Chapter 80.2

80 Part 2

However, he was the only one who could keep watch.

If the rare species monster were to make a move while he was away from his spot, whatever measures they could come up with would be delayed.

All of the effort he had put so far into monitoring would have been for naught.

Just in case, it was better for Haruki not to leave his spot.

At this rate, he would not be able to get his body used to his changes until “then”.

“Don’t you think you should rest for a while?”

Karen, who had been going back and forth between Haruki and Akane, suggested he take a break.

Three days had passed since he started monitoring.

During this entire time, he had been hiding near the gate.

Of course, he didn’t get much sleep during that time either.

However, it hadn’t been so bad for him.

It was the same as one time in the past when he had to work for three days and three nights straight without being able to move his body or his head.

With his sharpened senses, should he feel a reaction to his Detection, he could immediately wake himself up, even if he was half-asleep.

He couldn’t sleep properly, but his body wasn’t as bad as when he had to work without sleeping at all.

The deer continued to spit his dark-purple mass onto every Werewolf that he came across with.

There was no sign of monsters grouping up and forming a Stampede.

Haruki wondered if it wouldn’t be a good chance to go back to the surface and get a few hours of good sleep…

“By the way, about your request… It seems that only one person accepted it.”

“Ah! But only one person, huh…?”

The thrill of knowing his request had been accepted suddenly dropped to the ground when he realized it had been only one adventurer who accepted it.

He wanted to get as much help as possible.

But would the situation improve at all just by having only one more person?

To make things worse, even if that adventurer arrived at K-Town, it would take them a considerable amount of time to reach the 15th floor.

Since the garage dungeon was rarely visited by adventurers from other towns, they wouldn’t be able to use the gate.

If this boss monster were to start moving before that…

Haruki felt more and more desperate just by thinking about it.

Having been up all night wasn’t particularly beneficial to his emotions either.

“Ah, that’s right! It seems the operation to retake Shinjuku Station is about to begin.”

Karen tried to sound cheerful in order to dispel the gloomy atmosphere that had been building up.

The air became a little lighter thanks to that.

“Is that so? It’s finally started then.”

“Yeah. It seems that Masatsugu and Bacon have gathered with other rankers.”

“Then I’m sure they will succeed.”

Masatsugu and Bacon. And other rankers have assembled as well.

No matter how strong those middle-floor monsters are, they don’t stand a chance against Japan’s strongest rankers.

Karen’s good news made Haruki a bit fraught with emotion.

His fellow adventurers in Shinjuku were doing their best.

So he couldn’t afford to lose here.

“… Okay.”

Haruki stood up and carefully relaxed his body.

His muscles were tingling for having kept the same posture for a long time.

Then, he drank the stamina drink he had ordered.

The thick liquid slowly went down his throat.

Immediately, both his pins and needles and his drowsiness vanished at a tremendous speed.

“… It’s pretty effective.”

The effect made Haruki’s face have a little spasm.

He had ordered that drink from Akane, based on his memory of having seen it in a second-hand shop.

There was an ad at that shop that said “Drink this and get your stamina back!”

He had certainly gotten his stamina back.

However…

Looking at the bottle, Haruki wondered.

— Is this stuff really good for the body?

Haruki was hoping it had no side effects such as hurting the body in the long run or being addictive.

It was scary how effective it was.

If this had been a thing back when he was working, he probably would have been made to work for 365 days straight rather than just three days and three nights, with some pretext like “oh, but your body is fine, so you can go on without resting, right?”

That thought made Haruki shiver.

“I’m glad this wasn’t released before the first Stampede.”

Relieved, Haruki patted his own chest.

While he was checking his own physical condition, Haruki’s Detection skill picked up a movement made by the rare species monster that it had never sensed before.

“–!”

Haruki quickly put himself on guard.

He readied himself to draw his short sword and kept a low posture.

Karen quickly responded to Haruki’s reaction.

She lowered her back and held her staff in both hands.

The deer, which hadn’t made any major movements other than defeating Werewolves, was coming at them with a relaxed gait from the direction that Haruki was looking at.

Was it just walking around?

Or had it found them?

Haruki couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

However…

“–!!”

Haruki could feel the tremendous killing intent from the deer.

He felt as if he had been enveloped by an immense cloud of the most atrocious murderous impulse.

However, Haruki broke free of it by sheer force of his fighting spirit.

“Karen, get back to the surface, quick! Tell Akane that the rare species has started to move!”

“Ah…”

Perhaps she hadn’t been able to resist the deer’s killing intent.

Karen’s breath had been taken away.

“Go, now!”

Haruki jolted her out of it by sounding angry, then drew his short sword.

He had to step forward in order to draw the boss’ attention.

The deer felt so intimidating that it made Haruki think that if it were to get serious, it would be able to kill him before he had a chance to escape.

Free from the grasp of the deer’s killing intent, Karen left Haruki and headed for the gate.

At the same time, the deer too started to run.

— So you plan to cut her off, huh?

Haruki worked himself up.

He should be able to at least hold it off until Karen has escaped…

He broke into a dash at full speed, with his short sword pointing at the deer.

However…

“Wha–!?”

All of a sudden, something twirled itself around Haruki’s legs, breaking his concentration.

In that split second, the deer spat a dark-purple mass from its mouth.

“Gaaahh!!”

There was no time to avoid it.

The dark-purple mass collided with Haruki’s abdomen.