Second Dungeon Battle, Boss Battle 1

"GAOOOOOOOO!!!"

The ground trembled from the red dragon's roar.

Even through the monitor, the pressure was intense. So this is the creature known as a dragon.

"… Goshujin-sama, I'm sorry. I wet myself."

"I nearly did too with that thing… [Purify]."

"Hyafuu… Th-thank you very much."

When I cast [Purify] on Niku, she was instantly clean. I wonder if Rokuko and Ichika were okay?

"A red dragon's at a level where even an A-Rank adventurer party would take casualties just to barely win, ya know. Nothin' wrong with E-Rank adventurers like Niku-senpai and Goshujin-sama wettin' themselves. Was Rokuko-sama alright?"

"I'm fine. I can cast [Purify] on myself after all."

Sounds like Rokuko wasn't fine either.

Setting that aside, we need to figure out how to deal with this red dragon.

… Let's just do what we can.

 

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"Kakaka! You're no match for me after all!"

Melting the golems with her breath, Redra laughed triumphantly.

"As expected of Redra. But stay on your guard, yeah?"

"112's such a worrywart! Didn't you see? They went down in one hit!"

She had been surprised when the water came flowing in, but Ontentoo quickly made holes to drain it, so the damage was limited to wet floors. Still, Redra tilted her head in confusion. Water with hostile reactions… what was that about?

Slimes… no, this many of them? Something smaller… something that dissolves in water? While Redra was mulling this over, she sensed new golems entering.

"Ha, no matter how many come, I'll just send them packing… wha… H-hey?! Wait, that's…!"

"Huh? What's wrong, Redra… whoa, that's…"

Redra started to breathe fire but hurriedly swallowed it back. Ontentoo wondered what had happened, then understood when he saw the golems that had entered.

The golem was holding a crystal figurine instead of a shield.

"H-hey! Isn't that the figurine I was supposed to get if I won?! The one that pairs with the one I got before!"

"Hahaha! Can't use your breath now, can you? What a nasty trick."

If she blasted it with her breath, the crystal figurine would be destroyed along with the golem. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she'd accepted the dungeon battle because she wanted that figurine, yet they were actually using the prize as a shield.

"Kuh, then I'll use my claws directly…!"

Redra tried to crush the golem directly with her claws. But a dragon's massive claws couldn't make fine adjustments. Those claws were suited for sweeping away groups of enemies at once; she didn't think she could pull off the delicate maneuver of destroying the golem while leaving the figurine unharmed.

"… Gauuu…"

This was bad. She couldn't attack.

Even growling to intimidate them was useless against a golem. If it had been an animal-type or some other monster with a will of its own, it would have gone weak in the knees or thrown the figurine away and fled.

The golem holding the crystal figurine drew its sword and slashed at her.

She couldn't carelessly knock it away, so she deliberately took the hit.

… SKRIIIII!! With a strange sound, Redra's scales were scratched.

"Whoa?! A magic sword?!"

She hastily retreated a step, but the tip of her wing nearly caught the crystal figurine and sent it tumbling. She folded her wings as tightly as possible to avoid snagging anything.

"Ugh, this is so hard to deal with…!"

The golem approached again. Holding up the figurine.

Redra retreated again. She didn't want to scratch the precious treasure. That was her only thought.

"Mmm, what should I do… wait, huh?"

She'd been backing away to escape, but she suddenly noticed the floor had become flooded.

Splash, splish, the water clung to her. When she looked, the holes that had been made for drainage were being plugged by golem hands… This was probably that hostile-reaction water from before.

"Sneaky…!"

She inhaled to blast the golems blocking the drainage with her breath, but the golem she'd been dealing with circled around in front of her… Holding the crystal figurine.

"—!!"

Once again, she swallowed the breath she'd nearly unleashed. With a choked cough, heat she couldn't fully contain leaked from her mouth.

"Then I'll just smash through the passage with my claws!"

"Hey, don't do that, Redra. Past there is outside the boss room. If you leave the boss room… they'll break through the floor."

The boss room was only impenetrable and sealable because the boss was present.

Conversely, without the boss there, the hostile-reaction water would flow down to the lower floors… Meaning the fifth floor would fall and their defeat would be sealed.

That said, staying here unable to attack the enemy was absolutely unbearable for Redra. Given Redra's abilities, she could have kept up this game of chase until the day ended, but she lost patience and shouted.

"What am I supposed to do?! I can't fight like this! Do something, 112!"

"… Aah, can't be helped…"

And so, for Ontentoo, Dungeon Core Number 112, this became a request he absolutely had to fulfill. Even if it meant defeat, that was a small price to pay.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Hey, Kehma… How about a trade?"

A transmission came in from Ontentoo while we were stalling for time to transport anti-dragon supplies… A trade, huh.

"Depends on the details. What kind of trade?"

"Give us that crystal figurine. In exchange, I'll let you through the fifth floor."

… In other words, they're fine with losing if they get the crystal figurine.

"Also, uh… it'd be great if you'd stop using tactics that keep Redra from being able to attack."

"Getting the figurine in exchange for passing the fifth floor is fine, but that second part is tricky… Though if you'd let us through to the final floor without interference, that'd work."

"Huh? Ah… but then Redra wouldn't get to fight. The final boss room's off the table. Everything else is fine, though."

Wait, really? I only said that on a whim.

Actually, something felt slightly off about what he just said. I bet it's the absolute command authority.

"It's way better than gettin' the dungeon flooded and havin' to punch holes in every floor to drain it. Let's reset and settle this at the original boss room. Sound good?"

I see, the water attack must have really been rough on them.

Makes sense. If they got flooded, their monsters would be in serious trouble.

"… Then don't interfere with our actions until we reach the boss room. Unlock the doors and disable the traps too. We'll take a one-hour break."

"Alright! Trade complete. Hey Redra, one-hour ceasefire!"

And so, we got to reset under conditions that were bizarrely favorable to us.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Gunununu…"

"Hey, I took care of it, didn't I, Redra?"

"B-but we lost the dungeon battle… I'm sorry, 112! Because of me, you…"

Redra was being unusually meek, but Ontentoo just laughed it off.

"Why're you saying something so unlike yourself? Besides, we didn't actually lose. We got the crystal figurine, after all."

"But letting them pass through to the forty-ninth floor without resistance…"

"You're not going to lose, right? Kehma would've made it there anyway once he broke through the fifth floor. It doesn't matter."

Besides, if that water attack had continued, not only would the dungeon have been conquered, but every floor would have been flooded, causing massive damage to the monsters and traps. It was obvious the repair costs alone would have exceeded 500,000 DP.

"… That's why I also got him to agree to a fair fight. If anything, we won the negotiation. I'm counting on you, Redra."

"Yeah… I'll do my best!"

"Good, I'm leaving it to you, Redra. You can fight at full strength for a whole day without rest, right? Go wild."

"Yeah!"

Redra's spirits were restored. Ontentoo gave her head a good, satisfying rub.