“Oh! Awesome! With this, we can defeat them all, right?!”
Contrary to the delighted Kanzaki-san, Yuma’s expression clouded over.
“It’s no good. There’s a limit to how much Liquid Metal I can spread, so I can’t defeat them very efficiently.”
As Yuma said, the range in which the Liquid Metal could be spread was only about five meters around Yuma at most. Moreover, the Salamanders had become more cautious and were no longer approaching the black puddles.
“I guess it can’t be helped.”
Yuma collected the Liquid Metal with a rustling sound and stood up deliberately.
“What are you going to do, Yuma? No one’s around now, but if we dawdle, the Self-Defense Forces will come. I told Tanaka-san that, but it’s impossible for the Self-Defense Forces alone to defeat a large number of Monsters.”
“That’s true.”
Yuma looked around. Roughly estimating, there were about five hundred Salamanders. As Kanzaki-san said, they couldn’t afford to take their time defeating them.
“I’ll use the “Metal Armor” to wipe them all out at once!!”
He put strength into his body. He converted the Mana in his body into Liquid Metal, transforming it into armor that covered his entire body.
Yuma’s body grew about twice its size, and horns grew on his head. Bulging muscles and black armor, shoulder armor and fists with Spikes.
Yuma, in his “Metal Armor” form, quietly opened his mouth.
“Limiter release… Bloodstained Ore (Bloody Ore)… Full power!!”
Red streaks ran across his black body surface. The streaks traveled all over his body and began to glow eerily.
Steam rose from Yuma’s body, and he exhaled vapor from his mouth. The pebbles nearby began to rattle.
The swarm of Salamanders that had been running to get to the surface stopped moving.
Some even took a step or two back, as if frightened by something.
“President!”
“O-oh.”
“I’m going all out!!”
“Yeah, I’m counting on you!”
Yuma kicked off the ground. In an instant, the earth exploded as if blown away, and the surprised Kanzaki-san reflexively guarded his face with his arms.
What happened from there was instantaneous.
When Yuma kicked, the Monsters were sent flying into the sky and turned to sand.
If he stomped on them, they would turn to sand without question.
If he slashed them with the Longsword extending from his arm, many Monsters would be instantly cut in half.
There was no resistance.
There was no escape.
Just one-sided violence raged like a storm.
He punched, kicked, slashed, and crushed. It didn’t even take three minutes to defeat the five hundred Salamanders.
◇◇◇
“Are you alright?!”
About ten minutes later, the Self-Defense Forces, armed with Guns, came down from the surface. There were about a squad of them.
They approached Kanzaki-san and Yuma while being cautious of their surroundings.
“What happened to the Monsters?”
“Ah~ They seem to have escaped to the lower levels. Anyway, there aren’t any around here.”
When Kanzaki-san answered nonchalantly, the Self-Defense Forces personnel breathed a sigh of relief, lowered their Guns, and straightened their posture.
“We will patrol this area. Please go up to the surface and receive treatment. After treatment, the Seekers and the Self-Defense Forces will cooperate to guard the first floor.”
“Oh~ I see. Understood.”
Kanzaki-san and Yuma left the Self-Defense Forces personnel on the first floor and began to climb the stairs leading to the surface.
“You did it, Yuma!”
“Yes, I did.”
Kanzaki-san happily took out a small case from his inside pocket. When he opened it with a click, there were countless red Magic Gems inside.
“Rubies, Rubies! If we have this many, they’ll fetch a pretty good price.”
“As expected, if we defeat that many Salamanders, they’ll drop Magic Gems, right?”
“Yeah, with this, we can avoid the company going bankrupt for a while. Yuma! I’ll give you a special bonus when we get back, so look forward to it.”
“Really!? Thank you very much!”
The two happily walked towards the surface.
◇◇◇
Red Dungeon, thirteenth floor —
In front of the Cave that connected to the twelfth floor, in a place where large, jagged rocks were lined up, stood the members of “Roar of the Raijuu”.
The other Seeker Clans had been asked to go up the floor first, and Tennoji and the others were crouching down, observing the state of the Monsters.
“How is it?”
Rui asked Tennoji, who was looking through binoculars.
“It’s as reported… the Goblins and Orcs have further increased in number. And –“
Tennoji paused, took off the binoculars, and glared into the distance.
“Hell Garm have also increased. There are nearly thirty of them.”
“T-thirty?!”
Ishikawa-san, who was next to him, widened his eyes.
“Those are Monsters that we struggle against even one of! And there are thirty of them…”
The members of the Seeker Clan who were there all had grim expressions.
“Shouldn’t we have taken them out sooner?”
Akira Taizen, known as “Railgun”, who was standing behind them, spoke bitterly, but Tennoji shook his head, saying, “No.”
“Even if we could defeat the Monsters in the lower levels, we would have used up all our Magical Power and suffered not-insignificant injuries. If that happened, we would have been massacred by the Monsters that caught up from behind.”
All the members fell silent. Certainly, if they were in such a situation in the lower levels of the Dungeon, no rescue could be expected.
“After all… we have no choice but to lure them closer to the surface, huh?”
When Rui said with a strained expression, Tennoji nodded, saying, “Yeah, that’s right.”
“Near the surface, we can fight with all our might without worrying about the consequences. We’ll annihilate every last one of them.”
At Tennoji’s words, Ishikawa-san smiled faintly.
“Let’s go up too.”
The members of the Seeker Clan stood up and headed towards the Cave leading to the upper floor. After confirming that everyone had entered the Cave, Tennoji stopped alone and turned around.
Far beyond his line of sight, among the swarm of Monsters, it was there.
“…………Red Ogre, I will definitely defeat you!”
Tennoji turned on his heel and entered the Cave.
◇◇◇
The dome facility on the surface was crowded with injured Seekers.
Even so, there were only a few seriously injured people, and most of them had minor injuries. As Kanzaki-san and Yuma were walking around, Tanaka-san and the Sakura Port Company Seekers were sitting in a corner of the wide corridor.
“Tanaka-san!”
“Ah! President!!”
Tanaka-san stood up abruptly and ran towards them, clattering.
“Oh, I’m glad… I was worried about what happened to you two…”
Tanaka-san put his hands on his knees, panting and his shoulders rising and falling.
“Sorry, sorry. Tanaka-san, we’re fine. How about you guys?”
“Everyone from Sakura Port Company had minor injuries. If they rest a little, I think they can fight again.”
“I see… that’s good.”
As the two were talking, Minazuki-san noticed them and approached. His left arm was wrapped in bandages, and gauze was applied to his face, but it didn’t seem to be a major injury.
“Thank you for your help earlier. If you hadn’t come, the Seeker Clan might have been annihilated. As the leader of the Clan, I would like to thank you.”
“What’s with the formality… We’re fighting together, so it’s only natural to help!”
Kanzaki-san scratched his cheek embarrassedly. He seemed to be bad at being praised by people.
“I heard from Tanaka-san earlier that your company is called D-Minor. I’m ashamed to say that it was the first time I’d heard of it.”
“Well, that can’t be helped. It’s a completely small business.”
“However, you and that young Seeker over there are excellent personnel!
Minazuki-san said that and looked at Yuma. When Yuma hurriedly averted his eyes, he chuckled and turned to face Kanzaki-san again.
“I would be very grateful if you would continue to associate with us in the future.”
Minazuki-san held out a business card in his hand. Kanzaki-san took the business card, saying, “Oh,” and fumbled in his pocket to find his own business card.
He took out a crumpled business card and handed it to Minazuki-san, saying, “Well, here you go.”
Seeing that, Yuma and Tanaka-san gave Kanzaki-san a cold look, wondering if he was fit to be a member of society.