Chapter 81

“Change of players. Ando-kun, I’m counting on you from here,” Arimura declared as she stepped aside, handing me the lead from the seventh floor onward.
[TL notes: ‘Change of Players’ – like in Soccer/Football you see reserve players coming in the field.]

Well, originally, I came to this floor range for my Orc hunting, so it’s a reasonable arrangement.

“Ando-kun, show me your full power,” Arimura requested.

“…Sorry, but I have to decline that,” I replied.

“You’re stingy,” Arimura retorted.

“Sorry, but some things are just not possible no matter what,” I insisted.

Arimura somehow seemed determined to see my power one way or another.

But if I were to unleash my true power, this dungeon would collapse in an instant. Even if I were okay with it, other explorers currently exploring the dungeon would be buried alive. Regardless, I had to conserve my strength as much as possible.

“Well, fine then. Orc hunting isn’t an easy task either. If I can catch a glimpse of your true strength today, I’ll consider it a win for me,” Arimura conceded.

“I’m looking forward to it too, Ando-san. When you helped me the other day, you didn’t use any skills, did you? I’m also interested in your skills,” Yotsui chimed in.

“…Even if you have expectations of it, my skills aren’t much compared to Arimura,” I replied.

Of course, this referred to my fire magic, which I claimed as my only skill.

Today, in front of these two, I am not planning on using any other abilities. While Arimura might have noticed some of my power, there shouldn’t be any confirmation yet.

Especially in front of Arimura, I shouldn’t reveal my true strength. In fact, if possible, I wanted to just barely defeat the Orcs and disappoint them both.

If they realized I wasn’t much of an explorer, they might naturally distance themselves from me.

“Gwaaa…”

“Oh, here they come,” I remarked as the target, an Orc, appeared.

“Ando-kun, I’m counting on you,” Arimura said.

“Ando-san, do your best!” Yotsui encouraged.

With both of them looking at me expectantly, I decided to make the fight against the single Orc as challenging as possible.

“Alright… let’s start with… Fire Ball!”

I cast the weakest version of my ‘only skill’ fire magic, intentionally minimizing the magical power and aiming way away from vital spots.

With this, even an orc won’t be killed with just…..

*Bang!!

“Guoooooooooo! ! ! ”

The Fire Ball hit the Orc’s right arm as intended, but the Orc’s body was unexpectedly fragile, causing it to crumble into pieces along with its upper arm. As a result, the Orc fell with a dying scream, unable to move.

I intended to have a tough battle, but I defeated it in a single blow.

“Wow! As expected, Ando-san!” Yotsui applauded.

“Well, I had at least expected this much,”

Even Arimura didn’t seem disappointed at all; in fact, she seemed rather pleased.

This is… Done for

Rather, were Orcs always this fragile…?

Next time, I needed to cast an even weaker Fire Ball and hold back even more…

But considering the amount of magical power injected, it would be difficult to hold back any further from this…

“…What should I do?”

I desperately tried to think of a way to struggle against the Orc, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with a method to make the Orc battle more challenging.

…As a result.

“Fi–fire Ball!”

Bang!

“Gwaaaahhh!!”

“Fi–fiire Ball… Please… endure it…” (Muttering)

Bang!

“Graaaaahhh!!!”

“Fire Ball…! Alright, this time…!”

Bang!

“Goddammit!! Why the heck?!”

No matter how hard I struggled, I ended up defeating the Orc in a single blow, and as a result, Orc hunting became considerably easier.

Arimura and Yotsui were both quite impressed as well.

“As expected, you’r skill is really impactful and efficient, Ando-kun,” Arimura complimented.

“Amazing… Your skills are so truly powerful, Ando-san. What else can you do?” Yotsui asked.

“Ahhh… well other than that, all I can do is manipulate flames and such, that’s about it… It’s not really that impressive,” I downplayed.

“No, no, it’s way too impressive! I admire you!!” Yotsui exclaimed.

“Ugh…”

“It’s an impressive attack power, Ando-kun. As I thought, I want you. With that kind of strength that you have, there would be no one as a rival or lest even an enemy.” Arimura added.

“Ugh…”

In the end, the plan failed. Instead of lowering their evaluation of me, I inadvertently raised it, and with heavy slumped shoulders, I collected the magic stones from the defeated Orcs.