Vol. 1 Chapter 8 – Cross Friend

As expected, it became a mess.

Well, from the very beginning, Touma had not thought someone as poor with words as himself could pull off a smart persuasion.

The process of beating someone down until their pride was gone and then making them spill their true feelings was inspired by the trial Touma had received from his first homeroom teacher back in middle school.

When he looked it up online afterward, it apparently seemed to be a fairly popular kind of brainwashing.

Thinking back on it now, Touma believed it had been a necessary measure for him at the time, since he had been quite rough around the edges.

However, at that time, Touma had apparently kept raging until the very end with the whites of his eyes showing, so honestly, he had no memory of it.

In order to punch his homeroom teacher, who had been as strong as a monster, Touma had spent all three years of middle school practicing the muhyoushi strike he had researched online.

He felt like he had spent a truly fruitless amount of time.

In the end, Touma was grateful to the homeroom teacher who had taken care of him for those three years, but he also thought that teacher had probably drawn the short straw.

Near graduation, Touma had become able to hit fairly well but he should have asked for details instead of challenging him to fights as part of his after-school routine.

It truly had been a meaningless youth.

The next time Touma showed his face, he thought he would keep punching him until he was utterly beaten.

Touma grabbed the head of a goblin that had been sneaking around behind Seiichi and Mai with his left hand, then swung the hand axe and slammed it into its neck.

He felt the sensation of cutting through bone and blue-green bodily fluids sprayed from the shoulder area that had been torn off rather than cleanly cut.

Since its neck was thinner, it was easier than chopping off a boar’s head.

Another one had been circling around behind Shizuka, who was standing there blankly, so Touma threw the hand axe just like that.

As intended, the blade hit the center of its forehead but there was a gachin sound and it was repelled.

Touma accepted that this must be what people meant when they said projectile weapons were nullified but it seemed there was still pain, since the goblin bent backward and dropped its weapon.

Touma rushed over immediately and drove in a right straight punch with a running start.

The goblin, whose hooked nose had been crushed, let out a funny cry, but there was no feeling of Touma’s hand being repelled like with the thrown axe.

However, it was not enough to blow its head away in one hit.

The previous unmatched state had probably been due to the effect of that thing called the 『Yomotsu Garment』 that Suke-san, the spirit, had mentioned.

Shizuka seemed unlikely to be useful while in a slight panic, so Touma stepped on the neck of the goblin that had been lying on its back, clutching its face and flailing and making it quiet.

From his previous goblin annihilation journey, Touma knew that these things acted in groups.

He picked the hand axe back up and slaughtered all the goblins that had once again been secretly aiming for Seiichi and Mai as they embraced.

Goblins carrying weapons might be more troublesome than boars but they were not as bad as bears.

As expected, because Touma had lived a peaceful and uneventful middle school life, he felt that his body had grown dull.

Shizuka, who came back to herself, tried to swing her spear but it was already over and dangerous, so Touma held her down and patted her back.

For boys, it probably would not be anything serious but girls would likely need a bit of time to get used to it.

Touma accidentally touched her back with the Shizuka Stone, and though she became slightly pigeon-toed and trembled puru-puru, he wanted her to bear with it.

If he left her alone, it looked like things might turn into some fantasy-style erotic doujin game, so he took her hand and brought her along with him to Seiichi and Mai.

From the feeling Touma had gotten while wandering around the dungeon during his goblin annihilation journey, the dungeon was made up of burial chambers with a certain amount of wide space and complicated corridors that connected those chambers.

The sizes of the burial chambers varied from large to small, and although the corridors were basically straight, there were many corners. Unless one mapped them, it was easy to lose track of where one was.

Even when he had observed it from a bird’s-eye view while in the perception-expansion state of the Yomotsu Garment, it had probably spread out like an ant nest on a scale of several hundred kilometers.

That really must have been an outrageous cheat item.

However, it had seemed like a cursed-type item, so Touma had no regrets about letting it go.

Seiichi was lying over Mai, continuing to protect her firmly by using his own body as a shield.

Touma had ended up showering them rather spectacularly with goblin bodily fluids but he hoped they would forgive him.

Although the sequence of events had gotten somewhat derailed, he still had to put the finishing touches on the brainwashing…… no, the persuasion.

“Looks like you finally woke up, Seiichi.”

“Just now, there were monsters……”

They were probably what one would call wandering monsters.

The encounter rate was high in burial chambers, but there were also rare goblins that moved through the corridors.

Seiichi, whose face had completely lost its venom, was staring blankly at Mai in his arms.

“Even after realizing it was hopeless, you still risked your body to save Mai. That is the essence of who you are, Seiichi. You are not someone who can give up.”

“Touma, you…… don’t tell me……”

“Stand up, Seiichi. Hold to your stubborn will until the very end. I’ll go along with you too.”

“I…… I…… I left her, my little sister……”

Seiichi clenched his teeth, his face twisting as he endured a sob toward the ceiling.

“……Seiichi.”

Mai, who had been held against his chest, had somehow ended up embracing him in return and comforting him.

“Mai, I’m sorry…… I took it out on you.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t notice how much pain you were in, Seiichi.”

It seemed they had made up and that was good.

Using Mai as bait had been an ad-lib on Touma’s part, but since the reaction had been good, he had gotten carried away.

He thought he would apologize later.

However, thanks to that, he had been able to learn Seiichi’s conquest keyword.

It was unexpected that he was a siscon but this was his best friend’s stubborn will.

Lending a hand was what a man should do.

＊　＊　＊

“Meaning your little sister is still hospitalized even now?”

“Yeah. It’s not something that’ll be solved today or tomorrow.…But there’s no prospect of her getting better from here on either. She’s still asleep, connected to machines.”

Seiichi, leaning against the wall of the corridor, turned his face away.

“Our biological father has nothing but money, see. When I went to appeal to him directly, that was when he told me about this academy.”

“Ah……”

“A game-like dungeon, and mysterious items that can be obtained there, huh?”

“Skills too. Not just things like magic, but apparently people say they might actually be magic itself…… but, well……”

“Ah……”

Seiichi’s face, which had been awkwardly turned away, shifted toward Shizuka, who kept letting out sweet little voices whenever her sensitive spot was touched.

Since Shizuka herself was lightly lifting the hem of her skirt, the indecently joined area would probably not be visually exposed to Seiichi.

To properly cover that part, Touma supported her hips with the hand he had slipped beneath Shizuka’s skirt.

Touma had his back against the wall opposite Seiichi across the passage and Shizuka was standing in front of him with her back turned as he discreetly held her close from behind.

“That’s not discreet at all! We’re kind of having a serious conversation here.”

“Sorry. Shizuka ended up getting worked up.”

“Ah……”

Shizuka’s bowed nape had turned bright red with embarrassment.

Unable to endure it, she moved her hips on her own, pressed into a sensitive place, let out an indecent voice, and blushed even harder.

Even now, Touma’s right hand was directly touching Shizuka’s hips, so judging from his experience up until now, she had probably fallen into a state where she could not hold back.

Since Touma had carelessly touched her first, Shizuka was not at fault.

She was not at fault, but Shizuka, who was exposing such an embarrassing state while looking intensely ashamed, was also very much not at fault.

“Ah……”

Shizuka trembled with a shiver as she felt Touma grow even harder inside her and she looked very adorable.

Seiichi gave a wry smile and pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Jeez. When I’m with you guys, serious moments never last long.”

“……Seiichi, want me to help you too?”

Mai, who refused to leave Seiichi’s side, was kneeling at his feet.

Somehow, her attitude had become extremely meek.

“No, I mean, we’re inside a dungeon right now, and danger is dangerous, or whatever……”

“Yeah. When that happens……protect me again, okay?”

She lowered his zipper, took his penis out and gently handled him with her fingertips as she brought her face closer.

“Mai, you said you didn’t really like doing it with your mouth……”

“Mm, chu…… If it’s something Seiichi wants me to do, I’ll do anything for you.”

After licking the tip with her tongue, she began sucking with little chucchu sounds.

“Mm, mm……Seiichi, do you want to put it in too? From now on, you can do whatever you want with me whenever you want… mm.”

“N-no, Mai, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

They were an utterly syrupy pair, enough to make the back of one’s neck itch.

“The items found inside the dungeon include what are commonly called healing potions, correct?”

“Ah…… yeah. Apparently, ones with effects at the level of wound medicine can be found easily. They’re classified as fast-acting external wound treatment medicine.”

If poured over a severed arm, it was apparently enough to reattach it but if it was a magical medicine like that, there were probably people who would want it even if they had to pay a fortune.

Even as insurance in case of an unexpected accident, Touma could not begin to imagine how much demand there would be for it.

Touma readjusted his hold on Shizuka’s hips, which had become completely warm and unsteady, while letting his thoughts wander toward that almost frightening possibility.

Incidentally, Shizuka seemed to have completely reached that state and she was shaking her hips like a dog begging with its paws raised.

Shizuka looked like she might finish first but Shizuka’s erotic tension was proportional to Touma’s own erotic mood, so even if she finished, it would not calm down. It had become a slightly pitiful situation for her.

“Thing is, I heard that if you take it outside the dungeon, it deteriorates in no time.”

“That makes it difficult.”

“Heheh, even if potions are no good, it’s not like there aren’t other options. I can’t imagine they’d have absolutely no effect.”

Shizuka, who was bracing herself with her knees turned inward, had gone stiff while gripping her skirt tightly.

If she flipped the front up that dramatically, Seiichi would be able to see her forbidden place completely.

Incidentally, as expected, Touma had not finished, so Shizuka continued moving her hips with soft, yearning cries like a cat begging for food.

“From here on, among the skills and magic we learn in the dungeon, there will also be types with healing effects.”

Seiichi, with a bittersweet smile on his face, gently stroked Mai’s head as she continued devotedly serving him.

That topic had also been mentioned briefly in class. Apparently, as their so-called levels rose, they would acquire various abilities.

However, that was…

“Right. They can only be used inside the dungeon. By us, anyway.”

Then it was the same as the potions. They had no meaning in the outside reality.

Only within this mysterious space called the dungeon could the fantasy known as magic exist.

If one thought about it, that was only natural.

If people could use magic in reality, it would have become a sensational topic on a global scale.

“That’s not it. We can’t use them but you might be different.”

Touma looked down at the intimate point where he and Shizuka were connected as she kept shaking her hips while standing pigeon-toed and biting her own finger.

Before reaching thirty, Touma had already lost the qualifications to be a wizard.

No, that was not it. The difference between Touma and Seiichi’s group was, in other words…

“Whether one has died before or not.”

“I couldn’t find any definite proof. But that’s probably it. That’s the difference between the Hana Group and us.”

“Meaning, what? Are you saying the students of the Special Grade Course can use magic even in reality?”

It was so unrealistic that Touma almost laughed.

Something about it caught slightly in his mind, but it was only a trivial sense of discomfort.

Even now, somewhere in his head, Touma still wondered whether this dungeon was not actually a test for some latest augmented-reality RPG attraction.

That, in its own way, was something he was actually looking forward to.

Shizuka reached both hands behind her and gripped Touma’s waist tightly, her black hair shaking wildly as she trembled.

Since it would be pitiful for Shizuka if anything leaked out while they were exploring the dungeon, Touma kept himself pressed deep inside and quietly finished there.

Skills and magic had both been explained briefly in dungeon lecture-type classes but in reality, Touma had not acquired any yet.

It was said that doing so required a ritual called 『Class Change』.

“Fact is, there are guys who can actually use it. I was ready to lick their ass if I had to… or so I thought.”

Seiichi, with gentle eyes, stroked and comforted Mai as she clung to his waist and devotedly serviced him with it taken all the way to the base in her mouth.

Each time Mai was treated gently, her hips trembled as if she was feeling it.

“Well, yeah, maybe it really isn’t suited to me.”

“Guess so.”

Shizuka, who was being held in Touma’s arms, looked enviously at Mai, who was looking entranced while holding his thing in her mouth, but if Shizuka did something like oral service, she would react too, and it would turn into an endless loop.

The current situation, where he was cooling down inside Shizuka’s muddy depths, was already a little dangerous.

Shizuka turned around and stared at him, her eyes carrying a hint that seemed to say she was thinking of moving a little.

Touma already knew that Shizuka, who felt as if she had more or less accepted things or perhaps shaken herself free, was an extremely erotic girl.

Even so, she also had a strangely serious personality, and she dutifully reacted and offered service even to Touma’s slightest lewd impulse.

Self-restraint…there was no such thing in an adolescent boy filled with sexual urges.

If they were on a bed, then going at it until they were drenched in sweat and completely exhausted would be fine, but inside the dungeon, danger was dangerous.

“Honestly, we’re already past the point of no return because we’ve offered our souls to the dungeon. But if you really can get out of the dungeon like this, I’ll tell you. About the soul crystals I managed to look into… ngh.”

Touma looked away from Seiichi, who was holding Mai’s head and letting out a seductive groan.

Even if he was his close friend, watching another guy climax was, well, that.

Touma had nicely softened from that, so he withdrew his penis from inside Shizuka, who was pouting her cute lips.

Seiichi was blabbering on and on about things that sounded secret and Touma had a feeling it was based on the assumption that they would all be wiped out in the dungeon like this and have their memories reset.

His resolve was still lacking.

When that time came, all he had to do was repeat it as many times as necessary.

While changing positions and wiping Shizuka, who was clinging to him, with a handkerchief, Touma remembered because of the word 『crystal』 mixed into Seiichi’s lines.

He should return the Seiichi stone and Mai stone that had been left in his pocket.

“Seiichi.”

“…Nnuh?”

Touma held out the two crystal stones to Seiichi, who was in a heaven-like Pure Land state, as if his soul had left his body.

“I missed my chance to return them but these were entrusted to me. I forgot which one was you and which one was Mai.”

“──Soul Crystal.”

Mai gulped audibly, then let out a satisfied sigh.

＊　＊　＊

“I think you’re suddenly getting a little too scared.”

“Just shut up and stay alert! Damn it, seriously? Seriously!? Once we get back outside, I’ll explain everything to you, so don’t you dare die!”

Seiichi pressed his back against the wall, lowered his hips and inched forward while glancing toward the front and rear of the corridor.

Seiichi’s face, now hyper-tensioned, was twisted into the shape of a smile and it was kind of creepy.

“Ookay.”

Mai’s favorability toward Seiichi, which had likely been climbing rapidly inside her, seemed to be dropping at a nice pace now.

Touma, Shizuka, and Mai leisurely followed after Seiichi, who had turned into a one-man SWAT team.

Touma understood being wary of surprise attacks around corners but what kind of ambush was he planning to guard against in a straight corridor?

When Seiichi accepted the crystal stone with trembling hands, the faintly blue one in his palm was absorbed into his hand, almost as if it were melting into him.

That was probably the Seiichi stone.

The one Touma had gone on during the durability test, smacking it with things like hammers and crowbars.

Thinking back on it now, Touma felt like Seiichi might have started becoming more rough around the time Touma had been applying pressure to the Seiichi stone with a vise and such but surely that was unrelated.

The other crystal stone was handed to Mai, who looked puzzled, and in the same way, it melted into her in the blink of an eye.

Touma had asked Seiichi, who seemed to know the most about the situation, for an explanation but they had just started exploring because apparently staying in one place was dangerous.

He was probably wary of that black thing.

Touma did not want to encounter it ever again either.

Before it was even a matter of whether it was a strong enemy or not, that thing was, how should he put it, something they absolutely must not face.

They proceeded through the dungeon in the order of Seiichi at the front, then Mai, then Shizuka, with Touma bringing up the rear.

When Touma checked the time, it had just passed two in the afternoon.

The closing time of Rashoumon, which would force their return, was five in the afternoon.

Basically, it would be a three-hour survival battle inside the dungeon.

“Seiichi.”

“What is it? A monster!?”

“No. But I don’t think we can make it through without encountering any enemies like this.”

If it was Touma or Seiichi, they could probably defeat something on the level of a goblin.

But Shizuka and Mai were a little unreliable.

If they ended up in an encounter battle, panic was inevitable unless they decided in advance how to respond.

“No, I… yeah. It’s no good if I’m the one panicking.”

Seiichi stopped his meaningless stalking act and took a deep breath.

“We can’t keep running forever from here on out. Either way, we’ve gotta clear the dungeon and raise our levels.”

Mai gazed at Seiichi as he tightened his expression and she seemed to have the makings of an easy-win heroine.

Shizuka, who looked gallant as she held her spear ready, had the air of a clumsy girl about her.

She seemed like she might suddenly trip in front of a goblin for no reason and end up in danger.

“This raising levels thing, does it mean the same as leveling up in an RPG game, where your stats increase?”

“That should be right. Your strength gets higher, and HP… well, it’s kind of like a barrier. Damage won’t pass through to your body for as much HP as you have. Wait, is that it? The reason you were so damn tough, Touma, was because you leveled up during the first Dungeon Dive?”

Seiichi gave a wry smile but that had hurt quite a lot.

Still, it was true that despite being beaten so thoroughly, Touma’s face was not swollen and no damage remained.

In contrast, Seiichi had blue bruises on his face and looked more manly for it.

“So that means if they raise their levels, Shizuka and Mai will be able to fight too.”

“Huh? M-Me too?”

“Y-Yes.”

Mai became flustered, while Shizuka started tensing up stiffly.

“Yeah. I think leveling will be necessary. It means we can secure that much more safety.”

“D-Do we really have to fight too?”

“If you don’t, we won’t be able to move forward. I… want you to come with me too.”

“Seiichi…”

While Seiichi and Mai gazed at each other, Shizuka stared fixedly at Touma.

She might want to do that but Touma wished she would spare him.

To begin with, Shizuka had no choice.

She would have to accompany Touma until the very end.

『Okay』Shizuka nodded, then softly drew up beside him.

＊　＊　＊

The monsters of the Third Layer were mainly the same 『Goblins』 as those on the First and Second Layers, but it served as the first trial of party combat, one that could kill first-timers.

That was because the goblins, which had acted alone as single units, were now commanded as a group under a 『Goblin Leader』.

In the Unknown Region, monsters existed according to the dungeon’s original natural system.

In other words, they naturally spawned from the void once the miasma concentration exceeded the prescribed value, and when they could no longer maintain their pseudo-life functions, they decomposed into miasma and returned to the void.

The prescribed value was the law that governed each layer.

The reason the Unknown Region was viewed as dangerous was because there was a higher chance of transcendent individuals existing there, ones that deviated from the cycle between generation and decomposition, and survived by devouring other monsters.

In the case of goblins, transcendent individuals class-changed into beings named 『Goblin Kings』, and their appearances and forms changed into something entirely different.

Having survived in one corner of the Unknown Region, he wandered through the dungeon, driven by the instincts he had newly come to know.

A transcendent individual was a being of condensed miasma, and became a singularity within the dungeon.

In order to smooth out the layer laws warped by the singularity, the sacrifices sent out from Rashoumon stabilized the void by having their souls reduced and returned to it.

As a special individual that had devoured others of its kind and survived without any purpose, he had awakened to the taste of the sacrifices that were sent in day after day.

Goblins, which had no female individuals of their own, did not awaken to their reproductive instincts until they encountered a female intruder.

But once the boiling of the flesh had awakened, it began to madly crave female flesh.

There was not a fragment of a goblin’s frailty left in the body that had grown so enormous one had to look up at it, and the 『Starving Demon King’s Iron Club』 in its hand was also an over-border item that exceeded the layer’s prescribed value.

Its crotch had gone madly ferocious at the scent of the female it had sniffed out and it stood erect as if thrusting up a fist.

“Sheiha!”

The hand axe swung down together with that mysterious fighting shout became a guillotine from the side and chopped off the king penis.

A scream that made the air in the chamber tremble burst from the Goblin King’s mouth and it collapsed forward in agony.

Touma threw away the hand axe, whose tip had shattered, and mercilessly stomped down on the back of the Goblin King’s head as it lay stuck to the floor.

The head, sandwiched between the sole of his combat boot and the floor, rang out with raw gatsun gatsun sounds.

Even after the Goblin King’s screams stopped, Touma kept stomping it for a while, then drove a yakuza kick at its temple.

With its neck clearly bent in a dangerous direction, the Goblin King could not even scream and only twitched in spasms.

“Good. ──Combo chance.”

When Touma wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned around, the party members, each holding their weapons ready, were backing away with all their might.

“Let’s go.”

“O-Oh… then, here we go?”

“O-Okay.”

“I-I’m going.”

Seiichi and Mai, holding short swords, and Shizuka, holding a spear, timidly thrust their blades into the Goblin King.

The blades sank only slightly into its skin, which was tough enough to be like a bit of armor.

“I-It’s hard. Is this guy’s body made of concrete?”

“It won’t stab in!”

“Let’s try.”

Each time the Goblin King twitched, Touma kicked its head and gave them a thumbs-up.

Shizuka, who had been thrusting around with her spear while going『ei ei』even though it would not pierce, stumbled forward.

As if its outline was crumbling, the Goblin King’s figure disappeared as it was reduced back into miasma.

“Phew… that was a victory for teamwork.”

“No, it wasn’t! That was absolutely not what just happened!”

“That was very… much power leveling.”

Shizuka muttered quietly with distant eyes.

Power leveling referred to the method, in online games and the like, where a high-level player used whatever means necessary to raise the level of a low-level player.

As a result, it was also considered problematic play because it produced awkward players whose levels alone were high while their player skills remained immature.

“I understand how Seiichi feels, thinking he could do it better.”

“Huh? No, well, that might be a little tough…”

“…Seiichi.”

Mai gave a sigh with half-lidded eyes at Seiichi, who had chickened out.

“But perhaps it would be best to proceed with safety first here. I’m probably the one with the highest level.”

“Yeah! Sorry, but we’ll leave it to you today, Touma.”

“Sure. In any case, it would be better to raise our levels on this First Layer for a while, right?”

Touma looked around the Third Layer, which gave off a heavy pressure.

“That’s how it’ll be. …But damn, are goblins really this strong? I thought they’d be more like small fry.”

“Yeah. I wonder if I can really do this…”

“I’ll do my best.”

The strength of monsters was determined by level ranges for each layer.

That was set according to the concentration of miasma filling the void, and the existence-tolerance pressure of the void governing the layer.

In the upper layers, where the miasma was thin and the pressure was also low, low-level monsters like goblins spawned in large numbers.

In the lower layers, where the miasma was dense and the pressure was high, low-level monsters could not even exist because of the void pressure, and only more condensed, powerful high-level monsters would spawn.

That was the law of monster generation known as the layer prescribed value.

The layer prescribed value on the First Layer was 1.

The strength of a level 1 monster was that it possessed only the abilities suggested by its appearance. To compare it to something, it was an existence similar to an ordinary human civilian.

Its physical strength did not exceed what its muscles allowed and it had no special skills.

The layer prescribed value on the Second Layer was 10.

The types of monsters from level 1 to level 10 were, for the most part, the same goblins as on the First Layer.

However, even if they looked the same, their physical strength surpassed what their muscles should allow, and individuals that used special skills began to appear.

The layer prescribed value on the Third Layer was 20.

The monster level range rose from level 10 to level 20, and even the same goblins now hid a strength that ordinary people could no longer handle.

“Ah. Something’s left behind. Is this maybe what they call a drop item?”

“A crystal, right? If you take those things that come out after beating monsters to the shop, you can exchange them for money.”

The size of a monster crystal grew in proportion to its existence strength, and its brightness increased as well.

The crystal dropped by the transcendent individual, the Goblin King, was about the size of a baseball, compared to the marble-sized crystals of normal goblins.

“There’s that too but there’s also something like a weapon? I think.”

“Ohh, a rare drop?”

Inside the dungeon, when monsters vanished, they left behind items at a low probability.

Monsters were beings born from condensed miasma.

They were not juveniles at birth, but adults from the start, and their clothing and equipment were all created from miasma as well.

When the main body died, its corpse was reduced back into miasma, and a portion of that miasma crystallized into a Soul Crystal.

At that time, on rare occasions, something would remain materialized instead of being reduced back into miasma, and those were called drop items.

Items that stabilized as matter retained their shape even outside the dungeon, and could also be processed.

Such dungeon products were called magic items, and many of them possessed supernatural abilities that could not be analyzed.

“A club, maybe? It’s super heavy.”

“The iron rod the goblin was holding, huh. …Damn, this thing’s heavy.”

It was a completely undecorated lump of iron, six shaku, or one hundred eighty centimeters, long and eighty-three kin, or fifty kilograms, in weight.

“It looks like it’d sell if we took it back but carrying it around would be a pain too.”

“I want it.”

Touma lifted it up lightly and stared at the rugged six-sided, six-shaku staff.

“It looks like nothing but an iron bar, you know?”

“As the ancients said, thrust it and it is a spear, sweep it and it is a naginata, hold it and it is a tachi. A universal weapon.”

“Never heard of that. Well, the axe broke too, and if Touma can’t carry it, we’d just be throwing it away anyway, so why not?”

“I think it’s fine but is that really something you can use as a weapon?”

The six-sided, six-shaku staff, longer than the spear Shizuka held, cut through the air as it was swung around.

“Touma is an amateur with weapons, so this seems better than holding a blade.”

“…Yeah. I feel like if that so much as grazed a goblin, all kinds of things would go flying.”

“Seriously, how much did your arm strength go up? You must’ve gained a ton of levels in that first dungeon.”

After picking up the crystal and tossing it into his backpack, Seiichi reached his hand toward Mai.

“Hm? What is it, Seiichi?”

“Ah, no… let’s get moving soon.”

Mai nodded with an『Mm』still unaware of the smoldering heat that had taken root inside her.

＊　＊　＊

In the Unknown Region, where intruders had not visited for hundreds of years, there were no wandering monsters roaming the corridors, but every chamber was packed with monsters that had grown to the very limit of the layer prescribed value.

Among them were not only goblins, but also Thirty-Six Hungry Demon, though Touma did not particularly notice.

First, Touma charged in at the head of the group, swinging the six-sided, six-shaku staff around and after he crushed the leader-class monster, it became individual leveling time.

They took turns using Shizuka’s spear to stab and finish off the goblins whose legs had been shattered and who were crouching on the floor.

“This is very… much power leveling.”

Shizuka, who had gotten used to the feeling of stabbing a living creature with a blade, something close to taboo in a certain sense, had distant eyes.

“Shizuka seems especially weak, after all.”

“I’m sorry for so many things.”

Shizuka, looking dejected, gazed up at Touma from below.

“Raising Shizuka is likely Touma’s role.”

“Y-Yes… I’ll be in your care for many years to come.”

Taken literally, it was as if Touma had just been asked to support her long-term parasite play and he pressed a hand to his brow.

Shizuka’s eyes gradually grew and dazed, and as she fidgeted with her thighs, she tugged a little on Touma’s clothes.

It was not an influence from Touma, who was the server side, but a sign of arousal from Shizuka herself, who was the client side.

“Ah, ah.”

“Damn, you’re so dripping wet, Mai.”

“Ah, because… nn, becauseee.”

In the back of the chamber, where they had finished cleaning up the monsters, Seiichi was violating Mai from behind as she braced her hands against the wall.

Even if they were keeping watch on the corridor entrances, it was far too dangerous a place to get worked up.

Even so, they were being driven by an instinctive sexual impulse that they could not seem to suppress, even after accounting for the risk.

Their physical potential had risen after leveling up repeatedly, various activated brain hormones were stimulating their instincts, and the dangerous situation that forced them to think of life and death invited them toward reproductive acts.

“But I have to wonder about taking a break after every single battle.”

The reason Touma was maintaining his sanity was because he had broken through the single-digit levels from the very beginning and had not leveled up at an abnormal speed like Seiichi and the others.

Even so, he was also an adolescent boy who would be swept along when Shizuka pulled him by the hand.

Shizuka lined up beside Mai and placed her hands against the wall, then looked back at Touma with moist eyes.

Touma’s hand slipped smoothly beneath her knee-length skirt, and he admired Shizuka’s bare rear for the countless time since they had entered the dungeon.

The bottom fabric of her white panties had no time to dry, and was sticky with the fluid that oozed thickly from the cleft of her flesh.

“Ah… nn.”

At the hard foreign object that slid into her womb, Shizuka arched back and let out a hot moan.

“Man, this is kinda insane. I don’t remember how many times I’ve let it out but I can still get hard no problem.”

“Seiichi, you’re amazingg… your dick keeps thrusting the whole time, trying to get me pregnant.”

Mai, swaying her ponytail, kept shaking her cute little rear on her own.

“Dungeon sex is amazing. I’m gonna get addicted to this…”

“You’re squeezing me, you dirty girl.”

Mai’s rear, arching back and trembling in spasms, rang out from sharp, snapping slaps delivered with a crisp pishi pishi.

Accustomed to spanking, Mai cried like a puppy while squeezing down on the thing she had taken in.

Having climaxed over and over until her tension had gone completely past its limit, Mai had already reached the point where simply having it inserted made her feel good without question.

While Seiichi thrust into her rear, Mai spoke to Shizuka, who was in the same position with the same expression.

“Shizukaaa…from now on, we’ll have to bring wet wipes and spare panties, ah…won’t we?”

“Hah, ah…Touma-san…likes sticky panties, so… aaah!”

Shizuka arched backward as her deepest point was mercilessly struck.

＊　＊　＊

“Haah… honestly, post-battle sex wears me out more than the battle.”

They had already run out of tissues, so Seiichi had Mai clean him up instead.

“Nn… wow… it smells so lewd now.”

“Thanks.”

“Mm. I like it when Seiichi pats me.”

Seiichi scratched his cheek after Mai smiled up at him from his feet.

“Let’s make sure we go back alive, okay? I don’t want to forget anymore.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Rashoumon’s closing time was five in the afternoon.

The hands of the clock had already passed four.

According to the academy’s verification, the caution period for the『Natural Enemy』, which would be drawn in if one remained at the same coordinates inside the dungeon, was said to be one hour.

It was fair to say that the immediate crisis had passed.

“Looks like we’ll somehow make it…”

While keeping a careful watch on the entrance to the corridor, Seiichi let out a deep sigh.

“Mm.”

“…If you hadn’t been here, we seriously would’ve been done for. I can’t thank you enough.”

Touma, holding Shizuka in his arms after she had fallen into a dazed, fluffy state, was sitting with his back against the wall.

Seiichi noticed that the six-sided, six-shaku staff was no longer by Touma’s hand, but figured they would probably make it through without needing to use it again and sat down beside him.

“Like I promised, I’ll tell you everything. But…”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you can’t talk about. If you’ve returned to being yourself, that’s enough.”

“Hah. Damn, you really are one cheesy bastard. Shit… Hey, Touma.”

After tidying herself up, Mai sat down neatly beside Seiichi.

“Be my friend.”

“──Yeah. It’s a little late for that now.”

Touma’s eyes, which had been showing their usual unchanged expressionlessness, widened just a little, and a smile clear enough for anyone to see appeared on his face.

“Keep talking, damn it. Don’t laugh.”

Even as Seiichi cursed, a smile was on his lips too.

『Mm』Mai nodded as she leaned against Seiichi’s shoulder.

She thought it was a good smile.

One she really did not dislike.