kscans

Chapter 275 - At Long Last

I was seen through, and shown concern—Sora's unspoken suggestion was exactly what I needed.

It was time for a breather, pure and simple. To be honest, I was at my limit with the relentless flood of tasks.

Sora must have had things she wanted to talk about too, but she saw my state and showed consideration—inviting me to 'just play.'

…I really am blessed with a good partner.

"—So that's the gist of it… I'm in a bit of a weird state with everything."

"…………Um… are you planning to switch to a mage class…?"

And so.

In order to fully take her up on her kind offer, I forcibly shifted my focus to the 'adventure,' even if it felt a bit strained.

I had a mountain of things to think about, but for now, I would leave it all to my future self—so, for the time being, I'd start by sharing all the changes that had occurred.

"No, I actually think it's not a bad decision. You know, since we'll be tackling dungeons as a pair again from now on…"

"—Ah… In that case, I understand."

On the way to our temporary 'destination,' I explained my stat adjustment. At first, Sora was exasperated, saying, 'You've done something extreme again,' but…

"Right? I'd even say it might be the best possible move."

"Indeed… in your current state, you can do either, can't you?"

What we were talking about was our連携, which we hadn't used in a while—

"—Whoa, that's it."

We passed through the forest, ran across the plains, and after some time crossing valleys and hills, the destination came into distant view, and my attention was drawn to it, putting our information sharing on hold for the time being.

Our current location was a mountainous region with many exposed rock faces, west of the [Garden of Divine Creation]'s [Safe Area]—one of the spots I was told I could find 'gems.'

"A cave… is it?"

Following my gaze, Sora's eyes fell upon a wide, flat opening of darkness—the entrance to the 'mining site.'

[Great Rock-Eating Hive]—a super popular spot coveted by production classes, and a dreaded spot that combat classes avoid like the plague. It was a high-difficulty dungeon that held both titles.

Our objective, of course, was high-quality gem materials. I needed them to overhaul my build, and Sora, whose accessory slots were still mostly empty, needed them too.

It was the perfect place to start our serious dungeon crawling.

"Alright—Sora-san. Before we challenge that dungeon, there's one thing I need to confirm."

"Yes?"

It was a factor I couldn't ignore, one that would decide whether the battle ahead would be 'Hell' or 'Super Hell.'

Incidentally, we were charging in regardless of the answer. As I silently prayed that my partner, who was a real-life lady, had some 'resistance'—I asked.

"This is sudden, but… are you afraid of 'bugs'?"

"— — — — — — — — — —"

Her cute, curious face instantly froze solid.

"…………"

"…………"

"…Right, let's go."

"I refuse."

The hand that gripped my sleeve was stronger than ever.

But too bad for you. Back in the [Trial Spheres of Partition] era, it might have been a different story, but now my STR is higher than yours.

"It's fine. They're bugs, but they're huge monster-sized, so they're just monsters, right?"

"I don't want to."

"Besides, with you, Sora-san, you can just annihilate them with a barrage of magic swords."

"I don't want to."

As I steadily dragged her towards the dungeon entrance, Sora's resistance grew more intense.

"I don't want to! Wh-why…! You should have told me about this sooner…!!"

"It's fine! You can do it! I'll be the vanguard and I won't let them get past me!"

"You have a prior offense for saying that line!"

From there, my partner, who had begun to seriously struggle, displayed the greatest rampage I had ever seen and ultimately declared war on me—or rather, requested a duel to settle the matter of the dungeon crawl.

After some discussion, the duel was decided to be a serious game of 'Look-That-Way'…

"And I wiiiiin!!"

"N-no…! I don't want to! I don't want tooooooo—!!"

And the result, as you can see.

By uselessly employing the technique of perceiving an opponent's 'tells' that I had cultivated through training with the [Sword Saint], I managed to win every single match, from the best-of-three to the final tearful rematch.

And so, our conquest of the [Great Rock-Eating Hive] was approved.

◇◆◇◆◇

"—I hate you, Haru."

"I'm sorry. Can you stop being mad at me soon?"

Ten minutes after the start of our conquest, which had echoed with a girl's screams.

Despite the tear-soaked start, we were making smooth progress, as if to kick away the initial bad luck.

[Great Rock-Eating Hive]—commonly known as the 'Ant's Nest.'

This dungeon, which began from a flat entrance on the surface, was a massive underground labyrinth composed of countless branching, narrow passages.

'Narrow passages'… though that was in comparison to the overall scale. The path, which continued downward at a constant width, was a respectable tunnel over ten meters in diameter.

Now, as for the monsters that appeared in this 'Ant's Nest'—it goes without saying that there were none other than ants.

"Here, they come again."

"Ugh…!"

The precursor was a slight tremor transmitted from under our feet.

And soon after, what appeared was… a great swarm of light, brilliantly illuminating the dim underground.

Enemy name: [Gemrant Army]—the giant ant-type monsters that protect this great hive, and a living, moving mountain of treasure.

To put it simply, they could be described as 'something like an ant made of glowing rocks and gems.' Their body structure was undeniably that of an ant, but their bodies, which looked as if they had been carved from rock, were rugged down to the joints, making them feel less 'bug-like.'

Still, their movements and all weren't entirely unlike a bug's, so I'm sure some people would find them unpleasant. However, the 'gross' factor should have been reduced to some extent.

It's not like I just forcefully dragged Sora into hell.

I trusted Nia's word that 'I don't like them either, but those are barely safe,' and I went in with the premise that we would leave immediately if Sora judged them to be too much.

As a result, Sora-san's judgment was a safe. Though she was sulking a bit, it seemed she had no problem dealing with them.

…Well, they were still creepy enough that she was determined not to let them get close, and her magic sword control was extremely tense.

"Haaah… —Vanguard, if you please."

"Okay."

Sora breathed out to calm herself—and once her resolve was set, her voice became serene.

"[Samidorizuki]."

Drawing the jade blade she had summoned, she stepped forward to face the great swarm that was approaching with a rumbling sound.

Only about ten minutes had passed since we started our conquest—but thanks to the ridiculously high frequency of attacks, my avatar was already thoroughly warmed up.

On top of that, we had more than enough combat results and enemy intelligence.

The 'Ant's Nest,' which a typical combat player would call 'hell'—my impression of this high-difficulty dungeon, which Sora and I were challenging as a duo, was…

"—Come on, you grunts, I'll turn you into a pile of rubble."

"Honestly… if you get careless and get hit, I'll be angry—[Schwert Kreis]."

—so far, it's one step short of being a cakewalk. Now then, let's start this fun musou game.