Chapter 64 - Chapter 64: Power Play
The attack on the dungeon's deep layers, a joint effort by top guilds, had begun.
Surrounded by onlookers, we started from the 4th floor, but the members included many high-level adventurers.
We reached the 5th floor in the blink of an eye.
Although this layer is recommended for level 30 or so, one might think it would be a cakewalk for the people here――but they are struggling.
It is the fault of the enemy, Golems, monsters that possess resistance to both physical strikes and magic.
They are not living creatures with blood, so there is nothing to fear.
Dolls made of rock, silently repeating attacks and defenses.
Impatient that her attacks were not working, the Princess grabbed the Golem's leg, flipped it over, and destroyed its Magic Stone.
A complete power play.
Watching that, I thought: Could we make money using these Golems?
――That idea struck me.
Golems take time to break down, but they do revive.
Naturally, their Magic Stones revive as well.
Since the Magic Stones are quite large, if we can remove them properly, won't it be profitable?
Well, the details are up to the finisher to show off.
"Oshi!"
I gathered my spirit and charged at the Golem.
Everyone else seems stuck attacking, so maybe I should do it.
"Gogogo!"
"Uooo!"
A giant arm swung down at me, but I dodged it lightly.
The monster's fist, slammed onto the ground, split the earth and sent shards flying.
I jumped into the enemy's range, attached myself to its leg like the Princess, and felt the cold, rough texture of the rock against my palm.
The giant body towering before me was a giant rooted in the earth.
I felt overwhelmed by its presence, but I possessed high-level power.
I took a deep breath and focused my consciousness at the center of my body.
I felt my muscles tense gradually throughout my body as energy flowed into every part of me.
I planted both feet firmly on the ground, and the power drawn up from the earth traveled through the center of my body, to my arms, and then to my fingertips.
"Oshaaoraaaa!"
With an explosion of muscle throughout my entire body, the giant before me flipped over, becoming a one-man backdrop.
Slammed against the ground with his whole body, the rock limbs shattered into pieces.
Seeing that, I took out the Corrosion Dagger from my Item Box.
I jumped onto the Golem, which was flailing about after having its limbs torn off, and attached myself to the large Magic Stone on its chest.
If I were to stab the dagger directly into the Magic Stone now, the treasure we worked so hard for would be ruined.
"What I'm aiming for is――!"
The frame of the Magic Stone.
If I corrode this part, won't the Magic Stone come off?
I stabbed the dagger into the rocky surface, and it immediately began to change into a mushy state.
"Orya!"
I stood up and kicked the Magic Stone.
With the sound of rock cracking, the Magic Stone detached.
The Golem, which had been flailing until then, suddenly stopped moving.
"I got it~!"
I held up the prey I had captured high, but――I felt like I had seen this gag somewhere before.
"Oooooh~"
Cheers rose from the adventurers fighting.
Had no one ever taken a Magic Stone out this way before?
It must have been simpler to destroy it rather than take the time to extract it, since it was troublesome.
Or perhaps they just ran away from the battle itself.
"Darling!"
Turning at the Princess's voice, I saw her attaching herself to the leg of the next Golem.
"Alright!"
I understood her intention, stored the Magic Stone I was holding in my Item Box, and gave the signal.
"Nyaaaaaa!"
With her spirit, the Golem flipped over.
Unlike my case, the enemy was not half-destroyed, so it was still moving.
As I tried to approach――the monster, to protect its Magic Stone which was its power source, showed movements like a fly swatter.
"That is easily dodged."
Dodging the Golem's fly-swatter attack, I attached myself to the Magic Stone on its chest.
Again using the drop-item dagger and a kick, I removed the large Magic Stone.
The Golem, which had been trying to crush me, stopped dead.
It stopped dead as if its power had truly been cut.
"Darling!"
She seems to want to keep going.
Since she seems happy, maybe she enjoys flipping over Golems.
The other adventurers looked dumbfounded and seemed to leave all attacks to me and the Princess.
Well, it would just be trouble for them.
There is no need to force it here; there are other monsters.
When the time comes, we can rest and pass the baton.
After I defeated the first one, the Princess defeated one, and we took stones from about four more, we took a break.
One Golem had revived, so there were five left.
While running around with the Princess, I took food out of my Item Box and ate.
"Oi, Darling, what are you going to do!"
Iroha called out to us.
"They'll increase again in a while, right? I thought we could get a lot of Magic Stones if we did that."
"Oi, oi."
She looked dumbfounded.
"Hey, you can hide for a bit."
"Is that okay?"
"If you hide behind the rock I threw, I don't think they will attack."
I took out several large rocks from my Item Box and evacuated the adventurers for a moment.
It seems that if there are no visible targets, they drop off the target list.
For now, they are concentrating their attacks on me and the Princess in front of them.
Once they increased to about ten, we started attacking again.
"Hahaha!"
The Princess flips them over, and I take the Magic Stones.
With this combination, if we fight here for too long, we might get frowned upon.
If it were just me and the Princess, we could keep going endlessly, but……
Once we wiped out the ten that respawned, we called it a day.
"Ahhh~ I can't stand it~ Darling, flip me over and trample me too~"
Iroha was saying something stupid.
"There's no way we can do that here――here!"
I tossed the large Magic Stone I had gotten from the Golem to her.
We shared the Magic Stones, giving one to each guild.
Since we were doing whatever we wanted, we had to keep them in good spirits.
"Is it okay, Darling……"
Iroha was holding the Magic Stone she received up to a magical light.
"Haha――well, I made you and the Princess play along with my fun."
"Play?――Normally, just taking that attack would be the end of it, you know?"
"……"
Gorilla stood frozen, holding the Magic Stone.
What's wrong?
"The Golden Path is also at fault."
"N-no……"
"Hahaha, if Gorilla is also aiming for the Cherry Princess, he needs to be able to do at least that much!"
Iroha's words made sense, but it seemed quite difficult.
"Only Darling can do something like that."
The Princess crossed her arms and held her nose high.
"But, I've never seen the Cherry Princess having such fun?"
"Yes. She usually seemed strict……"
Iroha and Yuuki agreed.
I don't know what the Princess was like before I met her.
My resolution of her was only that there was a beautiful woman in a bikini armor among the top adventurer rankers.
"But――thanks to Darling coming, hasn't the Empress become easier?"
Suddenly, the arm pointed at Kaorulko.
"Yes. I can now focus on my work, so I am grateful."
"Hahaha!"
Iroha laughed heartily.
"Kyaah~"
While I was listening to the conversation holding the Magic Stone, I was surrounded by the female mages.
"Uncle, you are really strong!""So amazing!"
"Oi, oi, you're very different from just now. Is it a high-speed turnabout?"
"Because I didn't think you were that strong!""Are you stronger than the Cherry Princess?"
"Yes, did you see?"
"Yes!""Because the Golem flipped over completely!""That's right, it's amazing!"
Surrounded by the girls' giggling, a Harpy's voice came from above.
"Gyagya""Gya!"
"Please move aside."
When I separated the girls, the Harpy came over.
Gigi flew down nearby and came to where I was.
"Good, good, you taught me well. Here's some chocolate."
"Gya!"
"Eat, eat, eat chocolate."
"Gyaa"
This time it was Chichi.
She flew directly to me.
Her large breasts pressed against my face, smelling bird-like.
"Here, eat it over there."
"Gya"
While I was giving chocolate to the Harpies, a female mage came over.
"You monster!"
"Ah, hey, don't mess with her!"
"Gyaa!"
The Harpy, making a warning sound, flew up and threw white stuff at the girl.
"Nya! It stinks~!"
The Princess was hit by the Harpy's feces attack too.
It smelled very bad.
"Gyagya!"
"You! Stupid bird! Light Bullet! Strike my enemy! 《Magic Missile》"
She must have been very angry, as she cast magic at the flying Harpy.
Magic takes time to activate, and against a flying target, you have to aim for lead.
Plus, it is dark inside the dungeon――there is no way it would hit.
――Even so, it would be a problem if it actually hit, so I stopped her.
"Hey, hey! You can use cleaning magic, right? Sorry――here, take this."
I gave the girl covered in feces a bottle of Recovery Potion.
"This is the worst! That's why I hate monsters!"
"They taught us about the Golems, didn't they? Please take care of them."
"……Cleaning."
Blue light enveloped her body, and the white feces peeled off.
"Really, the Harpies have become friendly!""Amazing!""How did you tame them?!"
"I don't really know why they became friendly. Maybe it's some kind of skill."
"Like a Tamer or something?"
"It doesn't show up in the status though."
While I was surrounded by girls giggling, the Princess came over.
"Hey! My Darling is mine!"
"Kyaahhh!"
The girls were driven away by the Princess.
"Wait, wait……"
I beckoned to Iroha.
"What is it? Darling."
I whispered to her.
"About Yuuki's place, aren't the girls doing Yuuki's go-ni-go-ni?"
"Ahaha, no. Because mages can't use healing magic if they fight 《that》, right?"
"Umm? Eh?! Does that apply to men too?"
"Yes."
According to her, the mages who retired have verified how far is safe.
Seriously~.
By the way, the mouth seems to be okay.
Even if it's not that kind of relationship, the female mages seem to respect Yuuki as a senior adventurer and as a mage.
If they admire her that much, she must be a person of character.
Since the battle was over, we ate.
The Princess and I had eaten a light meal during the battle, but we were still hungry after fighting for so long.
I took out the pallet where the goods entrusted by each guild were gathered.
Everyone gathered around the pallet and took out the supplies they needed.
Once that was done, they put it back into my Item Box.
The longer food is out, the more likely it is to spoil, but it seems many places have prepared preserved foods.
Except for the curry I made, our group has mostly bread, onigiri, bento, and retort foods.
This time I made a large amount of curry and cooked rice in similar quantities.
Still, with three high-level adventurers, it seemed like it would disappear in a blink.
"Darling, give some to me too!"
Iroha came over with a female mage companion.
"Okay, eat, eat."
"Yay!"
"Oga has his own food supply, you know!"
The Princess seemed reluctant to share the food.
As I served rice and curry, I thought I might have made a mistake.
I agreed immediately, but the Princess is the leader.
Maybe I should have checked first.
"I have some……but if a delicious smell drifts over, I can't resist, can I?"
Saying that, Iroha started scooping up the curry.
"Fast! Curry isn't a drink."
"Did Uncle Niwa make the curry?"
The mage girl was also eating curry.
Since she only uses support magic, she probably hasn't consumed many calories.
She doesn't seem to call me "Old Man."
Just that, her favorability goes up.
"Yes, I'm a single old man, so I can cook everything."
"So amazing!"
It wasn't really that amazing.
"Hahaha, eat, eat, eat curry――can Iroha not cook?"
"Can't! Refill!"
She held out her plate.
She eats as much as she looks.
"I'll have some too."
"Kaorulko too?"
Iroha eats, and Kaorulko eats just as much.
It's strange where that body fits it all in.
Maybe it's all gathered in her chest and buttocks.
I understand that using powerful magic makes you hungry, but she hasn't used any magic yet.
At most, maybe just Light 《Light》 magic.
"Refill!"
Iroha held out her plate again.
"Show some restraint!"
The Princess shouted.
"It's fine, it's just curry."
"My portion will decrease!"
"Gununu"
As usual, the Princess and Iroha glared at each other.
"Anyway, are all the female rankers bad at cooking?"
"I don't need to. I can just have Darling make it."
The Princess seems to have no intention of cooking from the start.
"I feel the same."
"Kaorulko, you too?"
"I can make simple dishes."
The mage girl raised her hand.
"Great! Well, I suppose that's a bit old-fashioned, but if you want to catch a man, being able to cook might increase your chances."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, if delicious food appears, men might fall for it easily."
"Heh~"
"……"
Three people, including the Princess, stood frozen holding plates of curry.
"But, look――can you do this kind of business when you are 30 or 40? No, you can't. I am doing it, though."
"Uncles are rare, you know~"
"I also happened to become an adventurer, but I intended to retire soon."
"Eh? Is that so~"
"Uuuu……"
Iroha groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I think it's tough to dress like this when you are in your thirties……"
"I am considering that, just in case."
"Well, that's true."
"You can earn handsomely, save money, and do another business. Or you can open a training school to nurture the next generation. There are many options."
"That's true……"
Well, there is also the option of quietly continuing to work and eat even as you age.
Being an adventurer isn't just about flashy clothes and brilliant activities.
I think that, but if you shine brightly as a ranker first, maybe that becomes difficult.
Just then, my guild had a sample named Kirara.
That guy seems to be the type who definitely drags past glory with him.
Recently, it seems he changed his thinking.
"The Princess is rich enough that she doesn't need to work, and Kaorulko is so excellent she could run a company or two――she doesn't seem to have any worries."
"Thank you."
Kaorulko bowed, but it was all true.
She currently handles all guild operations and negotiations.
"The Princess has outrageous charisma, but she probably isn't suited for running a company."
"I agree."
"Hug hug"
The Princess probably has no objection to her own evaluation.
She silently eats curry.
"What about you, Darling?"
Iroha is worried, but she doesn't know my situation well.
"Me? I am extremely rich, contrary to appearances."
"Eh?! Is that true?!"
"Well, I earned money that way and planned to retire and return to my hometown, but then I met the Princess, and this is what happened, hahaha."
"What! That's simple then! Everyone can just be supported by Darling, wahaha."
"Oga! What do you think my Darling is!"
The Princess shouted, spitting out rice.
"What? If you are extremely rich, one or two women shouldn't matter, right?"
"That's not what I mean!"
"Anyway――"
She beckoned us over and whispered.
"The women here are members of the Cherry Princess's secret plan, right?"
"Gugu――well, that is true……"
While whispering, I asked the thing I wanted to hear.
"Hey, Iroha."
"What is it? Darling."
"Do you sense any signs of pregnancy?"
"No?"
"I see――even though I've fought with the Princess, I don't sense anything either."
"Is that so?"
"If there's no problem with the girls, maybe it's me……I might need to have the Sensei check me."
I don't know if my body is like that myself.
"Ah, um……"
Kaorulko raised her hand small.
"What is it?"
"Is there a possibility that procreation between high-level adventurers is prohibited?"
"Ugh?! Th-that is……"
The Princess didn't seem to consider that possibility.
"Ah, I see. If high-level adventurers can create superhumans, the dungeon would be cleared in a blink."
"As Iroha says――this dungeon feels like it was made to toy with people."
"Yes. It's just like a game, with items and treasures dropping."
Kaorulko agreed with my opinion too.
"Well, there is also the possibility that I am just sterile, so after this attack ends, I will go to the Sensei and get checked."
"Darling, who is the Sensei?"
By the way, Iroha doesn't know about the Sensei.
"He is a person who researches monsters at the university. He has a medical license, so he should be interested in my body."
"Heh~――but, how do you get checked by that teacher?"
"Eh? Well――I guess I just have to hand over what I produce."
"Hehehe, so――by doing that and that to produce it?"
Iroha was grinning.
"Darling……?"
The Princess was glaring, but being glared at is troublesome.
"If I'm getting checked, it can't be helped, right?"
"……"
She seems suspicious, but how about it――that Sensei is a bit crazy too.
"Mum~"
Since the three of us were whispering, the female mages looked sulky.
"Wahaha, Koeda, sorry! There are some things only top rankers can talk about."
The girl's name seems to be Koeda.
"It's fine, but……"
"If your level rises like mine, you can join the conversation too."
"Like Iroha Onee-san? Impossible."
"That's not it――just get pulled along by someone strong like Darling and run laps."
"Well, that's true……"
Well, the guild I had was doing the same thing.
Other guilds probably do it too.
"Anyway, the Magic Stones we got from the Golems are big, but how much are they worth?"
I asked Kaorulko, who seemed knowledgeable.
She handles the guild's money management too.
"Yes――probably about 1 million yen……"
"Heh~, it's expensive after all."
"But, for monsters like the Cherry Princess and Darling, maybe, but fighting for your life against those rock dolls that neither strikes nor magic works on for 1 million yen……"
Iroha's words make sense.
I think so too.
But, the monsters are terrible.
After filling our stomachs, we continued to the 5th floor and repeated battles.
The enemies were Trolls and Ogres, etc.
"Oi, Oga! They are your brothers! How about you get married! Hahaha!"
The Princess shouted while fighting an Ogre.
"Shut up!"
Iroha reacted to the Princess's bad-mouthing.
Well, they are indeed big and muscular, so they are somewhat similar.
If they put on horns, they might be exact copies.
Ogres look like humans, so they are not popular as food at all.
They also seem to taste bad.
――Knowing that they taste bad means someone has eaten them.
Even if they look like humans, if they were delicious, someone might eat them……
If there were females, they might become popular in a certain direction, but it seems there are no females.
It's a bit regrettable.
――While fighting, we arrived at the 6th floor.
From here, the enemies become stronger.
The recommended level is around 36.
It seems to be almost the same level as the top rankers here.
Probably only the Princess and Kaorulko are over 40.
In other words, letting your guard down is dangerous.
For now, since it is not a layer we can rush through, we decided to camp at the 6th floor entrance and stay for one night.