Ch.97Divine Gambler (4)

That evening until 5 PM, I continued my rigorous training with Gonzaemon.

The skill gap between Gonzaemon and me was so obvious that landing an effective hit was practically impossible.

How long could I hold out against Gonzaemon? That was the challenge.

“HYAAAAH!!!”

Gonzaemon charged straight at me, attempting to deliver a lightning-fast head strike.

“Kiryu Second!!!”

I immediately activated Kiryu Second, circulating oxygen throughout my entire body.

FWOOOSH-!!!

With the temporary speed enhancement, I quickly created distance between myself and Gonzaemon.

FWAAANG-!!

After gaining some distance, I immediately pushed off the ground and charged toward Gonzaemon.

“DIE!!!”

I swung my sword with full force.

“Is that any way to talk to your master?!!”

Gonzaemon raised his sword to block my strike.

CLAAANG-!!

Our bamboo swords collided with tremendous force. Wait. Shit… he blocked it? Honestly, I was taken aback.

“Ugh…!”

I maintained Kiryu Second for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Suddenly, my strength began draining at an incredible rate.

“Huff…..”

I immediately returned my breathing to normal.

SHIIIK-!!

About 2 seconds. I quickly deactivated Kiryu Second.

“Good!! You’ve gotten faster!! That’s it!!!”

Gonzaemon pressed his attack against me.

When deactivating the form, defense becomes the absolute priority. That was already ingrained in my mind.

CHANG-! CHAJAANG-! CHANG-!

I somehow managed to block Gonzaemon’s sword strikes.

And so, today’s training session came to an end.

——–

“Phew…..”

Since my body was drenched in sweat, I immediately took a shower.

“Here, Shota.”

Umi brought me some spare clothes. By the way… she just casually walked into the men’s changing room. Well… since I was alone, it didn’t really matter.

“Yeah. Thanks, Umi.”

I quickly put on the clothes.

“……”

I felt Umi’s lustful, lewd gaze fixed on my naked body, but I deliberately ignored it. Starting something here would be really inappropriate.

“See you tomorrow!”

I waved my hand toward Gonzaemon.

“You… aren’t you tired? Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange if you collapsed.”

Gonzaemon asked me with a surprised tone.

“Ah… I am tired, but not that much….”

I tilted my head.

Honestly, I was confident in my stamina. No matter how hard the training was, I didn’t get tired easily. That was also one of my talents.

“Really… you’re like a monster.”

Gonzaemon muttered.

Anyway, as long as I wasn’t injured, it was fine. If I kept training at this pace, I would definitely get stronger.

“Well then, Shota. Shall we go?”

Umi said while hugging me tightly.

“Yeah.”

After giving Umi a quick kiss on her forehead, I took her outside.

———

On the way home, Umi asked me.

“By the way… Shota. Aren’t you tired?”

Umi asked.

“Holding Umi like this makes me feel like all my fatigue is gone.”

I said with a smile. I tightened my arms around Umi’s slender waist.

“Hehehe. Such sweet talk.”

Umi giggled and snuggled against me.

“Really… does your body emit negative ions or something? Just being next to you makes all my fatigue disappear.”

I said with a smile.

“It feels like my energy is being recharged via Bluetooth.”

I said while holding Umi tightly.

“Hmm… wired charging works too.”

Umi smiled and made a suggestive joke.

“Seriously… you always choose the most provocative things to say!”

I hugged Umi as if I was about to lift her up, and rushed straight home.

——-

The moment we got home, Eri and Taiga greeted us.

Naturally, we headed straight for the bedroom.

After enjoying our happy time together and savoring the afterglow of our intense lovemaking, Eri spoke up.

“By the way… wasn’t the frequency a bit uneven today?”

Eri said while gently caressing my body.

“Yeah, that’s right. When we did it five times… Umi did it ten times.”

Taiga said.

Wait. Were they actually counting? I hadn’t been paying attention to that.

“Ah… lately Umi just looks so beautiful to me.”

I said while stroking Umi.

How should I put it? The thought that Umi might be taken by another man made me want to leave my mark on her definitively. I realized I had quite a strong possessive streak.

“Shota… let’s do it one more time, okay?”

Umi whined at me. Caught up in the mood, I immediately went for another round with Umi.

“Y-you’re just casually going at it again!”

Eri exclaimed in surprise.

“U-Umi… I honestly thought you were the weakest… when did you get ahead like this?”

Taiga was shocked.

“Mom… thank you… haah…!”

In the midst of our act, Umi unconsciously muttered something.

“Mom?”

I asked Umi.

“Ah… it’s nothing.”

Umi smiled sweetly and shook her head.

Hmm… that’s a bit suspicious. But whatever. Umi is cute and desirable. Isn’t that enough? I decided to focus on intertwining my body with Umi’s.

And so, Umi overwhelmingly claimed first place in today’s intimacy rankings.

———–

At midnight, I got up.

“Time to hunt monsters…..”

No matter how busy our days were, wild monsters wouldn’t wait for our convenience.

If it was something only we could do, we had to do it every day.

“Ugh… I don’t want to go.”

Taiga grumbled while putting on her clothes. She had the gruffness of a construction worker doing the night shift. Despite her pretty face, she could be quite manly sometimes.

“We have to go. We’re saving the world, right?”

Umi said with a bright smile as she got dressed. She seemed so satisfied that she didn’t care what happened next. Right now, Umi was radiating a saintly glow.

“Th-that… is the composure of a favored main wife…”

Taiga waved her hand as if blinded and said.

“………”

Eri, not being a club member, was sound asleep. I covered her with a blanket. After kissing Eri’s cute forehead, I got up from my spot.

“Let’s go!!!”

I shouted enthusiastically.

———

At the meeting place, Central Park.

Sasith was there.

He was burning some kind of incense.

That’s right. It was a spiral-shaped mosquito coil. In fact, it’s much more lethal than electric mosquito repellents.

Mosquitoes like the Asian tiger mosquito just ignore electric repellents. Think I’m lying? During my military service, I saw those brave creatures sucking my blood while taking damage from electric repellents…

He must have been bitten a lot to bring that… for a cool guy, he’s too vulnerable to his surroundings.

A few mosquitoes caught in the space-time storm fell down one after another. Space-time storms are the best!!!

“Ah. You’re here.”

Sasith said while spraying mosquito repellent on himself.

“Sasith… you don’t like mosquitoes, huh.”

I said to Sasith.

“Hmph. They’re just annoying.”

Sasith said, turning his head away.

That means you don’t like them. Geez… this cool-wannabe guy.

“Hmm… certainly. In midsummer, things like mosquitoes would be annoying.”

Taiga said.

“I really wish we had a proper hideout or something.”

Umi said.

“Anyway, what’s the plan for today? Shota.”

Sasith asked.

“First, let’s get everyone’s level up to around 30. Then we’ll buy lots of healing potions and consumables and tackle that floating spaceship.”

I said.

The May dungeon was still there. But now it was late May. The time limit was approaching.

Nakori High School’s summer vacation started early, and while daily life seemed relaxed due to the summer break… that’s an illusion. The dungeon conquest situation wasn’t relaxed at all.

June was coming soon. The time limit was rapidly approaching.

“Hmm. We don’t have much time… but we can’t rush and make a big mistake.”

Sasith nodded and said.

“Yeah!! Let’s clear everything out today!!”

I immediately said.

Actually, I had already thought of an efficient grinding method.

——–

What’s an advanced technique for tanks in games?

It’s mob gathering. Managing aggro and gathering large numbers of mobs to the point where you won’t die.

If you deal with encounter mobs one by one, the conquest takes too much time, and dungeon clearing gets delayed.

When mobs are gathered, it’s easier for dealers to handle them. They can just spam AoE skills at the nice cluster of mobs, and the mobs just die.

“Let’s go!! Pinocchio!!!”

I ran forward holding Pinocchio.

“GRRRR!!!”

“GRAAAWR!!!”

Pinocchio’s ability to draw aggro just by existing was excellent. The monsters immediately rushed toward me like crazy.

“When I give the signal, unleash your magic and AoE skills!!!”

I instructed my companions.

“Got it!!”

Sasith nodded.

SWOOOOSH-!!!

I swung my sword widely and moved nimbly among the groups of skeleton soldiers. It was an AoE skill that sacrificed power, but it was enough to draw aggro.

“GRAAAWR!!!”

A large army of skeleton soldiers chased after me.

“Follow me!!!”

I shouted and ran toward my companions. The skeleton soldiers rushed toward me at an incredible speed as if possessed by something.

Now was the chance, with skeleton soldiers from all over the old town gathered in one place.

“Sasith!!! Wipe them out!!!”

I shouted loudly.

“Come forth!!! Uwang 799!!!”

At Sasith’s call, Uwang appeared.

“Gigantic Punch!!!!!”

Sasith immediately activated the highest-tier AoE strike skill.

“UWOOOOH!!!!!”

Uwang swung his gigantic fist.

KWAAAANG-!!!!!!!

The giant fist fell like a meteor straight onto the skeleton soldiers. With that, the horde of skeleton soldiers was pulverized and scattered.

Ding-!! Dingding-!!

Thanks to taking out a large number of mobs at once, my companions received an enormous amount of experience. Because of that, everyone in the party immediately leveled up.

As expected, this method was efficient.

“Great!! Let’s keep doing this!!”

I clapped my hands and said. My goal was to ensure everyone had the appropriate specs by the end of today.