61: Over Encumbered
The party stopped to rest in the shadow of a burned-out shrine of some sort.
"Ah... Sorry." Ichiro winced and apologised as Seija tightened a bandage around his torso and applied her healing palm to his wound.
By now, a few hours had passed since the group had entered the Dungeon. After Seija and Killua took down the first Red Guard squad without much issue, they'd worked their way through the burning streets to the next squad, then the next, and the next after that. They hadn't run into any issues with the enemies for any of those battles, with the fights playing out in much the same way as the first one, just becoming more and more efficient over time.
However, as they'd finished cleaning up after beating their fifth enemy squad, a Gunner from the sixth squad had spotted them and hit Ichiro with a rifle shot while the boy celebrated the acquisition of a Rare-grade tanto that was given to him from a Loot Drop.
Seija and Killua quickly retaliated and wiped out the sixth group, which Killua was just now returning from looting while Seija saw to Ichiro's injury.
"You're in luck, the bullet only hit one of your vital organs. Give me a second..."
"HUH?! What do you mean it hit a vital organ?! Seija?! Hey, answer- mhmff?!"
Seija slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up and reached out to Killua with the other.
"Potion." She demanded.
Killua gave her a sour look but still reached into his pocket and handed her his Uncommon Healing Potion. They'd found a few more since the first, so Seija figured it was a good chance to test their potency.
Taking her hand off the indignant Ichiro's mouth, she handed him the potion.
"Drink it. I'll monitor how effective it is. Hopefully, I won't need to spend any more chakra on healing you if it's good enough."
He unhesitatingly downed the potion and creased his eyebrows as he felt the effects take hold.
"Hmm... tastes kinda like sugar water but it feels like I just swallowed ice. It's really cold, for some reason. Ah, the cold just reached the wound and now I can't feel it. I guess it's like a numbing agent? Oh, and my System just put a one-hour debuff timer in the corner of my vision. If I drink another Potion during that time it'll be less effective, apparently." He described his experience as Seija watched the Potion's progress with her Byakugan and her System sight.
Checking his wound, the external hole that the bullet had entered through was now closing fast. She reckoned it helped that bullet wounds were rather small, all things considered. She recalled the state of her arms and stomach after her duel with Saboten and strongly doubted that a mere Uncommon Potion would've been anywhere near as effective there.
Her System sight seemed to corroborate that doubt, as she could see the Potion's code being used up with every millimeter of flesh that it repaired. It didn't look like there would have been enough on its own if Ichiro had taken a second gunshot wound.
'So Potions have a limited amount of energy that they use up as they heal you. I wonder how much energy you'd need to repair a missing limb... or better yet, multiple missing limbs. If you're missing an arm and a leg and you drink a potion that could fix either one of them, but not both, would the Potion run out after healing both limbs half-way, or would it heal one limb fully and ignore the other? Hmm. Guess that'll be a test for the future. Although I doubt anyone would be willing to lose an arm just for a test...' Seija wondered about the functionality of these Healing Potions as Ichiro patted his torso and wiggled around a bit.
"Hey doc, I think I'm cured. I'm not feeling any pain or discomfort just from moving around."
She took a moment to refocus on him and sure enough, she found no issues with her Byakugan. She cleared him for full duty and the party got back on track to reach the Dungeon's exit.
- - -
By now they'd made it about half-way down the castle towards the moat. They had taken a few detours just to clear out some enemy clusters and gather loot, which was starting to fill up Mimi's Level 1 Inventory considerably.
Her Inventory was a confusing little thing that operated under numerous thresholds for how large, how heavy, and how numerous the Items stored inside it could be. So far it'd been doing fine with the small Potions and crafting materials they'd been picking up by the dozen, but once other equipment like Common or Uncommon weapons started dropping, the Inventory had begun to slowly fill up since most of the weapons were different, and thus could not stack.
A bigger problem arose after the team cleared the eighth group of enemies. A literally bigger problem, that is.
"Oh... that's going to be an issue." Mimi muttered as she read the message that had flashed up on her Inventory screen.
"What is?" Killua asked.
"This suit of armor we just got from that Officer in the latest group. It's gone over both my size limit and my weight limit. Apparently, if an Item goes over the limit it starts to take up more Inventory slots around it to make up the difference. If we get even one more of those suits of armor, my Inventory will become completely full." She complained.
The suit of Uncommon armor they'd found was a near-exact copy of the ones worn by the Officers. It had also come with a tag line that stated that the Item would resize itself to fit whoever was using it until they left the Dungeon, at which point it would become hard set to the size of the last person to have used it.
Useful for actually wearing it, but apparently it wasn't as simple as just reducing the size. Because even though they had Mimi put on the armor since she was the smallest before then putting it into her Inventory, the amount of space and weight that it took up remained the same as it was when it was sized for an adult man. Put simply, while the physical size of the armor could be altered, its System-based stats could not.
So now Mimi had to deal with fitting a six-foot tall suit of armor inside her Inventory.
"Damn. Well, we can't just leave the thing behind, right? That's a full suit of armor, those things are stupid expensive. Plus it's Uncommon-grade, which we've figured out means that it's on the high-end of what a civilian blacksmith would be capable of creating. That thing could be worth a fortune!" Killua insisted.
Seija wondered where he'd developed this obsession with money. She could've sworn he hadn't cared about it much when he was in his previous world... well, besides how many chocolate balls he could buy with it...
'Is it because he doesn't have access to the money he'd amassed back in that world anymore? He didn't strike me as the kind of person who would indulge in luxury, but perhaps he misses the days when he could afford to buy almost whatever he wanted?'
She hadn't really thought about it until this point... What would it be like for a person to suddenly be summoned from their own world and forced to work for some kid in an entirely new universe? To have your existence as a fictional character be blatantly thrown in your face while all you can do is try not to miss the world you were torn from and all of the friends, family, and belongings that you were forced to leave behind?
Killua seemed like a fairly easy-going guy usually, but she couldn't help but suspect that he might have grown to resent his situation slightly as time had gone on since his summoning.
She elected to keep an eye on him for the time being. If having more money would make him feel more comfortable, then she would be willing to give him a bit more loot than she had been.
'Maybe one day when Firewall is a high enough level I could forcefully send Killua back to his original world? Even if he decides not to accept, that'd be a nice tool to have in case I need to fight a summoned character with less friendly intentions...'
Her thoughts were interrupted by the approach of a ninth enemy squad. She'd have to follow that train of thought another time.
- - -
"Alright I might be able to concede when too much really is too much..." Killua admitted looking at the state of the team.
Every single one of them was now wearing some piece of mismatched equipment that they had gathered over the course of the delve. Mimi's Inventory had become completely filled in by the fifteenth enemy squad, so all of the loot the team had gathered from that point onwards had to be carried on their person instead.
Even worse was the fact that Seija's sealing scrolls were incompatible with the System-made objects too. Even when she emptied one out of all of her shurikens, none of the loot they'd gathered would enter the scroll no matter if it was a Potion, a dagger, or a pile of magnetite. None of it would go in.
Ichiro had suggested after the eighteenth squad that maybe a System-made storage Item such as a 'Bag of Holding' would be able to contain everything... But none of them had spotted anything like that amongst the various piles of loot that had dropped thus far.
Ichiro's own System had a Shop function that he could use to buy one... if only he had the funds to purchase it. Apparently, higher-grade equipment like that would cost a truly absurd amount of System Coins until he raised his System Level, which would then grant him a discount for those Items.
Currently, from the few battles he'd participated in as well as a couple of Quests that he'd completed back in Konoha, he'd only earned 11.7% of the coins that he would need in order to purchase even the smallest Bag of Holding, at least according to his current level.
Seija stared blankly back at Killua before removing the ridiculous Common-grade chestplate that she'd been forced to put on after the twelfth squad had been wiped out and tossing the thing aside.
"Good that you're finally seeing some sense. We're leaving every piece of Common equipment behind from this point onwards." She declared as she removed every single other piece of Common-grade armor that she was wearing and tossed it aside.
Killua could practically feel the Ryo draining out of his wallet as the armor clattered to the floor.
"...Yeah..." He sighed. Common-grade stuff was pretty much pointless to carry around when Uncommon loot drops had gradually become more frequent as they travelled further from the Castle Tower.
He glanced over at Ichiro and Mimi with dismay as he saw them removing all of their Common-grade trash as well.
"Ugh... let's just get this Dungeon over with now, please? I can't bear to watch this any longer..." Killua groaned and marched off towards the Dungeon exit.
The rest of them got back into formation as they set out to clear the dungeon for good. They'd now crossed over eighty percent of the way to the Boss Room, and they were moving a bit faster without all the Common-grade garbage weighing them down.
- - -
Seija and Killua both narrowed their eyes at the figure standing in the distance. The group was almost within sight of the moat, and their delve was almost over. A few more groups of enemy soldiers hadn't slowed them down by much, and even less when they didn't need to stop to pick up any more Common Items.
What was standing before them now though was different from what they'd seen earlier. And it came with its own System alert.
[Optional Objective]
[Defeat the Mini-Boss: Lone Shadow Vilehand]
That was what had appeared before them as the figure had come into view.
He looked like a slightly taller variant of the Interior Ministry Agents from back in the Tower. He wore a very similar uniform to them, complete with the black and purple stripes on the cloak, but this one was different in that he wore a pitch black hood that covered his head and obscured his face.
[Lone Shadow Vilehand]
[The top elites of the Interior Ministry shinobi. Masters of the Vilehand technique and born from a powerful lineage, they are significantly more dangerous than the lesser Agents under the employ of the Central Forces. They often act as commanders to the Agents, and sometimes keep especially talented Agents with them as backup.]
Sure enough, Seija could sense the red code of three other Agents all hiding in wait in the burned-out buildings surrounding the Lone Shadow.
"You all see the message, right?" She asked and received a series of nods in return, "Any guesses as to what this 'Vilehand technique' actually is?"
"Poison."
"It's gotta be poison."
"It sounds like poison..."
"Fair enough. Here's the plan, then: Killua and I will rush the Lone Shadow himself, I will send a shadow clone to deal with the Agent hiding on the left. Ichiro, there are two more Agents in the building to the right there," she pointed, "try to bury them under the rubble with your Devil Fruit. Once you do, I'll send a second shadow clone to make sure they're dead."
She turned to Mimi, who as usual would remain hidden for her own safety.
"Better put that Uncommon armor on, just in case. Alright, everyone else ready? Good. We'll go when Ichiro's attack hits."
With that, Ichiro pulled back his fist before cracking the air with a punch.
"[Kaishin!]"
The air-quake struck the ashen building, crumpling it inwards on top of the two Agents. Seija and Killua dashed out as the Lone Shadow drew his blade and turned towards them with an uncanny level of acuity. The very instant that Ichiro's attack had fired, the Lone Shadow had immediately detected their group.
'Definitely a video game boss. That detection speed wasn't natural.'
Seija summoned her shadow clones and set them to do their jobs. The Lone Shadow ignored the clones, seemingly locked onto someone else. It took a moment for Seija to recognise it, but the Shadow's body was tilted slightly at an angle. It wasn't locked onto either Seija or Killua who were right in front of it, rather, it was gunning for Ichiro at the back of their group.
The Lone Shadow, unlike every other enemy in the Dungeon thus far, had some real speed to it. It kicked off the ground with enough force to crack the earth beneath it as it attempted to fly between Seija and Killua in order to reach Ichiro.
Killua noticed this as it was happening, and for the first time in this Dungeon, blue light wreathed his body and his white hair turned jagged. Seija guessed that his trained assassin's eyes had decided that the Lone Shadow was a skilled enough threat that he would have to take it a bit seriously.
He raised a finger towards the rushing Shadow.
"[Godspeed: Thunderbolt]"
*Ka-zap!*
The Lone Shadow's body lit up with blue electricity, muscles spasming and movement briefly arrested.
But before Seija or Killua could capitalise on the window of opportunity, the Lone Shadow shook off the paralysis and suddenly kicked out towards Killua. Fortunately, in his Godspeed state Killua was more than fast enough to back away and evade the blow.
*Bam!*
As Killua backed away and raised his hand again for a second Thunderbolt, the Lone Shadow was struck in the back by Seija's fist and sent tumbling forwards. This punch would've shattered the bones of a normal shinobi, but clearly the Shadow was made of sterner stuff as it dexterously flipped off its hands and whirled around to face her, reaching out to strike her with a glowing green hand.
She leaned back to dodge the swipe and went in for a second punch, but shockingly found herself countered and knocked back by a retaliatory kick.
'The hell? This thing is actually stronger than me... How could a team of four Chunins be expected to defeat an enemy of this strength? It's easily Jonin-level, it'd rip them apart in moments...' Seija mentally complained about the terrible difficulty balancing.
Just as she was forced to debate whether or not to reveal one of her Kekkei Genkais in order to fight the Mini-Boss, it was attacked from behind by another one of Killua's Thunderbolts and once again paralysed, allowing Seija to gain some distance.
That was when she noticed something odd about the Lone Shadow's behavior. After being struck by Killua's electricity, it turned around as soon as it was able to move again and began to pursue him instead of pressing the advantage that it'd gained over her.
A lightbulb switched on in her mind.
'Unless... that's how a Chunin team is meant to defeat it! Whenever it gets hit, it locks on to that attacker and doesn't let up until it gets hit again by someone else... We can abuse this.' She realised.
Quickly checking over the battlefield while Killua had it distracted, she made sure that her clones were having zero issues with the backup Agents before reaching into her equipment pouch and launching a kunai at the Lone Shadow's back, full speed. She didn't expect it to do any damage after the Shadow handled her punch with little issue, but the desired outcome was reached either way.
The moment that the kunai hit the Lone Shadow's back, it gave up on Killua and performed a full 180 degree turn to attack Seija again. Seija saw Killua's eyes widen a bit as he realised what was going on, and Seija weaved three hand signs before slamming both of her palms down on the ground in front of her.
[Earth Style: Earth Flow River]
The hard, fire-baked soil beneath her hands turned fluid like water and rushed towards the Lone Shadow, intent on sweeping it off its feet. The Shadow leaped into the air to avoid the river, but it only took Seija a small flex of effort to drive the river upwards and swamp the Shadow's legs in mud. The instant the attack connected, she pulled her hands back out of the earth and immediately wove another set of signs before plunging her hands back into the semi-liquid dirt.
[Earth Style: Hardening]
It was kind of like a bastardised version of Kyusuke's Lava Style Quicklime, which could create a flow of liquid cement that would then harden into solid concrete. Seija's version was obviously weaker and required two Jutsus to use instead of one, but it was good enough for the purposes of this battle.
The Lone Shadow was stuck a few feet off the ground with both legs encased in solid earth. Of course, it immediately put its prodigious leg-strength to work trying to pull itself free, but it was already too late. Killua's electrified fist smashed the Lone Shadow in the back of the head, stunning and paralysing it one final time. It tried to reach for him with its poisonous hands, but the Godspeed user was already far out of reach.
With its obsession locked on to Killua, it didn't even try to block the Great Vacuum Sphere that came for it while it was distracted. The dense sphere of wind proved too much for the Lone Shadow Vilehand to withstand, as when the blast cleared and the raised mound of earth sank away, its body lay unmoving on the ground.
[Optional Objective Complete]
[Reward chest spawned]