Lonely Attack on the Different World (WN)

Day 87 – Afternoon, Dungeon

We kept progressing smoothly, but it was boring. Dogs, wolves, dogs, dogs, wolves, dogs… At one point, there was even a bipedal dog, which left me wondering, isn't that just a regular wolf, and before I was yet to part with that suspicion, we already were at the 90th floor, the final one. Looks like it's time for the Dungeon Master-san to make an appearance.

Along the way, we checked the loot in the hidden rooms. The items were decent, but nothing eye-catching. The monsters were nothing but dogs and wolves, and there weren't any notable gear drops either. I guess this Dungeon's in a bit of a recession, no profits to be had. From below, we could hear this annoying『wuff wuff』 barking, but we were in the middle of an elegant tea party, so some peace and quiet would've been appreciated.

On the table were cream-filled crepes lined with all sorts of fruits, and both Dancing Girl-san and Slime-san were scrambling to try everything. Armored Pres-san watched the two of them with a troubled look, but she had cream all over his mouth and nose too, so she seemed pretty into it as well. Since they liked it, I'll make it again. It wasn't whipped cream, but milk cream, so personally I'd rate it as just okay, but judging by how fast it was disappearing, I guess it was a hit. Pouring a second round of mushroom tea, we enjoyed our tea time. Let's not worry too much about the fact that it's technically just mushroom tea in teacups. Still, the yapping from below is seriously annoying!

Thinking it was probably another dog, I sprayed some vinegar and put the lid, turns out it was a dog, as expected. It kept making a racket the whole time we were having our tea. For something calling itself a Dungeon Master, it could stand to be a little more well-behaved and howl more quietly.

Descending into the sour-smelling 90th floor, we found a giant, two-headed dog writhing in pain, gasping and groaning in agony. Thought it was another Orthros, but nope, turns out it was 『Ma Wi Ong Lv100』some kind of divine dog from Indonesia. A fairly obscure monster, apparently from the mythology of the Melanau people of Sarawak in Borneo Island, serves as the twin-headed guardian dog at the gates of heaven, welcoming the dead alongside the goddess Adad. But anyway, both its heads had already been chopped off by Armored Pres-san and Dancing Girl-san and then eaten by Slime-san. Apparently, it didn't like the sourness and was angrily pouting.

「Well then, if we go for another one, it'll be too late, so shall we head back? I kind of want to do some training too. Though it's kind of absurd how I have to turn to sparring since I'm not getting enough combat in the Dungeon, only to go suffer excessive violence in training. I think there is something to think about. But today I brought some outfits for a handicap, so it's going to be no-armor training. Still, it's never landed a single hit, so I feel like the handicap isn't functioning as a handicap, but anyway, a handicap? Although I can only see a future where Cheerleader-san doesn't cheer for me and only comes to beat me up. I don't even need 『Future Sight』 to see how that ends, but I'd still like to make a few adjustments, would that be okay?」

(Nod-Nod, Nod Nod, Jiggle-Jiggle)

Apparently it's fine. They don't really want me to fight monsters, but sparring seems to be perfectly acceptable. I guess beating me up with their own hands is more to their liking?

Time stretches, slowing and delaying as it flows, dragging my body along with it. In this time-dilated slow-motion world created by『Wisdom』's high-speed thought acceleration, I evade the slashing lines of their blades and use『Kyojitsu』to cut through that stopped instant in a single smooth and gentle motion. As our wooden sticks clash and bounce off, the time is flowing with such slowness as it might stop entirely any moment now. I manipulate my body through the thick, sticky air, threading through the rain of sword strikes, slipping between them as I control 『Magic Wrap』, twisting my body into the gaps and releasing 『Kyojitsu』. A sworddance too rough to be called a flurry, too distorted to be called swordsmanship. The point of this training is to see how long I can last but in the lazy flow of viscous time, with repeated instant flashes of blade arcs and momentary evasions, the sense of time itself has been lost, leaving only an endless struggle of blades clashing.

It's a 2-on-1 training session against Armored Pres-san and Dancing Girl-san, so it's an infinite hell of swords where escape is not an option, not even by one in a billion chance, but I have to last, even for just one second longer. Because Cheerleader Girls are there!