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Over the Infinite – Chapter 7 (7)

 

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Translator: mii

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As we talked, we passed through the rubble pile and fived into the gate that was already opened. When we went through the gate, I once again felt the hugeness of it, and I was deeply moved by the feeling that I killed a monster which was almost the same size as this door.

We walked down the long and dim straight road until we saw a light ahead. It was the light of the transfer gate that I had seen many times today. There was also no stairs that I had been worried about, confirming that there was no upper layers anymore. It was only the transfer gate.

Although this transfer gate had the same shape as the ones we saw in each layers so far, the size was bigger, probably because this was the goal.

「Now then, this is the end of our hard anr long trial. We accomplished such a unprecedented first day capture. We are the record holder of the shortest capture. Even if we can die, we don’t die at all.」

「Ohh, clap clap.」

We didn’t have any audience, so we clapped for ourself. However, it felt nice to say this again. We really managed to pass this dungeon well.

「Then, let’s go back to the ground and have some meal. We worked this hard today, so we should reward ourselves with something nice, don’t you think so?」

It should be already midnight, but convenience store should be open, right? This city was weird in a lot of sense, so there might be a 24 hour family restaurant somewhere.

「Sounds good. Let’s go to a place that is a little luxurious. …Tsuna is just watching me eat, though.」

……

「……Eh?」

「I won the bet, right? The boss was a Minotaur.」

「Well, that’s right, but… eh? I worked this hard already, so please overlook this one, okay?」

「A bet is a bet. It’s my win. My prediction is perfectly correct too.」

Certainly, he won decisively in our bet.

「Eh, you’re kidding… I’m already so hungry that I’m going to die…」

「Well then, let’s go back now.」

「W-wait a minute. Please wait a minute…」

No way, I really wanted him to excuse this one bet. This should be the scene where we celebrated our victory together, right?

「Ah, by the way.」

Yuki who took a step to dive through the gate stopped and looked back.

What was it? As I thought, would he reward me for my hard work after all? It didn’t have to be that expensive, really.

「This is really not important, but Minos and Minotaur were unrelated. In some games, Minos is some kind of race name for Minotaur, but Minos and Minos’s Bull have completely different origins.」

It was a really unimportant story.

「That thing is wearing a straw skirt[1. Straw skirt (腰ミノ/udemino). Tsuna is making a pun.] so that should be a pass, right?」

As I replied so, Yuki went to the gate while laughing, befuddling me from the main talk. Shouldn’t we dive together in this kind of situation?

Eh? Didn’t he wait for me so that we could go to the goal together?

－６－

When I dived to the gate, there was a large space, like a track and field stadium, spreading in front of my eyes. Yuki was standing in the middle of the square, waiting for me.

「Hey, why don’t we review the contents of our betting? Today is a happy day too. Ah, I can also prostrate to you.」

It’s easy to make me kneel down, you know.

「Tsuna…」

「W-what? It’s also your win in the bet itself, so…」

「No, not that. …This is somewhat strange.」

「What’s weird? …Ah, you’re right.」

When I looked around, everything was strange. Why was the exit looked like the Colosseum in Rome?

Even a large numbers of students didn’t this this much of a large space. What they would do next was just going home anyway.

What’s more, the sky was neither blue sky, evening twilight, or darkness night. It was a unpleasantly red sky.

「Hey, maybe the trial isn’t over yet.」

This was not outside. We were still in the dungeon.

「Give me a break already… Shh, someone is coming.」

Looking at the direction Yuki was facing, the door opened, just like when the Minotaur came out. Someone was certainly walking to us.

As that person came closer, their appearance was very family.

「Hey, hey. I didn’t think that you guys will really clear this dungeon in the first try, nya.」

Applause came from our companion, cat-eared Chitta-san. This was our reunion after a few hours passed.

Ah, did we have to meet up with our companion first before returning back? That means, this was a relay point. Don’t surprise me, seriously. The gap between the level of difficulty between each boss fight was fierce, so I was honestly scared.

「Both of you are really amazing. Unbelievable, nya. When I saw the system message just now, I was very impressed.」

「We almost died several times, though.」

In fact, I was already like a zombie at the end, to the point that I didn’t understand why I could still move. My wounds were healed thanks to the potion, but my clothes didn’t retain any of its original appearance. Huh? I just realized this now, but wasn’t vanguard usually fight with armor or something like that? Why did I fight with clothes alone?

「Still, nya. I think you should’ve known this after fighting with that boss, but that’s not something that two people can usually beat, nya. I’ll tell you this because it’s already over, but the first battle for the rookies is fighting against the enhanced version of the Minotaur, nya.」

「Eh!?」

What did she say? So actually, everyone cleared this dungeon after fighting with the slightly weaker one? No, I wouldn’t say that our fight was a waste. Definitely.

「After the second time, the Minotaur that is tailored for the rookies will appear and fight against the adventurers. Still, you need to bring six people as a standard, assuming that the party has been challenging the boss several times and did a thorough preparation, nya. This incident will most likely make a severe earthquake in this industry, nya. To be honest, my shock already reached the level of great earthquake, nya.」

What’s that? So basically, we were raising the difficulty on our own?

「Ehh… While we’re fighting, I thought that all of the adventurers are great since they have to fight that monster so that they can finally debut.」

「…Well, just like I said on the fourth layer, when you reached the intermediate level, you can probably afford to solo the enhanced Minotaur. It’s also not impossible for an experienced lower level, nya. So there’s not much difference in your recognition there, nya.」

That’s amazing. Even the lower level that was in the upper ranks could solo that thing, huh?

Then, our rating was a “great rookie” at best. It was like something that appeared once in a decide, and would get buried in the professional industry.

「Then, what is this play? Chitta-san said that you’ll go home, right? Did you watch us?」

「Play?」

I didn’t know if Yuki was not aware or he was pretending to be unaware, but he should’ve felt that Chitta-san was being pretty evasive from the beginning.

「No, I went straight from the fourth level transfer gate to hete. This is… that’s right, nya… how should I say this, nya. Actually, I also knew this thing just now, but there’s a hidden event, nya. 」

「Hidden event?」

…Probably, clearing the dungeon in the first try was the trigger. So this was an event that had been set yet no one had triggered it yet before us?

「I think this happened for the first time, nya. The conditions are no death and first try clear. You fulfilled by the challenges, nya.」

「What? So did we get some kind of bonus?」

Oh no. My old (light) gamer’s intuition was telling me the right answer. I didn’t want to hear Chitta-san’s answer.

「I also feel reluctant, nya… This is awkward, but do both of you know the talent that adventurers need the most, nya?」

「Why are you asking that so suddenly? …Strength? But it’s also important to be able to deal with traps and respond to emergencies. Also, we have to be confident in ourselves and have big goals.」

Yuki’s answers were quite correct. But that was definitely not what she was asking for.

「Well, those are also important, nya. …How about Tsuna?」

「Strong mentality.」

「Ah, Tsuna seems to have acquired it, eh.」

「Nn, well, there must be a lot more correct answers to this question nya, but if we’re talking about the general answer among the adventurers, Tsuna has the correct answer, nya.」

Ugh, no way. Why was my alarm bell pounding this much? Please just end this already.

「So it’s strong mentality, huh?」

「Yes, nya. Some adventurers like me might look carefree, but in fact, adventurer is a harsh occupation. As an exchange of gaining big rewards, fame, and strength, there are a lot of difficulties such as physical pain and mental system, even if there is a system where we can revive, nya. It’s different from what the general society referred as stress, but more like a direct burden, nya.」

「Is that so… This is not a game, so it would hurt if we’re slashed with a sword.」

「But, there is actually a stronger mental burden that every adventurer must overcome, nya.」

「……」

「Well… looking at Tsuna’s face, it seems like you already know what I’m going to say, nya.」

Chitta-san turned towards me.

「Ahh, yeah, right… It’s dying, right?」

I knew what she wanted to say, and I could anticipate the hidden event that would happen after this.

「Bingo, nya. Really, you’re smart, nya… That’s right, it’s dying, nya. Reviving from death is like a ritual that you must go through if you’re an adventurer, nya. Both of you haven’t died yet so you don’t know, but it’s tough, nya. It’s unbearable, nya. …Your heart would broke, nya. Only those who experienced the terrible pain of dying like having our souls directly touched and could still stand up could be an adventurer, nya.」

「So? Are you saying that we who are not dead yet are still half a man?」

「Err… eh, what happened here?」

Well, of course it would be confusing for him to immediately face this after passing such a hard test. We challenged the unreachable condition that no one had ever cleared, and we were treated as half a man after clearing it after struggling to death.

「Well nya, the meaning of this hidden event is…」

「…「Die for once.」, yeah!? Damn you!」

From Chitta-san’s and my speech, only that words overlapped wonderfully.

「Eh… ehh?」

「…I’m sorry, nya. I also feel bad doing this, nya. Not to say, I’m the senior companion who guided the rookies… this is like a bad jokes, nya.」

Even if she was praising us earlier, the awkward atmosphere was because of this.

「Tsuna, I feel like I’m having a misunderstanding here, so I want to ask you this.」

「…Sure.」

「Maybe the trial isn’t over yet?」

「No, the trial is over, nya. It’s different for both of you since you are the record-breaker and unprecedented record holder, but you don’t have to capture the trial dungeon anymore, nya.」

In other words, that’s the only purpose. …This was the worst. It’s no longer the level of having a bad hobby.

「That means…」

「That means, “You cleared the trial. Congratulations on your debut. But you’re not dead yet. To be a full-fledged adventurer, you need to die once, you know.” …But then, the cat ears in front of our eyes will become our grim reaper.」

「…You’re joking…」

Yuki became so pale that I could see how he didn’t want to admit it even after knowing that truth.

「Just like Tsuna said, I am the hidden boss. It’s like the lizardman in the fourth layer, but I don’t have my abilities restricted. …Now then, I don’t feel good doing this, or rather, this is the worst. I want to vomit. But since I can’t do anything about this, I’ll finish this right away.」

[Trial Dungeon Hidden Stage – START]

The system message that I didn’t want to see appeared, and the worst bonus started.

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