The Third Dungeon Battle: Conclusion

The red-haired girl was clearly too small to have been inside that armor. This was Core 666's humanized form.

"Core 666 has separated!"

"Separated. She can do that?"

Blood-red long hair, blazing crimson eyes. As if declaring armor inelegant, she was an ojou-sama clad in a red dress with white frills. Her appearance screamed fire-attribute through and through.

True to that image, Core 666 produced a fire magic sword as if growing it from her hand. She swung it down at the restrained Black Armor, cutting away the chains binding it… She must have cut a bit too deep, as the Black Armor itself had a gash in it.

The freed Black Armor clenched its empty fists and stood back-to-back with Core 666.

The Sahagins threw more chains at them, but this time the two of them managed to handle and evade them together. The movements were different from before. That meant the master was controlling it now.

But did Core 666 come out from inside the armor and humanize?

No, that's not it. That magic sword looked like it grew from her hand, but what if it actually did? In other words, the magic sword is part of her body…

… Could that "magic sword" be Core 666's true, non-humanized form?

"Haku-san. Could magic swords actually be monsters?"

"Oh? You didn't know? Seventy percent of what the world calls magic swords are monsters."

A shocking fact was casually revealed.

Magic swords aren't items but monsters. Seventy percent of them.

Well, if Living Armors exist, it wouldn't be strange for Living Weapons to exist too. But I never expected that's what magic swords were…

… Ah, come to think of it, our magic swords are Golems too.

In that case, to make a magic sword—

"Kehma, what do we do?! How can we win?!"

"Oops. I was lost in thought… Well, let's deal with the Black Armor first. Golem squad!"

I had the Golem squad prepare the orichalcum wire.

The same ones used in the submerged middle floor area. We'd recovered and brought them here.

For ease of transport, they had iron weights attached to the ends, so throwing them as-is was no problem.

"Do it!"

Mixed in with another wave of chains, I had them throw those with iron weights on both ends.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

# Team Demon King's Side #

 

"Fufu, it's not over yet!"

When the Living Armor she had been controlling got bound by chains, Core 666 first released the magic sword.

Then, humanizing from the magic sword, she used a skill called [Doppelganger] to hold a sword with the same abilities as the magic sword that was her true form, and cut off the chains restraining the Black Armor.

[Doppelganger] was a type of clone, but if the [Doppelganger] sword was destroyed, she herself would die. That kind of skill.

"No time to summon Skeletons. I'll leave operating the armor to Master. Let's handle this together."

"Got it."

Leaving the Black Armor with the Dummy Core still in its abdomen to her master, she slashed away the incoming chains with her flame-clad magic sword. Her master also controlled the Black Armor, swatting away chains with its bare hands. One alone had their limits, but with two, they could manage. They covered all directions.

"This way, we can manage."

"Yeah."

Chains were thrown again. Once more, Core 666 deflected with her magic sword, and her master with the armor's hands…

But the armor's hands and neck were cleanly severed with a snip.

"Huh?"

Something with extreme sharpness mixed in with the chains passed mere centimeters above Core 666's head.

Two heavy iron weights tumbled to the ground. Between them stretched a taut, extremely fine thread. Despite being so thin, it somehow didn't bend or break while supporting the weights. That fine thread was the very same orichalcum wire that had sliced the Black Armor to pieces earlier.

"Same as before, huh… Way too sharp."

"Oh my, Master. Look what you've done to my armor…"

"Sorry."

"… Well, I suppose I should have anticipated they'd have this. I can't leave my back to you anymore… The legs are intact, at least. Master, just run around. The difficulty goes up a bit, but as long as you run forward and watch what's ahead, you should be fine."

A Living Armor wouldn't die from just this. But chains were thrown at it again, along with that supremely sharp orichalcum wire.

Core 666 intercepted it, catching the orichalcum wire with her [Indestructible] magic sword. It dropped to the ground… She had to be careful not to cut her own feet.

"The orichalcum wires have iron masses on both ends. That's your marker. The armor doesn't have [Indestructible], so dodge carefully."

"Yeah. Aidi, be careful too. Only the sword has [Indestructible]."

They split up. If they were going to run anyway, splitting up would divide the enemy's aim.

The Tentacle Slime returned just as they separated. Its target appeared to be the Black Armor, which couldn't use magic attacks. Conversely, Core 666 aimed for the slime.

Then another set of weights flew at each of them. Core 666 didn't dodge, blocking with her sword.

The Black Armor dodged far to the side… but its body was sliced horizontally in half.

"Wha…"

"Huh?"

The orichalcum wire caught by the magic sword fell to the ground.

The Black Armor's upper body crashed to the ground with a clang, followed by its lower half collapsing to its knees.

They couldn't understand what had happened. The Black Armor should have dodged the wire, yet it had been cut in two.

Even a Living Armor would die if its largest, most central torso piece was sliced clean in half.

The Dummy Core hidden inside the upper body tumbled out of the now-lifeless wreckage. Fortunately, it appeared undamaged, but deep in enemy territory with the armor that guarded it gone, their defeat condition lay completely exposed. The outcome was clearer than day.

Core 666 tried to rush over, but the Tentacle Slime blocked her path.

Even though the fire magic sword was effective against it, she couldn't instantly kill a slime brimming with moisture. Moreover, the Tentacle Slime could extend tentacles from two or more directions simultaneously, making it all the harder to block with a single sword.

The Dummy Core was picked up by a Golem right before Core 666's eyes, and then…

With a crack, it shattered and lost its light.