“Haa… haa… I managed to escape somehow.”
Yuma leaned against the rock wall, gasping for breath. He had escaped from the 56th Stratum where the Varlin was and climbed to a higher stratum.
The president, utterly exhausted, plopped down and sat cross-legged on the ground.
Aisha, panting heavily, lay sprawled out on her back. It seemed especially tough on Aisha, who originally lacked stamina.
“Yuma, did you bring the Demon Ore?”
“Yes… just two, though.”
Asked by the president, Yuma took out the Demon Ore from his pocket and showed it to them.
“Oh, well done, Yuma-kun!”
Aisha’s eyes sparkled as she approached on all fours.
“There were other Varlin that seemed beatable, but… I was too busy escaping.”
“No, no, this is plenty. Two is enough to verify the effects.”
Taking the two Demon Ores in her hands, Aisha grinned to herself. Seeing Aisha like that, the president, who was sitting cross-legged, raised his voice.
“Hey! More importantly, escaping the Dungeon is going to be tough. Yuma’s ‘Metallization’ time is up, and I’m out of Magical Power too. This is no time to be laughing!”
Hearing that, Aisha snorted.
“Don’t worry. We’ll use bombs to ascend the strata on the way back.”
Aisha was full of confidence, but Yuma looked dubious.
“Aisha-san, even if we use bombs, I dropped my Pickel, and I can’t use ‘Metallization’, so I can’t use the bombs or the Bloodstained Ore either.”
Aisha paid no heed to Yuma’s worries.
“No need to worry. Yuma-kun, lend me your rucksack.”
“H-hai…”
Yuma handed Aisha the rucksack filled with bombs.
Aisha took out aluminum tape from her waist pouch and picked up a stone that was lying nearby.
She took out a white cylinder bomb from the rucksack, placed the stone she had picked up against the surface with the detonator, and secured it with aluminum tape.
“Hey, what are you doing? Monsters in this stratum are going to start gathering soon!”
The president stood up and surveyed the surroundings. Indeed, there was a rustling sound from behind the shadows of the rocks. But Aisha showed no sign of panic.
“Kotaro, throw this over there. As high as possible, in an arc.”
The president looked at the bomb he was handed and frowned.
“What’s the point of throwing this?”
“Just do it, quickly!”
Replied to curtly, the president said, “Alright,” and threw the white cylinder wrapped with the stone. The cylinder rotated in the air, and the stone, acting as a weight, fell downwards.
The moment the stone hit the ground, the detonator activated and exploded.
The monsters that were trying to approach Yuma and the others turned on their heels and headed towards the place where the explosion occurred.
“Now’s our chance! Run to the exit!!”
In response to Aisha’s shout, the president replied, “O-okay,” and everyone left that stratum.
After that, they used the twenty or so bombs as decoys to slip through each stratum without fighting, and in the lower strata, the president wielded his Hexagonal Rod to defeat the Monsters.
And then—
“We’re outtttt!!”
They ascended the first stratum of the Dungeon and returned to the indoors managed by the Self-Defense Forces.
Seeing Yuma and the others in such a tattered state, the Self-Defense Forces personnel rushed over in a hurry. They were immediately taken to the medical room.
Yuma breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they had somehow survived.
◇◇◇
The day after returning from the 56th Stratum of the ‘Black Dungeon’. Yuma woke up in a hotel room in Yokohama.
Yesterday, he had received treatment in the Self-Defense Forces medical room and returned to the hotel at night.
He didn’t have any major injuries in particular, and he was talking with the president about taking a day off today when Aisha came to the room.
“Alright, let’s go to the Dungeon right away!”
Aisha alone invited them to go to the Dungeon with energy, ignoring the president and Yuma, who were still tired.
“Can’t you let us rest a little?”
The president asked, dumbfounded, but Aisha didn’t care and tried to take Yuma out.
Having no choice, the president and Yuma prepared and headed to the ‘Black Dungeon’.
◇◇◇
“—Now then, first, swallow the Bloodstained Ore you obtained, Yuma-kun!”
As soon as they entered the first stratum of the Black Dungeon, Aisha handed Yuma the two Demon Ores and a plastic bottle.
“Eh? Are you sure about this? Eating so many… won’t it make me feel sick or something?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You didn’t have any problems actually eating it, right? As long as you’re Metallized, this Demon Ore won’t have any adverse effects. Don’t worry!”
It was quite a forceful persuasion, but Yuma himself felt the good compatibility between ‘Metallization’ and ‘Superpower’.
With this power, he could become even stronger than he is now.
Thinking so, Yuma decided to use the Demon Ore.
He received the two Bloodstained Ores that he had obtained at the risk of his life and swallowed them one by one with water from the plastic bottle.
As usual, heat rushed through his entire body.
“It seems I’ve acquired the ability.”
“Alright, then there’s something I want to confirm right away. Try ‘Metallization’.”
“O-okay.”
Yuma turned his body into steel as he was told. He wondered what was about to begin, feeling uneasy…
“First, what I wondered about yesterday was that the ability of the Bloodstained Ore disappeared in less than three minutes.”
Yuma also replied, “Indeed,” to Aisha’s words. The fact that the Superpower was canceled sooner than expected put Yuma and the others in a pinch.
They were in a hurry yesterday, so they didn’t think about it deeply, but now that she mentioned it, it was the biggest problem.
The president also questioned, “Come to think of it, it was fast.”
“I estimate that the basic muscle strength increase from this Bloodstained Ore is about five times. However, it’s just an estimated value since I haven’t been able to measure it accurately.”
“Five times!? That much…? But yesterday, my power was far greater than my normal ability!”
“That’s what we’re going to investigate now. Yuma-kun, use your Superpower to punch this rock wall.”
“H-hai.”
Yuma activated the ability of the Bloodstained Ore. Red veins ran through his entire body, and power welled up.
Aisha took out a stopwatch from her pocket and pressed the switch.
When Yuma put all his strength into punching the wall, his fist sank in with a roar, and fragments of rock fell off.
“I punched it, but…”
“Once more.”
“H-hai.”
He punched it many times after that, but there was no particular change, and after three minutes, the “power” disappeared.
“Yuma-kun, activate ‘Superpower’ one more time. This time, concentrate more on each strike and punch the wall with all your might!”
“O-okay…”
Yuma activated his ability, circulated red veins throughout his body, and concentrated his consciousness.
Come to think of it, there was a moment when his concentration increased dramatically when he fought the Varlin. If he could do the same thing as that time—
He remembered what happened yesterday. Put more power into it, concentrate more, and put your whole body and soul into it.
At that moment, the red veins on Yuma’s body became thicker and glowed red.
“That’s it! That’s it!!”
Aisha’s eyes widened, and she raised a voice of joy. Yuma put his fist on his waist, took a step forward, and transmitted the reaction to his waist.
From the waist to the shoulder, from the shoulder to the arm, power flowed like a vortex, and finally, the rotating fist deeply pierced the wall. A crushing impact unlike anything before.
Cracks ran in all directions on the penetrated wall, and it began to collapse with a resounding sound.
The three people who were watching were dumbfounded by the destructive power that far surpassed the normal state.