DanKatsu Volume 4, Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Once Again, the Wonderful Silver Chests, Boom! This Time, Double the Loot!

"Sierra! Lana! Are you two okay!?"

"Yes, no problem."

"But it was a little close. I’m sweating in ways I really shouldn’t be."

Looks like they both made it through safely.

When the two of them emerged from the drifting smoke, they were still surprisingly energetic. Well, except Lana, who looked a little pale.

Come to think of it, the last time Lana took a boss’s aggro head-on was back during that slip-up with the <Bear Anteater>. No wonder she seemed a bit shaken after taking that full-force assault—her usual cheer was nowhere to be seen.

Sierra, on the other hand, had lost a hefty chunk of HP, but thanks to Lana’s healing, she looked perfectly fine. Even after taking that full storm of gunfire—no, spike fire—she wore a calm, collected expression. Kinda cool, honestly. I wish I could look that unfazed after a bullet storm like that.

"But I’m sorry… if only I could’ve used my Unique Skill, 『Absolute Charm Shield』. The distance was too great. I should’ve been closer when raising my shield."

Sierra muttered quietly.

The 【Shield Princess】’s Unique Skill, 『Absolute Charm Shield』, forcefully fixes aggro. Even if the <Cactus Cowboy> had already locked onto Lana, she could’ve dragged his focus onto herself.

Unfortunately, since the enemy had been using long-range attacks, there was too much distance between Sierra and the boss, leaving him outside her skill’s short range.

That short range really is the one drawback to 『Absolute Charm Shield』. It’s ridiculously powerful otherwise.

It was true—if she had landed it at that moment, Lana wouldn’t have been in danger. But from where I stood, Sierra’s handling of the situation was flawless. I stepped in to reassure her.

"Anyway, that wasn’t a mistake. No need to dwell on it. As long as it turned out well, that's all that matters. The important thing is you both came out unharmed."

While I confirmed their safety, Rika and Kalua caught up with us.

"I’m glad to see you’re both safe. As expected of Sierra."

"Hm. Taking that attack head-on… pretty amazing."

"Y-You think so? It wasn’t that big a deal…"

Oh-ho, Sierra’s cool composure just cracked—turning her into Blushy Sierra. That’s rare.

Her cheeks flushed as she grew flustered under their praise. The contrast from her usual stoicism made her look incredibly cute. Truly wonderful. Damn it, why doesn’t real-life <DanKatsu> have a screenshot function!? Guess I’ll just burn the image into my retinas.

"C-could you stop staring at me like that?"

"Aah, and now she’s back to her usual scowl. A shame."

Her flustered moment ended all too quickly. I’ll just have to make her blush again some other time.

But before I could linger on that, something even better happened.

"Mm, Zephyrus. Four <Silver Chests>."

"Beauti-Four!!"

Back-to-back blessings! I couldn’t stop myself from shouting.

I snapped my head toward Kalua’s report, and sure enough—four shining silver treasure chests gleamed before us.

<Silver Chests>, boom! This time, doubled!

It was the blessing of the Lucky Cat-sama—the Beauti-Four Phenomenon!

"Four chests, huh? I’ll open them all for you!"

"Uh, no, we’re all opening them together, okay!?"

Lana’s eyes sparkled as she dashed forward, but I spread my arms to intercept her.
I won’t let her steal this!

"Wh-what’s going on with you two, Princess Lana and Zephyrus?"

"Don’t worry about it. They’re just fooling around. Same as always."

"R-really? Princess Lana and Zephyrus… like this?"

Rika’s bewildered voice contrasted with Sierra’s complete indifference. She’d clearly gotten used to this by now.

Come on, Sierra—it’s been ages since the <Beauti-Four Phenomenon>! Get at least a little excited!

"Mm. Zephyrus, hurry, hurry."

"Alright, I’m coming."

"Ah, Kalua, don’t you dare open them first!"

…Wait, wasn’t Lana just about to try that herself?

Kalua, being the fastest, reached the treasure first, and the rest of us gathered around one after another.

Now, there were four chests. Only four. And we had five people. That meant—one of us would be left out.

Lana was already fired up to open hers. She’d finished picking and was standing in front of one of the silver chests, ready to claim it. As expected of her.

Normally, I’d stop her right there, but after the scare she just went through, I figured a little reward wouldn’t hurt.

That left only three chests.

"Mm. I want to open one."

"Permission granted."

Kalua, who rarely ever made requests, spoke up this time. The surprise alone had me giving in on the spot.

I glanced over at Rika and Sierra to check, but neither seemed opposed. Good.

"That leaves just two."

"…Is it really something worth agonizing over that much?"

I thought I heard Sierra mutter in exasperation at my overly serious hero-tone. Must’ve been my imagination.

"Go on, you two open them. I’ll wait until next time."

"Sierra, you’re a lifesaver."

"Hardly. If you’re this grateful over something so trivial, I don’t know what to say… But you’ll be using another flute next time, won’t you?"

She said something, but by that point, I had eyes only for the treasure.

These were rare boss chests—and thanks to the Beauti-Four Phenomenon, we had four pulls! The odds of something good were high, and just thinking that I might be the one to land it sent a surge of excitement through me.

"Alright, it’s decided! Everyone, pray to <Lucky Cat-sama> first!"

"Right! <Lucky Cat-sama>, <Lucky Cat-sama>! Thank you for blessing us with the Beauti-Four Phenomenon! Please let the drops be good ones too!"

"Zephyrus! Put a little more sincerity into it!"

After a small squabble over prayer etiquette, we were ready.

Together, we opened the chests at once.

""Recipe!""

The voices rang out in unison—It was Lana and Kalua.

So, the two who had picked first both drew recipes. We’d have Marie-senpai decipher them later.

As for expenses, Lana and I agreed to split the cost of the flute this time. Ownership of the drops themselves was still up in the air, but we could sort that out later. I’d let Celestan handle it.

Now it was my turn. Alright, time to open mine! Click.

"O-ohhh! <Triple Skill Enhancement Orbs x 2>!"

Inside were two palm-sized, glowing red orbs. I grabbed one in each hand and raised them high. Jackpot!

"What exactly are those?"

"Excellent question, Sierra!"

I explained to her as she peered curiously at the orbs.

The item was called a <Triple Skill Enhancement Orb>. As the name implied, it was a consumable that raised the skill level of an equipped item by three. Insanely powerful.

Three whole levels in one go! Almost too strong—but in <DanKatsu>, with the absurd number of items and gear, even that often wasn’t enough. You could min-max all you wanted and still come up short. Boost orbs came in several varieties, and every last one of them was worth drooling over.

This one was the <Skill> version, but there were <Magic> versions too, and tiers ranging from +1 up to +9.

Normally, boost orbs only started dropping in Intermediate dungeons. But rare bosses in Beginner Upper-tier were considered Intermediate-Level in strength, so their loot tables included +1 to +3 orbs.

I’d need to think carefully about where to use these.

"What about you, Rika?"

"Ah, I pulled this. Do you know it, Zephyrus?"

She held up a green-bound book from her chest.

"No way—that’s a <Book of Support Recovery>! That’s one of the things I really wanted!"

"R-really?"

"Zephyrus, calm down. You’re making Rika nervous."

"Fine, fine! But let me explain!"

"Are you even listening to me?"

The <Book of Support Recovery> Rika picked is a weapon. It's primarily used by magic users. Its effect is <Book of Support Recovery: Magic Power 13, 『Healing Lv5』, 『Protect Lv 8』>.

For a <Silver Chest> drop from an Beginner Upper-tier rare boss, it was honestly on the weak side. Normally, it would’ve been considered a dud.

But right now, <Eden> was starved for healers. Healing magic was desperately needed.

And since the Book counted as equipment, it could be converted into a <Ability Orb>, naturally.

We could power it up, turn it into a <Magic Orb>, and hand it to Hanna. Then she’d not only be our bomb specialist but also a healer. Fuhaha!

Oh man, this was getting fun!

Fueled by the Beauti-Four Phenomenon, we blew the flute again and dove straight into more rare boss fights.

"Fuhahahahaha!!"

"『Counter Burst』!"

"Bwah!?"

The <Cactus Cowboy>, who’d been firing off waves of spines in a wide fan pattern, was caught in Sierra’s 『Counter Burst』 and vanished in a spray of effects.

Guess he got careless, thinking defense skills wouldn’t work against ranged attacks. Too bad for him—『Counter Burst』 actually has a pretty wide area of effect.

Sierra, who’d managed to land the counter from just at the edge of its range, wore a satisfied smile as she savored the thrill of victory.

"Nice work, Sierra. That was a sharp call at the end. Looks like you’re getting the hang of dealing with ranged attacks, too?"

"Seems so. I think I’ve also gotten a feel for the timing to make 『Counter Burst』 effective. Now that I know the range, I should be able to pull it off even better next time."

Her spirits were unusually high after that clean hit.

But, as much as I hated to bring her down, there was something I had to say.

"Unfortunately, we’ve only got one flute use each left. No more rare bosses."

"…That’s true. Still, I can use it on regular <Sabottenders>. There’s practice to be had yet."

Her drive to improve really was something else. Watching her, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d get better at combat too, just by pushing myself like that. I had to follow her example.

By now, we’d blown the flute and fought our way through eight runs. Only one charge each remained. Any more, and the flutes would break. Our fun-filled rare boss spree was over.

What a shame. What a damn shame. I want more flutes!

As for results: five wins, three duds.

Three misses—yeah, figures. If I hadn’t split the cost, we wouldn’t have made a profit at all. We did get one Beauti-Four Phenomenon, but no <Gold Chest>. Profit-wise, it probably came out pretty meh.

But for experience? The rare bosses had been an absolute feast.

Both Rika and Kalua hit job level 31. That was the goal for now, achieved.

Even so, we still had time, so we kept farming the boss. Next up were regular <Sabottender>.

Lana looked like she wanted to say something, but I ignored her. She should take a page from Sierra’s book and focus on growth.

By the time five o’clock rolled around, closing time was nearly here.

"Fuh fuh fuhh… fuhh…"

Our eighteenth boss of the day, a <Sabottender>, sank beneath the sea of effects. The sight had almost become routine by now.

It was earlier than usual, but I figured this was a good place to stop.

"Time to pack it in?"

"Eh, isn’t it a little early? It’s only five. We could still keep going."

Lana checked the time on her student handbook and protested, but Sierra cut in gently, sounding almost like she was scolding her.

"I agree with ending here. We have classes tomorrow, and Princess Lana, didn’t Ester tell you to start heading back early?"

"Ugh. Fine, I get it. Haa… goodbye, dungeon. I’ll be back."

Lana bid the dungeon farewell with obvious reluctance. Déjà vu—I’d said the same words once myself.

She was clearly getting hooked on dungeon runs.

When we returned to the ShouDan, it was oddly noisy despite the small number of people around.

A crowd had gathered at one of the dungeon gates—the entrance to the <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon>, one of the Beginner Upper-tier dungeons.

"What’s this? Sounds like a commotion."

"Isn’t today the last day of the first-year’s evaluation tests? I heard some upperclassmen were helping out, too."

Sierra and Lana also turned their attention toward the crowd.

The ShouDan was less crowded than usual because, as Lana said, upperclassmen were lending a hand with the first-years. It also looked good on résumés for job hunting, so plenty of students volunteered. Of course, most were probably in it for quest points.

Still, the people gathered there now looked to be mostly upperclassmen. After all, as far as I knew, only <Eden>’s members had made it to a Beginner Upper-tier dungeon as first-years. Plus, their gear was clearly stuff first-years couldn’t afford yet. So why were so many upperclassmen gathering here?

I pricked up my ears and tried to listen in.

"Damn it, I can’t just give up!"

"But what can we even do?"

"Come on, this is our shot at striking it rich! If we can just take it down—if we can just take it down—!"

"If we can take it down. We’re not even E-rank yet…"

"Man, talk about bad luck."

"For real. Why’d a rare boss have to show up now? I thought we finally had E-rank in the bag."

"Guess we’ll have to ask someone else to take it out for us. With that thing blocking the way, we can’t make any progress."

"Damn it, is that really our only option…?"

"But all our classmates and even the third-years are busy today. Who’re we supposed to ask?"

"Man, what rotten luck."

"Yeah, tell me about it. We skipped the evaluation just to book a dungeon for ourselves, and now a rare boss shows up to block us? What the hell."

"Maybe it’s divine punishment for blowing off helping the first-years."

"Man, what rotten luck."

"You’ve been saying nothing but that this whole time!"

…Hmm. Okay, got it.

So that’s the situation. Looks like these guys ditched today’s big event and prioritized dungeon crawling instead. Having the whole place to themselves must’ve felt great—not that I get the point of it.

But then, at the crucial boss fight, a rare boss appeared. Judging from their state, they either ran or got wiped, then came back here.

By the way, rare bosses don’t disappear once they show up, unless they’re killed or someone uses a special item. If your luck’s bad, they’ll stall your whole run just like this.

And so, these guys were stuck, unable to continue their progress.

…Which means this is my chance.

I stepped up to them alone.

"Excuse me, Senpai. Got a moment?"

"Hm? Sorry, we’re kind of—wait, huh?"

"Don’t I know you from somewhere…?"

"Y-you idiots! H-hey, could it be… you’re the 【Hero】 of <Eden>!?"

"Indeed, I am Zephyrus, the 【Hero】. I couldn’t help but notice you seemed troubled. Why not leave that trouble to me?"

『Subquest: <Defeat the Rare Boss Blocking the Way>』 has begun.

• Defeat the rare boss blocking the path in the <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon>.

• Reward: Guaranteed Gold Chest.

• Time limit: Until the end of the day.

That announcement rang loud and clear in my head.

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