My head was spinning, but this was no time to stand around in a daze.
I lunged in front of the group and unleashed a massive horizontal swing at the endless swarm of Goblins surging from the stairs.
"—Hnnnngh!!!"
I combined a Great Flying Blade with Mighty Blade, the resulting shockwave disintegrating the dense cluster of monsters instantly.
I rushed toward the opening and peered down into the stairwell.
"—!!"
"Are you kidding me?" I groaned inwardly. It was a lament born of a cocktail of alarm, shock, and pure exhaustion.
Looking down, the long staircase was so thick with Goblins that it looked as if the steps themselves were moving.
"Hinata-san! High Heal!"
"—! You got it!"
The moment Hinata-san answered from behind me, I began firing one Great Flying Blade after another down the stairs.
The Goblins packed into the narrow space were sliced clean through, vanishing into particles of light—though even the Great Flying Blade couldn't reach the very bottom of the long descent.
It wasn't that the Flying Blade shattered upon impact with the Goblins. Most of the monsters climbing the stairs were Normal Goblins; I could slice through dozens of them without the blade's power diminishing significantly.
However, the Flying Blade would eventually strike a step, a wall, or the ceiling, shattering with a roar like an explosion and fading away.
Look, it’s actually really hard to send a projectile all the way down a stairwell without hitting something. The staircase was incredibly long, and reaching the bottom would require the kind of precision needed to thread a needle from ten meters away. That was well beyond my current skill level.
Still, while receiving Hinata-san's High Heals, I continued to unleash Great Flying Blades infused with Mighty Blade, slaughtering as many Goblins as I could.
After several minutes of constant bombardment, the number of Goblins rising from the depths finally began to thin. We had, at the very least, bought ourselves a moment of breathing room before they could reach our floor again.
That said, there was no telling when a second or third wave might come crashing in.
"Hinata-san, more are coming. Use a potion to recover your MP while you have the chance."
"Right, okay!"
I pulled several Mana Potions from my backpack and handed them to her. As she drank them, the explorers—the men and women who had been watching my back—finally spoke up.
"Leveling Junkie Bro, we can handle the rest here. Leave this to us and go upstairs."
"That middle-aged man isn't the only one. There are other terrorists, and they were tearing up the lobby earlier."
"They might have fled with that man by now, but..."
"He's a handful on his own. It burns to admit it, but we're no match for him. We need you to go, Leveling Junkie Bro."
"Also, if you find any other explorers with their hands free up there, tell them we need reinforcements!"
I considered their request for about three seconds.
I had no reason to refuse. These explorers were high enough level that they wouldn't be taken down by simple Goblins from Floor 1 or 2.
"All right. In that case—"
I dropped my backpack against the wall by the stairs, tucked three Mana Potions into my pockets, and stuffed the rest of the supply into an eco-bag to hand over to them.
"These are all Mana Potions. Use them."
"Are you sure? This is quite a lot..."
"I don't mind. I have plenty saved up, so don't worry about using them all."
"Thanks... We'll put them to good use."
After handing over the potions, I turned back to Hinata-san. She had finished her recovery.
For a moment, I wondered if I should ask her to stay behind while I fought that man. But given my combat style, fighting at full power meant consuming HP like water. I couldn't do this without her.
Feeling a pang of guilt, I spoke to her.
"Hinata-san, I'm sorry, but could you come with me?"
"Of course! We're out of Heal Potions, so you'd be in a real spot without me, wouldn't you?"
"Sorry about that."
I gave a small apology before adding, "The backpacks will just slow us down. Let's leave them here."
The pack filled with Magic Stones was incredibly heavy. If we were going to fight for real, we had to be light on our feet. Hinata-san nodded in agreement and set her bag against the wall.
Now unencumbered, we left the stairs in the explorers' hands and sprinted for the surface.
"All right, we're heading up!"
"Yeah, we've got this! Good luck, you two!"
"You too!"
We shared a quick nod and took off.
●◯●
We climbed the final flight of stairs and emerged into the hallway leading to the Shinjuku Branch lobby of the Japan Explorer Association.
Immediately, I knew something was wrong.
Distant shouts and the unmistakable sounds of combat echoed from the end of the hall. But that wasn't the only anomaly.
"Gugya?"
"Monsters... all the way up here!?"
Hinata-san gasped in surprise at the sight of several Goblins lingering in the hallway.
Had they managed to reach the surface before we teleported back to Floor 1?
No, I dismissed that idea instantly. Every monster in the hallway was an Armed Goblin—Thieves, Swordmen, and Warriors. The swarm we had just fought on the stairs was made entirely of Normal Goblins. Even if the lower-floor variants were making their way up, they should have been behind the first wave.
Which meant—
"No, Hinata-san. These guys probably spawned right here."
"Oh, right! Because they're carrying weapons..."
"Exactly. But they don't look too tough yet. Let's clear them out fast!"
"Gugyaaaaaa!!"
The Goblins noticed the sound of our approach and turned to attack. There were about seven of them in total.
I didn't even break my stride, cutting through them effortlessly as I charged into the main lobby.
Once inside, I froze.
"In here, too...?"
The wide lobby had been transformed into a battlefield. Benches that usually stood in neat rows were kicked over and smashed, and explorers were locked in combat with Armed Goblins all over the room. Scorch marks marred the walls—likely from explorer skills or perhaps from Goblin Mages that had "spawned" inside.
Fortunately, the terrorist middle-aged man was nowhere to be seen. He must have already left the Shinjuku Branch. Looking at the level of the explorers present, none of them would have stood a chance against him; it was a relief that he hadn't stayed to increase the body count.
"Takeo-kun, what should we do? Everyone looks like they have their hands full!"
Downstairs, the Goblins were still trying to break out of the dungeon. We needed more people to hold the line, but nobody here was in any position to offer reinforcements.
In that case, there was only one thing to do.
"Let's just wipe out these Goblins first!"
I took a deep breath and roared at the top of my lungs.
"Hey, Goblins! Over here!"
"Gugya?"
"Gugya!!"
"Gugyaaaaaaa!!"
I couldn't draw the aggro of every single monster, but about half of the Goblins in the lobby turned their attention to me. I wanted to finish them all in one go, but the lobby was too crowded with people to fire off Flying Blades recklessly.
I had no choice but to dive into the fray, ending them one by one in close-quarters combat.
Still, these were only Floor 3 and 4 variants, and there were fewer than twenty of them. I made quick work of the ones I'd aggroed, then jumped in to assist the other explorers.
In total, counting the ones I'd taken down, there were about thirty Goblins in the lobby. The fight was over in minutes.
"L-Leveling Junkie Bro!?"
"Leveling Junkie Bro is here!"
"Thanks, Leveling Junkie Bro!"
"You saved us...!"
"He's as strong as the videos say!"
The explorers I'd helped offered their thanks one after another. It seemed everyone just naturally called me "Leveling Junkie Bro" now. Honestly, being this famous was starting to get a little embarrassing!
I gave a polite, "I'm just glad you're safe," and was about to ask them to head to the Dungeon Gate when a voice called out to me.
"Leveling Junkie Bro!"
An Association Staff Member leaped over the counter toward me. Well, he didn't use my real name, but he was definitely talking to me. The man rushed over, his face pale with urgency.
"You've probably heard by now, but a Cooperation Request has been issued to all explorers under Article 5 of the Special Disaster Cooperation Act! We need you to come under our command immediately!"
Right, that thing. I nodded, showing I understood the situation.
"I know. But there are people still fighting in front of the Dungeon Gate. Monsters are overflowing from the dungeon... They're holding the line to stop them from reaching the surface, but I don't know how long they can last. They asked me to send anyone who's free."
"Understood. Since you've cleared the lobby, I can spare a few people to support them. Did you come up here specifically to tell us that, Leveling Junkie Bro?"
"No, we were asked to pursue the terrorist."
"Ah, that man... He was here a moment ago, but he fled outside the Association."
The staff member's expression turned bitter. As I expected, the middle-aged man had moved on. I’d heard there were multiple terrorists, but they seemed to have vanished as well.
"I heard there were others?"
"They all fled. Every one of them seemed to be a high-level explorer. We weren't able to detain them."
A group of high-level terrorists? This was getting complicated.
"So, what do you want us to do?"
"We'll handle the dungeon and the Association building. We need you two to handle Shinjuku Station."
"Meaning we should track down the terrorists in the station?"
"No, that's not it."
I blinked. It's not?
As I tilted my head in confusion, the man gave a brief, terrifying explanation.
"We've confirmed Goblins appearing inside Shinjuku Station as well. We've already deployed several explorers, but we're severely shorthanded. We need you two to eliminate the Goblins inside the station and rescue any civilians you find."
"..."
I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.
Goblins were appearing inside the station, too? Are you serious?