The Reward for the World's Strongest Explorer's Perfect Dungeon Conquest is apparently Marriage to me, who is known as an S-rank Fraud - Chapter 7
Arrival.
A five-minute walk from Shibuya Station. The dungeon portal was located on the first floor of a massive commercial building.
This commercial complex—Shibuya Cross Gate—housed numerous shops and services catering to explorers, drawing in a diverse crowd, from casual adventurers to hardcore dungeon raiders.
“Hey, look over there. Isn’t that the War Goddess Valkyria and the Undying Nosferatu?”
The moment we stepped into the dungeon portal lobby on the first floor, we became the center of attention.
Since this was my home dungeon, and I was already well-known as an approachable, albeit underestimated, S-rank explorer, I usually didn’t stand out much. People didn’t make a fuss over me.
But my companion?
Yeah, she was a different story.
Shia was currently the hottest explorer in the world.
“So, this is my home dungeon—Shibuya.”
“It’s so lively. It’s nothing like mine at all.”
Shia’s home dungeon was Omiya Dungeon in Saitama.
I knew this because, just recently, it was officially renamed after her. The news had made quite a splash—the War Goddess Valkyria Dungeon.
“Excuse me! Congratulations on your full dungeon clearance! Shia, I’m a huge fan! Could you shake my hand?!”
“Mm. Sure.”
A group of young female explorers, a girls-only party, eagerly surrounded Shia, asking for handshakes.
“Oh my god! She really did it! I’m never washing this hand again!”
…Yeah, sure. Let’s see if they still say that after their hands get drenched in goblin bl00d.
“……”
Meanwhile, no one asked for my handshake.
It’s fine.
I already knew this would happen.
“Still, Shia really is popular, huh?”
Almost everyone was focused on us—well, on her.
Starting with that girls’ party, more and more female explorers began approaching her, while the men…
Yeah, they were stealing glances at her with rather unsavory expressions.
As for me? The guy standing right next to her?
Ignored.
Or worse—getting not-so-friendly looks.
“Tch. Said he’d clear a dungeon solo, but in the end, he just got a girl to carry him—”
“Ah—”
The guy talking behind my back suddenly found himself airborne.
Looking to my side, I barely caught the afterimage of golden curls whipping through the air.
In the blink of an eye, Shia had disappeared and reappeared right where she stood, her fist already back at her side.
That was a terrifyingly fast punch.
If she had hit him just a little harder, she might have snapped his cervical spine clean in two.
“Anyone who insults Kuma—I’ll knock them all out.”
Damn.
That was… kind of hot.
Wait—no, focus!
The guy who got sent flying was convulsing on the ground, foaming at the mouth!
Crap.
This is really bad.
Oh no, his neck—his neck just snapped!
Emergency medics! Someone get the medics!
One, two! One, two!
Oh, thank God. He’s breathing again.
“Tch.”
Shia?
Did you just click your tongue because he survived?
You do realize you’d get arrested if you killed someone outside a dungeon, right?
“Kuma, Araki said it before—‘You can’t kill monsters above ground.’”
“Yeah. He did say that. Just now, though, you were pretty damn close to proving him wrong.”
“Mm. That’s why next time, I’ll drag them underground before I kill them.”
The guy who barely survived let out a strangled yelp before bolting.
Yeah. That’s for the best.
Just run.
For your own sake, never let Shia see you again.
“Shia… Please, I’m begging you. Don’t. I don’t want people literally dying just because they insulted me. That’s a bit much, even for me.”
“Kuma, you’re too soft. People don’t learn unless a few of them die.”
I mean… I kind of agree, but still.
“Well, at least I know now—I have one more person who’ll actually get mad on my behalf.”
“Kuma… Mm.”
She pulled me into a tight hug.
Yeah.
This is bad.
This is a huge lobby.
Hundreds of explorers are always here.
Someone’s definitely filming this.
The entire scene.
Including the part where Shia resurrected that guy after nearly killing him.
The only silver lining?
No one probably caught the moment she actually threw the punch.
Hell, most people probably didn’t even notice it happened.
“Sigh… Alright, Shia. Let’s head into the dungeon. Our only safe haven is below the 50th floor.”
Beyond that point, there are no people.
Since every S-rank explorer has their own home dungeon, we never cross paths past the 50th floor.
From there on, it’s just us and the monsters.
A battlefield of pure, sacred combat.
“Mm. Let’s go.”
The receptionists knew us well, of course.
Though they probably had a lot to say, they held it in and processed our entry without a fuss.
After confirming our licenses, we put on our return-portal necklaces and stepped forward.
Carrying our autonomous recording drones, we approached the transfer portal.
To our side stood the Prophetic Monument.
Though called a ‘monument,’ it looked more like a massive tablet than an actual stone slab.
A simple swipe let us switch between various displays of dungeon-related information.
Right now, it showed:
SHIBUYA DUNGEON
Deepest Floor Reached: 150
Swiping again—
“The Doomsday Timer is at 3 years and 8 months now. Thanks to Shia’s full clearance, we bought an extra year.”
The greatest fear of humankind.
No one knows exactly what will happen when this number hits zero.
The only message left on the monument states:
“The world will come to an end.”
Nothing else.
And that lack of detail is what makes it so terrifying.
“Mm. But at this rate, we’ll run out of time in less than ten years.”
The Doomsday Timer can be delayed or even reversed—but only by clearing dungeons and defeating monsters.
Despite the efforts of explorers worldwide, the timer continues to tick down.
“Yeah. Well, let’s do our best to push it back—even if it’s just by a second.”
“Mm.”
I swiped the Doomsday Timer off the screen and stepped onto the portal.
A moment later, the ground beneath us glowed blue—and we were transported into the dungeon.
“……”
Shia looked around, taking in the dungeon interior.
“It’s completely different from Omiya, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Totally different.”
Omiya Dungeon was a vast open field—forests and plains.
Shibuya Dungeon, however, was a cave-type dungeon.
A colossal cavern with a ceiling dozens of meters high.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
Shia was staring at me.
“You’re not going to use Mana Skin?”
The number one essential skill for any explorer—
Mana Skin.
It’s a technique that releases mana from the entire body and forms a layer of protection around it. This Mana Skin is what allows explorers to survive against monsters that can slice through steel like butter.
For an explorer, Mana Skin is everything—from the moment they enter a dungeon until they leave.
Its depth lies in three key aspects:
-
- The amount of mana released.
-
- The level of compression.
-
- The balance between durability and flexibility.
A good Mana Skin must be thin, elastic, and unbreakable—those are the three golden rules.
And now, Shia was asking me why I wasn’t using this most crucial skill inside a dungeon?
Ha.
“I don’t use Skin.”
I prefer direct contact with monsters.
After all, this is a battle for survival—I want to feel it with my own body.
“…Let me see.”
“See what?”
“Your Mana Skin.”
Shia ignored my half-hearted joke and stepped closer.
For the record, Shia’s Mana Skin—the strongest in the world—was practically invisible, shimmering faintly like a mirage. It was impossibly thin, perfectly compressed, and nearly undetectable.
Of course, its defensive power was the best in the world as well.
“…Promise you won’t laugh?”
“Mhm. I just want to help you improve.”
“……Absolutely, definitely, you won’t laugh?”
“I swear, I won’t laugh.”
Well, with that much assurance, I had no choice.
“Alright then! Feast your eyes on my Mana Skin!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The heavens split apart! The earth trembled! The wind howled!
My vision turned pitch black—
And then—
BOOM!
“……Pff—AHAHAHAHA! Kuma, what is THAT?!”
She promised she wouldn’t laugh!
And if she was going to laugh, the least she could do was let me see it!
A laughing Shia is rarer than a legendary monster!
“It’s Mana Skin. You got a problem with that?”
“It’s—it’s like one of those giant rubber balls—”
I was rolling across the ground.
A massive purple ball, like the ones used in school sports festivals.
The material?
Thick, tire-like rubber.
I was completely trapped inside it, unable to move.
This was my Mana Skin.
And this was why people called me an S-rank fraud.
“Alright, are you satisfied now?”
“Mhm.”
I canceled my Mana Skin.
That was reason number one why people underestimated me—
I couldn’t use Mana Skin properly.
“Is it because you’re bad at controlling mana?”
“Yeah. Terribly bad.”
Mana Skin relies on three key steps:
-
- Releasing mana.
-
- Compressing it.
-
- Shaping it for flexibility and durability.
But my problem?
The moment I release mana, I unleash an overwhelming amount of it.
When I try to compress it, I go too far, turning it into a rigid, unmovable shell.
Flexibility? Zero.
Durability? Maybe the highest in the world…
If I was meant to be a punching bag, that is.
“But your mana levels are insane. Do you have… ten times mine? No, maybe even a hundred times?”
“Yeah, probably. My mana pool might be the highest in the world. My mana control, though? That’s worse than an E-rank explorer.”
At the very least, my massive mana reserves were the only reason I could still call myself an S-rank explorer.
“Then how do you fight? Can you use Mana Weapon or Mana Form?”
Mana Weapon was an advanced technique—coating swords, spears, or other metal weapons with mana, much like Mana Skin but for combat.
Mana Form was even more advanced—shaping pure mana into weapons and armor.
And, of course, considering my Mana Skin situation, the answer was obvious.
“Nope. Can’t use either.”
“Then… how do you fight?”
“There’s only one mana technique I can use. And, as far as I know, I’m the only one in the world who does it.”
“……The only one?”
I let the tension build for a moment, then smirked.
And with a dramatic pause, I finally revealed its name.
“I call it—Mana Rebellion.”
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