Chapter 104-2 Vice President Sogahara Party vs Owl Bear
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Ugh, this is so annoying!”
”Well, well, I basically get it, can’t we just stop here? It’s even more of a hassle to keep grumbling at me until you feel better.”
”Fine, I get it! Sheesh… Look, Sogahara-kun!”
Katsura-kun and Saegusa-senpai move apart to the sides.
”Alright, here I go!”
Sogahara-senpai dashes towards the Owl Bear with a joyful look.
The Owl Bear stretches out its long wing arms and waves its claws.
”Wind God Sword (Fūjin Ken)!”
Suddenly, Sogahara-senpai’s speed spikes, and he dashes in, swiping past the claws and looping around behind the Owl Bear.
That’s quite the speed.
And with such fluid, curving trajectory, it might even be trickier than Himeno’s straight-line ultra-speed.
The Owl Bear loses sight of Sogahara-senpai, but quickly spins its head around and spots him right behind.
”Gyah!”
The Owl Bear lets out a backwards kick, but Sogahara-senpai uses its waist as a stepping stone to leap onto its back.
As Sogahara-senpai soars into the air, the Owl Bear’s thick neck is severed.
A fountain of blood shoots up, and as Sogahara-senpai lands, the Owl Bear crumbles down behind him.
”Himecchi! Look, it’s like a champagne cork!”
”Oh, totally!”
Hano-san, that comment is a bit…
”Hm…. The way its head falls off slowly after landing is kind of cool, but I guess this sword is just too much.”
Sogahara-senpai sheathes his sword after shaking off the blood.
With the floor boss down, we all start to gather around Sogahara-senpai.
”Everyone, good work. What did you think of the Owl Bear?”
”Huh!? Hey, what about my sword skill!?”
Just as Kanami-san tries to continue the conversation, Sogahara-senpai cuts in with a startled look.
”Maybe, cool?”
”It’s like you guys don’t even care! Didn’t you feel anything when you saw that!? The Wind God Sword is powered up, you know!”
I thought Sogahara-senpai was the calm, mature type, but it seems he’s different when he’s with friends.
Ugh, this is so annoying.
”Anyway, your power has definitely increased, right? What on earth happened?”
Katsura-kun, who got a nod from Saegusa-senpai, reluctantly asked the question.
”Heh heh heh, wanna know? The truth is that I’ve been practicing to use the Wind God Sword even in the Academy, and I figured out some tricks. My strength and versatility have really expanded!”
”Wow, that’s amazing! By the way, the Owlbear seems to be handling things better than I expected.”
”Wait, wait, wait! This is truly groundbreaking! You should praise me more!”
”Even if you say ‘how about that!’… Sogahara-senpai is always awesome.”
”Hmph… is that so?”
”Takashi, you looked really cool!”
”Hehe, I’m still in the middle of trial and error, so it’s nothing special. But as a guy deserving of Shiori, this much is just natural.”
He’s really such a hassle.
Maybe it’s best to keep some distance while dealing with him.
”As for the Owlbear, it was manageable because it was just me and Keita, but its reaction speed is impressive. If it was a party with lower skill, the vanguard would fall apart easily.”
”Looks like attacking from more than 2 directions will probably be basic strategy. Two at minimum… it would be safer to fight in groups of 3 or more to cover all bases.”
”Once it gets close, the way it tries to block the escape route with its wings is pretty dangerous. It wasn’t necessary this time, but having support with magic or arrows would definitely be better.”
”At the very least, the party needs to be strong enough to take down an ogre without breaking a sweat; otherwise, we could see some casualties.”
Sogahara-senpai and the others are discussing things at a level that matches the lower end of the average students.
From what I can feel, the death rate among Academy students feels surprisingly low.
That’s probably thanks to these people sharing information and providing support.
”Hey, Tsucchi. If it’s just the 4 of us against that thing, it’s definitely going to be tough, right? Hiromin and I can’t move like Keitan or Mickey-chan.”
”Nah, you’ll be fine. You don’t need to fight like Sogahara-senpai and the others. Nishina-san has some pretty hefty attack power. While Hano-san and Maekawa-san hold it off, you should be able to take it down with a few Ice Spears.”
”Oh, I see! Vanguard stalling is totally an option, huh?”
With the sealed Nectar Staff, Nishina-san could totally go on a rampage by herself.
The treasure chest dropped by the Owlbear was first up for Higashimura-senpai to open.
”Sorry. I managed to disarm the trap, but I messed up on the lock. Asagiri-san, it’s up to you now.”
”Alright, leave it to me!”
Apparently, if you fail to unlock it once, you get rejected by the lock and can’t touch it again.
By the way, the average success rate for unlocking is about one in 4.
Supposedly, Higashimura-senpai is really good, pulling a success rate over 30 percent.
Sogahara-senpai told me that this low unlocking rate encourages multiple parties to team up for boss fights.
If the success rate were higher, more parties would be trying to take on floor bosses alone, even if it meant overstretching to monopolize treasure chests.
But if you work hard to take down a boss only to find you can only get loot one out of 4 times, you want to bring along multiple classes with unlocking skills.
However, classes like Lockpickers, Scouts, and Thieves generally have low combat strength, making it pretty scary to leave the fate of my life in the hands of a party whose abilities I don’t know during a boss fight.
As a result, even though it means less loot, the style of teaming up with multiple parties to tackle the boss has become the norm for safety.
”Success!”
”As expected of Asagiri-san!”
By the way, I’ve never seen Himeno fail at this before.
Himeno has been switching off unlocking with Higashimura-senpai since yesterday, and it’s pretty suspicious since she hasn’t failed even once.
Still, the fact that they aren’t digging too deep is probably because they’ve figured out it’s related to her gift.
There was a twist in the tale here.
Out of the treasure chest came a single sword.
”Whoa, this is a cutlass!”
Sogahara-senpai picked up the sword, drawing it from its sheath to examine the blade.
Unlike the double-edged Western swords that everyone else had, this was a one-handed sword but had a curve, making it more like a Japanese katana.
”Hmm. Not bad.”
”Yeah. Not bad at all.”
”Exactly what I was looking for.”
Sogahara-senpai, Saegusa-senpai, and Katsura-kun exchange sharp looks, tension thick enough to cut through.
”We use spears. This doesn’t concern us.”
”Ah, same. I’ve got my Gifted sword. No need for it.”
Quietly, we decide to make our exit before getting dragged into the mess.
”Since I’m the leader here, it makes sense for me to equip it.” A calm, confident statement. “With this, I can fully utilize Hokushin Ittoryu style.”
”Oh my.” Saegusa’s fingers brush her chin, eyes narrowing just slightly. “Even if the strongest one here gets stronger, the situation won’t change much. Wouldn’t it be wiser to raise the party’s weakest member?” A hand rests lightly on her chest. “That would be me.”
”Hold on.” Katsura adjusts his grip on his practice sword. “Mitsuki-senpai, aren’t you always saying ‘Keita still has a long way to go’? If I’m the weakest, shouldn’t I get the weapon that works best with my kendo?”
None of them show signs of giving in. If anything, they’re insulting themselves just to win the prize.
”Keita.” Saegusa doesn’t look his way, but her voice sharpens like a blade. “This is a conversation between Sogahara-kun and me. Freshmen should stay out of it.”
”Nope.” Katsura’s grin doesn’t falter. “This is about party strength. Senpai or kouhai shouldn’t matter.”
Saegusa’s aura darkens. A prickling sense of danger fills the air, but Katsura’s smile stays steady, like a fox testing a bear.
”Stop fighting.” Sogahara folds his arms, his gaze level. “Since I’m the one who took down the Owlbear, it makes sense for me to have it. No complaints, right?”
Two flat stares greet him in response.
”Not a chance.”
”That was just because it was too much trouble to bother.”
A sharp intake of breath.
”Too much trouble…!?”
The tension was, like, totally thick, but Kijima-senpai swooped in to save the day from this super ugly fight over something they all wanted.
”Seriously, you guys are fighting? Such a waste of time! Just rock-paper-scissors and get it over with!”
”Rock-paper-scissors, huh… Fine by me.”
”Bring it on!”
”I’m not gonna lose!”
The 3 of them glared at each other, getting ready.
”Keita, put out a rock.”
”I’m not falling for that! Mitsuki-senpai, you’re totally gonna do rock, aren’t you?”
”You little…”
”Alright! Rock, paper, scissors, SHOOT!”
After 2 rounds of everyone throwing rock, Katsura-kun, the first-year, totally crushed the two third-years.
”Yatta!”
”Damn it! No way!”
”Keita, you’re gonna regret this!”
In a way, the most annoying one won, huh?
Whatever, not my problem.
”Keitaa, I’m gonna make you cry later, just you wait…”
”N, no way! I’m already going out with Shion-san!”
Saegusa-senpai glared at Katsura-kun, who was equipping the Katana with this huge grin on his face.
”Okay, now that we’re ready, it’s time for the 4th floor. Demiurge might be there, so get pumped! Sorry for taking up your time, Tsuchimiya-kun and everyone.”
Kijima-senpai, like, organized everyone and apologized to us.
She’s totally the leader, or maybe the secret boss, of this party.
”Nah, it’s all good.”
And then, we headed down the stairs to the 4th floor.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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