CH 94

Monster House And Kanzaki-san’s Ability

Two hours have passed since then.

The Black Iron guys proceeded through the rigid dungeon while defeating the ogres.

The current position is in front of the boss room with the mid-boss, which is nothing but three levels.

They are not going too far down, but are going one level at a time, looking at the map as if they were checking something.

“Excuse me, Kanzaki-san. If you’re talking about raising the floor, I think you should go to a lower floor, but why are you checking every nook and cranny like this?”

If it’s about leveling up, I don’t think you should do that. I think you should go to the lower levels and defeat monsters as you go.

When I honestly asked him about my question, Kanzaki-san scratched his cheek with a slightly troubled expression.

“Ah~ that’s the thing, I’m sorry if I seem to be showing my black side, but explorers belonging to a company like us have to produce the results that the company demands.”

“The required results?”

“Well, to put it simply, all the companies that the explorers belong to are rivals, except for the friendly ones they cooperate with. The maps you can find on the Internet are the minimum ones that show the shortest route to the boss, right? These maps are used to hide hidden rooms, paths, and so on. These are the places where monsters are most likely to appear. So if you don’t check carefully for such places before proceeding, you will be wasting your time without knowing that there are such hidden places.”

Huh~ I see.

I hadn’t thought of that at all before or never thought of it.

I had certainly heard that such things existed, but until a short while ago, I didn’t need that information, nor did I go that far to get it in the first place.

I was too busy killing monsters for a living.

“Well, dungeons like this one, where there are quite a few people, have been researched all over the place, and there are passages like this here. There’s a rumor that there is such a passageway, so I don’t need that either, but, well, it’s just in case [Shinomiya-san! Kanzaki-san! It’s a hidden room!] I’m sorry, but I’m not sure.”

“Are you serious? Wow, it’s there.”

Together with Kanzaki-san, who was a little weak, I turned my gaze to everyone in Black Iron, who was examining the wall.

Along with the sound of gurgling, the rugged wall of rock slides sideways, albeit gradually.

I saw at the end of the wall a large space. Or rather, a room.

The room was teeming with ogres.

“”””Ggooaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!”””

“”Uwaaaa!!!!!!!””

All of these ogres screamed at once.

I don’t know if they were startled by that voice or thought they were going to get attacked, but a man using a large sword near the wall moved screamed, and fell on his buttocks.

But.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down and take a good look.”

“Aaaah… huh?”

When Kanzaki-san says this, the man looks up fearfully and looks at the ogres.

“They didn’t come out?”

Yes, the ogres must have noticed us coming in, but there was no sign of them coming out.

Rather, it seems to be blocked by some kind of transparent wall, unable to come closer than the wall that has moved, and is glaring at us with a menacing posture.

“I see. Many monsters are locked up in one space to crush the explorers who enter without checking. A monster house.”

“What’s that horrible thing? I mean, did you know about it, Kanzaki-san?”

“No, I didn’t know. I told you earlier. Just in case.”

“Then what is this place?”

“Well? Rather, I want to know. Akari! What are these guys going to do?”

In response to Kanzaki-san’s question, Shinomiya-san made a little thinking gesture and quickly gave his answer.

“Well, if I could, I’d like the Black Iron to defeat them since it’s a great opportunity to raise their level…”

As Shinomiya-san said this, she turned her gaze to the members of Black Iron who were still gathering in one place.

Surely if they’re here to raise your level, that would be the best thing to do, well, that is, if only the Black Iron people weren’t shaking their heads as hard as they can.

“What? You guys aren’t going to do it? Here’s your chance to raise the bar all at once.”

“””””I can’t(ish)(yo)!”””””

Everyone at Black Iron exclaims in unison.

Well, that’s right.

If you have seen the battles, you know how strong that ogre is.

Probably, the limit is five that all of you in Black Iron can take on at the same time.

Then, the bottleneck is the number of them. Even if they fought, they would be pushed aside by sheer numbers.

“Well, I guess so. Since that’s the case, I’m counting on you, Tetsuya.”

“…It can’t be helped. Akinashi doesn’t have the ability for melee fights.”

With a bitter smile on his face, Kanzaki-san muttered to himself, and with his right hand in his pocket, he took a step forward and entered the room where the ogre and its friends were.

“Eh! Are you going to take on that many ogres by yourself, Kanzaki-san!”

There is no limit to how reckless you can be.

I thought that even Kanzaki-san, the gold explorer who came as my escort, would not be able to do that,……, but my thought is quickly dismissed.

The one that was in his hand, or attached to his right hand, was a–

“Brass knuckle?”

In Kanzaki-san’s hand was attached a Brass knuckle made of shiny silver metal.

Continuing, Kanzaki-san put his left hand in his pocket, and a gold-colored Merikensack appeared in that hand, just like his right hand.

“Different color?”

“Haha, well, you can tell by looking at it. Let’s go! Oraaaaah!”

Kanzaki-san’s wearing a brass knuckle in each hand strikes the ogre near the entrance with his silver brass knuckle-equipped fist as if he were boxing.

The ogre received the blow, and suddenly ice spread around the area where it had gotten hit, freezing its entire body as was.

“Huh?”

And that’s not all.

The frozen ogre was not the only one struck by Kanzaki-san, all the surrounding ogres were also instantly frozen in the same way.

“W-what the heck… it’s cold!!!”

I was stunned by what had happened, but when I came to myself, I shivered as I hugged my arms around my rapidly cooling body.

It was not only me, but everyone in Black Iron was in the same situation.

In contrast, Shinomiya-san, who had moved in next to me, did not react and …… what’s going on with this guy?

“That’s the infighting ogre, the boss of this Great Demon Dungeon. It’s also Tetsuya’s main weapon, the Twin Arms of Ice Flame, which he obtained from the mutant boss monster.”

“~I knew it.”

I thought for sure it was not a normal weapon when it froze the ogre, but I knew it was an equipment item that you can get when you defeat a mutant monster.

“By the way, the silver one, as you can see, has the effect of freezing the target it strikes and dealing damage regardless of the opponent’s resistance. The other one, the golden one…”

“Orraaaaaa!”

In the middle of Shinomiya-san’s explanation, he now swings his right arm and slams his fist with the golden Merikensack into the ogre running toward Kanzaki-san.

This time, the ogre did not freeze, but its huge body burst into flames as if it had exploded, blowing away without a trace.

…Yes?

“As you can see, it burns the target it struck, causing the blood to boil and burst from within its body.”

“No, that’s too egregious.”

A person using such a weapon moves around at a ridiculous speed and defeats the ogre.

…Yeah. At any rate, I learned something from observing this battle.

Kanzaki-san’s fighting style is to use the same high stats as mine, dodge, and then unleash a blow with a deadly weapon.

It’s certainly good to use as a reference, but yeah.

I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to use it as a reference, but it’s a good idea to avoid fighting Kanzaki-san in training or mock battles. I’ll do that.

Otherwise, no matter how many lives I have, it won’t be enough.