You Think I’ll Just Take This?

A horde of monsters, easily numbering in the hundreds, assembled before me.

Within seconds—BOOM.

–Ding.

[A total of 112 damage has been accumulated.]

[Cumulative Damage: 128029 ▶ 128141]

[Remaining Damage: 128141]

Finally, vicious pincers and tails began slamming against the shield I was holding, terrifying even at a glance.

The tremendous vibrations I felt through the shield made me instinctively shrink back.

But regardless, these monsters couldn’t possibly break through a shield that no one had been able to penetrate so far.

I thought I just needed to focus on what was in front of me and stall for time, but—

–Patter.

“…Huh?”

Something like brick dust showered down onto my shoulder.

An ominous feeling spread throughout my body.

As I instinctively moved slightly away from the wall I had been leaning against—

–CRACK!

“Aaaah!!”

A dark red tail burst through the wall, grazing my left shoulder and tearing my robe to shreds.

Sure enough, a skill activated almost simultaneously.

–Ding.

[The Lesser of Two Evils (P) has been activated.]

[Target designation: Steel Tail has been designated as public enemy.]

In other words, my body, not my shield, had been attacked.

Even if no further attacks came from the monster that just struck me, it meant that other monsters might soon break through the walls to attack me.

I finally realized that the wall at my back was no longer safe.

Almost instinctively, I used another skill toward the mass of monsters blocking my front.

[Using The Response Is Worse (A).]

[Total Damage: 20000]

[Remaining Damage: 108141]

–BOOOOM!!

A massive slash cut through the air, carving a two-lane highway through the warehouse packed with monsters.

The problem was that there were still more than enough monsters outside the warehouse to fill that empty space.

To make matters worse, the warehouse walls, which had never once broken in my first playthrough, were shattered by the monsters.

Which meant…

“…W-what do I do…?”

Unlike a few minutes ago when I thought I only needed to block attacks from the front, now I had to defend against hordes of monsters coming from all directions.

…As if I could do that.

I’d soon be surrounded and helplessly attacked by tails and pincers from all sides.

I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen after that.

So, I needed to do something.

I really needed to do something…

–Rustle.

The monsters, which had momentarily recoiled from my sudden wide-range attack, charged forward again.

Before I could decide what to do, I started running away in panic, as expected.

“H-how can objects like walls be destroyed… that doesn’t make sense!”

It was too late to complain about things that defied my common sense.

Although walls and buildings never collapsed from ordinary monster attacks in my first playthrough—unless it was from a player’s direct attack—

Right now, there was a broken wall right in front of me.

Memories and experience were useless at this moment.

After running for a while, I suddenly found myself driven into the center of the warehouse.

“Y-you think I’ll just take this?”

With about 50% of my sanity gone, I used a skill toward the ground instead of in any particular direction.

And I used the maximum damage possible.

My plan was to collapse the ground itself and annihilate all monsters within a fifty-meter radius.

If all the surrounding monsters were killed at once, I might find a way to escape.

Fortunately, the monsters weren’t that fast, so I thought I could somehow manage if I quickly ran out of the warehouse.

So, ding.

[Using The Response Is Worse (A) at ‘maximum capacity’.]

[Total Damage: 324423]

[Remaining Damage: 0]

–RUMBLE!!

“Huh…?”

I overlooked just one thing.

When you use damage in the hundreds of thousands against the ground at once, the recoil is also tremendous.

And since it was an attack I used myself, the [Unstoppable] effect didn’t apply.

So what was the conclusion?

“Waaaaaaaahhh!!”

I literally became a rocket, flying high into the sky before helplessly falling toward the forest beyond the dungeon.

The problem was, my speed wasn’t decreasing at all.

Really, not even a little bit.

“…Ah.”

–Thud!

–Crack!

–Snap!

I crashed through countless branches and leaves, causing all sorts of commotion.

Fortunately, I managed to block most of the impact with my shield, so I didn’t suffer any major injuries.

The small cuts and scrapes that appeared all over my body disappeared within seconds as they healed or regenerated, but…

“…!…!!”

My clothes becoming rags was another problem.

The bigger issue was that these were clothes I had borrowed from Asha without permission.

Of course, the biggest problem was that they were now torn beyond recognition, no longer serving as clothes at all.

If I ran into someone like this, I’d be headed straight to jail.

I couldn’t remember if there was something like public indecency laws in <Another World>, but regardless, I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.

Fortunately, the transformation potion’s effect was gradually wearing off.

As my vision drew closer to the ground, I searched desperately for the bushes where I had hidden my spare clothes.

Meanwhile, back when the battle with the scorpion monsters called [Steel Tails] was still raging…

“They’re coming again from the front! Get ready!”

Diaz, the man commanding the situation inside the A-grade dungeon called Lychenium, sensed that things weren’t going well.

It was bad enough to call it the worst-case scenario.

They only needed to hold out a little longer to accomplish their purpose for entering the dungeon, but today the monsters’ attacks were especially fierce.

The shield that had barely been holding off the monsters’ attacks finally shattered moments later.

“…Damn it. I promised to take Lua back.”

Just as a monster’s sharp tail was about to pierce Diaz’s shoulder—

For some reason, that vicious tail tip stopped just ‘before’ making contact.

Not just the monster in front of him, but all monsters in the area stopped moving.

Shortly after, the monsters began turning away one by one.

“What… what’s going on? Why are they acting like that?”

The question spilled from his lips in confusion.

It was understandable, as this was a sight he had never witnessed in all his years.

Nevertheless, the death that had been approaching him had clearly been averted.

With the help of fellow hunters who rushed to his side, he slowly got to his feet.

Even as they finished moving the mana stones and artifact materials that hadn’t yet been taken out of the dungeon…

Even as they found and rescued another hunter who had been isolated between buildings…

Even as they dismantled all the temporary structures in the dungeon and withdrew completely…

The monsters never reappeared.

Finally, just as they were about to leave the dungeon after completing the final inspection—

–BOOM!!

“?!”

A tremendous explosive sound from somewhere in the dungeon struck Diaz’s ears.

Simultaneously, a vibration covered the entire area.

It felt exactly like an earthquake.

But unlike the other hunters who hurriedly ran out of the dungeon, Diaz’s gaze remained fixed.

No, he couldn’t look away.

“…This doesn’t feel right.”

This anomaly was also something he had never experienced in all his years of entering the dungeon.

Of course, dungeons were inherently mysterious places that couldn’t be judged by reason and logic.

However, even that had a certain limit.

–Dash!

“H-hey… Diaz! Where are you going?!”

The instinct or intuition he had developed over decades as a hunter was warning him.

It told him that if he ignored the smoke rising in the distance and the inexplicable acrid smell, he would soon regret it.

Even if this was a dungeon they wouldn’t be entering for the next few months…

Even if it was a dangerous place with nothing left but vicious monsters, having already obtained everything valuable inside…

As the person in charge of the Lychenium dungeon, he felt he couldn’t just ignore this ominous feeling.

The sight that awaited Diaz when he finally reached the edge of the dungeon was literally shocking.

“Did a gas leak… explode?”

The abandoned warehouse, which they had only known as a monster nest, was completely destroyed.

Not a single part of the warehouse—walls, pillars, roof, or floor—maintained its original form.

However, something small was glittering beyond the deeply sunken ground.

Diaz carefully made his way through the flattened, dead monsters.