Dungeon Clear: Pre-Boss-Room Strategy Turn

That day, Rokuko was racking her brain.

Since this was a rare chance to build a dungeon however she liked, she wanted the boss to be something she liked too.

She liked dragons, and while she was at it, she wanted an even stronger Dragon.

"That's it, I'll just power it up!"

A truly brilliant idea had struck her.

There was no rule that said you had to use whatever monster came out as-is. And you weren't limited to upgrading with DP, either; other methods were fair game too.

If anything, experience had taught her that DP-based upgrades were quick, but often pretty inefficient.

If you could outsource, you might as well ask someone capable for help. There was no need to do everything yourself; that, too, was something experience had taught her.

And of course, she had just the person in mind to power up a Dragon.

"So, Soto, could you ask Leona to power up our Dragon for us?"

"Even if it's a request from Mama, I have no intention of selling my girlfriend cheap!"

That woman was her daughter's lover.

That woman couldn't refuse her daughter's requests.

In other words, if you talked the daughter into it, you could get the job done.

"By the way, do you know how the dungeon village handles its garbage? They dump it in the dungeon. The dungeon absorbs it and converts it into a bit of DP, so it's win-win. — And naturally, that includes worn-out old socks that have nowhere to go but the trash."

"Helping out around the house is such a daughterly thing to do!"

A garbage collection point was set up in the Karisoto District.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"And so, behold: a Light- and Dark-attribute Dragon. A wonderful fellow with two opposing attributes!!"

"… Sounds like the kind of thing that's going to nullify anything we throw at it."

"I drew the line at all-attributes, you know? This time, anyway."

Yeah, yeah. So next time we get the chance, we're commissioning an all-attribute Dragon. Just make sure you pay Leona her fee properly, all right?

"Light and dark combine to look the strongest, apparently! His name is Rider-kun. Some kind of vehicle, supposedly."

"That's definitely a lie… well, whatever. So, any weaknesses?"

"Who knows? Ah, I really don't know. I'm not hiding anything, either. … But you should be clearing this on your own anyway! He's registered on the Boss Spawner, so it's fine to kill him!"

Right, well, sneaking in the comm to Rokuko had been worth it just to get a sense of what we were up against.

… All right then. Time to head back.

"I'm back."

"Mm, welcome back, Kyou-dono. How's the stomach?"

"It's fine. No problem."

"If it's going to interfere with the boss fight, please rest properly, Kyou-sama. Don't hold back, all right?"

"I told you, I'm fine."

All right, I might as well share a little of what I'd learned about the Dragon.

The bit about the Chaos God being involved was definitely best kept under wraps.

"It looks like that Dragon has both Light and Dark attributes. What do you think its weakness is?"

"Mm? Light and dark… ah, so that's why it's black and white."

"With the Light attribute, you'd be resistant to light and weak to dark; with Dark, resistant to dark and weak to light… or so it's generally said. But with both at once… does that mean it's resistant to both?"

"Yeah, that's probably the safe read."

There was also the chance the two attributes cancelled each other out, leaving it neither resistant nor weak to either, but for a Dragon Leona had modified, the safer bet was to assume resistance to both.

"In that case, Kyou-sama, your [Judgment Ray] doesn't look like it'll do much. Should we build the fight around fire- and wind-attribute attacks?"

"Physical-attack skills would be good too."

"How are you on the physical side, Kyou-sama?"

"Not great. I'll leave melee to you. The damage won't be much, but I can provide ranged support."

"We were originally planning to fight with just me and Narikin-sama, so even that's appreciated."

Strategy meeting adjourned. Right then, let's start the battle.

We pulled the boss-room door open again.

… One test shot. Hyup, [Elemental Burst]!

A ribbon of light went flying. The Light-and-Dark Dragon batted it away with a clang of its wing.

… Oh-ho. So it's the smart sort that actually guards.

Once we kill it and it revives to officially take its place as the boss, this fight is going to be fun.

"Doesn't look like the kind of soft target you can take down by spamming attacks from outside the boss room."

"Some dungeons let you get away with that, but unfortunately not this one. Ah, it just moved out of line of sight from the door. Smart."

"But if it weren't taking damage at all, it wouldn't bother retreating. Which means we are getting through. I'll be counting on your covering fire, Kyou-dono."

Sssss… haaah. One deep breath, in and out.

"Here we go, battle start!"

We kicked the door open and charged into the boss room.