“Hup.”
Branches whipped through the air like lashes.
Keiichiro leaped back, and an instant later, a branch slammed into the ground where he’d been.
“It has so many attacks.”
Keiichiro turned his gaze towards the Boss—the Fog Trent.
Despite its slender trunk, it stood nearly a hundred meters tall. Dozens of branches thrashed about like tentacles. Its attacks were dense, allowing no enemy to approach.
“And because the branches are whitish, it’s hard to notice them approaching.”
The battlefield was shrouded in thick fog. The Fog Trent’s thin, white branches blended into the mist, making them difficult to see. Because of this, he had to dedicate his focus to evasion, preventing him from switching to the offensive.
“Should we try to take out some branches first?”
They needed an opening. For the Fog Trent, its branches were both weapons and armor. The wildly swinging branches served as both offense and defense.
However, this also meant that losing its weapons was synonymous with losing its shield. If it lost its branches, it would lose its means of attack and defense simultaneously.
“Everyone! Strategy B!”
Therefore, Keiichiro gave the command.
To concentrate their efforts and quickly trim the Fog Trent’s branches.
For that purpose—
“””””[Stealth]!”””””
Everyone except Akino vanished.
This way, the branches wouldn’t target Keiichiro and the others.
The effort they had been pouring into evasion could now be directed towards cutting down the Fog Trent’s branches.
However—
“Ngh… This is…!”
Keiichiro’s expression hardened.
There was just one miscalculation.
That was—
“Kh…!”
Akino’s pained voice.
Following instructions, she had deployed her [Area Shield]. But the dome-shaped barrier she created—was warping.
The Fog Trent’s branches constricted the [Area Shield]. Along with that, the barrier deformed, cinching like an hourglass.
“Is the attack power really this different between a normal monster and a Boss monster…?!”
They had managed against over ten Trents. He had judged that even if the enemy was a Boss, facing it alone wouldn’t be an issue.
But he had underestimated the significance of the Fog Trent’s astonishing number of attacks concentrating on a single person.
“My guard… it’s going to break…!”
And finally—pushed beyond its limit, the [Area Shield] shattered.
“If Trents are plant-type monsters—”
But Akino reacted quickly.
She couldn’t block it all.
Having reached that conclusion, she—switched to the attack.
“Then I shall simply mow them down with flames! [Laevateinn]!”
Flames extended from her hand. The inferno became a sword, swinging down upon the approaching branches.
“N… No way…!”
Akino’s eyes widened in surprise.
The descending flame sword. An attack that should have had excellent affinity against a plant-type monster—wasn’t working.
The blade bit into the branch. But that was all. The strike that had demonstrated such power in the fight against the Death Mantis couldn’t even sever the branch now.
“The Fire attribute, which should be bad affinity for it… even taking that much power, it receives no damage…? Could it be—”
Keiichiro realized the meaning behind the phenomenon before him.
This Dungeon was enveloped in thick fog.
Thick fog.
That meant there was water everywhere.
The Boss Room was a world tailored for the Boss.
And the Fog Trent’s weakness was fire.
“Akino! This room has a gimmick that suppresses the power of Fire-attribute attacks!”
Keiichiro shouted.
A space where the power of Fire-attribute attacks was greatly diminished.
Those were the rules here.
The attack meant to exploit the Fog Trent’s weakness had been cleverly nullified by the room’s mechanics.
“Dungeons truly are troublesome, aren’t they…?!”
Akino ground her teeth.
Her guard was broken, and her counterattack was meaningless.
All that remained was the fact that she was surrounded by branches.
“Kuh—!”
“Akino!”
The converging branches captured Akino’s body in an instant. They wrapped around her body layer upon layer, robbing her of her freedom of movement.
“Nngh… I cannot move…!”
Akino struggled, but while she might have been able to break one or two branches, tearing through so many was impossible.
(He took out the tank…)
With Akino, the tank, incapacitated, there was no one left to handle the Fog Trent’s attacks. The assault intensified, becoming even fiercer than when the battle had just begun.
They couldn’t just leave Akino like this.
They needed to act quickly.
“—I’ll step in as a sub-tank!”
Keiichiro declared a change in strategy.
Simultaneously, he used [Aerial Deployment] to float an Arrow in mid-air and kicked off it.
Carried by the momentum, Keiichiro dove towards Akino.
“Hah…!”
Keiichiro swung his dagger with enough force to twist his body. The slash from his dual swords cut down the branches that had pinned Akino in mid-air.
Freed from her restraints, Akino fell towards the ground.
Keiichiro caught her.
“Are you alright? Akino.”
“You saved me.”
Though she expressed her thanks, Akino raised her shield again. It seemed her fighting spirit hadn’t waned.
“Akino, keep acting as the main tank like before. I’ll attack while switching to guard as needed.”
“I shall be counting on you.”
This enemy had too many attacks; concentrated fire could break a guard in an instant.
In that case, they had no choice but to share the burden.
Distribute the load and ensure the attacks were blocked.
“Tsukasa! Natsume-san! You two, don’t aim for the main body, focus on cutting down the branches!”
“Okay!” “Understood.”
“Usui, maintain [Stealth] and stay behind me on standby!”
“Nn…”
Crunch…
The sound of footsteps on gravel came from behind Keiichiro. Though unseen, it seemed Usui had taken his position.
“Usui. I’m leaving the finishing blow to you. Make it count.”
Having confirmed his presence, Keiichiro spoke to Usui.
“…My magic doesn’t have enough power.”
However, Usui’s voice showed reluctance.
That was understandable. Usui’s specialty was pinpoint sniping. Against a giant opponent, his magic was ill-suited for dealing a fatal blow.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make up for that.”
Of course, Keiichiro understood that too.
Understanding that, he was still entrusting the final blow to him.
“Nn… I’m counting on you.”
With those words, Usui’s presence faded again.
—He must have entered his sniping stance.
“[Area Shield]!”
While Keiichiro and Usui were talking, the Fog Trent had extended its branches towards them.
A tsunami of approaching branches.
Akino faced it alone.
She planted her feet firmly, digging slightly into the ground but refusing to retreat. However, seeking to break her defense, branches approached from behind Akino.
“Keiichiro-sama!”
“Yeah—[Arrow], [Aerial Deployment].”
Akino called out to Keiichiro. If she were attacked from multiple directions like this, her guard would break.
Therefore, Keiichiro’s role was to limit the attacks directed at Akino to only those coming from the front.
“Down you go.”
Branches aimed for Akino’s back.
An Arrow appeared in their path.
The direction the Arrow pointed was—down.
The branches touched the Arrow.
Instantly, the direction of their attack was forcibly changed, and the branches stabbed into the ground.
“Tooooryaaaaaaaah!”
“[Flaying – Combat]!”
Tsukasa and Natsume. The two Speed Attackers shaved off the Fog Trent’s branches.
“Onii-chan! Even if we cut them, they grow back right away!”
The Fog Trent’s branches possessed a regeneration ability. That was precisely the reason why they couldn’t break through the Boss’s guard.
“Yeah, no problem. As long as we can pry open its guard, even temporarily.”
But it didn’t matter.
Just one strike.
If they could secure enough time to land a single, perfectly honed blow.
“[Arrow]—[Aerial Deployment]—Line Formation.”
Keiichiro swept his arm.
Multiple Arrows materialized in the air.
Arrows lined up in a straight path.
All of them pointed towards the Fog Trent.
“I leave it to you, Usui.”
Keiichiro smiled.
—He was sure Usui would understand the meaning of these Arrows.
“I will absolutely pierce it—because this bullet isn’t just mine alone.”
A quiet voice was heard.
Exploiting that single, momentary opening to strike down its life.
The sniper’s voice was heard.
“Fire.”
An ice magic bullet was fired from the empty air.
It—touched the Arrow in mid-air.
The magic bullet accelerated, riding the Arrow.
Then it touched the next Arrow.
One. Two. Three.
Each time it touched an Arrow, the magic bullet accelerated further.
“It’s over.”
The magic bullet impacted with a speed orders of magnitude faster than its initial velocity.
It wouldn’t allow for a lenient result like mere penetration.
“GIIIOOOOOOOOOOH!”
A pained cry echoed.
Usui’s ice bullet had gouged out and blown away more than half of the Fog Trent’s trunk.
Wood fragments scattered everywhere.
Creaaak… The Fog Trent groaned.
And then, the gouged-out trunk—snapped under its own weight.
“…That was tremendous power, wasn’t it?”
Watching the Fog Trent disappear into particles of light, Akino murmured.
“Half of it was just an idea I came up with on the spot, but an external accelerator really increases the power this much, huh?”
What Keiichiro had prepared was, so to speak, a catapult.
An auxiliary device meant to boost the speed of Tōru’s magic bullets and improve their power.
It was a spur-the-moment idea, but it turned out to be a technique usable in actual combat.
“Boss battle, vic-to-ry!”
“Yeah.”
Tsukasa ran up to him.
Keiichiro slapped hands with him.
Tsukasa then went around to the other members, exchanging high fives.
“——A drop has been found.”
As Keiichiro watched them, Natsume approached. It seemed she had been collecting the dropped items.
“That’s…”
What Natsume held in her hand was a vial. Inside the vial, which was as clear as glass, was a transparent liquid. A strangely shaped leaf floated within the liquid.
This appearance, if I recall correctly—
“It’s an A-Rank Elixir.”
“!”
The one who reacted most strongly to Natsume’s words was Tōru. Although her expressionless face didn’t break, her body clearly jolted.
“Oh my.”
“Ooh.”
Akino and Tsukasa also voiced their surprise at the strange coincidence.
—A coincidence they had considered as a possibility.
But for it to actually happen was incredibly lucky.
Or perhaps, should he consider this a result of Tōru’s usual good conduct?
“…Hey, Akino. Tsukasa.”
Keiichiro started to speak.
However, the other members already seemed to have grasped everything.
Even so, he deliberately voiced it.
“As expected in situations like this, the one who contributed most to defeating the Boss should get the best reward, right?”
Normally, [Omokage] shares rewards equally.
And it’s sometimes said that carelessly changing rules once they’re set can cause discord within a party.
However, there was no one here who would make such a tactless point.
“Greater rewards for those who contribute more to the organization. That is quite reasonable, isn’t it?”
“Mhm, mhm. The one who worked hardest needs a reward, right?”
Akino and Tsukasa showed their agreement.
As for Natsume, perhaps because she wasn’t an official party member, she seemed to have no intention of interjecting.
—It was safe to consider this unanimous.
“And so—I believe the right to this drop belongs to Usui, who defeated the Boss.”
Saying that, Keiichiro offered the Elixir to Tōru.
Certainly, Akino had promised to secure an Elixir for her.
But that wasn’t something that could be achieved immediately.
Even if they could procure one, it wasn’t always in stock. And even when it was, it was the kind of item that would find a buyer immediately.
The estimate was that it would take over a month before the actual item could be placed in Tōru’s hands.
And now, such an Elixir was right before Tōru’s eyes.
“Nn…! Nn…!”
Tōru let out voiceless sounds. Her face remained expressionless, but her eyes were amusingly flustered.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want it?”
Keiichiro couldn’t resist teasing her like that.
“Ngh…!”
Tōru silently shook her head. The gesture was so cute it was hard to believe she was the same girl who wielded such power as a B-Rank Adventurer.
“Alright then… here. Go heal your mother right away.”
Still, he couldn’t keep teasing her forever.
Keiichiro placed the Elixir in Tōru’s hand.
She stared at the Elixir in her hand as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Th…ank… you… very much!”
Tōru managed to squeeze out the words and bowed deeply.
Again and again.
She kept bowing her head.
That was how much that Elixir meant to her.
“For me to miss such a business opportunity,” Akino murmured from behind Keiichiro.
—Tōru had joined the party as compensation for the contract where Akino would arrange an Elixir for her. It was essentially a sales contract, based on the premise that Tōru would have to pay a suitable sum of money.
However, this time it was a Boss drop.
Tōru obtained the Elixir as her natural right as an Adventurer.
Naturally, she had no obligation to pay any money for it.
It was something she had won through her own strength.
Therefore, Tōru no longer had any obligation to remain active in [Omokage].
In the first place, the reason she had become an Adventurer was to cure her mother’s illness with an Elixir.
She might not even continue being an Adventurer anymore.
This was a world where one’s life was constantly in danger.
Now that her family member’s illness could be cured, it would only be natural for her to want to return to the life of a normal girl.
“Despite that, you look rather happy,” Keiichiro remarked, smiling as he looked at Akino.
Certainly, Akino could be said to have missed out on expected profits this time.
Her connection to Tōru, whom she had seen future potential in, might end here, and it was even doubtful if Tōru would continue as an Adventurer at all.
From a purely business perspective, this was likely a failure.
And yet, Akino showed not even a hint of regret.
If anything, she looked happy.
“Oh my. Did Keiichiro-sama think I was the kind of woman who only finds joy in matters involving money?”
“…Of course not.”
Someone who acted solely based on profit and loss calculations would never have offered him a Sponsor Contract free of charge. They wouldn’t invest in a man challenging such an uncertain future.
“Losing the means to retain such a talented Adventurer is a little regrettable, certainly. However, something even happier occurred, so I shall consider it acceptable.”