We Just Beat It Down and That's the End of It, Right? (11)

“Menou... How did Master dig through it?”

“He dug by spinning his body like a drill, shovel and all. I clung to Kagami-dono’s waist and spun along with him. I saw hell.”

Perhaps recalling those days, Menou clapped a hand over her mouth and grimaced. “Ugh...” Seeing her face, Rex grimaced too.

“You never know until you try... Let’s give it a shot.”

Having made up his mind, Rex swallowed. His previously contorted expression shifted, and a taut tension settled over him. As if ready to take on the challenge, he tightened his grip on the shovel and fixed his eyes on the ground. He quickly began digging, but the clods of earth swelled back up as if regenerating, and several minutes passed without him making any progress.

“All right... Let’s give up.”

“You gave up awfully quickly after getting motivated! Hey, where are you going?!”

After doing nothing but scattering dirt around without making any progress, Rex climbed out of the hole he had dug to the point where the soil stopped regenerating. He tossed aside the shovel and started walking off somewhere, but Tina’s icy stare made him stop and turn around.

“What else can we do?! We don’t even have the stats Master had before using Limit Break! I’m probably the one here with the highest and most balanced stats overall. If even I can’t do anything, then we have no choice but to give up, right?”

“We have Takako-san, don’t we? Her level is higher, and... her Strength and Agility are probably higher than yours, too.”

At Tina’s words, everyone turned to look at Takako. She had been silently staring at the hole they had dug for a while, but the moment she noticed their gazes, she let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

“It’s no use. I’ve heard about it before, and Kagami-chan said he only managed to dig a little way without using Limit Break. ...I might be able to make some progress little by little, but I’d run out of stamina first. We’ll have to think of another way.”

“...To dig through this ground, we’ll need to move faster than it can regenerate. So either we dig faster than it can regenerate, or we break through in one go with overwhelming force... those are our only two options. Of course, neither is possible for one person alone.”

“Except for Kagami-chan, of course.”

David climbed into the hole Rex had dug, picked up a clod of dirt, and searched for a way to break through. After mulling it over for a while, he murmured, “Hmm,” as though he had found an answer. Then he climbed out of the hole and looked toward Takako.

“If it’s impossible for one person, then perhaps we can carve a path by using the strength of everyone here. In fact... there’s no other way.”

“Use everyone’s strength together... What do you mean, David?”

“Yes. I believe all of you have learned powerful techniques—or perhaps magic—during your training over the past three years. We should take turns unleashing those techniques at the ground, one after another.”

Powerful magic and techniques took time to activate. The soil would regenerate during that time, but if they took turns unleashing their strongest magic and techniques, they could prevent any gaps between attacks. It made sense, but for some reason, Kururu looked thoughtful.

“That would certainly let us dig through in one go, but... at least the most powerful spell I can use affects a wide area. To use it, I’d have to cast it from above a hole designed to protect us from the damage caused by our magic and techniques. And even if we managed to open a passage all the way to the dungeon, wouldn’t the soil swell back up while we were jumping down?”

“It’ll be fine.”

As if to dispel Kururu’s concerns, Takako patted her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up.

“Just leave me for last, and then we can all jump into the hole at the end. The timing will be tight, sure, but all my attacks are punches, so they won’t damage the area around us.”

“It’s true that punches wouldn’t damage the area around us, but I can’t imagine that you could dig through it by punching. You do have a Skill that ignores defense, Takako-san, so I’m sure you could dig through these clods of dirt as easily as pudding, but...”

“Oh? That’s not my only Skill, you know.”

Takako smiled and began gathering strength throughout her body, her expression growing so fierce that just looking at her was enough to make your knees buckle. “Haaaaaah!” Her muscles gradually swelled, and an orange aura like the one that appeared when she used Charge Blow enveloped her from head to toe.

“T-Takako-san... What Skill is that?”

“Huh? I’m just tensing up and energizing my body. I’m charging up, too, while I’m at it.”

The moment they heard that, everyone stared into the distance at Takako’s increasingly inhuman idea of ‘normal.’ Kururu, sweat beading on her forehead, murmured, “I-I see.” Rex could only stare in shock at the mass of muscle before him, thinking, “What even is a woman...?”

“Come on, get ready, everyone! If we all do this together... we should be able to match Kagami-chan’s strength. No, if we can’t... then there’s no point in us going at all!”

As Takako encouraged them while continuing to gather strength, everyone’s expressions changed. One by one, they began gathering mana or power to activate their magic and techniques.