ch41-ch60 · 045-ch44

Chapter 44

When they opened the door, it seemed to be a boss room — they emerged into a wide space.

Toru was new to entering dungeons as an explorer — except for that time at Kamioka Dungeon — so he had limited comparisons, but it felt similar to the fourteenth floor of Kamioka Dungeon.

Just walls, floor, and ceiling. A space that was simply vast.

Like a small gymnasium.

Something was about fifty meters ahead.

Monsters leaking mana outside their bodies caused a faint luminescence as the mana reacted with the air — this was more noticeable outside the labyrinth. The Great Serpent and the hydra from the Dungeon Rampage had been visible from three hundred meters away, but the thing fifty meters ahead was somewhat hard to see.

Simply because mana was floating inside the labyrinth too.

Either way, standing in front of the door was dangerous — if the enemy used a ranged attack like dragon's breath, there would be no escape. Without anyone saying anything, Toru and the others quickly advanced toward the center of the large room.

Click, click — Kujo Reiko's boots echoed.

Toru's combat boots seemed to be made of different material; they didn't make much sound. Tia was wearing what looked like metal greaves, but for some reason they didn't echo either. The butler hardly needed mentioning — of course he didn't stand out.

After advancing about fifteen meters, the enemy came into view.

"Ohh, a demon-type!"

Tia said in the tone of a high school girl finding a new product at a convenience store.

True to her word — standing in the center of the room was an eerie green-skinned monster with a form somewhere between human and ape.

It had bat-like wings on its back, its upper body appeared naked, but its lower body was covered in beastly fur. It had a thin monkey-like tail, and a pair of horns on its head.

Its total length seemed over two meters, but since its hands were on the ground like an ape or gorilla, it didn't feel towering. Still, there was an overwhelming wrongness to it — the kind that made you certain this was no natural animal.

Because most animals live to survive.

But demon-type monsters clearly existed to cause harm.

A sense of otherness that couldn't coexist with living things of this world.

When they noticed it, it noticed them — or rather, Toru's group had entered its combat range.

"This type of demon is A-rank middle"

"Doesn't seem like a unique, but it's a pretty dangerous spawn"

"A-rank on the thirteenth floor? Even if there are sixteen floors, this dungeon's gotta be S-rank"

"Toru-bro-sama, let's take this one together. I could handle it alone, but part of dungeon exploration is working with companions, and in that sense, this is a good opponent. Demon-type monsters can fire magic without charging or incantation, so just be careful about that, and we have nothing to fear."

Clack! Kujo Reiko stepped forward, her boots striking the ground.

"Ojou, a little more style."

The butler Joichiro added something unnecessary. At that, Kujo Reiko thought for a moment, then — even with the demon right there — deliberately turned to face Toru, pinched the skirt of her day dress, bent her knees, smirked, and corrected herself.

"—'Care to dance with me?'"

He couldn't help but laugh.

So this was what enjoyment meant.

Toru swung up his rebar bludgeon and intercepted the demon that was about to bring its right arm down on Kujo Reiko. Not that Reiko had been in any real danger — she'd taken her stance in the blink of an eye. If Toru hadn't acted, she would have intercepted it herself.

"Fine by me, Kujo-san. 'Let's enjoy the dance, then.'"

The demon, sent flying by the rebar bludgeon, stopped mid-air — somehow — and spread both arms, firing magic. Twelve fire-attribute magic arrows.

Toru consciously stepped in front of Kujo Reiko and charged into the barrage of magic arrows.

In his entire life, he'd never once been hit by magic.

But the cursed blade inside him judged it was fine.

Because the holy sword connected to his soul granted its blessing.

Intermediate-rank and below magical attacks nullified.

The fired magic arrows dissipated just before touching Toru, and the demon stiffened for a brief moment in surprise.

Toru closed in on the demon directly, but Kujo Reiko behind him was faster — her complex footwork tracing a lightning-like path as she closed the distance. A truly absurd approach. And of course, she didn't just get close and stop.

Three impact sounds. Like a sledgehammer slamming into a tire. She punched the demon's face, abdomen, then face again, then slid away smoothly. She'd sensed Toru's approach and avoided friendly fire.

One blow from the bludgeon.

A simple vertical split from above. The impact was enough to make Toru's hand go numb, and the demon's head wobbled. But he didn't follow up with the bludgeon. Instead, he kicked its head with the sole of his boot, used the enemy as a stepping stone, and leaped backward to create distance.

The next moment, the demon's wings turned into blades and swept a full circle around it.

Anyone within range would have been cut in half — that was the power and sharpness of it — but if you dodged it, there was an opening to exploit.

"Here I go!"

A right vertical punch combined with blinding footwork. A master's blow, where the flow of movement and the flow of mana were so seamlessly synchronized.

The moment Kujo Reiko's fist caught the right side of the demon's head, Toru slammed the rebar bludgeon into the left side. A fist-and-bludgeon sandwich.

A strange impact sound and sensation — thud.

He realized they hadn't broken through the demon's magic defense, but in that instant Kujo Reiko was already stepping into a left hook. Then right, left, a double-fisted strike aimed at the throat, a palm strike to the ear, a side kick targeting the knee joint. Using the recoil, she naturally created distance from the demon.

When the pace picked up, Toru couldn't keep up, so he'd backed off a few steps to observe —

"It's tough! Toru-bro-sama, I'll yield the next attack!"

Kujo Reiko said, looking extremely pleased. Toru hadn't found a way to break through with the rebar bludgeon, but she apparently had. Not wanting to waste time nodding, Toru simply stepped forward and closed in on the demon, which seemed to be savoring the aftermath of its combo.

He raised the bludgeon — dodged the demon's right arm.

It seemed the demon wasn't content to just be a punching bag — it had been waiting for Toru to get carried away and pursue. But Toru's insides had already made the cold judgment: "I've known that for a hundred years."

He converted the evasive action into a connecting step, poured as much mana as he could into the bludgeon, and aimed for the horns. One of the two horns snapped off with a nasty crack.

"Hah—!"

With abruptness that bordered on teleportation, Kujo Reiko slipped into the demon's pocket and showed a strange movement. Not a wind-up or momentum buildup — she gently placed her hand around the demon's chest area, lowered her hips slightly,

*—THUD! *

An abnormal sound, and the demon was blown away. A monster that clearly weighed more than an adult male, probably around gorilla mass — it was sent flying parallel to the ground and didn't stop until it crashed into the hall wall. An absurd sight.

"Mana Sunkei! I've shaved off a considerable amount of its magic defense!"

She said with a laugh, immediately pursuing the blasted demon. Not running, but maintaining her stance with footwork. Movements that glided just above the ground. Her posture from hips to back didn't waver, as if an iron rod were embedded in her.

Refinement.

The cursed blade inside Toru independently recognized a core that only someone who had repeated the cycle of kneading, striking, heating, striking again, and endlessly polishing could possess — and he became aware of respect welling up from within his chest.

No wonder everyone liked her.

How much effort had she paid to have fun? And being able to call that effort fun was an achievement so incredible ordinary people could never believe it.

Maybe this ojou-sama could have even enjoyed being a cleaner in a D-rank dungeon — he thought.

A half-beat late, Toru also started running, picking up the demon's horn from the floor. The horn wasn't complex like a deer's antlers — it was almost conical.

By the time he ran to the demon at the wall, several more exchanges had already occurred. Strikes and counterattacks, evasion. What surprised him was that Kujo Reiko had been punching the demon's attacks themselves to deflect them. She seemed to predict what movements would come based on the enemy's build and size from experience.

Toru didn't need to mention it, but he felt like even Kujo Reiko would have the tables turned if she took even one hit.

The demon was strong against magic and had high attack power. On the other hand, its smooth movements seemed somewhat lacking... but ultimately, if the demon used its durability to force even one hit, the explorer side's subsequent evasive actions would be severely compromised.

"Coordinate, Kujo-san."

Saying that, Toru swung sideways at the demon, which was swinging its powerful arm at Reiko. As expected, the rebar bludgeon couldn't deal proper damage, but it drew the demon's attention.

The moment the demon's awareness turned toward him, Toru lightly tossed the bludgeon aside as if passing it. The demon froze for an instant at the incomprehensible movement. Toru stabbed the horn he'd picked up into its chest, kicked the horn to embed it deeper, and used the recoil to create distance.

"Hah—!"

Kujo Reiko aimed her Sunkei at the horn embedded in the demon's chest.

Toru, carried by the momentum of creating distance, didn't land properly but slid across the floor, witnessing the blow from Kujo Reiko — the crystallized essence of blood, sweat, and joy.

A flashy impact sound.

Then the demon crashed into the wall, light particles spilling from the large hole in its chest as it slowly vanished. When its form had completely disappeared, Toru let out a breath.

Defeated.

Without using the cursed blade or the holy sword — well, he'd used their combat skills and blessings, but not the weapons themselves — he'd fought alongside an A-rank explorer without being too out of place.

Or so he thought. Maybe that was an overstatement. He felt like there might have been some disparity. But just not being an extreme hindrance was probably good enough.

"O-ho-ho-ho-ho! We did it, Toru-bro-sama! What a nice combination! Rock and roll!"

Kujo Reiko ran up to him with a beaming smile, grabbed both of Toru's hands as he lay on the floor, yanked him up like pulling a plant, and swung their clasped hands up and down while hopping.

There was so clearly no ulterior motive, so plainly innocent joy, that Toru couldn't help but laugh wryly.

He couldn't celebrate like she did, but still, he felt like he understood a part of the enjoyment.

There was no need to be so serious about killing monsters.

Kujo Reiko was — having fun, risking her life.

Toru didn't have that kind of spirit, but still, the feeling that finding enjoyment in dungeon exploration was "naively optimistic" had faded somewhat.

Normal people wouldn't keep killing monsters without any enjoyment.

"Wow, I've never seen Ojou fight alongside anyone before. Moving, really. Ah, but the boss drop is a magic core. No rare drop."

"I thought it might be tough, but it went better than expected. Reiko's combat art is more impressive than I predicted."

The butler and Tia, who'd somehow appeared nearby, said those things as if they were pure spectators. Well, come to think of it, even if things had gotten desperate, those two were on standby, so both Toru and Reiko had essentially been playing in a safe zone.

"My my, thank you kindly, Lady Tia. But Toru-bro-sama's fighting was also far beyond what one would expect from someone who only became an explorer yesterday. Which means we are very, very cool! O-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

Toru thought he'd like to learn at least a toenail's worth of this self-esteem, then unconsciously released Reiko's hands to pick up the magic core the demon had dropped. And the rebar bludgeon lying on the floor.

"Amazing! That was seriously amazing!" "What was that combination just now!" "Without explanation, it makes no sense!" "He can do it without the cursed blade too, Toru-bro!" "Matching an A-rank without being out of place lol" "Viewership's at sixty-five thousand" "Subs passed forty thousand too" "He still picks up the magic cores properly lol"

The stream chat was buzzing, and Toru found himself impressed — so this was an exploration stream. Of course, Kujo Reiko's contribution was immense, but even explorers who weren't A-rank like her must be out there, balancing social contribution and enjoyment within their own capabilities.

"Hey, Toru. Say something to the people watching."

Urged on by a beaming Tia, he felt a little irritated at being led around, but taking that out on the viewers would be misplaced.

"Ah... well... thanks for watching. ...What are you grinning at. Even I can say thanks, you know."

"Toru-bro's precious dere moment!" "Clip it! Clip it!" "The insults suit him way better lol" "The thanks are so awkward lol"

"Shut up. It's not like I've had many occasions to thank people. I'm still a bottom-feeder at heart, you know."

"O-ho-ho-ho-ho! That spirit is commendable, Toru-bro-sama! No, I just said that to say it, but still, that being the case — if that is who Toru-bro-sama is, then there is no need to force change until it comes naturally! Why? Because we are explorers first and streamers second! There are those who do the opposite, but you and I are not among them, are we? Then there is no need to humble yourselves before the viewers! Be exactly as you are, Toru-bro-sama!"

"Ojou is, well, Ojou"

"To be fair, Toru-bro doesn't insult us viewers" "Look forward to more, Explorer Toru-bro"

"...Well, Toru-bro's not my actual name, you know."

He pointed out that even if it was a nickname, why was it longer than his original name.

Of course, no one stopped calling him Toru-bro.

◇◇◇

When they tried to descend to the fourteenth basement floor, the stream developed problems.

The butler Joichiro reported a drop in communication strength, and viewers also reported lag in the stream. Tia and Kujo Reiko seemed to not quite understand what that meant, but Toru had an inkling.

"Could it be that the labyrinth mutation affected the magical communication repeaters?"

They returned to the thirteenth-floor boss room, and he voiced the thought.

Kujo Reiko and Tia still seemed not to follow, but the butler nodded normally. And the viewers too.

"Possible. There aren't many cases, but there are records of magical communication failing in post-mutation labyrinth exploration"

"It's pretty rare for that to happen during an exploration stream, though"

"But since we're here to investigate the labyrinth, this counts as a finding too"

"I think so too. Either way, if we go another floor or two down, it might get dangerous even for Ojou, so let's hold off on entering unexplored territory for now."

"Hmm... disappointing, but Joichiro has a point. If multiple A-rank and above monsters appeared, I alone would have difficulty handling them, and relying entirely on Lady Tia wouldn't make for an enjoyable exploration."

"Well, I can't say for sure until it's certified, but considering the deepest boss room, this dungeon is probably S-rank. And since the structure is simple and monster difficulty is gradual, there's good profit potential."

"Profit-priority crew is smart"

"So, will there no longer be a need for cleaners here... I guess?"

"That's almost certain. Actually, since the structure is perfect for training, I think once the initial survey is done, it'll get pretty busy."

"Huh... wonder what's happening at Noumi Dungeon too."

"Well, 'the notoriously terrible dungeon of currently-in-flames S City has turned into a profitable one' — that's gonna be quite a situation, I think."

The butler laughed dryly, as if it had nothing to do with him. Not that Toru had enough local patriotism to feel righteous indignation anyway.

"In any case, the stream ends here. We'll turn back and call it a day."

"Hmm, disappointing but can't be helped" "Enjoyed the stream for a debut!" "Do solo, or rather, duo streams too" "Heard it's Toru-bro and Tia-tan's couple channel" "Wanna see Tia-chan fight next time too" "Casual chat is fine too"

"Ah... then, I'll close the stream. Thanks for watching. I haven't thought about what to do going forward yet... but I think your opinions are pretty valuable, so I might consult with you guys. Well, see you later."

"Oh, me too, me too! Make sure to watch next time too. I like talking with you all. You all call me cute, and that made me happy."

Leaving the chat excited by Tia's words, Toru exchanged glances with the butler holding the stream camera.

"Later!" "Good work!" "Tia-tan is cute" "Good work~"

Stream ended.

They didn't descend to the lower floors from the boss room; instead they turned back. All told, they'd been in Sugai Dungeon for over six hours, but getting down to the thirteenth floor in that amount of time was, according to Kujo Reiko and the butler Joichiro, "abnormally fast."

Come to think of it, up to about the tenth floor, only monsters that were no problem for either Kujo Reiko or Toru appeared, and the structure itself was simple — that was probably why. Maybe it really was a profitable dungeon, as the butler had said.

Around the time they reached the stairs from the twelfth to the eleventh floor, Toru's phone, which Tia was holding, notified him of an incoming call. Taking the device from Tia, who was fumbling with it unsure how to operate it, he felt suspicious seeing an unknown number, but answered anyway.

The person on the other end was, to Toru, unexpected.

〈——Hello? Um... thanks for the stream. This is Kawai Sakiho〉