Ch.439The Targeted NPC. (3)

“Huh, what?! W-what’s going on?! [Naty’s Magical Girl] who was just whispering something a moment ago suddenly started running!! And even more surprisingly, the fox-masked beastkin who has never helped with dungeon conquests before is now carrying the girls!! On her tail as she runs~?!!”

Ira and her party’s conversation wasn’t broadcast through the magic display board. The reason was that when Grace, who truly understood Ira, saw her showing an unusual reaction and urgently asking Chikuyo something, she immediately cast a Silence spell to block the sound. This meant Ira was so flustered that she didn’t even notice her friend reacting and moving, and this was being transmitted to the audience and citizens of Aiti through the magic display board.

“Doesn’t the party leader Ira seem flustered? Has some problem occurred?”

“There must be a problem if their guardian is personally carrying them and running. But is that the right direction? If I remember correctly, the exit to the 28th floor is definitely…”

“It’s the opposite direction. I became a fan of their team this season and have been watching all their broadcasts, mapping out their dungeon conquests. I remember all of today’s movements, but they’re running in the completely opposite direction. In fact, that path leads to where [The Golden Beast] was moving a few days ago.”

“What? Then, does that mean there’s a problem and they’re heading toward the 29th floor…?”

“Aaaah~~!!! Good heavens!! What am I seeing right now?!!”

Among the audience, those interested in dungeons or fans of the girls were piecing together the situation from what they could see. The commentator’s almost screaming voice drew everyone’s attention again. And what they saw was:

[Spirit Sword Secret Technique. Walking Path.]

[-Fit. Grrrrrrrr!!!]

The masked beastkin lightly swinging her sword once, slicing through the ‘dungeon’ like cutting tofu as she moved forward.

Clearly in the live video, and even in the slow-motion highlight replay, she only swings her sword once. Yet, as if invisible slashes followed, the dungeon walls were being cut into pieces, creating a path. Anyone can destroy dungeon walls and floors, but due to the magic or magical power inherent in the dungeon itself, they quickly repair themselves, or worse, the dungeon itself could collapse. That’s why Aiti, which coexisted with the dungeon, prided itself on its science that overcame this, and took pride in creating dungeon walks that allowed free movement by modifying the dungeon interior. Or so they said.

[Walking Path, Walking Path, Walking Path.]

[-Grrrrrrrr…! Kuuuung!!!]

The fox beastkin swung her sword as if she already knew which parts to destroy without causing the dungeon to collapse, and which parts to destroy to proceed to the next path, instantly connecting paths and disappearing down the stairs to the 29th floor. And when she was captured on video at the entrance of the 29th floor, she suddenly ran into another path where the video couldn’t follow, and the commentator and audience understood only by sound that she was similarly slashing through the dungeon as she ran forward. And so, the situation that stopped her solo run, which no one could understand, after continuing for several minutes was:

[Tat. Miho, Rei. It’s an emergency. I’ll go ahead from now on, so both of you follow behind. The Minotaur is… this way.]

Only when she joined with the [Golden Beast] party, who were still leisurely tracking the boss on the 30th floor. Even then, the audience and commentator couldn’t understand the situation due to the actions of the two women who silently began to follow her after she left only fragmentary information and started to move ahead. And then:

[-Grrrr!!]

“Ah?! W-wait a minute!! This season was supposed to be up to the 30th floor…!!”

The fox beastkin, who cut off the Minotaur’s head before it could even be fully captured on video, disappeared without delay through the opened entrance with the girls. And as the golden and silver women in the video also disappeared without even a few seconds’ delay, as if it were natural, the commentator, though flustered by the absence of a broadcasting crystal connected to the magic display board below, immediately switched to footage of other parties still running through the early 20th floor or late 10th floor sections, changing the atmosphere.

In any case.

“W-with this! The winner and second place of Season 13 have been determined!! We’ll have a separate opportunity to hear from the exploration team connected to the chairperson about what happened inside the dungeon?! Now then, which party among the remaining ones will reach third place!! Let’s watch the remaining parties’ fierce competition…”

The fact that Ira’s party had suddenly risen from second place to first place and ended the season was an undeniable fact.

*

“Sis, so what’s going on?”

Miho was the first to approach and ask Chikuyo, who was still running without stopping after reaching a lower floor where they were no longer captured on video.

“Ira said that around the 40th floor, Salt Non is alone and about to be surrounded by monsters in a critical situation. She said Jack isn’t nearby.”

“…What? Jack isn’t there?”

When Rei questioned Chikuyo, who was looking straight ahead without catching her breath while swinging her sword to cut through both dungeon and monsters, it was the girls hanging onto Chikuyo’s fluffy tail who answered.

“Yes. We can’t sense big brother. He’s not even detected by our sensing magic.”

“This is just our guess, but perhaps only your brother is on a lower floor that our sensing magic can’t reach, and Salt Non, who was returning first, fell into danger.”

“Ira said she felt a strange energy earlier? Maybe there’s some problem on the lower floors and your brother is fighting alone.”

The girls hanging onto Chikuyo’s tail, holding the tail with one hand and their staffs with the other to illuminate the surroundings and serve as the group’s eyes, accurately conveyed the current situation and sought understanding from the two women.

According to the original plan, Miho and Rei were supposed to pretend they couldn’t find the Minotaur on the 30th floor and start a ranking competition with Ira’s party when they reached the 30th floor to liven up the atmosphere, but they had instantly ended the dungeon sport competition without any of that.

“It doesn’t matter. A comrade in crisis versus a money-making strategy. We’re not so foolish that we don’t know which is more important.”

“Sis, should I go ahead? If it’s about breaking through, I can use my fists…”

“No. If you break the dungeon walls incorrectly, the entire floor could collapse. Miho, you have a good nose so you’d be good at finding the way, but unlike me, you haven’t studied magic. I’ll push through to the 40th floor first; please just handle the monsters that come from the sides.”

“Got it!”

The women, having sorted out their plan, began to traverse the dungeon at an incredible speed. Their target: below the 40th floor.

The mid-boss of the 35th floor. Even champion-level monsters that appeared along the way were all instantly killed before they could use their techniques, speed, or strength, and the women advanced in the shortest time possible. In less than 30 minutes, they had cut down the 40th floor boss’s head and descended the next staircase.

“One floor below here!! Non’s brother is fighting…!!”

“Sis, watch out!!”

-KWANG!!!

“Ugh?! Miho!!”

“I’m fine!! Here comes another…!!”

“Swift Sword. Wind Riding, Protective Wind!!”

-⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯!!!

As soon as they descended, a monster attacked Chikuyo at the front as if it had been waiting at the entrance. Miho took the hit instead and was sent flying, and Rei filled the gap by tearing the monster apart. Chikuyo was shocked both at not noticing the ambush and at Miho taking the hit for her. She quickly ran to Miho’s side, who showed her arm, saying it was just a scratch, and recovered by drinking a potion.

“What was that just now? It’s like it knew we were coming and attacked from the entrance?!”

“It wasn’t even detected by magic sensing. It’s as if they controlled their magical energy to hide themselves…!!”

“I-Ira! Up ahead!!”

“Eeeek?!! Th-there’s not just one or two of them?!!”

As Latina let out a shrill scream at the sight of monsters of different types and species, all with huge bodies, surrounding the entrance as if they had been waiting and preparing to attack, Miho, with her long silver hair tied tightly, stepped forward.

“Sis, leave this to me and go ahead.”

“Huh?! We can just fight together and push through…”

“No. There’s no time. Jack told us before, remember? From the 30th floor down, the monster levels increase explosively. Even the 40th floor boss earlier would have been tough if it had used its skills, even though all of us attacked with almost full power. If we take time to clear all these monsters, who knows what will happen to Salt Non who’s holding out alone below.”

“Wait!! But leaving just Miho here…!!”

“I-I’ll stay too!!”

“”Latina?!!””

It wasn’t that Chikuyo doubted Miho’s skills, but she was opposing the idea because there were too many monsters. The one who silenced her was the brown-haired girl holding her staff with a tearful expression.

“I-I probably won’t be much help if we go down further anyway. So I’d rather stay here and help Miho! G-Grace and Ira, go save the brothers! Sis and I will guard the entrance! We’ll hold out here!”

“Ugh…!!”

“Sis!! Go quickly! Latina and I can easily hold and defend the entrance here!! Don’t tell me you don’t trust me?!”

“O-of course I do! Damn it!! Miho! I won’t forgive you if Latina gets hurt!”

“You too, take good care of Miss Ira. If she gets hurt, I’ll tell Jack it was your fault.”

Chikuyo gritted her teeth and flicked her tail as if in displeasure, but it was obvious to anyone that she was just being stubborn, not that she didn’t believe Miho could handle these monsters. Finally, Rei went ahead first to open the path, and Chikuyo followed with the two girls on her tail, quickly disappearing into the distance.

“Miss Latina. To be honest, you were too scared to go further down, right?”

“Oh, oh my? Was I found out?”

“Hehe. I saw you panicking when your magic didn’t work well on the 40th floor boss earlier.”

-Tak!

Raising her fist to block the monsters trying to follow the others, Miho pulled up the corner of her mouth and spoke firmly.

“Don’t worry about me getting caught up in it; attack freely. If we level up here, we’ll be able to go further with everyone next time.”

“…Yes. Because next time, I want to be strong enough to follow everyone all the way to the end. I’m counting on you!”

And behind Miho, the brown-haired girl with her staff firmly gripped, summoning spirits, had a face showing determination not of “I couldn’t keep up again” but of having been entrusted with a task.