We’re just going to fight the way we always do.
Hime creates a bunshin of herself to accompany us. Naturally, she doesn’t forget to equip the clone with a substitute bracelet.
〔Areh? Are Unique Skills that easy to acquire?〕
〔Blonde, ninja, kage bunshin, twin-tailed beauty… ugh, my head hurts〕
〔I’m curious about the skill name. It seems like a ninja’s bunshin technique, but it could also be a ‘Doppelgänger’ skill〕
〔Looks like a real-life version of that twin comedian gag, ‘Doppelgänger!’〕
〔Should we start calling them Alpha-One and Alpha-Two?〕
These guys are pretty laid-back, even with Japan in a state of crisis.
Then again, I guess their carefree comments are better than making things overly tense.
Hime did not answer any particular question.
「But for a national crisis, there aren’t as many comments as I expected. I thought we’d be flooded with them.」
I muttered.
〔Seems like only the first 100 premium members got early access to comment〕
〔Anyone posting weird comments is getting banned and replaced, though〕
〔Oh, Alpha and the others don’t know what’s happening on this side〕
〔Concurrent viewers have surpassed 10 million. They’re also streaming the dungeon exploration from around the world〕
〔Country D and Country E teams were eliminated on the first floor. It’s really bad over there—people have died. I’m so relieved Alpha-chan, Gamma-chan, and Delta-chan are safe〕
What about me!?
Still, things seem pretty dire in other countries.
The Bite Wolf Leader may be a weakling to us, but if you’re not trained properly, it’s a relentless predator with a nose that can track you down.
If we were only around level 20, we’d probably be dead by now.
「There are three enemies waiting around the next bend.」
「Got it. I’ll go ahead.」
Hime’s bunshin moved forward.
Three Bite Wolf Leaders leapt at her all at once, but her clone dodged them gracefully.
Just as they passed by—
「Sure-hit Slash! 」」
「「Target Slash」」
Hime and I struck together, taking down the Bite Wolf Leaders with ease.
For us, who usually fight on the 20th floor, these 9th-floor monsters are just small fry.
The three turned into magic stones, but the Bite Wolf Leader I slayed dropped something else—an orb.
I picked it up.
Just as I was about to appraise it—
〔It’s a Guiding Orb. Light a flame and it’ll produce smoke that will show you the way to the exit〕
〔Why would a wolf drop that?〕
〔Wolves’ dung was used for signal fires, after all〕
〔So, what Beta’s holding is basically a lump of Bite Wolf dung〕
Thanks for the info, I guess… though calling it dung is a bit much.
I chuckled and stashed it in my inventory.
-0-
As we continued taking down monsters, it seemed that only 9th or 10th-floor level creatures were showing up so far.
Oh, another Bite Wolf Leader appeared.
I took it down by myself this time. It only dropped a magic stone.
〔No Guiding Orb this time, huh?〕
〔Guiding Orb: minimum luck value 40, drop rate 20%. With Beta’s luck estimated around 100, the drop rate should be about 50%〕
They were already speculating about my luck.
The truth is, I’m just using my inventory’s auto-collect feature without anyone noticing.
I’ve already secured the Guiding Orb.
While in the PD, Hime made me practice toggling the auto-collect feature on and off for specific items.
Before, I kept the auto-collect feature always on, which led to awkward situations where I would kill monsters, but no D-coins would appear, leaving onlookers confused.
Now, I make sure to leave only the magic stones behind.
Since it’s been established that my luck is around 100, I need to control the drops better after the first find.
-0-
We found the staircase to the next floor.
Since this isn’t an investigation mission, we headed down immediately.
The next enemy we encountered was a zombie.
「A zombie, huh… if it bites us, do we turn into zombies too?」
「I’m not a fan of these kinds of things…」
Hime said, clearly disgusted.
Not that I blame her—what girl likes this sort of thing?
The stench is awful, so I’d prefer to keep my distance too.
〔It’s not a zombie, but a ghoul. If you get bitten, you won’t turn into a zombie, but you will get poisoned.〕
〔Ghouls are pretty rare in Japan…〕
〔Japan’s cremation culture makes it hard for zombie-type creatures to appear here.〕
〔Yet SNS is always full of impression zombies…〕
〔I don’t think this is the time to be joking, considering the crisis Japan’s facing.〕
〔I’ve been thinking the same. This fight isn’t a game.〕
〔But keeping things light is important, too.〕
「Viewers, please don’t argue. We’re still fine for now, but once we go deeper, we won’t have the luxury to chat. Just give us the necessary information when it’s needed.」
I was about to deal with the not-zombie—ghoul—but then…
「Release: Wind Rapid Shot! 」
Ayame’s wind arrows shot out like a Gatling gun, shredding the ghoul into pieces.
〔Whoa!! Gamma-chan was already using powerful magic effortlessly last time, but she’s gotten even stronger!〕
〔That’s gruesome… we need a mosaic filter, please.〕
〔Just think of it as ground meat, and it’s not so bad (´゜Д゜`) Gerorororororororo〕
〔I’m eating Taiwanese mixed soba right now…〕
〔Pfft, I can handle this much! (´゜Д゜`) Gerorororororo〕
〔Please add a ‘graphic content’ tag next time.〕
〔I’ve fallen for Gamma-chan’s ruthlessness. I want to send her a donation!〕
〔Gamma-san, is your magic power still alright? Please be careful not to run out!〕
〔Even if you donate, the channel’s run by Danpol, so the money goes to them.〕
〔What?! Seriously!?〕
Yeah, that was definitely gory.
And despite being shredded, it didn’t immediately turn into a magic stone—oh, there it goes.
Ghouls sure take a while to die.
They seem like a pain to kill with swords.
「Shooting its weak spots with a gun probably won’t work, right?」
「It depends on the work. In some stories, zombies die if you destroy their heads.」
「I always hear that in zombie movies: ‘Don’t aim for the head! Go for the legs! That’ll stop them!’ 」
「I… don’t really watch zombie movies, so I wouldn’t know. I’ll leave this to you three.」
The two Himes, who had been leading the way until now, moved behind us.
〔Alpha-chan is so cute, being bad with zombies.〕
〔Ghouls are tough. Even with their health at zero, they’ll keep moving for a while. They have a skill called ‘Undying Will’.〕
〔You can nullify ‘Undying Will’ with holy attack to finish them off.〕
A holy attack, huh?
I remembered that my Futsu no Mitama Sword had a holy effect.
Should I use it?
But the idea of slicing through a ghoul is kind of off-putting.
Then a helpful comment came through:
〔Wouldn’t Delta-san’s holy water make short work of these ghouls?〕
At that, Milk spoke up.
「Oh, I haven’t used it for a while so I forgot about that.」
It seemed like the three of us had forgotten as well—not completely, but it hadn’t come to mind.
If these were just normal zombies, shooting them with guns or blasting them with magic would’ve been more efficient and less taxing on mana.
〔Can we really trust these guys?〕
〔Take this seriously!〕
Hey, cut us some slack.
It’s been what feels like months since our last dungeon dive at the abandoned Kusaka Amusement Park Dungeon.
Milk has been focusing on gun attacks, and we haven’t used holy water at all.
Magic has evolved, too—now she can summon various potions, but magic doesn’t come with a handy list of abilities you can pull up. You just kind of ‘feel’ what you can use after learning a skill.
So, no wonder we didn’t think of it right away.
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