kscans

Chapter 807 - And So Come the Children of Blue, With No Way to Close the Door - Part One

"HRAAAGH!!"

—Twin-headed dog (boss), defeated.

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"GYAAAH!!"

—Stone bear (boss), defeated.

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"DAAARRAAAAGH!!!!"

—Six-winged giant eagle (boss), defeated.

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"NUUUAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!"

—And others, a rich variety of beasts showcasing horrifically evil faces and forms, or things where I couldn't even tell what they were supposed to be a motif of.

Defeated, defeated, defeated, endlessly defeated.

"—Hah… Hey, come on… Even I'm… getting tired, you son of a…!"

And now. After blowing away a lion's head with a full-force left hook and watching the massive body of a goat with a serpent's tail—a chimera—collapse with a tremor, it has been exactly two hours.

How many dungeons have I cleared up to this point? How many boss enemies have I beaten down? Just how many…

"Alright, secured…!"

…of these ten-second increments have I managed to grasp?

A flash of teleportation light erupts, and my body is thrown out of the alternate space and back into the otherworld. The scenery that unfolds is not the world of cliffs above the clouds.

I graduated from that starting point several tens of minutes ago. Having hunted down most of the dungeons in the towering cliffs, I moved on, and the current field is a giant lake.

The countless floating islands are the main points where entrances to the other spaces are scattered… whoops.

"Rgh, nex—t!?"

It took me about a second to regulate my ragged breathing. Just as I was about to throw the [Dungeon Core] into the air and follow the 'thread' to my next RTA, as I had been doing…

My body was suddenly squeezed tight, my freedom stolen, and I naturally let out a bewildered cry as I tripped and fell flat on my face. Luckily, a fall like this won't chip away at my HP…

"…Uh, have you lost your mind?"

"If anything, that's you. All the time."

"I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy on a daily basis…"

Behind me, a quiet landing sound and a presence. Forced into a passionate embrace with the ground of the floating island, I turned my head to see my senior, clad in a white robe, standing beside me.

"Rest. Just for three minutes."

And what she brought was, in words alone, an act of mercy. However…

"'Just'? That's twenty percent of our remaining time—"

"At the pace you're going now, pushing yourself for three minutes won't earn you much anyway."

"Ugh, guh… How pathetic…"

Considering the current situation, it was an order I couldn't just happily accept.

Our initial thirty minutes of time had completely melted away, and an hour and a half had passed since we started consuming the count the raid had been desperately earning.

It's been a cycle of increasing and decreasing, then increasing and decreasing and decreasing, then increasing and decreasing and decreasing and decreasing and decreasing and decreasing.

Now, with less than fifteen minutes of stock remaining before our designated annihilation, even if we cling on desperately, it's questionable whether we can even weave together another hour.

The pace at which the count is increasing has visibly dropped. Of course it has.

"…Hey, do you have any idea how many counts our squad has racked up in two hours? You, of all people, have no right to say that. Are you trying to provoke the other members?"

"I'm sorry."

Well, just as I, who received the scolding, am feeling the fatigue from my diligent efforts, there probably isn't a single member of the raid who isn't exhausted by now.

And that's not just limited to the combatants—

"Besides, at this rate, even if you run ahead by yourself, she won't be able to keep up."

That part was a whisper.

Just for me to hear. And so the other person couldn't. She was probably being considerate, but it was likely unnecessary.

As my senior approached my side, Nia, who was staring intently at the 'Core' in her hands from atop Sapphire without moving, was…

"…, ……Hah…"

…clutching several crystal pillars awaiting deciphering in the bag slung over her shoulder.

Without even wiping away the virtual sweat trickling down her cheek. She was just desperately trying to fulfill her duty while hiding her ragged breathing and declining performance.

Magic Craft is a type of magic even more delicate than that used for combat. In other words, each and every formulaic operation requires immense concentration—it's heavy mental labor that eats up brain memory like crazy.

If you do it without a break, this is what naturally happens. Not only that, but she's also been continuously conducting wide-area dungeon scans in parallel using her 'eyes,' so the burden must be unimaginable.

—To be honest,

"……So, how many more seconds?"

"Two minutes. You've decided to listen, I see."

I want to let her rest, right now.

It's because I feel that way that I accepted why Natsume-senpai stopped me, and I relaxed the tension in my prone avatar. She was absolutely right.

Not just for my sake, but for Nia's too—I had to stop.

"It feels weird for me to say this, and I know it's incredibly meddlesome of me… but I've gotten attached to her, so I'm giving you an order as your bossy senior."

"……"

"Putting the success of the raid aside, make sure you spoil her when this is all over, you hear?"

"……………………"

"I'll take that look on your face as a yes."

And so, with that additional secret conversation.

I turned my gaze from where I lay. She didn't even seem to have the余裕 to notice she was being watched, simply continuing to fight with the face of an artisan.

I looked at her figure, her deep blue eyes shining with pure focus, her hood—which exerts a perception-blocking effect only on video recordings—pulled down low.

As always, she looks so cool, I thought.

"……I'll do my best. Seriously."

"I've got your verbal confirmation too. Do it right, boy."

When I thought about who she was ultimately doing this for, it was only natural for my heart to tremble.

Even a kitten can be a senior. Natsume-senpai, sprinkling her occasional resourcefulness with a smile, stood up and walked toward Nia.

Please, support her both physically and mentally in my stead…—and as I watched her reliable back, it happened.

"Tch—"

I could have sworn I saw the ears of a white cat stand up in a flash.

The kitten who had stopped without warning… or rather, the seventh seat of the Southern Faction, the [Thread-Weaver], shot a sharp glance somewhere. And the next moment, what appeared on her elegant face was…

"It's here. The 'thread' was pulled."

…not the expression of a mere adorable kitten.

"The situation's changed…!"

It was the genuine expression of a ferocious feline.