By the time the orc village had gone completely silent, Inari lowered Kogetsu and let out a soft breath.
“Hmm, I should’ve taken down quite a few, yet the clear message hath not appeared… Now then, wherever might the boss be hiding?”
Once the boss is defeated, a message appears and the player is automatically transported out of the dungeon.
Since that hadn’t happened yet, it could only mean one thing—she hadn’t taken down the boss.
So what now? Naturally, the only option was to walk around and find the boss manually.
“Well, well. They shan’t let me off so easily, it seemeth. Though, in a way, this might be convenient.”
Indeed, for Inari’s purposes, collecting magic stones was important. She’d already had the wolf magic stones sent to her home and had been consuming them little by little. The orc ones needed collecting too.
She entered the first village she’d cleared and began picking up the stones scattered around.
“They art… slightly larger than those of the wolves? Mayhaps ‘tis just a slight difference, though…”
In truth, the difference was negligible. That was also one of the reasons this dungeon was unpopular.
But Inari didn’t care about that in the slightest.
She casually collected the stones and, with her free hand, drew a small circle in the air—creating a round, dark void in the air.
“Off ye go.”
She tossed the stones into the black hole, and they vanished. You could call it a warehouse… or, if you wanted to be dramatic, a “divine disappearance.” Not that Inari had ever used it with that connotation before. She’d simply never needed it until now—but using it like this was surprisingly convenient.
Unregistered skill detected!
Resembles Box-type skill
Resembles Room-type skill
Integrating into world system…
Skill [Divine Concealment] has been generated!
“Once again, the ‘system’ hath stuck its nose in. Always watchin’, art they not.”
That said, if it made things easier, Inari had no complaints. She tried saying “Divine Concealment,” and a prompt popped up: “Currently active! Would you like to open the window?”
“I know not what this meaneth, but… very well.”
When Inari selected “Yes,” a window appeared in front of her, neatly divided into boxes.
Anyone familiar with RPGs would recognize it as a standard “item window,” and sure enough, the magic stones she had just tossed in were displayed there along with their count.
“Oh-ho… quite the useful little thing. In that case…”
She picked up an axe she assumed was a drop item and tossed it into the black hole. It appeared in the window as “Orc Axe.”
“Oh-ho-ho! Now I see…! Hm? And to retrieve one…”
She tapped the picture of the axe, and a prompt appeared asking if she wanted to take it out. Upon confirming, the orc axe appeared in her hand.
“Ohh… well, now. Quite handy, not havin’ to remember what I didst put in.”
The system automatically sorted and cataloged the items. Taking them out was just as easy.
Box-type skills were considered extremely rare, but Inari never cared about such things. She’d probably mention it later in passing over tea, much to the dismay of Yasuno’s stomach lining.
“Now then! If that be the case, I’ll just collect all the things here and over there too. What a fine convenience! The system hath done me a grand favor, I must say!”
“Still… for the system to meddle with my Divine Concealment so casually… Truly, it remaineth mystery.”
There was no telling how far she’d have to go to uncover the true nature of the system. But for now, it didn’t appear to be an enemy. All she could do was keep growing stronger, one step at a time.
So Inari set about gathering all the stones and drops one by one. When she finished looting the last of the settlements, she turned and called out to nowhere in particular.
“’Tis fine if thou choosest to remain hidden… but I know well that thou art the key to this dungeon’s clear condition. If thou dost not show thyself… I’ll simply blast the whole place to bits. Art thou sure thou can live with that?”
At that instant, an especially large orc burst from the ruins of a tent and swung a sword at Inari.
The Orc General—the boss of this dungeon—had likely been planning to catch her off guard. But Inari had left no openings, so this was his only chance.
“Kogetsu, sword form.”
Kogetsu shifted from a bow to a sword in her hand, and in a flash, cleaved straight through the orc’s weapon.
“Wh-What are you…?!”
“Me? As thou can plainly see, a fox. I go by the name Kogami Inari.”
With a single stroke, her blade slashed the Orc General. Even so, the monster tried to crush her with its bare hands. Inari casually dodged and launched a flurry of foxfire blasts from her fingertips.
“G-Guh…!”
“Tough, aren’t ye…? In that case, mayhaps ‘tis time I change my approach.”
She slid her fingers along the blade of her sword.
Kogetsu darkened with shadow, the weapon shrouded in a ghostly haze as she murmured—
“Cursed Blade, Muramasa.”
The slash that followed drew a black crescent through the air, slicing into the Orc General. From the wound, a dark miasma poured forth, engulfing the creature.
“G-Gweh!? G-Gggegegegege!”
“’Tis a curse. Even a brute like thee shouldst feel its bite.”
“G-Gaaaah…”
The Orc General collapsed and vanished. All that remained was a massive sword.
Inari tossed it into the black hole, and a clear message immediately popped up.
[Boss] Orc General Defeated!
Dungeon Cleared!
Reward Box Obtained!
Expelling all survivors for dungeon reset…
“Umu. Well… naught but what I expected.”
Without giving a second thought to how insane her “normal” really was, Inari was transferred out of the dungeon.
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Kami Kakushi(神隠し) means "being hidden by a god" or "divine concealment" — traditionally used in folklore to describe mysterious disappearances caused by spirits or gods (like being spirited away).