The Third Dungeon Battle: The Battle (1)

Now then, our forces (fish and golems) had ridden the seawater into the enemy dungeons.

Team Dragon King had plenty of snakes and frogs.

There were probably slugs too. Salt would likely be effective against them, but what about seawater? I haven't seen any appear yet though.

Team Demon King was all skeletons.

I wonder if they're demon-types or something? Salt might work against them in a different sense, but seawater… well, who knows. It doesn't seem to be working.

"Kehma, the maps for both opponents' first floors are done. They're going downstairs, and the second floor exploration is progressing smoothly too."

"Good. Keep pushing forward as far as we can go."

And once we reach the point where we can't go any further, it'll be time for the Golem and Sahagin corps. They'll make landfall and push the dungeon conquest forward.

"When I first heard about it, I was half skeptical, but seeing it in action, this flooding strategy really is effective… You might win with just this alone."

"No, no, Haku-san. As you can see, this tactic has quite a few weaknesses… It doesn't seem very effective against skeletons."

The skeletons in Team Demon King's flooded rooms seemed to be moving around without any problems.

And there were two knights in black full-body armor. They had that wicked Demon King army vibe — pretty cool, honestly. They didn't seem bothered by the water at all either.

But they weren't making any moves to drain the water either. At this rate, their dungeon would be completely submerged… No, maybe that's their plan? Once it's fully flooded, no more water will flow in. It would give our fish-type forces an advantage, but maybe they have some trick up their sleeve to turn things around?

"Let's stop the water for now. I'll lure them in, then flush them all back with a slope."

"Okaaay. The door's ready to open anytime, Kehma."

I stopped the water and decided to send in golems to scout once things settled down. I'll hold the gargoyles in reserve for now.

… Oh, the fish exploring Team Demon King's dungeon found the boss room on the second floor. The boss appears to be a giant bone fish. Did they set that up on the spot as a countermeasure against the flooding? Not bad.

Nothing can pass the boss room without defeating the boss — not even a drop of water.

Meanwhile, on Team Dragon King's side, we've reached the third floor. They're working hard to drain the seawater, and it's gradually decreasing. Looks like they're collecting water from areas where we don't have any troops.

Now then, I wonder how many floors each dungeon has?

… The water settled down, so I advanced the golems into the enemy dungeons. The maps were done, so I just had them take the shortest routes — but of course, our opponents weren't going to just let them through.

In Team Dragon King's dungeon, frogs appeared, pushing past the drowned snakes. They swung their tongues like blunt weapons to smash the golems. Tongue blackjacks, huh.

In Team Demon King's dungeon, the two black-armored monsters went on a rampage. They swung their black swords and mowed everything down. The bare-handed Clay Golems Niku was controlling didn't stand a chance.

"Team Demon King aside, Team Dragon King is tougher than I expected…"

"Kehma-san… Team Dragon King does have Core 5 backing them, you know? He may be a musclehead, but that means he specializes in combat. If they've received his training, they should be able to fight reasonably well."

"R-right, got it, Haku-san. I'm not letting my guard down."

Wary of Team Dragon King, I had the fish and Clay Golems advance wherever they could. There were probably traps that 5 taught them about too.

For now, let's try sending sharks to Team Demon King's side to see if we can take out that boss.

"Ichika, can you send in the sharks? Just testing the waters for now — three small ones should do. Have them charge in."

"Aye! Sharks, go～!"

Three shark fins — I mean, three small sharks charged into Team Demon King's gate. That dungeon had become completely flooded, so the small sharks could move freely while the enemies would have their movements slowed by water resistance.

Two were cut down by the black armors, but one managed to slip past to the deeper area.

Hmm? Come to think of it, is that our first DP loss? Actually wait, we'd already lost some from the golems' magic stone costs. We've taken out a decent number of enemy skeletons too though.

"I'll leave that bone mini-boss to you, Ichika."

"Aye, leave it to me～. My shark'll crunch it up real good～!"

Then the enemy made a move too. One of the black armors dove into Team Dragon King's dungeon.

And started slaughtering the snakes and frogs… Yeah, she probably poured a ton of DP into that thing. It's seriously strong.

"Kehma, our first room's defenses have been broken through!"

The remaining golems in the first room had been shifted to offense, so our defense had gotten quite thin.

Enemy skeletons and snakes were diving into our dungeon too. Looks like the lure worked well.

"… Alright, release Stock 1."

"Okaaay. Opening the door to Stock Room 1～"

A viscous liquid came spilling out.

"… Oh my, Kehma-san. Is that… what I think it is? Tentacle Slime bodily fluids?"

"Yes, it is."

"On a slope, I take it?"

"Yes, that's right."

Apart from its slime body, the Tentacle Slime's bodily fluids can almost completely deflect physical attacks.

Those Tentacle Slime bodily fluids are very viscous — or rather, slippery.

Slippery. They also improve blood circulation, by the way, but let's set that aside.

What happens if you pour that onto a slope?

— The mass of snakes and bones on the monitor would show us the answer.