ch61-ch80 · 080-ch79

Chapter 79

Ever since the Earth and the other world fused, humanity had gained a new talent metric called mana affinity — but the current state of understanding around it was honestly not great.

The gist was: enter a labyrinth, defeat monsters, and you "absorb mana into your body." Even defeating the same monster, the amount and quality of mana absorbed differed from person to person. Being good at absorbing mana was what people nowadays tentatively rated as "high mana affinity."

Shirazawa Kana had shown decently high mana affinity during her middle school labyrinth practical, but at the time she'd never thought about becoming an explorer. Hayasaka Toru's mana affinity had been so low that he'd been deemed unable to become an explorer, period. That was why he'd worked as a cleaner — but setting that aside.

Beyond this mana affinity, there was another talent that manifested in humanity.

The so-called 'special ability.'

Even in the other world, there'd apparently been rare individuals who manifested such talents, and according to the hypothesis of modern scientists and researchers, "absorbed mana may stimulate the seed of supernatural talent." In short — there were humans who already had that kind of 'supernatural' seed, and absorbing mana caused the talent to manifest. That was the theory.

If so, then the "psychics" and "spirit mediums" whose existence had been hinted at even before the World Fusion might have been people who manifested 'special abilities' without mana — or with only a very small amount of mana absorbed.

The total number was quite low. If you randomly picked about a thousand explorers, only around ten would have a 'special ability.' A simple calculation gives one in a hundred, but those who obtained particularly powerful 'special abilities' would be even fewer.

Incidentally, of the members of 'Anthem' — Japan's most famous idol-style explorer clan — only the healer, Mido Airi, apparently had a 'special ability.' Mana affinity correlated more directly with explorer strength than 'special ability' did.

Watanabe Yuki had the 'special ability' of 'spatial awareness.'

His mana affinity was on the lower side — or so he said.

He lagged in combat ability, but was the kind of person you wanted in your party. Especially for an exploration like this one — a mutated labyrinth, a labyrinth with lots of unexplored territory, or a puzzle-type labyrinth — he was extremely useful, and a rare asset besides.

In fact, just from a quick exploration of the first floor of post-mutation Noumi Dungeon, Yuki's usefulness had been on display more times than could be counted.

Conversely, that also made him unnecessary for exploring areas that were already surveyed and safe. He could serve as a scout if you wanted to actively hunt monsters, but his lack of combat ability was the bottleneck.

In short — a useful person, but one with limited applications.

The information Kana and her group had: a map of pre-mutation Noumi Dungeon, plus the half-filled-in current map from Anthem's floor-clearing runs — and then the map of the labyrinth Kana and the others had actually walked, plus a map reflecting the information Yuki obtained with his 'special ability' — four maps in total.

The work of comparing those maps against each other and filling in the actually-walked-and-confirmed map was the goal of this exploration — but honestly, Yuki's 'special ability' was too useful. His ability wasn't 'map creation' but 'spatial awareness,' so he could grasp the positions of monsters in the labyrinth and even the locations of hidden doors.

And probably — once the mapping was done, he'd revert back to the 'not very useful' category.

"Seriously, Yuki-sama-sama. Didn't expect it to be that mutated even at the first floor."

They were currently filling in the map of the second floor.

As Seno said, it was considerably mutated from the existing Noumi Dungeon even at the first floor — the labyrinth itself had gotten bigger. The ranks of the monsters appearing hadn't changed much from the existing ones, so there was a slight lack of bite, but...

"Yeah. But I can't keep my 'special ability' running nonstop with where I am now, so watch out for monster ambushes. I'll check every five minutes."

Saying that with a complicated expression, Yuki relayed something through the attached ear-mic to Shitani, who was on backup at the university club room. He kept checking the terminal in his hand — probably getting edits on 'the map Yuki was perceiving' that Shitani was putting together. At the same time, the route they'd actually walked should be getting written onto the map as confirmed info — backup had it tough too.

"That said, it's just small fry so far. Me and Hatoba-senpai have made it down to the tenth floor before, and Kana's been to the seventh, right? Takahashi and Maeno too."

Easy, Seno said.

That attitude wasn't great, but at the second floor, getting too pumped up wouldn't help either. As long as they were walking through this familiar-looking stone labyrinth, the serious mutation of Noumi Dungeon probably wouldn't kick in until past the tenth floor. Sugai Dungeon hadn't seemed to change its monster variety much in the upper layers either.

The question was, within the range they were allowed to investigate, how far the labyrinth had spread, and how many hidden passages and hidden rooms had been added.

"Monsters coming from that way. Probably eight claw bats."

Yuki said suddenly, and pointed down the corridor — the direction Kana was in. The labyrinth's walls, floor, and ceiling glowed faintly, so you could see about thirty meters, but the moment she turned around, there was nothing visible yet.

But nobody doubted Yuki's report.

He'd recognized a space more than thirty meters ahead and was reporting a monster he'd sensed heading this way too — all rolled into one.

Switch with the forwards, or handle it as is. She glanced at the leader, Hatoba, for confirmation. He nodded and signaled with a finger — "Go" — and Kana pulled her chain whip out of her shoulder pouch, moving a few steps forward.

Almost simultaneously, black bats emerged from the darkness. Smaller than a volleyball, but bigger than a tennis ball. Honestly, disgusting.

— Hah!

The moment they entered range, she worked the whip's grip. Kana's chain whip had a max reach of three meters twenty centimeters. With a sharp crack, two bats shattered and scattered against the labyrinth walls and floor.

She took down all eight without letting them close. After confirming Yuki's nod, she gathered the magic cores rolling on the floor.

"Your whip work is amazing as always!"

Yuki hopped up a little, delighted. At this rank of monster, defeating them was a given, so Seno wore a dismissive face, but leader Hatoba looked satisfied.

"A lot of women choose ranged weapons, but whips are pretty rare. Compared to a year ago, you've gotten a lot better, haven't you?"

"Well... I practiced."

Female explorer beginners tended to choose ranged weapons — that was a known trend. Kana too had picked the whip because the idea of smashing a goblin's head with a club or lopping off its head with a sword had felt a little resistant. Made no sense, but monsters disappear leaving only a magic core when defeated — yet spatter blood and gore remained.

When monsters were weak, just swinging the thing was enough. Once they got a bit stronger, that stopped working, and she'd had to learn to actually control the whip. She'd picked the weapon on a whim, but she'd grown fairly fond of it.

Still... the sight of herself whipping an enemy — she probably wouldn't want someone she liked to see that. The thought flickered through her mind.

Not that she had any intention of showing anyone.

◇◇◇

By the time they finished exploring the second basement floor, it was already past two in the afternoon.

Mapping carefully while exploring — this was actually quite fast. Without Yuki, taking five times as long wouldn't have been surprising.

The monsters that appeared were as per the information — matching the existing upper-layer monsters of Noumi Dungeon. Thanks to searching every corner, they'd defeated a fair number, but so far, no irregularities. There were two hidden doors along the expanded corridors, but nothing powerful hidden behind them.

"At this rate, getting to the fourth floor will be tough. Let's consider turning back at seven PM. If we're one push away from finishing the third-floor map, it's probably better to just fill it in — but if it's going to take several more hours, we cut it. That work?"

Hatoba said, and everyone nodded.

There were places where the existing structure had subtly changed, and a lot of newly expanded areas — the load was concentrated on Yuki and backup Shitani — but the 'special ability' user himself showed no sign of complaining. If anything, he was full of motivation.

He'd muttered something once, in passing — about needing money.

Kana hadn't pressed him on the why, and Yuki hadn't elaborated. Everyone has their own stuff going on.

Well, anyway — it was just walking and killing whatever monsters showed up, so Kana was fine with it. If he said he had motivation, Seno also looked plenty motivated, but he was probably out to score explorer rank by submitting a perfect map to city hall. Or maybe the goal was some benefit unrelated to rank...

"— Huh? That's weird. There should be a wide space there..."

Partway down a long straight corridor, Yuki murmured.

Looking in every direction, the corridor was just a straight line, and in the direction Yuki was pointing there was only a wall. And no one doubted Yuki's words.

In other words — a hidden passage or hidden room.

From Yuki's reaction, it didn't seem to be a small side room.

"Watanabe. Any monsters in that space?"

"None... no. A rectangular, vertically long room. About five meters wide, sixteen meters deep. There's a box-like object in the back. On the map, it looks like this."

Answering Hatoba's question, Yuki held up his mobile terminal. Kana and the others leaned in to look — it seemed they'd been walking along the outer perimeter, and on the map, the hidden room stuck out from the outer wall like a little bump.

"No visible mechanism...?"

Hatoba nodded with a "hmm." Kana and the others did a quick sweep of the area, but nothing seemed off. No sense of wrongness.

"Any other way in? Detour?"

"If there were one, I'd already have recognized it — so at the very least, there's no path there right now. From my side too, it doesn't look like there's a mechanism..."

"Maybe it's like this?"

Saying it in an entirely ordinary tone, Seno stuck his hand into the wall.

Not as if there were no wall there — there actually wasn't.

"Ah—...!"

Come to think of it — when Hayasaka Toru had stepped on a teleport trap... back before he was called 'Worksite-bro' or 'Toru-bro'... he'd found a hidden room in Sugai Dungeon. Same thing.

The archive-watching Kana not noticing was nothing short of dim — but Seno catching on immediately meant... he was, as expected, intensely conscious of Hayasaka. Maybe he'd watched the stream archive over and over.

"Illusion wall. There's no mechanism at all to begin with. Or rather — the wall itself is the mechanism, made to look like a wall."

"Yuki. Just to confirm — no monsters on the other side, right?"

"None right now. There's a box-like object in the back."

"Heh! A hidden room this hard to spot. Could be a hit. Hatoba-san, we're going, right?"

"...Yeah. But don't just charge to the back. There might be a trap. Let's stick a camera in first. If there's nothing wrong, we go in."

So camera operator Takahashi would stick the camera through the illusion wall and check the inside. They weren't streaming to the world, but the footage was linked to the club terminal, so Kana and the others could check it on their mobile terminals.

Inside was just empty space.

Within the reach of the labyrinth's glow, they could make out a box-like object sitting at the back of the room. Within the category of structures born from mutation — probably a treasure chest... or a trap.

"Let's go. It's only the third floor."

Probably meant he could brute-force through whatever minor trap. Seno's expression and tone were set, and Kana got the feeling that stopping him would be hard. She still felt like someone should — but she couldn't come up with the argument to stop him.

When safety isn't secured, you shouldn't step in?

If you were going to say that, you shouldn't have become an explorer in the first place. Explorers moved the line between danger and safety themselves, weighing risk against return... if there was extreme risk, no return was worth it — but they didn't even know what kind of risk there was. Maybe there wasn't any such risk at all.

"No — it'll just be me and Seno. Takahashi, keep the camera poked through, and Shirazawa and the others watch the footage. Watanabe, the moment we step in, use your 'special ability' — if anything changes, shout."

"R... roger, President."

"Then let's go. Alright, Seno?"

"'Course."

Catching sight of Seno Kyohei lifting the corner of his mouth in a grin, Kana felt a bad feeling. As expected — she thought.

Hayasaka Toru had obtained the 'Holy Sword' and the 'Cursed Blade' after that incident in Sugai Dungeon. Or rather — had ended up obtaining them.

He'd been doing cleaning work in the upper layers of a D-rank dungeon. A quite safe place. Safe enough that even a non-explorer like Hayasaka could do cleaning work.

Finding a hidden passage in a place like that had led to all of that.

So then — so could she.

Kana couldn't begin to understand why Seno Kyohei harbored such rivalry toward Hayasaka Toru. They should've been at a distance where they could simply not interact, and Hayasaka himself probably didn't think of Seno even once a year. Even back when they'd been dating, going to the same high school, Seno's name had never come up.

The two slipped through the illusion wall and entered the hidden room.

Checking the footage on her mobile terminal, there was no trap in particular — Hatoba and Seno approached the 'box' at the back, staying properly alert. No change in the surroundings.

Maybe it was just a dud room —?

The moment she thought that, the floor of the hidden room lit up. Not the natural glow of the labyrinth structure — the shimmer of magical interference that occurred when an explorer used magic.

"— Monster detected! It's a teleport trap! One's teleporting in from somewhere! President! Seno-kun! Run before the teleport completes—"

It was too late.

Hatoba took a single hit from a huge, bear-like monster, then got grabbed by the scruff of the neck and tossed aside. The mass of a grown man shot straight toward the hidden room's entrance — the illusion wall — and slammed into Takahashi, who was still holding up the camera.

It had been almost instantaneous, so it was hard to tell — but probably a B-rank Gold Bear. Might have teleported in from ten floors down.

"Uwaaaaaah—!"

Seno's shout rang out. The camera was no longer showing the hidden room, so they couldn't see inside. Kana made a snap decision to check on Hatoba, who'd been thrown into Takahashi — at a glance, no dramatic bleeding. Neck wasn't snapped. Unconscious, but probably not dead. Not yet.

"Maeno-san! The president's on you! I'll take Takahashi-san! Yuki-kun, confirm the situation! Contact backup Shitani-san, get word out—"

"No way! He killed it?!"

Just as she was about to say "rescue" — Yuki let out a bewildered shout.

Ignoring Yuki, who was frozen with a "what's going on" expression, Kana, in place of Maeno who hadn't moved, first checked Hatoba's condition. He was breathing. The extent of the damage was unclear, but he didn't seem to be in immediate danger. Camera operator Takahashi was pinned underneath, but groans were audible, so he was conscious.

First she lifted Hatoba's body in a princess carry and laid him down in the corridor a short distance away. While she did, she saw Takahashi groaning "Ughn..." and sitting up — and then noticed that the still-frozen Maeno's gaze was fixed on the illusion wall.

Seno Kyohei, holding a broken sword, came through the illusion wall.

What he was holding was the wide-bladed hand-and-a-half sword he always used. Katanas were hard to handle, but Japanese people, familiar with kendo, supposedly preferred hand-and-a-half swords over short-grip one-handed swords... but that didn't matter.

Something was wrong.

But — what?

"Seriously scared the crap out of me... hahaha. Hey, that thing just now was a B-rank Gold Bear. Not a trap you'd expect on a floor like this. Is the president okay...?"

Looking, Seno's clothes were drenched in spatter, and he seemed pretty hyped. How had Seno, a C-rank explorer, killed a Gold Bear? Maybe he'd done it with a death-defying push... but something felt off.

"A... alive... but... Seno-kun... what happened...?"

Trembling badly, Yuki pointed at his own eyes.

Drawn by the gesture, Kana looked at Seno's eyes — and a chill ran down her spine.

Seno Kyohei's pupils were glowing gold.

The quality of the mana wrapped around him felt close to a monster's.

His body was swelling grotesquely, bursting through his clothes and continuing to expand.

－－－－－－

It's Mo (greetings).

Yesterday I wrote "I'll post another slightly short chapter tomorrow," but it didn't end up short.