I Was the Supporter of a Popular Dungeon Streamer, but the Power Harassment Was Too Much, so I Quit. I’m Useless Anyway, so It Shouldn’t Be a Problem, Right? Huh? The Views Are Dropping Like Crazy? - 48-49

Chapter 48: Emergency

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A week had passed since the Guild Duel ended. During that time, all I had been doing was maintaining my prosthetic arm, strength training, and practicing magic.

I spent time with Riku and Isshiki-san, picking out the spells from their repertoire that I thought were useful and practicing to learn them.

【Binding Nail Bullet】, 【Seal of Gravity】, 【Wind Shoes】, 【Blinding Bullet】. I trained with these four, but none of them worked out like I expected. I had hoped that if I could master 【Wind Shoes】 and use it without chanting, I’d be able to walk freely through the air, which would have been incredibly convenient… but unfortunately, no luck in that field either.

【Binding Nail Bullet】 was also really powerful and if I could use it, it would have expanded my tactical options significantly. But magic had compatibility factors. No matter how much I practiced, if a spell wasn’t a good match for me, I wouldn’t be able to learn it. None of these spells felt right at all, so it was probably best to give up on them.

Well, I could always try practicing magic once my prosthetic arm fully awakened. It would be better to learn spells that complemented the abilities of my OOPArt anyway.

As for Kisaragi, she successfully registered as a Seeker. This wasn’t particularly surprising though. Even though her OOPArt was a ‘scrap,’ as long as she was chosen by an OOPArt, it was only natural for her to be assigned to Seeker status. In fact, Kisaragi had to go through a lot of paperwork and screening afterward to somehow get reassigned as a Supporter.

Simply put, the Divine Order was desperate for Seekers. If someone with an OOPArt wanted to become a Supporter, they’d put up a lot of barriers. But if they chose to be a Seeker, there were no particular obstacles from the Divine Order.

Over the past week, Kisaragi had handled the contract termination with Iizuka, transferred to Odd Cat, and switched to Seeker status. She was busy wrapping up all those tedious processes. Since managing all that paperwork alongside labyrinth exploration and training would have been too much of a burden for Kisaragi, we hadn’t gone into the labyrinth at all during this time.

Today, at last, was the day we would dive into the labyrinth together for the first time. We were meeting at 9:00 AM, on the first floor of Amatsugahara.

“It’s about time.”

I left my room and headed for Amatsugahara. I was at a shopping mall on the first floor of Amatsugahara. There, I saw Kisaragi was sitting on a sofa in front of an item shop, still dressed in that same shinobi-like outfit… So it wasn’t Iizuka who made her wear that. She had chosen to wear that kind of outfit out of her own volition.

“Good morning.”

When I greeted her, Kisaragi turned to look at me and bowed her head. 

“Ah! G-good morning!”

Her greeting came out awkwardly, her voice trembling.

“What’s wrong? Are you nervous?”

“Ugh… Yes. Just a little.”

I understood how she felt. I used to be a Supporter myself, so it was natural to feel uneasy.

“I don’t expect everything to go smoothly right from the start. Today, we’ll focus on the lower floors. We will focus on honing our teamwork first.”

“Y-yes!”

“First, let’s check the quest board at the request office.”

“Oh, I already accepted some quests through the app!”

“App?”

“Yes! The quest management app! It was just released recently. You can check and accept quests through it!”

Kisaragi showed me her smartphone. Huh, she was right. The world had gotten a lot more convenient… Man, if an app like this had come out, they should’ve advertised it more.

“Which quests did you accept?”

“Eight goblin teeth, two mimic empty chests, and six blizzard wolf claws. All collection quests.”

“All of those can be found in the lower floors. The numbers are just right. Okay, let’s go with that.”

As expected of Kisaragi. She picked quests that were perfect for getting used to things. The rewards weren’t bad either. Even if we split the earnings, this low-rank quest would still bring in about as much as when I used to team up with Mia.

“Alright then… Let’s do our best!”

“Yeah!”

I was super excited. Once I entered the labyrinth, I would no longer act as a Supporter. I would be acting as a Seeker! I could finally explore the labyrinth as a Seeker…!

『Emergency broadcast, emergency broadcast. A notice from the Guild Association.』

A woman’s voice echoed through the shopping mall. It was a facility-wide announcement.

An emergency broadcast? This was the first time I had ever heard one. What was going on?

『Seekers and Supporters have been going missing or dying in large numbers throughout all of Amatsugahara. Therefore, we will be temporarily sealing off Amatsugahara.』

“What!?”

『In 30 minutes, the gates will be completely sealed. If you forcibly enter the gate, you will be left behind in the labyrinth, so please be careful.』

Voices of dismay filled the area.

“Come on, you’ve gotta be kidding me!! If I don’t earn something today, I won’t have food tomorrow!!”

“I won’t be able to pay my rent!!”

“I was finally planning to challenge the middle floors today!”

“I went through all the trouble of preparing, and now this?!”

Many people made their living by exploring Amatsugahara. Because of that, shutting it down would be a major problem for a lot of them. That was exactly why Amatsugahara was rarely ever sealed off. There were occasional maintenance closures, but those were usually done late at night. Shutting it down in the middle of the day like this was unheard of.

It meant something serious had happened.

This sounds rather ominous….

“What should we do?”

“…Let’s head to the entrance hall. We might be able to find more information there.”

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Chapter 49: Surprise Attack

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I headed to the entrance hall with Kisaragi. As expected, the entrance hall was overflowing with people. Since Kisaragi was short, she kept hopping up and down to get a better look at the front.

“Hey! How long is this lockdown gonna last!?”

“Give us the details, the details!!”

A tape had been set up in front of the gate, with people in Guild Association uniforms standing guard beyond it. It looked like a scene from a drama, where the police cordoned off a crime or accident scene.

“Judging from the situations, it seems they haven’t informed the general Seekers of the details.”

“Yeah. Should we just head back?”

“Hmm… I want to stick around a little longer. I have a bad feeling about this…”

Just as I tried to move forward, my phone buzzed in my pocket. When I checked the screen, I saw Abisu’s name. It was probably about the gate lockdown. I answered the call.

“Hello?”

『Hamura-kun? Judging from the noise I hear through the call, you’re in the entrance hall, aren’t you?』

“Good guess.”

『Then I assume you already know that Amatsugahara has been locked down?』

“Yeah. Something about a surge in missing and dead Seekers. Do you know anything more about it?”

『I do. That’s why I called. S-Rank Seekers are always mobilized in situations like this. We’ve all been given the details.』

“…Can you tell me?”

It was probably classified information, but…

『Yeah, I can. That’s the whole reason I called. I want Kisaragi-chan to hear this too.』

“Got it.”

I crouched down and held my phone close to Kisaragi’s ear. There was no way I could put it on speaker in a place like this.

“Alright, go ahead.”

『The abnormal events started two days ago. A mid-A-Rank Seeker and their Supporter suddenly went missing. Then, yesterday, their guild organized a massive search. Three A-Rank Seekers, eight B-Rank Seekers, and eleven Supporters. But in the end, every single one of them either disappeared or was killed.』

“What!?”

“What floor was this?”

『…The 23rd floor.』

“The 23rd!?”

An A-Rank Seeker was taken out on such a low-level floor!?

『And it’s not just there. Seekers have been disappearing everywhere. Lower floors, middle floors, upper floors. The decision to shut the gate was the right call. This is clearly an emergency.』

“Do we have any idea what’s causing it?”

『Well… There was a C-Rank Seeker who witnessed what happened to that guild from a distance. According to them, the entire group was wiped out by a single monster. A three-eyed creature wielding an axe.』

“A three-eyed creature? Sounds like some kind of troll.”

『Yeah. They said it was about twice the height of an average adult male. Roughly 3.3 to 4 meters tall. But that’s not the real problem. The real issue is the axe it was using.』

Abisu lowered her voice.

『Apparently, the axe could change its size at will.』

“Huh, sounds just like…”

“Like Iizuka-san’s OOPArt.”

Abisu fell silent.

“…What is it?”

『Wait, wait, don’t tell me you haven’t realized it yet?』

Abisu sounded exasperated, but… Realized…? Realized what?

“A special entity capable of wielding an OOPArt-class weapon…”

The image that came to mind was the Minotaur that had used an OOPArt.

…No way.

“…You’re saying that thing with three eyes is Iizuka?”

『Most probably, yeah.』

“Huh? Huh?? What do you mean???”

“Sorry, Kisaragi. I’ll explain it later. Right now, I need to prioritize my own questions.”

Damn it. I was starting to break out in a cold sweat….

“What about Iizuka? Any news about him?”

『Atsushi Iizuka has been missing for a week. It seems that after he visited the hospital arranged by Ul-kun, he disappeared without a trace.』

That red-eyed Minotaur.. I’d heard that it was actually C-rank Seeker Shuuren Araki. It seemed Shuuren Araki turned into a Minotaur because of someone. In other words, Abisu was trying to tell us that just like Araki, Iizuka had been modified by someone and turned into a monster…

I lowered my voice.

“…If that’s the case, then is Ul the one carrying out these transformations?”

『If that three-eyed creature is really Atsushi Iizuka, then I’m certain he’s involved in this.』

“…What do you plan to do?”

『Tonight, Odd Cat and another S-rank Seeker will be conducting a joint investigation at the Guild Master’s guild. I want you to participate as well.』

“Got it. Should I just head to Odd Cat’s headquarters for now?”

『Please do.』

I ended the call. There was still a lot to process, but I had to stay calm and deal with this carefully.

“What does this mean? Iizuka-san is that three-eyed troll…?”

“I know. I’ll explain everything properly. For now, let’s head back to headquarters—”

Just as I said that and turned toward the exit…

A hand clad in red gloves came rushing toward me.

These gloves…!!

“Ul…!!”

There was no way to dodge at this distance.

“I made a promise to him… To deliver you two.”

The glove touched my face. The moment it made contact, my body was flung over the heads of the onlookers, past the Guild Association members, and straight into the gate—

Before I knew it, I was already inside the labyrinth.

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