I missed another (...) infinite lightning bullet.

　Nihonium Dungeon, fifth floor underground.
　As the dungeon snow danced, the strike to the Red Skeleton missed again, and the thunderbolt exploded against the dungeon wall.

''d*mn ...... I've cut off 50% .......

　This morning was a bad morning. The hit rate I'm tallying up against Red Skelton also started at 0% after the first time off, and it's still just below 50%.

　I know why: ...... I'm still nervous and mongering now.

　The Red Skeleton came around behind me and hit me with a bone to the gut.
　It's a clean hit to the back of my head and I laughed as the red bone clattered.

"Nah ...... it's a good idea!

　Grabbing the ground gingerly with the soles of his shoes, he gagged all the muscles in his body and gathered strength to turn around and back fist.
　Red Skelton takes off at super speed, but he doesn't care, he steps in and hits the back fist.
　His skull blows off and he shatters before he hits the dungeon wall.

　I raise my MP by 1 with the seed I dropped, and phew, I let out a collective burst of air in my lungs.
　I scrunch my head up in the pouring dungeon snow.

　The reason I'm in a slump, of course, is because of Margaret.
　The kiss she gave me yesterday, a surprise one, still makes me writhe in agony.

　Thus, in the midst of a critical slump, I take much longer than usual - eventually, the hit rate breaks 40%.
　It became an extended game that shifted until lunchtime, and in the end I was unable to raise my MP to the next rank, and I shrugged and retreated from the dungeon.

　　　　　☆

　I came to Tellurian in the afternoon, alone, and encountered Margaret at the entrance to the dungeon.

'Lyota!'

　Margaret spotted me and ran up to me, looking happy to see me.
　My throbbing doubled and I moaned, "Ugh.

'I've been waiting for you,'
Were you waiting for me?
Yes, I went to Lyota's house, but Lyota's housekeeper told me that he would be in Tellurium in the afternoon.
Yeah. ...... Yeah.

　I nodded and looked away from it.
　The base of my ears were too hot to look at Margaret's face properly.
　Because looking at her face almost reminded me of yesterday's kiss.

'Well, more importantly, what can I do for you?'
Yes, I thought I'd like to watch Lyota hunt.
My hunt?
''Yes. It's a good idea to observe Lyota, the most powerful adventurer in the Cyclo, in action. I thought I had to learn a little bit about how to fight.
Standing.
The more I can move, the easier it will be for Lat and the others.
Well, there will be more variations.

　Even if you just follow up with a bite and let them topple you, what you do depends on the strength of the person you're topping off.
　If the attack power is high, you can reduce the amount you have to cut down, and if the hit rate is high, you don't have to hold them up every time.
　The stronger Margaret gets, the more she can do, that's for sure.

...... Your ambition is amazing.
Yes?　What did you say?
It's nothing. All right, follow me.
Yes!

　Margaret put on a big smile and entered the dungeon with me.

　Telldungeon, first basement level.

'It's very impressive,'
What?
'No, I had almost the same status as Margaret when I came here. My drops were all high, but my abilities were all F's.
Really?
Yeah.
Then maybe I could be like Lyota.

　I wondered for a moment what it was like to be like me: ......, but that's not the place to obsess about it.

'Yeah, I'm sure.'

　That answer made Margaret's eyes sparkle with anticipation for the future.
　That's all I needed, I thought.

　In the meantime, I begin my usual hunt.
　I push the magic cart and make my way through the dungeon.

　A slime appeared and flew at me.
　I catch the slime in the palm of my hand and shoot it right above the magic cart.

　Normal bullets penetrate and instantly kill the slime. The dropped sprouts went straight into the magic cart.

''It's amazing, a single hit of that one.
'And you defeated it on the magic cart, that one dropped straight into the cart and you didn't have to pick it up. The slime is weak and roomy, so we can be more efficient this way.
'I see!　I'm learning a lot!

　And I used regular bullets instead of infinite lightning bullets for efficiency.
　I've come to understand lately, but with lightning bullets, it often takes a long time to burn up the monster with electricity and drop it.
　With regular bullets, if they become fatal, they drop the next moment after they penetrate, but with lightning bullets, they don't drop unless they are burned to blackness.
　That amount of time - a difference of a few seconds per body, but there are times when lightning bullets are more of a time loss.

　It's infinite and easy to use, and it's also very powerful.
　However, lightning bullets are not suitable for doing time attacks in the extreme pursuit of efficiency.

　With Margaret in tow, you're going to defeat all the slimes.
　I take them down, put the sprouts in my magic cart, and look for the next one again.

　Suddenly, I stop in my tracks.

'What's going on?'
We were almost there.

　Margaret twitches her head.
　I waited a little while with my gun at the ready.

　Thirty seconds of waiting, and there was a new slime born there.
　I took it down instantly and put the sprouts in the magic cart.

What was that?
We have a certain number of monster gushing points. A slime in this area sprouts every five minutes. I went around in a circle and thought, 'This is about time too.'
I don't remember any of that stuff!　It's amazing!
I'm used to it. It's just.
Is there anything else I can do for you?

　Margaret is impressed again.
　She asks me with a childlike excitement in her eyes.
　I want to respond to that look.

　I tell her everything I remember, everything I've learned from experience.
　With practice, I showed her how to hunt Tellurium John efficiently.

　Each time I did, Margaret got very excited and said it was amazing.
　Her expression was beautiful and lovely. It was a look of those two things living together at a high level.

　I wanted to see more of that, so I showed her this and that.

　　　　　☆

It was amazing.

　In the evening, I left Telldungeon and walked around the city with Margaret.
　From the first floor to the seventh floor, I demonstrated how to defeat the monsters in turn, how to do it efficiently and how to attack the dungeon.

　Margaret was overjoyed from start to finish and I thought it was worth it.

''As expected of Lyota, he's my prince.
"King--

　Margaret's straightforward manner reminded me of my pounding.
　The pounding I'd forgotten all about when I was hunting monsters to show her the good side of me was coming back now.

　Her cherry-red lips were in my eyes.

　Oh no, what should I do?
　Once I became aware of it, my heart pounded even more because he was right in front of me.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it. Oi Lyota.
What?

　When I turned around when I was called, I saw Alice.
　She waved her hand and ran towards me with three SD monsters on her shoulders.

''What's wrong?''

　In a way, a savior appeared.
　I turned to face Alice who came over, cheating the pounding that had subsided a bit with the flow.

'Breaking news, Elsa asked me to go ahead and tell her because she probably wants to know.
"Breaking news?
Yeah!

　Alice nodded widely and smiled her usual innocent smile.

''Congratulations, I made over three million today.
...... Oh?
Lyota's got a new identity.
Oh, so it's a personal best.
That's great, three million pirouettes a day. What's going on?
What?

　It's a thud, a little different thud, now.

　I turn from Alice to Margaret, she's scowling.
　You don't understand, thank God.

　If she - if she - found out in person, I thought I might die of embarrassment.

　I was less than half as efficient as I normally am in the morning, but I was able to beat a new record in the afternoon just to show Margaret that I was good.

'I don't know what it is, but congratulations!'
Congratulations, Lyota, you're really something.

　It was a bit embarrassing, including the fact that he could say that to me.