Chapter 174: The Town of the 18th Floor
Hayashi stood with his hands on his hips, watching Goliath's fist rapidly enlarge in his vision. A smirk tugged at his lips. "So this is the Floor Boss's Serious Punch? Really now..."
The next moment, his expression shifted. He suddenly spread his arms, bracing himself as his muscles tensed. Wisps of blue mist—signs of mana burning—drifted from the corners of his mouth.
"Hum—"
The Power of Aura activated, coating Hayashi's eyes in a blue glow. As the aura expanded, the surroundings, the trajectory of the fist, Goliath's movements—everything became clear in his mind.
"Thud—"
Hayashi's right foot stomped the ground, shattering the floor beneath him. With a sonic boom, he shot forward like a cannonball, meeting Goliath's fist head-on.
"HAH—!"
With a deafening roar, two vastly disproportionate fists collided. A visible torrent of mana erupted from Hayashi's fist.
"BOOM—!"
The next instant, the right half of Goliath's body disintegrated into dust from the shockwave. The remaining half of its rapidly fading face bore an expression of confusion and disbelief.
I just threw one punch... How did I lose?
"Tch—"
Hayashi dashed forward, effortlessly catching Goliath's magic stone as it fell from the air. He turned around and cheerfully finished his earlier sentence: "...So scary~!"
At the same time, the blue glow of the Power of Aura faded from his eyes like a dying ember.
Hisako walked over, her lips twitching. "Young Master, are you planning to cosplay Kizaru to the end? He says 'so scary' while kicking Supernovas; you say 'so scary' while punching Floor Bosses?"
"Ehehe—"
Hayashi casually tossed the magic stone to Yunyun, whose eyes sparkled with excitement. "Well, Goliath was really scary, you know? That huge body, swinging that massive fist—whoosh! Came right at me! My poor heart was going kachakacha!"
Erina couldn't help but interject, "Hayashi, normal people's hearts go dokidoki, not kachakacha."
"Really? I don't believe you." Hayashi naturally buried his face into Erina's chest, mumbling, "Let me listen—is it kachakacha or dokidoki?"
Erina's lips twitched. She glanced at Hisako and Yunyun, who were stifling giggles, and felt a surge of irritation. "You want to listen? Fine, listen all you want!"
With that, she wrapped her arms around Hayashi's head, pressing his face firmly against her chest. "I'll smother you to death!"
Ah, the legendary "face wash" technique—a devastating 400% damage multiplier against males! Truly overpowered!
Time passed. Hayashi remained buried in Erina's chest, his hands leisurely wandering over her legs, clad in stockings, utterly enchanted—three seconds per revisit.
Hisako couldn't take it anymore. "Miss Erina, if you want to get intimate with the Young Master, I suggest doing it at home. You can go all out on the bed."
Erina's face turned bright red. "H-Hisako! Wh-what are you saying?!"
Hisako sighed. "Miss, you've been standing here for five minutes while he's been fondling your legs for five minutes."
Erina defended herself, "I'm trying to suffocate him!"
Hisako's lips twitched. "Miss, how long can you hold your breath now?"
Erina thought for a moment. "Half an hour? An hour? I haven't tested it, so I can't say."
Hisako spread her hands. "You can hold your breath for at least half an hour. What about the Young Master, whose stamina surpasses yours? Are you planning to smother him here for an hour?"
Finally understanding, Erina blushed and quickly released Hayashi, pushing him away. "Hmph, I won't smother you anymore!"
Hayashi shot Hisako an annoyed look. "Hisako, why must you ruin such a good thing? Being smothered while fondling legs—this is the life of the gods, you know?"
Hisako nodded calmly. "I know. But I also know that if you two keep this up for over an hour, we won't make it back in time."
"Oh right, we still need to explore the 18th Floor before heading back." Hayashi sighed regretfully. "Ah, well. Next time, then!"
"???" Erina stared at him, baffled. "There's going to be a next time?"
Hayashi nodded. "Why not?"
Erina huffed. "Fine! Tonight, I'll smother you all night long!"
Hayashi cheered. "Yay!"
Hisako: "?"
Yunyun: "?"
The two exchanged glances, thinking in unison: Are we the third wheels here?
The Dungeon, 18th Floor
Though it shared the number "18," this floor was neither as cruel as the 18 layers of hell nor as enticing as Android 18—instead, it was the 18th Floor of the Dungeon, a place of safety.
As one of the Dungeon's rare "safe floors," the 18th Floor didn't spawn monsters. That said, creatures from the 17th and 19th Floors occasionally wandered in, but they were usually dealt with by the adventurers stationed here.
"Wow, it's already developed at this point—"
Hayashi stood at the entrance, gazing at the town built by adventurers in the distance. "That saying really holds true—what was it again? Something about 100% profit?"
Faced with Hayashi's cultural illiteracy, Erina sighed and supplied, "'With 50% profit, they'll take risks; with 100%, they'll trample all laws; with 300%, they'll commit any crime—'"
"Right, right, that's the one!" Hayashi tapped his head, then pointed at the town. "See? Isn't this the perfect example?"
Recalling scenes from Sword Oratoria, Erina nodded disdainfully. "True. They're all a bunch of unscrupulous profiteers."
"While I understand the risks of running a business here—" Hayashi shrugged. "—it still pisses me off when they rip you off."
First, consider the difficulty of traveling from the 1st to the 18th Floor while keeping supplies intact.
Second, account for the occasional monsters wandering in from the 17th and 19th Floors.
Finally, factor in the challenge of returning from the 18th to the 1st Floor after supplies run out.
So, as Hayashi said, adventurers who knew about this town understood the risks—but it still stung when they got fleeced.
Damn scammers.
Hisako reassured him, "It's fine. We won't buy anything here anyway, so they can't rip us off!"
"True enough." Hayashi grinned. "Come on, let's take a stroll, soak in the atmosphere, and call it a day."
The others had no objections, so the four of them leisurely made their way into town.
Perhaps because the timeline was still early—or due to Evilus's recent activity—the 18th Floor's population was far smaller than what they'd seen in the anime. Including the resident adventurers, there were barely forty people.
Forty people!
Honestly, Hayashi's elementary school class had sixty-one students. This town couldn't even fill a first-grade classroom!
"Not many people," Hayashi remarked, munching on food from his backpack as he looked around. "Hey, is it just me, or do these guys seem kinda hostile?"
Erina, Hisako, and Yunyun glanced at Hayashi—holding a drink in one hand and eating rice balls with the other—then at the surrounding adventurers. You just now noticed their hostility?
Young Master, have some self-awareness!
"Tsk, so expensive—"
Hayashi passed a shop selling potions and winced at the prices. "Twenty times the surface price. What a racket. It's almost tempting."
While Hayashi focused on the prices, Hisako mused, "Young Master, notice something? Despite their greed, none of these shops sell the same items."
Hayashi scanned the area and realized she was right. For example, the potion shop only sold health and stamina potions, while another exclusively sold mana and energy potions. Though there were many shops, there was no overlap—effectively avoiding competition and price wars.
"Damn—" Hayashi rubbed his chin. "So the market's already carved up, huh?"
Erina added thoughtfully, "I doubt it's fully divided. For instance, the health potion seller could've given up the stamina potion market to someone else. I wouldn't be surprised if mana and energy potions were originally his too, but he ceded them."
Hayashi's lips twitched. "Wow. In this tiny town, with fewer than twenty merchants, they've perfectly recreated society, commerce, and human nature..."
What a waste of the 18th Floor on you people!