402. All rescued




 The hole in the entrance that you smashed through is made larger.

 The ironclad bullets advance at the same fast-paced slowness as usual, no matter if the opponent is a rift in space or not.
 Shoot it at the four corners of the quadrangle, and when you're about to run out of time, shoot it at the same spot and relay it.

 As a result of firing ironclad bullets at all four corners, the entrance rift is now about as wide as a room door, enough for one person to get through.

'I'm going to go.'
Be careful.

 Nodding back to Nihonium, I walked through the entrance.

 Inside Carbon was an underground dungeon with a low ceiling, like a pile of stones.
 The stones glowed with a pale light in places, and it was the quietest, most eerie-looking dungeon I'd ever seen.

''Ryota-san,''
Celeste!

 When I walked in, I immediately saw Celeste.
 She spotted me and happily ran up to me.
 I ran up to her too.

'Are you okay?'
Yeah. Not really.
Yeah. The other adventurers were--

 Relieved that Celeste was safe, I looked around - and was surprised.

 Most of the adventurers were sitting on the ground in the blue-white light, relaxing on the ground.
 Some are having a feast with ingredients that seem to have been dropped in carbon.

''...... What is this?''
What?
'Me, I was imagining something more impatient. Why are you so laid back?
It's all thanks to you, Sato-san.

 A young man joined the conversation.

 I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about the best way to get the most out of your newborn baby.

''What about you?''
I'm the Elliotts' acro.
Elliott Family, Acro: ......

 The name sounds familiar, but I couldn't remember it right away.

 That acro kept a friendly smile on his face and continued on without regard to my doubts.

It was an emergency. I'm sorry to hear that, but the guy who got hit is gone. The level of emergency has gone up a whole lot.
If so, aren't you supposed to be more impatient and panicked?
That's true, but someone just blurted it out. If it's this bad, Lyota will be here.
Oh, oh ......?

 I'm coming ......?

If it's a bad case, Satou-san is coming, so it's just a matter of time before we get rescued. That's why we were able to fight endlessly against the monsters that we could not stop beating.
And then the monster just disappeared. And everyone thought, "Oh, Lyota, you're here.

 Celeste explained as she took over Acro's words.

'I see,'

 I had a bit of mixed feelings.
 I was happy that they trusted me that much, but I also shrugged my shoulders, guessing that I was in an enclosed space and in an extreme situation inside.

...... Well, I'm glad it's not as important as it seems.
Mr. Lyota!
Hmm? Oops.

 Celeste, panicked, followed her gaze and saw that one of the ironclad bullets had disappeared and the square had collapsed into a long, right-angled triangle.

 She hurriedly fired an ironclad round to extend the diagonal side, and then fired additional ironclad rounds at the corners.
 I administered first aid and turned to Celeste and the others.

'Let's go outside for now. Celeste, go ahead.
I'm staying. I'll be there if something goes wrong.
'No, Celeste, go outside. I'd appreciate the possibility that I might be able to use the transporter room in a pinch more than my strength.
...... I see. I understand.

 Celeste is convinced, but looks somewhat backed up.
 I wondered if she wanted to stay that long.

'Let's go, this stalemate can't last forever.
Yeah.
Acro, go let everyone know. I'll keep this entrance open.
Okay.

 They each started to move.
 Celeste was the first to pass through the entrance and waited just outside.
 Acro ran to the back of the dungeon to communicate to the adventurers who were relaxing and feasting.

''We can get out, but it's unstable, so we have to hurry.

 Perhaps because he actually saw the entrance closed, Acro's tone was truly imminent.
 In response to Acro's call, adventurers came in one by one, trickling in.

''Thank you.''
You're safe.

 Every time I walk past me, the adventurers say thank you.
 Of course, not all of them are like that, there are a lot of talented veterans with a lot of stars in here, and they have a reasonable amount of pride.

'I'll pay you back what I owe you,'

 I also said.

 While looking away from it, we maintained the entrance with ironclad bullets.
 The entrance was narrow and only one person could pass through at a time.
 Hence, a long line of adventurers had naturally formed.

''......''
What's up, Mr. Lyota?

 Celeste asks just outside the entrance.

'Maybe it's not enough,'

 With that said, I fired an additional set of ironclad bullets that were about to run out of time.

 It would take four ironclad bullets in one set to maintain a smooth passage through the entrance.
 The number of those sets, the duration of their effects, and the rest of the human line.

About a third of them are going to be left behind.
I suppose that means we need to split it up into two parts.
I don't want that.
Why is that?

 I swipe my hand out and point at Nifonium.

'The carbon is quiet right now because the Nifonium is holding it back. But to stock up on extra ironclad bullets, we'll have to go back to Nifonium and take out the Poison Zombies.
...... No, no, we can get Nihonium to give us Poison Zombies now.
No.

 Celeste countered with a pause for a breath, and I took no time to argue with her.
 I'm already thinking about that.

'This isn't the place to be,'
......

 Apparently, Celeste noticed it too.
 The iron wall bullets are Poison Zombie's--a drop item from Hagremonos.

 The fact that it can be dropped from Hagremonos by Drop S is a secret among the companions to begin with.

 There may be people who are aware of it, but I still don't want to show it clearly.
 That's why we want to leave this place for a while to stock up on ironclad bullets.

"We're going to leave, which means we're going to close this portal, and I'd like to avoid that if I can. I don't want to change the situation when it's stable.

 I saw a simulation in my head of what would happen if the ironclad bullets disappeared.

 First, I'd go to an unpopulated area, and with the help of Nifornium, I'd refill the iron bullets and return here.
 That should easily open the entrance again, but if that doesn't work, I'll go back to the mansion as fast as I can and use the transporter gate to fly to the Carbon basement level.
 Worst-case scenario, you can't use the transporter.

 Considering that possibility, I still want to keep this entrance in its current state.

 That's overthinking it, though.

''Thank you! Thank you for the help!

 A young adventurer thanking me and leaving the carbon.
 Gratitude, and trust.
 I want to avoid the current state of affairs where those things are being sent to me and the uncertainty.

"Let's check out .......
What?
Watch.

 In any case, it's never going to be enough as it is.
 Then it's one set - or maybe two sets.
 Even if it's a waste of time, it's worth a try.

 With that in mind, I took out the vanadium bullets, loaded two ironclad bullets and then started shooting them with the gun.

 Double ironclad bullets in place of the disappearing ironclad bullets.
 Then.

'You're too late.'
Yeah, it's not moving at all.

 The W ironclad bullets were even slower than the ironclad bullets.
 When I looked closely at it, I had the illusion that it was moving, but when I looked closely at it, it was still so slow that it wasn't moving.

 The W ironclad bullets maintained the corner of one of the entrances.
 In the meantime, the other three were about to disappear, so I fired a normal ironclad bullet.

 I watched closely, and the regular ironclad bullets started to disappear again, so I added - but the W ironclad bullets didn't change.

 Two sets of regular ironclad bullets advanced the three horns slightly, but the W ironclad bullets didn't move at all, nor did they disappear.
 That made the entrance a bit distorted and trapezoidal-looking.

 One more set, one more set.

 Conveniently, four sets passed, but the W-wall bullets didn't disappear.

 The double ironclad bullets fused with vanadium bullets were much slower and lasted much longer than normal.
 This would work!

 I replaced the other three horns with W ironclad bullets as well.

 The entrances were stabilized.
 It had felt like a slap in the face to maintain it, but the W ironclad bullets stabilized it all at once.

'Is it going to work?'
Yeah.

 However, I can't get distracted.
 I concentrated until the end, staring at the entrance and the changes in the W iron wall bullets.
 I succeeded in rescuing all of the adventurers trapped in the carbon.