Ch.338Snow Country (7)

After creating a Psychorobo for Sasith, I immediately left the Soul Room.

“….That’s unexpected.”

Violet said to me before I left.

“Huh? What is?”

I turned my head toward Violet.

“Well… I thought you’d come in here and say something like ‘Violet darling~give me a hug!’ right away.”

Violet said.

“Hehehe. Violet. Are you disappointed that I’m not being clingy?”

I said with a smile.

“No, I’m not!!”

Violet immediately blushed and vehemently denied it.

“By the way…..you.”

Violet seemed to have something to say to me.

“‘You’? Does that mean you’re accepting me as your husband?!”

Is there a chance here?

“No, I’m not!! Anyway!! Y-… I mean, you don’t have any memories of your past life, right?”

Violet asked.

“Ah… nope.”

I answered. I did have some fragmentary flashes, but nothing else beyond that. Which is fine by me. My past life, too sad….

“I see.”

Violet replied with a complicated expression. What’s that about? Is she interested in my past life?

Anyway, Sasith and I returned to our original world.

——–

“Well~today we’re going to conquer a dungeon again!!”

I gathered everyone.

“I’m excited!! Rolling around in the snow!”

Umi was clearly in play mode. But honestly, Umi could afford to play around. Our members were so strong that she rarely needed to heal. She could build snowmen while we fought and it wouldn’t matter.

“I’m excited too. I’ve never seen snow before.”

Tina said.

“Is there anything worth looting?”

Kirtan asked.

“Nope.”

I said flatly. Actually, this dungeon was also part of a planet that Pink Beard had destroyed long ago. Only native creatures lived there now.

“Tch.”

Kirtan clicked his tongue.

“Anyway, I know everyone’s excited… but this is still a dungeon. All the little children need to follow teacher well, okay?”

I raised my hand.

“Why are you talking like a kindergarten teacher?”

Kana objected.

“Heheh. Listen to that high-pitched voice. Makes me want to kiss her.”

Taiga said with a chuckle.

Anyway, we threw ourselves through the portal.

———-

As soon as we entered the portal, a vast snowy landscape appeared before us.

It was about the size of a small mountain. We just needed to follow the ridge to the top and fight the boss.

Being a late-game dungeon, it was conventional but had many enemies. The encounter rate was high, and there were quite a few forced battles.

“Wow!!! Snowman!! I want to make a snowman!!”

“What snowman? Let’s just have a snowball fight.”

“Can I put rocks in them?”

“Of course not!!!”

Everyone was already excitedly chattering.

At that moment, I looked toward Sasith. He seemed already immersed in his own world with Frill.

“You know. The snow is really white.”

Frill said while rolling a snowball.

“Frill’s skin is whiter and prettier.”

Sasith said, holding Frill’s hand.

“Oh my…..”

Frill blushed slightly. How pure and sweet.

Well, I might as well let everyone blow off some steam. I joined the snowball fight.

“Come at me, all of you!!”

I shouted loudly while making a snowball.

“It’s Shota!! Get him!!”

“Enemy of women!!! Playboy!! Womanizer!!”

“Let’s bury him in snow!!”

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-bat-!

My girlfriends all threw snowballs at me at once. Somehow… they seemed to have some underlying resentment… just my imagination, right? Right?

———-

Anyway, while we were playing…

“Hey!! Did you come here to play?!!”

A group of monsters walked toward us.

They were giants made of ice crystals. These were the most common mobs in this dungeon. Still, they couldn’t be ignored. They were level 70. Their weakness was obviously fire. Without hitting their weakness, their high defense would make them difficult.

But none of that mattered. Everyone was equal before the ultimate technique, Ten-Foot Leap.

“Sasith. Use Ten-Foot Leap with Hades.”

I said.

“Got it. Come forth!!! King of the Underworld!!”

Sasith raised his hand.

He could have just said “Come forth, Hades”… the fact that he added “King of the Underworld” revealed Sasith’s personal taste.

Paaaah-!!

A knight wearing skull-shaped armor appeared.

“Hit them with Ten-Foot Leap!”

I shouted.

“Understood!! Hades!! Ten-Foot Leap!!”

Sasith immediately activated the skill.

Whoooooosh-!!!

Hades swung his sword, scattering an ominous light.

Then, the sword wind whirled like a storm.

Pyuba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bat-!!!!!!

The ice giants’ postures all collapsed at once from the sword wind.

The battle system in this game was basically about hitting weaknesses to break the enemy’s posture. However, you didn’t necessarily have to hit weaknesses. Landing a critical hit with a physical attack would also break their posture.

With that system in place, Ten-Foot Leap, an area attack with a high critical rate, became an overpowered skill. Just a few area attacks would land criticals and break the enemies’ postures. In the system, the critical chance was about 60 percent… but it didn’t feel that way. It seemed to trigger quite frequently.

Thud-!

As the enemies’ postures collapsed, I raised my sword.

“Now!! Everyone, all-out attack!!”

I shouted.

“Ooh!!”

Everyone grabbed their weapons and started hacking away at the ice giants.

About 3 minutes later, all the ice giants scattered into snow flower shavings. They’d probably taste good with condensed milk.

——-

“Ughhhh….. So we have to climb the mountain to get to the top?”

Umi seemed to have just realized the challenge of this dungeon.

“Normally, yes.”

We would have to climb the mountain while fighting ice giants along the way.

“But there’s a shortcut.”

I said.

That’s right. This mountain had a hollow structure inside. We could take an elevator shortcut inside the natural cave to go straight to the boss room.

The problem was… we needed a key to enter that natural cave. That key could only be obtained by completing a mini-quest in the dungeon.

“Now, let’s go meet some penguins.”

I said with a smile.

“Penguins…..”

A hint of joy showed on Taiga’s face. She secretly likes cute things.

If we deviated slightly from the official upward route, we’d find a place to do the subquest.

It was a small hut.

And in that hut was a large penguin-like alien. Rather than an actual penguin, it looked more like a penguin doll.

“Wow!! So cute!!”

Taiga unconsciously raised her voice an octave.

“Hey. Let’s kick out that penguin and cuddle in this hut. Okay?”

Umi briefly appreciated the cuteness before making a purely lustful suggestion.

“A hut, huh. Reminds me of that time before?”

Tina smiled and cracked her knuckles. She was already thinking about driving the penguin away. These girls… they can be quite scary sometimes.

“Ah!!! Travelers!! Please listen to this old lady’s story!!”

The penguin immediately approached me.

“My children are lost!! All five of them!! Please find them somehow!!”

The penguin cried frantically.

“I’ll find them.”

I said. It might be difficult and annoying to search, but I knew their approximate locations. The penguin’s children were all scattered around the middle of the mountain. If you knew their locations, it was easy to rescue them.

“Yes!! Then I’ll give you the key to the elevator inside this mountain!! You’ll need it to climb the mountain easily!”

The penguin nodded desperately as she shouted.

And so, we accepted the request. A search for penguin kids.

———

The search method was simple. The penguin children made distinctive crying sounds. We just had to track them down one by one based on those sounds and bring them back to mama penguin.

“Keeeng! Keeeeng!”

One penguin was crying on an ice floe floating in a lake.

“How does one even get to a place like that?”

Kana said.

“Kana. You’re underestimating children. Kids’ mobility exceeds imagination.”

Children always manage to become lost in dangerous places when you take your eyes off them.

“How do we rescue it? I don’t want to swim and get my clothes wet.”

Sasith said.

“What do you mean how? We use Psychorobo.”

I immediately summoned Pinocchio. This is the first time I’ve summoned him in a form other than a sword.

“Pinocchio. Tell a lie.”

I said to Pinocchio.

“A lie… a lie…”

Wait. Why is someone who constantly lies to Grandpa Geppetto hesitating? You’re notorious in the industry for being a liar.

“Fine. Then answer with yes or no.”

I said.

“Say this: ‘If I were born again, I’d want to serve you as my master.'”

I said.

“O-Of course I would!! I’m devoted to you, master!”

Pinocchio shouted loudly.

Strrrrretch-!!

And Pinocchio’s nose extended to an incredible length.

This little bastard?

“Hahahahaha!!!! Look at that nose stretching! It could pierce the atmosphere! Hahaha!!”

Taiga burst into hearty laughter.

“Pfft…… Shota…. look at your wounded expression.”

Kana also couldn’t hold back her laughter.

Well… the nose did extend. I used Pinocchio with his extended nose as a pole and reached it out to the penguin child. The penguin child grabbed Pinocchio’s body like a life preserver.

After a while, Pinocchio’s nose shrank. We successfully rescued the penguin child to the shore. That’s one down.