Chapter 51

"Last boss defeated."

"Experience gained, level up by 233."

"Last boss defeat reward, level up by 150."

The system sound echoed in my head. It seemed that because I had defeated the level 4000 Orc General, the amount of experience was quite substantial, and with the defeat reward, my level increased by nearly 400.

Well, if I worked hard on dungeon loops, I could gain this much in a day, but it was certainly a welcome boost.

However, I couldn't simply be happy about it.

First, I turned my gaze to the other adventurer present, Kurozaki Rei, the sole survivor among the King of Uniques.

She had tears in her eyes and a quiet smile on her face.

"Rin... thank you. For saving me."

"...Yeah."

I couldn't celebrate the fact that her life had been saved, knowing that everyone else had been killed by the Orc General. All four of them lay there in gruesome shapes.

After that, I heard a brief account of what had happened from Rei. It was mostly as I had expected. The only part that differed was that they had died in confusion before the powerful enemy.

"...I see, so that's what happened."

To be honest, I didn't like those guys, and I thought it was unforgivable that they had challenged the last boss without waiting for reinforcements. But even so... I couldn't say that it was good they were dead, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Next, tell me your story, Rin. How did you get here? The door to the boss room was closed."

"Well, that's..."

As Rei finished her story and the focus turned to me, I was struggling with how to explain it when Rei dropped a shocking statement.

"Thanks to... intra-dungeon teleportation?"

"Wh-What, you knew...?"

I was quite surprised, not expecting that it was already known. However, Rei had mentioned before that she had heard about me from Kaze. If she knew the term "intra-dungeon teleportation," she would naturally have figured it out.

Thinking that, the shock didn't end there.

"Another question. If you use intra-dungeon teleportation, can you enter the dungeon even during the cooldown period?"

"......No, I can't."

"Okay, you can."

"Hey, I just said I can't!?"

I couldn't help but shout in exasperation. But Rei just smiled lightly.

"Don't worry, I won't spread it around. If it got out that you can become so strong in such a short time, you'd be in trouble."

Yeah, there's no point in trying to hide it anymore. I decided to give up.

"Thanks for your concern. If you can keep it a secret, it would help me a lot..."

"I won't betray someone who saved my life."

"Then I believe you."

"Okay."

Given the situation, I had no choice but to trust that Rei wouldn't tell anyone. I could tell she wasn't the type to break a promise.

Now that one issue was resolved, we moved on to the next.

"However, the problem is what happens next. We'll soon be teleported back to the surface, but how should we explain defeating the last boss..."

"Can't you use a skill to get out of the boss room and return to the surface alone?"

I shook my head.

"No, that's not it. When the last boss is defeated, the dungeon disappears, and everyone inside is teleported back to the surface at the same time. We'll return with the others who are outside the boss room. So, I think I can hide the fact that I entered the boss room, but... then I'd have to explain that Rei defeated the powerful enemy who killed Kaze and the others alone."

"True, that explanation is a bit far-fetched... Then, how about this?"

Rei then proposed a solution to this problem.