The challenge was to find a way to keep Goblin Genocider active by utilizing the goblin knight Hinata-san had Charmed.
Even when it turned hostile under Hinata-san’s command, the state would break after only a few seconds. I wanted to extend that to at least ten seconds—ideally a minute.
I tried everything Hinata-san suggested.
For instance, we tried having us attack each other once. Unlike when only the goblin knight attacked, the intensity of the aggro shifted, keeping Goblin Genocider active for a few more seconds than before.
"Yeah, it looks like this is definitely the right direction," Hinata-san said with a nod.
It was still far from practical, but hope was certainly in sight. In short, we just needed to generate more aggro.
"All right, Takeo-kun, could you try activating Asceticism next?"
"Understood."
She wanted me to generate aggro using the Maximum Aggro from Mark of Death. I wondered if it would actually work... but when I triggered the skill...
"Huh?"
『Nothing. Not even a twitch.』
『LMAO, he’s getting totally ignored.』
The goblin knight just stood there as if waiting for Hinata-san’s next command, paying me no mind at all. Usually, a monster would go berserk and charge at me the moment that skill activated.
"Ah, I see...!"
Hinata-san seemed to realize something.
"This goblin knight might be flagged as an ally instead of an enemy. That’s probably why the indiscriminate Mark of Death isn't affecting it."
"I see..."
In modern dungeons, friendly fire was a common occurrence. However, certain skills automatically distinguished between friend and foe.
Take area-of-effect healing magic like Heal Circle or Area Heal, for example. Even if an enemy entered the spell’s range, they wouldn't be healed. The same applied to holy magic like Sanctuary, as well as Leadership and Goblin King’s Decree.
If Mark of Death operated on the same logic, it made sense that it wouldn't affect the goblin knight now that it was technically an ally.
"If Mark of Death is a no-go... Takeo-kun, could you try generating aggro with the Taunt skill?"
"Understood. Let's give it a shot."
I nodded and immediately focused my intent on the goblin knight, activating Taunt with a shout.
"—Stop acting tough and come get some!!"
Instantly, Goblin Genocider kicked in.
As expected of a skill specifically designed to generate aggro, the duration was longer than when we had simply traded blows. However, it still didn't even reach the ten-second mark.
At this rate, I wouldn't be able to use it in a monster room, let alone during a fight with trash mobs. The window was too short, and having my stats plummet at an unpredictable moment was far too dangerous.
"It’s no good..."
『Ah, I figured.』
『Well, I guess such a sweet exploit doesn't come along that easily.』
When Hinata-san first brought it up, I thought we were onto something... but reality was proving difficult.
"Hmm, but wait, maybe..."
However, as she watched the scene, Hinata-san began muttering to herself, deep in thought. Then she looked up, her eyes bright.
"Takeo-kun, I might have figured it out...!"
●◯●
Let’s start with the conclusion: Hinata-san’s experiment was a massive success.
Right now, even though I wasn't doing anything at all, Goblin Genocider remained active. I was timing it, and even after three minutes, the skill showed no signs of stopping.
"...It’s working. The skill isn't deactivating."
I reported the results to Hinata-san, feeling a bit dazed.
"Oh, thank goodness...!"
Hinata-san beamed with a happy smile.
What she had done was actually very simple. She had given the goblin knight a specific order:
"Recognize Takeo-kun as a threat and remain constantly on guard. However, you are forbidden from attacking or harming him in any way."
That was it.
As a result, I was constantly being targeted with aggro and warily watched by the goblin knight. Goblin Genocider interpreted this state as "being in combat with a goblin" and triggered the buff. And this state had already persisted for over three minutes.
Most likely, it would stay this way as long as Hinata-san didn't retract the order.
To think that simply "ordering it so" would be enough... It was truly a case of the obvious being right under my nose.
I was curious, so I asked her how she realized it.
"Well... even when you used the Taunt skill, the goblin knight didn't attack, right? And before that, when you both attacked once, it didn't keep going... so I thought that maybe, because Takeo-kun is in a party with me, he isn't fundamentally an attack target for it."
In other words, the goblin knight wouldn't target me for an attack unless she specifically ordered it to.
"I thought that was why the combat state was being canceled so quickly."
"I see, I see."
"And the goblin knight seems to follow orders quite faithfully, so I thought if I ordered it to stay alert toward Takeo-kun indefinitely, it would."
"That makes perfect sense."
And when we put it into practice, it worked exactly as she hoped. Meanwhile, the viewers seemed just as stunned as I was.
『No way...』
『It can really be that simple?』
『Seriously, this makes Goblin Genocider a total free-for-all...!!』
『Th-That’s such a cheat...!!』
『The utility of killer-type skills just shot up again!!』
『But wait, you can't do this without a tame-type skill like Hinata-chan has, right?』
『Eh? Is this really a tame-type skill?』
『Dunno, but probably? Is there any other skill that fits?』
『Aren't tame-type skills undiscovered? Wouldn't Charm or something be able to do the same thing?』
『Hinata-chan’s Charm... wait, wasn't that a skill from the Beguiling Beauty title?...What does Beguiling Beauty even mean?』
『It means she’s sexy.』
『Then yeah, that’s totally possible...!!』
Since the viewers were starting to analyze Hinata-san’s skills and were dangerously close to the truth, I hurriedly spoke up.
"Well then! Let’s see if we can actually use this in the field! I want to see if I’m affected by Mark of Death in this state! Also, we need to check what happens to the experience points!!"
『Hm? Come to think of it, true.』
『If Mark of Death affects it, that’s Maximum Aggro. It might ignore Hinata-chan’s orders and go on a rampage.』
『Another downside might be if experience points are split with the goblin knight.』
『Even so, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs, but if it’s the Leveling Junkie Bro, he’d probably ditch the goblin knight if it stole his XP, lol.』
Good, I successfully diverted the topic!!
However, what I said was true—we needed to verify those points.
And so, we began the validation.
First, regarding the influence of Mark of Death. Just in case the Maximum Aggro caused the Charm to break and made the monster attack me, I activated Asceticism to check. It hadn't done anything earlier, but I thought being in a state of hostility might change things.
My fears were unnecessary.
"...It’s not attacking."
"Yeah, you're right. It doesn't even look like it’s... struggling to follow my orders while being affected by aggro."
The goblin knight remained perfectly still, showing no signs of charging. It seemed it wasn't affected by Mark of Death at all. If it had been, the tactic would have been too difficult to manage, so this was a relief.
"Next, let’s see what happens with the experience points."
"Okay."
With Hinata-san still controlling the goblin knight, we went to find other monsters to fight. We repeated the process several times to gather data.
In the first battle, I fought normally, and only I attacked the monster. In the second battle, we had the goblin knight participate in the attack. In the third battle, the goblin knight didn't attack but focused on protecting Hinata-san. We deliberately let a monster get past me and had the knight block its strike.
The results were as follows:
"It looks like the experience points aren't being split."
"Looks that way."
Whether it was because the monster was controlled by Charm or if all monsters were naturally like that, the goblin knight didn't absorb any experience points in any of the scenarios. Normally, if an explorer not in your party helped in the second or third battle patterns, the experience points would be distributed, but our gains didn't decrease at all.
That confirmed there was no experience point split. I was relieved that no XP would go to waste, but the viewers seemed strangely disappointed.
『No experience point distribution, huh...』
『That’s a shame. If the tamed monster leveled up, it might have gotten stronger...』
『The dream of raising the ultimate tamed monster...』
Apparently, that was how they felt.
Well, I could understand the sentiment. I had spent a lot of time on monster-raising games like Pokémon and Dragon Quest Monsters back in the day, so I understood the romance of breeding the strongest creature.
However, considering the specifications of modern dungeons, that was likely impossible anyway. For one, Hinata-san’s control over the Charm would break the moment she left the dungeon, and monsters died if they were taken outside. Besides, taking a monster out was dangerous and prohibited.
Even though Hinata-san could use her skills on the surface now, maintaining them outside incurred costs that weren't necessary inside the dungeon—specifically, a constant drain on HP and MP. On the surface, the recovery speed for both was extremely slow, making it impossible to sustain the cost indefinitely.
Therefore, keeping a monster under control for long periods was currently impossible. In that sense, the fact that controlled monsters didn't level up was actually a benefit. I couldn't exactly leave a high-level monster wandering around every time I left the dungeon.
『But with this, Goblin Genocider will stay active indefinitely...』
『He can use Goblin Genocider even against orcs...』
『What even is Goblin Genocider anymore...?』
At any rate, this was going to make the conquest of Floor 11 and beyond significantly easier.
"All right, let’s head back to Floor 11!"
Next, we would finally test this against the orcs. The damage multiplier wouldn't change, but the effect of doubling my stats was massive.
With that in mind, I turned back toward the staircase plaza to use the teleportation circle.
"Takeo-kun? Where are you going?"
"Eh? Where...? To the teleportation circle, of course."
"Um... I’m sorry."
"Yes?"
For some reason, Hinata-san looked incredibly apologetic.
"I don't think we can teleport to Floor 11 while bringing the goblin knight along."
"Ah."
『Whoa! That’s right!!』
『If you have a tamed monster, you can't use the teleportation circles!!』
『Wait... isn't that a huge disadvantage?』
Now that I thought about it, she was right. There was no way the goblin knight had registered the destination in the teleportation circle on Floor 11, which meant we couldn't travel that way in this state.
In other words, to use Goblin Genocider from here on, we would first have to control a goblin knight on Floor 7 and then travel to the deeper floors on foot without using the teleportation circle.
To be honest, it was a significant drawback for dungeon conquest... but since all the top explorers, including Headshot Yakuza, had reached Floor 20—and potentially Floor 30—without the help of teleportation circles, it was certainly doable. More than anything, the burden of not having Goblin Genocider active was much greater than the effort of walking.
And so, I ran back to Floor 11 as quickly as I could with Hinata-san on my back. Since Goblin Genocider was constantly active, the trip was actually quite easy. The goblin knight followed us without a word of complaint. Even after running such a long distance, it didn't even seem winded; you’re a truly excellent fellow.
Only...
"......"
"Takeo-kun, is something wrong?"
As we ran, Hinata-san noticed me frequently glancing back at the goblin knight.
"No, it’s nothing..."
I replied, but internally, it was really eating at me.
The goblin knight was still wary of me. It was directing its aggro toward me. That gaze and intent manifested as a cold hostility that made my skin prickle.
Traveling with an ally who treats me like their mortal enemy... it’s actually pretty depressing!!