As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback

Chapter 81 – The Strongest Pawn

“Ahh….Aaaah…”
Kuzuhara crumpled to his knees with a look of absolute despair on his face.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!” (Kuzuhara)
He then let out a scream twinged with extreme heartbreak and sorrow.

It was no wonder, as he had just watched his precious partner die right before his eyes.

Chake had told me that he had once watched his beloved girlfriend die right before him as well. The pain and grief assailing Kuzuhara right now was probably beyond imagination. Moreover, he must be feeling crushed by a sense of powerlessness from not being able to do anything.

But at that moment―

“Kuhahah… Found an opening.”
The one who had uttered that line was undoubtedly Ryudou. That guy was nearby just a moment ago, but where did he disappear to and…

That bastard, when did he get behind the black ogre…?!

…He had most likely secretly approached the black ogre’s flank when it and everyone else had their attention focused on Chake.

The black ogre also seemed to notice Ryudou’s presence at that moment and suddenly turned its head around to face him, but Ryudou extended his hand towards the black ogre. In his hand, he was clutching something small, about the size of a rugby ball.

“Uggghhh….!!” (Ryudou)
Ryudou plunged his hands into the black flame and immediately pulled it back out, but…

“AAAGGGHHH!!” (Ryudou)
No matter how momentary the contact was, Ryudou’s right arm had still ended up being swallowed up by the black flames. Naturally, his face contorted with intense pain as the flames went straight up his arm and threatened to engulf his entire body.

“DO IT!” (Ryudou)
He immediately ordered a nearby zombie with a sword to cut off his right arm. Because of this, the flames only incinerated his severed arm and didn’t end up spreading to the rest of his body.

“Haaah, haah, hah.” (Ryudou)
Ryudou was covered in cold sweat, but he had a look of accomplishment on his face. Just as I was wondering what on earth he had done, the black ogre, who shouldn’t have taken that much damage so far, fell to both of its knees, where it stayed motionless.

“Master! There’s something on the black ogre’s back!” (Sol)
At Sol’s exclamation, I directed my eyes towards the back of the black ogre. There, the object that Ryudou had been holding earlier was attached to its spine.

Tendrils were extending out of the object from where it had been planted. Ah, if I recall correctly, Sol told me that he could use a seed to control monsters, right?

The seed gradually penetrated and assimilated throughout the black ogre’s body. With each piercing tendril, the black ogre’s body twitched and convulsed. And when the seed completely disappeared, the black ogre’s body gradually began to corrode and decay.

“….No way.” (Komon)
I had a bad feeling, but…

“Kuuuhahahha! Great! This is the fucking best! Once I have this guy, I won’t need anything else! I don’t even need Kuroki anymore!” (Ryudou)
The black ogre slowly got to its feet and stood in front of Ryudou along with the zombies that were just attacking it, as if it were protecting him. As expected, the black ogre had turned into a zombie and became his pawn.

“Let me ask you something. This match was supposed to be decided once either you or Kuzuhara destroyed the Core. Now, you can’t destroy the Core, can you?” (Komon)
With this, he would forever have the black ogre and its incredible power as his pawn. That was just how attractive the black ogre’s power was. But for the same reason, he wouldn’t be able to clear the dungeon, and there wouldn’t be a winner or loser in this match as a result.

“Kukuku, what are you even saying at this point? Match? Bet? This is a battle with our lives on the line, you know? This is no game. From the beginning, I was never planning to participate in any match!” (Ryudou)
“…I see. It seems you were planning to obtain the final boss of the dungeon from the beginning then.” (Komon)
“Hoh, you’re surprisingly quick on the uptake. That’s right. I’ve been trying to get my hands on the Core Monster ever since I heard about its existence. This is the ultimate pawn. With this, I am now―the King of Monsters.” (Ryudou)

King of Decay, King of Monsters, what the hell is up with his obsession of being a king of something? To put it simply, isn’t he just a chuuni? Shouldn’t he be embarrassed or something?

“You sure were quite reckless about it though.” (Komon)
“Tch, so what. It was all so I could obtain this guy. It’s worth a right arm.” (Ryudou)
It seemed that he had been prepared to make such a sacrifice. His skill was a little too powerful. He could make zombies and even an A-Rank monster obey him to this extent. He even had the ability to corrode targets just by touching them…

“…You, is your power a ‘unique skill’?” (Komon)
“…?! What did you say?” (Ryudou)
“That reaction makes it clear. I see. It sure is strong.” (Komon)
“Bastard… no way…!” (Ryudou)
Apparently, this guy’s skill wasn’t an ordinary skill like Kuzuhara’s skill was, but a unique skill like mine.

So there were others aside from me, huh? Well, I did think that it was possible.

But as I thought, the power of a unique skill was nothing to joke around about. I wasn’t sure why such a strong skill had been granted to such a good-for-nothing bastard, but I decided that it would be good to get rid of him here for my own peace of mind.

As long as Ryudou was alive, he would probably continue to plague me as an obstacle for the rest of mine―or Komon’s life. Well, when that time came, I would just need to change my appearance. But I liked my form as Komon, and Sol had already been seen. In the end, I had to kill this guy for sure.

“Well, it’ll be a one-sided massacre from here on. Have fun.” (Ryudou)
As if to conserve the black ogre’s strength, Ryudou first sent out the zombified humans.

“―Sol, buy some time!” (Kuzuhara)
“Got it! Puuuuuu~!” (Sol)
Sol breathed out fire as she flew freely about the zombies, sweeping them clean.

“Tch, stupid owl!” (Ryudou)
Good. For now, I just needed Sol to buy a bit of time for me.

As for me, in the meantime…

“How long are you going to stay down in the dumps?” (Komon)
“…….” (Kuzuhara)
“If you continue to grieve like this, nothing will change, will it?” (Komon)
I began to encourage Kuzuhara, who was sitting on the ground, devastated.

“So you’re just going to sit there? It seems I was wrong about you. What evil? That ‘evil’ word on your back is weeping at the injustice you’re doing to it.” (Komon)
“…What did you just say?” (Kuzuhara)
“Didn’t you say that you were evil? Then you ought to do as an evil person does and struggle in an unsightly manner until the very end.” (Komon)
“Komon…” (Kuzuhara)
“Besides, if you die, who will pay me my reward? What I hate most in the world is working for free. If you one-sidedly abandon the request here, I’ll take you out right here and now. I’m sure Chake-san and… Tomoe-san would be happy about that. That you can die an unsightly death and go to see them.” (Komon)
“….―ppy about that.” (Kuzuhara)
“What?” (Komon)
“Tomoe… and Chake… wouldn’t be happy about that! There’s no way they would want that!” Kuzuhara shouted and got to his feet while glaring at me.

“I…! I can’t die just yet! For Tomoe… and Chake… and even Ryudou…I haven’t done anything for them yet, so there’s no way I can just take the easy way out!” (Kuzuhara)
“….Then what are you going to do?” (Komon)
Kuzuhara clenched his fists tightly and took a deep breath before declaring his next phrase loudly.

“―I will defeat Ryudou!” (Kuzuhara)
It seemed that he had finally come back to his senses. Geez, why did I have to go out of my way to say this? It wasn’t included in the request that I would even have to give him emotional support.

This is all for the reward. I’ll put up with it. And I’ll definitely get a big paycheck from this guy for it.