Second Dungeon Battle: Boss Fight 2, Conclusion

The golem corps advanced toward the stairway, guided by a Red Minotaur.

Red Lizards and Flame Hounds watched from a distance without interfering.

It was truly surreal.

"Redra's rarin' to go! I'll show ya the way, so hurry it up, yeah?"

When he said that, I genuinely questioned his sanity. Maybe he really wasn't sane because of the absolute command authority or something.

Following obediently, there really were stairs. Moreover, it seemed like they'd built just the stairs new, leading directly down in a straight shot. This was less like dungeon stairs and more like apartment building stairs… We cleared through to the forty-ninth floor in about an hour. Talk about rolling out the red carpet.

Apparently it was better than getting flooded, though.

… There's still more than half a day left. Does that mean Redra's planning to fight the entire time?

Red dragons apparently have the endurance to keep fighting with that firepower for over a day. Their breath needs to charge up, sure, but they can fire it unlimited times. That's just cheating.

By the way, my dragon knowledge comes from Rokuko. According to her:

"Among dragons, red dragons especially specialize in breath and physical attack power! Haku-ane-sama's white dragon might lose in just that area since it's an all-purpose type. But, but, Haku-ane-sama's white dragon is…"

And like that, Rokuko tacked on unnecessary tangents while showing off her abundant dragon knowledge. She'd apparently dreamed of summoning a dragon just like Haku-san's, so she'd asked Haku all about it and stockpiled knowledge.

If she liked them that much, she could've just summoned a dragon for 100,000 DP… Huh? She doesn't want a sub-dragon since she's going all out, she wants a strong, ultimate dragon? Hahaha, silly girl. How much DP do you think that would cost?

"So, what's their weakness?"

"Touching their reverse scale is apparently bad news! Something terrible happens!"

Rokuko said with a smug look… That's the 'don't touch it' kind of thing, you know.

In the end, I still don't really know their weaknesses. Haku-san's information that "they love shiny things" ended up being the most useful. As expected of Haku-san, the god of fortune for our dungeon.

"… Hey, it's fine that we can reach the boss room, but what are we going to do about the dragon? Can we beat it?"

"Honestly, I don't feel like we can win. Or rather, we don't need to beat the dragon."

"Huh? Then what are you going to do?"

"… Did you forget we have a trump card? It's on a floor below the boss room. And I should mention, as a result of the deal, all the doors are unlocked… including the treasure vault's. You get it now, right?"

A 'trump card' is only a 'trump card' when you actually use it. If you don't use it, it's just 'margin.'

And so, the curtain rose on the second dragon battle, with total victory all but guaranteed.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The boss room had ample space and durability for the red dragon to wield her full power.

In the center, Redra slowly swept her head sideways while exhaling her breath.

Just that was enough to half-destroy the dozen or so armed golems surrounding her. Though, the destroyed ones were immediately replaced.

"Kakaka! Nice, nice! This is what I've been waiting for!"

Redra laughed in high spirits. When she swung her tail while laughing, the golems behind her had their arms and legs scattered, smashing against the wall and shattering further.

The floor was melting into magma from her breath, but Ittetsu repaired it immediately.

"Now then, dance, dance, dance the night away!"

Whether the golem supply ran out first or the time limit, either way, it was unthinkable that Redra would tire out. At minimum, she could fight at full power for a day. Red dragons were extremely heat-resistant due to their nature of ruling over fire, and unlike other dragons whose throats and mouths would burn, she could breathe seriously high-temperature flames as much as she wanted.

The strongest in combat.

That was what a dragon was… especially this existence called a red dragon.

Consequently, only a handful of challengers had appeared over the past few years, so it had been a while since she could cut loose like this. If she felt like it, she could invade any random country and fight as much as she wanted, but bullying the weak wasn't Redra's style. Besides, she had her job as Dungeon Master and her husband Ittetsu, so she was reluctant to stray too far from Tsuia Mountain.

That's why mowing down enemies who boldly challenged her like this, even if they were just golems, was incredibly fun. So fun she couldn't help herself.

On top of that, the weapons the golems wielded appeared to be magic swords, capable of scratching even Redra's prized scales. There were heaps of them, and they coordinated to stack up damage. If she received them carefully it was no more than a tickle, but if she let her guard down, the damage got through properly.

And that was good. She could properly face them as 'enemies.'

"Kuuu～, I can't get enough! Got plenty left in stock!? How much longer are ya gonna let me enjoy myself!?"

Equipping this many golems with weapons must have cost considerable DP. That's why Redra's only worry was how much stock of this fun remained.

And amidst all that, a new golem appeared. In its hand was an egg about the size of a watermelon… What's it planning? Redra wondered.

"A snack delivery? I'll roast it for ya!"

A scorching breath bore down on the golem holding the egg.

But the golem didn't melt. No, to be precise, the surrounding golems and the stone armor did melt, but the egg and the golem holding it were perfectly fine.

"… What!? A golem I've never seen…?"

Whitish, yellowish… the same color as the egg? Now that the armor had been stripped off, the egg blended in like camouflage, making it hard to spot.

"Well, so what!"

This time claws came down. Even this golem was smashed to pieces, but the egg had been thrown before the impact.

The target was Redra's mouth. She was in the middle of inhaling right after breathing, her mouth wide open. The egg was splendidly lobbed right in, as if perfectly aimed.

"Ogu—!?"

Redra swallowed the egg without meaning to.

But the egg stopped partway down her throat.

"Mugu—!? …!!"

As if it had sprouted hands and feet, the egg stayed lodged in the red dragon's throat.

(W-what is this!?)

It didn't completely block her airway. Even if it was big for an egg, a red dragon's throat wasn't small enough to be blocked by just one egg.

But it was a little hard to breathe. While she was thinking about that, the egg crawled around inside her throat, riding the flow of inhaled air into a passage separate from the esophagus… into the organ that fired her breath. It reached her lungs.

"Uugh, geh, this feels, bad—… w-what is… igiii—!?"

Zakuri—a blade grew from the egg and stabbed into her lung.

"Gah, ah, gaha!?"

Redra writhed in 'pain' and 'suffering' she hadn't felt in over a century. Even with a dragon's robust body, there were no scales on the inside. This went beyond mere damage. Only her stomach was built to handle things; her lungs were never meant to have anything enter them in the first place. With a cough, she hacked up blood along with a desperate blast of breath, and the force expelled the egg from her body.

"Gu, gefu… w-what the hell was that…"

She'd swallowed adventurers before and been attacked from inside her body.

Those times… were nowhere near this painful. In the first place, dragons can normally digest even swords and armor they swallow. A mere sword stab wouldn't faze a dragon's stomach in the least.

"So that's the 'something' Ittetsu mentioned… gu, peh!"

She spat out the blood pooling in her lungs. The wound was already closed. This was the power of a dragon's vitality.

"But there can't be any more…!?"

But when she looked, a dozen or so golems surrounding her were each holding one egg… … Even Redra felt the blood drain from her face at this.

"Uh, uwah—!?"

She immediately set about destroying the golems along with their eggs. To avoid having any thrown into her mouth, she held back her breath, stopped breathing, and kept her mouth shut. Once she'd destroyed every last golem and egg, she exhaled with a "puhaa."

… No new golems were replenished.

"Ha, haha, what, so that was it after all…"

It was nothing, Redra thought, relaxing her wings.

She happened to glance down at the ground, and there was one egg lying there… Did she miss one?

"—!"

Smack! She crushed it flat under her tail. Now this time for sure…

… But just as Redra took a breath, particles of light gathered right before her eyes, and the egg revived.

"Wha—!? What is this thing…!!"

Slash! She destroyed it with her claw. But after a few seconds, it revived again.

"Hiii!?"

She crushed it again immediately. Revived. Crushed. Revived. Crushed. Revived…

"What!? What is this thing supposed to be!? Uwaaaaaaah!!"

Half-crazed, Redra continued attacking the endlessly reviving egg.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Alright, now's our chance."

Since Redra had become completely captivated by the egg (suggestive), I'd use this opening to activate the crystal golem and search for the Dungeon Core. No idea when the hostile detection would trigger, though.

"Hey, Kehma. That's my [Phoenix Egg], isn't it…?"

"Don't worry, as you can see it'll revive no matter what."

By the way, this was a golem made from collected phoenix eggshells, so naturally it didn't have any revival function. But since a phoenix egg nurtures its young in fire, I experimented and found it could easily withstand even a thermite reaction (a chemical reaction that generates 3,000 degrees Celsius by igniting a mixture of metal oxide and aluminum powder). Not even a scorch mark.

So, I couldn't let that go to waste. I made a fully automatic egg-cracking golem.

Even so, there wasn't much material to work with, so one hollowed-out minimal golem and one egg-shaped golem were the limit.

And the strategy this time: the egg offensive.

At first I'd considered an Issun-boshi operation, but apparently the stomach is tough in every sense, so no damage could be expected there. So I shifted the target from stomach to lungs.

Each egg-shaped golem had hands and feet built in, and I ordered them to aim for the lungs and give 'em a good gouge with the magic sword golem also built inside. Also, to hide their limbs whenever they were outside the body, obviously.

However, the egg golems are light. If the dragon breathed seriously, they'd be blown away immediately.

So I lightly planted some trauma and had her endlessly attack the reviving phoenix egg. After the lung attack, I'd surrounded her again with egg-shaped golems, with just one holding the real phoenix egg mixed in. If she wasn't panicking, I was going to shove another egg golem into her mouth and deepen the trauma… The result speaks for itself.

"That's nasty."

"Why, thank you."

Rokuko gave her review before I could even ask for one.

But really, if I'd accidentally killed her by making her lung explode or something, things would've gotten incredibly awkward. I definitely wouldn't want them coming for revenge, and getting along with the neighbors is essential for a good night's sleep. Can't sleep peacefully if they're banging on the walls, after all.

And that's why I only incapacitated her without killing.

"Now then, where's the Dungeon Core…"

Manipulating the crystal golem, I came out of the treasure vault and looked around.

There were no other rooms, only ascending stairs leading to the fiftieth floor's boss room.

Come to think of it, Haku-san also placed her core beyond the fifth floor boss room in the [White Trial]. I climbed the stairs step by step.

There, with the boss room door still shut, was a softly, faintly glowing Dungeon Core. I see, so the layout goes boss room, then Dungeon Core, then treasure vault even further in. The idea being that challengers might luck out and skip the core to go straight for the vault.

… That's quite the impressive pedestal. But at this height, even the crystal golem can climb it. Using its skewer-sized small sword like a pickaxe, it stabbed into the pedestal and climbed up. And then…

"Oi, Redra, pull yourself together! Oi, o… oiii!? What the hell is this thing!?"

"And… touch."

The trump card made contact with the Dungeon Core.