Ch.337Snow Country (6)

Anyway, I had a great after-party with the guys. We went to a karaoke place and sang our hearts out. It’s no exaggeration to say it was the golden route—singing until your stomach empties, then heading to a restaurant to eat.

After having our fun, the flow naturally shifted toward everyone going their separate ways.

“Everyone get home safely,” I said with a smile.

We could have just gone home to see them, but our girlfriends personally came to pick us up.

“Shota. Let’s go,” Eri waved her hand.

“………”

“………”

“………”

The expressions of the trio hardened when they saw this.

“As expected, Shota. You’re not one of us,” Yamamoto immediately showed his hostility.

“What’s wrong with you!! Did you sell off the memories of us belting out songs together at karaoke?!!”

We totally crushed those classic 2000s anime songs together!!

Anyway, I went home with my girlfriends.

“Eri. I didn’t cheat at the blind date, right? Praise me,” I said while fondling Eri’s chest.

“Yes. Our Shota did well,” Eri immediately stroked my head.

“Why don’t you show that kind of self-control with Aki and Aiko-san too?” Umi said sarcastically.

“Hey!! I can’t lose Aki and Aiko-san now!!”

That’s right! I’ve become addicted to the dopamine rush from the mother-daughter combo. I finally understand why Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms coveted married women and widows. The stimulation is just different. How should I put it? There’s a sense of conquest. It strangely stimulates a man’s fundamental sensibilities.

“But let’s give credit where it’s due. All those girls at the blind date were gyarus,” Taiga said.

“Ah, true. I thought Shota would be like ‘Heeeek… gyarus… gotta bang them right away,'” Mika said.

“Hey!! What kind of image do you have of me?! I exercise self-control too!!”

They were pretty too, but… the girlfriends in our harem were top-tier gyarus. I wasn’t particularly moved.

“Yes, yes. Self-controlling Shota is so cool,” Mika said with zero enthusiasm. Hey, that kind of half-hearted reaction makes me feel a bit sad.

——–

Anyway, that night, I checked the results of completing all the social links.

Now all preparations were aligned. I could unlock Hades, the player’s ultimate Psycho-Robo.

‘Hades: The formula for the King of the Underworld has been unlocked.’

The message appeared in my status window. Hades was worth being the Psycho-Robo used in the final chapter.

First of all, it had resistance to all elements, so there was no worry about wasting turns by being hit with weaknesses. Its elements were darkness and light. It couldn’t learn regular elemental skills, but that wasn’t a big issue.

‘Because the physical skills it learns are on another level.’

Hades could learn two ultimate physical techniques: “Raindrop Slash” and “Ten-Foot Leap.” Not only was the damage impressive, but they were also area-of-effect skills. In a turn-based game, AOE skills were already advantageous from the start. Plus, it seemed to land critical hits at an abnormally high rate. Those overwhelming criticals made it essentially a must-have Psycho-Robo.

There was even a formula: ‘Just spam Ten-Foot Slash until you get a critical hit that breaks the enemy’s posture, then all-out attack for game clear.’ Some gamers even called for patches because it was too overpowered, but the developers seemed stubborn about not fixing Ten-Foot Slash.

‘Well… since it’s a Psycho-Robo that’s hard to create, isn’t that level of reward justified?’

That was my honest opinion.

In reality, completing all social links in the first playthrough is difficult without a guide, making it essentially a second playthrough reward, so it should be this overpowered. It would be more disappointing if its performance was mediocre.

Anyway, by mixing the Psycho-Robos from social link rewards, you could reach the final evolution stage.

“Today, let’s tackle the dungeon,” I explained today’s plan. The golden route was to quickly finish November’s tasks, take a clean break in December, and go on an overseas trip. Ah, perfect.

———–

Anyway, I gathered everyone to tackle November’s dungeon.

“So? Where’s the dungeon located this time?” asked Umi, who was sensitive about walking distances.

“Ah… you know, the only ice skating and sledding place in our town,” I replied.

“That failed place. Brings back memories. I used to go there often as a kid!” Eri said, clapping her hands.

Yes… such a place existed. There was a sad story about Emoshita Town that could be glimpsed in the game. Since Emoshita was in a region where it didn’t snow, winter leisure activities were generally given up on. However, the city couldn’t abandon winter tourism content. That’s why they forcibly created a small pond-like skating rink and sledding area—the “Emoshita Comprehensive Winter Leisure Center” we were heading to.

It was an abandoned place hardly visited by anyone except a tiny number of kids. There were even rumors that they were closing down… Right. I’ve talked too much. Life in a rural small town is quite harsh.

“The dungeon has opened there. Everyone grab your stuff and let’s go,” I said to everyone.

“These aliens sure know Emoshita well. The dungeons always open in hidden places around town,” Taiga said with a laugh.

“Well… it’s a kind of system for how dungeons open,” I said with a shrug.

There was a behind-the-scenes setting that rifts were more likely to appear in conceptually similar places. Game-themed dungeons were likely to open in game shops, safari-themed ones in zoos. This one was snow-themed, so it opened at the skating rink.

“If the next dungeon theme is underwear, then it’s highly likely to open in Sasitsu’s crotch,” I immediately threw out a clear analogy.

“Enough with the underwear!! Stop milking it!!!” Sasitsu, who had been playing games in the corner, immediately got angry.

———-

Anyway, we gathered the members on site and headed straight for the dungeon. Considering that the original game was based on 4-person parties, our group had grown tremendously. It was almost like a mercenary band. Just looking at everyone made me feel secure!

“A snow theme! Should I dress warmly then?” Umi immediately got excited. She seemed to want to wear her new winter fashion. Being a fashion model, she naturally had a lot of interest in clothes.

“No… no need. It’s just a bit cool,” I said.

“So it’s not cold but we can enjoy a snowy field. In a way, that’s ideal,” Sasitsu said. Right. It was perfect in the sense that we could enjoy only the good parts of winter play.

“Great!! We decided to take our time with this dungeon, right? Let’s have lots of fun!!” Taiga said with a smile, holding up mittens.

I wanted to invite regular members like Eri, Aki, Aiko-san, and Mika, but regrettably couldn’t due to potential accidents. As for Madoka… she recently set a goal of going to bed early, so she didn’t want to come. She had a new goal of sleeping early and waking up early to quickly become a voluptuous woman. I… decided to just cheer her on from afar.

We headed straight to the skating rink. It really was tiny as a booger.

Shwiiing-!

A gate signifying the dungeon entrance appeared in front of it. And right next to it, a door to the Velvet Room materialized.

“Before we go in, Sasitsu. Let’s create a Psycho-Robo. It’s the final and last Psycho-Robo you can make,” I guided Sasitsu. I achieved all social links for him. Yes, for this very moment.

“The final Psycho-Robo…” Sasitsu’s lips twitched for a moment.

“Yes. The final Psycho-Robo. The ‘strongest’ you can create. You’re a chuunibyou, so you love this kind of stuff, right?” I said with a smile.

Words like “ultimate technique” or phrases like “this is my final form” make you wet yourself. I know all about it, Sasitsu. I was the same.

“I’m not particularly a chuunibyou!!” Sasitsu got angry, trying to deny it.

“But… I am interested in the term ‘final Psycho-Robo,'” Sasitsu said. Hehehe. Already excited, aren’t you?

“You’ll fight Pink Beard with this,” I said with a serious expression as we were about to enter the Velvet Room.

Sasitsu’s expression hardened at the pressure of having to fight the world as a high school student.

“Let’s not think about grand things like saving the world,” I said with a smile, patting Sasitsu’s shoulder.

“Sasitsu. You can see them, can’t you? The precious things you need to protect.”

Friends, lovers, hometown, family. That was enough meaning to fight for. Desperately protecting what’s within your reach. It was something anyone could do, and at the same time, it was natural.

In my past life, I killed the Demon King and saved the world. But I couldn’t protect the precious things around me. That pain was properly conveyed when I fought my past self. Let’s not repeat the same mistake. I inwardly resolved.

“Ah. I see them. The precious things. Quite a lot of them,” Sasitsu said with a smile. This guy must be empathizing because he also got a girlfriend he cherishes dearly.

“Let’s protect them with all our might. Clench tight,” that was all I wanted to say.

“You have me by your side. Leave your back to me,” I said what I wanted to tell Sasitsu.

“Yeah. You leave your back to me too, Shota,” Sasitsu smiled gently.

Though it didn’t show up in the social link section of the status window, one thing was certain. My relationship with Sasitsu had deepened. It felt like we finally opened up and trusted each other.

———-

After entering the Velvet Room, I immediately had Sasitsu summon all the final Psycho-Robos obtained as social link rewards through the compendium.

“Sasitsu. Fuse them all,” I said with a smile.

“Okay. Here goes,” Sasitsu waved his hand in the air.

Fwaaaash-!

As the Psycho-Robos all fused simultaneously, beams of intermingled black and white light burst forth from all directions.

Clank-! Clank-!

A knight wearing a skull-shaped helmet stepped forward. He carried an ominous-looking coffin-shaped tower shield and a sword adorned with the bones of all kinds of creatures.

“I am the apostle of death. And the prophet of creation,” the knight solemnly declared, then knelt before Sasitsu.

“I, Hades, lend you my sword,” at the knight’s words, Sasitsu was struck as if by lightning.

“……..”

Overwhelmed by the sheer chuunibyou power, Sasitsu just climaxed. This bastard. I knew he’d love this.