【Holy Church Heresy Pursuit Unit, “White Crows” Platoon Member Status】
【《Healing》 Aurora: Online】
【《Exploration》 Ayanokouji Sora: Online】
【《Survival》 Kaga Mero: Online】
【《Collection》 Gaho: Online】
Choi Gaho wondered if he had made the wrong decision by selecting Aurora as a first-tier pick…
‘…No, my judgment wasn’t wrong.’
While studying VTubers, he had learned that gaming skill and popularity didn’t necessarily correlate as much as one might expect.
For instance, let’s say there was an audience that wanted to watch high-skill Labyrinthos streams.
Those kinds of viewers… usually watched active pro gamers’ streams. Or, at the very least, retired pro gamers.
Of course, there were cases where pro gamers lacked talk show skills, so some people searched for streamers who were both skilled and entertaining.
However, those viewers typically stayed within the realm of male and female face-cam streamers—very few ventured into the VTuber scene.
One more thing.
Let’s consider the existing audience that already enjoyed VTubers.
They didn’t necessarily expect outstanding gaming skills from VTubers either. Rather, they tended to prioritize a VTuber’s character appeal.
That’s why there were fewer VTubers who had both skill and popularity than one might assume.
Many overwhelmingly skilled VTubers ended up as obscure streamers, and it was rare for them to be as popular as corporate VTubers.
Conversely, many incredibly popular VTubers tended to have mediocre gaming skills, which meant Choi Gaho had to carefully balance skill and popularity when making his selection.
That was what made someone like Aurora so unusual.
She had skill, recognition, a strong character appeal, and on top of that, she was a young girl with a beautiful voice.
There was a reason three teams had chosen Aurora as their first-tier pick.
Of course, she had an unshakable my pace tendency that made her difficult to handle.
Still, she was someone he absolutely did not want to hand over to another team.
He had no regrets about picking Aurora as a first-tier choice, but… somehow, just her mere existence seemed to make the people around her progressively weirder.
Honestly, she might actually be a creature from the XXP Foundation.
Or maybe even some kind of mythical being straight out of the Cthulhu Mythos.
‘I don’t want to get eaten by bugs, so I better wrap this up quickly.’
With that thought in mind, Choi Gaho carefully moved forward.
At the moment, he was playing solo.
【Quest Long-Term Objective: Track the whereabouts of the Dragon Priestess.】
【Quest Short-Term Objective: The entrance to the mansion’s basement is locked. Find the key.】
Choi Gaho reconfirmed his quest objectives.
His class was 《Collection》.
In Dungeon Seeker, 《Healing》 and 《Collection》 were the two classes that made the most money.
Why was 《Healing》 a high-earning class?
It was simple—it minimized the party’s losses.
If a 《Healing》 class player treated an ally’s wounds, they saved one healing potion. That, in turn, allowed the party to explore the dungeon for longer.
By extending the party’s exploration time, 《Healing》 ultimately led to greater earnings.
《Collection》 worked in the exact opposite way.
It allowed players to carry more weight than other classes and granted bonus gold when selling items.
On top of that, 《Collection》 players excelled at finding items and clues within dungeons.
“I found it.”
Choi Gaho muttered as he hid behind a pillar.
In the distance, he spotted the figure of a child.
And all over its body, tentacles were writhing.
It was the same monster that had once killed Changyoung.
After confirming the creature’s presence, Choi Gaho picked up his radio.
“This is Choi Gaho. I’ve found the key.”
[This is Aurora. Where was it?]
“The monster has it.”
Choi Gaho whispered while keeping his eyes on the creature.
[Aha. So that’s why we couldn’t find it until now.]
Laura spoke over the radio.
Even though she knew the entire layout of the mansion, even she didn’t have omniscient knowledge of everything inside it.
After all, Laura had been playing with a strategy focused on avoiding monsters.
It was natural that she wouldn’t know the exact condition of every single creature roaming the mansion.
[That was a blind spot in our search. What does the monster look like?]
“It looks like a child. It has tentacle-like appendages all over its body. If I recall correctly, it was supposed to be… the youngest son of the Ducal Family’s third son? That was its backstory, I think.”
[Oh my, how do you know that lore?]
“I played the PC version of Labyrinthos once in the past.”
Well, he was a Labyrinthos pro gamer, after all.
To Choi Gaho, Labyrinthos was a source of income. But at the same time, he had a lot of love for the game.
He had played the previous installment, and even if he hadn’t received a collaboration offer, he probably would have played this spin-off as well.
[Then we’ll head over there too. But we need to prepare first, so it’ll take a little while.]
“Understood.”
After cutting off the radio transmission, Gaho decided to keep watching the monster until Laura arrived.
If it moved somewhere else, he needed to report it immediately.
While waiting, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t there a Labyrinthos character named Laura Iris?’
The Noble Villainess, the Judge of Convenience, Laura Iris.
Coincidentally, she had the same name as Aurora.
Well, it was probably just a coincidence.
She had been a rather striking character.
As a villainous noblewoman, Laura Iris opposed the protagonist.
Depending on the choices made, she and the protagonist could completely fall out, turning into bitter enemies who would fight to the death.
That final battle took place right here in the Iris Ducal Mansion.
Alternatively, there was a route where Laura Iris and the protagonist became allies.
In that case, they would uncover the secrets of the Ducal Family together and end up fighting against them.
Either way, the Ducal Family was doomed to fall.
The only difference was whether Laura Iris survived or not.
‘Which timeline is this game following?’
Choi Gaho was genuinely curious about Dungeon Seeker’s storyline, but he had no way of finding out.
After all, the sound of shattering glass had just echoed through the air.
Crash!
Glass shards scattered everywhere as something flew in from outside the window.
A bottle of oil.
A large amount of oil splashed onto the child-like monster.
“I found it, found it, found it, found it, found it, found it, found it, found it.”
Laura, hanging from a rope outside the window.
The monster extended its tentacles toward Laura, but she swiftly climbed higher up the rope.
The creature then lunged further out of the window in pursuit, but—
“Narin, throw it.”
Right on cue, a torch fell onto the monster’s head.
“Aaaaarghhh!!!”
In an instant, its entire body was engulfed in flames.
Screaming in agony, it writhed in pain.
But the fire showed no sign of dying down.
Instead, Laura, who had climbed up the rope, descended once more and casually pulled another bottle of oil from her pouch.
She tossed it onto the burning creature.
“…Is she a special forces operative or something?”
Muttering to himself, Choi Gaho, a man who had completed his military service, observed in disbelief.
If she went through military training, she’d probably excel at it.
***
They successfully obtained the key and unlocked the basement door.
However—
“Let’s head back to the village first,” I said in front of everyone.
"Huh? We've never gone back to the village before, so why all of a sudden?"
"There are two major reasons, my dear."
The first was the issue of food supply.
In Dungeon Seeker, there were three negative gauges: Anxiety, Fatigue, and Hunger.
If any of these three gauges filled up completely, the likelihood of acquiring a status ailment significantly increased.
In essence, these gauges were obstacles designed to prevent players from staying in dungeons for too long.
Among them, Anxiety and Fatigue could be managed using the skills of the 《Healing》 class.
However, Hunger could only be resolved through eating, and we had already been playing like beggars for an extended period.
The problem was that our mouths to feed had increased from three to five people, making food supply even more difficult.
"Then, Laura, how about eating me instead…? You could eat me first, leave just one of my wrists intact, and then use a resurrection skill on it, right?"
Son Narin casually began spouting utter madness.
Just look at Choi Gaho—his eyes screamed, Is this woman insane?
"Cannibalism… doesn’t seem like a good idea."
Gaho grimaced at Narin’s offer to turn herself into food.
Not that I was particularly trying to be considerate of him, but I decided to dismiss Narin’s suggestion for now.
The second issue was that the basement's difficulty level would spike drastically.
"What’s down there?"
"I have no idea, dear."
"What?"
Son Narin blinked.
Even I didn’t know what was down there.
I remembered what had been in the basement in the past, but I had no idea what had happened to it since then.
In other words, it was practically an unexplored zone.
On top of that, unlike before, we wouldn't be able to use climbing techniques to avoid monsters. Since it was an underground space, there was no way to climb anywhere.
"That’s why we need to regroup here first."
We couldn’t keep playing like beggars anymore—we needed to be fully prepared.
"Since we’re at it, let’s gather more people. Call Rui and Barubara as well."
I made the decision.
The Dungeon Seeker promotional period would be ending soon.
This was probably going to be our last run in Dungeon Seeker.
***
"So what, are you saying we’re not going in, Oppa?"
Shina raised her voice.
Vincent let out a sigh as he looked at her.
"…Leviathan found the basement first. And now you’re saying we should go in before them?"
"What choice do we have?! It’s not like they rented the place—there’s only one entrance to the basement, and Leviathan’s team already unlocked the door and went back to town!"
"Hmm…"
"And if they didn’t want anyone else going in, they shouldn’t have unlocked it in the first place! They deactivated the lock and just left, so there’s nothing wrong with us going in first!"
Shina’s argument was flawless.
Since when was she this logical?
It was surprising how much sense she was making.
"And we have to do this, Oppa! If we don’t, we’ll never close the gold gap! Are you just going to sit back and let Aurora slice up all the meat?!"
"So what if I do?"
"I don’t like it! I don’t want Aurora to be happy! Do you have any idea how miserable I’ve been because of her?!"
…Even though they got along just fine in Aseosal, why was she acting like this?
Was she jealous?
Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen Shina hanging out with Aurora much recently.
The people Aurora had been spending time with lately… Son Narin, Sora, Anna, Mero, Rui—that was about it.
"Hey, Mashina. You live in a studio apartment, right?"
"So what?"
"Can you cook meat there?"
"Uhh…"
Shina flinched at Vincent’s sharp remark.
"Anna, what about Aurora’s place?"
"Laura’s place is amazing! She even has an indoor grill!"
…Why on earth does she have something like that?
It’s not like she seemed particularly good at cooking.
"Mashina, if we win, you be the one to treat Aurora first."
"…Treat her?"
"If we get the meat, take it to Aurora’s house. Grill it yourself. And then, while she watches, teabag in front of her. If you agree to that, I’ll go into the basement with you."
Vincent smirked.
Mashina was such a pain.
The most annoying thing about her was how dishonest she was.
At least she wasn’t particularly bright.
"Teabagging? I like the sound of that."
Mashina’s face lit up with interest.
Not that she’d actually go through with it.
Most likely, she'd just end up sharing the meat with Aurora, and the two of them would get closer.
But Vincent didn’t bother pointing that out.
Mashina was a pain.
And he wanted to be free of her for a while.
More than anything, he was kind of curious to see Mashina and Aurora getting along.
‘Some of the yuri-loving viewers are gonna love this.’
Vincent thought to himself.
"Alright! So if we win, I take the meat to Aurora’s place, right?"
"Yeah."
"That’s not even a hard condition! Then let’s head in right away!"
***
【Tower of Magic Arsonist Party Member Status】
【《Survival》 Mashina: Deceased】
【《Exploration》 Orga Hansen: Deceased】
【《Search》 Muraya Rei: Deceased】
【《Healing》 Elenoa: Deceased】
【《Collection》 Suzuki Tooru: Deceased】
【Adventurer Guild Resource Selection Expedition Party Member Status】
【《Exploration》 Vincent Edward: Deceased】
【《Search》 Kanto Akito: Deceased】
【《Survival》 Shiroki Anna: Unknown】
【《Protection》 Choi Changyoung: Deceased】
【《Healing》 Kazama Izumi: Deceased】