The Third Dungeon Battle: Battle (9)

I knew it. I knew Core 666's Black Armor would break through here.

After all, when she floated up in the water and headed toward the orichalcum wire—

"Did I do it?!"

—I accidentally blurted out that line… I'll be more careful next time.

"Kehma, that was close. There, there."

"Why are you patting my head?"

"I don't know, it felt like you were sulking about something."

"Ah, I'm just feeling self-loathing because I said something I had resolved to absolutely never say. Thanks for the thought, but Haku-san is watching, so please stop."

I'm getting an incredibly cold stare, and I can sense telepathy saying something like "Now then, shall I serve tonight's dinner as sashimi?" I'm like a fish on a cutting board here. Hahaha.

"Ah, s-sorry, Haku-neesama. We're in the middle of a Dungeon Battle, so we need to focus!"

"Fufu, it's fine, Rokuko-chan. Maybe you could pat me later too?"

"Geez! Haku-neesama, stop teasing me!"

No, I think she's serious. But I kept that to myself.

More importantly, the Dungeon Battle.

Team Demon King's remaining forces invested in our dungeon are one Black Armor and numerous Skeletons. Those Skeletons are probably from [Summon Skeleton].

And as for Team Demon King's dungeon—

"Hey, Ichika. At the rate things were going, shouldn't you have defeated the boss by now?"

"U-uh, well yeah, but… the door won't open. I just sent them back to explore again."

"No enemy reactions remain in the room. I'm helping too."

Ichika and Niku's confused voices came back. It seems they've hit a wall in their exploration… No choice but to search again.

"… There's also the possibility of a hidden passage on another floor."

"Or a door that can only be found by triggering a trap. Don't forget to check the ceiling too… and pitfalls."

Having a passage inside a pitfall—we're doing that in our dungeon too. Even with Haku-san right here, since that might be the correct route, we have no choice but to search.

"Fufu, this reminds me of the Dungeon Battle between Rokuko-chan and me."

"Eh? Oh, now that you mention it… that's right, Haku-neesama."

"I'll also send some out to search outside the dungeon entrance, just in case… I'm sending a few Golems, use them."

"Yes, Goshujin-sama."

Fortunately, not a single enemy monster remains. Feel free to search as much as you like—it's completely open.

Are they confident we won't find it even if we search, or are they stockpiling forces on an undiscovered floor further in?

Are there other possibilities? Overlooking something would be scary…

"Rokuko, what do you think?"

"Well, it's strange that the door won't open when there's no boss in the boss room. We should check if it's really a boss room. It might be a decoy."

A decoy, huh. That's certainly possible. Haku-san mentioned it too, and I've done it myself—a puzzle door with nothing beyond it. There's also the possibility this boss room has nothing beyond it.

"Ichika, so investigate that boss room a little, then search elsewhere."

"Got it."

Having finished giving orders for the attack—or rather, exploration—I needed to make sure our defense was solid too.

Looking, the Black Armor had just finished crossing the log bridge obstructed by Gargoyles.

Only one Skeleton remained. This Skeleton's movements were good… Is the master controlling it?

"Niku, once you're done exploring, get back to defense. This side is more urgent… Rokuko. I'm sending out Tentacle Slime-san. We'll settle things with Core 666 in these upper floors."

"You're sending that out? Wait, why the '-san'?"

"Well, because it's Tentacle Slime-san."

"… I don't think that counts as a reason?"

It's meant to be this dungeon's hidden boss, you know.

"Alright, we're going with [The Big Ball] and flooding simultaneously. It'd be nice if this finishes it, but…"

"Opening the floodgates and dropping [The Big Ball]～. Yay, this'll be the finishing blow! Drop dead～!"

I have a bad feeling about this. Let me gather forces in the room along the route.

I'm attacking with seawater and iron ball combo so it won't matter even if it's stopped by that scorching magic sword.

[The Big Ball] with momentum behind it, followed by water pushing it toward Core 666.

Even if they stop the iron ball, they'll be swept away with it unless they stop the water too.

And if they try to melt the iron ball, the water will cool it and prevent melting.

Now, what will you do?

Reacting to the sound, Core 666 formed an anti-water-attack formation with the Skeletons. Then the iron ball came barreling toward them.

Core 666 readied the magic sword as if drawing a bow. Facing the iron ball rushing toward her head-on, she thrust.

"—[Crimson Road]"

That's what I heard.

The next moment, the iron ball and seawater vaporized in a straight line. The Living Armor's hand holding the magic sword was glowing red-hot… Is that a skill? Such a skill exists?

Core 666, isn't that incredibly hot?

"What?! … Whoa, is this for real?!"

"For real? This is for real…? Isn't this absurdly overpowered?"

After that, the seawater flowing from behind cooled Core 666's Black Armor.

The red-hot hand returned to black steel.

"[Crimson Road] is a fire-attribute thrusting skill. It has restrictions like being usable only once per day and dealing fire-attribute damage to the user, but its power more than compensates. She really committed to using it."

Hearing Haku-san's explanation, that means she can't use it again today.

Then if I could hit her with another [The Big Ball] and seawater combo, we could win, but—

"Kehma, we're out of [The Big Ball]."

"… Seriously. What about recovering the ones we used…"

"Melted, shattered, and somehow vanished. That's it."

Damn, if only I'd prepared more…!

Unfortunately, I can't directly produce iron balls with DP. According to Haku-san, it's in her catalog as a trap, but is that because we don't normally use traps? I always use homemade ones… damn, being stingy is coming back to bite me!

"What about having Haku-neesama buy it for us in exchange for DP?"

"That's definitely out. Preparations would be one thing, but on the day itself is too much. After all, this is for training juniors."

In that case, is there some existing trap or something I can summon with DP to substitute for the iron ball…? Iron Golem—no, that won't work. Even if I have Iron Golems form a tower and wash them down with water, I can only see a future where they get sliced up normally. They can't roll with enough momentum!

Ah, if Haku-san weren't here, I could repair the iron ball with [Create Golem]!

"No, think of it the other way. With this, we've also made the opponent use their trump card. Conditions are even, fifty-fifty. We still have forces and hidden tricks on our side, so we actually have the advantage!"

"Kehma, by that logic, the opponent's hidden tricks might not be limited to one either, so wouldn't it still be fifty-fifty?"

Rokuko made a valid point.

"… Yeah, well, whatever. We'll settle it in the next room."

I said while gathering the dungeon's forces into one room.