The next day, we spent the morning in the basement level of Nihonium doing our daily zombie hunt.

　I've gotten much more comfortable with the gun and I can fire it continuously.
　My accuracy has improved and I can take a solid headshot as long as I don't get hit by surprise.

　I also practiced a few combos with physical techniques.
　Punching, kicking, and throwing.
　I drilled into my body how to break it down and then slam a bullet into it.

'Another surprise attack!　That's a lot of nihonium!

　The walls collapsed and the zombies suddenly attacked me.
　I stuck out my right hand, which wasn't holding a gun, and accidentally grabbed its neck.
　As it was, I grabbed the zombie by the neck and lifted it up and put a bullet between its eyes.

　I cringed as it attacked me, but I only got away with a cringe.

　I continued to hunt the zombie, and with the drop seeds, my strength went up to A.

　　　　　☆

　In the afternoon I came to the third basement floor of the tellurium.
　After reflecting on yesterday, I came alone today.

　I was glad I did.
　This is because when you're on the third basement floor, all the female adventurers you see are whisking past you in a hurry.

　Some ducked down to the lower levels, others returned to the top from below.
　Nearly all the women are rushing past in a hurry.

　A cocrosstime appeared.
　It looks like a slime, about half the size of the palm of my hand.
　Its body is shiny black, and it moves with a cracking sound.

　I knew it wasn't good for women, I thought.
　But I thought it was good for practice.

　Set up the gun, take aim - and shoot!
　You missed!
　It came off the slime and hit the ground like an underpass, sending pebbles flying.

　Crunching.
　The slime approached - and jumped.

'Whoa!'

　I quickly dodged it.
　I'm scared. I'm scared.
　It had just jumped in front of me, right in my face.

　For a moment, my vision was 70% obscured by this thing with a flash of blackness.
　My heart flutters.
　In a way, this is worse for my heart than a zombie attacking me by surprise!

　Pull yourself together, get your gun up and take aim this time - this time.

　Pan!　Pash!　Poof!

　The bullet firmly penetrated the coclo slime and dropped a huge pumpkin.
　No matter how many times I look at it, the sight of a palm-sized pumpkin the size of a balance ball dropping from a palm-sized slime looks like that of popcorn.

　The slime itself is weird, but the moment of the drop is a bit of a pleasant sensation.

　And then they show up in large numbers again.
　If you see one, think there are thirty of them - not thirty, but close enough.
　No Emily today, no problem with blocking the road.

　I took a deep breath and fired my gun with everything I had in me.

　　　　　☆

　When I had less than 50 bullets left, I wiped out a bunch of cocrosstime.
　Just like yesterday, a huge pumpkin that had dropped all at once filled the dungeon's path.

　Once it was carried out to the front of the dungeon, I called out to Emily.

'It's another big catch today,'
'Yes. That's roughly the same amount as yesterday.
Yesterday it was ......, let's see, roughly 10,000 piro each?
Yeah.

　On a price per gram basis, there wasn't much difference between the squash and the sprouts.
　This pumpkin was huge, and its body was heavy and slender.
　Elsa was delighted to buy them for me because I could take them down to the cafeteria and other places for commercial use.
　It was, as Emily had said, worth about 10,000 piro each.

　Yesterday's, and today's.
　If we sold them all, it would be about 500,000 piro.
　That's quite an income.

　500,000 or .......
　With that much, I might be able to buy a used magic cart.
　No, no, no, maybe we can move into a nicer room.
　But first, you might want to treat Emily to a nice meal together.

　I was secretly excited as I imagined all sorts of ways to spend the money.

'Well, let's do our best to carry it.
Hi.

　I hauled the pumpkin and got it bought out.
　I'd come back and haul them back and buy them back.

　Each pumpkin weighs a few hundred pounds, but I, and Emily, who is a little girl of about six feet, can carry them just fine.
　Emily was already carrying a big hammer, and I had already made some progress with the seeds.

　I kept carrying it, and when I came back for the last time, I saw a shocking sight.

　When I came back for the last time, I saw a shocking sight.
　Black ones were swarming around the two remaining pumpkins, swarming and scurrying.

　You could see them from a distance, glowing black cocrosse limes.
　The giant pumpkin swarmed by the slime had holes all over the place and was being eaten by insects.

　The slime outside the dungeon - or is it slime outside the dungeon?

Yoda-san: "Yoda-san: ......
Haha!

　I huffed and turned my head to the side, Emily was looking at the pumpkin with a blank expression and ...... eyes like a dead fish.

'That pumpkin is ...... no more,'
'Wait, Emily, don't do it!　Sure, that one's a bust.
I was ...... born for this time. ......

　Emily said and took the hammer, which she kept away for once.
　You know, for this occasion, it's too heavy.

Wait, Emily, I'll do it!
But .......
Just stay back, Emily.

　I pushed Emily back and stepped forward.
　Totally!　I didn't hear of any cocrosstime out there!

　I grabbed my gun and charged at the giant pumpkin.
　There were only a few bullets left, and if I missed here, Emily would be in more and more trouble.

　I can't miss a single shot--.

　I showed more concentration than I did yesterday.
　While charging, I shot a cocrosstime that scattered from the pumpkin.

　I shot at them as they ran away, and I shot at them anyway because it would be hard to miss one of them.

　I fired my gun wildly, slaughtering the slime anyway.

　Click, click.

Click!　You're out of ammunition.
After all, this is my day.
Yeah!

　I put the gun away and hit the pumpkin.
　I hit the entire cocrosse-lime there.

　Petya!
　I had a bad feeling about this, but I had to do it.
　I have to do it.

"Whoa!

　Raise your spirits and hit the slime.
　With all my strength, I lash out at the slime with every pumpkin and hit it.

　Eventually, the pumpkin shatters and the slime is wiped out as well.
　I managed to ...... manage it.

　I was relieved. I looked at Emily, her face clearly relieved to see that the black guy was gone, too.

　Thank goodness I won't let her do it.
　But why is the cocrosstime out there?　What does that have to do with swarming a dropped pumpkin?
　Maybe if you leave a drop item by the dungeon, it will come from there?

　What was I thinking?

　Pom.
　Pop-pop.
　Pop-pop-pop.

　The cocrosstime I defeated dropped items one after another -- the bullets I'd used up earlier.

　Speaking of which.
　The cocrosse lime that appeared outside the dungeon was a haggle.

　Happened, in exchange for the loss of 20,000 piro and Emily's bad vibe that almost stepped into the Shura path.
　I was able to replenish nearly 500 rounds of ammunition from the haglemono.