Ch.32The Disgustingly Huge Snowball Launched by an NPC (4)

I entered the final stage of the experiment I wanted to conduct in the dungeon.

“Rey. I’ll handle this one alone. Just help me finish it off.”

“A-are you sure? Wouldn’t it be better if we both attack together…?”

“No. I’m doing this because I really need to. I told you earlier that there was something I wanted to experiment with.”

After giving Rey’s worried shoulder a reassuring pat, I stepped forward.

This place, being an episode starting dungeon, had a relatively short first floor as expected for an early dungeon.

Rey and I had hunted down all the monsters through stealthy assassinations like Solid Snake without the cardboard box, and managed to clear the first floor in just a few hours.

We made a pretty good combo, didn’t we?

A level 355 player and a level 30 NPC clearing the first floor of a level 400 dungeon.

This would get quite a few views if I uploaded it as a video. Ah, no. Then again, maybe not since Eight isn’t that popular to begin with?

As I continued forward with these memories from my past life floating through my mind, I encountered the final boss of the first floor.

The gatekeeper to the second floor. A Champion guarding the entrance.

An Orc Champion.

This first floor was populated only with goblins and orcs above level 300, with orcs being the stronger of the two. Of course, they all went down in one hit to Rey’s and my assassination combo, but that wouldn’t work on the Champion. This one just stood guarding the entrance without moving, so it couldn’t be helped.

Still, we had killed all the surrounding mobs, so there was no risk of being suddenly surrounded by monsters. I confidently approached the pig-headed monster. Regular orcs carried clubs, but this champion was holding an axe.

Just like in the game, huh?

[Orc Champion: Level 390]

[HP: 8,000]

Four times the HP of a normal mob, and its stats were surely much higher too.

As the creature spotted me and let out a tremendous roar, seemingly trying to call for other monsters, I curled my lips into a smile.

“Hey. All your friends went to America.”

While it was still roaring, I charged at full speed and drove my knee into its face.

*

‘…I really am…’

Rey watched Jack fighting the Orc Champion alone and once again began to feel intimidated.

The monsters here were all truly terrifying creatures.

When she had failed to properly finish off a goblin before it died, and its death cry had attracted two more goblins.

Rey had felt it with every fiber of her being.

‘If I had been alone, I would have already become a goblin’s plaything.’

Two monsters versus two people.

She had thought she could handle it when the fight began, but that was completely her own delusion.

All she could do was use every ounce of strength to defend against one goblin.

The club it wielded felt as heavy as a giant blue troll’s, and its speed reminded her of a cyclops she had never even seen before.

[Don’t try to fight!! Just protect yourself!! Don’t get hurt!!!]

When Jack, who had been pummeling the goblin in front of him, desperately shouted those words at her as she struggled with all her might, she retreated while focusing solely on protecting herself.

And when Jack finally slammed both goblins to the ground and let her finish them off, her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, while Jack looked completely unfazed.

‘And now too.’

She couldn’t even properly see the orc’s movements.

The speed of its axe swings was faster than her sword. And Jack’s fists, which dodged those swings by a hair’s breadth and struck in the openings, were faster and heavier than she had imagined.

However, if they hadn’t perfectly cleared out the surrounding monsters first, she and Jack would have been surrounded and finished off by now.

Although she had experience clearing dungeons, she had never encountered one this difficult, nor had she ever seen someone clear one so perfectly like this.

And then.

“Head!!!”

-WHACK!!!

Jack shouted “head” and kicked the orc in the waist.

As if the monster understood Jack’s words, it clearly raised its arms upward. Perhaps because Jack had repeatedly shouted “head” while hitting its face, the orc seemed to understand the word and raised its arms.

Could this be the experiment he wanted to conduct? If so, she really was…

‘…unnecessary…’

She hated this feeling. She had followed him on this journey to repay his kindness, but why was she here like this?

She had persevered until now with nothing but confidence and self-affirmation, but increasingly she felt surrounded by a sense that reality and circumstances were negating her.

And then.

“Reeeey!!!!”

“Yes!!!”

Why did her heart race when he called her name, instantly dispelling all negative emotions?

She pushed off the ground with all her might and thrust her sword toward Jack, who was shouting while riding on the Champion’s shoulders, strangling its neck.

*

“Whew!! Nice!!”

“Haa… haa… Jack, are you hurt anywhere?!”

“Don’t worry. If I got caught by a pig, I’d be just a bum, not a ranger. And hey, that was good! I was holding its head, and you pierced it perfectly!”

“Ah… I just thought it would work. I’m sorry. Was it dangerous?”

Huh? Not at all. Her stats are growing tremendously, so it wasn’t dangerous at all.

[-Profession: Fallen Swordsman- Level: 93 Name: Rey Sol. Age: 17.]

[Strength: 77]

[Dexterity: 98]

[Intelligence: 18]

[Luck: 33]

[HP: 1,330]

[MP: 80]

Her total stats are already neck and neck with mine.

I just leveled up once after killing this thing, but she just gained 10 more levels.

In other words, she was already at level 80 before, and the sharpness and completeness of her attacks were incomparable to when we first entered the dungeon.

Moreover.

“The experiment was a perfect success. You did well.”

The attack I had Rey perform at the end, when I had reduced the orc’s HP to less than 10 percent—under 800—still gave her proper experience, which is a tremendous achievement.

Even in games, there was power-leveling with high-level users, but to prevent excessive leveling, a system required party members to personally deal at least 10 percent of the damage themselves.

But when she pierced the Champion’s head just now, its HP was at 625. This means she received full experience even though the damage was less than 10 percent.

And this means.

‘This means I can eventually feed monsters to Ira.’

Though she’s still too young and I’m uneasy about putting a sword in her hands, I can’t avoid leveling her up.

In a world where you could be attacked and killed by someone anywhere, a level 2 villager is just a walking corpse.

I had hoped she might gain at least one level when she turned 9, but age and level seem unrelated, as Ira is still level 2.

Since we’ve split into parties anyway, I’ve been trying to figure out how to power-level Ira while boosting Rey.

And Rey has followed along well.

“Oof. Most of these are goblin and orc magic stones, so they probably won’t fetch much, but we must have earned at least 30,000 cans, right?”

“Eh? An Orc Champion alone is worth about 20,000 cans. We’ve already exceeded the amount we needed a while ago.”

“Huh? Really?!”

She gives quite a lot of money, huh? I felt good hearing that we’d earned a decent amount.

Wow. When Rey suddenly accelerated earlier, I wondered what was going on with her, but could this be it? Is her luck turning around?

As the Orc Champion’s corpse disappeared, Rey and I approached with smiles to pick up the magic stone that fell in its place.

“Oh, this.”

“Huh? A drop item?”

“A dr-what? This is the boss reward, isn’t it?”

Ah, maybe the term “drop item” doesn’t exist in this world. Rey tilted her head curiously as she picked up the fallen bracelet in response to my slip of the tongue.

[Orc Champion’s Bracelet: Increases the wearer’s HP by 500. (Grunt! Grunt! Grooooink!! -What is this pig saying?-)]

“Hmm. Doesn’t seem like something you need to wear, since it belonged to a pig.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t look expensive, and it doesn’t seem to have any effect. Here you go.”

“Huh? What? You’re giving it to me?”

“Yes? Of course. All the magic stones we’ve hunted so far, and all the money too, it’s all yours.”

“What?”

What is she talking about? Shouldn’t we at least split the money we earned? What is she saying…

“If it weren’t for you, Jack, I wouldn’t be hunting—I’d probably be surrounded by goblins and used as a plaything by now. This dungeon clearly doesn’t match my level at all. It’s unthinkable that I should keep anything we hunted here.”

“……”

She’s not wrong. But somehow, even after I praised her, she seems even more deflated. This calls for some drastic measures, doesn’t it?

My past life memories are telling me: when a woman gradually loses energy without saying anything and hides something, if you don’t act quickly, the situation will spiral out of control. This is a definite fact from movies, games, anime, and novels.

“Alright. I’ll take all the money and all the rewards.”

“Yes. Then, to the next floor…”

“No. Let’s go back.”

“What?”

“Let’s go back to the village. It’s getting dark, isn’t it?”

“…Th-that…”

Concerned about her competition with Ragni, she probably wasn’t planning to return to the village even after sunset.

But here she was, giving me all the rewards from this dungeon, and heading to the next floor after realizing how good the money we were earning here would be for our group.

I grabbed her arm and forcibly turned her around.

“Wh-what?! B-but Jack!! I-I…!!”

“Shut up. Just follow me. I’m tired, so let’s leave.”

“W-wait a minute!! If we don’t clear the dungeon in one go, it will reset in a day…!!!”

“I know, I know. That’s why we’re leaving.”

Ignoring all the protests from the blonde swordswoman trapped within her own walls, I forced her out of the dungeon and pushed her up the path leading to the cliff.

“W-wait a minute!! I understand! You think the dungeon is dangerous, right?! Then! I’ll stay in the forest…!!”

“What do you understand? I said we’re going back to the village. If you don’t follow me, our journey together ends here.”

“Ah, th-that…”

“Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

I led the swordswoman, who looked like a scolded puppy, and forcibly returned to the village. Yes, if I left her like this, she might start thinking strange thoughts and make a wrong move.

Even with my intelligence of 6, I couldn’t fail to notice the atmosphere she was creating.

And that night.

“Relax.”

“Nngh…!!”

“I said relax. You’ll get hurt.”

“Y-yes…♡”

I booked a different inn from where Ira and the others were staying, and lodged there with her alone.