Lonely Attack on the Different World (WN)

Day 88 – Morning, White Weirdo Inn

I expected the morning to begin with a sermon, but it was payback! Both my arms were pinned by Armored Pres-san's legs, and both my legs were tangled up by Dancing Girl-san's. The Highschool Boy was entwined by smooth, wet tongues. Payback disguised as Service has kept me in a loop of continuously rising only to fall again. In many ways, an unescapable morning side-mission for a Highschool Boy. This mission might be way too impossible for a Highschool Boy even? Doing my best to get even at night, leads to a payback in the morning, an endless cycle of revenge with damage that even for Max lvl 『Regeneration』to can't keep up. The Highschool Boy is going down. The cause of defeat is clear. If only it hadn't been Cheerleader-san… (thud)

(Sex King is back to sleep?)

It's a refreshing morning. I feel like something happened before that refreshing wake-up, but hey, it's a nice morning, so whatever? I'll think about revenge later.

「Good morning, I guess?」

「「「「Good morning! And stop guessing, what else can it be~?」」」」

For breakfast we have sandwiches, pork-cutlet sandwiches, mushroom salad, and mushroom soup set up buffet-style. Amid the commotion, I work on updating the Geeks and Idiots equipment. There is nothing fun in Looking at men's armor, but I make required adjustments.

「How's this? I mean, the contents aren't exactly worth protecting, so this should more than enough, right? Besides, even if I add 『Abnormal Status Resistance』 the contents are already abnormal, so does it even matter? Maybe I should just do a test cut and confirm fatality rate?」

「Hey! Do a safety check, not a fatality check!」

「Fa-fatality check? Aren't you basically just looking for an excuse to kill us?!!」

「Also, stop pointing the World Tree Staff at us! It ignores physical defense, so we'll die even in armor!」

「Gh… Your sacrifice will not be in vain. (serious glare)」

「「「There was a Traitor among us!」」」

「Well, I'm a shinobi, so I don't wear armor, you know?」

Such an ugly argument. Still, when I handed over a set of lightweight shinobi armor with a smile on my face, he bolted… As expected of a ninja. But I can see him with 『Rajingan』 so let's just snipe him.

「I give up, give up! No way! A test cut means you're testing the sword, not the armor, stop it before you kill someone!」

「But hey, wouldn't you feel uneasy if we didn't test it? Like, how many hits until you die? I figured maybe I could kill you once as a trial run?」

If we don't know how far the armor can hold out, we can't entrust our lives to it. Therefore, we must test it. All right, let's do it!

「If you kill me once, there won't be a next time! Because I'll be dead!」

「For maybe you are really motivated to kill us!」

「Testing it makes us uneasy actually, it's instant death for us!」

「Right, right. Three people should be enough for testing?」

「「「Stop betraying us already!」」」

The moment our eyes met, the Idiots bolted. At least their sense of danger sense is sharp. I thought I'd try the Geeks, but they're not letting me, too bad. Oh well, we can do a field test in the Dungeon; I'll just sneak up and kill them from behind.

From early morning, everyone hurriedly donned their gear. It's necessary preparations to protect their own lives for those heading into the battle.

「Ah~ my greave, this one's the right leg」 「Hold on, my shin guard slipped」 「Hey, don't pull! My spats are coming off」 「Someone grab that gauntlet, please」 「Eek! Who just patted my butt?!」 「Uh-oh, it's digging up somewhere dangerous」 「Huh? Did my bra get tighter? Up we go」 「「「Oh, really.」」」 「Wait, where'd my sword go? Come out, come out?」

The plump Spats Girls were gearing up; looks like a hassle. The guys looked hassled too, but I ignored them. Come on, that stuff isn't that hard. The one making this gear has it far worse. That's the real torture, a Highschool Boy purgatory!

Today the girls are scheduled to train the Frontier Army and the Royal Guard. An official request came from Meripapa-san. For some reason, I don't have to go, apparently I'm not helpful, and my style just confuses the troops? And if Armored Pres-san's team trains them from the start, their morale will shatter irreversibly? So Merimeri-san specifically requested the girls.

Since apparently there would be some sort of a resentment if only the guys got the day off, we are now doing a test run of the lower levels with only the boys, going as far as they can, and if it gets dangerous, push even further to see what happens. And if things get really bad, go even deeper. That's the plan for today. In the worst case, we attack from behind, sandwiching the boys with the monsters, and try how that goes.

To be honest, unless we go that far, these clowns probably won't die even as a single party. I mean, if things get hairy they just run away. Or they might just head back if they simply get 『a bad feeling about this』.

「All right, spread out.」

「「「Got it.」」」 「「「Roger.」」」

They're masters at not getting killed. The Idiots naturally inclined to do whatever the enemy hates, and the Geeks who endure until the moment they can win.

「Oda, flank them!」

「Understood. Going right.」

And now, after tasting real kill-or-be-killed combat, the Geeks have changed: they aren't just fighting to defeat enemies, they are fighting to kill them.

Instead of using barriers only for defense, they are using them to trap and corner enemies, or as weapons to rip them apart. Those four alone took up two normal barriers, and one holy barrier, and barrier ninjutsu, pretty much all barrier-type skills from the white room. Their defenses were already solid, but when start weaponizing those barriers, they turn into real Cheat abilities. An invisible shield is a ridiculously dangerous weapon.

On the 81st floor, the Idiots are cornering 「Arms Mantis Lv 81」while the Geeks pin them between barriers and crush them, or form a thin, narrow barrier at the base of their necks to slice their heads off guillotine-style.

「Next one, crush it.」 「「「Got it!」」」

Arms Mantis have six arms: not only two scythe-arms, but also two with spears and two with swords. The name sounds like it implies something, not sure if it's 「Arms」 for multiple weapons, or for multiple arms, but these mantises are being farmed. Against Idiots, whose instinct is to do whatever their opponent hates most, the mantises could only flail their weapons while being slaughtered. When a mantis thrust with its spear, they grabbed the shaft, yanked, broke its stance; the instant it planted a leg for balance, they sliced that leg off. As the mantis toppled, they rammed a sword into its neck and flicked upward, sending the head rolling. If it tried to slash, they lured it and hit from the side; if it held position to counter, they pegged it with a spear throw and crushed it before the fight could even start.

「How many times do I have to tell you that those throwing spears are halberds, and the thing you keep chopping with is a boomerang? Honestly, I'm starting to think the mantises have higher IQs. I mean, a mantis face actually does look smarter than yours?」

They twisted and swayed, parrying scythes, deflecting swords, evading spears, using their armor itself like a shield yet never blocking outright, always redirecting. With sturdy armor that didn't hinder movement, every action grew more efficient. The attacking mantis would find its weapon diverted, its stance broken, and then get countered. The Geeks, meanwhile, angled their barriers to deflect blows and crush mantises, turning defense into simultaneous offense instead of blocking first and striking later. Actually, the perfect models for how I should use my shoulder-shield are the Idiots' trick of skimming weapons off their armor, and the Geeks' angled-barrier guard. Still, I somehow really hate the idea of learning anything from them! I mean, one of the idiots lopped off all six arms off one mantis, grabbed it by the neck from behind, and now uses its body as a shield while charging forward. They're total villains!

Armed with weapons that can reliably finish off enemies and wearing armor that shrugs off most hits, they fought with plenty of margin. They avoided risky moves, forced the fight into their advantage, and trapped enemies. With the savage hunting style of the Idiots and the ambush-kill specialization of the Geeks, they cleared all the way to the 88th floor without a hitch. On the 89th floor… Ah, they ran.

「「「Haruka-kuun, help! That one is a nope, looks bad!」」」

「「「「Harukaa, it's all yours! Later!」」」

…They ran away! Incredible instinct, win decisively when you can, run the moment things look bleak. They won't fight if the odds don't swing their way. They won't fight without definitive chances to kill the enemy. Even Hedgehogs wwere startled when those guys suddenly bolted. 「Venom Hedgehog Lv 89」 a spiky critter with poisoned quills loaded with various debuffs, and it also has Resistance Nullification.

Purely by probability a Lv 89 with Resistance Nullification + Abnormal Status inducing poison has a very low chance of proc on Lv 100 with Status Ailment Resistance gear. But if they fire those fine needles in a volley, some could slip into the armor; and as low the chance may be, you can't completely rule out the possibility of it getting poisoned.

And if it also has Penetration, you can't guarantee a barrier will stop it. When cornered they'd fight, but if escape is possible, they flee, and if they can shove the problem onto someone else, they will. Which is exactly what they did to me! The moment I thought, 「Great enemy, I'll help the hedgehogs from the back and pinch them」they escaped! A terrifying danger-avoidance instinct. Never underestimate a bullied kid's sixth sense, or a prey animal's.

(Jiiggle-Jiiggle)

Well, Slime-san is happy since it was bored, so whatever. Whether it's intuition, gut feeling, spiritual sense, pure instinct, Geek precognition, Idiot divination, or cosmic radio waves, if it allows one to avoid danger, it's a talent.

「The Geeks and Idiots could clear those under five minutes. Give it ten minutes and they could probably win no-damage taken, but if things went wrong, like catastrophically badly wrong, about as terribly wrong as their heads they might die. Although the chace is slimmer than miraculous?」

(Nod-Nod, Nod Nod, Jiggle-Jiggle)

If even that one-in-billions chance exists, and you don't have to fight, you shouldn't. And if you must fight, you come back later with a plan. Idiotic and Geeky, but they were right.

A barrage of ultra-fine needles fired in all directions, so dense it fills the air. You can't dodge it; you can't swat it away. So I 「Vanished」 it, passing through the rain. Slime-san ate both the needles and the hedgehogs whole. Armored Pres-san wiped out the countless needless in a single slash along with the space they filled itself, while Dancing Girl-san spun a huge shield like in a dance, deflecting the infinite quills.

That's the difference. The girls would have closed shields, taken hits, and charged. They don't run from a tiny risk. That means they will die.

No matter how tiny the odds, repeat them infinitely and they'll happen. They could even happen on the very first try, and if that 「instant death」 occurs, you die. Vice-Pres B-san's Resurrection might help, but it's a one-shot, massive-MP spell. If two people die at once by a freak chance, one stays dead. Since the probability isn't zero, fleeing is correct. The Geeks and Idiots now know humans die easily, because they've done the killing themselves.

「Good job. Those needles should be impossible to dodge, yet you all did.」 「When rationally impossible obstacles arise, leaving them to the irrational experts is the way.」 「This is what real, original-meaning 'cheat' looks like.」 「Yeah, this isn't feasible with just stats or skills.」

The Geeks, who were just running for their lives, now had the nerve to proudly give commentary. I wanna roast them, but they bolted before I could, which just pisses me off even more!

「Haruka, things down below look even sketchier, can we just head back? We'll clear out the mid-levels of the next Dungeon ahead of time, okay?」

「Sure, good job, although the one who did a good job is me, since you escaped and left me to deal with it. Still, if you can get away without fighting, it's probably smarter not to risk it. I mean, unless you've got something like Complete Defense, going past the 80th floor with the current gear might be risky, even if it doesn't appear that way. So don't go below Floor 80, okay? If you do – no dinner tonight?」

「No way we're going! So let's have BBQ with rice for dinner!」

They're super ready to run when things get dicey. Which is exactly why I think they'll be fine on their own. The only way any of them would actually die is if they didn't run and chose to protect someone else. And if they hated that idea, they'll stick around here in the frontier with us. Even so, if they do want to go, they've earned the right to make that call. And what they're after are the buff big-sis types and the kemomimi girls!

…I want to go too, honestly. But leaving the frontier dungeons alone is a huge risk. And it's still too dangerous to let the Girls handle it on their own. At the very least, we need at least two out of the three, Armored Pres-san, Dancing Girl-san, and Slime-san, tagging along to make it truly safe. And as long as there's even a chance that that darkness is still out there, I can't leave the frontier. …Kemomimi… so fluffy…

They are staring at me! However, a Highschool Boy has to brave an unknown different world or he has no chance to gaze upon Kemomimi-san or he has no chance to fluff them. A lewd person of old said that. Or not, no idea, but I want to see some kemomimi for myself! The muscular ladies were pretty good looking too, but I felt from them a strong musclehead aura, just like the Idiots have. Kemomimi are much better than muscleheads. Muscle Girls aren't that rare, you know? Like, we already have our own Athletic Clubs' girls?