Chapter 274

Chapter 274: Chapter 274

"A summoning scroll?"

Kiriya paused. Now that his clone had reminded him, he finally remembered the summoning scroll he had brought back from the Naruto world.

Such scrolls were extremely common there, mainly because they made it convenient to carry and retrieve large quantities of weapons.

In fact, their usefulness was not limited to weapons; food, medicine, and other supplies could also be sealed away in advance and summoned whenever they were needed.

In the original story, when Team Guy camped in the desert, Tenten had once summoned all kinds of vegetables and ingredients, allowing her teammates to enjoy a hot meal even in the middle of nowhere.

If she could do it, why couldn’t he?

Kiriya slapped a hand against his forehead.

How had he forgotten something so useful? If he had remembered earlier, there would have been no need to carry all those supplies through the Dungeon in the first place.

"Uh... you actually forgot, didn’t you?"

The clone gave him a suspicious look.

"Hahaha, of course not."

Kiriya laughed awkwardly, then slapped the clone on the shoulder and immediately dismissed him before he could say anything else.

He completely ignored the strange looks Jeanne and Ryuu were giving him, used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return home, found the summoning scroll, and came back.

After sorting the enormous pile of supplies into separate packages, he formed a hand seal and performed the summoning technique.

Poof!

With a burst of white smoke, packages of every size disappeared one after another.

"That really is fascinating."

Jeanne watched the entire process with open curiosity.

"Were all those things stored inside the scroll?"

"Not literally inside the scroll."

Ryuu looked equally interested as Kiriya began explaining the basic principle.

"The scroll is more like a key that connects to a special sealed space. Once I need something, I can use the summoning technique through the scroll to access that space and retrieve whatever I stored there beforehand. I don’t even have to worry much about the supplies deteriorating."

In other words, it was essentially the shinobi world’s version of spatial storage equipment.

"That’s incredibly convenient."

Ryuu immediately understood its value.

With something like this, adventuring parties would no longer need to assign separate manpower and physical stamina to carrying large quantities of supplies.

That would leave more of the party’s strength available for exploring the Dungeon and gaining actual combat experience.

"If these could be mass-produced, exploration-focused adventurers would probably fight each other for the chance to buy one."

Jeanne had once commanded armies herself, so she naturally understood how enormous an advantage improved logistics could provide.

"Forget it."

Kiriya waved the idea away.

"These things require chakra, and whoever uses one would also need to learn the summoning technique. Teaching strangers one by one would be way too much trouble."

He had no connection to those people anyway.

If he had that kind of spare time, he would rather train himself and raise his Status.

Jeanne and Ryuu exchanged amused smiles.

That answer was extremely Kiriya.

The topic had arisen casually and ended just as casually.

After making a quick stop at the Adventurers’ Guild to complete a simple registration for Jeanne, the three headed directly into the Dungeon.

All three possessed exceptional combat ability, and now that they were traveling light, their speed was far beyond that of ordinary Familia expeditions.

Monsters above the seventeenth floor barely had time to reveal themselves before being casually killed.

Those on Floors 19 through 23 managed to serve as minor speed bumps, but only minor ones.

As long as the three put in the slightest amount of effort, the monsters still could not escape being defeated almost instantly.

The three advanced like the wind, leaving only Shadow Clones behind them to collect the dropped magic stones while grumbling and cursing about being reduced to cleanup duty.

In barely half a day, they reached the twenty-fourth floor.

From here onward began the Water Capital.

The number of monsters increased dramatically, and only now did the Dungeon begin presenting something resembling a genuine challenge to the three of them.

Crack... crack...

Large numbers of Blue Crabs, bizarre fish, water serpents, sea-urchin-like monsters, and other creatures began swarming toward them.

They emerged from cracks in the walls, surged out of the rivers lining the paths, and sometimes even attacked from overhead.

No matter where the group went, monsters seemed capable of appearing from every direction at any moment.

Seeing the growing horde, Kiriya immediately began forming hand seals, preparing to clear everything with Water Release: Severing Wave.

Ryuu reached out and pressed down on his hands.

Kiriya looked at her questioningly.

"If we came here to train, then we should follow through properly."

Ryuu’s expression was completely serious.

Kiriya paused, then smiled.

"Fair enough."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jeanne had already thrown herself into the fight.

Her battle standard moved like an enormous spear, alternating smoothly between sweeping strikes and precise thrusts.

Every movement was controlled and efficient, and she always seemed to strike at exactly the right moment, piercing a monster’s vital point before immediately transitioning into her next attack.

"Incredible."

Ryuu’s blade flashed repeatedly as she cut down several enormous crabs around her.

Even while fighting, she could not help watching Jeanne’s polished movements with admiration.

"Is she really a beginner? With that level of combat experience and those physical abilities, she has to be around Level 4 already, doesn’t she?"

She looked back toward Kiriya.

Crack-crack-crack!

Kiriya casually summoned a dense forest of thorny vines that erupted through the monster horde and impaled everything in their path.

Hearing Ryuu’s question, he turned back with a smile.

"As an adventurer, she really is a beginner."

"You’re lying."

Ryuu pursed her lips.

Did he seriously think she had forgotten what actual beginners looked like?

"Hahaha. There are some special circumstances involved."

Kiriya suddenly appeared behind Ryuu and swung his sword several times, sending sharp arcs through the air that bisected a group of Harpies diving toward her.

"I’ll explain everything properly when we get the chance."

"Hmph. Then I’ll be waiting for that explanation."

Ryuu gave him a proud little snort before throwing herself back into the battle.

Rumble—!

As the three continued forcing their way through the monster tide, the slopes on either side of the path suddenly began trembling.

Two enormous sea-urchin monsters rolled down like runaway chariots, their sheer size and momentum enough that even a Level 4 adventurer would probably be reduced to pulp if struck directly.

For the three people present, however, they were hardly a serious threat.

Jeanne swept her battle standard sideways, knocking the monsters in front of her away and creating enough room to leap high into the air.

She drove the pointed end of the flag straight through one of the rolling creatures, piercing it completely from one side to the other.

Ryuu became a streak of emerald wind, flashing past the second monster and cutting it into several pieces almost instantaneously.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

But while both women were still airborne with nowhere to brace themselves, dozens of dark shapes suddenly shot toward them like arrows released from powerful bows.

They were Flash Swallows, flying monsters reputed to possess the greatest speed of the Lower Floors.

The swarm crossed the distance in an instant.

Just as they came within a meter of Jeanne and Ryuu, a figure appeared behind the two women and lowered his sword.

"Dead Calm."

Kiriya’s voice was barely above a murmur.

The moment the Flash Swallows entered the five-meter space surrounding him, flowers of blood erupted from their bodies one after another.

They released brief cries before collapsing and disappearing almost simultaneously, none managing to cross the final distance.

"Thank you, Kiriya."

Jeanne gave him a sweet smile.

She could have handled the situation herself, but boys needed encouragement and praise from time to time.

Ryuu noticed something entirely different.

"That technique has improved again."

She had seen Kiriya use it during the battle against the Apollo Familia.

Back then, its effective range had only extended roughly a meter around his body.

Now it covered several times that distance.

"Yeah. My Level has gone up quite a lot, after all."

Kiriya smiled.

During this period, he had not spent all his time simply fighting for excelia.

He had also been steadily organizing, refining, and developing the countless techniques and abilities he possessed.

Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm, originally created by the Water Hashira Tomioka Giyu, had continued evolving alongside Kiriya’s swordsmanship. ℯℯ𝑙.

After personally witnessing Domain Expansion more than once, his understanding of controlling a fixed area around himself had also deepened considerably.

As a result, both the range and precision of Dead Calm had improved enormously.

Kiriya had even developed the ambition to eventually transform the technique into something resembling a Domain Expansion of his own.

’Infinite Sword Domain—within my reach, nothing escapes my blade.’

Just imagining the finished technique made him a little excited.

And so the expedition continued.

The three repeatedly encountered waves of monsters, fought their way through them, and periodically stopped to rest and recover their stamina.

Their pace naturally slowed considerably compared with the upper floors.

They passed through the Water Capital, entered the Labyrinth Garden, crossed the dense forest ravines of the thirtieth floor, and then pushed through the Desert Labyrinth spanning Floors 33 through 36.

At last, they arrived on the thirty-seventh floor.