Gyu-ru gyu-ru.
The twisted space pops into a sphere the size of a super ball.
I hand it over to Aki-kun.
“Whoa, this really has a whole landscape of fields inside… Kasuya, you… well, whatever. Not the time to complain, is it?”
“Ah, um, sorry about that.”
“Kasuya-kun, by the way, can you store regular items in this?”
“Ah—probably not the items themselves, but it should be able to store the place where they were left…”
I’d better keep quiet about the item storage room.
Snow-san should be chasing after the Curse Brotherhood.
Revealing my true identity here wouldn’t be ideal.
A grand stage at the climax is more fitting for that.
“Oh—this makes us the most advantageous, doesn’t it? But, before that, let’s confirm, Kasuya-kun, you’re hiding that gift, right? If we use this gift, we could probably… no, definitely come in first. But it would become harder to keep the gift hidden. So, what do you plan to do—”
“Ah, let’s just use it normally.”
“…Huh? Were you listening?”
“Yeah.”
“…Kasuya-kun, are you sure about this?”
Huh, what’s with Snow-san too?
Sure, standing out too much can be a hassle, but right now, I’m “Kasuya Takihito .”
Not a Curse.
I’ll do what I can as one of the faction members.
This is my role as Kasuya Takihito , after all.
I’m no longer just a background character.
I am the cover for a man aiming to become the strongest villain, the Curse.
I have to fulfill my role properly.
“Ah, right. Then, once we gather the monster materials, I’ll store them with my gift and aim for a high score. Does that sound good?”
“…Yeah, haha, Kasuya-kun, you’re still kind of scary.”
“Eh, why?”
“Because I can never tell what you’re thinking. Well, I don’t mind, but it’s going to be tough for Snow-chan, huh?”
“H-Haru-chan, stop saying weird things!”
Yeah, they’re getting along well.
That’s a good thing.
“Alright, well, our plan remains unchanged. Let’s aim for the second level.”
“Agreed!”
I can still sense the presence of other teams behind us.
It seems many have chosen to head for the second level.
But this is…
“This isn’t a good situation. There are too many people gathered in one place.”
Ah, so it’s just as I thought.
Yeah, I should let them know.
“Snow-san.”
“What is it, Kasuya-kun?”
“They’ll probably come soon. Please stay on guard.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll warn Aki-kun too. Aki-kun, they’re probably coming soon.”
“…? I don’t sense anything yet.”
“Oh, no, we’re already surrounded.”
“Huh? What are you—”
“Aahhhhhh!!!”
““““““!?””””””
A scream, from behind.
“GEROOOOOOOOOOO” “GYAHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI”
From behind, the laughter of monsters and the scent of blood.
The glimmer of magic, the screams of boys and girls.
“Ah—they’re getting attacked from behind.”
“GEHI”
Emerging from the darkness are goblins.
But they’re not the weaklings we beat down earlier.
These are hulking figures, clad in armor and wielding massive clubs.
Goblins with bodies over three meters tall.
“Hobgoblins…!?”
“No way, those are monsters from the second level… but we’re still on the first, right?”
Oh, this is good—monsters that shouldn’t be here. An unexpected situation.
“Dungeon crawling wouldn’t be fun without surprises like this.”
“Kasuya, sir?”
“Snow-san, it looks like all the other classmates have already fled. What do we do?”
“…Aki, everyone, can you handle this?”
Though taken aback by Snow-san’s words, everyone nods in agreement.
Alright, this is our team’s first real fight. The earlier one doesn’t count.
Let’s show them a perfect, controlled battle!
