“You want to talk about that now?”
“Believe it or not, I’m trying my best to let you know how I feel right now.”
“Ha ha ha! Please, don’t joke with me about that, Ms. Kaori! I’ll be going now.” I decided to run away with an ambiguous smile.
She called out to stop me when I stood. “Shinobu, the day of your fated battle is two weeks from now, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
Her expression turned serious yet again. “In that case, that’s when our time limit is. After everything is over, would you please tell me your answer? If you say no, I’ll give up without question. I’m a woman too, you know. I don’t go back on my word.”
“...All right, then.”
Ms. Kaori seemed to have no intention of maintaining an unclear relationship with me.
This is hard... I whispered in my head. That was when I left the room.
†
The place where the drop dungeon had appeared was inside a mountain range within the domain under the control of Dragon’s Roar and the Holy Church. Both we and the other party had dispatched three people, with all of us ranging from levels 70 to 90. On top of that were two level 99 players from each. That should’ve been more than enough to complete a dungeon of this difficulty, but the main concern was the black drop phenomenon. We’d discussed in a meeting beforehand that we’d retreat immediately should it occur.
I gazed intently at the white light that was floating in the forest we were in. “This is the entrance?”
The entrance to the dungeon looked a lot like the Transport Gate, with two three-meter-tall pillars with a five-meter space in between. The white light emitted from there, indicating that it was the means to getting to the other side.
A man with short hair answered me. “Yep, this is the Gate. I’ve never seen you before, by the way.”
He wore heavy armor and wielded a giant sword. His name was Satoru Murashima, and his class was Heavy Holy Knight. I’d been told that he was one of the two leaders of Dragon’s Roar. The other was also participating in this dungeon expedition, with both of them being level 99. Since Ms. Kaori was also participating, both sides were playing all the cards in their hands.
I nodded at Mr. Murashima. “My apologies, I only recently joined the Crimson Moon Brigade. My name is Ryosuke Kishitani.” I opted for a pseudonym since my real name would be an instant flag to them. Everyone’s real names were listed on the Friends List, so it was common sense among the guilds to use fake ones.
Confusion colored his face at hearing a name he didn’t recognize. “Never heard of you. Oh well. I did hear that the Brigade got more members after that incident. Are you really level 99?”
“Huh?” He’d asked in such a rude way that it took me aback. He was basically asking me if I was lying right off the bat.
“I’m asking you—are you really level 99? I know a lot of players recently joined your guild, but most of them were just low-level pieces of shit.”
“Obviously, we had to lie about that to the others. We wouldn’t be lying to you guys since we’re trying to form an alliance with you. That would be terrible of us.”
Though the truth was, we really were lying. I was actually level 125, so a more fitting description would be a “surprise” rather than a “lie,” but in the end, an untruth was an untruth. I couldn’t help but feel he could’ve described the other players as something other than “low-level pieces of shit.”
“I guess you’re right.” He shrugged. “Can’t blame you for lying.”
Satisfied with that reasoning, he turned on his heel. I’d thought someone of his kind would’ve tried to pin fault on me, so I was a bit disappointed while also sighing in relief. We were working together on this expedition with an alliance as the precedent, so his side probably didn’t want to start any unnecessary fights either.
He began walking over to his Roar comrades, when suddenly he whipped around, brandishing his giant blade at me. “Try and dodge this if you’re really level 99!”
Is this level of violence really warranted if you’re just testing my strength?!
The blade made a low noise as it sliced through the air. “No need to fret so much! It’s just the back of the blade!”
I couldn’t find any words to reply to Mr. Murashima’s grin. I was sure he could tell I was a mage from my gear. Had I also been level 99, even getting hit with the back of the blade would wipe out a good chunk of my HP. Fortunately for me, I was level 125 and had this.
Use Skill: Release of God’s Might.
The stats of my summons out on the field would all feed back into me. Power welled up throughout my body, making everything feel lighter. As my stats shot up, Mr. Murashima’s swiftly swinging sword looked like it was moving in slow motion. That’s how I knew my melee abilities had then surpassed his.
Gauging the horizontal trajectory of his loud blade, I lightly jumped on top of it with one foot.
“Huh?!” Mr. Murashima’s face was instantly doused in shock.
Using the sword as a springboard, I leaped over his head, seeming like I was about to knee him right in the nose bridge. I decided to spare him of that, changing the direction of my leg right before it collided with his face to let him know that I could’ve if I wanted to. After front-flipping through the air, my feet hit the ground.
Facing the area behind him, I called back to Mr. Murashima. “Good enough?”
“Tch...” He clicked his tongue and shrugged. “Unlikable brat. You look like a mage, but you’re actually a physical combat class?”
“Something like that.” That wasn’t even remotely the case, but there wasn’t a point to explaining.
“You could’ve kicked me right then, you know,” he went on. “A mere high-speed attack wouldn’t have been enough to break my defense. Heavy Holy Knights boast both power and toughness, as you’ve heard. Don’t go thinking you won just now.” He began guffawing.
God, this guy is so rude. I furrowed my brows.
“Hey, Murashima! The hell are you doing?! Again with this?!” A bespectacled man wrapped in priest garb rushed over, yelling angrily.
This guy was Shuichi Tadokoro, the other top member of Dragon’s Roar. Though the two of them were called the heads of the guild, they just looked like regular old middle-aged geezers to me. As indicated by his equipment, this one was a Priest, a higher spec class known as the “Oracle Emperor,” which specialized in Recovery Magic.
“Ha ha. Lighten up, Tadokoro!” Mr. Murashima hadn’t stopped laughing.
“You’re always like this. I’m sorry.” Mr. Tadokoro turned to me. “He’s not a bad guy, really. He’s just rude.”
I smiled to let him know I was fine with it as he bowed his head. He coughed, looking apologetic. “Well then, why don’t we head into the drop dungeon?”