ch41-ch60 · 044-ch43

Chapter 43

Sugai Dungeon, which should normally only spawn monsters from D-rank down to C-rank lower, had transformed into a demon's den by the twelfth basement floor, where upper B-rank monsters appeared.

However, the terrain up to this point had no changes.

The labyrinth's shape itself was maintained — only the monsters appearing had changed.

"Can't call this D-rank with a straight face anymore" "Ojou and the others are pushing through without any danger, so it's easy to misunderstand, but this dungeon's gotten pretty dangerous" "The published map goes up to the fifteenth floor, right?" "No, the sixteenth floor is the deepest boss room. It was supposed to be a fully explored labyrinth"

"Ah... you guys are seriously knowledgeable. You know way too much."

Toru checked the stream chat while advancing through the corridor of the twelfth basement floor and let out genuine admiration.

"Toru-bro's not surprisingly knowledgeable, is he"

"Well, as a cleaner you wouldn't need info on the lower layers"

"Hey hey, are dungeons like this common? The kind that aren't very complex but the monsters just keep getting stronger? Normally you'd think dungeon difficulty would include the complexity of finding the next staircase, wouldn't you?"

Tia, still not wearing any armor, walking leisurely with the holy sword in one hand, said something like that. Not to Toru, of course. It was probably a question for Kujo Reiko, the butler Kashiwazaki Joichiro, and the viewers.

"Generally speaking, yes. The image is that dungeon difficulty and monster rank rise together, but there are occasionally dungeons where only the maze, mechanisms, and puzzle difficulty are high while the monster rank stays moderate, and the reverse is also true."

"I see. In that kind of dungeon, would there be treasure chests or hidden treasures? More than monster drops, that'd be the main attraction, right?"

"That's what they say. I've never challenged one, so I don't know the details..."

"Ojou has zero interest in puzzles lol" "She's specialized in fighting monsters" "Ojou wouldn't need treasure from puzzle dungeons lol"

"Everyone has their strengths! And when it comes to labyrinths, the most important thing is monsters! Beating monsters to a pulp with these hands! Getting magic cores and rare drops, giving back to society! That's the standard for explorers! O-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

Kujo Reiko's loud laugh echoed well through the stone maze.

Naturally, or perhaps unsurprisingly, judging from the stream chat, Reiko's claim wasn't exactly standard. Apparently, explorers who entered dungeons in pairs and focused on combat were actually quite rare.

"Well, I don't think we'll have much use for puzzle dungeons either. Honestly, I'm bad at puzzles, and Toru seems like he'd find them annoying too."

"That so? Bro doesn't seem stupid, y'know."

The cameraman butler said in his usual flat tone. It wasn't praise or insult — he just said what he thought.

"Hmm, but Toru's lazy about stuff, isn't he. He seemed annoyed about setting up the stream equipment too. And like, if there's a door that opens when you solve a puzzle, don't you think he could just cut it open with the cursed blade?"

"I'm not doing that. Unless there's a need."

"If there's a need he'd do it lol" "Toru-bro would totally do that" "Normally you wouldn't even think of cutting dungeon walls or doors"

"Well, I mean, if there's a kid dying behind the door, I don't have time to solve puzzles. Treasure chests I could give up on."

"Mm-hmm. I like that about you, Toru."

"And I find that about you slightly annoying."

"Ehh!? That's mean! I'm expressing affection!"

"Lmao" "A shocked Tia-tan is also cute" "Can't be helped" "Hmm, that's even" "Eight to two lol" "By the way, bro, Tia-san — do you know what one plus two plus three, all the way up to a hundred, adds up to?"

"Huh? Ahaha... that kind of thing, I'm not really..."

"Five thousand fifty. Fifty pairs of a hundred and one. Saw it in a video somewhere."

"What use is that kind of knowledge!" "You can show off at moments like this." "Lmao" "True"

"Toru-bro doesn't seem like the musclehead type compared to Ojou lol"

While they were chatting, a monster presence came from the end of the passage.

They hadn't agreed on it, but there was an unspoken flow where Kujo Reiko and Toru took turns fighting, so this time it was Toru's turn.

What appeared from the darkness was a bear about two meters in total length, covered in golden fur. Toru couldn't tell if that was bigger or smaller than a real bear.

"An Old Bear!"

"It's an upper B-rank Gold Bear, y'know. The rare drop, Kumanoi Potion, is pretty profitable. Supply's low, and Gold Bears themselves aren't monsters you see often."

"Butler completely ignoring Ojou lol" "He still gets it wrong" "Even though it was corrected to Gold Bear once" "Profit-priority crew is smart" "This guy thinks Toru-bro's actual name is Toru-bro" "I don't think he's noticed, but the channel's got over thirty thousand subscribers now" "Viewership passed forty thousand too" "Congrats!" "Amazing! Probably the fastest for a dungeon streamer!" "Nah, the channel itself has existed for a while, so probably not the fastest" "But still amazing, Toru-bro!" "Congrats!" "Congratulations!"

"Ah... well, I don't really get that stuff, but thanks for the subs and comments. Alright, I'm going in."

Even if it was the result of various coincidences, actually having over forty thousand people watching his stream did stir some kind of emotion.

But it felt a little embarrassing, so after expressing his thanks, he immediately shouldered his rebar bludgeon and started walking toward the golden bear.

Tia's gaze and warm smile were probably not his imagination.

◇◇◇

Against an upper B-rank monster, it was probably like facing an armored vehicle with modern weapons from the last century. Toru had never fought an armored vehicle, so he couldn't say for sure, but the Gold Bear's attack power and speed exceeded every law of terrestrial wildlife.

Bears in general boasted enough mass and toughness that if one collided head-on with a mini-truck, the mini-truck would lose. A monster modeled after that was unsurprisingly troublesome. A carelessly swung arm would scatter concrete walls like tofu, and the speed of its approach after pushing off the ground was like a fired crossbow bolt.

Fighting something like this one-on-one was absurd.

Thinking that, Toru lightly side-stepped the ridiculous strike of the charging Gold Bear swinging its right arm, spun his body around, and hit its head with the rebar bludgeon. Naturally, an attack like that shouldn't even faze a bear — but since he was channeling mana into it, a simple blunt strike carried the force of a pile driver.

There was no way Toru's current mana could produce such a blow, but the explanation was simple. He minimized the mana put into each movement, concentrating it only at the moment of impact. Of course, under normal circumstances, this wasn't something a brand-new explorer could do.

The cursed blade, which had devoured half of Toru's soul, was automatically optimizing Toru's movements — including his mana.

Dodge, prepare, swing weapon, impact.

If each of these actions used ten mana, the full sequence would use forty mana. But if he could dodge with three, seven remained. Preparatory movements needed no mana. There was a limit to how fast he could swing his weapon, and if he could put mana into the impact alone, then ten impact could be amplified to around thirty. The more finely he divided the actions, the more mana he could save. Of course, he still had to use it where necessary.

To damage a monster, attacks infused with mana were necessary.

So strip mana from everything else.

That kind of movement was installed in Toru's body.

The golden bear, struck on the back of the head by the bludgeon, tumbled forward from the force. Especially since it had been charging toward Toru. As the bear rolled across the labyrinth floor and tried to get up, Toru's next strike was faster. He closed in quickly, aimed the rebar bludgeon at its ear hole, and when it penetrated deep enough, kicked the bludgeon in.

The combat boots Kujo Reiko had invested in as dungeon gear had a steel core — probably an even harder material — in the toe like safety shoes, so kicking the rebar didn't break the boot.

Gush — the golden bear's head split open.

Of course, he didn't let his guard down.

Even though he could fight, if he took a hit from an upper B-rank monster with his total mana capacity, it would be very bad. So the moment his attack ended, he was already out of reach of the bear's arms.

Keeping an eye out for ambushes, he shouldered the bludgeon and confirmed the Gold Bear dissolving into mana particles. He reached for the magic core left on the ground — and noticed a strange small bottle had dropped.

"A jackpot! Kumanoi Potion! Incredible luck, Toru-bro-sama!"

Still not used to Kujo Reiko loudly expressing her joy, Toru was slightly startled, then picked up the fallen bottle.

He could sort of understand why magic cores, being crystallized mana, would drop — but a transparent bottle with liquid inside dropping made almost no sense to him.

"First rare drop of the stream!" "More than that, he's fighting without any real danger" "Taking down an upper B-rank Gold Bear with bundled rebar is pretty insane" "His attacks are brutal. Sticking rebar in its ear lol"

Putting the bottle in his magic bag, he peeked at the mobile device Tia was holding and found himself being discussed quite a bit.

"Ah... feel-wise, if I fought head-on, C-rank middle would probably be my limit. But I don't have to fight head-on — I can dodge and hit. And I don't have to hit the stomach — hitting the head works. Or better yet, just stab it in the eye. It's like... that kind of feeling."

"You speak madness" "Brutal lol" "We wanna hear Tia-tan and Ojou's take too"

"That's what they say."

"Huh? Oh, yes — well. From what I can sense up close, Toru-bro-sama's mana isn't that substantial. Maybe around upper C-rank middle. I was planning to help immediately if things got dangerous, but he never seemed in any real danger."

Kujo Reiko's brief hesitation in answering was because she was doing shadow boxing while stepping in place, grinning — probably simulating how she would handle the Gold Bear's charge.

"I think he can go a bit further. Even if he gets hurt, I can use recovery magic, and if things get really bad, I can help."

"What is this, a gathering of battle maniacs?"

"Bro, bro, I'm different y'know."

The butler took his side as if it had nothing to do with him, but since he was so detached, it wasn't very reassuring. Still, Toru himself had no intention of pushing it if things got too rough, so the annoying part was that he could say "no problem" for now.

"Oh, right. I accidentally put this in my bag."

Suddenly remembering, he took the Kumanoi Potion, the Gold Bear's rare drop, out of his magic bag, hesitated briefly, then handed it to the butler Joichiro.

"Kumanoi Potion is a universal remedy effective against most illnesses. At market price, it's a solid hundred million at minimum. You'd either secure it for research, submit it to the Labyrinth Agency, or put it up for auction. If it's for research, the Kujo group will buy it."

"Huh? That potion is way more valuable than the dragon's rare drop from when we helped Anthem?"

Tia said, puzzled, but Toru could sort of understand this one. As a general rule, the value of things was determined by the market.

"Isn't it because the people who want dragon scales are mostly explorers? I don't know the details, but I thought those kinds of rare materials couldn't be freely traded."

"Freely traded?"

"Ah... what was it, I saw something on the news about how if labyrinth produce was completely allowed to be freely bought and sold, things could get pretty bad."

Toru wasn't an expert on economics, so his knowledge was sketchy, but he remembered hearing that after muddling through the post-World Fusion chaos, in parts of Europe, labyrinth produce brought back by explorers became so valuable that it caused public order deterioration and infrastructure collapse.

"Most likely, materials at that level are designated as non-purchasable, and the Labyrinth Agency takes them at a token price. In practical terms, the bulk of what Toru-bro-sama earned from slaying that dragon and the Black Knight was probably from the magic cores."

"Ehh... wouldn't explorers complain about that?"

"Some do, but by convention, explorers who submit those kinds of 'special grade' items receive equipment from the Labyrinth Agency. And the 'certain restrictions' on explorer activities have the pretext of maintaining society, so the rule is: if you can't agree, don't become an explorer."

As for this point, Toru thought it couldn't be helped.

He didn't think it was completely fair or equitable in the details, but even so, the fact that society was still functioning reasonably well in a world that had to accommodate foreign elements like "labyrinths," "produce," and "explorers" was pretty miraculous.

After all, only a quarter-century had passed. About five years of that was pure chaos. And with "labyrinths" — things that made no sense — bringing all sorts of stuff without regard for logic or balance, it might be unavoidable for explorers to take some losses.

"Well, materials at that level are really rare"

"We don't know how much Anthem paid him, but some Northern European countries proved that leaving it to market forces is dangerous"

"And restrictions mean you can't just sell it overseas either"

"Ah... so taking super rare materials out of the country doesn't benefit domestic explorers. Which means it doesn't benefit national interests, basically."

"Yes, something like that. There are several other reasons as well."

Kujo Reiko smiled, saying "How perceptive," but Toru had never been praised like that and didn't know how to react.

"Universal remedy, huh. So it's less rare than dragon scales, so it actually flows into the market. But there are still some restrictions, right?"

"That's correct. For reference, if the Kujo group buys it as research material, we'd pay a hundred million after deducting labyrinth produce taxes. If you put it up for auction, it would probably fall between a hundred and three hundred million, though it might soar to five or six hundred million. However, as I mentioned, there are certain restrictions on labyrinth produce auctions, so the price won't go completely through the roof."

"Rich people hoarding everything would be bad, I guess."

Normally that was how market principles worked, but if labyrinth-related items were left to those principles, something would probably break.

Toru didn't know the details, but maybe extremely wealthy people had restrictions on entering auctions.

"Of course, if you put it up for auction, you'd receive the sale price minus listing fees and taxes, but it would take time. Which would you prefer?"

"Research material."

There was no need to think about it. If it were ten thousand versus fifty thousand, maybe he'd hesitate, but whether it was a hundred million or five hundred million, it was all incomprehensible money to Toru.

In that case, he had no need to deliberately make some rich dying person happy. If he didn't do it, someone else would. But someone willing to sell it cheap as research material was probably rare.

"Instant answer lol" "That's not something just anyone can do" "Toru-bro's a good guy..."

"Nah, don't go judging someone as good or bad over something like this. If I were the rich one, I might've sold it at a high price to a rich acquaintance."

"Mm-hmm, I like that about you, Toru."

"Ah... y-yeah yeah. Sure."

"Hey Toru! Don't brush me off! I think it's mean when you don't react properly!"

"O-ho-ho-ho! Toru-bro-sama is just shy!"

◇◇◇

Thirteenth floor.

When they descended the stairs, there was a straight passage, and at the end of it, a door.

Which, of course, differed from the existing map.

The original thirteenth floor was a similar maze layer — a different change from the previous mutation pattern where "the labyrinth structure itself was the same but the monsters appearing were different."

"Toru-bro-sama. This is most likely a boss room."

Kujo Reiko said, the corners of her mouth curling up.

Even the most oblivious person would be able to see the enjoyment in her expression. A joy that bordered on pure — like a kindergarten kid waking up on a Sunday morning.

"This is it! This is our Ojou!" "It's useless to stop her, Toru-bro"

"Nah, I don't really have a reason to stop her... but with upper B-rank appearing on the last floor, what do you think the boss room ahead will be?"

He asked the viewers casually, and got several guesses.

In a normal labyrinth, probably A-rank. Considering it was a boss room, possibly A-rank middle. If the difficulty curve was gentle, maybe an enhanced upper B-rank individual.

And considering that Anthem had been in trouble at Kamioka Dungeon, there was also a chance of S-rank appearing.

"Well, if it looks dangerous, I'll protect you."

Tia said lightly, without any hint of tension, but since Toru had decided yesterday not to rely on Tia's "protection," he glanced at the butler still holding the stream camera, saw him nod back, and gave a small shrug.

"Alright, let's go. Before Kujo-san starts ramming ahead."

"O-ho-ho-ho! Wise decision, Toru-bro-sama! Another ten seconds and I would've charged! I'm joking, of course! O-ho-ho! In labyrinths, repeated caution is crucial! Everyone, have you confirmed your equipment?"

"Oh, in that case, I'll put on some armor real quick."

Tia said with the same energy as deciding to put a folding umbrella in her bag, then disappeared. And immediately remanifested in light armor, lightly kicked up the holy sword that was about to roll across the floor, caught it, and smiled warmly at the camera.

"So cute lol" "Beautiful and cute — that's just unfair" "Toru-bro, I envy you more for Tia-tan than for the holy sword or cursed blade"

While checking comments like that, ten seconds seemed to have passed, and Kujo Reiko clashed the gauntlets on both hands together with a clang and said.

"—Then, let's go!"