After beating the Justice Guild guys to a pulp, we ran toward the center of the forest where the dungeon entrance was. We had no time to waste at all.

Given the levels of those who had come to block our path being 33 and below, it wasn’t hard to imagine the levels of the group actually inside trying to rob my first clear rewards. And from their predicted levels, estimating their completion time wasn’t particularly difficult either.

I ran the numbers as we jogged, watching the trees thin out around us, and didn’t like how close it was cutting.

"We’re here!" Miyabi announced as we arrived at the scene.

And to my surprise, the remnants of the Justice Guild had already logged out.

How did I know? Their avatars were still here—splayed all over the ground in nothing but their underwear, like a battlefield of very embarrassed mannequins.

When you logged out while in a battle zone or field, your body remained for a few minutes before disappearing. Meaning if others spotted your "empty shell," they could attack it freely and get lucky if loot dropped.

But these guys seemed to be used to that already.

They had already stripped off all their items before logging out, most likely passing everything to a speed-type member and ferrying it all to safety. This way, even if they died, they’d only lose experience—not equipment. Clean contingency planning, honestly.

"Smart, but we didn’t really need your drop items anyway."

I shrugged before turning my gaze to the leaderboard on full display above the dungeon entrance.

On it, there was one line each on Easy and Normal difficulty, and two lines each on Hard and Hell. The timer to the right read 33 minutes, meaning all of them were still far from a successful clear.

Given the time and the estimated completion duration...

"We can still catch up!" I cheered. "We can still claim all the first clear rewards like this!"

"Catch up?" Kiki, visibly bewildered, stared at me directly. "They have a 30-minute head start, and you still think we can catch up?"

"Wouldn’t it be quite difficult...?" Even Eri chimed in, her expression filled with worry, hands clasped together in front of her like she was already preparing a consolation speech.

Miyabi alone wore a confident expression, as if doubting my words wasn’t even a consideration for her. That actually made me smile a little. Anyway.

"We can," I declared. "To be specific, you girls can."

"Huh?"

Seeing their confused looks, I smiled.

"Simple. We split into two groups. You girls, along with my androids, will clear the Easy difficulty while I handle Normal. Rush to the end at the fastest possible time and beat the boss."

At my words, the girls stared at me as if I had lost my mind. Even Miyabi hadn’t predicted such a blunt solution would come out of my mouth, her jaw hanging open in a way she probably wasn’t aware of.

"After that, we combine and handle Hard together before tackling Hell difficulty."

It was a sure-fire way to claim all the first clear rewards across every difficulty.

After all, seeing the level range on the leaderboard and the clearing progress timers, I knew something they didn’t.

’The Hell difficulty... is impossible for them to clear.’

---

With Kamishiro’s urging, Miyabi and the rest decided to try what he said—to clear the Easy difficulty of the Howling Dungeon with just the girls.

With Sunny tagging along to cleanse Plague and other debuffs, they were sure to have a smooth enough time. The problem was the time limit.

Kamishiro had only given them 30 minutes to clear everything.

Although it sounded impossible, making the girls feel intimidated at first—they felt thrilled at the same time. Was it really impossible to clear within half an hour, or was his estimate accurate? The girls wanted to find out for themselves.

"Don’t get lost. Refer to the map we have." Kamishiro said, waving at them as they disappeared inside the dungeon.

The next moment, they found themselves standing in a familiar dark cave once more—the same oppressive stillness, the same low ceiling pressing in from above, the same smell of damp stone and something older beneath it.

"Kristal! GentleBreeze! Light!" Miyabi quickly called out.

The next moment, including herself, three light sources lit up, brightening the space enough that no blind spots remained. Then they moved into formation as discussed and ran toward the actual path forward without hesitation. No exploration, no deliberating at forks—just the map, and movement.

From Kamishiro’s words, as long as they kept pace, all they needed to mind were the monsters coming from up front. The ones spawning behind them could be ignored, since it would take time for the horde to actually catch up.

All they had to do was move constantly—running when their stamina allowed it, walking when it crept toward critical to let it recover, then running again.

"Monsters! Rats and Bats!"

And immediately after, they met the first incoming wave.

This time, though, they didn’t hesitate at all.

With Sunny in the lineup, they didn’t need to worry about hitting the Plague Rats’ blisters, or carefully dodging the Withered Bats’ bites. Plague, Bleed, Poison—everything could be cleansed in one go after the fact, so they could throw caution out entirely and just hit hard.

"Moon Waltz!"

"Martial God’s Thousand Palm Strike!"

"Purifying Wave!"

All of them went on the offensive simultaneously.

Miyabi used Moon Waltz to jump straight into the front of the enemy formation, swinging a full circle to clear a wide patch in one go. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Then Eri cast Purifying Wave to deal chip damage and lock down the movement of whatever remained, before Kiki finished it off with her AOE attack—practically a beam, covering everything within ten meters ahead of her in a single sweep.

When that was over, Ram and Gwen cleaned up the stragglers that had either survived the combo or simply been lucky enough to fall outside the hitboxes.

All in all, a single batch barely took ten seconds to clear. The monsters barely registered as obstacles—more like punctuation in what was otherwise just a fast, straight run.

"At this pace, it might really be possible!" Miyabi cheered, already moving before the last particle of light had faded.

[MoeLover: Finally, the dream team~! Go go girls~! You don’t need that snobby WhiteGod with you anyway~!]

[Granger: Jiggle~ jiggle~ jiggle all the way~! 🤤🤤🤤]

[MeatyBun: Someone call the mods on the one above! He’s deranged!]

Even the chat was getting quite chatty, keeping a close eye on the girls’ attempt at a speedrun and cheering them along with the particular enthusiasm chat reserved for things it hadn’t expected to work.

Though, of course, Kamishiro hadn’t left the party. He was simply moving by himself, on the Normal difficulty of the dungeon, running a separate instance entirely.

As for how many viewers were watching him rather than the girls...

Well.

Barely any, at first.

Only a few curious ones had drifted over to take a glance, most of them expecting a quieter, more methodical run without the visual spectacle of the girls’ combo chain. But after that first glance, they ended up forgetting about switching back altogether.

One by one, the viewer count on his stream crept upward, silent and steady, the way a crowd gathers around something it can’t quite explain.

They were completely enamored by what they were watching.

"Hup!"

Kamishiro was alone, running through the dungeon with nothing but a miner’s helmet accessory providing light—a small, bobbing glow that barely dented the dark ahead of him.

And unlike the girls, who were cutting down monsters as they encountered them, Kamishiro’s approach was entirely different.

"Hahaha! Too slow! You can’t catch me like that!"

He was laughing. Loudly, genuinely, like something about this was funny.

But the viewers watching couldn’t quite laugh with him. Not with what was behind him.

A swarm of hundreds—thousands—of monsters chasing him down the tunnel in a churning, screeching mass that filled the passage from wall to wall and stretched back further than the light could reach.

The sound of it alone through the stream was enough to make viewers’ chests tighten. One wrong step. One moment of lag. One stamina bar that hit zero at the wrong time, and there would be absolutely no recovery from it.

Still, even though Kamishiro might be missing a few braincells, he wasn’t a complete idiot either.

He knew that just running wasn’t enough. Running was only the setup.

Thus, as his stamina dipped past 25% remaining, he finally turned around—smooth and unhurried, like he’d been counting down to this exact moment—and drew a Saber in each hand.

Then, as if doing things entirely his own way, he didn’t even announce the skill’s name. He simply rushed straight into the horde, body igniting in a deep purple glow.

Lightning wrapped around him as the two swords crossed before his chest. His lips curled into a wide, satisfied smile—the expression of someone for whom danger was simply everyone else’s imagination.

Then, when he collided with the monster horde—

BOOOM!

A powerful explosion erupted, swallowing the passage whole.

A few moments later, everything within a certain radius of him had simply ceased to exist.

"Phew..."

Kamishiro wiped the sweat off his forehead, taking stock of his status.

HP at 10%. MP at zero. SP barely clinging to 5%.

But every single enemy that had been chasing him for the last stretch of corridor—gone. Hundreds of meters of packed, swarming monsters, wiped out in a single strike. The passage behind him was almost serene now, just empty stone and fading particles drifting apart in the dark.

[Bell: A fucking god... So fucking badass! 😲]

Even the chat had gone quiet for a moment, which was perhaps the highest compliment it knew how to give.