his voice, the four noticed us and all turned around.
"Oh, guest appearance?"
One of the four seemed to be filming with a smartphone.
What were these guys doing?
Murasakimura, also realizing, said.
"Are you filming this cruel scene?"
"Yeah, that's right. You guys want to join in?"
The frosted-hair man holding the knife was answered by the sunglass man next to him.
"Or do you want to be cut up like these guys?"
"Gyahahahaha!"
The four laughed loudly at the sunglass man's words. What was so funny?
And why was that guy wearing sunglasses? It just made it harder to see.
Then the sullen-looking cameraman muttered.
"'I want to see him dissected too.' 'I'm tired of green blood.'"
"Gyahaha! Humans aren't allowed, are they? We'd get banned immediately!"
The frosted-hair man answered.
Ignoring their vibe, Murasakimura continued to admonish them.
"This is in bad taste! Stop this cruelty!"
"Cruelty? You kill monsters too, don't you?"
The frosted-hair man retorted, saying something plausible.
His companions laughed along.
"'Justice Man appears!' 'Benji-senpai getting lectured by a kid lol' 'Maybe your values would change if you joined in?'"
The cameraman muttered again. What was he talking about?
Then one word from his muttering seemed to hit the frosted-hair man's funny bone.
"Justice Man! Hey, are you Justice Man?"
"What are you talking about?"
Murasakimura looked confused.
Still, these guys were nothing but off-putting.
Not only what they were doing, but their appearance – they looked more like street punks than explorers.
The frosted-hair man's leather jacket had large painted letters – I couldn't tell if it was fashionable or what. Why were there letters on it? A brand name?
I read the English letters on the sleeve.
"'LUXURY SURVIVAL'... Which is it, luxury or survival?!"
The words slipped out. ...I mean, it was probably a brand logo, but it was contradictory.
"Gyahahaha!"
The punks laughed at my voice.
"He's making fun of Benji's clothes!"
"Sh-shut up!"
"Viewer count: 954…"
"We're about to break 1000!"
The cameraman with the smartphone had been talking about viewer counts. Could it be...?
"Are you guys streaming this footage?"
"Oh! You're slow on the uptake, aren't you? You just noticed?"
So that was it. Then the cameraman had been reading comments from viewers watching the stream.
Still,
"Does the dungeon even get reception?"
Sendo answered my question.
"I hear the signal is pretty good in shallow floors. Here, it's probably stable."
The power of modern cell service is terrifying. Reaching even into dungeons!
"Viewer count: 974… 'Don't fight,' 'Is this going to be a brawl?' 'Don't fight, okay? Promise?'"
"Hey, hey, the numbers are going up fast. Alright, let's tease these guys and get even more viewers!"
These guys are hopeless. Getting involved will only cause us trouble.
"Hey, Murasakimura, let's go! Don't get involved with people like this."
"Stop streaming such cruel, bad-taste videos! The dungeon is not a place to mess around!"
He was hopeless too. He just couldn't let it go.