1.99 Lucky Player

"The two just left the guild," Kaede said as she looked at an adventurer getting up from the floor.

"They must have suspected that no one had left. For now, let’s forget about the two of them and let Mio and the others deal with the monsters."

"Do you think anyone will win by a large margin?"

"Yes, those four over there. It’s an unbalanced group, they’re all swordsmen, but they’re fast and can cover each other’s weaknesses. The slower ones aren’t left behind, that group is already used to each other’s movements. That’s something rare, but at the same time, it’s very bad depending on the situation. More diverse groups will always be better."

"The problem is the potion consumption. Although potions aren’t expensive, ideally they shouldn’t waste so much time consuming potions and other items."

Kaede was right, potions should be used as a last resort, only when there was no one to provide support, or when someone needed to be rescued. They drank a potion every half hour to recover their energy, that would be solved if they had some support Mage who could use buffs and even debuffs on the monsters.

Another adventurer was injured. He stayed on the ground for a while, he was almost crushed by an orc, but an archer killed the monster.

"That was a waste of an arrow, even if he gets the arrow back, the crystal will still go to the other team."

"I forgot to mention that, or did I?"

"I don’t remember."

"It’s too late now, let’s let them find that out on their own and in the worst possible way."

"Do you think anyone will notice something like that?"

"No, but you never know how attentive someone can be."

Hayato was sitting in an armchair in Kazuma’s office.

Ren entered, and behind him was Aino. The two approached Kazuma and bowed slightly.

"We did what was asked," Ren said as he raised his head.

"How did they react?"

"We don’t know," Aino replied.

"How do you not know?"

"We left before anyone came out of the dungeon," Ren replied.

"How is that possible?"

Ren began to sweat coldly, Aino didn’t know what to answer.

"Let me see if I understand. You two used the crystals, didn’t see anyone leave the dungeon, and came to us to tell us that?" Hayato asked.

No one answered.

Kazuma slammed his hand on the table.

"That was a question, answer me," he was irritated.

"Yes, we stayed there for half an hour and didn’t see anyone leave. We think they died."

"Masaru may be old, but he wouldn’t die from something like this, especially considering that they’re weak monsters compared to his level. Which floor did this happen on?"

"Fifteenth floor."

Hayato stood up.

"You’ll go back there and find out what actually happened, because there’s a chance no one died and everything went wrong."

"But we tested the..."

"I don’t want to know. You two will do what I asked, just come back when you know what happened and bring the crystals back to me."

"You remember where you put the crystals, don’t you?" Kazuma asked.

"Yes, we remember."

Kazuma took a ring from the drawer and placed it on the table.

"This item will deactivate the crystals, but only use it when you can enter the dungeon and wait a few minutes for the monsters to disappear."

Aino took the ring and placed it in her inventory.

The two left.

"What do you think happened?"

"I think the two of them did something wrong. There’s no way Masaru died, not before he tried to do something to save the adventurers. I’ve known him for more than two decades, and I know how he thinks and what he would do in this situation."

"I didn’t know you knew each other."

"All the guild leaders know each other, including the owners of security companies. He only inherited the guild, before that, he worked providing security for groups. He offered an escort service for dungeons, it was a job that paid very well, but when his father died, he gave everything up and took care of the guild. A big mistake on his part."

"How did that work?"

"His class is Fighter, but he has some abilities that can be mistaken for those of a Mage. His body can use mana from the environment, so he’s a Fighter who doesn’t need to touch any monster. This gave him a certain advantage in combat. So he became stronger and leveled up quickly, then he started offering the service. Weak groups would pay him a fee, he would kill all the strong monsters, and that way the whole group would level up. He did this so much that he reached level 50 in just four months. But he stagnated at level 96, or 95, I never remember."

"Those two made a big mistake, that much I’m sure of."

Ren sat down, Aino went to Amanda and asked how much longer it would take for the event to end.

"She doesn’t know exactly, they’ll still stay in there for another thirty minutes, the drop count will begin afterward and will take a few hours."

"Then we’ll have to stay here for a few hours," Ren said, becoming discouraged.

He wanted only two things, a shower and to have sex with his wife. But work left him with no energy for anything else. That was why he could barely last two minutes.

"We need to change jobs, this work is still going to end up killing us."

"Or taking us to prison," Ren added.

"Yes..."

The two continued sitting there, waiting for the event to end.

"The two are back, they’re sitting in the cafeteria while they wait for something. Do you think they want to see how many adventurers are still alive?"

"I don’t think so. I believe what they did is more a way of causing fear and ending the event than causing any deaths. They’re confused because no one has left the dungeon so far. They must be waiting so they can enter the dungeon and find out if something happened."

"So, they want the crystals back?"

"Exactly. It’ll be funny when they realize someone took the crystals. I can already see the fear on their faces. Kazuma will definitely deal with them."

"Kazuma?"

"Haru’s father. I don’t think you’ve ever seen him, but he always came here. From time to time, he wanted to know how Haru was doing, and then after a while he disappeared, but we already knew each other before I became the guild master."

"It’s almost time," Kaede said as she looked at the timer.

Masaru took an item from his inventory. He held it firmly, and when Kaede gave the signal, the item was activated. All the monsters stopped spawning.

The groups began moving faster. In a frenzy, all the groups began attacking indiscriminately, members of other teams were also hit.

"My God, they’re terrible," Kaede said, disappointed with the groups.

"To think they’re the future of the army makes me less hopeful about the future. We’re getting worse and worse at strengthening our own forces."

The last monster was slain.

Masaru and Kaede descended from the platform.

"Congratulations to everyone. Now we’ll count all the drops," Kaede said.

"All the teams will enter a room. Kaede and I will count the items in front of you. Each team will have its turn, and the team that gets the most drops will win. Remembering that all the items will be bought from you at a price above the usual."