It has been two days since Issei-II was shoved into the 25th floor of the dungeon. The entire time, he has made no progress. The funny thing about Issei-II is he knew the monsters would kill him if he was to make a single mistake, but he hadn't learned his lesson. Whenever he saw a Harpy, he would lewd them to the point that he would stop moving and forget that he was inside a dungeon filled with monsters.
[Partner! What the hell are you doing! Dodge, now!] Ddraig shouted. In the past two days, he was incapable of contacting Issei-II, but he saw everything happening. To say that Ddraig was disappointed was an understatement. [Even in this high tension situation, you still do the stupidest things! Those are monsters that'll kill you without hesitation! Yet, you still only have one thing on your head, Oppai! Get your act together, or else you'll die!].
"Ddraig! You're finally back!" Issei shouted. If Ddraig could communicate with him, that would mean the Boosted Gear was ready for use. "Boosted Gear!".
Issei tried to access the Boosted Gear but to no avail.
"Ddraig! What's going on?!" Issei-II shouted. The Boosted Gear was not responding. "Why can't I bring out the Boosted Gear?!".
[When your counterpart stopped our connection, he also did something else] Ddraig said. The connection was only one of the things that Issei did to the Boosted Gear. Issei-II didn't know what was done, but Ddraig did. [He gave me control of the Boosted Gear. He told me to allow the usage only when you behave. He knew that there were Harpies on this floor. So, he said if you have even a single ounce of lewd thoughts, I am to prevent you from using my abilities].
"Are you crazy?! Why would you listen to him?!" Issei-II shouted. However, Ddraig ignored him. "Why would you side with him rather than me?!".
[Why? That's simple. I don't want to be the target of his anger!] Ddraig shouted. He was given a mental message when he was cut off from Issei-II. The message contained memories of what happened to the Ddraig from Issei's world. Hence, Ddraig wasn't willing to piss off some of that calibre. Thinking of the punishment done to Ddraig from another world, Ddraig shivered. [I suggest you stop pissing him off even further. He is more of a monster than you can imagine. My counterpart from his world suffered immensely due to things he's done. You don't want what happened to that Ddraig to happen to you! Believe me, it was horrendous].
While Issei-II was conversing with Ddraig, a Harpy lunged at him. Thankfully, Ddraig was able to warn him. However, another monster behind Issei-II was able to sneak attack him. The monster that attacked Issei-II was an Aqua Serpent. Luckily for him, the Aqua Serpent didn't bite him but was bashed with its head.
Issei-II took the sword that he had been using for the past two days and slashed at the Aqua Serpent. It was useless. The sword that Issei gave Issei-II was strong, but you have to use enough force for it to harm the Aqua Serpent. This is because the sword in Issei-II's hand is meant to be used as a training tool. Unfortunately, without the Boost of the Boosted Gear, he was weaker than a goblin from the first floor of the dungeon.
[Issei! Run, now!] Ddraig shouted. He was willing to help Issei-II in a tight spot, but he knew that Issei was monitoring his activities. If he was to help Issei-II now when he was just lewding the Harpy, Issei would know, and he would be punished when Issei caught up with them. [You aren't strong enough to fight them head-on! Your only chance is to kill them with a sneak attack. Find a place you can use to hide and lunge towards them when they're distracted].
Issei-II ran as fast as he could, but the Harpy, Aqua Serpent and other monsters were faster than he was. He was hoping for Ddraig to active the Boosted Gear. However, his hope was shattered when he heard Ddraig speak.
[Hmph! You're wrong if you think I'd activate the Boosted Gear because of this situation!] Ddraig said. He was not willing to accept the punishment on behalf of Issei-II. [I suggest you use this chance to train properly. You have no proper hand-to-hand combat abilities. No magical skills other than your damn Dress Break! This is an excellent chance to train, don't waste it by thinking of useless things such as the Oppai of the Harpy].
Outside the dungeon, Issei was finally going to start the Challenge. Every adventurer inside the entrance of the dungeon is looking at Issei. The reason is because of his clothing. There was not a single article of protective clothing on Issei. This causes other adventurers to laugh at him and expect him to die inside the dungeon.
'System, what would happen when I activate the card?' Issei asked. As much as he loved to take on the Challenge, he didn't want others to be caught up in it. 'Others are not going to be in danger because of me, are they?'.
[No, as soon as you activate the card, the dungeon will produce as many monsters as possible on each floor.
These monsters would actively search and attack you. However, this is only true as long as you're in the dungeon.
As you leave the dungeon, the extra monsters not meant to be there will dissipate until you return.
The previous floor will return to normal as you descend to the next floor. Even if you ascend to the previous floor, there would be no monsters actively searching for you]
After hearing what the system had to say, he crashed the card in his hand without hesitation. The dungeon started to shake as new monsters were born to actively search for and kill Issei. With a simple sword in hand, Issei descended the dungeon.
The moment Issei stepped foot on the first floor, he was met with a goblin's blade. This was no issue for Issei at all. Looking in front of him, there were more than thirty goblins. This made Issei smile as the dungeon was indeed after him.
Slash, Stab, Slash, Slash. Issei met the goblin without hesitation and killed them. Behind Issei was a field full of magic stones. Issei was too lazy to bother picking them up. So, he ignored it. However, the system sent him a message.
[Does the User wish to activate auto-looting?]
'Hold on! You have auto-looting?' Issei said. He could have used the ability of the auto-looting to help him with harvesting the farm long ago. 'Why didn't you tell me about this before?'.
[You had no use for the auto-looting. You believed that it could be used on your farm, but that's not the case. Auto-looting is only used when you're looting a person you've killed or, in this case, the monster you've killed. Otherwise, it wouldn't work. When you're harvesting your farm, you're not looting it. Hence, auto-looting won't work]
'How about the Sacred Family? Why didn't the auto-looting not activate?' Issei asked. It would have been useful back then. 'It would have been a great thing to take all their money, items, etc.'.
[It wouldn't have worked. You didn't kill them. You only crippled them to the point that no miracle pill will be able to allow them to cultivate again]
It was true. That would mean Issei had to kill to allow the auto-looting to be activated. Until now, the beings he fought had barely any items on them. Picking it up by hand was enough. Hence, auto-looting's never been activated, but that wasn't the case now as he has killed more than thirty goblins, and each dropped a magic stone.
Issei smiled. Good! He thought. There was no need for him to actively pick up the magic stone. With it, he would be able to gain the Valis they need without selling any of his weapons or jewels.
'Activate the auto-looting and start looting!' Issei said to the system.
In an instant, Issei was already on the fifth floor of the dungeon. Along the way, he was met with monsters non-stop. Issei has gained over a thousand magic stones from the First to the fourth floor. Unfortunately, he didn't get any dropped items.
On the top of the dungeon, Bell Cranel, a new adventurer, was planning on dungeon diving today. However, he heard that there seemed to be a problem with the dungeon from the people.
Two hours ago, monsters were born at an alarming rate. It was confirmed that the dungeon floor from 1st to 20th was filled with monsters to the brim. Hearing this, Bell was forced to retreat back to his Familia's territory, which was an abandoned church.
Back on the fifth floor, Issei was fighting against countless monsters. There was no problem at all, but suddenly, a Minotaur, a monster from the lower floors, appeared. Unfortunately for the minotaur, it only took Issei a single swipe of his blade to kill it.
While Issei was killing the monster around him, he heard a group of adventurers fighting the monsters actively searching for him. For some reason, it attacked their group.
'System, I thought you said that the monsters would be actively attacking me?' Issei asked. The monsters that were attacking the adventurer party were the monsters after him. Issei could tell as they have a different appearance to the regular monster usually made by the dungeon, as shown by Rose. 'Why is an adventurer party being hunted down?'.
[It seems like one of the party members did something to the monster. I don't know what they did, but they gained the monsters' aggro. This should be ordinarily impossible]
'What the hell did they do to gain the monsters' aggro if it is normally impossible for them to be attacked?' Issei asked. He looked at the group of adventurers and sensed that they were strong. However, no matter how strong they were, being surrounded on all sides would not be easy to escape. After all, there were over a hundred monsters on them. 'I should save them. I don't know what caused the monsters to be aggressive towards them, but it is my fault for increasing the number of monsters in the dungeon'.
The group of adventurers being surrounded consisted of a blond Human, a blonde Pallum, two Amazoness, a High Elf, an Elf, a burly Dwarf, and a white-haired Werewolf.
"Bete! What did you do?!" one of the Amazoness said. "You were warned the monsters look different from normal. Finn asked you to not mess around!".
"How would I know that they would all suddenly attack us?!" Bete shouted. All he did was mock the monsters for being weak and kicking them. "It's not like these monsters would be able to understand what we're saying! Other than that, all I did was kick some of them!".
"What do you not understand about them being different?! It means that they were irregular, to begin with. Yet, you decided to mess about! We're stuck since we're being surrounded!" the other Amazoness shouted. Everything has been going wrong since they ascended. First, they allowed a minotaur to ascend. And now, due to Bete, they were surrounded by over a hundred monsters. "Next time, I would request Loki-sama not to put me in a raid with you!".
Although the monster on the fifth floor is weaker than the monsters they usually deal with, they are still struggling due to the amount and coordination of the monsters. That's right, the monsters after Issei were all irregular monsters with unusually high intelligence, allowing them to understand, communicate, and plan together. This is the difficulty of this Challenge.
While the group of adventurers were fighting with great teamwork, the monster could still overpower them. Tiona, one of the Amazoness, messed up and was nearly attacked by the monsters. However, before the monster was able to touch her, Tione saw a man slice it in one clean slash.
Tiona looked at the man that saved her, and she was in awe. Not because he saved her and killed the monster in one hit, but what happened next.
Issei killed the monster that was about to hit Tiona. He then proceeded to use Shundō to appear in front of the monsters and disappear the moment the monster was killed.
More than fifty monsters were remaining. Yet, in an instant, upon the arrival of Issei, all the monsters were dead.
It wasn't only Tiona that was surprised at what they saw. Ais, Bete, Riveria, Lefiya, Gareth, Finn, and Tione were all surprised. They knew that the monsters weren't the normal weak monsters. But yet, here is a person that was able to eliminate more than fifty of them in an instant.
Watching Issei, Bete clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Are you guys okay?" Issei asked. He saw Bete looking at him with a glare, but he ignored the werewolf. "I suggest you guys head out of the dungeon now. As long as you don't do anything to gain the monster's aggro, they shouldn't attack you. At least the special type monster".
Finn was going to ask Issei if he knew something about the monster's sudden increase in number as it sounded like he had some information about it. However, it was pointless as Issei disappeared in a flash. None of the adventurer party members was able to follow Issei's movement.
"What kind does one have to be to reach such speeds?" Finn asked. Bete was their faster fighter. Yet, he was nowhere near the speed of what Issei showcased. Finn looked at Bete and asked. "Do you think you can catch up to his speed?".
"What? Are you insane?! I couldn't even see him move! How the hell am I going catch up to him?" Bete said. He saw the way Issei moved. Bete might have been annoyed after being saved, but it doesn't mean he didn't acknowledge when someone was better than him. "If anything, did you see how he used a crappy sword? Yet, when he killed each of the monsters, he did no more than a single slash. I doubt Ais could even do that with a crappy ass sword like that man used".
The more they thought about their encounter with Issei, the more they felt that he was weird. However, on the other hand, Ais was interested in Issei. The way he fought was beyond her. Strength, Speed, Technique, not a single thing was she above Issei.
Seeing that Ais showed interest in Issei, Bete once more clicked his tongue. However, thinking about Issei, no matter how he tries to see it in his mind, his own imagination is incapable of making him win against Issei. Why? Because his instincts are telling him not to mess with a person beyond anything in the world.