Day 21 Month Water

  Yesterday, after we made a deal with Kuro-san, we all rey the conversation with the others

  Most of them readily agreed, since this means free living spaces and food, while the Hero says that he needs to do his jobs properly and promptly leaves after he says goodbyes to Kaito-san, Kuro-san, and the rest of the residents here.

  Now that our sv—I mean helper for the 4 star dungeons—is gone, we, the Nagumo family, need to clear it ourselves. Luckily, judging from the difficulty, it should be no problem if we clear it with only one person each.

  Since we’re in the Eastern region of the Demon realm, we decided to clear most of the dungeons here.

  Our pn was to split the group into 5 and let them conquer the low star dungeons like before, but Kuro-san had another idea.

  Basically she’ll teach all of them for the day while the Nagumo family will be clearing the 4 star dungeons, she’ll guarantee that they’ll be ready to take on the higher star dungeons by tomorrow.

  …I don’t know why but I feel like I can foresee a future where everyone was forcibly trained until they passed out due to mental exhaustion. Though most of the cssmates didn’t object to Kuro-san's idea so we just accept it for now.

  …For some reason I can hear Kuro-san say they’ll be worth training until they break their limit multiple times or something like that in a small voice.

  Is it really okay though? I know it’s just only for a day but Kuro-san can also make a subspace where time flows slowly like the Hour Crystal so we can only imagine how she trains them all into exhaustion.

  BUT! That’s not important right now!

  “Yue, don’t go too far from me okay?” (Hajime)

  “...Fufun~ I will never go further away more than 1 millimeter from you Hajime?” (Yue)

  FINALLY! I’m finally alone with my beloved Hajime! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this!? The st time we’re completely alone together is when we’re at Isis-san’s castle, and it didn’t count because someone is spying on us!

  But now! This time! This time I truly am alone with Hajime! My date with Hajime has finally arrived!

  “GRAAAAAHHHH!!!”

  …If only our date spot is a little bit more proper.

  OOOOOOHHHHH!!!

  GUOOOOOHHHH!!!

  Right… we’re in a dungeon now… a dungeon that’s filled with a gloomy and depressing atmosphere…

  Which is totally fine!

  “...eyesore.” (Yue)

  I mean this is no different than when we’re in the lower Orcus byrinth where me and Hajime spend quite some time trudging the dungeon until we reach the final floor. Sadly there’s no something that resembles Orcus hideout here but it’s okay! What counts is me and Hajime are alone together!

  Or rather, the Orcus byrinth is a little bit more gloomy and depressing than this dungeon, just a little bit though.

  “First is the nature theme in the Northern region, and it’s science fiction theme here huh? Moreover, this pce was crawling with monsters that were clearly a failed experiment.” (Hajime)

  Yup, apparently the theme is different for dungeons in each region. Dungeons in the Northern region have nature-like themes with golems, temples, insects… for some reason… Nonetheless it’s mainly centered around a nature theme.

  In the Eastern region though, I think it’s centered around a science fiction theme?

  In fact, the dungeon’s name is called “Necromancer’s b”, and I don’t know how but it really does resemble a boratory filled with many fsks of failed experiments and futuristic machinery.

  But isn’t necromancer more on the fantasy side though? Perhaps the reason why it’s called that is because the monsters here are types of undead wearing a b coat.

  Of course, the b is filled with many undead and sometimes mutant zombies like those fat zombies that can explode, the nimble fast one, the super macho and strong one. There’s all kinds of zombies here, one wonders if this dungeon is ripped out from a game or something.

  …Well judging from what Alice-san is capable of, that possibility is not entirely improbable…

  Anyway, we finally arrived at the boss room. The boss here is a mad scientist who can create a lot of mutant zombies with millions of seeds at his disposal.

  Though all of them are nothing compared to me and Hajime’s glorious teamwork.

  And so, we beat the boss easily.

  Nn? What’s that?

  “...Hajime.” (Yue)

  “Yeah, there’s something other than the usual drop, is this a keycard?” (Hajime)

  Hmm, it looks like this is what Alice-san said about the clue to find the secret dungeon that we might stumble upon.

  Let’s see… judging from the design on the keycard, it seems like there’s no corretion between this b and the keycard, so the secret dungeon might be inside another dungeon.

  “...Maybe we should clear this pce a bit more?” (Yue)

  “Heh, that’s what I’ve been thinking too.” (Hajime)

  Fufu, that means more time with Hajime!

  Ahh~ I hope we can experience this multiple times oooooooveeeeeer and oooooooveeeeeer again~

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  After we cleared the dungeons dozens of times, we finally decided that there’s nothing we can gain from this dungeon anymore since we also gained the rare drops that might lead us to the 5 star dungeons.

  While it is tempting to go straight to the secret dungeon immediately, we decided to gather the Nagumo household first before we attempted the secret dungeon to gauge the difficulty of said dungeon. If it’s not too much then we can split to increase efficiency of dungeon clearing.

  It turns out, both Shia and Tio recognize the design pattern from the other 4 star dungeon. When they both are inside the dungeon, they notice a strange door in the safe floor that was locked. The door has the same design as the keycard we got from the mad scientist.

  Fufufu, I’m excited, it could lead us towards the super secret dungeon that was located in the central part of the Demon realm. I can’t wait!

  Ah, looks like Bakaori and Shizuku just arrived.

  What’s wrong Bakaori? Are you jealous? Are you jealous that I have Hajime all by myself?

  Fufufu, seeing Bakaori’s swelling cheeks always soothe my heart in a different way than being with Hajime.

  Ah hey! What are you doing Bakaori!?

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  Sheesh, to think that she unched the disintegration feather towards me all of the sudden. While there weren’t any witnesses, we’re still in a public space.

  I guess the frustration bottled up and it caused her to blow up against me.

  Fuh, you should train your self preservation, Bakaori. Like me.

  Anyway, we have arrived at the other 4 star dungeon “Botanist’s grave”, which is basically a b just like the previous one but with a variety of pnt monsters. Unlike the pnt monster in the northern region though, the pnt monster here is also the result of repeatedly failed experiments.

  Well it appears there’s some sort of story behind these dungeons that Alice-san co-create, but we don’t really care about that.

  And so, we have arrived in front of a slightly preserved futuristic door. Hajime put the keycard and let the machine scan it.

  A moment ter, the door opened and it revealed… a stairway downward?

  It looked like a normal stairway but the way it just stretches into the void makes it a bit creepy.

  “Uuugh, it’s so spooky… Hajime-kun! Hug me please!” (Kaori)

  Chih, cheeky Kaori is using this chance to get closer to Hajime. Unfortunately for her, I won’t let that happen!

  …Is what I thought before Hajime grabbed her arms and prompted us to go inside.

  Gunununu! You win this time Bakaori but I shall prevail next time!

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  Jeez, how long is this stairway!? We have walked for more than an hour yet we still haven’t reached the bottom. It's pretty dark so I cast a light ball so we can see properly, yet we still can’t see the bottom.

  “I’m pretty curious what kind of monster we’ll be fighting desu!” (Shia)

  “What’s the boss monster here?” (Shizuku)

  “The boss monster here is a monster that resembles a dryad, with the ability to let her absorb physical and magical attacks and reflect it back towards us. Not only that, she won’t die until every st of her seed is destroyed.” (Tio)

  Nn, from what Shia and Tio are saying, the boss monster here is also a hassle to beat. Especially the absorption ability the boss monster had, it must’ve been annoying to deal with.

  “Luckily, there is a limit on how much power she can absorb, so we took her down pretty quick.” (Tio)

  “Hmm, I was specuting on what kind of hidden boss monster we’ll be facing, maybe it’s like a combination of the two?” (Shia)

  “So a zombie tree? I don’t know how to envision that.” (Shizuku)

  “Who knows. By the way, we’re close to the end so get ready.” (Hajime)

  “Uuugh, Finally it’s over…” (Kaori)

  “...Heh, weakling.” (Yue)

  “...Ah?” (Kaori)

  “Enough, get ready.” (Hajime)

  Well, I’m also curious about the boss monster that we will be facing.

  Several seconds ter, we have arrived at our destination and in front of us is yet another door. This time though, there’s something that feels… ominous.

  Usually, when we finally arrive at the boss room, we don’t feel anything. But this time, we can clearly feel something tremendous behind this door.

  “Whatever it is, the only way to find out is to open it, are you all ready?” (Hajime)

  As we all nod towards Hajime, he slowly opens the door. What’s behind it, however, perplexes us.

  “... A throne?” (Yue)

  Yep, we thought it was gonna be another b filled with many mutated monsters but on the contrary, the door leads us to a throne room like one would find in a royal castle.

  Not only that…

  “U-umm, there’s a person?” (Kaori)

  “Moreover, that person has a lot of pipes connected to her flesh, I hath guessed that she had a connection to the two dungeons?” (Tio)

  Nn, the throne is occupied by a beautiful dy with long viridescent hair and pale skin. She wore a simple elegant white dress and had many kinds of tubes attached to her skin, like it’s extracting her essence or something like that.

  Then, all of the sudden.

  “!!!” (Everyone)

  Suddenly the pressure inside this room spiked up to abnormal degrees. As we looked at the pale dy, the tube detached itself from her. After that… she slowly stood up as if she was awoken from an extremely long slumber.

  Then… after she completely stood up, she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils are crimson colored, yet it feels lifeless.

  “Whatever it is, we need to kill her! He who strikes first wins desu!” (Shia)

  “Shia wait!” (Kaori)

  Just as the boss awoke, Shia immediately jumped towards her and swung her hammer down above her in a fsh.

  I thought that’s the end of it.

  But…

  “CRASH!!!

  “Huh?” (Shia)

  For some odd reason, Shia missed her attacks. It’s not as if Shia missed because the boss dodge it or Shia was clumsy enough to miss her attacks.

  “Shia!” (Yue)

  As soon as I realized what happened, I unched magics towards the boss to make distance. As I looked at Shia’s arm…

  “...As I thought.” (Yue)

  “Uuuuu…” (Shia)

  Shia’s arm… they’re bent sideways and dislocated the joint between her upper arm and lower arm.

  “Guuuu!!! GUAH!” (Shia)

  …I was gonna ask Kaori to heal her but turns out this buggy rabbit fixed her dislocated arm with just a shout.

  Seriously, this buggy rabbit is bugged as expected.

  “Shia, you okay!?” (Kaori)

  “Yes desu! I’m alright!” (Shia)

  “What happened!?” (Shizuku)

  “I have no idea but before the hammer nds, my arm bends itself towards her side desu! Be careful!” (Shia)

  “Chih!” (Hajime)

  As we were still checking Shia’s condition, Hajime pulled out his gun and tried to shoot the boss. The boss didn’t even change her expression, yet when she turned her gaze toward Hajime…

  *DOPAN

  “!!!” (Hajime)

  Hajime… misses his shot?

  “Hajime!” (Yue)

  Since Shia was alright, I hurriedly teleported right besides Hajime to see if there’s anything wrong.

  “Hajime! Are you alright?!” (Yue)

  “Yeah, I’m alright, though for some reason my arm just shifts slightly to my right by itself. We need to regroup!” (Hajime)

  As Hajime said that, Shia, Kaori and Shizuku immediately went back to me and Hajime while keeping an eye towards the boss.

  The boss… didn’t really respond with anything, not even a whiff of emotion was shown on her cold gaze.

  “We really got underestimated by that bastard huh? Alright everyone, I think I know what her power is but I need more confirmation.” (Hajime)

  Said Hajime as we strategize on how to figure out the boss’ mysterious power. I was thinking of telekinesis of some sort but Hajime apparently has another idea.

  And so, we commence our pn.

  It’s not too complicated, in fact we’re just gonna bombard the boss with many kinds of attacks. Shizuku with her flying swords, Kaori with her disintegration feather, me with my magic and Hajime with his gun but this time he will try to shoot it with his metal arm. Shia will try to move outside the boss’ line of sight and try to sneak attack her.

  I don’t know why he arranged it like this but oh well, it’s more like a test.

  And so, the pn was put into motion. As soon as Hajime gave us the signal, we immediately bombarded her with many kinds of attacks while Shia tried to nd a hit with sneak attack.

  The result… are quite weird.

  The boss dodged all of our attacks but for some reason she stopped Shizuku’s katana with her unusual power.

  “As I thought.” (Hajime)

  It seems that whatever Hajime’s thinking is correct, then he tried to shoot his gun using his metal arm again.

  This time, though, she just dodged it.

  “As I thought, her power is limited.” (Hajime)

  “What do you mean by that, Hajime-kun?” (Kaori)

  “After Shia failed to nd a hit on her, Yue attacks her with magic yet she just dodge it. When I tried to shoot her using my right arm, my arm shifted as if it was controlled by something else.” (Hajime)

  “...So you think she can only control anything that has flesh?” (Yue)

  “More like she can control anything that’s considered as “living” with her gaze, this is why she can stop Shizuku’s bdes since it’s technically alive.” (Hajime)

  “Then we can exploit this weakness.” (Tio)

  Just as Tio said this, we all continued to attack the boss in all directions until she was too exhausted to move.

  Just like that, she was beaten pretty easily as hundreds of magic bullets fell down at her at once.

  “Hmm, this is going too easy isn’t it?” (Kaori)

  “Kaori, if you say it like that, a red fg will definitely co—!!!” (Hajime)

  Before Hajime finishes his sentence, the intensity of this room’s atmosphere rises to an abnormal degree, to the extent that we immediately raise our guard.

  As the smoke clears, the boss is still standing with no damage to her whatsoever. This time, though, she clearly looked at us with a gaze of fury and intense bloodlust.

  Hmm, I see, so this is the so-called “second phase” huh?

  Couple of seconds ter, the ground around her distorted and formed into a humanoid shaped golem with heavy armors and battle axes.

  Though they’re not exactly golem, since the minions were constructed with organs, skin, blood and bones and all, as if the boss breathed life and created her knights with her magic.

  Of course, we all immediately destroy them with ease. With all of her knights gone, we all bombard her with magic once more.

  All seems well, the boss was in tatters too.

  Until…

  “Alright! One more pu—!?” (Kaori)

  “Kaori!” (Shizuku)

  Suddenly one of the knights tried to attack Kaori, though Shizuku thwarted the attack.

  “Are you okay Kaori?” (Shizuku)

  “I’m fine! Did she create more knights!?” (Kaori)

  “No… I hath counted the knights she summoned but the amount didn’t change, moreover…” (Tio)

  Just as Tio said this, the knights that we beat up before rose up and gathered near the boss to protect her.

  It seems like the knights and the boss have regeneration applied to them. Thanks to this, we’re back to square one.

  We crushed the knights again, even more thoroughly this time but they kept on coming back like it was normal, Shia even blew one of the knights until it turned into a puddle of blood yet it just returned back to life like it was no big deal. Not only that, the knights are getting stronger each time they reconstruct themselves so it’s getting harder to beat them.

  “This is never ending desu!” (Shia)

  “We need to find their source of regeneration, it’s probably from the boss.” (Shizuku)

  “Umu, but to reach her we need to get past the knights. This is quite a solid defense” (Tio)

  Just like Tio said, most of the knights were stationed near the boss, surrounding her while the rest were in the frontline fighting.

  It seems like the boss’ strategy is to force us to fight her undying knights until we’re exhausted.

  “... This is getting annoying, move.” (Yue)

  Since this whole stalling for time thing is getting annoying, I decided to bomb her with Bck Vortexes and completely decimate her and her knights in one go.

  I looked at Shia and Shizuku frantically moving away in order to not get caught. After I confirmed there’s no allies in front of me, I casted multiple Bck Vortexes right on top of the boss and watched her and her knights getting squashed repeatedly.

  “Uwaaa… This is pretty gruesome desu…” (Shia)

  “Well, Hopefully this is the end this time.” (Kaori)

  “Kaori, you just made another fg.” (Hajime)

  “Ahh…” (Kaori)

  Just as Hajime said this, the room violently shakes as the boss shrieks with her blood curdling screams.

  Wait…

  Did…

  Did she just disperse the Bck Vortexes with her scream?

  Just how strong is this boss?

  “Looks like we’re on the third phase, don’t let your guard down!” (Hajime)

  As soon as Hajime said this, the boss immediately came close above me and attempted to punch me with her fist. Luckily though I teleported away in time because as soon as the boss’ fist touched the ground, the floor created a massive crater with just her punch.

  That was really close, the floors were really sturdy that not even Shia can scratch it, she really means business this time with that unbridled rage on her face.

  Throughout the fight on her third phase, the boss just threw punches and kicks that were probably on par with level IX Shia, which is very dangerous if it even grazes us.

  Though she’s fast and strong, it’s not like she’s undodgeable. While we were startled with her speed initially, we dodge it with ease after some time. Heck it became so easy that we were bored with it.

  “ORA! Your posture is all over the pce! Straighten your arm and fix your posture!” (Shia)

  “...Shia, why are you giving her lecture?” (Yue)

  “Uuuugh! It’s so frustrating to see someone so strong yet with such flimsy technique! ORA! Your legs are wide open!” (Shia)

  Looking at Shia giving the boss many tips for her unarmed technique, we all felt like the end was near and rexed just a little bit. After all, it seems like she isn’t regenerating anymore with many wounds on her body.

  Of course that thought was naive because…

  “ORA! Look there! Your abdomen is wide ope—!!!???” (Shia)

  Just as Shia hit the boss, all of the sudden she shone bright and temporarily blinded us. When the light subsided, all we’ve seen is the boss’ wounds are gone and Shia thrown to the wall with wounds all over her body.

  “Shia!” (Kaori)

  Of course we all gathered around Shia to examine and tend to her wounds while Hajime and Tio were keeping an eye on the boss and distracting her by throwing feint attacks to make sure she didn’t do anything suspicious.

  “Uuuugh…” (Shia)

  “Shia! Are you okay!?” (Kaori)

  “Uuugh, I’m… fine desu… What… happened?” (Shia)

  “We also don’t know, the boss suddenly radiating intense light and all of the sudden you’re injured.” (Shizuku)

  “...Nn, I think I know what just happened. Kaori, cover me.” (Yue)

  “Wait what? Hey! Yue, wait!” (Kaori)

  As I said this, I immediately face the boss and try to nd a severe blow on her. It was pretty hard to do though since she’s pretty nimble and also adapted a lot of our attacks and habits.

  Once I cornered her into a wall, however, I managed to nd a blow on her chest and it left a big gaping hole in it using Spatial magic.

  Then… the boss radiates intense light again.

  “...Guh.” (Yue)

  “Yue!?” (Hajime)

  As soon as the light subsided, the boss recovered, as if the wound never existed while I’m here taking a lot of damage with a big gaping hole in my chest…

  Like the wound she received.

  Just like I thought…

  As soon as I received damage, Kaori and Hajime hurriedly applied restoration magic and restored me back to normal. Then I told them my suspicion.

  “... Everyone, I apologize for doing something rash, but I got information. It seems like the boss is even more tricky and stronger than we expected.” (Yue)

  “Doth it hath to do with that blinding light, Yue?” (Tio)

  “... Nn, I realized that she doesn’t actually regenerate, more like she makes it as if the damage she accumutes did not nd on her but on her opponents that nded a severe blow on her instead. This is also why Shia didn’t foresee this attack using future sight, since the attack was supposed to never exist until the boss wills it.” (Yue)

  “Wait, don’t tell me…” (Hajime)

  “... Nn, it’s causality intervention magic.” (Yue)

  The pieces are coming together, the reason why the boss didn’t even bother to dodge all of our attacks is because she can send it back towards us anytime she wants, whenever we nd any decisive blow, she can always twist the w of cause and effect and return the damage back to us.

  “Isn’t that cheating desu!? How are we supposed to defeat her then!?” (Shia)

  Shia, who just finished being healed by Kaori, were exasperated by this situation. If you think about it clearly, what Shia said was true. We’re pretty much in a losing battle here since no matter how many times we deal damage to her, she’ll just revert herself back to normal and transfer it towards us.

  However, all hope may not be lost.

  “...It seems like there’s a limit on how many times she can revert the damage and reflect it back to us.” (Yue)

  Nn, if not then the boss wouldn’t be dodging most of our attacks and just reflect it back to us every time. Plus, she looked like she was getting tired each time she bends causality.

  “The question is how many times it’ll take to put her down for good huh.” (Hajime)

  “Umu, and who will be the scapegoat if there’s a need to enable the boss to activate her ability again.” (Tio)

  “W-wait wait, are we just gonna let one of us receive the damage she reflects? Isn’t that too dangerous?” (Shizuku)

  “...Unless we have another way to counter her causality bending ability, that’s our only option.” (Yue)

  As we rack our brains to figure out how to deal with the boss’ ability, suddenly someone spoke.

  “I believe I’m suitable for that role.” (Tio)

  “Tio, this is not a veiled attempt at your fetish right?” (Hajime)

  “Nggh! Goshujin-sama! Your sharp words and gaze make my heart flutter! Unfortunately for you, I’m serious. If I can absorb the damage reflected from the boss using my “Pain Conversion” skill, then I can become strong enough to kill her without letting her hath any chance of using her ability. Besides, even if it didn’t work, at least I can buy time to figure out her weakness.” (Tio)

  “It’s fortunate for me, you perverted dragon. I see, hmm, this is tough.” (Hajime)

  It seems like Hajime was very skeptical of Tio's suggestion on letting her tank the reflected damage. It is obvious, the boss will only use her ability if she deems it severe. Whatever the case, it will not look pretty if Tio continuously tanks it.

  “Alright, I’ll allow it, but don't get too far from Kaori.” (Hajime)

  “Fufu~ your worry also makes my heart flutter~. Doth worry, I will stick close to her.” (Tio)

  “Kaori, keep an eye on Tio and heal her.” (Hajime)

  “You got it!” (Kaori)

  “The rest of us will help Tio to nd a decisive blow, don’t deal too much damage or else it’ll transfer the damage to us instead so we need to be careful while also trying to see if there are any other weaknesses. Now let’s do this!” (Hajime)

  “Ou!” (Everyone)

  As we finalized our pn, we fought the boss once more.

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  Weird, this is weird.

  No matter how many times we forced the boss to use her causality bending ability, it seems like there’s no limit at all.

  Sure the boss was getting tired each time she used it, but apparently she can also use her ability to make herself not tired anymore. Talk about being a cheat.

  In fact, Tio already fainted, not from taking too much damage but from pleasure. The sight of her convulsing body, frothing yet smiling mouth alongside a perverted face is definitely “Not safe for Children!”-kun worthy of censor.

  Anyway, since our meat shield(lol) fainted due to shock(pleasure), we’re back to square one.

  Or so it seems…

  “...Hajime.” (Yue)

  “Yeah, it seems like there’s something weird inside that throne.” (Hajime)

  In the middle of our fight, Hajime secretly scans the surroundings to see if there’s any hidden mechanics or secret that we can use against her. What Hajime found, however, is that there’s a lot of magic power concentrated inside the throne the boss was sitting on earlier.

  I have no idea how we missed this, maybe it was activated when the boss entered the third phase or something, we have no idea the throne was the clue we needed to beat her.

  According to Hajime though, it apparently cause high spike in magic power surrounding it when the boss activates her ability so it’s no wonder we didn't detected it before

  But in any case, we all destroyed the throne and saw what’s hidden inside it.

  The reveal was…

  “A brooch?” (Kaori)

  “Whatever it is, it’s supplying the boss with infinite mana. We need to destroy it.” (Hajime)

  “Leave it to me! SHAORA!!!” (Shia)

  Shiaaaa, did you not learn your lesson in thinking before taking action!?

  It seems like the boss caught up with what we’re doing and hurriedly sprinting toward us to stop it with an extremely furious expression, as if this brooch was precious to her. Nevertheless, Shia broke it first.

  *CRACK

  The sound of brooch cracking under Shia’s hammer were imminent, and it seems like it works as the boss was slowly aging into a grandma, as if her previous youthful self was a lie.

  “Ahh… My lord… forgive me…” (The boss)

  I don’t know what’s the deal, or the story behind her, all I know is that she looked solemn and sad as she muttered those words and disappeared into ashes.

  But never mind that…

  “WE WOOOOOOOOOON!!!!” (Shia)

  “Ueeeeggh, she was so hard to beat…” (Kaori)

  “The st phase was especially hard, I can’t believe none of us died and teleported to the surface…” (Shizuku)

  Nn, Shia lifted her arms so high it was as if she was gonna shout “BANZAI” while also shedding tears of joy while Kaori and Shizuku hugged each other while sighing a breath of relief.

  It was not surprising though, this boss was so much harder than anything else we beat in the dungeon. One wrong step and we could’ve died.

  Well since the dungeon was designed for entertainment rather than trial, it will teleport us back to the surface and recover us back to normal if that ever happens. Still though, that was very close. Especially the st phase where we have no idea how to counter her ability other than brute forcing it.

  “Guys, I know you’re all happy but let’s see what the boss drops shall we?” (Hajime)

  “Ah right! I almost forgot about the drop desu!” (Shia)

  “I wonder what it will be? Could it be money? Or maybe a device that can use the ability the boss has?” (Kaori)

  Nn, as we’re all very excited by what the boss dropped, we all gathered at the center of the room where the boss died.

  From what I can see, there are two things that were there where the boss died, a small sack and something like a piece of medallion.

  And in that sack, there was…

  “W-white gold coins…” (Hajime)

  “W-wait! How many are there?” (Shizuku)

  “There’s 6 of them in this sack, I’m guessing it adjusts the amount with how many people are raiding this boss, not to mention…” (Hajime)

  As Hajime put the sack inside the treasure warehouse, he then picked up a piece of medallion.

  “I think this thing is our clue for the secret hidden dungeon in the center part of the Demon Realm.” (Hajime)

  “Heeee, it looked pretty, is that a girl carved on there?” (Kaori)

  “Most likely, or rather, it resembled someone we know…” (Hajime)

  As we further looked at the figure in the piece of medallion, it appeared to be the side profile of a short haired girl with some sort of fps on her side.

  …This is Kuro-san right? She looked solemn here but that fp is her signature after all so it shouldn’t be anyone but her.

  …I have very ominous feelings about this super secret dungeon, I have a gut feeling that it has ties with the Six Kings.

  Do we have to fight them?

  Hopefully not…

  “Let’s go back first, it’s been a pretty rough day so let’s call it for today.” (Hajime)

  As we all agreed with Hajime’s suggestions, we all exited the boss room using the teleportation magic circle that was pced in the middle of the room. Luckily since this boss was a bit special, it doesn’t respawn.

  If the theme is Six Kings reted, we might need to fight bosses like that 5 more times, and who knows if the next boss is even harder than this one…

  For now, we should return home to Kuro-san’s castle to pn our next move.

  .

  .

  .

  As we teleported to the gate outside Kuro-san’s castle, we greeted Funf-san who is guarding the gate and she opened the gate for us and we went inside to greet Kuro-san.

  As we walked to the park behind Kuro-san’s castle, what awaited us, however…

  “Ohh! You all did a great job enduring all of those! Yosh! Starting from tomorrow, Zwei will be your teachers so good luck okay~” (Kuro)

  “Hahh… Hah… It’s finally… over…” (Male cssmate 1)

  “I-I’m gonna hurl—” (Male cssmate 2)

  “Hah… hah… I wanna… sleep…” (Female cssmate 1)

  “Don’t sleep now! You won't wake up after!” (Female cssmates 2)

  …It seems like Kuro-san went hard on training them, so hard in fact that it looked like a scene of carnage when we saw the aftermath of her training.

  Or rather, there’s an obvious crater with the cssmates lying at the center? What kind of training did they go through?

  “Oya? Hajime-chan, Yue-chan, Shia-chan, Tio-chan, Kaori-chan, Shizuku-chan, yahoo~” (Kuro)

  And then there’s Kuro-san who’s waving her hand at us while smiling cutely without a care on what she just did to them, there’s also Zwei-san behind her. It seems like she’s assisting Kuro-san in training them.

  “Umm, I’ll just go and heal them.” (Kaori)

  “Unn unn, so, how’s the dungeon hunting?” (Kuro)

  When Kuro-san asked this, suddenly we were sitting down on a chair with tea and cookies in front of us.

  …I was gonna say a tsukkomi but it is Ein-san here doing her job so I’ll just let it slide.

  “Well, we actually found a hidden boss and she dropped this.” (Hajime)

  As Hajime showed Kuro-san the drop, she then picked it and looked at it with sparkling eyes.

  “Oooh! You guys actually beat her huh? Well it was the easier boss according to Shalltear.” (Kuro)

  “T-That was easy desu!?” (Shia)

  “Unn, I heard that most of the 5 star dungeons were modeled after the Gods, there’s even one that was modeled after Fate-chan, but you need to beat 5 other bosses to find her. By the way, who did you fight against?” (Kuro)

  “It was a boss that had green hair, summoned knights, could regenerate, and even invoke causality intervention magic.” (Hajime)

  “Hmm, it sounds like it’s modeled after the God of Life, the boss has sort of infinite regeneration alongside undying soldiers so she is quite tough. The original version, however, can make tens of thousands of armies with her fingertip and you can’t kill her even if you completely destroy her very being and soul.” (Kuro)

  “...” (everyone)

  W-What the hell is that!? Tens of thousands of army in just a snap of a finger!? And basically an immortal being who can’t die no matter what?! If the boss was that tough then how powerful is the real deal…

  “By the way, Kuromu-dono, is this God of Life-dono also adept in using causality intervention magic?” (Tio)

  “Oh, actually, most bosses from 5 stars and above are capable of using it. In fact, I’m actually shocked that you all beat her since I’m sure God of Life’s copy was also capable of not only regenerating by twisting causality but also piercing your defense and dodging all of the attacks like the original, but since that’d be too much, Shalltear decided to not add most of God of Life’s abilities.” (Kuro)

  T-the boss was originally gonna be that tough? Even the one we fought was enough of a headache already but that’s the nerfed version of it!?

  “Unn~ that’s why, you all will be joining a fast track boot camp! After you all done with it, I can guarantee you all will clear the boss like that with ease~” (Kuro)

  Nn, I don’t know how she will train us, but it is a good thing that we accept Kuro-san’s suggestion since we definitely need help in clearing the dungeons, especially if the boss we fought earlier is one of the easier ones…

  “Although I said that, I actually won't be training all of you.” (Kuro)

  “...You’re not?’ (Yue)

  “Unn, since you all had many experiences in combat and are strong enough already, I figured that I split you all accordingly with other trainers that fit your fighting style for more efficiency.” (Kuro)

  “And these trainers will be…?” (Tio)

  “Yup! It’ll be the Six Kings!” (Kuro)

  Heeee, I was wondering if Kuro-san will be training us all but apparently not huh, well since she’ll also be training the cssmates it’ll be pretty hard to train all of us too.

  But with other Six kings huh? Each one of them is already strong enough so we can learn a thing or two from them. Who will teach us, however, is an interesting question.

  I think I’ll be training under Isis-san, or rather, I hope that’s the case. Shia will most certainly train under Megiddo-san and Tio will train under Magnawell-san.

  Hmm, that leaves with Kaori and Shizuku, Kaori may wish to be teached under Isis-san, don’t know about Shizuku though.

  As we’re still wondering who will teach us, Kuro-san suddenly cpped her hands as if she just remembered something.

  “Oh I almost forgot! Apparently Shalltear will bring back your friend tomorrow, I heard from her that he has an interesting ability that intrigued her so she said that she might have over researched him. She said not to worry though since it’s done so you all will be seeing him tomorrow. I will also assign him and the Hero representative with special training so look forward to it okay~” (Kuro)

  …I completely forgot about Endou who was under Alice-san’s hand for three days. It seems like he’ll also be joining us for training besides the Hero? I wonder why? Is she interested in Endou and the Holy sword too?

  Well, in any case, we can only wait for tomorrow.

  .

  .

  .

  Day 22 Water Month

  Today is a special one, because we will officially start our training under the Six Kings. We all know their strength already, so it’ll be pretty beneficial to learn a thing or two from them.

  That being said, since we have polished our strength through constant fighting and training before, we’ll probably just spar with them if there's room for improvement.

  …Shia was especially excited though, she even polished her hammer yesterday while saying some creepy lines like “This time I will crush her” or “ Fufufu, my hammer is thirsty for blood” or something like that with a creepy smile on her face.

  Shia, you do know that we’ll be training right? We’re not going to be joining something like M*rt*l K*mb*t or something simir, so stop grinning so creepily. You even frighten Myu so you better stop or I’ll forcefully apply gravity magic on your face.

  That threa—Ahem, request worked as Shia stopped polishing her hammer and went to sleep soundlessly.

  Anyway, today we’re in Kuro-san’s backyard once again. This time, however, all of the Six Kings except for Magnawell-san and Alice-san are present, and also Kaito-san who is holding hands with Isis-san to make sure her Magic aura of Death isn’t leaking.

  …He’s also holding hands with Kuro-san too, the three of them looked happy and cute.

  Ah, Alice-san came. For some reason, she is sweating bullets though, I wonder why?

  “W-well~ since we all gathered here today~, I would like to start about the training program you all will be attending!” (Alice)

  Hmm, it seems like she knows we’re suspicious of her so she decided to avert our attention towards the training program.

  As we still looked at Alice-san with suspicious gres, she quickly materialized a paper out of thin air.

  “So, To give you all a rundown. For the rest of your days here in the Demon Realm, you all will be training under the Six Kings until a week before you all go back to the Human Realm. Until then, you all will be under your respective trainer’s care. If there’s any compint or wish to change your trainer, you can find me to discuss about it, sounds good?” (Alice)

  Hmm, from what Alice-san said, we will be training with the Six kings until the 3rd, ermm, Tree Month? I think the next month is Tree Month, nevertheless, we will be training for only 12 days, not even 2 weeks.

  …Is there even enough time? Now that I’ve been thinking about it, I’ve been trying to cast causality intervention magic ever since Isis-san showed me and I haven’t even successfully casted it once.

  “I can tell that most of you have a thought that it’s way too little time. For that, I have a question, what do you think will happen if your trainers aren't satisfied with your growth?” (Alice)

  “Umm, we’ll go into overtime desu?” (Shia)

  “That’s half correct, the real answer is we can always make the time slower inside a barrier, therefore you all will train for a longer time until we’re satisfied.” (Alice)

  Nn, I was predicting this might happen, they’re Godlike beings who can slow down time and warp reality to their whims after all. Slowing down time to gain more time for training is already a standard.

  “Let’s see… how about for each second in the real world, “1 billion years” has passed inside a barrier?” (Alice)

  “Wait wait wait, what the f*ck are you saying?” (Hajime)

  Just when I thought things can’t get crazier, Alice-san pnned to make the time stretch so unfathomably long it doesn’t even make sense.

  Naturally, we’re all baffled by this revetion and Hajime even retorts a little bit. Even Kaito-san was puzzled by Alice-san’s pn.

  “What? You're all still gonna try to find the rest of the medallion for the st dungeon right? Might as well make the training short in real time so you all have all the time to beat the bosses to unlock the final dungeon at the Central region.” (Alice)

  Besides I’m interested how long you all can hold on—whoops! Almost blurted out my inner thoughts teehee~ such is the whispers coming out from Alice-san’s mouth that makes all of us, especially Hajime, pop up our veins.

  I’m beginning to wonder if Alice-san is Miledi reincarnated from how much she’s messing with us.

  “Anyway, here’s the assigned trainer for each of you. Shia-san will train under Megiddo-san, I don’t think anybody’s shocked by this. Tio-san will be under Magnawell-san’s care, Yue-san and Kaori-san will be under Isis-san’s care, so come find me for a barrier to block Isis-san’s magic aura ter. Hajime-san and the hero representative will be under Kuro-san for now since she will also train all of you once in a while. Last but not least…” (Alice)

  As Alice-san almost finished her sentence, she dejectedly sighed and moved to the side, revealing something, or rather, someone behind her.

  “This dude and, uhh, oh! Shizuku-san will be under my care. And that’s pretty much it so good luck okay~” (Alice)

  Weird, why did Alice-san opt to train Shizuku? Did she know about her family being ninjas secretly that were desperate to hide this side of the family from Shizuku but hiriously failed to do so?

  Naturally, Shizuku was going to compin… If only we were not stunned by what’s behind Alice-san.

  This… “thing”... was cd in a super edgy jet bck leather suit with horned skulls on its shoulder pad and a mask. Not only that, there’s also a katana on its back and a jet bck coat, which is weird enough already. The only part where there’s no bck color on it is on its left arm that was bandaged like it was hurt, even though it was not since it crossed its arm.

  Naturally, we’re all very perplexed by its appearance, but the most shocking thing is…

  “E-Endou? I-Is that you?” (Hajime)

  Hajime shakenly asked the edgy dude, however he, or maybe it, didn’t immediately respond.

  Instead, he did a twirl, struck a J*jo pose, and answered.

  “It is moi, your most loyal subject, the lord of Abyss! Kousuke E. Abyssgate! Has Arrived!” (Kousuke)

  “PHANTASMAL KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DOOOOOOONEEEEEEEE!!??” (Hajime)

  M-my word, it really was Endou. To think that Alice-san experimented on him so hard that he immediately turned into Abyssgate. Just how horrid was Alice-san’s experiment?

  “Teehee~” (Alice)

  “DON’T YOU JUST TEEHEE ME! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” (Hajime)

  “Fuh, she didn’t do anything, but make me realize who I am. I had opened my third eyes and accepted who I am. I’m not only Endou Kousuke, I’m also Kousuke E. Abyssgate!” (Kousuke)

  “WAKE UP ENDOOOOOUUUUU!!!” (Hajime)

  Nnn… This is a sad sight to watch, Endou as he had fallen into the abyss of chuuni-ness and Hajime trying to snap him out of it by grabbing his shoulder repeatedly shaking him.

  “A-Alice, what did you do?” (Kaito)

  “I, uhh, was honestly also shocked by this, I was curious about his hidden skill so I decided to delve into his soul to find out what it is. Turns out it has the same power as an authority so I can’t just remove it without having an impact on his soul. By the time I was finished, he became like this ever since.” (Alice)

  Wait, you’re saying the skill that makes Endou chuuni is on the same level as the Gods? Are you seriously saying that there's a God of Chuuni-ness in our world?

  …That seems possible.

  As I looked at the Wifies~, Shia and Tio were pumped, as if the scene in front of them didn’t happen, while Kaori was looking at Endou on how to fix him using Soul Magic with an exasperated gaze.

  Shizuku, though, was extremely nervous. Given how she will be under Alice-san’s care, who knows what will happen to her.

  …We might be seeing Chuunibyou Shizuku if she’s unlucky.

  For some reason I can foresee an ominous future ahead of us…

  Well at least I get to be with Isis-san though!

  Anyway, now that we’re done, we all immediately start our training today. I wonder how strong we will be by the end of this month? I’m pumped!

  Afterword:

  Serious-senpai: Is this my time to shine!? My seriousness!!??

  Author: I guess.

  Serious-senpai: Oi why are you looking dejected, also where’s that ???

  Author: Well I was hoping I can make more comedy, but I guess I also want to have more action in my fanfic too. Also, ???-san is behind the sofa holding down her bck history.

  Serious-senpai: Hehe, should I tease her?

  Author: if you want to be turned into cream again, be my guest.

  Serious-senpai: I-I changed my mind.