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Looks like the flag really was planted.

The next day, Lanpeach clicked his tongue bitterly while complaining about how he hates the conveniences of games to the very core of his soul as he stood in front of the stairs leading to the basement.

It is dark and the generator is still not working, so the weak lights of the ceiling didn’t illuminate the surroundings completely. It may have originally been an area to sell commodities, there’s a flag, that’s all worn out that you can’t tell the name of anymore, standing there. There’s a number of wagons set here and there, and it doesn’t allow for comfortable transit.

There’s the cries of rats echoing here and there, and wind must be coming in from an opening somewhere, it sounded like the moaning of the dead.

“Uhm…Lan, are you really going?” (Chihiro)

Chihiro said this with unease and worry in her voice.

She grabbed his sleeve, and showed him an innocent side of hers with an upward glance. A normal man might have said they wouldn’t go after all and turn back.

“Yup, not having water is a matter of life or death. This place could be used as a base because it had water, you know?” (Lanpeach)

[Also, it probably broke because they were forcing the water all the way to the 8th floor. Pupupu.] (Libra)

(Shut up, Libra. I know that.) (Lanpeach)

Libra snickered at this and Lanpeach directed a sharp glare at her to shut her up.

Lanpeach had already noticed that they might have broken because they placed too much of a burden on them even without Libra telling him.

That’s why Lanpeach felt extremely bad.

“Chihiro, I will go there and solve it in the blink of an eye, so don’t worry. I am sure it will be fixed if I just karate chop it at a 45 degree angle.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach said something straight out of an old timer while smiling so as to not worry her. It is the smile of a minor villain, so it is unknown just how much he calmed her down.

There’s no choice but to go if talking about self-responsibility.

The man with Mind 9 was trembling internally. He was thinking about how he wanted to go back and sleep while looking like he was in a bad mood on the surface.

He told her implicitly that this boring job must be done and that it is easy.

He took a deep breath and calmed his heart down.

“Will go too. Explore together with Peach-oniichan.” (Dry)

“Hyan! Hyan!” (Fenrir)

Dry said this somewhat happily. The pomeranian -Ice Spirit Fenrir- recovered after one night and cried happily as it wagged its tail intensely.

“Counting on ya, Dry.” (Lanpeach)

“Leave it to me. This floor is easy for an explorer. Finish this quickly, go back, eat cup ramen.” (Dry)

[You two are planting flags like you are farming. Pupupu.] (Libra)

“We have to start by breaking the flags.” (Lanpeach)

Libra danced in the air and pushed her body onto the Lanpeach as if she were getting on top of his shoulder, and laughed in amusement.

He shrugged his shoulders and readied his assault rifle.

“Well then, let’s go.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach declared this and went down the stairs.

The footsteps echoing were swallowed by the basement, giving it a terribly creepy feeling.

◇◇

The underground floor was pretty big. The big wagons were blocking the path as if getting in your way, changing the place that was originally a produce market into a dangerous dungeon.

Lanpeach crouched within the half-baked light, showed the utmost wariness, and walked carefully like an old man with a bad waist.

It is scary after all, so it can’t be helped.

“Slow, Peach-oniichan. You can advance quickly by just going above the wagons.” (Dry)

“Don’t go over them!” (Lanpeach)

Dry, who is 16 years old but small most likely because she lacks nutrients, couldn’t endure the snail’s pace, leaned onto the wagon, and was about to climb it.

But Lanpeach swiftly pulled her hoodie and brought Dry back down, and then swiftly pulled the trigger of his G1 Assault Rifle.

Dry sounds rang a few times, shooting down rats that were the size of volleyballs that had suddenly jumped out.

“I now understand why you can’t go over obstructions that you could easily get over in games. It is because they will target you in the opening created when you are getting over it.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach is currently controlled by fear and his vision is narrow-minded. You could say he is practically only seeing the front.

But Presence Detection is telling him the location of the enemies with precision, he can naturally switch his posture against the enemies with Physical Combat, and Gun told him the moves of a veteran.

The skills that have been installed into his brain as if he had trained for years in combat seeped into his body, and he was showing fearsome power.

“Ooh, bit surprised. Thanks, Peach-oniichan.” (Dry)

“You’re welcome, lady. I simply did what a gentleman would do.” (Lanpeach)

He rested his gun on his shoulder, showed a smile far too apart from a gentleman, and spouted a line straight out of a movie.

He coughed a bit there because there’s still embarrassment.

[S-Soldier, you must be trying to make me laugh here! Geez, spare my stomach! Ahahaha!] (Libra)

“I am not nervous now thanks to you.” (Lanpeach)

Libra was holding her stomach with her twin tails swinging around as she laughed out loud, but Lanpeach expected that reaction, so he continued on with a discouraged face.

He knew it. Even so, it still made him feel conflicted that he was laughed at.

“First time being called a lady. Know you are messing around, but I am still happy.” (Dry)

Dry was only speaking the words but her face was not blushing and she didn’t look shy.

“Thanks for the dry response without any blush. Anyways, why are you so friendly? We only met yesterday.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach was baffled that maybe she is an easy heroine because of the game as he walked on.

The area is creepy, so he had to distract himself or he was going to be crushed by the fear.

“Peach-oniichan didn’t kill Dry. Benefactor. Impossible to let live someone who planned to kill me.” (Dry)

He saw Dry saying this with a serious face and no emotion, so he was about to tease her, but he felt the seriousness in her eyes and zipped his mouth.

“No one in the slums would do that. You would be looked down on as soft person and be taken advantage of.” (Dry)

“…Right. That is indeed the case.” (Lanpeach)

Dry seriously thought she was going to die there, so she was seriously grateful. It is a feeling far heavier than love.

“I called the girls that would be swayed by the protagonist after saving their lives as easy heroines, but I see… That might have been a perspective exclusive of someone who has never tried to kill others.” (Lanpeach)

When you seriously try to kill each other and the person you tried to kill spares you instead, you might end up feeling deep gratitude like Dry. There might be love involved in it too.

Lanpeach felt as if he saw a glimpse of her life that was constantly threatened by others, and it was heavy to the point that he felt a weight fall onto his heart as a former peace enjoyer in Japan.

“I shouldn’t have asked.” (Lanpeach)

[You are so weak hearted, Soldier.] (Libra)

“A minor villain being weak hearted. An iconic duo.” (Lanpeach)

He ignored the kind smile of Libra, narrowed his eyes, took a stance, and pulled the trigger swiftly.

The rats jumped out from the shadows again, but bullets were already shot, and they pierced the heads of the rats as if they gravitated towards them.

“Big Rat, huh. I now know that they are all teeth but no bite.”

He saw the corpses of the rats that are close to 1 meter in size and clicked his tongue.

They have diseases, and they can easily pierce through thin iron plates with those fangs. But that still puts it in the category of weakest monsters and can be defeated with one shot, but they are a decent threat in this place where it is easy to ambush you.

“It is cold, so stop that. It is winter.” (Dry)

[Yup yup, I also share the opinion of Dry! Also, you obtained zero Exp.] (Libra)

“Sorry.” (Lanpeach)

Looks like Dry was grateful, but doesn’t have any romantic feelings.

Libra also raised a hand and obstructed the vision of Lanpeach. To top it off, she told him he got zero Exp, so Lanpeach could only sigh.

This complex is pretty big, so he can’t scan every corner with a Level 1 Presence Detection. But the range it covers is still big, so he could tell the rats were coming out without end.

It is to the point that he wondered where they were showing from.

“That said, there’s a lot of rats. I am impressed they didn’t go to the higher floors.” (Lanpeach)

“Probably downside of big body. Can be found easily and precious resource.” (Dry)

“Dry, I feel like there will be a lot coming at this rate. Let’s decide on the plan for that time.” (Lanpeach)

[Let’s do a whole lot.] (Libra)

(You wouldn’t do anything decent, so I am definitely not choosing your plans.) (Lanpeach)

The little devil Libra talked over the serious Dry. He waved off the words of Libra and explained to Dry.

“Got it. But you really fine with that spell?” (Dry)

“Yeah, counting on you. The spell’s—they are here!” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach detected a horde of rats coming from the front as if they were waiting for the plan tutorial to end, and he went on a knee with a serious face.

Skittering sounds and the creaking of the floor rang from the front of the basement, covering the whole corridor from one side to the other. It felt as if a wave of gray was flowing its way over.

They were all Big Rats, and their shining glares were getting closer and closer.

[The 1st wave of the rats, I guess. Begin battle!] (Libra)

Libra made a pose with joy and declared this. She seemed to be having fun, but Lanpeach imagined how he would get eaten alive if he were to get swallowed by that wave, so he readied his gun while feeling tense.

“How are there so many? Where were they hiding? That’s weird! Dry, we are doing this as planned!” (Lanpeach)

He frowned as he thought about how displeasing a game world is and shouted at Dry.

Lanpeach has given up on asking for the help of the support character.

“Leave it to Dry. Uuh, uuh, taaah!” (Dry)

“Hyan! Hyan!”

Dry went down on all fours, howled like a beast to pump herself up, and the pomeranian that had crawled into her hoodie popped out.

Its name is apparently Pochefer.

“[Element Fusion].”

The body of Dry shone and pointy blue wolf ears and puffy tail grew on her. Her eyes turned gallant like those of a wolf and she opened her mouth wide.

Sharp fangs showed their presence and she activated the spell.

“[Ice Floor].”

Cold air spewed out from the floor at the front of the rats. The cold air that spewed out like steam created frost on the floor, changed it into a pure white Ice Floor, and froze it.

When the Big Rats stepped on it, they couldn’t keep their footing stable because of the ice floor, so they slipped and fell flat.

“Alright. Make them fall from the edges first!” (Lanpeach)

“Got it. From the edges. Plain. Wanted to defeat them with more flashy magic.” (Dry)

“It is fine. That spell doesn’t consume mana, right?” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach continued shooting his gun and answered with a bold grin on his face. The Big Rats piled up on the rats that tripped, and they became like a mountain.

His face twitched. It didn’t look like the face of a warrior in combat, but the finger pulling the trigger didn’t tremble, and he was defeating them with precision.

[Ice Floor] simply freezes the floor, and takes away the mobility of the enemy. It is a basic immobilization spell and is hardly useful, so Dry has almost never used it.

The plan of Lanpeach was to use the basic spell that doesn’t consume mana, Ice Floor, repeatedly.

Dry wanted to defeat them all in one go with a flashy attack spell, but she could understand here that the effects are extremely high despite not being satisfied with it.

Dry thought in wonder that it is a cool strategy, but there were things that bothered her.

(How did he know the spell Dry can use? Speaking of which, he seemed to know the spells I would use in the first fight too.) (Dry)

Dry has never told anyone about the spells she can use. And yet, Lanpeach knew about them, so she found that strange. But he spared her, so she forgot about it pretty quickly.

And then, after a few minutes, all the Big Rats were defeated.

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