"There are two ogres. Both are armed. Can you handle them, nya?"

Grapefleur reports upon returning from reconnaissance.

Ogres are among the strongest monsters in the second layer, second only to mantises.

And with both wielding weapons, it's going to be tough.

"Reflare, can you take one on one-on-one?"

"I can defeat it."

"Good, then I'll lure one toward you. Darkness Fog."

Sneaking in the shadows, I submerge one ogre into darkness.

The monster, engulfed by shadows, takes time to assess its situation, leaving it temporarily incapacitated.

In that time, I'll guide the other one toward Reflare using Shadow Runner.

"Summon Knight Bug."

I try to fight mainly by using Shadow Calls... summoning techniques.

That was the only technique among those I possess that had direct offensive power. Even

against an ogre, it could deal a decent amount of damage. An ogre thrashing

about wildly, bitten by insects in the darkness, swinging its weapon. I wouldn't

dare get close to something like that with my bare body. With

my stamina boosted to level one, my body now moves as if I were a completely different person, and the dagger feels light in my hand. My individual combat capability has improved dramatically compared to before. Still, trying to block

an ogre's attack with just a dagger seemed reckless—possible, perhaps, but there would be almost no margin of safety. It'd be better to leave the finishing blow to Refia.

Refia was swinging her massive sword, clashing with the ogre in a fierce

duel.

A large sword, about 120 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide. I can barely lift this iron mass, yet I swing it wildly.

"Shadow Bind"

Originally, Reflair had the upper hand, and the shadow tendrils created just a small opening.

The ogre, limbs bound, loses balance.

With that, Reflair easily decapitates the ogre.

Against humanoid monsters that only manifest in two layers, Shadow Bind was nearly a guaranteed kill.

Reflair still looks relaxed.

"Reflair, I'm counting on you!"

"Yes!"

I move along with the Darkness Fog, pulling out the remaining ogre from the shadows.

As planned, Reflair dashes in and finishes the ogre with a single diagonal slash.

The ogre can't respond to the slash that comes from the darkness.

Especially not when surrounded by nightbugs.

"Alright, good work. Are you okay, Refrea?"

"Yes, it was almost one-sided."

"Then, let's move on."

We'd already fought several battles.

Honestly, with this team, hunting on the second floor would be quite easy.

We might normally aim to advance to the third and fourth floors, but today is the first day. We decided to focus on adjusting our party members' coordination at the second floor.

Considering viewership, we should probably show more intense moments—life-and-death exchanges—but we can't possibly risk Refrea and Grapeflour right away.

After all, the viewership race lasts two weeks.

"Um, isn't Hikaru getting tired? You've been using techniques quite frequently."

"No, not at all. I've only used three or four in this single battle."

"That's incredible..."

Besides, you won't improve your proficiency unless you use them.

If things get tough, we can always swap crystals and drink a spirit potion.

But right now, it's time to fight.

We need to earn money, and there's no quicker way to boost viewership than combat. I'm confident in that. In fact, our viewership is skyrocketing, consistently holding at 300 million.

Still, compared to when we were ranked first, it's not enough. Our current goal is 1 billion viewers.

"There's a group of orcs over there, nyaa. About eight of them—half armed, half unarmed."

"Alright, let's do this."

I drew my short sword.

Even when fighting a group of orcs and goblins, the same tactics worked almost perfectly.

In fact, orcs and goblins were no challenge to begin with—reflair aside, I could easily defeat them single-handedly.

Moving swiftly while concealed by the darkness fog,

I’d isolate only those that reflair was dealing with, then eliminate the rest one by one.

I’d slice down each orc struggling in the darkness, one by one, with my dagger.

Thanks to the stamina boost effect, I moved through the task with mechanical ease, slashing away quickly.

Reflair, too, found orcs utterly trivial.

With a single stroke, he cut them down like paper.

The entire group of eight was wiped out in just about a minute.

"Doing well. Flue’s scouting is working out perfectly."

"Yeah. That kid's pretty skilled."

I've never teamed up with any other Links, so I can't say for sure, but if Refreia—someone who's hired scouts many times before—says so, it must be true.

Since we've just met, let's make use of this connection. I'd like to have Grape Flour become a proper ( a real ) explorer.

"Over there, an oak. Shall we ignore it, nya?"

"How about you try it, Flour?"

"Huh? But I'm not really good with oaks, nya..."

"It's fine. I'll assist you."

In the labyrinth, you gain spirit power by defeating monsters, which boosts your own strength, but this only applies to the person who actually defeats the monster—whether they're a party member or not.

That means scouts can never grow stronger, since they never fight.

Beyond the corner, a single oak.

Fortunately, it's unarmed. An oak without a weapon is a lesser monster than a goblin with a weapon.

Honestly, it's a suitable opponent for practice.

"I'll assist you—stab straight at neck level with that sword, Darkness Fog."

Guiding Grapefleur forward, we move through the darkness.

The oak doesn't understand its situation, merely grunting "pooky-pkey."

Circumnavigating behind the oak, I aim the tip of Grapefleur's slender blade at the creature's spine.

"Now! Push it in with all your strength!"

"Nyaa!"

With a fierce cry, the slender blade slips smoothly into the monster's neck, and the oak transforms into a spirit stone.

Dissolving Darkness Fog.

"Excellent. If you keep this up, Furu might actually start raising his level a bit."

"F-fo... something's coming inside my body... Is this spirit power...?"

"That's right. Well, I don't think one oak will make much difference, but if you keep at it, it'll start to change."

Honestly, I don't really feel any noticeable change from gaining rank or level.

No... there is a slight change, but it's hard to tell whether it's due to getting used to combat or actually leveling up.

According to the status board, it's still only 1 p.m.

After eating a quick snack, I continued fighting.