58. Playing monsters




What was that drug?
...... Well, we're buddies and I'll tell you.

 To answer Eve's question, he maneuvered the nearby Nowboard to bring up the status.

---2/2---
Plants S
Animals S
Minerals S
Magic S
Characteristic S
--------- ...

 Eve came up next to me, looked at the status, tilted her head back, gave me a little scissors and looked up at me.

"......S?
My drops are all S, with S being above A, like this. It allows me to get all sorts of unusual things in my drops.
I see.
...... You're easily convinced.
Better than my carrots, that's for sure.
You're still basing it on the carrot standard.

 I laughed bitterly, but I thought it was typical of Eve.
 I regained my composure and resumed my explanation.

'I have all sorts of items that I'm going to show you, like that potion and stuff, but I have all sorts of items, and they were all dropped from monsters in the Drop S.'
Okay.
I'm only telling my friends about this, so don't tell anyone.
Okay.

 Eve nodded with a very serious look on her face. I'm not going to tell you what's going on," he said.
 I asked you not to tell anyone, but what is this seriousness?
 I soon found out why.

'I will never tell anyone, even if this body is torn to pieces and scattered to all the dungeons in the world.
'My resolve is heavy! No, it's not so much that I have to keep it that secret.
For the carrots!

 It was said like a code word.
 And it made sense. When Eve says "for the sake of carrots", I get most things right.

 ...... It's amazing, that's what Eve makes me think.
 After Eve said her decision, she stared at the Nowboard again.

'What's up?'
''Is this one's ability, HPS and strength B......S greater than A?''
I said so earlier.
......

 Eve stared at the now-board for a moment longer, then she turned to me and reached out and chipped me.
 I heard a snapping sound.

What? Suddenly. 'Low-level haters' again?
......

 Eve didn't answer, but chopped into the dungeon wall directly beside her.
 Part of the wall shattered.
 It wasn't cracked, nor was it slashed.

 Part of it was shattered.
 And then you looked up at me again.

"Solid.

 I said.

'Is that the chop you did for me?'
I chopped it a hundred times a second, very finely.
A high-frequency cutter! Don't do that to people.
But it's solid.
Well, ...... it didn't hurt too much.
If you're strong enough, it won't hurt at all.
-Oh!

 I was shocked by Eve's casual words.

     ☆

 Shortly after noon, in the city of Cyclo.
 I came up to Emily and Celeste, who were waiting to join me.

'Thanks for your help, Yoda,'
'What are you doing today? Do you want to dive to the sixth floor of the tellurium?
Sorry! Let me split up for the day!

 I put my hands together to worship them both and bowed my head.

'What? Separate action is ...... what does that mean ......
I have to run an errand.
'What's the urgency of that ......? Even if it's only after you've dived into the dungeon--
Okay.

 Celeste was puzzled by this, but Emily accepted it very easily.

''You are going to leave this to me.
'Thank you, Emily! And I'm sorry Celeste! Yes! This is a plant drop-up potion, use it for both of you.

 I handed them all the red potion I could find and I turned and ran.
 I ran as fast as I could through the crowds of people in the city, thinking of what I wanted to do and the scene when I succeeded in doing it.

     ☆

 Emily and Celeste after Ryota walked away.
 Celeste's expression is half confused and half depressed, but Emily watches Ryota disappear into the crowd with a gentle smile on her face.

'He's gone ...... thank goodness I let him go without asking,'
It's the same old Yoda.
What?
Whenever Yoda-san comes up with something and does it, he has that look on his face. It's a face that makes me want to cheer him on.
It's ...... and it's the best-looking thing in the world, but it's ......

 At Emily's suggestion, Celeste's cheeks flushed with vermilion and she looked in the direction where Ryota had disappeared with an embarrassed expression.

'That face of Ryota's...... what I want to do...... okay!

 Celeste was about to run off after Ryota, but Emily grabbed her arm and held her back.

'You mustn't interfere with Yoda-san,'
But I think I might need help, so.
If there's a need, Yoda will let me know. Since he didn't tell us, we'll go into the dungeon ourselves.
Let go of me, Emily. Please, let go of me.
You can't...
Eeekeek-a-tee.

 Celeste wants to go to the other side, and in the end, she starts begging like a silly child.
 Emily grabbed her hand and dragged her cunningly into the dungeon.

     ☆

 Four floors below Nifonium, an uninhabited dungeon as usual.
 As soon as I descended, I grabbed Mammy's throat whistle, which I immediately encircled and rushed at her, knocking her straight into the wall and grabbing her throat.

 The head was taken off and Mammy was knocked down.
 The moment the flesh melts away and you are left with only bandages, you fire a recovery round.
 I obliterate it while the bandages still barely retain their human form.
 A seed was dropped and my strength was increased by 1.

 I look for the next monster.
 I found a mummy in the distance, shot a piercing round and then shot a recovery round in time.
 All the while, I dashed to close the distance.

 The mummy that was pierced through the brain fell down, the bandages were cleansed, and I arrived just as the seed dropped and picked it up to increase my strength.

 I was at max tension as I dove into the nihonium, and I wanted to get my strength up as soon as possible.
 With the tension high, I decided on the fastest way to defeat the mammy I could find on the spot.

 After entering the dungeon at noon, my stats went from B to A and then from A to S all at once as a result of my rampage through the dungeon.

     ☆

 Once outside, he checked his abilities on the only Nihonium Nowboard in the front.

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

 His level was still at 1, but his strength had gone up to a solid S.
 With that confirmed, I returned to the dungeon.

 Nifonium Underground Level 1, a level where skeletons appeared.
 The skeletons appeared right away.

 Normally I would have defeated it immediately, but I didn't do anything.
 I stood on my feet with my hands in my pockets.

 The skeleton came at me, bones crunching, and attacked me.

 I felt a crunching sensation.
 The skeleton's attack didn't hurt at all, but it only felt as bad as being hit by a kindergartener.
 I continued to stand on the stick even more, and yes, it doesn't matter how much I'm hit, it still doesn't hurt.

 I started to walk away, the skeleton following me, attacking me.

 Nifonium, which normally doesn't drop, doesn't have another adventurer, so I quickly encountered another skeleton.
 That skeleton and the first skeleton attacked me from both sides.

 Petite, petite, petite.

 It still didn't hurt.
 I dodged a bit, just in case. The attack swung by the skeleton gouged the ground.
 Yeah, it's a pretty heavy attack.

 I'm just being stinging.
 I'm not affected at all.

 It's a HPS and a Strength S effect.
 I'm probably in a game where I'm constantly getting hit by 1.

 Skeletons are not defeated, but are being dragged along.
 Two of them became three, then three of them became four, then four of them...

 The skeletons kept growing and eventually they would all be attacking me in droves.
 When there were 20 of them, they were so dense that I couldn't walk.
 Still, it doesn't hurt at all, and I'm still getting hit for 1 damage on and on.

 With the skeletons beating me to a pulp, I kept thinking about how I could use this power.