Multi Dungeon "Red Cavern" (Other Player's POV)

I'm Yamato. I've got a day job on top of B-Cast, which makes me what you'd call a part-time-type B-Caster.

The B-Cast channel "Dungeon Braver" has 3,430 subscribers. That figure counts me and my teammates, Yuuta and Sakura.

… I'm nominally the leader, but honestly, most of the subs come from Sakura. A cute-girl avatar adds charm just by existing.

"Leader, where are we hunting today?"

"Ah, I want to drop a bit of cash on something, so can we stream while we play? Somewhere streaming-OK."

"Let's see… alright, how about here? The conditions are good, and the prize is reasonable."

In our channel's shared home (the reception-room type), I pulled up the dungeon I had my eye on.

"Red Cavern." First-to-clear ends it, split by contribution. The common format. PvP disabled.

The 250,000-yen prize pot is a reasonable figure for a split-type dungeon.

Nobody had any objections, so today's workplace for "Dungeon Braver" was settled.

We entered at the start time. After the transfer countdown, there we were at the starting point of the flame-rushing cavern dungeon, five players including the three of us.

A man dressed like a cook, and a woman in bondage gear… barely rated R-15, maybe?

"Nice to meet you. I'm Chef Takeshi from 'Tabe-Time Culinary Way.'"

"'Queen Ayame's Play Diary,' Ayame here. Pleasure to meet you～."

"The three of us are 'Dungeon Braver.' Likewise, we're looking forward to working with you."

"Ooh, full-on classic fantasy vibes. Nice! Warrior, thief, and lady priest!"

With the two who rounded out our pickup party, we finished introductions, channel names included.

"I brought fried-rice ingredients. If we pass somewhere with good fire, I'll cook, thanks in advance. It grants a buff, so everyone's welcome to eat."

"Cooking in a dungeon… so there are streams like that, huh. I'll check out your archive sometime～."

"Ayame-san, what brings you to this dungeon?"

"You know how, when it's hot, stripping down feels legal～?"

Uh, I'd say this is less "hot" and more "skin-searing," but sure.

In any case, the clear was going smoothly.

For the record, leadership sometimes goes to whoever has the most subs, but since our two tagalongs each had individual channels, I stayed on as leader.

"Ah, Ayame-san. Press that switch over there… Alright, we're across, you can come down."

"Sure, sure. Puzzle stuff that uses your body really is easier with more people, isn't it."

"Solo, you end up running back and forth a bunch."

We handled the mid-dungeon gimmicks with party-voice-chat coordination.

"Oh! A Fire Bat! Wonder what bat tastes like～."

"… Please don't put that in the fried rice."

"Haha, I've got cooking skills. I don't make inedible stuff."

"I'd really appreciate a firm 'I won't put it in'…?"

"Man, you're fun to cook for! Let's do a proper collab sometime, Yamato-san. Ah, here's my friend code."

For the record, the fried rice Chef Takeshi made was genuinely delicious. An ATK +5% buff on top of it was great, too… Though the Fire Bat was in there.

And just like that, we arrived at the boss room without incident.

We took some damage along the way, but we were still comfortably in the black.

"You'd think a lady priest would have healing magic, but no such luck, eh?"

"Well, healing costs money in this world… it being premium is kind of unavoidable."

"That said, it's cheaper than a SuperChat HP Potion, so please. Request contract."

"Accepted. Healing now～."

In this game, where both HP and MP cost money to recover, casting a heal is essentially the same as handing out cash, and MP-consuming skills are attacks that scatter money like confetti.

They're trump cards, sure, but it's a fact that everyone hesitates to actually use them.

—And it was that exact "costs money" part that became our downfall.

"Damn it! That's dirty, come down here!!"

The boss of the Red Cavern, the Flame Dragon, was beating us into the ground.

Up to the halfway mark, it had been fine. I'd even thought we'd win with room to spare.

But once the dragon's HP dropped below half and it entered what's usually called "enrage mode," things changed completely.

"Hey, do something about this! Our attacks aren't reaching! We're just getting wrecked one-sidedly!"

"Guoohh, the red slime minions… they're eating me! Eating me!!"

Right. The dragon had started hovering near the top of this absurdly-high-ceilinged boss room.

And then the red slimes had begun spawning in droves. The boss's minions.

Our attacks were basically all melee. The longest range we had was Queen Ayame-san's whip.

As is all too common, the two who'd joined up with us ad-hoc had no ranged options either.

… Ranged attacks cost money. Whether it's MP or arrows.

Which is why we hadn't prepped much of it ourselves.

And on top of that, the long-range attack skill I had in my back pocket was Fireball. Worst possible matchup. Yuuta did have a bow, but the dragon and the slimes targeted him first and took him down the moment they could, precisely because he had ranged attacks.

And so we were whittled down, bit by bit, until only me, the warrior with the highest HP, was left standing at the end.

HP remaining: next to nothing. A candle flickering in the wind.

At this point, the only play left was to go out with a bang, put on a show for the stream, and squeeze in some tips on the way down… But the dragon was up in the air. The ones chipping me down were the slimes.

A male avatar getting swarmed by a pile of slimes. Is there really any demand for that?

Well, nothing to be done. HP's down to single digits. If there's ever a time for a death scream, it's now.

"Gwaaaaaaaaaaah——————!!"

"Eh?"

—And then I heard a small, startled voice.

When I glanced over, an ojou-sama in a dress, with drill-shaped curls, had walked into the boss room all on her own, parasol in hand.