“There’s quite a lot of them…!?”
“We’re surrounded…!”
“Mm… Their numbers are still increasing.”
The voices of Tsukasa, Akino, and Tōru echoed across the battlefield.
Currently, Keiichiro and the others were surrounded by nearly twenty Trents.
At first, there had only been a few Trents.
However, as the battle dragged on, Trents drawn by the sound of combat deactivated their [Mimicry] and joined the fight.
“As the leader, what is your decision, Kageura-sama?”
Natsume asked while fending off a Trent.
“Right—”
The Trent is a monster excelling in durability over firepower.
Because of that, dealing with them takes time, allowing their allies to join up.
And if we get overwhelmed by numbers—it means defeat.
That means we need to deal with the Trents efficiently.
“Everyone, switch to Strategy B!”
Keiichiro shouted.
For their activities as Party ‘Omokage’, Keiichiro and the others had prepared several strategies.
And to execute these maneuvers quickly, they had assigned designations.
Tactical Plan B—that was,
“””””—[Stealth]!”””””
Keiichiro, Tsukasa, Tōru, Natsume.
The four figures vanished from the battlefield.
—Omokage possessed a certain characteristic.
Excluding Akino, the tank, everyone could use [Stealth].
Although for Keiichiro it was an effect granted by his Twilight Series equipment, it didn’t change the fact that he could essentially use a pseudo-[Stealth].
“Well then, I shall—[Area Shield]!”
Akino raised her voice, and a dome-shaped barrier enveloped her.
That was [Area Shield], the tanking skill she possessed.
Although its defensive power is less than her own, it is an excellent defensive skill capable of covering her blind spots.
Everyone except Akino concealed themselves using [Stealth].
And then, Akino would take all the monsters’ attacks by herself.
As a result, Keiichiro and the other attackers, now unmarked, annihilated the enemy.
Because the burden on Akino was heavy, they could only keep it up for a short time, but its annihilating power was immense.
“Tooryaaaah!”
Tsukasa’s voice echoed from the void.
Simultaneously, a black slash streaked forth.
It carved deep wounds into one Trent after another.
“[Fire],” Tōru’s voice called out from a distance.
A magic bullet suddenly shot out from empty space.
The sluggish Trent had no way to dodge it, and Tōru’s magic easily pierced through it.
“Well then—[Slaughter – Execution].”
Natsume’s voice came from above.
For just an instant, a chill ran through the battlefield.
It was—honed killing intent.
Immediately after, five Trents were instantly sliced to pieces.
Trents, diced like dice.
Even from Keiichiro’s perspective, that swift technique was astonishing.
“Trap Set—[Aerial Deployment].”
Keiichiro surveyed the battlefield from above.
And then—he deployed Arrows in mid-air.
“Pierce through.”
Keiichiro released numerous weapons.
They rode the Arrows—raining down onto the battlefield.
The launched blades slashed and pierced the Trents.
His attack destroyed ten Trents.
“—Something like that, I suppose.”
“It appears all the Trents in this area have been wiped out.”
Upon confirming the Trents were wiped out, Akino dispelled her [Area Shield].
Even after weathering the focused assault of twenty Trents, her barrier remained uncracked.
This level of defense… I suppose that’s to be expected of a [Paladin].
“That was excellent guarding.”
“It is an honor to receive your praise.”
Akino smiled as she said so.
It seemed this tactic, tried for the first time, had worked just as Keiichiro expected.
A tank capable of handling the guarding alone. A Speed Attacker who could swiftly deal with enemies. The success was precisely because both were available.
“――Fighting has made me feel rather hot.”
Akino fanned her face with her hand. After all, she had been defending against all the enemies’ attacks by herself.
The fatigue must have been significant, even though it was only for a short time.
“Ojou-sama. Your breasts are glistening with sweat. May I wipe them for you?”
“…Please don’t say such strange things.”
Akino narrowed her eyes at Natsume’s words.
Lowering his gaze slightly, the skin of her chest peeking out from her dress was damp with sweat, glistening brightly.
–It wasn’t something he should stare at for too long.
“Ojōsama. Sweat has pooled in your cleavage. May I wipe it for you?”
“Yes, please do…!”
Perhaps having given up on stopping Natsume, Akino replied half-heartedly.
It seemed that maid was simply too much for her master to handle.
“My handkerchief is already soaking wet…”
Meanwhile, Tōru held up the handkerchief she had been using to wipe herself down.
The cloth had already absorbed sweat completely, and it looked heavy just at a glance.
“Want to borrow mine? It’s an unused one.”
“Nn… Thank you.”
Tsukasa handed the handkerchief to her.
—It was a cute handkerchief made of lace fabric.
Regardless, Tōru wiped her neck without seeming particularly bothered.
Tsukasa watched her interestedly.
“Hmm. I was thinking she looked different from before. Why is Tōru-chan wearing a sarashi? They say if you don’t wear a proper bra, they’ll lose their shape, and I’m actually quite against it.”
So Tsukasa asked.
This was because the white cloth wrapped around Tōru’s chest had become visible when she lightly wiped the area.
Putting that aside—
“…That’s pretty casual sexual harassment, isn’t it?”
Keiichiro sighed.
–The “time he saw her before” likely referred to that incident at the hot spring.
Tsukasa was saying that the bulge visible through her clothes looked smaller compared to Tōru’s breasts he’d seen back then.
If it were the opposite, he could understand it as padding, but for it to appear smaller than it should seemed unnatural.
However, it seemed Tōru didn’t grasp the underlying meaning behind his words. Without showing any particular concern, she lowered her gaze to her own chest.
“If I wear normal ones… they stand out.”
“Ah… Yeah, that size is pretty impressive for a middle schooler.”
“I don’t really… want people to look.”
Seemingly convinced, Tsukasa nodded.
It looked just like a chat between middle school girls—except one of them was a boy.
“Besides—Oshitari-san isn’t this big.”
“If you said that to her face, she’d kill you instantly.”
It was an act of recklessness akin to headbutting a landmine.
It was likely a statement that ranked in the top three ways to anger the woman named Oshindari Yukiko.
“—Kageura-sama.”
“?”
As he watched Tsukasa and Tōru’s exchange from afar, Natsume suddenly spoke to him.
She stood beside Keiichiro with a composed expression.
“I found the Boss Room. While you were preoccupied with breasts, Kageura-sama.”
So Natsume said.
—while wiping Akino’s chest with movements so intense they were clearly unnatural.
Rather, it looked exactly like she was groping her.
“Ngh… Ah… Kya…! Natsu, Natsume…!? You’re done wiping now, aren’t you…!?”
Akino seemed to be resisting, her body trembling, but perhaps because Natsume skillfully held her down, her chest continued to be relentlessly assaulted.
In the first place, Natsume wasn’t even holding the cloth anymore.
She was simply fondling the breasts.
Originally, it would be unthinkable for an [Assassin] to overpower a [Paladin], a class inherently focused on power.
Achieving this should require a significant level difference, and a level 80 [Assassin] ought to lack the necessary strength.
If that’s the case, then she must either be exceptionally skilled—or she lied about her level.
“Please don’t say things that sound so bad.”
However, this wasn’t the time to be worrying about such things.
Keiichiro shrugged as he cleared up the misunderstanding.
“So, while you were ignoring the breasts of the university student and the middle school girl to stare intently at the cross-dressing middle school boy—”
“Whoa, that guy sounds messed up. Isn’t he a criminal?”
Unfortunately, that man likely possessed a nature fundamentally incompatible with Keiichiro’s.
“Yes. I recommend you convert to the flat-chested faction while you still can. How about adult lolis, specifically?”
“———”
For some reason, the conversation about chests wouldn’t end.
As Keiichiro wondered how to react, Natsume stared back at him with half-lidded eyes.
“…Indeed, I might broadly be classified as flat-chested, but could you please not stare? Even so, I’m B-Rank.”
She looked at him as if observing something disgusting.
Her utterly scornful gaze was strangely fitting, and someone into that sort of thing probably would have been delighted.
Not that it had anything to do with Keiichiro.
“It’s not like I was looking at your chest, though.”
“If it was my face you were looking at, I’m quite confident in it, so please feel free to look anytime.”
“…You really throw me off.”
Keiichiro scratched his head.
“Honestly, especially with that carefree way you talk… frankly, I’m starting to feel like the quality of this ‘Yukko copy’ is higher than Usui.”
Somehow, he felt Natsume was similar to Oshindari Yukiko.
It wasn’t about superficial things like her appearance.
It was her unique pace, like her way of thinking, that was similar.
–Though it was just a vague feeling.
“I was accused of being a copycat. I am the original.”
“No, I don’t really think you’re copying anyone, though.”
Tōru was likely the only heavy fan who would imitate someone’s everyday words and actions.
–Probably.
“Rather than that, shall we head towards the Boss Room? I don’t really want to linger here…”
Akino, finally freed from Natsume’s grasp, spoke up.
Was her exhaustion due to the dungeon, or because of the actions of her own companion?
He couldn’t tell.
“Me too… My sarashi is wet and feels gross.”
“I’m soaked in sweat too~”
Still, Akino wasn’t the only one eager to leave.
The other members also seemed in favor of finishing the conquest.
“Right. Let’s get going.”
Keiichiro didn’t want to stay long in such a deeply uncomfortable space either.
They headed towards the door leading to the Boss Room.
(There’s also the chance that we might get lucky.)
—To tell the truth, Keiichiro was already considering a certain possibility at this point.
“Usui.”
“Hm…?”
When Keiichiro called out, Tōru tilted her head.
Expressionless eyes.
In them—
“Ah—no. Let’s do our best.”
“Mm.”
—Keiichiro swallowed the words he had been about to say.
(Is it better not to say it yet?)
He felt it was too early to mention it.
Because it was still just a matter of probability.
(This is a dungeon where plant-type monsters appear. The boss is probably also plant-type.)
They had only encountered Trents on their way here.
If that was the case, the boss should also be plant-type.
(And plant-type monsters are—)
As an Adventurer, Keiichiro had studied many things.
He had gathered a wide range of knowledge, not just commonly known facts, but also insights veterans had discovered through experience.
According to that knowledge—
(—the monsters with the highest probability of dropping an [Elixir].)
This was a B-Rank Dungeon.
The boss was likely A-Rank.
That meant it was a chance to obtain an A-Rank Elixir.
Although Akino was arranging for one, the Elixir couldn’t be prepared immediately.
But in this dungeon, they might be able to obtain the very thing they needed.
He had started to say as much—but hesitated to offer words that might only lead to false hope.
☆
“Ah—it’s right in the center this time.”
Tsukasa said.
They had already entered the Boss Room.
—The scenery in the Boss Room was mostly unchanged from the rest of the dungeon.
It was a world shrouded in fog, surrounded by trees, and enveloped in suffocating heat.
If there was one difference, it was that the fog was even thicker than before.
And—about 100 meters straight ahead from the entrance—stood a tree incomparably larger than the others.
“My heart wouldn’t be able to take it if we were ambushed every time.”
Akino brushed her hair back with her hand.
Nine times out of ten, that tree was using [Mimicry].
Keiichiro’s guess—was correct.
“Fog. Trent-type. A fitting boss.”
Natsume murmured.
She must have predicted it too.
This time’s boss monster.
“Indeed.”
And Keiichiro also became certain that his prediction this time was correct.
—The giant tree began to move.
It was white, looking like a Trent that had simply grown enormous.
Its name—Fog Trent.
The boss of the artificial dungeon has appeared.