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Volume 3 Chapter 15.1

Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes

「We’re here～」

「Oho, thank you.」

　As Barold and the other enemies were writhing in agony on account of Haruna’s Heart Sutra Gospel (recording), Hiroshi’s group had reached The Sweltering Tower with the help of the octogals.

「Alright, I shall go off just a bit to fulfill my duty as your pass.」

「We’re counting on you.」

　Glancing at the soldiers’ cautious demeanor from the group’s sudden appearance, the queen decided to quickly finish what she had to do. Thinking clearly about the current situation, even if all the members were to become Class 5 or above, without the queen, it was unlikely that the guards would let them in so easily.

「Better feed these fellas while Her Highness talks to those peeps.」

「You’re right.」

　The octogals raised their heads up from the ground in expectation, and Hiroshi’s group entertained them with rockworm burgers as promised. Before they knew it, there were about a hundred octogals gathering around, but as long as they each got one burger then there would be plenty to go around.

「How tasty～」

「How grateful～」

「Three stars～、Pass～」

　The octogals, as per usual, conveyed the taste with their bodies.

「Takoyaki, yer turn comes after the tower. S’that fine?」

「Good luck～」

「Tiem-chan, we’re waiting～」

「Elle-chan, we’re playing～」

「We’re disposing of the body～」

「What body are ya disposin’ of……」

「Barold～？」

　The octogal answered without hesitation. Hiroshi didn’t think there even was a body to dispose of, but he decided to say nothing.

「Kay Yer Highness, can we git in now?？」

「Hold on a moment. Apparently you cannot enter the tower right now, regardless of if you have a pass.」

　She motioned for Hiroshi to remain where he was as she looked for an explanation from the soldiers.

「You see, The Sweltering Tower has a phenomenon where it rearranges itself. Every floor besides the top floor periodically changes structure. This morning happened to be one of the times that the rearranging occurred. At this time, the entrance to the tower is closed and we can’t open it from the outside.」

「If the door is the only problem then ya don’t gotta worry.」

「Do you intend to break through that door, Craftsman?」

「Nah, nah, I was never considerin’ that as an option.」

　He said as he took something out of his bag, beckoning Mio.

「This area’s ‘bout to turn into an isolated dimension. Do ya detect anything inside?」

「All clear.」

「Any people inside？」

「Not until the 3rd floor.」

「Actually, there shouldn’t be anyone in there anyway, because they knew you all would be starting today.」

「Alrighty.」

　Nodding at Mio and the soldiers, he began messing with the tower’s outer wall with tool in hand.

「Uhh, Hiroshi-kun. What exactly are you doing?」

「Well ya see, this here tower wall is made of bricks.」

　Answering Haruna’s query, Hiroshi took out one brick with excellent hand technique. It only took him three seconds.

「Hiroshi-kun, I know you like gathering resources, but now’s probably not the best time……」

「Well sure ye could use ‘em for many things, but that ain’t the main objective right now.」

　Responding to Haruna’s criticism without batting an eye, Hiroshi took out bricks in a way that was incomprehensible for beginners. After about three minutes of going around the perimeter, he broke off brick pieces around it like an apple. Afterward, he attacked several areas with pliers in order to create crevices.

「Never had a chance to do it in the game cuz there were a buncha peeps……」

　After checking the moth-eaten formation and nodding, he took out the heavy mace as he explained something to Haruna. Examining the tower one more time, he pinpointed all the areas to aim at and then swung at his prey with a wide swing.

「Giddyup！！」

　Striking each point with unbelievable accuracy for a heavy weapon, he knocked them away with a full-powered smash. The next moment……

「Eh？」

「Oh my……」

「Wait, hold on!!」

　With an incredible vibration and roar, the first floor of the tower had completely collapsed, leading to both the second and third floors breaking apart from the impact.

「Mio, just in case, how far until we start hittin’ people？」

「No issues until the ninth floor. But there are a bunch of monsters.」

「Kay, I’ll break all the other floors off.」

　Hiroshi and Mio had proceeded to break down the tower like wooden blocks while slightly trying to make sure that nothing fell on top of those standing around the tower. Haruna was the first of all the bewildered spectators to ask the question they all had in their minds.

「Umm, Hiroshi-kun, Mio-chan……」

「Hm？」

「What, Haru?」

「This tower is a dungeon, right? Are you actually trying to break it down?」

「It wouldn’t normally be possible. Carpentry, engineerin’ both gotta be above intermediate, and then maybe depending on yer AP ye can do it.」

「Although with my AP, even if I knew what to extract from which area, I wouldn’t be able to crush anything.」

　They continued their work while answering Haruna’s question, pulverizing another three floors. Carpenting and engineering were both integral parts of dismantling and wrecking buildings.

「Now we have twelve floors down.」

「I’ve detected Elle’s group. As expected, they’re at the top.」

「Kay, only two more to go. Gotta be more careful than earlier.」

　Hiroshi proceeded with the bricks once again as he said this, although it was rather questionable if he had even tried to be careful in the first place. This was already a superhuman feat, but now he was thinking of going faster? This was truly no joke. As Mio sung some sort of company song for demolition workers, although not as adept as Hiroshi she did more than a good job at extracting the bricks.

「Let’s-a-go！」

　Hiroshi hit the wall with the mace, making sure that the remaining two floors were completely demolished. With the songs from the top floor, the monsters on every floor were being both crushed and purified alongside the tower.

「We’ve come to the rescue, y’all！」

　Peeking through the window unique to the top floor, Hiroshi called out to Aearis and the others.

「Thank you for coming, Hiroshi-sama.」

「Ya seem pretty calm for the situation yer in.」

「The octogals sought out help, or so they said. So I figured it wouldn’t take long.」

　Aearis stood up with a calm smile on her face.

「Thanks for doing this for me, everyone. I truly apologize for worrying you such.」

「Elle-chan, you made it okay！？」

「Yes. The recorder that Hiroshi-sama gave me, and the song recorded in there from Haruna-sama’s singing. It was thanks to both of you.」

「So you used it in the same way, huh……」

　Haruna had braced herself for the worst when she heard the song, but still felt dejected knowing that her songs were still being used as offensive weapons.

「Chit-chat can wait. Let’s take down Barold first！」

「Yup. Also, how ‘bout we beat up the boss on the top floor to ensure they don’t do nothin’ later.」

　Lending a hand to Aearis’s group and pulling them outside, Hiroshi decided the next plan of action. Since they couldn’t ignore Barold’s presence, it was best to take down their opponent while they were still weak.

「Alright, imma head over there. Yer Highness, Old Man, please take good care of the priestess and company.」

「Of course we shall.」

「That’s my duty, lad. Leave it to me.」

　Helping everyone evacuate to a safe area, Hiroshi left everything else to the queen and Douga before going in. Barold was still writhing on the floor.

「You bastards……、is it so fun making a fool out of me……！」

「Nah, it ain’t like we tryna make a fool of ya.」

　As the Heart Sutra Ballad played, the two Barolds got back up to their feet with pure willpower and guts, glaring at Hiroshi. His pride would not allow him to be thoroughly mocked like this.

「You’ve made us very angry！」

「You will die regretting having made fools out of us！！」

「Wait, we ain’t never made fools outta ya, mate.」

　Hiroshi commented in a rather composed manner despite the fact that Barold had immediately begun changing into his third, life-draining form. This time around, it had mainly been Aearis who was making a fool out of Barold in a misguided attempt at protection. It was unlikely that she had meant to treat him like a toy.

　Although it didn’t seem likely that Barold would have the capacity to listen to what they had to say.

「We shall not give you fiends the opportunity to prepare！」

「Full power from the outset！」

　The two Barolds were oddly desperate for how overpowered they were. They forced the top floor boss, Evil Ifrit, out to the front as a decoy to stall for time before charging up Armageddon and Implosion. Both spells were definitely not to be made light of.