About an hour had passed since we entered the dungeon.
We were still in the middle of the forest.
According to Saito-san, who had scouted the area from above, there was a plain outside the forest, and beyond that were some low mountains... but man, is this dungeon huge or what?
The forest we were in now seemed to be far larger than Floor 1 of any normal dungeon.
We had been trekking through this forest in a large group for about an hour, but so far, the monsters that had appeared were all weaklings that usually showed up on the shallowest floors of regular dungeons. There were a ton of them, though.
Regardless, for a group where everyone was over Level 40, they weren't even worth calling a proper fight.
While we stayed alert, our guard naturally started to lower... and that was when a monster that actually looked the part finally appeared.
"Hmm. It seems the real show begins here."
"Blade Horns! Everyone, stay on your guard!"
The Professor and Saito-san called out.
Looking ahead, six giant deer monsters had appeared, staring at us with eyes devoid of emotion.
—Blade Horns.
They were monsters that appeared on Floors 9 to 10 in dungeons where animal-type monsters spawned. Their maximum level was usually 30. They looked almost like moose, but the shape of their horns, which jutted sharply forward, was vastly different from a regular moose. True to their name, they were shaped like giant, sharp blades. And in fact, they cut very well.
The Blade Horns before us had massive bodies that surpassed even a bull moose. Based on that, I could tell that if converted to levels, they were clearly over Level 30.
Perhaps because they resembled familiar animals, their abnormal size stood out even more. Surprised comments from the Viewers began to scroll across the drone feed.
『Wh-Whoa, they're huge?!』 『They're so big it's almost gross.』 『They're bigger than a Hiace or some other van, lol.』
In the next instant, the six Blade Horns each made their move. Their entire bodies were shrouded in a red aura. It was Fighting Spirit. Then, their horns were enveloped in a blue aura. Surprisingly, it was Sword Aura. Yes, it turned out that those horns were treated the same as swords in terms of skills.
"Here they come!"
"It's a slash!!"
Three of the six swung their horns wide on the spot.
Crescent-shaped slashes flew from the trajectories carved in the air by their horns. Those were blocked by the ones in the lead: the Professor, Saito-san, and Kurage-chan-san.
Meanwhile, the remaining three kicked off the ground and leaped high.
『Wha?!』 『They jumped?!』 『What's with that movement?!』 『Crap!!』
And then, despite their massive bodies, the great deer leaped nimbly, using the trunks of the giant trees as footholds. They repeated their jumps one after another, beginning to move freely through the forest with three-dimensional maneuvers.
Even in normal dungeons, monsters might use walls to perform irregular maneuvers, but there were probably no examples as prominent as this. It seemed the forest was where they could truly demonstrate their full potential.
I was certainly surprised by this movement—but in the end, they were monsters that appeared below Floor 10. For us explorers, who all operated below Floor 10, they weren't enemies to be overly wary of.
One of the three fired a Flying Blade from overhead toward Mayurin-san and the others, then plummeted down after it.
However, both the aura slash and the Blade Horn's massive body stopped dead one meter above Mayurin-san's head. It was Mayurin-san's Barrier Magic. The aura slash shattered against the colorless, transparent barrier, and the Blade Horn stopped, unable to break through.
Mayurin-san must have used the barrier to bind it there. The Blade Horn's giant body was fixed in the air in an unnatural posture.
Mayurin-san gave orders to Tamaki-san and the others.
"Now's your chance, you mobs! Finish it off while I have it bound!"
"Who are you calling a mob?!"
"I'm seriously going to punch you one day, okay?!"
"I'm sure the public would forgive us...!!"
While Tamaki-san and the others grumbled, they attacked the mid-air Blade Horn with swords, spears, and bows. For the record, Tamaki-san was equipped with a sword, Ashitaba-san with a bow, and Hondo-san with a spear!
Their attacks passed through the barrier and hammered the Blade Horn unilaterally, defeating it in no time.
Seriously, Mayurin-san's barriers are way too lawless. This is just a cheat.
Meanwhile, the remaining two that had attacked with three-dimensional maneuvers through the forest—one went for Hyakka Ryoran, and the other went for the Dungeon Pickup-Artist Association.
The Blade Horn that attacked Hyakka Ryoran also fired a Flying Blade from overhead and plummeted down after it.
In response, one of the members of Hyakka Ryoran swung a greatsword to fire their own Flying Blade, neutralizing the Blade Horn's attack. The Blade Horn's body continued its fall, attacking another member.
Based on its size, it probably weighed nearly a ton. Such a massive creature was slamming down its front hooves with the added momentum of the fall. Normally, you'd be flattened.
However, the person holding a greatshield over their head took the Blade Horn's strike head-on. The hooves collided with the shield, letting out a booming sound like an explosion.
But contrary to most expectations, that person was not flattened.
『Wha?!』 『They stopped it?!』 『No way, right?!』
The thick arms holding up the shield bulged. Legs like logs, peeking out from a lovely frilled skirt, braced firmly against the ground. Though the knees were certainly bent, they did not yield to the Blade Horn's extreme weight.
For a moment, the Blade Horn remained in the air, using the shield as a foothold.
Perhaps because it had been caught unexpectedly, the Blade Horn couldn't move immediately. However, the members of Hyakka Ryoran, being high-level explorers, weren't about to miss such an opening.
A Flying Blade from a greatsword, an aura arrow fired from a greatbow, an aura spear fired from a thrust spear, and an aura shockwave released from a giant mace that could only be described as a block of iron—all of them converged on the mid-air Blade Horn from all directions.
In an instant, an explosive sound roared.
The giant Blade Horn took those attacks and was blown to smithereens like a bursting water balloon.
Flesh and blood that had been a Blade Horn just a moment ago danced through the forest.
『Eek』 『Sooo strong』 『Scary』
As expected of their strength. The way they accurately neutralized enemy attacks, blocked them, and hammered them as a group felt exactly like a group of hunters.
And—one remained.
The last one that had attacked the Pickup-Artist Association was—
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!?"
Turning my gaze away from Hyakka Ryoran, I saw the members of the Association being blown away. At the same time, a tremendous roar echoed, sounding as if a meteor had fallen.
What on earth happened?
Looking over, the Blade Horn that had fallen where the Association members were was clearly different from the other individuals. For one thing, the color of the aura shrouding its entire body was different. It wasn't the red of Fighting Spirit, but the blue of Mind Concentration.
In other words, that individual used magic.
And I quickly realized what kind of magic it had used. I didn't know which party's drone was filming it, but the Viewers' comments told me what had happened.
『Wait?!』 『Lightning Magic?!』 『Why?!』 『Could Blade Horns use Lightning Magic?!』 『There's no way!!』 『They're not even supposed to have magic skills in the first place!!』
The Blade Horn shrouded its entire body in lightning, and after floating several orbs of lightning around itself, it began to fire them.
A Blade Horn, which originally wasn't supposed to have any magic skills, was using Lightning Magic.
Meaning—
"A Special Variant?!"
"You've got to be kidding?!"
"Why is one here?!"
Faced with the sudden appearance of a Special Variant monster, even these veteran explorers seemed mostly bewildered and surprised.
However, without sparing a single glance at their surprise, the Special Variant Blade Horn began firing lightning bolts all over the place.
The members of the Association and the members of the Jet-black Fallen Angel nearby were blown away by the lightning strikes, or they were hit by the lightning and paralyzed, stiffening in place.
But as the Blade Horn gathered lightning into its sharp blade-horns to deliver a follow-up attack to the paralyzed people, slashes and magic flew at it from the surrounding area.
To avoid them, the Blade Horn leaped—but,
『So fast?!』 『Wha?!』 『What is that speed?!』
It evaded the explorers' attacks with movement far faster than the other individuals who had been using Fighting Spirit.
Continuing to kick off the tree trunks, it repeated its jumps and movements above our heads.
As it did so, the lightning-shrouded great deer began to rain down lightning strikes from above us. The explorers either blocked them or ran around trying to escape. The people within the attack range didn't look like they could transition to a counterattack immediately. So—
"—Hinata-san, I'm going in for a bit!"
"Yeah, be careful!"
I decided to move.
Well, if I left it alone, someone among this group would surely defeat it, but that wasn't a reason for me not to act.
Besides, I was a little curious.
About the Special Variant Blade Horn's experience points!!
『Is he going?!』 『Leveling Junkie Bro!!』 『Go get 'em!!』
I shrouded my entire body in a Fighting Spirit aura, then activated Sword Aura, Asceticism, and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds before leaping.
『Wha?!』 『He's using that method too!!』 『This guy, he's copying it!!』 『Wait, can you even copy that?!』
I leaped and landed on the trunk of a giant tree, then used it as a foothold to repeat my jumps. In other words, I was mimicking the Blade Horns.
With the status of a high-level explorer, I could do this much easily.
Using three-dimensional maneuvers with tree trunks as footholds, I chased after the Blade Horn that continued to move quickly.
From below, Saito-san called out a warning in a loud voice.
"—Be careful, Junkie-niki-dono!! That one's magic is no ordinary Lightning Magic!!"
"Understood!!"
While I shouted back, I had already sensed that it wasn't ordinary Lightning Magic.
I didn't have Lightning Magic, but I did have Silver Lightning Magic. Except for whether it was effective against monsters or not, the properties of Lightning Magic and Silver Lightning Magic were almost the same. That was exactly why I knew what Lightning Magic could and couldn't do.
Actually, Lightning Magic couldn't enhance one's status the way a Magic Shroud could. Lightning Magic was strictly an attack magic, not support magic.
And yet, this great deer was shrouded in lightning and moving with incredible speed as if it had received support magic.
It was plain as day that this was impossible with ordinary Lightning Magic.
Well, even so—it wouldn't do any good to be overly cautious. And at this level of speed, there wasn't much need to worry.
I kicked a tree trunk, leaped, leaped, and leaped again.
"————!!"
The great deer must have found my high-speed pursuit annoying. It stopped its attacks on the explorers below and kicked a tree trunk to sharply change its course.
Clang-clang!! With a few jumps, it reversed its direction. It came charging straight at me at high speed.
In response, I also kicked a trunk and leaped, plunging straight toward the oncoming great deer.
In my field of vision, the great deer's figure grew larger by the second. Lightning was coiling around the approaching deer's blade-horns.
Immediately after, a chill ran through my entire body, and my vision turned red.
It was Danger Sense-sensei.
A prediction that lightning would fire from the deer's horns at a speed that couldn't be evaded. Moreover, I was in mid-air and couldn't dodge suddenly. However—
"I was waiting for that!!"
I absolutely knew it would do that.
An attack exactly as predicted. And if Danger Sense-sensei told me the timing in advance, I could evade it even if it was an attack that felt like the speed of light.
Just before it actually released the attack, at a timing where it could no longer cancel it—I kicked the air and changed my course.
—Footing Creation.
Using an aura plate generated in the empty air as a foothold, I took an evasive trajectory to the left of the charging great deer. The lightning strike that flew exactly as Sensei had predicted pierced through the space where I had been a moment ago, accompanied by the sound of the air bursting.
Meanwhile, after changing my trajectory and jumping, the deer and I crossed in mid-air—and at that moment,
"Hah!!"
I swung my sword toward the deer's giant body.
The blade was out of reach. So, I poured 5 HP into my Sword Aura, extending the aura blade.
A great blade of aura. With Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds and various other skills, my damage multiplier had risen to a mere 19.2x. Thinking back to my battles with Specific Individuals until now, it was a pathetically low number.
However, the great deer must not have had any defense skills. The aura blade passed through its body without any resistance.
The bisected massive frame fell toward the ground in a parabolic arc—
『Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!?』 『I knew he'd win, but!!』 『A one-shot on a Special Variant?!』 『Wait, was Leveling Junkie Bro always this strong?!』
As I also kicked a tree trunk and landed on the ground, those comments burst out from several drone cameras that were filming me.
Looking around, all six Blade Horns had been defeated. Besides the three that had attacked us, the Professor and the others had apparently finished off the rest in an instant.
Anyway, that was the end of the battle—hm?
Did anything drop—EXPERIENCE POINTSSSSS!!?
『Leveling Junkie Bro?!』 『What's wrong all of a sudden?!』 『Is this the famous Leveling Junkie Bro Ina Bauer?!』