The Metasla, which had been attempting to flee the scene, came to a halt deep in the passageway and turned back toward us.
Once it had gained that much distance, its combat status with Cheetah Mask and the others should have been completely deactivated. Now I didn't have to worry about the precious Metasla’s experience points being siphoned off by them.
If that was the case, the only thing left was whether I could actually defeat it.
"Hinata-san, support, please!"
"Ah... o-okay! Roger!"
I called out to Hinata-san, who had been staring blankly at the battle between the Metasla and Cheetah Mask's team.
She didn't disappoint. Even while Cheetah Mask and the others were fighting, she hadn't neglected to prepare for the possibility of their defeat. Her support magic was cast even faster than the Metasla could close the distance.
Or rather—surprisingly, even at this stage, was the Metasla still struggling against the Maximum Aggro of my Mark of Death?
Even that Goblin in the Floor 8 Monster Room hadn't been able to resist it. Was its will to escape really that strong? Or perhaps its Spirit stat was playing a role. It was common knowledge in games that magic didn't work on Metaslas, so there was a high possibility its Spirit was just as high as its Constitution.
Regardless.
"Here I go, Takeo-kun! —Holy Bless!"
Immediately after, a divine white light enveloped my entire body, and I felt a distinct sensation of power welling up from deep within.
—Holy Bless.
『Eh!?』 『Wait, what!?』 『Holy Bless!?』 『If that's Holy Bless, does that mean Hinata-chan learned Divine Magic!?』 『Did your skill finally evolve, Hinata-chan!?』
Yes, it wasn't the usual Bless. It was Holy Bless.
After several days of farming Floor 8 of the Shinjuku Dungeon, Hinata-san had actually acquired Divine Magic, the evolution of Holy Magic!
We had tested the effects beforehand, but this was the first time showing it off to the viewers. For reference, here was Hinata-san's status as of the end of our exploration on May 5th.
―――――――――――――――― 【Name】 Mashiro Hinata 【Level】 38 Experience Points to next level: 3,658,470
《HP》 95/95 (26 up!) 《MP》 280/280 (60 up!) 《Strength》 30 《Constitution》 65 (26 up!) 《Intelligence》 175 (40 up!) 《Spirit》 105 (20 up!) 《Agility》 70 (10 up!) 《Dexterity》 124 (24 up!)
【STP】 0 【SP】 0
【Skills】 Intermediate Healing Magic Lv. 5, Mind Concentration Lv. Max, Fleet-footed Lv. 3, Charm Lv. 2, Divine Magic Lv. Max, Life Magic Lv. Max, Fire Magic Lv. 5, Holy Fire Magic Lv. 1, Saint Lv. Max, Healer Lv. Max
【Titles】 Beguiling Beauty, Saint ――――――――――――――――
With the 6 SP gained from leveling up, Hinata-san had put 1 point into Healer to max it out, and she used the remaining 5 points to raise the newly unlocked Divine Magic to its maximum level all at once.
Also, as you can see, her Intermediate Healing Magic was now capable of evolving into Advanced Healing Magic. Since her current healing output was already more than enough, we had decided to put that evolution on the back burner.
On a different note—do you remember when I was previously convinced by the cheat-like nature of the Saint skill, thinking, "With this, Saint Bellwood should definitely be able to advance to the lower floors with a harem party"?
To be precise, it wasn't just because the combination of Bless and the Saint skill was powerful. With just those, it would still be difficult to lead a party down to Floor 20 and beyond. Even though it buffs all stats, Bless originally only provides a buff of 10, and even with the Saint skill, it only becomes 20. You can add more with equipment, but since the base is low, it doesn't make a massive difference.
But what if the original increase was much larger? Naturally, the benefit from the Saint skill would grow accordingly.
What I truly thought was a cheat wasn't the basic Bless combo, but the combination of Holy Bless and the Saint skill, which Bellwood also used frequently in her videos.
The effect is: "Increases all stats except HP and MP by (10 × Skill Level) for five minutes." Unlike Bless, the MP required for activation isn't fixed; it’s 10 × Skill Level. This meant that casting a Level 5 Holy Bless consumed 50 MP.
However, in Hinata-san's case, the Saint skill allowed her to activate it for only 25 MP, and the effect was doubled. To be exact, including the effects of her equipment, it was 2.88 times.
In other words, that increase was 50 multiplied by 2.88... which equaled 144.
Now that's a cheat!
As expected of a cheat title skill on par with Hero or Sage. Hinata-san's brokenness knew no bounds.
And my status, after receiving that cheat-tier support magic, looked like this:
―――――――――――――――― 《Strength》 455 《Constitution》 410 《Intelligence》 160 《Spirit》 205 《Agility》 410 《Dexterity》 213 ――――――――――――――――
This was my state with Seeker, Asceticism, Indomitable Spirit, Fighting Spirit, and Berserk all activated. I was also using the Bracelet of Technique, though it was only a drop in the bucket. My Intelligence was lowered due to the side effect of Berserk, and all my stats were further reduced by ten percent due to the Frailty effect of Asceticism.
Of course, since the enemy wasn't a Goblin, the Goblin Genocider title wasn't active. Since I had fully recovered my HP during our break, Blood Vengeance wasn't active either.
Even so, look at those stats. I was strong. I was certain of it.
Incidentally, the Metasla’s level as calculated from the increase provided by Indomitable Spirit was Level 60. It was the same level as that Goblin from before, but my prediction was that it should be easier to defeat.
The reason was simple—the Metasla and I had perfect, albeit one-sided, compatibility!
"First, a testing blow!"
The Metasla, finally unable to resist the Maximum Aggro, spun in place like a wheel, kicking up a dramatic cloud of dust. In the next instant, it shot out at high speed as if propelled by a spring.
It built up momentum and leapt with a heavy thud. It dove straight toward me like a cannonball. Unlike the attacks the Animal Gorenger members had faced, this one had plenty of momentum, making it incredibly powerful. If it hit me head-on, it wouldn't just deplete my HP; for someone like me without any defense skills, death would be unavoidable.
『Here it comes!!』 『Dodge it, Leveling Junkie Bro!!』
But I didn't evade. I met it head-on.
I swung my sword down from a high overhead guard and unleashed a Flying Blade through Sword Aura.
The damage-increasing skills riding on that strike were Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons, Mighty Blade, Slime Killer—and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds.
Specifically, it was a strike unleashed from 455 Strength with a multiplier of 2 × 12 × 1.2 × 3... a total of 86.4 times the original damage!
The result was—
"Nhooooh... Haaah... Aaah... Ooooh!!!!!"
My body twitched in ecstasy.
『Eh!?』 『Wha—!?』 『Wait, what!?』 『Hold on, seriously!?』 『Hey, where did the Metasla go!? Did it run!?』 『No! It didn't run; it was vaporized by that strike... right!?』 『No way!?』 『That easily!?』 『The Animal Gorenger hit it with so much and it was perfectly fine!?』 『N-No, maybe it was already near death from their attacks...!!』 『Even so, to do it in one hit is just insane...!!』 『Wait, Leveling Junkie Bro said "First, a testing blow!" before he attacked, didn't he!? Why did you kill it in one hit!!?』
The Metasla had been vaporized by a single Flying Blade strike.
It seemed that even the Metasla couldn't withstand an 86-times multiplier attack. Or, as the viewers suggested, its HP might have already entered the red zone from the Animal Gorenger's efforts.
But none of that mattered!
I didn't even need to look at my status to know. The moment I defeated the Metasla, a colossal amount of experience points flowed into me! It wasn't enough to level up, but it was an unbelievable amount—far more than I'd get from clearing the Floor 8 Monster Room in the Shinjuku Dungeon even once.
It was a massive amount, unbelievable for a single monster.
What's more—
"The Metasla's sixteen-fold experience points... it feels so gooooooood!!!!!"
Since those already massive experience points were being multiplied by sixteen, of course it felt amazing!
『Hah?』 『Eh?』 『No... what!?』 『Leveling Junkie Bro, hey!!』 『What do you mean, sixteen-fold experience points!?』 『I suspect...』 『No, this definitely means he used Seeker and Asceticism!!』 『So it’s sixteen times due to the effects of Seeker, Asceticism, and Awakened One!?』 『You... you!! Weren't you watching the Animal Gorenger’s fight!? That wasn't the kind of opponent you could just toy with!』 『Wait, wait, wait!! Toying with it might be bad... but he won in a single hit while toying with it!?』 『It seriously looks like a Critical Hit just erased the Metasla!!』
Toying with it? That wasn’t right.
This was a Metasla I might never meet again. There was no way I could waste those precious experience points! Therefore, using Seeker and Asceticism to maximize the gain was just common courtesy for a leveling fanatic!
This was a serious duel with experience points on the line!
...Or at least, that's what I would have argued if I wasn't busy basking in the afterglow.
"Eh, one hit...?"
"You've got to be kidding..."
"...Maybe I should just quit being an explorer."
Cheetah Mask and the others seemed to be muttering something, but I ignored them.
Before long, as the pleasure receded, I finally opened my status and checked the experience points I had gained. The Metasla’s experience points, increased by sixteen times, were—
"Fwah!? 24 million experience points!?"
I couldn't hide my surprise at the sheer volume. If I got 24 million... that meant the base was 1.5 million per person. Since the value was split with Hinata-san, it meant the Metasla’s total experience points were 3 million for a single kill.
Wasn't that just too incredible?
『Eh? 24 million experience points?』 『Does that mean the Metasla’s total experience was 24 million!?』 『Wait!! Leveling Junkie Bro said it was sixteen times, right!?』 『Which means the original was 1.5 million.』 『Even 1.5 million is a lot! Since they're in a two-person party, that means the Metasla’s total experience was 3 million, right!?』 『3 million!?』 『Isn't that possibly the highest for a single monster?』 『So the Metasla was still a Metasla even in a Modern Dungeon...!!』 『It’s a shame it's a special variant. If these spawned normally, leveling would be so efficient.』 『No, you might have forgotten because Leveling Junkie Bro defeated it so easily, but this was an opponent that fellow Special Crisis Case Explorers couldn't even scratch. Most explorers wouldn't stand a chance.』 『Now that you mention it, that's true.』 『But now that the Metasla has been subjugated, Sladan will finally return to normal.』 『I couldn't get in because of the level restriction, so this helps.』
I see. There was only one Metasla. That meant this was the end. No seconds for me.
While it was disappointing, and I probably could have earned more points by farming Shinjuku Dungeon all day, I was still satisfied. There was just something about a Metasla that felt like a dream.
In fact, 3 million experience points was exceptional. Even with a Floor 20 boss monster, such a high value was unheard of.
I had distinctly felt Slime Killer activating, so the Metasla was definitely a Slime species. And at level 60, unless its Class Value was an incredible figure like 10,000, these points would have been impossible... yet as far as we knew, no such monster existed.
Was it special simply because it was a Metasla?
Thinking this, I walked over to where the monster had vanished and looked for a Magic Stone, but...
"Hmm? The Magic Stone... is missing?"
"Takeo-kun, what’s wrong?"
"Hinata-san, I can't find the Magic Stone."
"Eh? Really? I'll look for it too."
Even after both Hinata-san and I searched the area thoroughly, there was no sign of a Magic Stone, let alone any drop items.