About ten minutes after leaving the safe zone, we encountered another group of explorers wearing grim expressions. There were five of them in total—two men and three women—who looked to be around college age, making them slightly older than us.
I offered a polite nod as we approached.
"Hello."
"Ah, yeah. Hello," the leader replied. He was a refreshing young man, and he seemed a bit taken aback as he looked our way.
He glanced at us briefly, then spoke with a hint of hesitation. "Are you guys... planning to keep going down this path?"
"Yes, we are. Is something wrong?"
"I see..." He sighed. "Then let me give you a word of advice. If you're heading this way, you'd better be careful. There were slimes back there just now."
"Slimes, you say?"
"Yeah. We ran out of anti-slime gear, so we decided to turn back and look for a different route."
"I see..."
Slimes, huh? For us, they were a low-risk enemy that could be defeated easily, but for ordinary explorers, they were a nightmare. Their grim expressions made perfect sense. If you tried to cut them down with a normal blade, the slime would dissolve the weapon on contact, leaving it ruined.
In the early days of the dungeons, explorers went through the massive trouble of using liquid nitrogen or flamethrowers. Nowadays, since it was known that a slime would die if you crushed the nucleus at its center, those heavy-duty methods were no longer common. However, the problem of weapons being dissolved remained. Most modern explorers simply carried disposable blades purchased from 100-yen shops or hardware stores specifically for dealing with slimes.
The trouble was the reward. Slimes dropped almost nothing but Core Crystals unless you hit a rare drop. While that might have been profitable during the early days of the public release, current market prices made slime hunting a losing game for most explorers.
"If you don't have anti-slime weapons on you, you should probably turn back too," the leader suggested.
"Thank you for the warning. But we're okay. We haven't run into any today, so we still have our anti-slime gear ready."
"Oh... I see. I guess my advice was a bit uncalled for, then?"
"Not at all. Thank you for the heads-up. Knowing exactly what’s waiting for us ahead is a huge help."
"Right. Well, good luck then."
The leader let out an embarrassed, self-deprecating chuckle. His companions began smirking and whispering as they watched him. I realized then that I’d made a bit of a social blunder. He’d tried to play the role of the helpful senior looking out for the novices, only to find the "novices" were actually better prepared than his own group. It was a pretty awkward situation for him.
Unsure how to fix the mood, I scratched my cheek with my index finger and looked toward Yuji and the others for support. Yuji and Hiiragi-san just shrugged their shoulders, while Mika and Saori-chan looked away entirely. Hey, come on, help me out.
"Ah, um... would you like to come with us?" I asked, trying to smooth things over by inviting the leader, who was now being teased by his own friends.
The young man shook his head.
"No, I’ll pass. I appreciate the offer, but suddenly teaming up with strangers creates too much tension. We wouldn't be able to coordinate like we usually do."
I understood his logic. In an online RPG, forming a party with total strangers was common. Even if levels, player skills, and items varied, the basic character system was universal. A quick explanation was enough to grasp a stranger's role.
Reality was different. Explorers were the characters themselves. Even with identical equipment, individual skill levels varied wildly. It was becoming common sense among explorers that a party wouldn't function without prior coordination training outside the dungeon. It made sense when you thought about why the police or the military standardizes training for their personnel.
"Understood. Thanks again for the heads-up about the slimes."
"Don't worry about it. Sorry we couldn't be of more help. Stay safe."
"You too."
The leader walked off, playfully nudging his smirking friends as they went. It was a brief encounter, but I’d managed to make things very awkward.
I let out a long breath, then turned to the "traitors" who had abandoned their friend in his moment of social crisis. I fixed them with a resentful glare.
"You guys... a little help back there would have been nice."
"I mean, what were we supposed to say?" Yuji asked.
"Exactly," Hiiragi-san added. "You were already rubbing salt in the wound; did you really want us to deliver the finishing blow too?"
"Onii-chan..." Mika muttered, looking away.
"Onii-san..." Saori-chan echoed.
I was supposed to be the one criticizing them, yet somehow, I was the one being lectured. I mean, I knew my response had accidentally embarrassed the guy after he gave us good advice, but still. A little follow-up would have been appreciated.
As I sulked, Yuji clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
"All right, all right. Let's drop the subject. Is that okay, Daiki?"
"...Yeah."
It wasn't a topic worth dwelling on. I sighed and looked back at Yuji.
"Anyway," Yuji continued, "we’ve accidentally gained intelligence on the monsters ahead. So, what do you two want to do?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Mika asked.
"Are we not going forward?" Saori-chan added.
They both looked blindsided by the sudden question.
"You two know about the characteristics of slimes, right?" Yuji asked.
"Y-yeah. At least the basics..." Mika said.
"Yes. We studied them in the manual for the exam and saw them on the news..." Saori-chan replied.
"Then, knowing what you know, do you two want to fight slimes right now?"
The girls fell silent, looking down at the spears in their hands. Defeating a slime meant damaging the weapon. Since they were both in debt to me for their gear, they were understandably hesitant to engage an enemy that would likely ruin it. It was a tough question to answer honestly after Yuji’s framing.
"In this case, they aren't enemies we absolutely have to defeat," Yuji pointed out. "We could take a detour and find another path, just like that other group did."
Mika and Saori-chan looked up, surprised. The idea of retreating hadn't even occurred to them.
"So, what's the plan? Do you want to push through and fight the slimes?"
"..."
"Well, even if you skip them now, they’re enemies you’ll eventually have to face as long as you’re diving into dungeons," Yuji added, his eyes narrowing. He was deliberately cutting off their escape route. After saying they didn't have to fight, he was now implying that they should.
Mika and Saori-chan exchanged a silent look for a few moments, then nodded to each other before turning back to Yuji.
"Could we avoid the slimes and take a different route this time?" Mika asked.
"Heeh... you sure? Like I said, you'll have to fight them sooner or later. Wouldn't it be better to get the experience now while we're here to support you?"
Yuji spoke in a flat, cold voice, fixing them with a sharp, intimidating gaze. Mika and Saori-chan shrank back, looking genuinely frightened by his sudden change in demeanor, but they steeled themselves and spoke up clearly.
"I-I do think it's important to gain experience while you're here to help us, Yuji-san. But I don't think it's right to force a fight while ignoring the fact that our equipment is totally unsuitable! Right, Mika-chan?!"
"Y-yeah! If we know what's coming and we know our gear isn't right, then we should avoid the fight if we can! That's the better choice!"
"..."
The two stood their ground, waiting for a reaction from the silent Yuji. Five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen. A heavy, suffocating silence filled the corridor.
After about thirty seconds, Yuji’s face suddenly broke into a wide, satisfied grin.
"You pass."
" "Huh?" "
The girls looked utterly bewildered by his sudden change in tone.
Yuji turned to Hiiragi-san and me, still looking pleased. "Daiki, Hiiragi-san. It looks like these two can keep their heads and argue their point even when someone's trying to intimidate them."
"So it seems," I said. "I was worried they’d just buckle under the pressure and say they’d go."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "If you misjudge the situation just because you're being pressured, you're going to get hurt. Especially in a dungeon, you have to be able to make your own judgments. Though, Hirose-kun, don't you think you laid on the intimidation a bit thick?"
"No way, Hiiragi-san. That was a light version, trust me."
As we talked, Mika and Saori-chan finally found their voices.
"Eeeh?! What's going on?!"
"Were you... were you testing us?!"
Mika sounded confused, while Saori-chan looked like the pieces were finally falling into place.
Once they had calmed down, Yuji explained his reasoning.
"That other group gave us a perfect opportunity to test your situational judgment. We knew what was waiting for us ahead."
"Situational judgment..." Mika repeated.
"We know exactly what gear you have," Yuji said. "We knew you didn't have the right equipment to face slimes head-on. I wanted to see if you'd let a party member—in this case, me—pressure you into making a bad tactical decision. Walking into a fight knowing you lack the proper tools is a mistake, plain and simple. Right?"
Mika and Saori-chan looked like they were caught between being impressed and being annoyed.
"When you’re in a dungeon and the battles are going well, your adrenaline spikes and you can lose track of your actual status," Yuji explained. "In those moments, if you can’t make a calm judgment without being swept away by the 'vibe' of the group, you’re going to get seriously hurt. Momentum is great, but only if you actually have the means to handle the threat. Overconfidence against monsters will get you killed."
The girls looked struck by his words. When they’d first considered the slimes, they’d probably only been thinking about their weapons breaking. The idea that a lack of proper equipment could lead to a catastrophic failure and injury hadn't been their primary concern.
"To keep everyone alive, it's vital to be able to voice an opposing opinion, even if it feels like you're throwing cold water on the group's excitement. You two didn't give in to my pressure; you gave me a reasoned argument for why we shouldn't fight. A lot of people can't do that."
It was a common trait for people to just go with the flow of the room. But in a dungeon, that could be a death sentence. The girls had held their ground.
"So, like I said, you both pass. I'm glad to see you can judge a situation and speak up even when the 'atmosphere' says otherwise. Right, guys?"
"Yeah," I agreed.
"Definitely," Hiiragi-san said with a nod.
Mika and Saori-chan both let out long, weary sighs.
"Geez, don't scare us like that. I was actually terrified when Yuji-san started glaring at us," Mika complained.
"I thought my heart was going to stop!" Saori-chan added.
"Sorry, sorry," Yuji said with a light bow. "It was just too good an opportunity to pass up."
Hiiragi-san and I watched the three of them and shared a wry smile.