CH 8

~Kei’s Perspective~

After returning home from the game center, we ate dinner and heated the bath as usual. I was supposed to, but I guess I had a change of heart. Haru said she’d come along with me on my daily run.

It was true that Haru’s physical strength had been a concern even in the dungeon. Perhaps it’s because she’s using a bludgeoning weapon, or perhaps it’s because of her strength changing inside the dungeon. If we consider this as her status, Haru’s physical strength has already grown to the point where it surpasses mine, but she can’t seem to maintain it for long periods.

In my case, I have been training my core through running and aikido, which I have been doing since I was little. So I can move without making wasteful movements. And I’ve told Haru before that Haru doesn’t have stamina.

I think that she remembered that, so it influenced the change. Making her want to run this time.

So, we spent the next two days after defeating the boss, slacking off as we took a break and I went to my day job

Today, it was our first time exploring the dungeon after defeating the boss. That’s what I’m thinking while cooking lunch and breakfast. For breakfast, I’m going to have something slightly extravagant, a fried egg. For lunch, we’re having salted onigiri.

Haru wakes up and we eat breakfast together. Although she was still sleepy, she was pleased to have eggs for breakfast. Eggs are unexpectedly expensive.

We dove into the dungeon an hour and a half after eating breakfast as usual. I decided that it would be a bad idea to get ready in a hurry and forget something and that I would get lazy if I took too much time off. I did my laundry and other household chores as usual and checked the condition of my weapons. In this way, the 90 minutes flew by.

Oh, by the way, starting today, I’m supposed to do some warm-up exercises before exploring the dungeon. I wondered why I hadn’t done it before, but it couldn’t be helped since I had forgotten. The specific exercise was to bring everything in the basement up to the first floor and do some preparatory work, followed by some unarmed light sparring but not exhausting ourselves.

After confirming each other’s physical condition, we dive into the dungeon. Even if the opponent does not complain of physical condition, we had a rule that if the other person decided that it was dangerous to explore the dungeon, we would not enter the dungeon that day.

So now we’re in the basement, doing some light sparring and I faced Haru. Haru’s fists were flying at me, but I let them pass to the side. After a few minutes of switching between offense and defense, I got more serious.

As expected, I never took any of Haru’s attacks while outside the dungeon, and although I stopped short, my attacks never failed to land.

And now that we were ready, we dove into the dungeon.

“Okay, I’m ready. Haru, are you okay, you didn’t forget anything?” (Kei)

“Of course I’m done. Today we’re going to run through floors 1, 2, and 3, do some acclimatization combat on the fourth layer, and then go into the fifth layer to check out the boss, right?” (Haru)

“Yeah, I’m nervous about suddenly entering a new layer after two days. The boss might appear again.” (Kei)

“Then, let’s go.” (Haru)

After Haru’s signal, we entered the dungeon, and today I was in the rear. Both of them are rearguards who can vanguard, so it shouldn’t matter who the vanguard is. The only difference is that while I am the ambush type aiming at the vitals, Haru is a head-on-vanguard type, specializing in offense.

We rushed forward at a steady pace to eliminate the enemy. The basic idea is to take a shot with Haru’s crowbar. If there were more than two enemies, I would kill them with the hoe from behind. In the end, including the acclimatization combat at the fourth layer, we were never attacked, and on the contrary, we were killing the monsters as soon as they were ready to attack, which was not a good situation for practice.

I didn’t notice it when we defeated the boss the other day, but our levels may have risen. My body is overpowered. Unlike being overpowered in a game, if I try to attack poorly, I will get drenched in blood. That’s why I am attacking by stabbing the vital areas and dodging.

Haru is a blunt weapon, so its blood doesn’t spray from cuts. However, I was planning to use the whole morning for acclimatizing, but the situation was not good. It seems that acclimatizing is meaningless as it is. To be honest, I feel that I can win by just swinging the stick around

“Hey, why don’t we go to the fifth level already? I feel like there’s no point in fighting here.” (Haru)

“I guess so. I’m getting bored, and I’m afraid I’ll get carried away if I keep fighting like this.” (Kei)

“Then, let’s just check the doors.” (Haru)

When Haru turns around, she blows away the goblins in front of her and heads toward the stairs that go down to the fifth floor. Although she didn’t memorize the map by heart, she knew the general contents of the map because she had made it herself.

However, she didn’t write it on the spot, but after we get home. She draws something rough, and there are some deviations, but I think that Haru has made a fairly accurate map. Far from being able to use GPS, you can’t even use a compass, so trying to make an accurate map of the dungeon would be a fairly difficult task.

Someone to check the direction and someone to check the distance. Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any slopes, so there is no need to check angles, but in addition to that, there must be people to fight off monsters. In addition, the dungeon is quite large. If we hadn’t increased our strength by leveling up, it would have been hard.

We headed for the stairs, killing monsters as we quickly made our way through the dungeon and arrived at the room before the fifth-level boss. Looking around, I see a strange geometric pattern in the corner of the room. Or rather, what is that?

“A Magic Circle?” (Haru)

“Well, that’s what you’d expect to find in a dungeon, isn’t it.” (Kei)

I have seen the magic circle many times. That said, there are only two types that I’ve seen when using Haru’s [Bomb] and my [Speed], but when I saw that, I thought.

“This magic circle has the same shape.” (Kei)

“I don’t think the magic circle itself has a deep meaning. What is the magic circle for?” (Haru)

“Is it a medium for transforming MP into phenomena?” (Kei)

“Oh, that’s a possibility. If the magic circle has any meaning at all, that is. It is possible that God did it for no reason, just to show off since it is a supernatural phenomenon that cannot be achieved by humans.” (Haru)

“Yeah, there’s no precedent, so I can’t verify it. But it’s time to stop escapism and get on that magic circle.” (Kei)

“Do we have to do it? I don’t feel like it, but we can go through it and fight the boss again if we have to.” (Haru)

“Yes, I’m going!” (Kei)

Haru pushes my back and I stand on the magic circle. Since I’m the first to get on the magic circle. And as expected, the magic circle shines, so push Haru immediately to move her away from the magic circle. The next moment, my field of vision changed.

After the magic circle shined, I felt that the sight changed with a slight floating sensation. The next thing I know, I am in the same room as before with the same sight around me. What has changed is that there is no gate to enter the boss room. Instead,

“Ah, so there are now stairs to go down?” (Kei)

In the previous room, there was an upward staircase when viewed from the room, but this room has a downward staircase. If that’s the case, then this must be the back of the boss’s room. I didn’t know because I didn’t check it properly last time, but I think that if you defeat the boss, you will probably be able to use the magic circle that appears here.

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“Ooh, what’s wrong brother? Isn’t that the room you just mentioned?” (Haru)

When I looked behind me, I saw Haru standing there, taking a backward step after a push from behind. And at her feet is a magic circle.

I see. Since I was standing on the magic circle a while ago, why did I push another person who was transferred using the magic circle? When I think about it again, it was quite dangerous. It wouldn’t be a laughing matter if the mechanism overlaps with the person who would be transferred later. Unless you’re very lucky, you’ll both die instantly. [T/N: Like getting fused together (Like the movie The Fly) or getting sliced by the boundary.]

“There seems to be nothing else in particular. Then, let’s go exploring.” (Haru)

“Okay. From here on, I’ll go in front of you because it’s easier for me to respond to surprise attacks.” (Kei)

“I know the plan.” (Haru)

The inside of the dungeon is still a cave. The only thing that has changed is that it seems to be a little darker and the path has become wider. Is it a coincidence that the path has become wider? On the other hand, is it because the fighting will get more intense from here? If possible, I would have preferred the former.

“Hey, three of them are coming from behind the corner. It looks like they’re aware of us.” (Haru)

“I’m sure the enemy’s ability to spot us will change at this level. This form of monster is a beast type, so be careful.” (Kei)

When Haru tells me to concentrate on our detection, we’ve entered the enemy’s detection range. The light, quadrupedal presence of the monster led me to assume that it was a carnivorous beast, and I readied my hoe.

Immediately, a wolf monster jumped out of the corner, so I immediately hit one of them. Far from being vigilant, I’m not letting them surprise me. I don’t feel like it’s strong.

“Haru, it’s unexpectedly weak, so get in! Let’s bring them down! [Speed]” (Kei)

The wolf’s legs, which I thought were weak, suddenly glowed, and its claws also glowed. Its body increases in speed, its claws increase in power, and the three wolves attack. I immediately catch their claws with a hoe, but I was forced to let go of the hoe and take a step back due to unexpected vibration.

“It’s not magic because there was no magic circle.” (Kei)

“What if it’s a unique skill?” (Haru)

I moved beside Haru and pull out the machete. The hoe has been kicked by the wolf and it was flung behind the wolf. It is unlikely that that move was a coincidence. Perhaps this monster is pretty intelligent. Moreover, that’s why it’s interesting.

The right amount of fear that pours excitement into a boring everyday life. Not despair, but elation. That’s why I want to test myself. I can’t let myself get seriously injured for Haru’s sake. The tension? It’s just the right amount of pressure.

“Har, sorry, but lend me your machete. Also, I need magical support.” (Kei)

“Okay, don’t get hurt.” (Haru)

After the short exchange with Haru, I now hold machetes in both hands. Now let’s do it.

“[Speed].” (Kei)

I chanted one word clearly and stood in front of the wolf. The light from his feet and claws is gone, but from what I’ve just seen, it seems to be faster than magic. That’s probably because it doesn’t require chanting.

That’s why I’m never too careful. It is always better to act as if they are using their skills. The first to move, the first win.

I dropped my stance and suddenly jumped forward, kicking the wolf in front of me as hard as I could. The wolf’s feet and claws glowed again as if it was alarmed by the sudden attack with something other than a weapon. But I didn’t care and swung my machete, and the wolf it hit was easily sliced to death.

“Okay, its defense isn’t increased.” (Kei)

While avoiding the next wolf’s attack, a [Bomb] flew from behind blows the wolf away.

“One more remaining.” (Haru)

I heard Haru’s voice from behind me and I lunged at the wolf I had just kicked, which had now returned to the fight. The wolf’s claws glowed, so I didn’t foolishly try to catch the attack. I used my experience in aikido and mimicked anime to shift the attack by hitting it from the side.

The wolf’s heavy attack was parried, leaving only a weak body behind. The other machete swung down, and the wolf’s head fell firmly.

The wolf turned into a black mist and disappeared, leaving behind a single white mass.