The preparations for the stream were complete, and Koya, Shiba-san, Daigo-san, and Ikezawa-san, the four of them, headed toward the sandcastle dungeon.
As the stream began, the figures of the four appeared on my computer screen.
The dungeon made of vast amounts of sand. Behind it stood a massive castle made of sand.
“Hello, everyone. This is Shiba from Shadow Stars. I apologize for the sudden stream today,” Shiba-san said.
Emergency stream? Something’s up!
What? What’s going to happen?
The viewers, unaware of the situation, watched the stream with great interest.
“Well, we received a bit of information… and we’re going on a treasure hunt,” Shiba-san explained.
A treasure hunt! That sounds exciting!
Sounds fun!
Shiba-san gave a very brief explanation. He didn’t need to go into details anyway.
“Alright, let’s head to the designated spot,” Shiba-san announced.
At Shiba-san’s signal, the four began to move. Ikezawa-san checked the location with a compass as they advanced.
“Oh, monsters already!” Koya said.
Koya drew his sword as a group of mummified monsters wrapped in bandages appeared before them.
The mummies charged at the group.
“Take this!” Koya shouted.
Koya swung his sword, and with a single strike, the enhanced sword cut through the mummies. The sword’s sharpness was better than his previous one, slicing through the mummies with ease.
“Whoa! This sword feels great!” Koya exclaimed.
He made no sign of rust after his break. Koya had likely been training consistently during the time they weren’t streaming the dungeon.
“Take that!” Daigo-san shouted, swinging his staff and smashing it into one of the mummies’ heads.
It was a modest hit compared to Koya’s sword or Shiba-san’s spear, but a sound like something breaking could be heard.
The mummy staggered, its steps faltering.
“Finishing blow!” Daigo-san shouted, slamming the staff into the mummy’s jaw.
Though Daigo-san was known for his magical power, he wasn’t weak in hand-to-hand combat with a staff either. His fighting style was versatile, probably because he had spent time dungeon diving alone in the past.
“This ends now!” Shiba-san said, spinning his spear rapidly and charging toward the group of mummies.
The mummies were blown away by the spinning spear, launched into the air and crashing to the ground, lifeless.
“Wow…” Ikezawa-san looked on in awe at the three’s impressive combat skills.
For monsters this weak, Ikezawa-san didn’t even need to provide buffs. Koya, Shiba-san, and Daigo-san had clearly grown stronger.
“I want to be able to fight in hand-to-hand combat too…” Ikezawa-san muttered to himself.
Well, if Ikezawa-san could fight in close combat, it would broaden their tactical options, but…
At this point, the team of Shiba-san, Koya, and Daigo was enough. There wasn’t really a need for Ikezawa-san to push himself into the front lines.
However, if Ikezawa-san really wanted to fight on the front lines, they’d need to think about getting him a suitable weapon.
Shiba-san looked around, scanning the surroundings, then focused on the ground as if deep in thought.
“Kaito-kun, I think it’s around here, but can you give me the exact numbers?”
“Oh, yes. It’s a bit off. It should be two meters north from here,” I answered.
“Got it. In that case, I want you to lead the way since you have the compass.”
“Understood,” Ikezawa-san nodded and began walking, checking the compass as they moved. The compass could measure the distance from the starting point and was used to locate the treasure.
“This is the spot,” Ikezawa-san pointed at the ground.
There were no signs of recent digging, which was a bit suspicious, but this was the place.
“Alright, let’s start digging,” Shiba-san said, pulling out a shovel.
Just then, someone spoke from the entrance.
“Hey, don’t move any further!” a voice shouted.
A group of masked people approached from the entrance. They were all wearing masks, so their faces couldn’t be seen.
They had knives in their hands, which they aimed at Shiba-san and the others, clearly showing hostile intent.
Who are these people?
Are they robbers?
A crime in a dungeon?!
Dungeons used to be places where crimes were committed due to their secrecy.
The mandatory dungeon streaming was implemented to deter such activities, but it seemed that some people still wanted to cause harm.
“That treasure, you can’t dig it up,” one of the masked figures said.
There were no filming equipment visible behind them, suggesting that these people were illegally entering the dungeon.
When entering a dungeon, all activity must be recorded on film. Violating that rule typically meant trouble.
“This is not good,” Daigo-san said, pointing his staff at the masked group.
“Seven enemies. Three front-line types. Two mid-line types. Two back-line types. No special abilities. From the weapons they’re holding, I don’t sense anything extraordinary,” Daigo-san analyzed, calmly.
If they were human, Daigo-san could easily discern their abilities.
Just like when he identified Ikezawa-san’s potential… he could tell that these were human enemies.
“Wh-what the hell is with you?” one of the masked figures shouted.
“You’re a mid-line type, leaning toward the front line. Your attack magic potential is growing. You’re just a muscle-head with that kind of fighting style,” Daigo-san observed.
It must have been frightening for the enemies to realize that all their information was exposed.
“You all regularly dive into dungeons, don’t you? You can’t fool my eyes,” Daigo-san added.
“Shut up! So what?!” one of them yelled.
“I can gauge your capabilities. I’m warning you. Turn around and leave. Seven of you, four of us. You have no chance,” Daigo-san said, provoking them.
One of the masked figures, enraged, charged toward Daigo-san with a knife.
“You bastard! I won’t forgive you!” the figure shouted.
But Daigo-san easily dodged the attack and struck the back of the masked figure with his staff.
“Ugh!” the figure collapsed, twitching, unable to stand.
“You bastard…! You’re gonna pay for that!” the other masked figures yelled, charging toward Daigo-san and the others.
“What the hell is wrong with these guys…?” Koya muttered.
“Koya-kun, you know what to do. They’re human. Don’t kill them,” Shiba-san reminded him.
“Right, Shiba-san!” Koya replied.
The fight erupted, and Koya swung his sword at one of the masked figures.
One of the masked figures threw a fireball from their hand, which Koya attempted to slice with his sword.
When Koya’s sword touched the flame, it absorbed the fire, turning the sword a fiery red.
“Alright! Absorption complete!” Koya grinned.
“Wh-what?! He absorbed my magic?!” the masked figure exclaimed.
It seemed that Koya had the ability to absorb magic with his sword. Not only could he absorb allies’ magic, but he could also negate enemy attacks by absorbing them.
In a one-on-one battle against magic users, this made him nearly invincible. It was a terrifying ability.
“Take this!” Koya shouted, swinging his sword.
“Ah!” the masked figure instinctively turned away.
In that moment, Koya swept their legs out from under them, causing them to fall.
“Ugh!” the masked figure cried out as they hit the ground.
Had Koya gone for a direct strike with his sword, it would have been an overkill. His blows were that strong.
It seemed Koya had used the feint to follow Shiba-san’s order not to kill.
“Dammit! These guys are strong!” the masked figure cursed.
“What should we do, boss? Should we retreat?” one of the others asked.
“Retreat? I can’t do that. There’s 10 million on the line!” the boss gritted his teeth.
Ten million… I’ve heard of that amount before. I had a feeling I knew who had hired these masked figures.
