41. Complete victory




 Seren is crowded with adventurers from two different cities, and there are free now boards set up all over the place.
 I wandered around with Emily to the farthest away from the dungeon, in front of the now board, which was not in use.

 I took the familiar steps to operate it and check the status.

---1/2---
Level: 1/1
HP S
MP F
Power S
Strength F
Intelligence F
Spirit F
Speed A
Dexterous F
Luck F
--------- ...

Yoda, you've gotten so strong, your speed will soon be S.
I miss the fact that everything was F when I met Emily.
Will we all get Ss at some point?
I think so.

 I said to Emily almost immediately.
 I'm told there are nine floors underground in all of Nihonium, and a total of nine items on the first page of status.
 And a seed for a status upgrade that only I can drop.

 I couldn't believe it was a coincidence that the number of 9's coincided with each other.

Well, this is good. Now for the next.
Yes, sir.

 Manipulate the now board and move it to page 2.

---2/2---
Plants S
Animals S
Mineral S (+1)
Magic S
Characteristic S
--------- ...

'Huh? It's still an S.
I thought it was going to be an SS or something.

 I stare at the pink sapphire bracelet I'm wearing, grabbing it and twirling it around my wrist.

 The mineral drop +1 effect, it's also on the Now board.
 But it's still an S on the status.

'Is it because Yoda-san's S is the best, so it doesn't go up or something?
Maybe. Emily can try it on just in case.
Yes, sir.

 Emily put on the bracelet I had removed and took control of the Now board.
 Then the mineral drop went from F to E.

---2/2---
Plants S
Animals S
Mineral S(-1)
Magic S
Characteristic S
--------- ...

'Huh? It won't go down.
It's not going down.

 I'm surprised.
 I thought the equipment for mineral drop-1, I thought it was going to be an A.

Why is that?
I'm sure.

 Emily smiled smugly.

'It's because you're Yoda,'

 I'm starting to feel that way.
 Somehow I'm starting to feel that way too.

 Drop S, or some mysterious status that I've heard a little bit from people in this world for that matter, but no one tells me they've ever heard of it.
 A status that is unique to me.

 It seemed to be something that is not affected by equipment.

     * * * * * * *.

 I left Emily, who said she had shopping to do, and returned to the tent alone.
 The tent near the dump, where Celeste was looking difficult.

'What's going on?'
Mr. Sato: ......
What's the matter with you that's so hard to deal with?
In fact, rumor has it that the number of adventurers will nearly double tomorrow.
"Twice as many adventurers?
"It's still a rumor, but if it's true, there will be quite a bit more trash and I'll be able to get my hands on it. ...... I keep sending out requests for ......, but again, it's a rumor, so I'm not sure if I'll get any help. ......

 Celeste looked troubled.
 The trash was proportional to the number of humans there, and if the number of humans was nearly doubling, I can see why Celeste would be annoyed.

'I'll help you,'
What?
I'll help you dispose of the garbage.
'But. Satou-san has a dungeon at .......
I can't leave you alone.
-Oh!

 He looked at Celeste in amazement and said with a straight face.
 When we first met, she had collapsed from overwork.
 She continued to work hard on her own, even though the trash was slowly increasing and exceeded her ability to handle it.

 Maybe she was her old self in such a way.
 Maybe I've been overlapping myself with the person I used to be when I joined a black company and didn't take on any new employees.

 I had to help, I thought to myself.
 I looked straight at her with that feeling on board.

"Thank you .......

 Celeste blushed and thanked him shyly.

     ☆

The rumors are true.

 Inside the tent, Duke, the head of the Cyclodungeon Association, said.
 I went to him to confirm the rumor.

"Oh, really? Was it just a rush?
No, they sent them to us. They're all from the other side.
"...... You're going to fill an even number of floors with human naval warfare techniques.
You've got it backwards.
What?

 Duke looked like he was biting down on a bitter bug.

'We're going to fill the odd floor, or the plant drop floor.
You're going to send me a bunch of drop Fs!

 Duke nodded.

Duke nodded. "It looks like they're going to do whatever they can to sabotage us. Tomorrow, they'll be here in droves. I've heard there are hundreds of them at ...... and they're swarming with them!
Occupy the hierarchy?
'And it's legal. On the surface, it would just be 'more adventurers flooded in than there were monsters'.

 I can see how I've become bitter, too.
 It's not like the people who took over the Silicon basement five floors with a strike before.
 There's nothing wrong with sending a bunch of adventurers out to hunt down all the monsters.

 Suddenly, an inspiration strikes me.

"...... Let's settle this today: the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth floors. If rares drop on all of these, it'll be at least a tie, right?
'If you can do that, you've practically won. Rare drops don't come around all that often, and there's less than a 1% chance of dropping them all in a period of time.
I'm 100% in control.
That's ridiculous.
Let's double the information fee for rare monsters - or even raise it all at once. The first one to arrive gets 10 million.
'Too expensive! If you put out that much money--
If I don't drop it, I'll give you money for it.
-Oh!

 Duke was astonished.
 I stared straight back at him.

 The two armbands confirmed the drop S.
 My own unique status that does not fluctuate.
 It's a 100% drop, if you can find it.

 I was sure of that.

     Stars.

 Seren Dungeon, 9th floor underground.
 The Duke's face, which had been skeptical until then, gradually changed.

 Rare monsters themselves were appearing every day.
 As soon as we made it known that the first one to arrive would receive a ten million dollar information fee, the information started coming in one after another.

 I would go to the dungeon with Duke to defeat the rare monsters that were held in the dungeon.
 The third, fifth, and seventh floors of the basement.

 Each time I defeated a rare monster, Duke's expression changed to one of amazement and then respect.
 Eventually, the ninth floor underground.
 A ten million information fee, and word quickly spread that the third, fifth, and seventh floors had been dropped, and the dungeon was flooded with an overflowing crowd.

 With a packed gallery looking on, I came face to face with a giant snake with eight heads.

It looks like a Yamata no Orochi.
One of the necks is the weakest point, and with each regeneration, the weakest neck changes.

 Duke said.
 The monsters themselves are out there every day, so we already know how to defeat them.

 I tried a small move first, counter-punching one of the biting heads and hitting it with a fused penetrating bullet.
 The big head was blown off, but it quickly regenerated.

 This time their necks bit down in two pieces.
 The ground where the snake had bitten was gouged enough to make a pit.
 While rolling your tongue at the offensive power, you hit the annihilation bullet that is a fusion of fire and freeze.

 The moment it is hit, three heads disappear as if they were swallowed by something.
 But it also quickly regenerates.

''It's very tricky.
I know that if I give him a drink, he'll only get drunk in his weak neck.
Have you found out what their weaknesses are?

 I giggled at the increasingly typical Yamata no Orochi weakness.

Shall I have them fix you a drink?
It's okay, I'm just gonna take care of it.

 He punched an attacking Yamata no Orochi in the direction of the gallery.
 While the guy was rolling, I loaded all the tracking rounds in my two pistols, set them up and fired wildly.

 All at once, the tracking rounds spread out like homing missiles and flew in all directions, concentrating on one of the eight necks and rushing in.

 The Yamata-no-Orochi, whose neck alone is thicker than a human's body, was turned into a beehive.
 The giant body collapsed with a thud and disappeared, and the enoki mushroom was dropped.
 All of Seren's rare monsters are a pain in the ass, and the drops are not worth it.
 It's a bad dungeon that I don't want to visit in the future.

 Be that as it may.

'Thanks! Thank you so much!

 Duke came running in and grabbed my hand tightly.
 He buzzes up and down and calls out the same words with a look of admiration on his face.

'Now we Cyclo don't lose anymore, thank you so much! You made it happen!
No, it was Duke's fault.
No need to be modest, you were the one who made it happen. Yeah, I've got to go report this to headquarters.

 Duke said and ran off.
 I looked behind him as he turned to leave the dungeon, and I muttered, "It's not humble," he said.

 When I was in the company, anything I said was dismissed.
 But it was Duke's decision to accept an adventurer's proposal and put together a 40-million-piro budget that won him the day.
 I was rather grateful to him for letting me do it.