Chapter 94: Are you trying to surpass Marie?
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Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Ryunakama”
Day 37 – Nighttime, The White Weirdo Inn
「「「It was delicious!」」」
「……It was, but he got away…」
Yes, to prevent him from escaping we took an encircling position in the dining hall to make sure that this time he certainly won’t get away and we will be able to properly tell him off. But the formation was easily destroyed.
By the first rice and onigiri in a month.
Everyone was crying.
It was so delicious, so nostalgic. Until just one month ago we were eating it every day, but by now we completely gave up on ever eating rice again. But he found it.
It seems that Haruka-kun once again made a killing without our notice, and using this money loaned funds and goods to the local general store and the weapon store, in turn raking easy money from the whole town, no, the whole country. Here we thought that the town looks more lively than before, and turns out, he began economic domination here. One cannot relax even for a moment with him. And today we understood one of the reasons for that. It was for the sake of rice. He made it into onigiri to feed everyone and brought it to us. We would’ve gladly helped if he only told us, but since he wanted to surprise everyone he worked all alone to make enough portions for 30 people.
And like that, we can’t get angry at him anymore, as always. We always end up smiling.
In reality, if Haruka-kun didn’t climb up, we all would’ve been dead. This is a fact. That was completely our own miscalculation.
By all rights Haruka-kun should’ve been waiting on the lower floors. After all, he was only Lv12. He is weak. Even he himself is constantly saying 『I’m dead if I get hit even once』, even though he is the last person who should be fighting. even though he is the one risking the most, and furthermore, he was all alone.
That’s why we had to go to his rescue. That’s why he absolutely should’ve waited. That’s why we had to press on to reunite with him as soon as possible.
And yet, he climbed up on his own…… Even though it’s dangerous. Even though he is the one in the biggest danger. He says that he was completely fine, but that is certainly a total lie.
He surely was doing something dangerous. He definitely came close to dying a dozen, a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand times.
The biggest proof of that is that he once again became stronger.
Lv 17. He got 5 more levels. For Haruka-kun, who hunted monsters in the forest with such energy that it seemed like he might bring their complete extinction, and yet got to only level 12 despite that. For him to get 5 levels in just a week, he must’ve been in an extremely dangerous place. Not staying put at all, waiting for no help, simply acting without much hesitation as always, he climbed all the way up…
Back then, on the 56th floor, though everyone was in tatters and barely holding onto consciousness, we still saw all of it.
How he dived into that sea of mummies and blocked their way like a mighty wall, denied them from getting even one step closer to us. We saw his back as he slashed, cut, and cleaved them, allowing none to approach.
That had nothing to do with skills or leveling up. That must’ve been the strength that he obtained after endlessly repeating something extremely and outrageously dangerous.
Because there is no way one can get that strong without getting through a hundred of millions of gruesome threats!
So he most certainly was doing something dangerous.
That’s why today, I wanted to have a proper talk. But then, onigiri happened. We couldn’t help but feel happy and laugh. Everyone was the same, unable to hold back the smiles due to overflowing happiness.
Even though Haruka-kun shouldn’t expose himself to danger, we once again got protected by him, made so happy that we couldn’t help but laugh, once again, we are only receiving, giving nothing back.
「Oh my, I thought I’d lecture him while eating an onigiri, but to think he would then say『If they have no onigiri, let them eat grilled onigiri?』, even that Marie couldn’t have imagined that! Even if I could withstand a normal onigiri, a grilled onigiri is too much!!」
「「「「Pulling out soy sauce there was an illegal move!!」」」」
Yes, everyone felt so blessed that they couldn’t bring themselves to scold Haruka. The sight of him giving away onigiri completely disarmed us.
But the danger is still there. Though his strength was overwhelming enough to make one forget about it, there is a despairing gap in stats. Although he kept going through such dangers, his HP is still barely over 300, while ViT is not even that. With those stats, it wouldn’t be strange if he died to some random monster of level 10 or so. A proper exchange of blows could easily lead to his death.
That’s why he turned to speed and magic for his specialization. Since he can’t take a hit he has to avoid all attacks, because taking one would mean death. And due to that specialization, he is getting even less capable of taking hits, remaining just as frail as he was before. We mustn’t let him fight, and we also mustn’t let him near any danger.
His strength is way too irregular. That’s how Oda-kun and others spoke of it. He has an unreliable, half-baked strength, so he would rush to our rescue, but he is the one who is the most fragile. That strength doesn’t come from skills or stats, it’s Haruka-kun’s own strength. Since he lacks power, what he is doing right now is just a somewhat improved version of his old attacks, a combination of speed and skills. So in reality he is just as weak as before.
「If we were to compare it to traveling, then Haruka-kun is a fast runner, and he is getting even faster. But everyone around… It can be said that in this world if you raise your level, your speed, your entire approach, can change as much as switching to a bike, or a car, or even a plane. And yet Haruka-kun keeps running on his own two feet. Since he can’t ride anything, he just keeps improving his legs… Basically.」
Oda-kun said with a vexed look. That’s why his strength is irregular, unreliable.
It is merely for this moment, while everyone is still not used to handling their cars, bikes, or planes, he seems so fast, overtaking everyone. But he can’t keep doing this forever. Eventually, when this won’t work, it will lead to his death! Such a forced rush cannot be okay. It is surely dangerous. Even though he shouldn’t even be fighting.
「But with Dungeon Emperor-san he might be okay? They were super strong?!」
「「「That was amazing! And they are only level 10 at that?!」」」
Although I’m not sure if I approve of his use of taming, this made things a lot safer for him. He got himself the strongest bodyguard. They are Dungeon Emperor after all.
But they can’t protect him all on their own. They are physically incapable of prolonged fights, so they are not suited for protecting someone. They both don’t have the power to take a hit. So in the end it is just two glass cannons instead of one.
「But it seems Haruka-kun got a lot of cheat items?」「His items look the same, and they might not look impressive since it’s just a villager set, but I heard that he fused tons of powerful items from the lowest floors with it, getting loads of special powers?」「I’m telling you, he is a lot safer than before, rather, his danger for the surroundings rose!」「The magic that he used on the 56th floor is not something that he should be able to use on his own!」「Normally, 200MP would be nowhere near enough to even activate such a spell. At the very least, his killing power rose again.」
He became stronger, once again. With his strength still twisted and irregular, it is his destructive power that simply keeps growing.
Even though that is one of the dangers to him.
Still as frail as before, he gets more power. Even though he doesn’t have the capacity to withstand that.
Even though using such power at such a low level will surely ruin his body?
Even though I’m telling him to stop doing dangerous things… He still always comes to our rescue.
Even though I’m telling him that it is dangerous… He probably will still do it again.
And for that he will keep risking, trying to get even stronger. I’m sure of it.
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I mean, he needs to constantly fight (more or less) solo anyway in order to benefit since level sharing would make his gains borderline nil even if he did most of the work. Not being able to form a party [Loner] is actually working in his favor. It’s the other overprotective kids that basically prevented him from being level 18-20 by now.