IGTL Chapter 47

Chapter 47 – Payback Comes Double by Default, Right? (1)

“…Huh, maybe I misheard you. What did you just say? Don’t tell me you were actually planning to turn down my proposal.”

Ahh, good.

So it had gotten through to him after all.

“Oh, or what? If I were the one clearing dungeons and swaggering up to you guys to snatch your items like they belonged to me, would you just laugh and forgive me?”

The moment I said that, Yuuki’s face twitched.

“Don’t give me that sophistry… If we want to meet Odin and free the people trapped in this game, we need the key item ‘Move Yggdrasil’ to cross between worlds. Now that the Yggdrasil Shop is gone, even you understand how rare that item is, right?”

“What, so you do get it. And you seriously thought that just because you gave me some spoken spiel about your noble ideals, I’d hand over something that rare? Anyone with DW experience should know this, but limited-use ‘Move Yggdrasil’ can still drop in mid-tier and advanced dungeons. Instead of begging other people for their stuff, why don’t you put in the effort to get a limited-use ‘Move Yggdrasil’ yourself first? That should be step one.”

Did this guy seriously not understand something that basic?

Ahh, right. Of course he didn’t. That was why he was doing this.

And judging by his adventurer rank, he was only C-rank. If I were going to hand it over to anyone, I’d still sooner give it to AAAA or Kyle than this clown.

“Ghh… I’ll let it slide for today. But I’ve memorized your face… You’d better be real careful not to lose that ‘Move Yggdrasil’ of yours!”

Twisting his face in frustration, Yuuki turned and stormed off, his cape fluttering behind him.

So that was the “Transfer Group,” the bunch happy about being transferred into this world of DW…

Yeah, they were seriously bad news. Mainly in the head and thought-process department…

Eh, whatever. For now, I’d just browse the quest board.

Hopefully there was something interesting posted…

While I stood in front of the board reading through quests, a strand of hair sticking up drifted into view.

“Uh, what do you want? I thought we were done talking earlier…”

“We are not done talking yet! The Vice Guildmaster requested a meeting with you, Lord Kakeru. Please, I’m begging you, come with me!”

Honestly, she was just getting in my way. What an annoying receptionist.

I really wished she’d stop bouncing up and down right in front of me.

I couldn’t see the board.

“Lord Kakeru!?”

“Ahh, fine. One minute. I’m leaving after one minute.”

“R-Really!?”

At my words, the receptionist broke into a smile.

“Yes, really.”

“Then I’ll go call the Vice Guildmaster right away!”

“Yeah, yeah. Have fun.”

I waved my hand lazily, and the instant the receptionist disappeared through the door, one minute passed.

“…All right, time to go home.”

I had told her I’d leave after one minute.

I hadn’t lied.

Nobody had said it was one minute after the Vice Guildmaster arrived.

While the other receptionists stared in stunned disbelief, I walked out of the Adventurers’ Guild and headed for the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil” to make my way to a dungeon.

“Man… there sure have been a lot more weirdos lately.”

Even back when DW had still been a game, there had been plenty of weird people around, but I didn’t remember them being this bad.

Once I reached the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil,” I opened the menu bar and selected the dungeon I wanted.

“Transfer. Desert Cradle.”

The moment I shouted that in front of the gate, blue light enveloped my body, and I transferred to the vast desert dungeon “Desert Cradle.”

The instant I arrived, the noise of the town I’d been in vanished, replaced by a low sound almost like the sand itself was singing, along with the cries of monsters.

This was the advanced dungeon “Desert Cradle,” better known as the “Cradle of the Desert.”

Scattered all around, away from the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil,” were funnel-shaped nests dug by ant-type monsters called Antlions, and it was said that all kinds of treasure slept inside those pits.

Well, in practice, the drop items from Antlions were basically the treasure, so in that sense it wasn’t exactly wrong.

Now then, why had I transferred to this dungeon? Because…

“Hey, hey. Mind coming out already? You looked like you had business with me, so I went out of my way to transfer somewhere secluded, all the way to an advanced dungeon.”

The moment I said that, several players emerged from behind cacti and rocks.

“…Heh. So you came to an advanced dungeon on purpose? As expected of an S-rank adventurer. I never thought you’d notice we were tailing you.”

“The paid gear ‘Mob-Fenrir Suit’ had a detection function too. If you were a fellow DW player, you knew that, right?”

Seriously though, these idiots had struggled in a mid-tier dungeon, so how the hell had they even made it into an advanced one? Had they been so blinded by anger they forgot basic self-preservation?

“True enough… Well, now that this world has become reality, it looked like nobody but you was crazy enough to wear that kind of mascot suit. But whatever. You really did make a fool of me back at the Adventurers’ Guild… I’m never forgiving you for that!”

“Oh? I didn’t really care whether you forgave me, but if you didn’t, what exactly were you planning to do?”

I asked out of idle curiosity, and Yuuki smirked as he pulled “Monster Respawn” out of Item Storage.

“Monster Respawn” was a paid item that caused monsters to respawn for a set amount of time. And if he’d taken that out, then…

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m gonna have monsters attack you, and once you’re battered half to death, I’ll collect ‘Move Yggdrasil’ from your corpse. Even you won’t be able to handle advanced-dungeon monsters forever. Don’t worry. We’ll watch from somewhere safe while you get pathetically torn apart.”

To think he was actually coming to kill me over that little exchange…

Was his brain not just a little too far gone?

Judging by his looks, he was Japanese, right?

I had just learned what the darkness in the hearts of internet people really looked like.

Maybe he still thought this world was just an extension of a game.

The moment Yuuki used ‘Monster Respawn,’ the ground turned red in a circle centered on him, and monsters started spawning one after another.

“…Now then, regret making fools of us!”

The instant Yuuki declared that grandly, light flared in the Elementals, and they began slaughtering the monsters rising from the ground one after another.

“Wh-What!?”

Ignoring Yuuki’s stunned expression, I just stared blankly as the advanced-dungeon monsters got butchered and dropped item after item.

As expected of the Elementals. They had no mercy. Even advanced dungeons were easy for them.

Still, that was fine.

Because what mattered was that I had just confirmed the Elementals were fully viable even in advanced dungeons.

“Wh-What’s going on…? Elementals were killing advanced-dungeon monsters? That’s impossible… They’re supposed to be support units for players at best, not something with that kind of power…”

Heh heh heh…

Apparently he had never spent the equivalent of five million yen in the real world to enhance his Elementals.

No wonder he didn’t know.

Even I had only grasped their true value after coming here and finally making full use of the Elemental enhancement goods piled up in My Room.

There was no way a regular person who hadn’t sunk that much time into DW would understand.

More than that, nobody sane was going to pour in five million yen of real money.

If I hadn’t already had it all stored in My Room, I probably never would’ve tested it either.

“Heh heh… You did just try to kill me. So naturally, there’s nothing wrong with me paying you back, right?”

With that, I used the paid item “Boss Monster Respawn,” and the ground turned red in a circle centered on me as boss monsters began spawning one after another.

Once I confirmed that, I put some distance between myself and Yuuki’s group.

“Y-You… what did you do!?”

He sure looked rattled.

Apparently he was weak against irregular situations.

“…What I just used was the paid item ‘Boss Monster Respawn.’ Lucky you. Now you got to fight boss monsters to your heart’s content… Don’t worry. I won’t do a thing. Do your best to survive.”

The moment I said that, the boss monster of “Desert Cradle,” Antlion Neo, appeared around Yuuki and his group, encircling them.

“A-Ahwahwahwah…!”

Yuuki’s adventurer rank was C.

There was no way he could possibly win.

“‘Grrrrrraaaaaaah!!’”

The Antlion Neo that had risen from the antlion pit turned its gaze toward Yuuki’s party and grinned like it was having the time of its life.

“…R-Run. Run! At our level, we can’t beat an advanced-dungeon boss monster! Fall back to the Transfer Gate ‘Yggdrasil’ immediately!”

But that desperate wish never came true.

“U-Uwaaaaaahhh!”

“L-Lord Yuukiiaaahhh!”

Without warning, the tentacles of Antlion Neo burst up from the ground and bound Yuuki’s companions.

“Y-Yamatooooo! Hyuugaaaaa!! Damn yoooou!”

Screaming, Yuuki charged straight at Antlion Neo.

But he was nowhere near high enough level.

He attacked Antlion Neo in an attempt to save the captured Yamato and Hyuuga, but his sword chipped, and he couldn’t even bring down a single tentacle. Then, standing before Antlion Neo, Yuuki turned to me and shouted.

“D-Do you even have a human heart!? Summoning a boss monster and making us fight it, there’s no way something like that should be allowed! Stop this right nowww!”

“Do you have any human heart yourself? I’m just paying you back double for what you tried to do to me…”

At that, Yuuki’s face twisted.

Then, perhaps realizing there was no point arguing with me anymore, he gripped his chipped sword and charged at Antlion Neo.

“U-Uwaaaaaaahhh!”

Gakiin!

“Ah…”

Obviously, there was no way a C-rank adventurer could stand against an advanced-dungeon boss monster.

With sheer terror written all over his face before the boss of “Desert Cradle,” Antlion Neo, Yuuki was sent flying by one of its tentacles and crashed to the ground.

Still, it had only been one tentacle strike. With the stats of a C-rank adventurer, he could probably survive it.

Looking around, I saw Yuuki sprawled on the ground after trying and failing to kill me with “Monster Respawn,” while two of his subordinates were still being constricted by the tentacles.

“Elementals. Protect those three.”

At my command, the Elementals moved in to guard Yuuki and the others.

“Well then, I guess it was time to hunt a boss monster for rare drops.”

The moment I muttered that, light flared from the Elementals, and a beam shot straight toward the head of Antlion Neo, the boss monster of “Desert Cradle.”