Chapter 37
After that, while chatting with Grandpa and completing each Daily Mission as it updated, we waited for the crater to cool down.
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★Daily Mission★
Let's keep up the steady effort every day!
'Daily Workout: Push-ups Part 2'
Push-ups 1,000/1,000
★Today's Daily Mission Complete!★
Reward: Wisdom of the Ancients B (50,000 EXP)
Skill Nutrient B (50,000 Skill EXP)
Skill Nutrient C (10,000 Skill EXP)
Consecutive days: Day 60
Steady Rank: Platinum Multiplier 10.0x
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Thank you, everyone.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
And thank you again.
At last, I, Akagi Hideo, am officially a Platinum member.
A 10.0x experience multiplier, they say.
That's broken. Insane. I love it.
I feel like I'm about to cry.
"It's finally not hot anymore."
I slid down into the crater and reached out toward the thing I could only confirm from above.
The item name is 'Calamity Mollusk,' huh?
Another ominous name... If the Foundation finds this, they'll definitely make a fuss...
Just like Shimaenaga-san, it's a living-type anomalous substance.
Black... I mean, what is this... a slug?
It's a slug about 30 cm long.
Honestly, it's kinda gross, but it's an anomalous substance that showed up after beating the boss, so I've gotta take it.
Well then, excuse me for a moment—heave-ho, let's lift you up.
Ah, warmer than I expected. Kinda cute, even.
What do you call this?
Is it what they call gross-cute?
Not as slimy as it looks.
Actually, the surface is pretty smooth.
Its mouth is full of sharp teeth.
A little scary, maybe.
Looks kinda like Gigi Nebra.
But its antennae are twitching, and yeah, overall, I'd say it falls under the cute category.
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'Calamity Mollusk'
An evil bug that once destroyed the world.
The Calamity Mollusk drifts freely and aimlessly.
Black Swamp◼️monster◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️
◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️ripped◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️
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Oh?
This is different from before.
Can't really tell what the effect is.
Garbled text? Is this garbled?
"Chii chii chii"
"Gii"
Oh my, getting along already.
Hey—Shimaenaga-san! Don't peck it!
It's not food! Stop that!
"You really don't let your guard down."
"Chii......"
"Please reflect on your actions, Shimaenaga-san."
"Chii"
"Gii"
Hmm.
So this little one says 'Gii.'
Gross-cute, isn't it?
Let's name it Gii-san.
"Oh, a slug, huh?"
"Ah, Grandpa. Look, this came out after we beat the boss."
"So it appears when you defeat a boss."
"Hard to say. I don't think every boss drops a slug though..."
Does everyone get one, maybe?
"Oh, this! This is it. This is what shot me."
Grandpa picked up the revolver that had fallen nearby.
"Haven't seen a revolver in ages."
Grandpa pointed the barrel in a completely wrong direction.
Then quickly lowered it and said, "This is dangerous, I'll hold onto it."
"Hm. This...? Some kind of wreckage?"
"Ah—probably my smartphone..."
It was completely wrecked beyond recognition.
I'll have to buy a new one.
Alright, I think we've collected everything we needed.
Now we just have to figure out what to do with the ridiculously huge crystal the boss dropped.
It's black and murky, but it's definitely a crystal-like formation. It'll probably fetch a lot of money.
"Let's see now. Heave-ho. Whoa, it's pretty heavy."
"Are you okay, Grandpa?"
"I'm fine."
Grandpa and I returned to the room in front of the dome, where the villains we'd tied up with rope were.
"D-Don't tell me... you defeated the avatar of the evil god...?"
"N-No way... This shouldn't be possible..."
"To defeat a raid boss alone... Just how far beyond the norm are you...?"
They're babbling nonsense.
"You lot are getting handed over to the Dungeon Foundation. Better prepare yourselves."
"We'd rather die than be captured by the Foundation!"
"We'll blow up the entire dungeon with us!"
"Gii"
I figured I'd just snap my fingers and put them to sleep for a bit.
But then, Gii-san, who I was holding, slithered down my arm and onto my outstretched palm.
"Gii!"
With an eerie cry, the space around Gii-san warped, and black tentacles burst out with terrifying speed.
The tentacles smacked the cultists with a loud slap, and as if their job was done, they vanished back into the warped space.
The cultists stood there, eyes rolled back.
They didn't seem sane anymore.
"Hey! What are you all doing?! Enough—if it's come to this, I'll just take you all down with me..."
"No, we must show them reverence."
"Reverence... we must show it. To our god."
Those struck by Gii-san's tentacles began strangling their fellow cultists.
"So that's Gii-san's first skill... Could it be that whoever gets smacked by those slimy things gets brainwashed?"
"Gii♪"
Unlike Shimaenaga-san, this is clearly an offensive-type skill.
It already totally qualifies as a Calamity.
I feel like I really need to manage its growth rate properly, or things could get out of hand.
"Gii-san, let's make an agreement now about how we'll distribute the experience."
"Gii"
"It'll be 5:3:2 for me, Shimaenaga-san, and Gii-san. Sound good?"
"Gii......"
"Chii......"
"......4:4:2."
"Chii~"
"Gii......"
So Gii-san's the type who also loves leveling up...
"......How about 3:4:3?"
"Gii......"
"See, Shimaenaga-san is your senior, right?"
"Gii"
Looks like Gii-san's finally agreed.
Gii-san's getting a smaller share than Shimaenaga-san, but I have to make the cut somewhere—or they'll start demanding something like 2:4:4.
Still, my kids sure are ambitious.
I'm proud of them... I really am. Whew.
Grandfather and I rounded up the villains and started heading back the way we came.
And yes, the Daily Missions kept ambushing us mercilessly on the way home too.
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——Shurado's Perspective
Two months had nearly passed since Akagi Hideo and his grandfather went missing.
At the start of the new year, they left behind a cryptic message and vanished, briefly stirring up the public with news of their disappearance.
Two months.
Generally speaking, if someone's been missing that long, people assume all hope is lost.
Shurado had returned to Akagi's grandparents' house, which she had already investigated several times.
This was her third visit.
"I'm sure that in that moment, Akagi-san found the dungeon."
Shurado lowered her gaze to her phone screen and murmured as she stared at the message from two months ago.
Along with two Foundation staff and three agents, they got permission from Akagi Hideo's grandmother to investigate the backyard.
It was a place they had already searched many times before.
A barren yard with not a single building.
The only thing there was a plum tree budding in preparation for spring.
"Still, I doubt we'll find anything."
One of the agents muttered.
Shurado put her finger to her lips and gestured for silence.
She thought she heard something.
——Korororo......
Shurado didn't miss it.
"Above...?"
She looked up at the sky.
Nothing was there.
But with her heightened awareness, Shurado could sense that something was lurking there.
She borrowed a handgun from an agent and calmly fired at the presence. Two shots rang out in the early spring sky.
Sparks flew—and at the same time, blue blood spilled from the empty air.
"I-Is something there!?"
"Eeeek!?"
The non-combat staff clutched their heads and screamed. Their minds were starting to shake.
It was a direct mental assault a bit too intense for the average person.
"A being beyond human perception."
"It's a type of anomaly that's invisible to us."
"You all need to evacuate and request backup immediately. Go!"
The agents drew their guns and aimed at the empty sky.
They couldn't see anything.
But they were used to dealing with anomalies on the job, so they didn't flinch.
With a rumbling sound, the invisible thing revealed itself.
Shurado was the only one who could actually see it.
Its appearance was too alien to describe in words.
A hermit crab might be the closest comparison.
A blue-black hermit crab with countless long legs.
The hermit crab carried an old, weathered storehouse on its back.
It had been injured by Shurado's shot—seems she hit the soft spot near the base of one of its legs. Viscous blue blood dripped heavily from the wound.
The hermit crab looked to be in a lot of pain.
Maybe frightened by the attack, it slowly lowered the storehouse to the ground.
"This is..."
"What is it, Shurado?"
"It's a crab."
"......"
"Judging by its appearance, it's a low-level underling. It must've been guarding something."
The hermit crab stared intently at Shurado, then vanished again into invisibility.
"Where did the crab go?"
"It's gone now."
"Shouldn't we go after it?"
"It's fine. I already hit it with a paint round."
"Huh? Ah... When did you..."
Shurado had only fired two shots.
One was a lead bullet. The other was a paint round.
When she fired the first shot, she had manually loaded the paint round she brought into the chamber and fired it.
Since she often appears in public, she dislikes carrying a gun regularly, and usually ejects paint rounds using her own skill.
"Here, returning this. Thank you!"
"Ah, sure."
Shurado returned the handgun to the agent.
Along with the spent casing and the 9mm bullet she'd removed from the chamber to load the paint round.
Shurado walked briskly toward the storehouse.
The agents looked worried and tried to stop their overly brave superior, asking "Isn't it dangerous?"—but it was pointless.
The moment Shurado entered the storehouse and glanced around, she noticed a trapdoor tucked in the back.
She approached it.
Just then—snap!—a dry sound rang out.
The trapdoor burst open from below with great force.
It was as if an explosion had blown it open.
"Finally, you're back."
"Hideo, you're blocking the way."
"Ah, right. Sorry, Grandpa."
One after another, suspicious men emerged from the trapdoor.
"Who even are you people, dressed like villains from some ancient fallen Buddhist sect! (※That's not a real phrase in Japanese.)"
"Huh? That voice... Shurado?"
"Ah... Akagi!"
The one who popped his head out of the hole was Akagi Hideo.
The moment Shurado saw him, her eyes welled up.
At the same time, a tired smile crossed her face.
"Honestly... you really are hopeless, Akagi."
"? Shurado?"
"I always believed that nothing short of a catastrophe could take you down, but to vanish for two whole months... no, this gloom doesn't suit you. You really are a monk-style explorer. Welcome back, Akagi!"
"Yes, I'm home."
Shurado wiped her tears and said it with a bright, beaming smile.