**Episode 008: True Power**

A series of events replayed in my mind, as if my life was about to end here. The dark shadows approached me step by step.

“Darn it!!… Haa… Haa… Is this the end here? Haa… Haa…”

So, I involuntarily felt on the verge of despair.

“Don’t give up… Don’t die… Keep living… Don’t lose…”

However, the heroine of the Assassin Girls in my mind whispered to me. “Don’t give up until the end, survive and watch over us, love us more.”

“Hahaha!! That’s right, that’s it!! I want to admire more girls in bodysuits!! I won’t die in a place like this!! No way!! Let’s do this!!”

As they said, I didn’t want to wait for death like this. I would take as many of them with me as possible.

And I would admire the bodysuits!!

I switched my mindset, turned around, and made up my mind.

“Phew~”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. Once I made up my mind, the despair that had plagued me just moments ago disappeared as if it were a lie.

“Come on!!”

With a threatening shout, I charged into the group of creatures lined up in two rows. As I approached, they extended their black tendrils to attack.

What’s this? Aren’t they moving quite slowly? When I observed from a distance, it didn’t feel like that, but when I got close and received the attacks of the monsters, I was disappointed at how slow they were.

“Haa!!”

I dodged the tendrils I could see and jumped into their midst, punching.

—Bang!

The upper body of the creature I attacked exploded and scattered behind it.

“Huh!? Wasn’t I supposed to be a non-combat class?”

I was astonished by the power of my own fist, but there was no time to be surprised, so I jumped back for the moment.

“Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased.”

The announcement of level up echoed in my mind. Six times.

“What? What does this mean? After defeating them once, the levels of Sato and the others should have increased by only one. But I’ve increased by six?”

I definitely heard the announcement six times. So, it’s certain that I leveled up six times. However, I couldn’t understand why this was happening.

“Tch.”

A monster approaching me to disrupt my thoughts attacked me.

However, after leveling up six times, their attacks seemed slow, almost like slow motion.

“Sharakusee!”

I avoided their incredibly slow attack, slipped into their guard, and kicked.

—Bang!

They exploded just like before.

“Haha!! Maybe I can do this!”

For some reason, I didn’t quite understand, but hope appeared in my mind as I faced a situation where my level increased six times that of a normal person.

“Seiya!!”

“Haa!!”

“Torya!!”

I attacked the monsters that rushed at me one after another, kicking and punching them away.

“Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased. Your level has increased.”

After knocking out dozens of them, my level increased again, and this time, I had leveled up twelve times in total.

Thanks to that, my speed of annihilating monsters increased rapidly.

“Haha!!”

It gradually became a pleasure to knock down enemies like rubbish, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud while continuing to punch the monsters.

“Voooo!”

I heard that voice again. It meant they were cheering me on.

“Haha!! Useless, useless, useless, useless!!”

No matter how many times they sent distress signals, I couldn’t stop now.

After sending out rescue signals many times, the monsters eventually stopped calling for reinforcements.

“Hah. Phew~. It’s finally over…”

After killing the last one, I finally took a breath.

There were several treasure chests scattered around.

“Why was I able to defeat these creatures?”

I tilted my head at the events that occurred during the battle.

“Ah… stats.”

It dawned on me, and I opened my status.

―――――――――――――――――――
■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Crafter ( Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Storage, Production, Repair, Enhancement
―――――――――――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Sword Saint ( Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Sword Techniques, Qi Arts
―――――――――――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Sage (Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Elemental Magic, Enchantment Magic, Appraisal, Chant Shortening
―――――――――――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Saint (Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Sacred Magic, Great Fortune
―――――――――――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Shield Knight (Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Provoke, Accumulation, Full Reflection
――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation: Master Tamer (Rank One)
■Level: Five
■Skills: Demon Contract, Reduced Animosity
―――――――――――――――――――

As expected, six status windows with increased levels opened. Although I hadn’t paid much attention to the others, thinking they were just bugs aside from the Crafter, all of them had indeed leveled up.

“Does this mean I have six statuses that other people usually have only one of? Is this seriously like cheating?”

It seemed I had six statuses.

I had awakened as many statuses as the number of windows. It made sense for my level to increase six times, and suddenly becoming stronger also made sense. I had been completely deceived by Takatori’s appraisal.

The mystery was solved, and I felt relieved.

“Multiple statuses confirmed. Creating integrated status.”

―――――――――――――――――――

■Name: Rokudo Kotaro
■Occupation:
– Crafter ( Rank One)
– Sword Saint ( Rank One)
– Sage (Rank One)
– Saint (Rank One)
– Shield Knight (Rank One)
– Master Tamer (Rank One)
■Level: 30 (5 × 6)
■Skills: Storage, Production, Repair, Enhancement, Sword Techniques, Qi Arts, Elemental Magic, Enchantment Magic, Appraisal, Chant Shortening, Sacred Magic, Provoke, Accumulation, Full Reflection, Demon Contract, Reduced Animosity

―――――――――――――――――――

As I checked my status, a mental announcement played, and a new window appeared in the center of the six status windows, displaying the integrated status.

“Too slow!!”

Even if such a thing had happened now, it was too late!

If this had been available from the beginning, I wouldn’t have fallen for Yamada’s decoy!

I couldn’t help but shout at the events that happened belatedly.

Well, now I think it’s a good thing that I didn’t join those guys.

“But why do I have six statuses all of a sudden?”

However, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand. The continuous unbelievable events didn’t seem to connect with yesterday’s phenomenon.