Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer

Book 2: Chapter 69

Tenji touched the words "Challenge from Red Demon - Level.1", a quest in the 'Book of Enma.'

At that moment, his vision was distorted limply.

[Ugh... not again., I feel like I'm seasick.]

As he calmly felt the phenomenon of distorted vision, a strange feeling of being softly intoxicated came over his head. It was somewhat similar to the sensation of seasickness.

Soon Tenji's body was sucked into the 'Book of Enma' in a whoop.

He rotated around in a pitch-black weightless space several times. The vision was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything, and the place looked somewhat like that dark space of random transference.

"W-Whoaaa!!"

And then--.

Tenji was back in that Hell realm again.

Dense blue forests, bright red sky. No matter how often he saw it, this world was full of strange things. Still, there was Tenji, who felt a strange sense of nostalgia for this place. It had been quite a while since he came to this world. [TLN: Quite literally.]

"Already..."

Tenji sighs lightly.

When he thought he was in the hell realm, he was lying face down, kissing the ground. It reminded him that he had stuck his face in a pile of dead leaves the last time he had been here.

Patting the dust off his face and clothes, Tenji slowly stood up.

"Whoa, that's a little more wide-open area than it was before."

When he was here before, the trees were within arm's length when he looked around.

But now it was wide and different.

The brown soil was visible, and although weeds were growing, a small open area of about 10 meters in diameter had been created.

The tree was the one on which the word "positive" was inscribed in 10-minute segments to count the time during breaks.

Tenji speculated that the Goblins probably pioneered the area.

"I see, looks like things have changed a bit in this hell realm too. I wonder if it's because of the Goblins.?"

Thinking that he looked around his surroundings.

There seemed to be no changes other than a pale-black moon hovering in the bright red sky.

"It's kind of creepy."

The earth's moon has the impression of being white with a slight yellowish tinge.

However, the crescent moon in this hell realm was jet black in color. Rather than illuminating the ground, the moon seemed to absorb light from the ground.

And while Tenji was observing his surroundings, Tenji's head reverberated with the announcement of a machine-like woman.

[The "Hell Quest" has begun. The time limit is 60 minutes.

Condition #1: Perform 5000 squats. This quest will be discarded if the condition is not accomplished in time.]

A blue holographic-like imitation of the 'Book of Enma' appeared before him.

On it was the familiar sentence he had seen before: "Remaining: 3600 seconds" and "Count: 0".

As expected, Tenji, who had been preparing himself, threw his bag on the ground nearby and took a deep breath without any pretense of hesitation.

[TLN: Damn, he just went through a rigorous battle in the entrance exam and wants to go through hell training again.]

[The time limit has doubled. Okay, if I can keep up the pace twice a second, I should be able to clear it with no problem.]

[Okay, let's get started!]

With an energetic attitude, Tenji began to squat.

Putting a lot of effort into his body, he benefits from improving his physical abilities through the so-called status value increase. And with that, he strengthens his legs and back at a speed far beyond that of an ordinary human.

"Phew, I can afford it this time, thanks to the increased strength and status."

Tenji had time to think.

He supposed it was thanks to the advantages that he didn't have before that it would be easy. He was aware of his abdominal breathing as he huffed and puffed and was also working on his core.

[I am now squatting at a pace of roughly three squats per second, so I am on pace to complete in less than 30 minutes.]

[But is it really this easy?...]

It was then that Tenji questioned the ease of this hell quest.

He heard that voice again.

[Count: 100 passed. Hidden condition #1: The addition of 5 tons of barbell weights will be performed.]

"Five tons!!!!!!!"

After the announcement, a gravity so strong that Tenji's entire body was almost crushed from above came down on him.

The 5-ton barbell weight was not a real barbell but a pseudo-gravitational reproduction.

"It's too heavy! I can't do it!!!!"

From there, the high-load additional training began, as if to say that the advantage of the strength of leveling up was meaningless.

Tenji's status had risen to around 1000, but it didn't matter. The conditions were so harsh that he felt like quitting.

Naturally, Tenji gritted his teeth, and all the veins over his body were popping up interestingly.

Tenji would be crushed by gravity if he relaxed his whole body, even a little.

It was the beginning of such a hell quest.

" Damn it! I'll remember this... ohhhh!"

Usually, Tenji is a calm person, but on this particular occasion, he abandoned himself and roared in anger at whoever was imposing this hellish training on him.

However, such a roar was absorbed by the forest's trees, and it was drowned out.

The Hell Quest is primarily an ordeal that gives a taste of "hell" and makes one aware of the grueling process of becoming a king.

There is no such thing as an achievement condition that makes you think, "Oh, this is easy," not even a little bit.

When Tenji realized this fact, with veins popping on his body, he was just angry. Truly frustrated and angry. He was angry at the outrageous quest, almost like corporal punishment.

But, of course, this was not the end of the story.

"Sha-raaaaaaaaah!" Tenji shouted loudly.

His face was red, and he was still gritting his teeth with each squat.

Over and over again, Tenji would do his squats with a frantic cry.

"Come onnnn!!!"

A replica of the 'Book of Enma' floated before his eyes.

It was displaying a sentence: "Remaining: 360 seconds" and "Count: 5000"

"Yes"

Tenji completed one of his hell quests with just six minutes of spare time.

When the count reached 5000, the crushing gravity force disappeared from Tenji's body, freeing him from all load.

[TLN: This reminds me of Goku training with weights.]

Tenji falls back on the ground, splattering the sweat he's soaked in as he does so.

Huffing and puffing, he looked up at the bright red sky.

"Huh? Huh... this was several times harder than the last time.... But eventually I did it."

And that's as it should be.

Tenji's power during the previous Hell Quest was 21; now it is 1171. It was now almost 55 times stronger.

And it is said that the average male can hold a barbell of about 60 to 70 kg. Working backward from there, if Tenji were to apply the average load for an average man today, he would need a load of about 4 tons.

However, the load this time was 5 tons, equivalent to doing 5,000 squats while carrying a barbell weight of about 80 to 90 kg in terms of an average person here.

"Hell, Hell is...... this was a really tiring quest."

Tenji blurted out to the bright red sky.

Then it must have been about thirty seconds. As Tenji lay on his back, catching his breath, he heard that voice again.

[[Confirmed: completion of 1st achievement condition and 1st hidden achievement condition. Thank you for your hard work".]]

"Yes, yes, yes. Next?"

[[Next, condition 2: Do shadow boxing for 10 hours. If the limb stops even once, the timer resets to 0. This quest will be discarded if the attempt is 3 or more.]]

Hearing the details of the quest, Tenji looked quite relieved.

"Yeah, it's the same conditions as before, just at a different time-span."

[[The timer will start in 10 seconds, 10, 9, 8--]]

Then, a bad thought suddenly passes Tenji's mind.

It was the word "hidden conditions" that the announcer suddenly mentioned in one previous quest.

Hidden would mean a condition not known in advance but added suddenly.

[[--5,4,3,2,1.]] The countdown moves.

That bad feeling - it was right.

[[From now on, five shadows will appear. We recommend that you do not accept the attacks from the shadows, as their attacks could include the mental injury.]]

After the announcement, that shadow appeared.

A strange creature, a pitch-black shadow, seemed to reduce all motivation with just a few snatches. And now, five of these creatures appear to surround Tenji.

Tenji gulped at the sight.

"...Really this hell quest is all about extreme conditions." Tenji thought.

And then--.

Tenji's deadly shadowboxing with the five shadow bodies began.

I have some grasp of the rules and the gist of the game from my previous shadowboxing match.

[You can't just run away; sometimes, you have to unleash your fists. If the attack is grabbed or stopped, you are out, and no matter how much you feel moving on, your feet will stop on their own.]

"COMEE ONN! COMEE ONNN!"

Tenji forgot his calm nature and unleashed a menacing yell at the five shadows.

After a while.

[[You have completed the condition #2. Thank you for your hard work.]]

[[The Hell Quest "A Challenge from the Red Demon - Level.1" has been cleared. Two clear rewards will be presented. The "5th grade weapon 'Red Demon Dagger" and the "5th grade equipment 'Red Demon Bangle'" will be updated in the original Enma's Book after 30 seconds.]]

"Yay. Finallyyy!"

Tenji laid on his back on the spot in great joy and let out a roar of triumph.

The voice echoed through the infernal hell realm, and the trees began to rustle and rustle.

[Hey, I managed to do it!]

The requirement for the quest was 10 hours, but the actual experience was far more grueling than that.

'I want to fall down right now, I want to stop my feet, I want to put my arms down.'

Tenji managed to shake these thoughts off, and he made it through.

Sweats that never stopped were all over his body. He was about to get sore from all the muscles having been torn off. But still, the excitement in his chest has not subsided since he heard the word "clear."

Tenji clung to the feeling of 'having done something hard with his whole body.

And then--.

[[I am now returning Tenji Amagi. I look forward to his future activities.]]

[Summonable Hell Weapons]

Red Demon Series

Red Demon Sword--Fifth grade

Red Demon Dagger--Fifth grade.

<Passive Skill: Drunkenness> 20% chance of putting the enemy into a drunken state.

[Summonable Hell Equipment]

Red Demon Series

Red Demon Ring--Fifth grade

Red Demon Bangle--Fifth grade

<Active Skill: Force Leadership> Increases the user's attack power by 1.75.

Tenji acquired two new accessories.