Genocide Reality - Chapter 23 - Evading the Pursuers

From the Garden, I return to the fourth floor and once again re-enter the fifth floor.

 

It is supposed to be an area lined with lesser dragons and, beyond them, gargoyles.

 

A dragon’s corpse is lying on the floor, and there are treasure chests that have been opened and scattered around.

 

It’s not one I killed, and the fact that all the treasure chests are open means Kumiko?

 

“That’s not good…”

 

Does that mean Kumiko or Ussa or both of them have passed me and reached this point?

 

No, even if they were advancing together, it’s too fast.

 

Kumiko’s level of achievement should have been up to the fourth floor.

 

Ussa, whose warrior rank is that of a Low Master, has reached the sixth basement floor, but her magic rank is so unbalanced that she is as good as a novice, so it is impossible for her to act alone.

 

“Are they acting in a party?”

 

It’s possible. I proceed with caution, repeating my stealthy hiding as I listen intently.

 

Most of the monsters have been cleared out, so it’s not too challenging, but I can’t relax because I’m stealthily following the party ahead.

 

“Hey, hey, they’ve made it to the sixth floor.”

 

In the end, I only defeated one gargoyle and descended the stairs to the sixth underground floor.

 

This is the level where the event where Ussa was trapped was taking place, and where the Mustard Dragons are hovering around.

 

But here, too, purple dragon corpses were lying around and treasure chests were being rifled through.

 

How far they’ve advanced… As I pondered this, I saw a powerful magical light coming from the great hall ahead, and I could hear the sounds of battle.

 

“Hah!” “Yaaaah!”

 

There’s no mistake, those are Ussa and Kumiko’s voices. I can also hear the sound of a dragon breathing fire, like a gas burner.

 

To avoid being discovered….

 

“Midor Dark Nesu(Intermediate Dark Night).”

 

I cast the Darkness spell.

 

It has the opposite effect of the Light spell. The surroundings darken, significantly enhancing stealth effect.

 

They are so busy fighting the Mustard Dragon that they don’t seem to notice me in the corner of the dungeon, submerged in the darkness.

 

Originally, this magic was to hide in the darkness of the underground labyrinth and prevent monsters from discovering me, but I never thought that I could use it in this way.

 

“So, they were in a group after all. And they’re taking on two Mustard Dragons at once?”

 

Ussa is working with a group led by Shuichi Nanami.

 

An elite group led by Shuichi Nanami, numbering 15 in all, is fighting one Mustard Dragon, while Ussa and Kumiko are fighting the other.

 

Nanami Shuichi, holding a ‘Holy Iron Great Shield’ larger than his own height, continues to withstand the Mustard Dragon’s venomous breath and fierce claw attacks head-on.

 

Behind him, five members of the Nanami Girls Special Forces team cast support magic, increasing their defense while providing antidote and healing potions alternately to keep him in good shape.

 

Meanwhile, the boys with their strong offensive power attack the mustard dragon’s flanks in a formation that is quite well thought out.

 

“Yaeah!”

 

Like an ancient warrior with a topknot, the imposing figure, Naotsugu Mikami, thrust a steel spear deep into the belly of the dragon with a unique battle cry.

 

I see, so he decided that a weapon with longer reach than a sword would be better for dealing with a huge dragon, and switched to it.

 

He truly lives up to his title as the ‘Unrivaled’. Despite being in the kendo club, he has the flexibility to abandon that combat style and skillfully wield a longer weapon.

 

The Sports Club, a total of nine members, led by the ‘Unrivaled’ Mikami, all have steel-class weapons and seem to possess some of the most impressive fighting skills in GenoReal.

 

The Sports Club has the arm strength to crush the dragon’s hard scales and the courage to stand up to it. The foundation of physical fitness as elite athletes seems to be effective even in the dungeon.

 

In the ‘invasion’ on the first underground floor, he was able to fight an even battle against a Mustard Dragon that killed one-third of the students in his grade.

 

Even so, Ussa, a master class martial artist, and Kumiko, a chunin, were in a class of their own.

 

They were too quick to be hit by any of the Mustard Dragon’s attacks.

 

Every time Ussa kicks upwards, the dragon’s massive body tilts. Kumiko repeatedly attacks with her relatively short ninja sword, targeting the dragon’s weak point, the breath sac.

 

The movements of these two have surpassed that of mere humans.

 

The combination of Ussa’s relentless force and Kumiko’s skillful attacks on vital points proved decisive, and the Mustard Dragon breathed its last.

 

Continuing on, as if casually fighting, they finished off the dragon on Nanami’s group’s side.

 

They defeated formidable foes, and Nanami’s group breathed a sigh of relief.

 

However, even after defeating the dragon, the battle between the two continues.

 

“Oops, my foot slipped.”

 

“Odd, my hand slipped too.”

 

Even after the mustard dragon is defeated, Ussa did not stop attacking.

 

She launched a high kick at Kumiko, lifting her long skirt in the air. Kumiko quickly counterpunched the kick with such force that her long hair was ruffled by the wind.

 

Ussa took Kumiko’s punch in stride and jumped up as if dancing, her bunny ears and huge breasts shaking, swaying as she landed a solid heel drop with both feet.

 

Kumiko, with a composed expression, deflects the intense heel drop with precision and counters by aiming for Ussa’s side with sharp knife-hand strikes.

 

Ussa laughs as she catches Kumiko’s buzzing, air-cutting hand slash with her arm, how scary, these guys are scary.

 

I’m so scared of them. Moreover, Nanami’s party is also scared stiff.

 

“To attack your comrade, you’re quite the barbaric woman.”

 

“When did you become one of us, you stupid rabbit!”

 

The two of them quickly leap away from each other, creating a tense atmosphere that’s in no way comparable to their battle against the dragon just moments ago.

 

I wonder if Ussa’s recent footwork was something like the “Tremor Leg”. That kind of Master-class finishing move should be used against a dragon, not on Kumiko!

 

Kumiko’s acrobat rank must be quite high, as she effortlessly dodged the attacks of a Low Master martial artist.

 

While there seems to be a rule of using bare hands for the fight, it’s a serious and intense battle that has nothing to do with dungeon clearing.

 

It’s a combat of strikes and defenses like a sparring match with no holds barred, complete with precise strikes targeting vital points.

 

The sounds in the dungeon, though they’re just exchanging bare-handed blows, resemble the clang of hard, blunt weapons striking each other.

 

“Because of a rough woman like you, my husband hated it and ran away!”

 

“Oh my, says the silly bride who got abandoned on her wedding night.”

 

“If only that jealous, no-fertility, breastless girl hadn’t gotten in the way, I would have bred with my husband a hundred times by now!”

 

“Oh no, this is what happens to rabbits in heat whose nourishment is biased towards useless meat. Why can’t she realize that Wataru-kun, whose preference is well-shaped tits, didn’t take her seriously from the very beginning!”

 

Ussa and Kumiko punch at each other with punches that would kill a normal human being with a single blow, and even the athletes in the sports club can’t do anything about it.

 

Everyone’s eyes are on Nanami. Only the perfect leader, Shuichi Nanami, could intercede in a situation like this.

 

“Could you please stop…”

 

After being taken care of by the girls and recovering, Nanami finally stops them. His normally streetwise and crisp voice was a little hushed.

 

Even from a distance, Nanami’s face looked exhausted and pale, like a boxer who has gone twelve rounds. The potion may have restored his stamina and health, but it would not have healed his accumulated mental exhaustion.

 

Ten days after the start of Genocide Reality, Nanami’s dry voice and taut smile, which have been mediating these kinds of inevitable disputes without a break, have developed a unique quality, combined with the fact that he is originally a handsome man. Something good came out of this.

The two of them were not happy to be admonished by Nanami, who never ceased to smile sadly and to be sincere, despite being in the extreme situation of life and death, and being in the extreme of heartache.

 

Both of them were mumbling and stopped the quarrel.

 

“Hmph, I never wanted this from the beginning. Right now, I have to hurry to my husband’s side, so I shouldn’t be wasting my time with sluts like you.”

 

“I feel the same way. I need to catch up with Wataru-kun quickly, so there’s no time to deal with you, little rabbit.”

 

Kumiko quickly removes the traps from the mustard dragon’s treasure chests as if nothing had happened, and Ussa, who has extensive dungeon knowledge, quickly selects and distributes the items.

 

It seems that Ussa and Kumiko have priority when it comes to items that can be used for conquest, while gold coins and gemstones are prioritized for Nanami and his party.

 

Nanami, pale as a ghost, let out a deep sigh and said nothing more than, “Well, let’s hurry on,” and carried his backpack and the large ‘Holy Iron Shield’ on his back.

 

Everyone followed his heavy, saintly back as if carrying a cross on his back up the hill of Golgotha, all of them looking uniformly tired. The only ones in high spirits are Ussa and Kumiko, who are walking around and poking each other.

 

Hmmm not my fault, not my fault but….

 

I feel so bad that even Ussa and the others are giving Nanami a hard time.

 

I guess it can’t be helped, Nanami must have been born under a star that bears all the hardships of the world Mundus.

 

I understand that Ussa and Kumiko, who have been chasing me, are in a hurry, but I wonder why Shuichi Nanami’s party has come all the way here on a forced march.

 

Are they trying to make progress on the dungeon conquest as quickly as possible by riding on the motivation of Ussa and Kumiko?

 

I think it’s more important to go back and forth on the shallow floors to increase the town’s gold coins. I don’t understand the intention to prioritize conquest.

 

I even told them about the efficient earning spots on the third floor so that they wouldn’t get in my way.

 

I wonder if they have a second party in charge of that side.

 

Could it be that they came all the way down here to look for Kazuha, who has disappeared, I wonder?

 

I don’t think the impartial and selfless Shuichi Nanami would move the student council’s most elite party for a private matter.

 

“Well, it’s no use thinking about it.”

 

Nanami and the others must have their own thoughts. Speaking of which, I forgot to give Kazuha’s letter, but maybe it can wait a bit longer.

 

Since Nanami is taking care of Ussa and the others, I hope they will continue to do their best for a while.

 

Now, as for me, I could aim to defeat the boss on the sixth floor ahead of them, but I might as well leave the sixth-floor conquest to them as it could also serve as a roadblock.

 

To tell the truth, there is no need to defeat the boss on the sixth floor, because you can go down from a pitfall and pass through the hidden door, you’ll end up on the normal passage of the seventh floor, so there’s no need to defeat the boss.

 

The boss on the sixth floor was the Blue Serpent. There are quite a few bosses in GenoReal that can be ignored.

 

If they read the map I wrote carefully, they might realize this, but maybe Nanami and the others aren’t familiar with gaming, so they don’t know.

 

Or perhaps even if they know, they intend to earnestly clear everything.

 

Personally, I think it’s a bit unorthodox to move on to the next floor without defeating the boss as it goes against the norm, but this time it’s a competition.

 

Well, let’s call it a unique form of cooperative play.

 

The Blue Serpent, with its eight snake heads wriggling, is just a troublesome trash boss, and I don’t have any items I want from it as a solo Samurai player. This time, I’ll leave it to Nanami and the others who are seriously trying to conquer it.

 

I lowered a rope into the nearest pitfall and descended to the seventh basement floor.