An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 99

Chapter 99: With This, the Number of Subscribers Will Rise Again!

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At 5 a.m., the Hokkaido Regional Bureau of the Dungeon Management Agency received a report of a dungeon collapse. They immediately issued an emergency mandatory summons to all registered explorers. At the same time, they determined that this was beyond the capacity of a single regional bureau to handle and requested reinforcements from the agency’s headquarters.

Shortly thereafter, the doors sealing the entrance to the Goryokaku Dungeon were breached. However, by then, the entire management facility had been locked down. This was precisely why dungeon management facilities were designed as windowless, fortified buildings.

By 6 a.m., the police had already surrounded Goryokaku Park, establishing a perimeter both inside and outside the area, while nearby explorers gathered. These were explorers ranked C or higher, as per the emergency summons.

Shortly after 6 a.m., the walls of the management facility were finally destroyed, and monsters began to spill out. By this point, most of the upper-level monsters had already been devoured, leaving mainly mid-level monsters to emerge.

“Fireeeeeeeeeee!!”

Of course, the explorers hadn’t just been standing idly by, waiting for the monsters to appear. A barrage of attack magic was unleashed through the opening, annihilating the monsters inside.

As the echoes of magic subsided, it was now the turn of the explorers specializing in close combat. They encircled and overwhelmed the new waves of monsters that charged out one after another. Once their magic was ready again, they swiftly retreated, allowing the next wave of spells to engulf the monsters.

Through this repeated strategy, not a single mid-level monster that emerged was left unchecked. However, everyone present understood that this tactic wouldn’t work forever.

Just before 7 a.m., the lower-level monsters finally began to appear. Far more terrifying than their mid-level counterparts, the lower-level monsters quickly tore down the facility’s walls.

To take on lower-level monsters, one needed to be at least B-rank. Yet among the roughly 40 explorers who had gathered so far, only about 10 were B-rank. The rest were all C-rank. And the lower-level monsters kept pouring out.

“This is bad…There are too many of them!”

“There’s no way we can handle this with our numbers!”

“Where’s the backup!?”

Of course, explorers from various parts of Hokkaido were already on their way in response to the summons. However, Hokkaido was vast. Even from Sapporo, which had the highest number of explorers in the region, it would take four to five hours by car to reach Hakodate.

At that moment, a thunderous roar came from above.

“…A helicopter!”

“Is it reinforcements?!”

“It has to be!”

A helicopter approached. If it was coming from Sapporo, it would only take about an hour and a half to reach Hakodate, making it entirely possible that reinforcements were aboard.

“Wait, that helicopter has ‘HKT’ written on it!?”

“Hokkaido TV!?”

“Damn reporters! Get lost!”

It turned out to be a news helicopter. The explorers roared in frustration.

“GROAAAAAR!!”

“A Manticore…!”

Suddenly, one of the most vicious lower-level monsters, a Manticore, lunged at them. Three B-rank explorers engaged it, but they were quickly overwhelmed.

At this rate, they would be wiped out…

Everyone was struck by despair at that moment.

CRACKLE—!!

“AAAAAARGH!?”

Lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky, incinerating the Manticore’s massive body.

“What the hell was that!?”

“Lightning magic!? But this power is…!”

“L-look! There’s someone up there!”

Standing atop the fallen Manticore was a lone young man.

“Everyone! Now that I’m here, you have nothing to fear!”

He raised his sword skyward as he declared this. A drone hovered above him.

“I’ve seen him before… no way, is that… the dungeon streamer… Ryuuga Takahashi!?”

One of the explorers recognized him and called out his name.

“Fuhaha! Correct! My name is Ryuuga Takahashi! I’m an A-rank explorer and the owner of ‘Dragon Channel,’ with 2.3 million subscribers!”

“”“Ooooooh!!”””

The struggling explorers erupted in cheers. An A-rank explorer joining their fight in such a dire situation was an incredible morale boost. Meanwhile, Ryuuga Takahashi himself was thinking—

“–Perfect! That was hands down the coolest entrance I’ve ever made! With this, the number of subscribers will rise again…”

〈Lol, he totally timed that on purpose.〉

〈That’s classic Ryuuga Takahashi.〉

〈Quit showing off and take down more monsters already!〉

Of course, his livestream viewers saw right through his motives.

〈But seriously, what luck! He just happened to be in Hokkaido for the Mount Yotei Dungeon and arrived at the perfect moment.〉

〈And I wondered he started an emergency stream this morning…〉

〈The news is covering this too, but his first-person explorer perspective is definitely going viral.〉

When the agency’s emergency request came in, Ryuuga had been in Sapporo, preparing for his planned exploration of the Mount Yotei Dungeon the next day. Had he been at his base in Tokyo, even if he had taken a private jet to rendezvous with other explorers, he wouldn’t have arrived nearly as fast.

〈Still, hitching a ride on a news helicopter to get here before everyone else? That was genius.〉

〈This is why we love Ryuuga. He’s smart as hell.〉

〈Wait, Sapporo has an airport in Okadama?〉

〈He already has over 500,000 concurrent viewers! Ryuuga, you might break your record!〉

As it turned out, he had managed to hitch a ride on the very same Hokkaido TV helicopter that had just enraged the explorers.

“Now, everyone, follow my lead!”

Ryuuga Takahashi declared as he charged into battle, his sword crackling with electricity, leading the charge against the monstrous lower-level creatures.

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