Once I finally managed to take down the goblin, Hinata-san came rushing over.
"Takeo-kun, good work! Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. Good work to you too, Hinata-san! That was a nice heal and a nice buff!" I gave her a thumbs-up, making sure to acknowledge her hard work.
"Yeah, thank you. But... I'm just glad we won." Hinata-san looked visibly relieved.
Honestly, that goblin was powerful enough that it wouldn't have been surprising if we’d lost. Even for a Level 60, something about it was definitely off. In terms of the final result, it was a flawless victory, but the reality was that I probably would have died in a single hit if any of its attacks had actually connected.
『What the hell was with that goblin anyway?』 『For Leveling Junkie Bro to struggle that much, that’s more than just a Floor 20 mob—that’s boss-level, isn't it?』 『Is it a special variant like Divine Knight-san?』
"Probably so," I said, nodding at the viewers' comments.
I looked toward the five men still lying near the center of the room. Some had been blown back slightly by the shockwaves from the fight, but there shouldn't be any further damage to the bodies. Well, considering they had all been cleaved in half, I suppose the damage was already as severe as it could get. At the very least, our battle hadn't further mutilated them.
The goblin that appeared in this monster room was, in all likelihood, the same kind of creature as Divine Knight-san. In other words, a punishment monster triggered by discarding magic stones. If that was the case, the cause of the goblin's appearance was self-evident.
"Those guys might have been prioritizing efficiency like I do and throwing away magic stones while grinding the monster room..."
『No way!!...Is what I want to say, but...』 『You're the only one who'd do something that stupid!!...Is what I'd normally say, but...』 『Since the special variant goblin appeared before Junkie Bro even got there, I can't really deny the possibility.』 『But would they really do that on purpose after the association issued such a massive warning? Even Junkie Bro was holding back.』 『True.』 『Besides, if there were explorers capable of grinding a Floor 8 monster room enough to spawn a special variant, they'd definitely be famous.』 『Yeah, there's no way the internet wouldn't be talking about them.』 『I just did a quick search, and the only explorer who seems to be grinding monster rooms in the Shinjuku Dungeon is Junkie Bro.』 『Then who are those guys?』 『I think the footage will get pretty gruesome if the camera gets closer, but can we see their faces to confirm? If they're famous, someone will recognize them.』
Hinata-san and I instinctively traded glances at the comments. However, the answer was immediate. She shook her head in disagreement. Well, of course. Broadcasting human remains on a stream was a bridge too far, compliance issues aside. That held true even on DungeonTube, where death was occasionally captured on film.
"Hinata-san, can you make sure those guys don't show up on camera?"
"Um... yeah, I can. For now, I'll lock the camera on this side."
Hinata-san raised her right index and middle fingers toward the drone and gave a slight "come here" gesture. The drone camera immediately centered on her and stayed fixed. While drone cameras generally used AI to judge the best angles and camerawork, you could lock the camera onto yourself by performing pre-set gestures. As long as Hinata-san didn't stand directly in front of the remains, they wouldn't appear on the stream.
『I'm bad with gore, so that helps.』 『Me too.』 『Ah, Hinata-chan's lightly glistening skin, god bless.』 『Seriously, god bless.』 『That thin habit clinging to her body because of the sweat... seriously, bless up.』 『Her cheeks are flushed like she just finished "round one," god bless!!』
Suddenly, a flood of harassment comments erupted... well, even if the remains weren't clearly visible, the viewers were likely feeling stressed from the situation. They were probably just making crude jokes as a way to vent.
...Wait, isn't this just business as usual for them?
In any case.
"Hinata-san, I'm going to grab the drop items first."
"Ah, right!"
Before deciding what to do with the men, I collected the items the goblin had dropped and put them in my backpack. There were three items in total: a magic stone, a skill orb, and a steel sword. The magic stone was fine, but I wondered what skill was in the orb. I wouldn't know without getting it appraised.
Then there was the steel sword... The more I looked at it, the more it looked exactly like the one I'd used before getting the holy sword from Divine Knight-san. This one looked significantly more worn, but the construction and design were identical. It felt strange for a monster to drop the exact same type of sword made by human hands.
But... a steel sword, huh? It was clearly second-hand, so it probably wouldn't fetch much of a price. That meant the highlight of the loot was the skill orb. If it was a skill that increased my combat power, it would be great for more efficient leveling!
I finished collecting the drops quickly.
"Now then... Hinata-san, what do you think we should do?" I consulted her.
Regarding the remains, of course. It went without saying that if we left them here, the bodies would eventually be absorbed by the dungeon and disappear. That was a pitiful thought. It would be best if we could carry them all to the surface like we did with Goda-san... but there were five of them.
If we used the expansion bags provided by the association, I thought we could fit five people... but expansion bags weren't like those "sub-space" item boxes common in fiction. In short, the internal space was simply expanded; it didn't store things in a separate dimension.
If we put heavily damaged remains inside, the interior would end up a mess of blood and organs. We'd need cloth or something to wrap them in first. All we had were sleeping bags or a tent. And maybe some privacy cloth for the portable toilet. I doubted we could wrap all five of them with just that.
"Hmm..." Hinata-san thought for a moment, then looked up as she had an idea. "Why don't we consult Urara-san?"
"Urara-san?"
『Eh? Who's Urara-san?』 『Another explorer?』 『Is she cute? Or a beauty?』 『If she's cute, please introduce us!』
I ignored the comments for now and continued the conversation.
"Yeah. In a situation like this, you'd usually report it to the association, right?"
"...Ah, that's right!"
"Yes, it's something you normally have to report." I nodded with a look that suggested I knew that all along.
"But we're Special Crisis Case Explorers, so we have to report to our handler too, right?"
"...R-Right, I suppose so!!"
"Um... yeah. So, how about we report what happened here to Urara-san first and ask her what we should do? If the association wants to recover their bodies, they'll probably send a team... though I wonder if they'll make it in time."
"Send a team, huh? I see... but will that be okay? Won't they be absorbed by the dungeon while we're waiting...?"
No matter how you looked at it, I didn't think they could send a recovery team within minutes of a phone call. I worried that if an hour passed, the men would be absorbed by the dungeon.
However, that concern turned out to be unnecessary.
"I only looked into it a little, so I don't know the detailed theory, but..." Hinata-san began to explain the laws of how the dungeon absorbs objects. According to her, a condition for something to be absorbed within the dungeon was that "no person is nearby."
"Certainly... now that I think about it, I've never heard of someone's gear being absorbed by the dungeon while they were camping."
If everything was absorbed simply by the passage of time, it wouldn't be strange for your luggage, weapons, clothes, and even your shoes to be absorbed while you were sleeping. The reason we didn't end up naked or lose our equipment even after long dives was thanks to that rule. Besides, even when we left unwanted drop items behind, they never got absorbed right in front of our eyes. Come to think of it, it always happened when we weren't looking.
Wait? If that's the case, then maybe...!!
If someone is watching, the dungeon can't absorb it?
I shuddered at the brilliant flash of genius that had suddenly descended upon me. Am I a genius after all!? From now on, we might be able to install cameras in the dungeon...!!
『Huh~, so that's how it works.』 『As expected of Hinata-chan, so knowledgeable!!』 『Wait? If that's the case, couldn't you install two or more cameras and have them watch each other to set up surveillance in the dungeon? As long as someone is watching the footage through the camera, it should count, right?』 『Hah!? Are you a genius!?』 『The next Nobel Prize is yours!!』 『Wait, wait! Hinata-chan said 'when no person is nearby,' right? She didn't say 'when no one is looking.'』 『Eh? What do you mean?』 『Basically, even if you set up multiple cameras in the dungeon filming each other, it's pointless for a human to monitor that footage from outside the dungeon. If there isn't a person near the cameras, the dungeon will just absorb them normally.』 『They already did experiments on that in the early days of the dungeons.』 『Are you serious?』 『And here I thought I'd made the discovery of the century (；∀；)』 『Tough luck lol』
—!?
Are you serious... And here I thought I'd made the discovery of the century...!!
While secretly disappointed, I didn't let it show and nodded to Hinata-san.
"Then I'll try calling Urara-san."
"Yeah, please do."
I pulled out my smartphone and called Urara-san. After a few rings, she picked up.
"Hello, Urara-san, do you have a moment?"
『Takeo-kun? What's the matter? It's rare for you to call me from your end. I have time, though.』
"Actually, blah blah blah..."
『...Takeo-kun, I can't understand anything from 'blah blah blah.' Please speak proper English.』
That didn't work, huh.
I had no choice but to explain the situation from the beginning.
"We came to Floor 8 of the Shinjuku Dungeon today..."
『Right, that was the plan. I received a report from Mashiro-chan.』
"So, we came to the monster room on Floor 8..."
『...Please don't go to the monster room on a floor you're visiting for the first time as if it's the most natural thing in the world.』
"Well, once we got there..." I explained everything in order.
I told her about the people there before us. That they were dead. That inside the monster room, there was a single, peculiar goblin that seemed to have killed them. That we couldn't escape once we entered the room, so we were forced to engage it. That we somehow managed a narrow victory. And finally, I asked what we should do with the remains.
『A special variant...!? Again...!!』 Urara-san sounded stunned. Then— 『Um, I'll ask just in case, Takeo-kun... you didn't do something like leave magic stones behind in the Floor 8 monster room, did you...?』
No way... she suspected me?!
"No, no, Urara-san. Today is my first time coming here. That's impossible."
『Right... of course. Then, it wasn't your doing...』
"It wasn't." How rude. Honestly.
『Anyway, I understand the situation. The association wants to recover all five of the unidentified explorers. So, can you and Mashiro-chan wait inside the monster room without leaving?』
"Yes, that's fine, but... you mean you're sending help?"
『Yes. I'll request cooperation from explorers who can teleport to Floor 8. Fortunately, among the other Special Crisis Case Explorers I'm in charge of, there are people who fit that description. They should arrive in two hours at the earliest.』
"Understood. Then we'll wait."
『Yes. I'll hurry as much as possible, so please look after things!』
With that, Urara-san hurriedly hung up. I relayed the conversation to Hinata-san.
"She said she's sending reinforcements and wants us to wait here. They should arrive in about two hours at the earliest."
"I see. Let's wait here then."
"Right."
And so, we settled in to wait in the monster room for a while. With the immediate tasks out of the way and some free time on my hands, I opened my status to check my experience points. I already knew that efficiency was better when hunting large amounts of weak mobs rather than defeating one strong enemy, but I was still curious about how much experience that goblin was worth.
Well, if it's around 100,000, I'll be happy...
"Hmm...?"
When I looked at the experience column, I couldn't help but blink. Eh? No way... Why? How...?
No matter how many times I looked back, I wasn't misreading it. The numerical value was exactly the same as the last time I'd checked before entering the room.
In other words, experience points gained... zero.
"————"
Thud!!
"—Takeo-kun!?"
『Junkie Bro!?』 『What happened!?』
The shock was so overwhelming that I lost consciousness instantly and collapsed.
————————————————————
Information regarding the special variant collected by "Ai"
Report regarding the special variant that appeared in the Shinjuku Dungeon Floor 8 monster room on April 29, 20■■. The status information of the individual is recorded below.
【Name】■■ ■■ 【Level】『60』 【Race】『Goblin』 【Class】『Normal』
《HP》586/586 《MP》114/114 《Strength》328 《Constitution》258 《Intelligence》10 《Spirit》104 《Agility》328 《Dexterity》326
【Seed Skill】《Fool's Sword》 【Skills】《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv.Max》《Fighting Spirit Lv.Max》《Sword Aura Lv.Max》《Mighty Blade Lv.2》《Blood Vengeance Lv.Max》《Footing Creation Lv.1》《Life-Magic Conversion: Life Lv.Max》《Self-Healing Enhancement Lv.2》
《Footing Creation Lv.1》— Consumes 5 HP to create an aura plate that serves as a foothold for 1 second. The aura plate is fixed at the generated coordinates but will be destroyed if subjected to excessive impact. Size is a 20cm x 20cm square.
《Life-Magic Conversion: Life Lv.Max》— Can arbitrarily convert MP into HP. At Skill Level 5, the conversion rate is 10 HP for every 1 MP.
《Self-Healing Enhancement Lv.2》— For 1 hour after activation, HP recovers by 4 every 10 seconds in addition to natural recovery. Cannot be reused for 24 hours after use.
※ Note: Since this is a special variant generated with a "Fragment" absorbed by the dungeon as its core, the regeneration of the Seed Skill has been confirmed.
On the same day of appearance, it was subjugated by the party of explorers Takeo Samejima and Mashiro Hinata. Casualties were limited to the five explorers found on site.
Following the subjugation, the materialization of a Fragments Weapon and the materialization of experience resources were confirmed. The latter dropped as a skill orb. This marks the second Fragments Weapon possessed by the party in question.
There are still no signs of Awakening. Since both individuals have not reached Level 100, under the current environment, caution is required regarding Awakening below Level 100. It is believed that separate monitoring is necessary. Fortunately, as they have contact with No. 30, monitoring will be left entirely to No. 30 until signs of Awakening appear.