The members of Shadow Stars advance deeper into the dungeon.
As they walk cautiously, a wolf-like beastman monster appears in front of them.
“This is a werewolf… quite a troublesome opponent,” Shiba says, readying his spear and glaring at the werewolf.
“Everyone, stay on guard!” he warns.
: This is a pretty strong monster.
: I can’t believe there’s such a vicious monster in this dungeon.
“Heh. Leave it to me!” Koya says, drawing his sword and charging at the werewolf. The werewolf quickly evades Koya’s attack with agile movements and circles behind him.
“Wha… so fast…!” Koya exclaims.
The werewolf attempts to slash Koya with its claws. This is bad…!
A loud clang rings out. Shiba’s spear deflects the werewolf’s claw attack.
It was a close call. If Shiba’s reaction had been even a moment slower, Koya might have taken damage.
“I told you not to let your guard down,” Shiba scolds Koya in an angry tone.
“S-sorry!” Koya apologizes.
“Be more careful from now on,” Shiba warns.
The werewolf retreats a few steps, then assumes a quadrupedal stance. It bends its knees and suddenly leaps forward with incredible speed.
“Ugh…” Shiba reacts just in time, but the werewolf’s wind pressure causes Ikezawa to fall onto her backside. The werewolf continues its charge towards Shiba.
“Take this!” Shiba yells, slamming his spear into the ground and using the recoil to leap upwards.
Moments later, the werewolf lands where Shiba had been just a second before.
If Shiba’s evasive move had been even a moment slower, the attack would have hit.
Shiba leaps higher, positioning his spear downward, aiming to impale the werewolf.
However, the werewolf is not so easily caught and quickly retreats.
Shiba’s attack misses, but he lands safely on the ground.
“The opponent is too fast; it’s hard to land a hit,” Shiba says, grimacing as he holds his spear.
Despite the intense battle, neither side has taken damage.
The werewolf’s speed is evident, as it has managed to hold its ground against four people this long.
“I’ll finish this with my ultimate move!” Koya declares confidently, gripping his sword. He looks at Daigo, as if prompting him to use magic, but Daigo shakes his head.
“The enemy is too fast. If magic doesn’t hit, it’s pointless. We can’t afford to waste energy unnecessarily,” Daigo explains.
Using magic consumes energy, and wasting it now could mean being unable to use magic when it’s most needed.
Daigo refrains from using magic to avoid squandering even a small opportunity.
“S-such… then, what should we do…?” Koya asks in frustration.
Koya was at a loss. From his position as the frontline fighter, the werewolf must have been a difficult opponent for him.
Koya’s ultimate move certainly had tremendous power, but it was meaningless if it didn’t land.
In the end, he had been completely outmaneuvered by the fast werewolf and couldn’t do anything.
: Is Shadow Stars really struggling against just one monster?
: They should just rush in, ready to take the hits.
The comments started to say such things.
Since they weren’t the ones taking the hits, they said whatever they wanted.
“Shiba-san. I’m going in!” Koya announced.
“Huh? Koya-kun?” Shiba asked.
Koya charged at the werewolf, lowering his stance and slipping into its reach.
He grabbed the werewolf’s waist tightly and restrained it.
“I’ve got it!” Koya declared.
“Roooar!” The werewolf howled, struggling to break free from Koya’s hold. It slashed Koya’s back with its claws.
“Ugh…!” Koya grunted.
: Koya took a hit!
: But he’s a frontline fighter, so he should be fine, right?
Koya’s clothes tore, and blood began to flow from his back.
It looked painful to watch. Even though Koya was a frontline fighter with high defensive capabilities, the werewolf’s attack still seemed to hurt him.
“Ugh… what are you doing…! Take this!” Shiba shouted as he stabbed his spear into the werewolf’s throat.
“Grrr!” The werewolf received a fatal blow, but it wasn’t dead yet.
To finish it off, Daigo cast a lightning spell at the werewolf.
“This is the end!” Daigo shouted.
The werewolf was electrocuted by Daigo’s magic and collapsed, lifeless.
“Haah… haah…” Koya, who was bleeding from his back, was panting and kneeling down.
“Koya-kun! That was reckless!” Shiba said, applying a bandage to Koya’s wound.
“S-sorry,” Koya apologized.
“You didn’t need to go that far to defeat it. The werewolf is fast, but its stamina isn’t that great. If we had dragged it into a longer battle, we would’ve landed a hit eventually.”
“Is that so…?” Koya asked, a little surprised.
It turns out, the werewolf was an opponent that could have been taken down with a more standard approach. However, it was still a troublesome foe because it would drain the team’s stamina.
“Really… being reckless…” Shiba muttered.
“Shiba-kun. It doesn’t seem like Koya-kun will be able to continue with us like this. Let’s call it a day for today’s exploration,” Daigo suggested.
“Yeah, I agree,” Shiba responded.
After finishing Koya’s first aid, they decided to leave the dungeon.
Thus, the stream ended.
: They didn’t coordinate well this time.
: If they knew the strategy, Koya might not have done something reckless.
◇
After the stream ended, Koya went to the hospital for treatment.
The doctor said it was a wound that would heal in a few days. Though it looked like his back had been pretty badly torn…
It makes me wonder if dungeon streamers’ bodies are toughened by the dungeon’s magical energy.
Well, I’ll let Koya rest until he fully recovers.
A few days passed. By now, I thought Koya’s condition would be getting better.
I decided to call Koya.
“Koya? How are you feeling?”
“Oh, Eito-kun. The wound is closed, but…” Koya replied.
“Ah, that’s good to hear. Are you going to be able to come back soon?”
That was good news. After all, health and life are the most important things.
If Koya recovers safely, that’s all that matters.
“Yeah. I want to get back soon, but… I feel a bit feverish… seems like I caught a cold.”
“Hey, are you alright? Did you go to the hospital?”
“Hmm… I think I’ll be fine if I just sleep for a while.”
I’m worried. Koya tends to do reckless things.
“By the way, Koya. What’s your temperature now?”
“When I checked earlier, it was 38.7°C.”
“That’s pretty high. It’s not just a cold, you should go to the hospital right away.”
Despite having such a high fever, Koya didn’t seem to be in much pain.
His voice still had energy. It didn’t seem to be the kind of cold that affects the throat.
“Anyway, Koya. Everyone’s waiting for you to get back. Rest up and get better, so you can show us your healthy self soon.”
“Rest or hurry up—what is it?” Koya replied.
“Take it easy. And go to the hospital, alright?”
“Okay.”
With that, I hoped he would be alright.
I thought Koya would recover in a few days, but it seems like it’s going to take a little longer for him to get back to normal.
Well, if it’s a sickness, it can’t be helped. There’s nothing we can do about bad health.
If you’re not in top shape, even a small problem in the dungeon can lead to death.
There are those who say that poor self-management causes these health issues, but even if you manage yourself well, some people just catch colds due to their body type.
It’s pointless to blame someone for that.
