Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal Chapter 24 24: If You Die—Who's Going to Work For Me?

Bonus Chapters Event 🎉

Aside from the bonus chapters we release for every 200 PS, we now have milestone rewards too. I have prepared a lot of chapters for this event!

500 PS: 2 chapters

1,000 PS: 3 chapters

1,500 PS: 4 chapters

2,000 PS: 5 chapters

As long as we reach 1,500 PS this week alone, a total of 24 chapters will be released.

Enjoy~

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

The Dungeon Goblin was torn apart by the barrage, leaving behind nothing but a Magic Stone and a scatter of mangled bullets as proof it had ever existed.

"That's incredible..." Lili murmured as she hurried to gather the loot. She had never seen anything like that kind of overwhelming suppressive fire.

August, however, was staring at the stone walls with a frown.

"Strange. I don't see any monsters spawning from the walls," August said, rapping his knuckles against the stone. "Logically, with the amount of noise I just made, this place should already be swarming with reinforcents."

He hadn't even busted out the assault rifles yet. Why was the Dungeon holding out on him?

Hearing his complaint as she returned with the loot, Lili's face fell.

"Um... monsters don't spawn very often on the first three floors during the day."

"A lot of rookie mages use the exact sa logic you do, August. They form parties and co down here at night to practice their offensive spells. Because of that, the respawn rates during the morning shift are very low."

She could tell August's fighting style was less about traditional combat and more about live-fire testing of weapons. She gently reminded him that the upper floors were actually much busier at night.

Sure enough, when they descended to the third floor, it was fully barren. Not a single monster was waiting for them.

"Alright, Lili. I believe you." August let out a sigh as he stared down the empty corridor. The place was so deserted it was almost laughable.

"Based on the spawn cycles, the next major wave won't regenerate until around noon," Lili added, using the environnt to estimate the ti. "Since it's still early morning, the floors are tapped out."

"Ti..." August pulled out a tactical watch—one that Hestia had magically calibrated to Orario's tizone. The hands read just past 8:00 AM.

The combat was just too fast. Aside from the ti it took Lili to scavenge the bullets and Magic Stones, they were practically sprinting through the labyrinth with zero resistance.

"It's too early for this," August muttered. "At this pace, the Magic Stone yield is going to be terrible."

"If we want to make a real profit, we need to dive straight to the ninth or tenth floor and intentionally trigger a Monster Party."

"..." Lili's eyes widened in horror.

'This rookie is insane! He wants to dive that deep on day one?!'

'Is he trying to get surrounded?!'

"August, why are you so eager to attract a horde?" Lili asked, her voice trembling. Did she follow the wrong rookie?

"Money," August replied bluntly. "I owe a massive debt."

He owed his country's military a fortune for the weapons he had requisitioned in bulk. If he did not work hard enough, how was he supposed to pay it back?

August looked at the small Pallum. "Lili, you're a Supporter. I'm sure you've seen more than your share of bullying and extortion from arrogant adventurers."

"Which ans you definitely have a stash of monster-attracting bait on you. Am I right?"

Lili instinctively took a step back. "N-No. I don't."

She felt a sudden shift in August. His calm, thodical deanor was being replaced by sothing much wilder.

"I know you have it," August smiled, stepping closer and giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder. "If you're holding onto the good stuff, you have to share it with the team."

'Scary...' Lili shivered under his smile. She felt like sothing very bad was about to happen.

"Even if I did have bait... soone still has to act as the lure to draw them in," Lili argued, knowing full well how dangerous it was.

"I don't need you to be the lure," August dismissed the concern with a wave of his hand. "I have my ways."

What era did she think this was? He didn't need human bait. As long as he had the attractant, he could handle the delivery.

August reached into his [Spatial Backpack] and pulled out a detailed map of the first twelve floors, courtesy of Hephaestus.

"You're familiar with the layout. Find a massive, open cavern on this map. A kill zone."

"We are going to gather monsters from multiple floors into one spot and wipe them all out at once!!"

August's eyes burned with a tactical fervor. He wasn't interested in hunting stragglers one by one. He wanted to herd them into a choke point and send them all to hell in a single wave. With the heavy ordnance at his disposal, it would be a waste not to give the entire floor acute lead poisoning.

Holding the map, Lili listened to his deranged strategy and felt her sanity begin to slip.

"August... are you sure you aren't going to use as the bait?" she asked, needing explicit confirmation.

August rolled his eyes. "If I use you as bait and you die, who is going to pick up my loot?"

Did she really have that little faith in him?

"I'm paying you to work, not to die. If you die, who's going to do the heavy lifting?"

"60/40 split, rember?" August reminded her smoothly. "If we corral a massive horde, just think about the sheer amount of Valis we'll make."

He knew exactly how to motivate his employees: If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it good hay.

"One wave, and your bank account explodes."

Those words hit Lili like a physical blow.

A 60/40 split. If she took forty percent of a massive Monster Party clear... that would easily be hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of Valis.

Her cut could be a fortune.

Lili could perfectly picture the mountain of coins. Her heart hamred against her ribs. 'I'm tempted...'

Human nature was a funny thing. Once a dangerous idea took root, the thrill quickly morphed into naked greed.

If she made that kind of money, she could finally buy her freedom and leave her abusive Familia for good.

Lili tightened her grip on the map, her eyes growing firm with resolve.

"LET'S DO IT."