I’m getting ready to head out to the dungeon this morning, when Ai calls me.
What? Is it because information about me is going around, and people are after me?
I won’t know until I answer her call, so I swipe my phone’s screen.
Yes?
Yes, thank you for the other day.
Don’t worry, I got home safe…
…So what is it!?
Ai won’t get to the point, so I get impatient and ask.
Hn? Work? A request?
You know, Healing Magic is a bit…
Oh, not that? You want me to perform a practical test of an item?
And the reward…
Let’s do it.
◇ ◇ ◇
We’re meeting in front of the dungeon, but I feel like a lot of people are going there today.
I don’t know exactly how many, but it feels like it’s about one point five times more. And I get the feeling that a lot of them are young.
Is there some sort of event going on?
Then someone calls out to me from behind me and… It’s not Ai. It’s this flashy looking middle aged man.
Hum, who are you?
…Eh? Ah, Ai’s husband!
No no, you’re the ones who keep helping… Wait, do you? You don’t. Actually, you keep bothering me… Ah, nothing. Yes, thank you for your help too.
Ai is in the car, right?
What? Do I want to see her?
I’d rather not.
…Why are you laughing?
Her husband starts laughing all of a sudden, so I have to wait for him to stop, and then I get in the car.
Inside the car I see Ai, her daughter, and a muscular old man.
The husband sits in the driver seat, and apologizes to Ai for something.
I guess there was a misunderstanding of some sort going on.
Their grade schooler daughter is in the middle of her summer vacation, and since she had nothing to do, she tagged along. She starts pestering me to show her that bright light magic, but I don’t know what she’s on about.
I’m pretty sure I only used Healing Magic in front of her, so I do that and she’s happy.
It’s okay, we’re in a car, so no one can see it.
And the muscular old man is that aggressive old man I saw before.
Hum, it’s been a while.
No no, I’ve been thanked plenty.
Yes, that’s an incredible body.
No, keep your clothes on.
It’s bad enough already… Ah, no, nothing. Yes.
Apparently he’s in his seventies, but he has the body of a bodybuilder. As a man, I look up to… Nah, sorry, it’s kind of stuffy in here.
We chat for a while, and then Ai hands me the item she wants me to test.
It’s the size of a baseball, and elastic like rubber. This ball is made from giant spider string, and when you infuse it with a little magic energy and throw it at a target, it turns back into string, capturing the target.
The item is called mister move suppressor. Apparently Ai’s daughter came up with that, and it’s a very nice name.
It’s a bit long though. I’d go with capture ball.
It sounds useful, and I’m given a bag with twenty of these balls. I’m supposed to use them and present a report.
After an energetic ‘leave it to me!’, I get out of the car.
It’s a simple task considering I’m getting paid half a million yen.
I’m excited. If I was feeling a little calmer, I might’ve noticed the husband’s sharp glare directed at me.
◇ ◇ ◇
The twenty-second floor.
I mow down orcs from behind after they pass by me, and reach the twenty-second floor.
The twenty-first is in the top five easiest floors so far.
Orcs aren’t scary. Bring on stronger things!
A shadow silently descends from the sky.
The silent condor is a monster that takes aim at its prey, and attacks with its talons.
My Spatial Grasp skill reacts to it, so I immediately aim my sword up and swing. But I slash nothing but air.
The silent condor detected the attack, and immediately slowed down and changed direction to avoid the greatsword, passing right by me.
Despite my stance, I force myself to twist my waist and kick.
These silent condors that appear on the twenty-second floor are pretty strong.
They mostly appear alone, but coordinate with each other when they’re in pairs. They can sneak up on people without making a sound, but they’re strong enough to grab something that weighs two hundred kilograms with their talons and carry it to the sky. I feel like it’d be a tough battle if they attacked in coordination.
I won’t be caught so easily thanks to the Spatial Grasp and See Through skills, but other seekers will have to watch each other’s backs.
But these monsters have a weakness, they’re really weak to magic, so if you hit them with it, they’ll fall easily.
◇ ◇ ◇
Let’s try the capture ball right away. I infuse it with magic energy, and throw it at an orc as it passes by me.
The string activates as soon as it hits the orc, and it falls to the ground, unable to move.
I use a stopwatch to check how long it lasts, and see it’s stuck in it for one minute and a half.
This is pretty good, isn’t it?
If it can stop a strong monster like an orc, it should be plenty useful against other monsters.
I finish off the enraged orc, and look for a silent condor.
If it works this well against land monsters, I want to see how it does against flying ones.
I advance while watching the sky, and notice a silent condor descending straight down towards me.
This is perfect. I infuse the capture ball with magic energy, and throw it as hard as I can against the silent condor.
The blazing fastball is on a perfect course to hit it, but the silent condor only needs to flap its wings once to dodge it. And it’s coming down even faster.
I block its talons with my shield and counter with a swing of my greatsword. But it dives close to the ground, and easily dodges it.
But this is the perfect position to display the effect of my magic.
I create a stake from the ground, and it pierces the silent condor in the stomach, forcing it to stop.
It screams with pain, and I quickly slice its head.
Ahh, it’s hard to hit fast monsters.
This might be best when used only on slow ones. Or at the very least, I can’t find a way to use it against the others.
But… This might be a nice trump card. Especially for a guy working alone.
If this goes on sale, I’ll grab a few.
◇ ◇ ◇
Capture ball.
No, mister move suppressor. I will make you my partner.
Aren’t you happy?
I’ll buy a bunch of you.
Don’t you feel safer knowing you won’t be alone?
I sure will.
…Ahh.
…How empty.
I look up, and ask myself what I’m doing.
I’m assaulted by an empty feeling, and look up to heal my heart.
And what greets me is the mister move suppressor I threw before, with a very hot and distressing embrace.
There’s a splat sound, and I can’t move.
…
…I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!?
◇ ◇ ◇
After having my face covered with mister move suppressor and almost choking to death, I decide to write in my report that this is a defective item.
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Haruto Tanaka (24)
Level: 16
Skills: Earth Magic, Trace, Healing Magic, Spatial Grasp, Toughness, Magic Energy Control, Physical Strengthening, Poison Resistance, Storage Space, See Through, Parallel Thinking, Sewing, Limit Break
Equipment: Agility bracelet, greatsword of fortitude, divine bird boots
Status: Fat (All abilities boosted)
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