「Let’s use it.」
I said it aloud, and Hime in front nodded.
Even without looking back, I knew Milk and Ayame had heard me too.
「Oh? Even now, you still have a hidden trump card? Show it to me then, and try to—」
The Tengu’s words were cut short.
He was probably going to say something cliché, like, ‘Try to entertain me.’
But this isn’t some third-rate movie.
There are no stories of narrow victories, desperate struggles, or miraculous comebacks from the brink of death here.
What comes next is simply a cheat.
My sword clashed with the Tengu’s Fatsia leaf.
In an instant, his leaf was cleaved in two, leaving a shallow cut on his clothes.
「Gah! What is this!? But I already know your weakness—」
The Tengu drew a new Fatsia leaf and leapt toward Ayame.
But—
「Sorry, but this is my territory.」
「You lack the strength!」
Two of Hime’s clones intercepted the Tengu. Before now, her clones couldn’t have kept up with him, but—
「Gale Thrust!」
「Crimson Slash!」
Hime’s dagger deflected the Tengu’s leaf, piercing his body and twisting his nose grotesquely.
Her movements were faster than ever before, now reaching speeds even the Tengu’s eyes couldn’t follow—almost at the speed of sound.
「M-My nose!?」
「Thunder Break!」
Ayame’s lightning magic electrified the Tengu, forcing him to flee. As he distanced himself, Milk aimed her gun.
「Release: Create Gunpowder, Release: Hot Stone Bullet!」
「That again!? But it’s useless against me!」
The bullet clashed with the Tengu’s wind barrier from his Tengu Storm, but this time, it broke through and struck his shoulder. He managed to dodge a fatal blow, but—
「This is the end.」
With both Tengu Escape and Tengu Storm on cooldown, he had nowhere left to run.
「W-What is happening. What are you people!?」
「You’ll find out in the afterlife.」
Advanced Swordsmanship
「Tempest Fury of Sword!」
The blade sliced through like a whirlwind, dyeing the already-red Tengu an even deeper crimson.
「…Magnificent….」
He whispered, before his body vanished, leaving behind a blue magic stone and his Fatsia leaf.
Damn, that was tough.
「You did it, Taira!」
「Thanks for your hard work!」
「Ichino-san, that was incredible at the end!」
「Yeah… without that skill, this would have been a dangerous fight.」
Kinshitsu Souwa.
This skill, when used simultaneously by the entire party, enhances magic potency, attack, defense, agility, and other stats for three minutes.
Two people increase it by 20%, three by 50%, and four by 100%.
With a cooldown of an hour, it’s a skill best saved for critical moments, but its effect is extraordinary.
In fact, finding four users of this rare skill in one party is practically impossible under normal circumstances.
The data on it only mentioned the 20% boost from two people using it simultaneously.
We were the first to discover the effect when three or four of us used it at once.
「Well, let’s head to the tenth floor.」
「Before that, don’t you want to say something to them?」
Hime pointed ahead.
Them?
I followed her gesture to a wall.
It was covered in comments.
〔Congratulations on defeating the Tengu!〕
〔Thank you for saving Japan.〕
〔That final strike of Beta was awesome!〕
〔Thank you! Truly, thank you!〕
〔I thought it was all over. I’m so glad you’re safe.〕
〔Thank you.〕
〔You guys are the best party ever.〕
〔Give them the National Medal of Honor!〕
〔Gratitude.〕
〔Thank you!〕
〔Thanks.〕
〔Delta-chan, marry me!〕
〔The Tengu was strong, but the four of you were stronger.〕
Joy, relief, gratitude, and appreciation—countless comments covered the wall in front of us.
This wasn’t just a hundred or two hundred comments; it looked like the number of viewers allowed to send messages had been increased.
That Danpol, pulling off something classy despite being our enemy.
But as for the guy proposing to Milk—you’re not getting away with that.
「uematsu: Thank you. You are heroes.」
Heroes… huh?
This is the second time I’ve been called that.
But being celebrated by so many people feels new and kind of nice.
「What do you think, Taira? How about taking off your avatar and showing everyone your real face? When we become the world’s top explorers, the media will be all over us anyway.」
「Maybe later. How about when they’re handing us that National Medal of Honor?」
「Wait, are you serious? I was just joking, but you’re okay with it?」
At this point, why not?
We couldn’t very well accept the award while hiding behind avatars.
「The tenth floor isn’t being broadcasted, right?」
「Yeah, they said there’s no streaming crystal embedded on the tenth floor.」
「Alright, then this is the end of the stream. Thank you all for watching until the very end. We hope to stream again someday, but next time it won’t be for a government mission—it’ll be just us. Hope you’ll join us again.」
Streaming had become unexpectedly fun, so I spoke with a bit of excitement.
We received even more comments filled with gratitude and anticipation as each of us—Hime, Ayame, and Milk—took turns thanking the viewers.
With the goodbyes said, we began to descend the stairs.
At the bottom awaited the skull-shaped stone Danpol had shown us on the first floor, and—
「I never thought you’d actually clear it. This is… unexpected.」
Danpol greeted us with a sly grin.
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