CH 47

Chapter 47.

"Kusatsu-san!

"I know, it's here!!!!"

At Rikka's call, Kusatsu jumped forward a few steps. With the momentum of his jump, he repelled the diving mouse's thrusting attack with the buckler, bouncing it off his body.

The diving mouse was blown several meters backward as his body was lifted into the air by a violent tackle.

Kusatsu's rugby-trained tackles were splendid, and even with the power of an ordinary person, he had enough ability to break the posture of a fifth-grade monster. As expected, he is a sportsman once selected for the national team.

Behind Kusatsu, Rikka jumps out vigorously with her spear in her hand.

"Hey!"

The sharp edge of the spear pierced its neck.

As it is, she swings her spear horizontally to cut the nerves that are the monster's lifeline.

The diving mouse was the last of the attackers, and before it could speak, it rolled to the ground and fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"Woahh"

By the fourth time they encountered the monsters, Rikka's nervousness about the monster had already dissolved.

Once the tension was gone, Rikka began to show awe-inspiring spear-handling skills.

She had studied spearmanship at a dojo until high school, and glimpses of this are beginning to show.

Mainly, these two were supposed to face the monster while tag-teaming together.

And one other person did not need to join the tag team.

He is the second youngest in this group, Mizue Katsunari.

"Mizue-kun! Right diagonally back!"

"I know, Amagi!!!"

Hearing the voice from Tenji in the vanguard, Mizue swung his sword out to the right rear, relying only on his presence.

The sword was so brilliant that one could admire it, and it sliced the body of a diving mouse that ambushed him from a blind spot in half.

In this way, they completed their fifth encounter.

After their fifth encounter, they became more coordinated and grew in their ability to fight in the way they wanted.

Chariot had spent two months selecting them; they were all genuinely talented people. Tenji was beginning to feel inferior to them as he realized this. He was chosen because of his friend Rui.

The first to rush to the front was Mizue, who quickly took down the monsters with his body language and swordsmanship. Mizue's role was to reduce the number of monsters while maintaining a target on them. He was indeed a lion in the fight.

The two at the back deal with the monsters that have been dodging Mizue's attacks.

Kusatsu tackles them with his shield, and Rikka stabs them from behind with her spear.

This was the most efficient way to work together to finish the monsters.

However, no one realized they were placing a tremendous burden on Mizue alone, as he is far the most physically and muscularly capable in the rear.

No, Mizue's eagerness to be accepted was so much a matter of preoccupation that he was trying to keep a nonchalant expression on his face so that others would not find out about it.

Fukuyama was aware of this fact.

But he knew and did not dare to say anything about it. On the contrary, he began to spin his words as if in a hurry.

"I like it! Let's keep going like this."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Okay"

Fukuyama's encouragement makes the three of them feel better, and they quicken their pace even more as they continue onward.

Seeing this, Fukuyama smiled wryly to himself.

[Something about this guy creeps me out. ......]

Tenji, who had been watching Fukuyama next to him for a long time, had this impression.

Occasionally, he would give Tenji a creepy smile. It was inevitable that he would feel that way since he had been watching him for so long.

"Oh."

At that moment, Rikka raised her bare voice and immediately covered her mouth with both hands. She was shocked-surprised.

There was a massive door in front of her.

The door, a light purple iron engraved with a strange formation, was the sign of the first boss area. It was tall enough to look up at and was shaped like an arch. In the center of the door was embedded a single gleaming jewel.

Everyone here observes that boss door as they look up.

"Looks like we're finally in the first boss area. Are you guys ready?"

"Yes, anytime you're ready!"

"I'm fine too!"

Kusatsu and Rikka immediately reacted to Mizue's call.

It had already been about 50 minutes since they entered the sub-dungeon, and the three were breathing a little unevenly. Nevertheless, Mizue seemed to want to continue to challenge the boss.

Mere civilians have exhausted their nerves to watch for monsters endlessly for thirty minutes without a break, and they have fought five battles in that time. The monsters they have defeated already number sixteen.

Mizue became blind and ignorant of his surroundings, and Tenji felt a crisis.

"Shall we go then?"

They felt reassured by Mizue's imposing words and followed him without denial.

That's how he reached the front door, and Mizue stuck his hand into the groove in the door's handprint.

"Wow, I've never seen it live before."

"I also saw it for the first time. ...... This is the boss area of the dungeon, isn't it? It's totally different from what I saw in videos."

The door was pushed open, and the first boss area was spread out behind it.

It seemed to be a circular room, with gorgeous blue and gold decorations on the walls, floor, and ceiling. The room felt a little dazzling, but strangely enough, it was not so spectacular that you had to cover your eyes with your hands.

It was unclear where the light was coming from, but the room was slightly bright.

An old golden throne was set up at the far end of the room, just opposite the entrance where they are.

There was still no sign of the boss.

And that's when Fukuyama slowly walked up right behind them and opened his mouth for a long time.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work. I'm going to fight here, so you guys just watch."

"What?"

Mizue's voice, startled by the suddenness of the situation, echoes through the room.

However, everyone was convinced after hearing Fukuyama's next words.

"Unfortunately, you guys can't beat this boss yet. So, I'll fight him. You guys can watch my heroic figure there. Yes, rest, rest, rest!"

Clapping his hands twice, Fukuyama stepped forward alone with a soft smile on his face.

His arms were fitted with what looked like stinging gloves. It was decorated in emerald colors and looked more like a boxing glove weapon than a piece of armor.

The five fingers were adorned with dazzling jewels, and one could tell at a glance that it was a costly weapon. At the very least, it was a first-grade weapon.

There was no such thing as armor in this world.

This means it's not armor but a weapon in its own right.

[Will we get to see Fukuyama-san, the deputy shield captain of the Chariot A team, fight? What kind of fighter in the world is he? ......]

Tenji entered the door with him and tried to look closely at Fukuyama's battle. His eyes reflected genuine interest.

The other three did the same, going through the door and stopping just outside to watch Fukuyama's battle with serious eyes.

Fukuyama suddenly noticed their behavior, turned his head back only to look at them, and said with a new smile, "Study up."

When Fukuyama reached the boss area's center, this sub-dungeon's boss began to form.

At the edge of the circular area, on the throne just opposite the door, black cross-like objects began to gather and gradually formed the shape of a boss.

Within three seconds, that little cluster of crosses had turned into a boss.

"guffaw......"

It was a gigantic mouse-shaped monster with a length of over 5 meters, commonly known as "Gufu."

Its gray hair was as sharp as a needle, making it an opponent no ordinary human could compete with. Chariot probably got this information and decided it was impossible for the participants.

Indeed, Gufu was too heavy an opponent for the average civilian.

"That's a gufu. ...... We're no match for that thing."

"Yes, that's right. I hear that Gufu can only be defeated by an explorer with a calling."

"Oh, ah ...... right. If we had just gone in there like that, we would have been destroyed."

Rikka, Kusatsu, and Mizue expressed such thoughts when they saw Gufu's disastrous appearance.

For Tenji, it was a familiar boss monster, so it wasn't Something he bothered to comment on, but for them to see the boss for the first time with their own eyes was a tremendous shock.

The average person rarely gets to see the monster with their own eyes.

Ordinary students like them have no other means but to learn independently by reading books and watching videos.

Fukuyama starts giving a lecture to these four people without looking at them at all.

"Do all four of you know Gufu? I'm going to give you a lecture on how to defeat Gufu directly from here. Well, I don't plan to do that for the test, but it's my whim!"

Fukuyama said this aloud and approached Gufu's bosom in a blink of an eye.

He rushed out so fast that not even an afterimage remained, and they, who had seen him, hurriedly began to search for Fukuyama's figure.

"Fasttt!!!!"

"Wow."

"This is ...... Chariot's Mr. Fukuyama."

Fukuyama, who ran out so fast that the average person's eyes could not bear it, found himself standing in the bosom of Gufu with a look of composure.

He then raised his right hand above his head and index finger. It seemed to represent the number "1".

"One, when Gufu is in his bosom, he will either rush forward or swing his tail around."

True to his word, Gufu curled his body into a small circle and rotated his body in a circular motion, swinging his steel hardtail toward Fukuyama.

While carefully observing its tail, Fukuyama took a large diagonal backstep backward.

"In this case, jump back diagonally, not directly behind. If you jump back, you will be attacked by the aftermath of a ground crack like this."

Fukuyama was right, and as his tail swung down to the ground, the ground around him caved in significantly, and he could see the cracks in the ground moving straight ahead.

Not a speck of dust attacked Fukuyama, who dodged diagonally backward.

"It's amazing, but... We can't make that move."

"Well, I'm a Chariot Explorer."

Kusatsu and Rikka could do nothing but grin at Fukuyama, who was able to perform a maneuver that no ordinary person could imitate with such ease. Tenji and Mizue followed Fukuyama's backside with their eyes as if they were staring into his eyes.

"Now, can you show me a thrusting attack?"

Fukuyama said and went into Gufu's bosom again.

"Ah, here we come! When Gufu charges in, his needle-like hair stands on end for just a moment. If you see this, it's a charge attack... Well, you can't dodge it normally, right?"

"What?"

Rikka's bare voice reverberated through the boss's room.

"This boss has a large body area, and a fourth-grade or lower explorer would never be able to avoid it. Well, I can lose it, but let me give you a lecture on how to avoid it if you are a fourth-grade explorer or below."

At that moment, Something disastrous fell between Gufu and Fukuyama.