Dungeon Refrigerator 251

Test

Dungeon Stampede 2.0 Dokko

"So, if you hold that thing called a Skill Orb and concentrate, you gain some sort of special power, right?"

"That's right. But, getting a Skill Orb from a monster is really rare."

We were still chatting on the riverbank. Somehow, Unkai-san and I had really hit it off.

I tried asking for something unreasonable, like "give me the vajra in exchange for the info," but of course, that got rejected. Still, Unkai-san gave me a dokko as a substitute, so I'm pretty happy.

A dokko is a kinda stylish Buddhist weapon.

Yeah, sorry, but my knowledge of Buddhism is super shallow. I mean, who living in Japan actually makes the effort to study Buddhism? It’s like living right next to a popular theme park—just because it's nearby doesn’t mean you’d want to visit it all the time, right? Probably.

But exorcists in manga are pretty cool.

When the main character holds a weapon like a dokko and chants something like "Soha-ka!", it unleashes the power of 100,000 bodhisattvas or 1,000,000 buddhas, and the demons get totally obliterated.

Also, those demon-exorcising horror manga usually have more fan service than other genres, which is a plus. Hehe.

Now that I’ve got a dokko, I’m totally ready to play 'exorcist'. I mean, it’s a dokko I got from a monk, so this is the real deal.

Though, I’m not Buddhist, so I don’t have any holy power or anything like that.

"See, it’s about the size of a walnut… like this, Unkai-san."

"Yep, that’s it! Wait—why do you have three of those, Egetsu-san?! Give me one!!"

"Whoa, wait a sec, Serai-san! I was planning to give them out when all three of us were together. Wouldn’t it be unfair otherwise? So let’s wait just a bit longer, okay?"

"Ugh!"

See? That’s why I didn’t say anything until now, because I knew you’d get pouty.

Anyway, I collected these while clearing out the dungeon. They’re all [Slime] Skill Orbs. With this Stampede going on, if we’re gonna wear monster material battle suits, lubricating slime is pretty much essential.

Plus, the [Slime] skill is super useful for restraining or tripping up opponents.

I figured the girls, who were hesitant to take on the skill because of the slime image, would change their minds after seeing how handy it is in this situation.

By the way, I was also planning to get something for Shark as a reward for all his hard work, but I ran out of time. Next time, I’ll give him something like a [Martial Art] skill; I bet he’d love that.

"Wow… things really do come to those who wait. Three Skill Orbs, something so rare…"

"Oh, Unkai-san, you shouldn’t use Egetsu-san as an example. He’s crazy enough to spend entire days, sometimes two, locked inside a dungeon."

So rude!

"But… I feel like I’ve seen the light. I was starting to feel the limits of just fighting with my fists."

"Exactly. Having skills opens up so many more options. I’m sure you’ll get even stronger, Unkai-san!"

"Haha, I appreciate the encouragement. I hope so."

Yeah, looks like Serai-san is showing off a bit, acting like she’s Unkai-san’s mentor. Well, I’m happy since I got a dokko.

Still, how am I supposed to use this dokko? When I hold it, it’s about the size of my fist, with spikes sticking out of both ends. But since there’s no hilt or knuckle guard, if I fought a sword-wielding enemy with this, my fingers would get cut off easily…

Right? Yeah… no matter how I look at it, it’s too short. More like a hidden weapon than a proper one.

Though it does look cool, I can't believe Unkai-san fought monsters with that iron-dumbbell-looking vajra. His moves were like something out of a Hong Kong action movie.

"Oh, and you see that girls' high school to the south? Some of my talented juniors are there. You should check it out, Unkai-san, if you’re interested."

"Wait, there are people at that school who gained power from the dungeon?"

"Well, yeah… given the situation, we took them into the dungeon to help them gain stats, to boost their survival chances even a little."

"I see… So, even in these trying times, you’ve been helping others. How fortuitous… (bows)."

Hold on a second!

Serai-san, isn’t that a little too much showboating? Look, you’ve got Unkai-san bowing in reverence now!