Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2

by Shinobu Yuuki

  And so the first day ended without a single hunter reaching the guardian's room. The invaders had exhausted their first attempt at the labyrinth, and many had to be rescued at nightfall. You should've seen the way they argued and fought over who got to use those stakes and ropes to get out first.

  ◇

  We'd survived day one, but the clang of picks and shovels continued through the night.

  "I'm clearing these out. Anything left over there?"

  "You checked there's no one still stuck in the pit, right?!"

  The villagers were engaged in all manner of work, prepping the labyrinth for the next day's assault, but most of them didn't have the strength or stamina to dig. They had their hands full just repairing the already-revealed pit trap. They removed the anchors used on the first day and greased the walls of the trap to ensure it wasn't a total cakewalk. I also had them sand down the walls above, so the invaders wouldn't have an easy time of attaching ropes.

  While they repaired the big pitfall, I was digging another, smaller trap---one that would make it more difficult not just to get through the labyrinth, but also to use any tools. I also suspected it would lead to a lot of injuries. Honestly, I was having trouble even getting the blocks out of this one after digging them up. It was much more problematic than the first pitfall. That was why we'd decided to build it last, so it didn't get in the way of our other efforts.

  This one would be an unavoidable, deep pool of oil, designed so that when it was disrupted, it slicked several passageways, making it a nightmare just to walk around. You rarely saw this kind of trap in modern games, but it was an easy and effective way to make tools unusable, unless you had a ton of cloth on hand to wipe them clean. Oil solidified and dried, so maintaining a trap like this was a nightmare, but fortunately this was a one-night-only production. In general, you could work around the difficulties of an oil trap by digging into walls and floors with stakes, and with liberal use of rope to pull yourself along. The walls being made of such smooth stone was going to give those adventurers a hard time of it. Even if they did make it through all this to the guardian's room, ready to face the boss, they were going to be suffering a major debuff from traversing our oily hell of a labyrinth.

  People would need torches in the labyrinth, so I was using nonflammable oil to avoid things getting out of hand, though honestly the risk to me and my family wasn't all the great. I'd been considering just buying cheap, flammable oil on Tundra and calling it a day. It was pretty sticky, too, so we could've easily made a deep bog out of it. If an invader had caught fire in there, they'd have been a goner for sure. We also had the option of using a tar pit to keep the heat from dissipating once the oil was ignited. Tar was so cheap that we could add it pretty much anywhere we felt like around the labyrinth and upgrade the lethality of all our existing traps while we were at it. Humans were all too fragile. The fatality rate would have soared if we'd sprinkled the floor with dirty wooden stakes; just imagine the rate of infection, if they didn't hurry to get those nasty wounds cleaned.

  I hoped Theodoran and his crooks were properly grateful for the mercy I was showing them.

  "You know, I think I'm a pretty stand-up guy, all thing considered, but this does make me worry about what it's like in the labyrinths on the front lines."

  I was starting to have my doubts about the company's hiring strategy. Were hardcore gamers the right people to trust with this kind of power over life and death?

  ◇

  "Ann, we're going to the labyrinth. Stay in the village with Donnel and Carla while we're there."

  Yesterday had finished up our quota for the performance evaluation, so I would've liked to simply close the labyrinth, but I was sure Theodoran would've kicked up a fuss, and I wanted to avoid a scandal. I strapped the cursed sword to my waist and stood up. Coming after us while the labyrinth was closed would be an outright crime, and I didn't think a nobleman like Theodoran would go so far, but the doubt still rattled around in the back of my head. I was worried about the sheer numbers they could bring to bear, so I had Donnel, Carla, and their crews camp outside for the night to keep an eye out for surprise attacks. Ann would be safer staying in Milt until Theodoran left. Though, that said, my life was probably in a lot more danger than Ann's at this point.

  "Okay, then. Stay safe, you two."

  "Mhm."

  Mary didn't sound too good. Maybe she hadn't slept well? Perhaps aware of the danger we would face today, I hugged Ann for a bit longer than usual before leaving the cabin.

  ◇

  Ann watched Aoi and Mary heading off for the labyrinth until they were just out of sight, at which point she turned to Donnel.

  "Mister Donnel, did you memorize the trap locations last night, like I asked?"

  "Know 'em like the back of my paw, lassie. I learned them just the way you said."

  "Miss Carla, did you get any sleep?"

  "Don't you worry about me! Though I am a bit sleepy."

  Ann went around behind the cabin, took out her poleaxe from its hidden location, and checked it over to make sure it was ready for use.

  "Aoi may look like he's ready for anything, but he can be pretty sloppy, so I've gotta protect him."

  "Uhh, right. 'Course."

  "S-Sure."

  Ann had easily convinced the two veteran hunters to support her plan, thanks to the strength of her pure conviction. The moment she'd stood up straight and tall, looked them in the eye, and said she wanted to be a help rather than a burden, the game was already over.

  "Say, have you heard about the slithering stalker? It's a monster that sneaks up behind people when they least expect it!"

  Donnel and Carla exchanged puzzled glances. This was a new one to them.

  "You can only find them in our labyrinth. They stalk you from the moment you enter, and they're really scary and super strong."

  Ann flashed a sunny smile.

  "C'mon, let's go be monsters."

  ◇

  They were still gathering up in front of the room. Eleven, no, twelve of them. I'd expected them to get past the traps this time, now that they were certainly more properly equipped, but I was a little surprised to see him waiting until the last moment to amass troops rather than just charging in with what he had. What a good idea. Is this Theodoran's work, or does he have some skilled hunter calling the shots? All things considered, this was not a very high turnout. Had they run into trouble along the way? Maybe they just hadn't brought enough rope.

  "They're readying weapons. Prepare yourself."

  Even though they were on the other side of the wall, Mary could tell what they were doing. If you asked her about it, she wouldn't think it was anything out of the ordinary, but Mary was really something special.

  I took the cursed sword in hand and focused on the coming fight. The sword converted my imagined techniques into physical motion, pushing my muscles and joints to their very limits to achieve my objective as quickly and effectively as possible. I was as strong as I could possibly be, given my status.

  I made a fist with the black glove on my left hand. As I did, the hardened soil blocks all around me creaked and lifted up into the air. I raised them all up to my chest level. Man, this glove was seriously not all that great. I could see why people were talking up the newer models. I mean, sure, it was cool and all, but I had to expend all my own grip strength to hold these things, and then I had to lift them with my own arms too. My muscles were aching. Wish I could've sprung for the power-boosting gloves.

  "Mary, you take care of the Daemons. Even if there's only one of them, that'll be a help."

  "Okay."

  "Charge!"

  "Follow me!"

  As the door slammed open, I hurled all the soil blocks at it. One hunter took a brick to the head and collapsed on the spot, but the rest rushed in, flooding the room. Not one of them batted an eye at their fallen comrade. They were used to battle. I leaped forward, closing the distance.

  "Get in position!"

  "Aye
!"

  I jumped with all my strength to clear the line of spears thrust at me.

  "Take this!"

  I leaped all the way to the ceiling, impacted and took a handhold momentarily, then launched myself forward again, above the spears.

  "Focus, Aoi. Do the Phantom Flash."

  I kicked off the ceiling again and aimed the dull side of my blade at Theodoran. It was difficult to maneuver mid-air, but I used the glove to push off the floor and course-correct. I feinted at the hunter next to Theodoran, then turned to slash at him.

  "How is he doing this?! That's impossible!"

  Theodoran parried my Phantom Flash in a hurry with a crystalline blue sword. Wait, he blocked it?! Where's he get off calling my moves impossible if he can do that? He looked like the brainy type, but apparently he had pretty impressive combat abilities. Only thing for it was to keep pushing.

  "Sorry for doing the impossible here, I--- Guh!"

  My field of vision went dark for a moment, and I pulled back in a panic. I groaned at the sudden strain and jumped backwards, trying not to injure myself further.

  Cracks spread across the ceiling from where I'd landed. Maybe I was pushing the limits of how much the coagulant coating could strengthen it; blocks were falling out here and there. Failing to take out their leader in a preemptive strike was a major blow to my plan. Now they'd have their guard up. I returned to my initial position and took in the situation.

  It didn't look like they were using any kind of disruptive magic on me, at least. That meant something else was wrong. When a computer doesn't have the specs to run a demanding game, it goes blurry and stutters. The same thing was happening to my senses. This had happened to me once before, the time I faced Mary in her Extended Knight Armor. The cursed sword had controlled my body just fine, but my brain hadn't been able to keep up. The software in my head wasn't as powerful as the hardware. If this was beyond even me, then we had to be talking about a task more complex than playing Dance Dance Rebellion and Shamisen Hero at the same time. After all, my natural state was sitting in front of a monitor, mashing the keyboard and madly clicking the mouse.

  The intruders formed up, settled their lances, and advanced.

  "Hard mode, finally."

  I broke into a grin. I was having a blast, fighting with my own fists just as though I was in a game. I wanted more of it, to fight until I dropped. Moments like these were what a gamer lived for! I was having a hard time even holding myself back from jumping straight at them. Damn, I was fighting myself even more than I was fighting them. Cool down, Aoi. The number one rule in a first-person game was, don't get outnumbered. I needed to find a way to tilt the scales. Their leather armor was soaked in oil, and probably heavy as a result. Their spears were surely in the same condition, and difficult to wield to boot. In spite of all that, they handled themselves well.

  "Execute Appraisal."

  I was looking for the weak link in the chain of their offense. Most of them had vitality and stamina in the double digits, although one of the Daemon hunters had conspicuously high stats. Fortunately, Mary had already taken her down during the initial onslaught. The only ones remaining were Theodoran and nine of the foot soldiers, all human.

  "All right, cursed sword, don't fail me now."

  I knew how to deal with insufficient specs. It was perfectly common for the most recent releases to make even a high-end gaming machine cry on their default settings. And there was the answer: all I had to do was lower the settings. Please, sword, if you can control my body, then can I at least configure how you do it? First, I lowered my monitor resolution and sound quality to the minimum. Those two were more of a luxury than a necessity in the first place. No good... I still felt weighed down. Okay, take out the colors. No good? Might have to just turn off the visuals entirely and go with sound only. I blinked a few times. I could feel the air on my open eyes, could sense the light hitting them, and I even vaguely knew where everyone was, but I couldn't see a thing. My other senses were also hazy. Just how far had I gone in lowering my settings?!

  But it had worked. I could feel the strength in my arms and legs. It was time to attack.

  I kicked off the ground and dashed forward, the sound of my figure cutting through the wind a faint whisper.

  "Ready lances! Intercept him!"

  I heard the clash of metal on metal, felt danger at my side. I slid to the left and leaped again, getting into position to fall from above on their flank.

  "Dodged again. He's even faster now! How, how?!"

  "Stab the monster!"

  Hear the whistle of a lance in the air and dodge. Now, parry with the sword in one hand, twist, sword singing in counterattack. Several of them fall. Turn again, jump to land on the ceiling, ready to launch down.

  "From above? You sure this guy's human?!"

  Soften the landing and get in position. Slash right, spin left. So far so good. Now, intercept that attack with a vertical slash. Ah, resistance. Little nick to my right arm. Nothing I can't handle.

  "He got my hand! I can't hold my lance!"

  "Leave this to me. Watch my back!"

  Dangerous target closing in. Low slash from the left. Follow it with a horizontal cut to the right. Phantom Flash. Parry the counter with a low left slash, then harry him from the right. Don't let him get used to the rhythm. Four, five, six, seven strikes.

  "Gah! How's he so damn fast?! Ggrh. Now, impale him!"

  More incoming. Grit your teeth and parry the lances. Crap, this is bad. Heavy hit to the left thigh. Not going to be able to move well, I should retreat.

  "I won't let you get awa--- Guh!"

  Crouch and jump back and to the right. Now, reach out and grab him with the glove. Feel the weight in your hand. Got 'em.

  "Kkh. Ngh..."

  Tighter, tighter. Don't let go. Landing, now jump back again with everything you've got. Count the seconds until you hit the ground, and get ready to jump again once your feet touch. Don't. Let. Go.

  "Aoi, please, release him!"

  Mary's scream cut through to me. Sword, reload default settings!

  My senses came crashing back, along with a monstrous headache. When I looked, the group of intruders was far away from my position. I unclenched my left hand, and one of the hunters collapsed to his feet, gasping and coughing.

  "Did I grab him by the neck? Sorry."

  After apologizing, I looked around. One of them was out of commission, two were severely wounded, and Theodoran had taken a moderate injury. Two of them had lost their weapons as well. I had a gash on my right arm, and a big hole in my thigh, which hurt like hell! I reached out for my best potion, in the top pocket of my jacket holster, and broke it open. The liquid seeped in through my vest, the vitality potion penetrating under my clothes. The horrible pain retreated. The profuse bleeding stopped, and, as usual, I felt the wound closing itself at a speed that left me shivering. I didn't think I'd ever get used to this feeling.

  With every pulse of my heart, my headache throbbed. Even if I dropped my settings again, moving was going to be a tall order right now.

  "Hey, Theodoran. Can we talk?"

  I forced out a smile and addressed my attacker. My body was screaming at me to rest, ready to give out at any second. I wasn't even doing anything, but my vision and hearing were fading in and out. I was not in good shape.

  "Would you like to reconsider my offer of a contract?"

  "Maybe if you make a few changes. I wouldn't mind going at it until one of us is crushed, but at this rate, I think someone's going to die. You're not ready to go that far, are you?"

  As a labyrinth manager, I was considered a Daemon, and Theodoran was thus my countryman. I wanted to avoid having to kill a fellow citizen, if at all possible.

  "I acknowledge the offered price per unit was a tad low considering the current market. I miscalculated, assuming a novice labyrinth manager wouldn't be savvy to their products' value, and I am prepared to move on the price. That said, I will not yield on either the exclusivi
ty clause or on my demands regarding manufacturing technique."

  "Those are not on the table."

  "Then I'm afraid this negotiation is over."

  Theodoran's eyes blazed with determination. Was he truly just motivated by money?

  "Draw daggers! Throw!"

  "Aoi, no!"

  Mary ran to stand in front me, holding out her shield. One of the hunters cursed.

  "Knights don't protect Daemons! If you're gonna die, die for a human!"

  Mary had positioned herself to deflect the daggers, but she stopped dead in her tracks, the shield falling to her side. She stood there defenseless as the daggers bore down on her.

  Time slowed, and my thoughts accelerated. All I could think was, I don't want Mary to meet a dead end here. Even if it means...