Chapter 96
As always, an ATK of 30 million is insane firepower.
If I fired it straight, it'd definitely leave a crater—it's strong enough to blow away the entire civic hall.
So, using the skill control I've recently gotten a hang of, I'll manipulate the energy of the explosion into a spiral burst to limit the damage range. Visually, it's like a pillar of light shooting into the sky—super stylish. Simply beautiful.
"Click, click...... (Translation: Impossible...... I, Vrab of the Prison Gate......!)"
Metal-kun turned red-hot, melted down, and collapsed.
Successfully got the experience light. Stored it in the lighter.
In other words, Metal-kun has passed away.
Thank you for the match. GG.
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'EXP Lighter Lv3'
It's the era of saving up experience.
1 trillion 50.2 billion 93 million 7,931 / 99 trillion 999.9 billion 999.9 million 999
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Hmm, hmm.
When I looked earlier, it was about 1 trillion experience, so I guess I just got 500 billion from that metal.
As expected, Metal is an exceptional source of income.
Got tons of it, so how about a little taste?
I'm starting to go into withdrawal—my hands are shaking.
"Ahh... I can't wait... hehehe..."
Open the Zippo, strike the flint, and the flame lights. That triggers the experience release.
A glowing powder comes out—inhale it through the nose. The trick is to suck it all in at once.
Ahhh~! This! This right here! I can't get enough!
"Eheheheh, can't stop now, huh!"
"Chee chee chee!"
Oh, Shimaenaga-san just popped out of the chest pocket and poofed into a giant version.
What are you up to? You're so fluffy, I can't resist.
"Chee chee chee! (Translation: Not fair, only Hideo gets it! Embezzlement, chee!)"
"Ahem. Don't say things that make me sound bad. This is a legitimate medical procedure. I've got a chronic condition, okay? If someone with breathing problems uses an inhaler, do you blame them? No, right? Same thing."
I tuck the lighter into my coat.
Well then, I'll enjoy it slowly later.
"Gii"
"Ah, Gii-san just took it on his own..."
The lighter was stolen by a tentacle.
"Gii (Translation: I'll hold onto it. It's too dangerous to let an EXP junkie keep it.)"
"B-but Gii-san, that was my treatment!"
"Gii (Translation: Not my problem. Go fluff your senior or something.)"
What the heck—don't mess with me! Fine, then I'll smother Shimaenaga-san in fluff!! So, since they were conveniently big, I tackled and started fluffing.
"Cheeee......! (Translation: I'm being totally snuffled...! This is harassment, chee!)"
Heh, Shimaenaga-san has no chance of resisting.
"Chee?"
Hm? What's wrong, Shimaenaga-san?
They'd been looking at me with exasperated eyes, but suddenly turned around.
"Chee chee chee"
Hm, looks like there's someone just past Shimaenaga-san.
Oh, there really is a person. They're staring at Shimaenaga-san like, "What is this bean pastry..." Also—super cute girl. Wait, she's adorable...
"First villager discovered (cool voice)"
He said it in a breezy, cool-guy tone, like he loves cracking jokes.
Hmm, she's missing an arm (Steel Spirit).
Did she get hurt somewhere?
"Hello, looks like you had some bad luck (cool voice)"
"......"
Oh, maybe it's too much of a cool voice for her to even speak. Oops—did I overdo it?
"What's with that nasal voice? It's really unpleasant."
"Ahem! ...Uh, you're injured though (topic change)"
Looks really painful. You okay? Wanna fluff a bean pastry? You can fluff all you want.
"Don't worry about the injury... more importantly, you should get away from there immediately."
The girl said that and glanced back down the path she came from. Is something over there?
She looked back at me with a quick glance, then passed by Shimaenaga-san and me and started walking away.
She glanced back and said, "What are you doing? Hurry up," and kept walking.
I guess that means she wants me to follow.
Anyway, I can't just leave a cute girl alone—wait, I mean, I can't leave an injured person alone, so I followed her. I walked up beside her.
A sharp glance darted my way.
"What's your rank?"
Oh, you're asking that?
You're really asking?
"Heh heh heh, believe it or not, I'm actually A-rank."
"What's your placement?"
"...61."
"Thought so. Just made it, huh. (Translation: Can't really expect much from this guy...)"
She looked at the ruby brooch on my chest with barely any interest as she said that.
"Call me Happy. 'Happy Trigger', A-rank, 8th place."
Whoa. She's a total top-tier.
Wow, younger than me... and still higher ranked... amazing.
"I'm way more experienced than you. I can make smarter decisions than you. So, in this crazy dungeon, you're under my command. If we don't cooperate, you and your pet are gonna die."
She's totally in command...
"Well? Answer me. I'm getting irritated. If you're slow, I'll leave you behind. This place is insanely dangerous—dead weight won't last."
It's really that dangerous...?
Worse than I thought?
But if someone ranked 8th like Happy says it, then it must be true.
More importantly, making a cute girl mad gives me stomachaches.
So——
"Yes, I'll follow you, Happy-san. Let's go, Shimaenaga-san."
"Chee (Translation: If Hideo says so, I guess it's fine, chee. But something about that girl rubs me the wrong way, chee.)"
"Good. By the way, what's your name?"
"Finger Man. Nice to meet you."
"...Oh, so you're *that* Finger Man. Nice to meet you."