"Alright, preparations are plete. We will now ehe operation to defeat t Clermont."

  After pulling up the tools that had been soaking in a bucket and finishing the preparations, I gave the order to start the operation.

  It felt a bit strao give the order in front of the ghost that had been staring at us this whole time.

  "Dent, Amina, are you ready?"

  "Yeah."

  "Ready whenever!"

  Dent and Amina were holding both ends of a . Dent was holding it with his hands, while Amina was ready with her feet.

  The was id out on the floor in front of the dungeorance.

  "Nell, are you ready?"

  "Ready whenever!!"

  o me was Nell, holding a grappling hook.

  "Alright, let's begin the operation!!"

  I then lifted the rice cake and got into a full throwing stance.

  Behold!

  This is the "I" throwing teique hohrough gaming!!

  I raised my leg vertically, pushing the limits of my hip flexibility, and then stepped forward as if falling forward. I timed it perfectly and hurled the rice cake.

  It was more like dodgeball than baseball.

  The thrown rice cake flew out of the dungeon with uing momentum, heading straight for the t's protruding face.

  The t tio stare at us, as if to say that su attack would never hit.

  Right after I smirked at his rea...

  "*Hego!?*"

  "Strike!!"

  The rice cake didn't pass through his ghostly form and instead hit him square in the face.

  It was a bizarre sight—a ghost's face being blown away.

  Shocked and realizing that he could be harmed, the t quickly retreated into the pile of garbage.

  "It really hit him."

  "Though it did almost no damage."

  The rice cake had struck the ghost directly. There was a trick to this.

  All monsters have attributes. In the game, there were eight attributes: the four elemental attributes of earth, water, fire, and wind, plus light and dark, thunder and ice, which were opposing attributes.

  Monsters always have one or more of these eight attributes.

  And surprisingly, the rice cake had the rare light attribute.

  Ghosts are usually dark attribute, and the t was no exception. Light and dark deal double damage to each other, and light nullifies a ghost's ability to phase through objects.

  There was once a legendary pyer who, at level zero, with no equipment and only rice cakes as ons, mao defeat a ghost through a deadly game of dodgeball. They uploaded a video of it, and it went viral.

  It takes time, but the rice cake has enough power to deal signifit damage.

  "Now, before the t es out, let's move to the phase. Nell, you're up!"

  "Got it!! Here goes!!"

  The dungeoed by the key takes oributes of the monsters from the inal dungeon.

  In other words, this dungeon, though the weakest, is imbued with light attribute magic.

  We added salt to the water in the dungeon and soaked the grappling hook in it. The hook then flew in a parabolic arc, catg onto a piece of garbage left at the entrance.

  "It's hooked!!"

  "Good! Pull it in!!"

  What was hooked was a small, tattered piece of cloth—whether it was a handkerchief or a piece of clothio rot, I couldn't tell.

  At least to me, it looked like trash.

  The garbage was dragged in, caught on the grappling hook.

  "Who dares steal my treasure!?!!!"

  At that moment, a wailing cry echoed from ihe mansion.

  "Keep pulling it in!!"

  "I know!!"

  As soon as the cry was heard, Nell increased the speed at which she was reeling in the hook.

  "Hurry!! We're running out of time!!"

  Would we ma it into the dungeon first, or...

  "Return my treasure!!!!!"

  ...would the t, now in a frenzy after having his treasure stolen, fly out and snatch it back first?

  The t's hand reached for the grappling hook before we could pull the garbage into the dungeon.

  "Ahhh!? Light!?!!"

  However, the momeouched it, a faint spark of static electricity fshed, causing the t to flinentarily.

  "Got it!!"

  "Alright, run!!"

  In that moment, Nell retrieved the garbage. She then turned around and sprinted full speed into the depths of the dungeon.

  "!? Give it back! My treasure!! My precious treasure!! I won't five you!!!!"

  Seeing this, the t was momentarily stunned, but his face quickly turned red with rage as he tried to chase after Nell.

  "Miss!!"

  "Yes!!"

  The t charged into the dungeon, pletely focused on Nell and ign everything else. He came straight at her like a wild boar, but Dent and Amina suddenly raised the , leaving him no room to dodge.

  "Ahhh!? Why!? Give it back! Give it back! My treasure!!"

  The t let out a scream as if he had beerocuted, and the , which he should have been able to phase through, trapped him instead.

  The momentum carried him into the , where he became entangled.

  "Heave-ho!!"

  "Here we go!!"

  Amina flew over the , while Dent ducked u, ing the t up i.

  "Ahhhh!!!"

  "Dent!!"

  "Got it!!"

  The , soaked in light-attribute water, seemed to cause the t pain all over his body. He struggled, but his movements were halted.

  "Ghosts are light, so it's easy to carry him!! Even I do it!!"

  Dent lifted the t, noed i and able to be held.

  "It's bath time, t!!"

  He then threw the t into the bucket.

  "Gyaaaaah!? Light!? I hate light!!!!"

  "Kid!!"

  "Ready!!"

  I picked up the nearby lid and pced it on the bucket.

  "Liberta!!"

  "Here!!"

  Amina then used her foot to hahe tch rod, which I ied into pce.

  "Done!"

  "Thanks, miss!!"

  "Open it! Open it! Open it! Give back my treasure!!!!"

  The t pounded and thrashed violently ihe bucket. As a Css 4 monster, even after Dent added a sed t a cross pattern, he could only hold on for a few minutes.

  "Amina, go ahead!!"

  "Got it!!"

  "Don't just stand there, kid! Let's move!!"

  Dent called out to me as I was still on top of the bucket, aarted running. I followed close behind.

  "Hurry, hurry!!"

  Amina, flying ahead through the dungeon, occasionally looked back te us on.

  "Whew!! I envy you flying girls!! Kid, you okay!?"

  "I-I'm fine!!"

  Since I had no levels, my body only had the stamina of a child.

  Even running at full speed, I couldn't keep up with Dent or Amina.

  But I had run this route many times and khe best path. I also knew my stamina would hold out.

  "Those who steal my treasure!! Where are you!!!!"

  "Has the seal already broken!?"

  "We'll have to bet on half the time!!"

  The bucket was breaking faster than expected!? That bucket seller sold us a defective product!?

  Acc to calcutions, the bucket should have broken around the time we reached the boss room and started fighting!!

  We took the correct path at the fork, and now it was just the final stretch.

  "Ah! We're here!! Hurry!!"

  "Miss, open the door!!"

  Dent then accelerated rapidly. He drew the short sword from his waist and dashed forward like the wind.

  He overtook Amina, who was flying, and blew past Nell, who ening the door, like a gust of wind.

  "We don't have time to waste on small fry!!"

  He then charged into the boss room and attacked the Kagami Mochi statiohere.

  Though it was the weakest boss, Dent, who had levels and proper bat experienlike us, took down the e mochi one by one and was already attag the st remaining mochi by the time I reached the room's door.

  "Liberta!! Behind you!!"

  "Did we miss the half-time mark!?"

  Right after that...

  "I found you!!!! Give back my treasure!!"

  I felt a horrifying presence behihere was no time to look back.

  Nell and Amina also ehe boss room.

  And just before I could ehe boss room...

  "Damn you!!!!"

  "Crap!!"

  I miscalcuted.

  My body was slower than I had anticipated!?

  The t was within reach, closing in oo attack.

  I had thrown mochi at him, trapped him in a , and tched him in a bucket, so I was clearly reized as an enemy.

  And now I was about to be attacked.

  "Liberta!!"

  This was really bad.

  There was nothing I could do.

  "Light!?!!"

  But it seemed the gods hadn't abandoned me.

  "My luck isn't so bad after all!!"

  Miraculously, the treasure chest dropped by the boss was rainbow-colored.

  The intense light from the chest stopped the t in his tracks.

  "Ah, a rainbow!?"

  "Stop gawking a's escape!!"

  "Miss!! Kid, hurry!!"

  There was no time to open it. Amina grabbed Nell's arm, who was relut to leave, and jumped into the escape magic circle. I slid headfirst past the treasure chest and dove into the magic circle.

  "Ah!! My treasure!!"

  The st thing I saw was the t desperately reag for the treasure chest, his face distorted as the light blocked him.

  "Ugh!!"

  And that terrifying expression was soon overwritten by the taste of dirt.

  "O!!"

  Thanks to my awkward nding, I failed to cushion my fall.

  I rolled around on the ground, trying to disperse the pain.

  "You seem lively, kid."

  "Do I look lively to you?"

  "Don't cry, you're a man. Here, drink this."

  "Gulp."

  I was aware that my eyes were teary from the pain. What oured into my mouth otion, I guess?

  "It's bitter."

  "Good, that means you're alive."

  In the game, potions had no taste, so I was impressed by this bitterness. Gradually, I felt the pain subsiding.

  "Are Nell and Amina... okay?"

  Ohe pain faded, I sat up and checked on Nell and the others.

  " we really call that 'okay'? Nell seems pretty down."

  "She's upset about missing the rainbow treasure chest."

  "I get how she feels, but it's just a mochi chest, so it's not a big deal, right?"

  Nell and Amina looked so dejected that Dent was worried they might colpse uhe weight of their disappoi. But well, he could say that because he didn't know what was ihe chest.

  "What about the t?"

  Let's not tou that for now and focus on firming our results.

  "The fact that we sit here safely is proof enough. And here, take this."

  "What's this?"

  "Trash, picked it up from there."

  "Ah, then it seems we're fine."

  Looking around, the terrifying ghost of t Clermont was o be seeossed me what looked like a piece of an old picture frame, and I caught it in a panic.

  To t Clermont, this was undoubtedly a treasure, even if it was just trash to us. The fact that Dent and I could hold it without being attacked meant...

  "Still, I hought we'd defeat him like this."

  "We had to give up on experience points and drop items, though."

  "If we get results like this, I won't pin."

  The t had been successfully vanquished.

  The method we used was called the "Dungeon Draining Tactic." The dungeon key create dungeons anywhere, even iher dungeons.

  And these dungeons draw in not only pyers but also monsters. This is the essence of the Dungeon Draining Tactic.

  When you clear a dungeon and escape, the dungeon disappears. Even if you bihe key with the Mark of the Weak, the dungeos after clearing and esg.

  By applying this, if you lure a monster you want to defeat into the dungeo the boss, and then escape, what happens to the lured monster?

  It doesn't t as a defeat, but it be erased. I had asked the developers and received an official answer, so I k would work in this world too.

  The only was if the monster escaped through the entrance, but the t was the type to chase after us.

  So he followed us all the way to the end. He chased us into the boss room with the escape magic circle, allowing us to use this tactic.

  "Right, now we safely explore this mansion."

  "...Ah, right. This is just the beginning, isn't it?"

  In a way, we've overe the biggest hurdle. Now it's time for the quest rewards.

  Though, it's going to be a hell of