âGoing into a haunted house with this lineupâŠ?â
Itâll probably turn into a haunted house with zero scare. Though itâs a cave this time.
âJust gotta get quickly through this, right?â
âRight,â is what I thought, butâŠ
ïŒ
âWhoa! This has a pretty nifty design, doesnât it?â I was startled when we entered the next floor.
Itâs totally got the atmosphere of a cemetery! Although this place is inside a cave, itâs set up so that you have to enter the basement of a mansion to go down to the next floor!
âThe Dungeon Core is really pullinâ all stops, isnât it?â Sword commented indifferently.
âHmm, itâs a rare chance, so letâs honor its efforts by playing around a bit. Weâll go with a game for you whoâs so apathetic about it.â
I took something out of my magic bag. Immediately following, Swordâs eyes flew wide open, sparkling.
Good grief, he really loves this kind of stuff, doesnât he?
âIâve got several types, but each of them has its own quirks and limitations. Make sure to remember them, okay?â
ïŒ
I created several types of guns powered by magic elements, using a famous shooting game as reference.
âThe shotgun fires a single volley of six shots at a time with a cooldown of two seconds. Once you shoot it, you must reloadâŠwell, act as if youâre reloading it. The submachine gun can consecutively shoot ten bullets, but you need to wait for five seconds once those ten shots finish. This also requires you to reload after the ten shots. The laser gun perforates, but it has a time limit on its usage. Once it exceeds one minute, it needs to cool down for one minute. If you let it rest for ten seconds after using it for ten seconds, you can use it again for its longest period of one minute. The Gatling gun can shoot forever on end, but it requires low-quality magic stones to run, so itâll stop working once it runs out. And lastly, the grenades,â I pass him five, âIf you throw them, everything within a range of a hundredâŠerr, a fairly huge circle around their center is going to definitely die. Throw one at the enemies from a good distance to not get hit yourself.â
âYour a fanatic, do you know that!? I mean your really poolinâ all your efforts into havinâ fun!â
âObviously. I laboriously prepared everything for the sake of this day!â
I donât want to do something as boring as dispassionately proceeding through a haunted house. But, if you have these, itâs going to be fun! Definitely! I totally dig shooting games!
Moreover, preparing a set of rules guarantees that youâll have fun!
âAh, by the way, be careful where you use these since everything is going to die, be it monsters or people. Itâs a sorcery ball that emits the harmful light waves I mentioned a while ago.â
âWow!â
I thought heâd bicker about it, but it looks like I was wrong. Far from it. He gleefully checked out each of the guns.
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âIâm happy to see that youâre keen to go along with it.â
âMmh?â
âWhat follows next is the way of usage in the other world. WeâŠof course including the Ryokus as wellâŠare going to compete for points until the boss room while freely using these guns. Since I donât know whatâs going to appear, the points will be added depending on the number of kills and the gunâs efficiency. Killing with a shotgun gives you the most points, but then again, its power is the weakest, too. Weâre both able to use magic, but kills with magic donât count at all. You can check your rank and the total number of points on your wristwatch. You just need to order the wristband to show them, okay? Since you might be getting more handicapped the less enemies that can be seen with the naked eyes are around, Iâve set the program to use a factor of 1.5 on your points.â
âNo need. Iâm cool with playinâ under the same conditions as you,â he refused bluntly.
Oh, Sword is quite eager about this, isnât he?
âAlright. Iâll readjust the program to count the points normally then,â I smiled at Sword as I fixed the code. âHave I made a mistake in how Iâm enjoying my life? Do you think itâs weird for me to turn this life-threatening situation into a game where you vie for points?â
After blinking in surprise for a moment, Sword laughed, âYeah, your totally nuts. Your a mad girly for sure! But, if weâre doinâ it ânyway, we might as well enjoy it for at least this much! Weâre goinâ to have some fun with a life-threateninâ gamble! The chip will be our lives! But thatâs just fine with me!â Sword yelled and then laughed madly, âHaha! For there to be someone whoâs more broken than I am; life has finally become fun! I never even considered the meaning of dungeons! I see! So they exist for the sake of enjoyinâ âem like this, huh!? In that case, Iâll have a blast with âem!â
âNo, if cute, frightened girls were with us right now, that in itself would be fun, you know?â
When I retorted like that, he faced me with a cold look, âThat only applies to an extreme sadist like you, no?â
âŠ
ïŒ
âCheck the map. Though itâd also be bad if you got tripped up while looking on the map all the time.â
âI know, I know. I ainât no S-Rank just for show, âkay?â
Rather, Iâm a gamer, you know? For him to aim at higher rankings in a game heâs never played before without any handicapâŠ
âWell, the upper ranks will probably be taken by the Ryokus anyway. They have no rules tying them down. In short, they can use superior guns without reserve.â
âUff, you could have told me earlier.â
I met Swordâs eyes and we both smiled.
âLetâs go then!â
ââWe scattered in all directions.
âYahooo! Iâm goinâ for it!â
That was Swordâs personal Ryoku. And at once, he unleashed his rocket launcher, becoming first at once.
My Ryoku jumped undauntedly and fired bursts of its Gatling gun.
Damn it!!
I used my frustration to throw a grenade into a pack of zombies in the distance. Sword isâŠah, heâs shooting his shotgun.
ïŒ
Three hours later. At last, everyone had arrived in front of the boss room.
âDid you set it to stop showinâ the rankings in the middle oâ the gameâ?â
âYep. When I arrived by myself on the floor of the boss room, I made sure that the rankings wouldnât be shown any longer. Itâs no fun otherwise, is it?â
Going ahead without considering the respawn or arriving after annihilating all of the respawn would be both fine. Just in case I had also included the speed of arrival at the destination into the total ranking. It can be checked within the ranking information.
âNow then! Ryoku, please tell us the ranks!â
After voicing out something similar to a drum roll, Ryoku projected a hologram on the boss roomâs door.
âYay, I did it!â
âNooooooooooooooooooooooooo!â
Sword was first. And IâŠ
âŠwas last.
âWhy!? Why, why, why!!!â
Iâm the person who built those guns, am I not!? Iâm the one who set up the rules, am I not!? So why am I in last place!?
As I was mortified, hitting my fists on the ground, the other three consoled me.
By the way, the Ryokus had the same points.
ïŒ
âWhy has a complete and utter beginner at this secured the first raaaaaannk! Even though Iâve been doing it over and over again in the other world!!â
âThatâs obviously because of the difference in experience between us. You might have done it in that other world of yours, but itâs your first time in here, right? Iâve cleared this area by myself in the past. The information from back then has imprinted itself in my head.â
What was thaaaat!?
ïŒ
After feeling bitter about my loss while sobbing profusely, the boss room was next up on the agenda. It was a lot less exciting than the game of clearing up to here.
âThe first rank is to clear the room as a reward.â
âStop beinâ so sulky.â
Given that king skeletons were unable of normal conversation, it dampened my motivation even further, and thus I had Sword defeat it.
When my cheeks puffed up, Sword caressed me in consolation.
âDonât pout. It was fun, you know? I could fully enjoy myself as well. So, thanks for that, âkay?â
âŠAs he got me with a surprise attack, my peevish mood was blown away in one go.
ââŠâŠI guess itâs okay thenâŠâ
âI had a blast as well. We competed. I could laugh loudly after winninâ âgainst you while you were mortified over losinâ âgainst me. All while we enjoyed it together.â
ââŠâŠMmh.â
âŠâŠâŠIf he had so much fun, I suppose it had merit that I made the guns and played together with him.