Ch.104Rise Up, Gambling God (1)

Anyway, the dungeon raid ended successfully with almost no injuries.

Ding-! Ding-ding-!

As a bonus, my companions’ levels increased slightly. Sasith reached level 37. Umi and Taiga both hit level 35 together. Considering how they once trembled before monsters, this was quite an achievement.

Me? I remained at… level 34. With the required experience points increasing, it was difficult to level up with the measly experience gained from hunting monsters. In the end, I had no choice but to rely on dungeon raids in my dreams.

Crrrrrrrrrrrk-!!

As the spaceship collapsed, its hull gradually faded away and disappeared.

“So it’s over.”

Sasith muttered with a relieved tone.

“This should… reduce the number of people becoming invalids?”

Umi said.

“Ah. Of course.”

I immediately responded. At the very least… I didn’t want to think that all our hard work had been meaningless.

‘Well… it’s just a stopgap measure.’

As long as the problem of the other world’s encroachment continued, dungeons would keep appearing, and people would continue to become invalids due to monsters.

But to solve the fundamental problem, we needed to reach the game’s ending. Until then, we had no choice but to use these temporary measures.

“Ugh… I’m tired. The dungeon felt longer than before.”

Taiga stretched and exclaimed.

“Well, they’ll only get longer from now on. And more difficult.”

I said.

Even this dungeon had saved us an enormous amount of time. We managed this much only because we actively used Doradogang, which normally couldn’t be purchased in May. However, opportunities to use such tricks were limited. Future dungeons would simply be long and difficult. We had no choice but to improve our specs and tackle them steadily.

“Let’s keep up the good work. This phenomenon… will end someday.”

Sasith said.

“Yeah!! Then let’s have an after-party!! Since Eri is sleeping at home! How about at Sasith’s place?”

Taiga shouted.

“N-no, not my house.”

Sasith said, blushing. Why does he hate showing his home so much? This only makes me want to go there more.

“Anyway!! No!! We’ll have the after-party somewhere else!!!”

Sasith shouted.

“Ah well~ For a place minors can go… I guess there’s only that place.”

Umi said in a deflated tone.

Right. The fast-food restaurant that offers inhumanly good discounts at night. We headed straight for our usual fast-food spot.

———-

‘Surely not…’

I hoped we wouldn’t run into our homeroom teacher again. We’d met her both times we’d been there so far.

No way… meeting her again would be too much of a coincidence. Yeah. That wouldn’t be funny. Really.

I quickly scanned the second-floor hall.

The teacher… wasn’t there.

“Phew… of course.”

I sighed in relief.

“What’s up, Shota? Why are you searching the place like you’re hunting for mice?”

Taiga looked at me with suspicious eyes.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

I shook my head as I spoke.

But… now that she wasn’t here, I realized I wanted to see her. Teacher… I miss you.

——–

Anyway, after the party, we all went our separate ways.

When only Umi, Taiga, and I remained, I suddenly blurted out:

“Don’t you think there’s something suspicious about Sasith’s house? Should we follow him secretly when we get the chance?”

I couldn’t contain my curiosity.

“Yes! Exactly!! When someone hides something that persistently, it’s definitely suspicious!!”

Umi immediately agreed enthusiastically.

“Let’s secretly follow him next time we split up like this.”

I suggested.

“Hehehehehehe. Just thinking about it is so fun.”

Umi giggled as she spoke.

“Right? Following someone is fun in itself. Huhuhuhuhuh.”

As expected, Umi and I were on the same wavelength.

“Hehehehehehe.”

“Huhuhuhuhuh.”

“Hehehehehehe.”

“Huhuhuhuhuh.”

Umi and I just kept looking at each other and bursting into laughter.

“But… it’s his privacy.”

Taiga raised a rather sensible objection from behind us. How disappointing…

Anyway, we all headed home.

———–

As soon as I entered, Eri, who had been sound asleep, came running to the entrance. She was like a pet dog welcoming its owner.

After spending some quality happy time together, I was finally able to fall asleep. Today had been another busy and fulfilling day.

That night in my dream, I decided to train in the dream dungeon as usual.

I did consider taking a break, but that would mean losing experience points. At this point, I felt like my tongue would grow thorns if I didn’t train every day.

Train, get stronger, train harder, get stronger. It felt like this cycle had been coded into my brain.

“Heya Bluebread!!!”

I called out to Blue Beard, who was leisurely turning pages of a book in the dream world.

“Ah. Arigiri Shota… It seems you’ve overcome May’s great ordeal.”

Blue Beard said.

“However, ominous signs surround June’s trial. You’d better be careful.”

Blue Beard warned.

It was always about trials. Taiga nearly faced a calamity last time. When I played the game, I didn’t think much of it, but now that it was reality, I felt the exhaustion. Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange if I died from overwork.

“June…..”

Indeed, dungeons become quite difficult from June onwards. Most mobs are between levels 40 and 50.

“It might be good to add a new companion soon.”

Blue Beard spoke up.

“Companion…..”

Well, there is one companion I haven’t recruited yet.

Actually, this game progresses with a four-person party. The player, Umi, Taiga, and… Pril. The reason for the unusual name is simple: this character originates from the other world. Originally appearing as an enemy in June, Pril officially becomes a companion in August. Perhaps considering the late recruitment timing, Pril’s abilities are incredibly good.

“If you’re going to create a companion, do it quickly. Regardless of the original flow of fate.”

Blue Beard stared at me as he spoke.

How much does this old man know? I stared back at Blue Beard. He seemed to know that I was aware of the original storyline and that I was somewhat disrupting that flow.

“It would be better for you to gather all companions—both those who weren’t in the original fate and those who were.”

Blue Beard said that, then closed his book.

“Anyway, another dungeon grind today?”

Blue Beard asked.

“Yes. Troll hunting!!!! I’m so excited!!!!”

I deliberately raised my energy to hide my fatigue.

And I immediately entered the dungeon.

Jumping right before entering was a bonus. Pre-dungeon jumps are tradition, after all.

———-

The Troll Fortress.

Having cleared it once before, I was familiar with the strategy.

“Crrrrrrrrrk!!”

“Krururururururuk!!”

Troll soldiers charged toward me, swinging their swords.

“Die!!!!”

But I knew how to deal with them. The best approach was to smash their heads first. No matter how good a troll’s healing ability, they can’t do anything if their head is destroyed.

Swoooooosh-!!

I swung my sword in a wide horizontal arc. The path of my blade had only one target: the trolls’ necks.

“Krururuk…!!”

The trolls’ heads were all severed at once. Their headless bodies collapsed like crumbling structures.

I knew the enemy placements and treasure chest locations. I aimed for a perfect clear as I thoroughly looted the dungeon.

“Filthy human….. you shall not pass!!”

A troll wielding dual axes blocked my path. It was the boss monster.

This one’s attack speed would continuously increase with each attack.

The strategy was simple. Kill it with one hit before it could attack.

“Die!!!!”

The boss monster was about to swing its axes like a raging torrent.

Pat-!!

However, its first attack wasn’t that fast. I immediately jumped onto the flat side of the troll’s axe.

Paaat-!!!!

Right after that, I leaped high from the axe.

Swoooooosh-!!!!!!

And I cleanly smashed its head with my sword.

Ding-!!

The reward for completing one round of the dungeon was immediately visible.

‘Level: 35’

My level increased significantly in one go.

After that, I continued grinding repeatedly.

And when I woke up in the morning, I would write my web novel, train at the kendo dojo, and hunt monsters with Sasith’s party, repeating this cycle.

Through endless dungeon grinding, my level rose to 37. In dreams, it really felt like my levels were increasing rapidly. It was like watching my experience bar, which had barely moved before, now filling up quickly.

———-

This would all be great… but there was one somewhat uncomfortable element.

It was because of the brief dream I had before waking up after training in my dreams.

It was another high-quality weird dream like before. I was observing, as a third person, the life of a hero who looked very similar to me.

In the dream, I, as a hero, had beheaded the Demon King. Then I received people’s praise and lived a glamorous life.

Eventually, I grew old and faced my deathbed after living a full life.

However, the hero couldn’t die completely.

He opened his eyes in an entirely different world. This time, it was a near-future sci-fi setting. There, the hero became a champion again and defeated all the killer machines that enslaved humans.

But even that didn’t end the hero’s journey. After facing death, the hero woke up in yet another world.

An apocalyptic world destroyed by a virus, an oriental martial arts world, a dark fantasy world, steampunk. The hero opened his eyes in all sorts of worlds, faced great evils, and met his death.

The dead hero would open his eyes in another world and face another arduous fate.

Day by day, the hero’s face became more emotionless. It was due to the deep fatigue in his soul.

Watching this quietly, I eventually woke up.

“……..”

I unconsciously touched my eyes. There were tears… no, eye boogers all over them.

“Enough to make soup.”

I muttered to myself.

After roughly wiping away the eye boogers, I got up to face Saturday morning.

That’s right. It was the day of the Tushin Cup. Setting aside the weird dream, I resolved to do my best.