Chapter 23: My Apologies, It Seems We Won’t Be Able to Be Together Anymore…
“Could I ask you to deliver the finishing blows?”
They weren’t moving, so most of them were probably dead, but letting our guard down here was the most dangerous thing.
That’s what Master used to say.
Following Yuri’s teaching, I, from the rear guard, called out to Riana-san and the others.
“O-Oh, yes. Yukina?”
“Yes!”
Yukina-san, having been called, quickly started running.
No, there’s no danger anymore, so you don’t need to rush…
Or rather, if possible, I wanted her to help Yuri with holding them back.
If she had done that, I could have conserved more Magical Power.
Well, they’re probably not used to this Floor, and they did say it was better to fall back, so I guess it can’t be helped this time.
Oops, I need to get to work too.
So, I went around carving out Magic Stones from the Monsters.
If possible, I’d like to take all the materials back, but since no one brought a Cart, we have no choice but to leave most of them.
Well, I’ll take everything that can be carried back with the Cart I made, so I created a Cart and started loading the corpses onto it.
By the way, the Cart has evolved considerably.
Thanks to the Backpack, I wouldn’t say it’s unlimited, but its carrying capacity has increased more than fivefold.
Even so, I still have enough Magical Power left for a day, so I can participate in battles as a rear guard.
Well, I do have a complaint about being the only one carrying luggage, though.
No, wait a minute.
They need to be evaluated too, so they should usually be taking things back, right?
Next time, I’ll have to tell them to borrow one properly.
I’ve saved up a fair bit of money, but my only source of income is exchanging Monsters for cash.
Next time we go together, I’ll make sure to state my case firmly.
“…As expected of someone the Razbel family has ‘claimed.’ I didn’t think he was this good.”
“Indeed. To simultaneously deploy five Magic Circles with such precision… If he weren’t already ‘claimed,’ he’d be a talent we’d definitely want.”
“Please stop! I haven’t ‘claimed’ Rui-san like that!”
Fuhaha, praise me more?
Considering that was with elemental magic I’m not used to, I think I deserve a pretty high score myself.
There’s no such thing as tracking, so aiming them is difficult.
Besides, magic requires the process of channeling Magical Power into the Magic Circle each time, so the rate of fire is slow.
To deal with Monsters swarming in like an avalanche, there’s no choice but to increase the number of circles.
However, increasing the number instantly raises the difficulty.
I can manage one without prediction lines, but aiming five simultaneously at enemies is nerve-wracking even with prediction lines.
It’s precisely because aiming isn’t as easy as with a Gun that those noble brats use Magic Tools to increase their accuracy.
“Oh my, if he’s not already taken, perhaps I should try to woo him?”
“I-It’s not like I mind!? Please do as you wish!!”
“Oh my, Riana-sama, isn’t that going a bit too far?”
“Ufufu, I know. It’s a joke. After all, this is the extent of our relationship, isn’t it?”
Yuri, realizing she was just being completely teased by Riana-san, ran over to me and hid behind me.
“I’m being bullied! Rui, please help me!”
“Alright, alright,” I said, patting her head, and when I looked at Riana-san, for some reason, she was giving me a look that seemed a bit complicated.
“I understand that Yuri is cute, but please don’t tease her too much.”
While wondering why she was looking at me like that, I responded to Yuri’s request, and Riana-san also nodded obediently, saying, “Yes. I understand.”
After that, we went through about three more battles, and I sensed the atmosphere of preparing to return.
Compared to usual, the number of subjugations was far too low, but Riana-san said, “Let’s end it around here,” so we finished.
After settling the accounts and parting ways with Riana-san and the others, we returned to the dorm, reached my room, and I started cooking as usual.
Until a little while ago, Yuri would be with Raku and Fuu around this time, but now they’ve grown to about the size of large dogs, so they can’t be kept in the room anymore and have been moved to a building dedicated to tamed beasts.
Thanks to that, Yuri is free.
Lately, it’s become her daily routine to happily watch me cook.
“Hey, today’s subjugation count was way too low, wasn’t it? If this continues, I’d like to go solo, but… would that be bad?”
“…Which Floor are you planning to do it on?”
The twelfth Floor is Golem-types, so they have few weak spots.
To stop a Golem, you either need to exceed a certain amount of total damage or destroy its Magic Stone.
In that case, the only way to defeat them in one shot with a Gun is by destroying their Magic Stone.
Floors fourteen and above are tough for a vanguard, so going solo is reckless.
So, the Floors I can go to with peace of mind are…
“Either the eleventh or thirteenth, where they’re easy to defeat with a Gun.”
“The eleventh Floor is fine. You could probably manage there even as a vanguard.”
Ah, no, that’s not what I meant by ‘good or bad.’ Since we’re in a Party, I wanted to ask for permission to go separately…
Well, I’m happy she’s worried about me, so I won’t deny it, though.
“Alright! Then, since it’s a good opportunity, maybe I’ll get permission to stay out overnight and go all out!”
“Don’t say such foolish things! How are you going to spend the night alone?!”
No, well. I said it on impulse, but I know it’s reckless.
Emotionally, I’d love to do it, but even if I did, once my remaining Magical Power runs out, I’d have no choice but to take a break from the Dungeon anyway.
So, there’s no point in overdoing it.
The reason I want to go separately is because I want to use the Gun to reduce consumption and go all out.
Seriously, I’m envious of those who can fight using only the consumption from enhancement.
And so, after finishing our meal and chatting as usual, I saw her off, and then, fired up with the determination to hunt seriously from tomorrow and close the gap even a little, I went to sleep.
Completely forgetting Listol’s parting shot.
I was running around frantically on the eleventh Floor.
Being chased by a group openly displaying hostility.
Of course, the one chasing me was that guy who spat out a parting shot and ran away the other day.
I had noticed people were around using Enhanced Hearing, but because I hadn’t considered the possibility of it being Listol at all, I had allowed them to get close enough to be seen.
And then, I was finally cornered.
At the dead end, a steel plate was fixed, with the words “No Entry” written on it.
Why is there a steel plate here of all places?!
I’ve never seen anything like this in a Dungeon before!
Why, of all times, now…
If I could break through this plate, there might be a way forward, but I’d probably be killed while doing that, so I had no choice but to face Listol and his group.
“Hey, hey, is it alright for a noble-sama like you to get your hands dirty personally!? You’ll be demoted to a commoner like Karl, you know?”
I knew words like these wouldn’t stop him, but I wanted even a little time to think of a way out.
So I strung together words that would make him want to retort.
“That’s because he foolishly failed to finish him off and let him escape. I won’t make such a disgraceful mistake, so there’s no problem.”
“But, wouldn’t you have stood out quite a bit, bringing along such unfamiliar faces?”
The men smirking and looking this way, standing alongside Listol, were at least not A-class students.
No, I don’t think there were guys like this in my grade either.
“Idiot! We’re students of the academy too, so of course we wouldn’t stand out!”
Which means they’re upperclassmen, huh…
He even has guys like that as his pawns?
He was showing so much hostility; I shouldn’t have just turned my face away because I disliked him. I should have investigated a little.
There’s absolutely no way I’m letting myself be killed by a guy like this.
Worst case, I have to consider shooting them dead.
But there are also guys standing guard behind them, so it’d be difficult to shoot them all dead and pretend I know nothing.
If even one of them escapes, I’ll undoubtedly become a wanted man, and it’ll either be execution or a life on the run.
If a noble did it, they could get away with ‘no evidence,’ but it’s a different story if a commoner is suspected of killing a noble.
It’s common knowledge among commoners that killing a noble means beheading based solely on the testimony of their entourage.
And nobles lie without batting an eye.
This is a world where false accusations are par for the course.
“Do you guys understand? Status differences don’t matter in a fight to the death. If I’m going to be killed either way, then I’ll be fighting with the intent to kill too, you know?”
“Kill me? Don’t get conceited, commoner!!”
The moment Listol flew into a rage, I increased the output of my enhancement.
As expected, he came slashing at me, so I dodged his attack and countered with a punch.
A serious punch with my enhancement at full power.
Movement at a speed that, while not on Yuri’s level, could contend with Riana-san and the others.
Listol, who had underestimated me, took a direct hit and was sent flying backward.
He was obviously using enhancement too, but it still seemed to have quite an effect.
He tried to get up immediately, but his legs wobbled, and he fell on his butt.
“I’ve been gathering enemies and hunting with Yuri on the fifteenth Floor. There’s no way I’m weak, right? Next time, I’ll kill you. If you resist any further, there’ll be no room for discussion.”
If he backs down now, this incident probably won’t become a major problem.
He’d be too embarrassed to spread a story about being beaten up by me and running home, so he shouldn’t be able to use any official channels.
I glared at them and extended my weaponized katana.
“Well? Are we going to have a death match? Huh!!”
“Kuh! You guys, get him!! All of you!!”
…Looks like I lost the bet.
Several people are conjuring Magic Circles behind Listol.
Guess I have no choice but to fight.
Yuri, I’m sorry.
It looks like… I won’t be able to stay with you anymore…
Apologizing to Yuri in my heart, I simultaneously created a Gun with my Maso and began shooting, aiming for their legs and shoulders.
Thwack, thwack, thwack—dry sounds echoed, and those who were shot, without exception, writhed on the ground.
However, when I tried to aim for the man behind Listol, he was clad in heavy Maso armor, so the only place I could pierce was around his eyes.
Hesitation welled up—should I really kill him? For now, I shot his shoulder to prevent him from casting magic.
He recoiled from the bullet, but he didn’t cancel his spell.
“Crap!”
A Stone Bullet came flying.
He must have sensed I was a threat. It was a considerably large rock.
I could tell at a glance that it was imbued with a large amount of Magical Power.
I instantly boosted my enhancements, thrusting my gauntlet forward in a defensive stance as I twisted my body, attempting to evade.
I managed to evade about eighty percent of it, but it wasn’t quite enough. Bam! I was forcefully knocked back and slammed into the wall.
The arm I’d guarded with ached considerably, but perhaps thanks to my enhancement, it could still move, somehow.
I instantly got back up and readied my Gun again, but—rotten as they might be—they were still Maso Academy students. The ones who hadn’t been shot created standard-issue Maso shields and hid behind them.
Oh, is that how it’s gonna be? If even this doesn’t work, then I don’t give a damn anymore.
To hell with it if I end up killing them, I thought, as I imbued a massive amount of Magical Power and unleashed a Firestorm.
The area-of-effect fire spell engulfed the passage in flames, and screams echoed from the other side.
With that, I’d escaped the immediate danger, for now.
Just as I thought that, I saw another Stone Bullet burst through the flames, flying towards me.
Ah, this is bad.
I can’t dodge this.
My vision was obscured by the flames I’d unleashed, and I spotted it at an unavoidable range.
I instantly tried to transform my Maso to thicken the armor on my upper body, which was right in its trajectory, but even that wasn’t fast enough.
The impact sent me flying backward, and the moment I crashed into the wall, a metal plate toppled down.
In that case, I should escape to the other side for now and recover.
Thinking that, I let myself be blown away along with the plate, but the impact of hitting the ground never came.
Hurriedly looking down, I saw that I had been flung into empty space.