After the first ambush counter, the four of us continued moving forward.

Of course, a few more attempted ambushes followed after that. But with the girls’ teamwork, although their HP reached critical levels at times, they survived each encounter. They handled it so well, in fact, that I completely missed the timing to call Ram in for help.

They were never truly in "danger" thanks to Eri’s timely heals, after all.

Furthermore, with equal EXP sharing across the party, she was the one benefiting the most. As the lowest-leveled member, her level had already risen to 14 by the time we reached the clearing.

"Alright, let’s rest up for a bit."

I said as I stabbed the flag straight into the ground.

Everyone’s HP was at full, of course. The flag was just a precaution in case enemies appeared. The extra 100% defense bonus was always a welcome boon.

This rest wasn’t for recovering HP, MP, or SP—it was to rest their minds.

We’d been fighting nonstop all the way here, after all. If not handled properly, mental fatigue had a way of turning into small mistakes during the actual hunt later.

And in a high speed fight, a small mistake could easily lead to death.

"Summon."

At the same time, I called Ram forward.

Along with a flash of light, her fully equipped figure appeared before all of us.

Gone was the caveman outfit from before. I wouldn’t dare show her to the two newcomers like that. Instead, she wore a proper heavy armor set suited for a mobile tank—the most effective role she could take right now.

"Ram, keep an eye on the surroundings." I said. "If enemies approach, announce it before you move to intercept."

"Yes, Master."

Even during our rest, Miyabi and the girls kept chatting with the viewers.

Well, nobody was talking to me anyway, but still... We had about 20,000 viewers at the moment, and not one had thrown so much as a greeting my way. Not that I was sulking, but still...

’Not even Tee is showing up right now...’

In my previous timeline, the gods were basically with me 24/7 all the way until I cleared the game. But now, just one day without seeing those familiar anon tags had me feeling oddly restless.

"Huh? A challenge?"

"Hm?"

Miyabi’s confused but slightly excited words pulled my attention back to reality. I turned to see one of the floating cameras sporting a promiscuous red chat bubble—a superchat—on top of it, with a large amount attached.

[UltimateSunDancer Superchat: $1,000

Get everyone to level 25 within the next 2 hours and I’ll send another $1k! 😎😎😎]

"..."

My lips curled into a deep frown.

A thousand dollars wasn’t easy to come by, much less two. But even with Ram added to the formation, pushing everyone to level 25 in two hours was asking a lot.

If the girls could fight without stopping, it might just work—but unlike Ram, they were human. Fatigue meant mistakes, and mistakes meant danger. The delay would be no joke if any of us died even just once.

Aware of this, Miyabi glanced over at me with a troubled expression.

Accepting and then failing wouldn’t just cost us the extra $1,000. It would mean we’d misjudged our own party’s capabilities—a serious blow not only to the stream, but to the reliability of the party itself.

"Accept it."

Still, I was confident it was possible.

After all, this time, I wasn’t alone.

I had allies I could rely on.

Miyabi’s expression flickered between worry and excitement before she gave a firm nod.

"Then, Mr. UltimateSunDancer—we accept your challenge! The timer starts after we finish our preparations!"

Kiki and Eri perked up from the side as well. An excited smile crossing their lips.

Nothing beats leveling faster, after all.

"So, Leader?" Miyabi turned to me once the chat settled, changing the way she addressed me. "What’s the plan now?"

After hearing her question, I just smiled, opened the system panel, and tapped a specific button.

"Of course, this is my plan."

I hit the "Random" creation button in my skill menu again.

Right. If our current forces weren’t enough to hit the target, the solution was straightforward—add more.

And the fastest, easiest way to do that was to buy another android. I still have a free slot, after all.

My wallet took another $10,000 worth of damage, but it was the right move for the situation. But still, whether it actually worked out depended on the RNG gods, of course. If I get a support build instead, then...

The button press registered, and a second slot appeared beneath Ram’s.

When I saw the designation, I let out a quiet breath of relief. Another Randomized Attack Model—same base type as Ram was.

But this one was built closer to Miyabi than Ram stat-wise.

100% STR multiplier. -25% to everything else. A literal min-max android!

Of course, this time, I didn’t repeat my earlier mistake with Ram—I fully equipped her with armor and weapon before summoning her forward.

"Come to my side, oh eternal follower!"

The words came out on their own again as soon as I used the summon skill.

The next moment, a pillar of light descended from above. As it faded, a figure stood at its center. Without even the need to squint, I noticed what it was. A female model. Again.

Was it luck or some sort of curse? I genuinely couldn’t decide.

"Huh?"

On top of that, she looked almost identical to Ram—same face, same build.

The only differences were her golden eyes, her slightly taller frame, and the fact that she was... bigger... overall. In certain areas. I won’t specify which ones. Ahem.

"Randomized Attack Model AX-060708, at your command, Master."

Her voice wasn’t the same as Ram’s, though. The delivery was still emotionless, but lower in pitch than Ram’s. It was less "cute," and instead, leaning more toward "cool."

"Alright." I cleared my throat. "Since the one summoned before you is already named Ram, you’ll be called... Gwen."

One syllable. Easy to call out fast when things got hectic.

Although I chose it almost at random, it magically fit her well enough.

"Designation name changed from Randomized Attack Model AX-060708 to Gwen... Confirmed. From now on, Gwen shall follow Master’s commands. Please give Gwen a task."

Good. Same clean acceptance as Ram.

After that fiasco was over, I turned to the girls and nodded. "I think we’ve rested long enough. Let’s resume the hunt."

"Yes!"

No objections came up.

Everyone stood on their feet, readied their weapons, and tuned their minds for the fights ahead.

Although the formation had changed considerably with the new addition.

Ram and Kiki anchored the front as the twin walls of the vanguard.

Behind them, Gwen and Miyabi took the attacker positions. Eri held the middle, ready to rain heals to either tank at a moment’s notice. And I covered the rear—positioned to protect Eri and the others if anything tried to attack us from behind.

The moment everyone settled into position—

"Alright, let’s go!" Miyabi grinned. "Timer starts now!"

And just like that, the hunt began.

We didn’t delay, making a beeline for the closest pack ahead—a group of Rock Moles taking a leisurely break out in the grassy fields instead of staying hidden underground.

"Now!"

I stepped forward ahead of the attackers and drove the flag into the ground at the right distance—close enough to keep the moles within the buff zone, while staying as far back as possible.

"Come at me, you bastards!" The next moment, Kiki overtook me without hesitation, flaming fist already drawn back. "Martial God’s Straight Punch!"

The hit connected, and one mole staggered on the spot.

But before she could follow up, the rest of the pack surged forward.

BAM!

With perfect timing, Ram stepped in, blocking the nearest mole clean with her shield. It was then slapped back into the dirt—not stunned, but thrown off-balance long enough to buy a second.

That second was all it took.

A blade flashed from behind Ram’s flank.

Critical!

1,151!!!

The number was outrageous. Well above anything Miyabi had pulled off to that point.

[RoboF_ker: 😲 Damn! That damage is no joke! ☠]

[Freestyle: WhiteGod barely speaks but his androids hit like trucks...]

[P2W_Whaler: 🔥🔥🔥 This is what real money buys! 🔥🔥🔥]

Even the chat lost it.

"As expected of a 100% STR build."

I let out a low whistle watching it unfold.

Not just the damage—Gwen’s precision was just as impressive. Five seconds, two attacks, two moles dissolved into particles of light. One strike, one kill, no wasted motion.

With a dedicated attacker added to the lineup, our clear speed nearly doubled. What had taken a full minute to clean up before barely stretched past 30 seconds for a group of ten.

"Great start!" I smiled. "Keep the momentum going—and don’t forget to check your quest objectives."

Right. We weren’t here just to grind, after all. The main concept today was speedrunning quests. In short, we need to actually complete the quests efficiently to stay true to our concept.

A quick glance confirmed that the monsters we’d cleared on the way here, combined with this batch, had already ticked off three of my active quests. The girls’ should also be in a similar state.

We couldn’t cash them in without heading back to the village first, though. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

But running back every time a quest completed was too inefficient. Better to sweep the entire zone in one pass, then return to the village in bulk—sell the loot, restock, and hand everything in at once.

In short—

"Let’s continue hunting!"

We were just getting started.