CH 200.1

Chapter 200.1: Result of Exploration

The hunting team led by Shimokawa advanced without a hitch.

One man and two women, although the balance of the party seemed to be off, Julia was actually in a friendly relationship with Shimokawa. Randou’s and Higuchi’s groups were getting along really well with each other.

And though Natsukawa Minami had no prior friendship with the two, she possessed a bright and friendly persona and could get along with just about anyone. The level of her friendliness was so amazing that even Yokomichi with his harsh attitude couldn’t get angry at her.

「Shimokawa-sa~n, where are we~?」

「U~hn, this area seems to be pretty deserte~d.」

The 『Thief』 Minami, who couldn’t use her scouting ability in Souma’s party exhibited her full potential on this occasion, could find hidden games and detect enemy presence with her sharp intuition and presence detection.

Even after a while of walking in the forest resembling the jungle of jungle tower area, they had yet to find their main target.

「But ma~n, having an Arachne following is really nerve-wracking after a~ll.」

「Kishishi.」

The one who sounded the grumbling-like hiss from behind Julia was Arachne Rem. Arachne Rem was accompanying the hunting team as their baggage carrier, and despite knowing very well that she was on their side, Julia who had yet to get used to Rem, was still nervous.

「Eh, what’s the matter Nonomiya, are you scared of spider?」

「Not actually. Oh that’s not the point, what I mean is, this fella is the same one who kidnapped Momokawa back then, that’s why I can’t help but feel anxious.」

When Kotaro got kidnapped by Arachne in the underground lake area, the one who received the utmost shock was definitely Ryoko, however, Julia and Maria were pretty shocked too. That moment was the moment they realized just how terrifying a wild monster was, they would use a moment of carelessness to catch their prey.

Perhaps her first impression of Arachne was the reason Julia was uncomfortable.

「Rather, the victim of that case himself went and made the very same monster as his ally, he must have the nerve of steel.」

「We’re talking about Momokawa after all.」

Shimokawa’s impression of Momokawa was a realist through and through who would work everyone-including his own parents and himself- to the bone. The man called Momokawa Kotaro could even force the most useless piece of trash teammate-namely Reina-to work properly.

「You two, stop.」

The two stopped and raised their vigilance the moment they heard Minami’s voice.

Though the two looked like normal high school students when they were chatting a while ago, it didn’t change the fact that they’re veteran warriors who survived the harsh baptism of the dungeon until now. They could easily enter combat mode at a moment’s notice.

「This presence… Seems to be goma.」

「Seriously, you really can find them everywhere in this dungeon, huh.」

Shimokawa thought that the only humanoid monster in this beach area was jira, but it turned out there was a goma living deep in the forest too.

「What shall we do?」

「We can ignore them but… Things will get dicey if the other party is loitering inside the forest.」

「Exterminate them, should we?」

「Yeah. But let’s go back if there are too many govus.」

They decided to exterminate the group of gomas they encountered.

In terms of sense of presence, Minami’s ability in that area was far above the gomas. Though the goma had a home advantage, it was but a minuscule advantage.

The hunting team slowly advanced into the forest while stalking the goma group, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush.

「Five gomas and two govus.」

「Piece of cake.」

「Let’s smash them.」

Finally, the figures of their foes that were detected first by Minami were within their sights. They were convinced that Minami and Julia alone were enough to kill all the gomas. But then, Shimokawa was a little skeptical.

Anyhow, now that they had confirmed the other party’s force, the only thing left was to ambush them without letting their guard down.

The one who drew the first blood was Minami, she leapt from atop the tree, killing the govu, who looked like the leader of the group, in a single blow.

Shimokawa and Arachne Rem used that moment to stir up their foes’ formation as Julia went in for the kill.

The group of gomas that lost their leader lost their cool due to the sudden interference by the invisible enemy and then got slaughtered without getting the chance to fight back.

「Done, now let’s continue with our original task.」

「No, wait a minute. They might’ve brought some drug with them, we’ve to secure it.」

「… Drug?」

Minami revealed a look of understanding on her face while Julia seemed to be confused upon hearing Shimokawa’s statement.

In Minami’s case, she had seen with her own eyes, during the battle in goma’s pyramid, how Meiko gained tremendous power-up thanks to the 『Drug』 she received from Kotaro. Julia, on the other hand, had never heard of or seen this drug before.

And lastly, Shimokawa had first-hand experience with the effect of the drug. He had consumed it during the battle against the sacred beast when they tried to save Reina, he still remembered the pain and agony that assailed his body during that time.

「I’m against that idea though.」

「Surely, that drug is a piece of bad news, but we might need that kind of drug during the final battle against that kaijuu-like boss, you know?」

「E~h, that drug sounds dangerous…」

Even though each of them had their own opinion, the other two decided to follow Shimowa’s order, the leader of the group and started looking for the said drug.

「Oh, the leader is the one who brought it, eh?」

「Wow, white powder.」

Julia was drawing away upon seeing the white powder that bore a resemblance to opium.

「It’s okay. The one we used at that time had been tinkered with by Momokawa, it’s less potent and dangerous than this one.」

「Uwa~, I doubt that though.」

「Well, the truth is, it was just a bit addictive when we used it before, so it will be all ri— Wait a minute, is that really all right?」

Shimokawa suddenly realized the side effect of the drug, namely drug addiction, upon prolonged usage.

「… Wait a minute.」

As Minami stared at the drug in Shimokawa’s hand with an extremely solemn expression, she took a pinch of the white powder with a resolute look.

「Lick――TH-THIS MUST BE!?」

===

Before sunset, both the hunting team and the exploration team returned safely to the academy tower.

「Thank you for the hard work everyone~」

Despite that, no one seemed to be tired. Since the main objective was foraging, the mental pressure was much lighter than capturing the area.

Though you enjoyed the bath ahead of everyone else, your real job is about to begin, Takanashi.

「Well then, everyone, show me the results of today’s exploration.」

「Uuh… Kotori wants to bathe too…」

No can’t, you have to wait until we are done with our job.

This was high time to confirm the monster material brought back by Rems who had gone with each team. Let’s start with Souma-kun’s team first.

『Werewolf Knight』： Werewolf clad in armour. Maybe because they are originally a high-ranking knight wearing high-quality armour.

『Bloody Giant Axe』： The great axe used by the werewolf’s knight. The blade is covered in rust since it is smeared with too much blood but is an extremely high-quality weapon. It is enchanted with some sort of magic.

『Rusted Sword』： The sword used by the werewolf knight, is enchanted with magic too.

『Degraded Potion』：Degraded version of the potion made by the werewolf, the effect is negligible.

『Bracelet of Strength』： A bracelet enchanted with reinforcement magic, 『Force Boost』.

In addition to those weapons, we also got various magic stones as the result of the first team’s exploration.

「Though there’s nothing to say about its quality, the weapon is enchanted and the quality of the degraded potion is not a bad harvest.」

As expected of 『Hero』, hm. Upon a closer look, the condition of the corpse of the werewolf knight was really good, there was no scratch on its armour, and was killed in one strike. The reason they had brought the corpses back was that their condition was really good.

Could it be that the reason the condition of the corpses was so good was that Souma-kun soloed them? C’mon dude, we can’t afford to let the hero die!

Well, let’s move on to the second exploration team led by Class Rep.

===