NOVEL NEXT Chapter 374
Day 88 – Daytime, Dungeon, 90F
The Geeks and Idiots had fled, so we descended to the 90th floor in our usual group of four. As their animal instincts and bullied-kid intuition predicted, the floor boss was definitely bad news, though not due to status effects this time, but physical traps.
The clay doll, 『Adhesive Golem Lv 90』, seemed like a variant of the already weak mud golem, but as its name suggested, it was a golem made of glue. Touching it might get you glued or leave without a weapon. Glue splattered all over the floor made fancy footwork nearly unusable. And if you can't move, you will become prey to its 『Monstrou Strength』.
「Ahh, yeah, the Geeks and Idiots were right to run from this. Seriously, what is that weirdly accurate intuition of theirs? I don't get how they can have such freakish situational awareness in combat, but be completely clueless when it comes to reading the room in daily life. The lower floors, with all these tricky or special-type bosses, can be a bit of a gamble if you go at them head-on? I'd really rather have the girls stop at Floor 80 too, maybe even Floor 74, I guess?」
The goopy lump of mud gave off a low, vibrating growl as it scattered poisonous globs of glue-soaked soil while fleeing. Looks like the earthen giant appealed to Slime-san's tastes, it looks very keen on devouring it.
Apparently, floor bosses at the 90th level are self-aware enough to read the room, the Adhesive Golem is doing its best to escape from the terrifying ooze creature clearly eager to consume it. Getting touched meant getting stuck, and it also has 『Magic Immunity』to protect it from ranged attacks, and being a mud golem, it is naturally resistant to physical attacks too, but it seems it never expected it might get devoured.
Leaping over the glue-slick ground, I kick off the air to jump and dash through the battlefield. Twisting midair to dodge flying mud, I use Air Walk to step across the air, using dance footwork midair, slipping through the golem's wild swings, then slamming Gravity magic from above during a gap in its barrage.
While I distracted it from above, Armored Pres-san launched slashes to carve chunks out of its muddy body, and Dancing Girl-san used magic to meddle with the ground and sink the golem's feet to stall it. These two love frontline combat, but one's a Demon God, master of magic, and the other is a shrine maiden and great sage with the title of Heretic Saint. Normally they wouldn't bother with ranged combat, but I guess they didn't want their favorite weapons getting all gunked up with glue.
Its legs were hacked apart, the ground collapsed beneath it, and with heavy gravity pressing down from above, the giant's movements were halted and it was gradually whittled down, until Slime-san grabbed it and started eating. I wonder if Slime-san says 「sticky-sticky~」after it absorbs the glue? It kind of seems like it might stick!
「I wouldn't say that I'm that tired, but that morning soul-crushingly exhausting awakening definitely left some after effects. Why is it that even when my top skills like 『Insatiable Libido』and 『High Sexual Vigor』 reach their limits and beyond, I still get defeated the first thing in the morning? And why are you so smug about it now?! Not even a shred of remorse! Those victorious grins and even some sort of a pose with both hands on your hips give-off some insane smug energy!」
(Jiggle-Jiggle)
After getting by Slime-san, who finished its meal, we head to the 91st floor. The crushing, indescribable sense of defeat! Looks like tonight, the curtain would rise on an inevitable battle I cannot afford to lose. The loss this morning was because I got distracted, mesmerized by those cheerleader uniforms and left myself wide open. Although I was the one who made those outfits and dressed them! And yet, I have no regrets! (smug)
「Well then, let's meet up at the maze's exit. Let's blitz through it in one go?」
(Nod-nod, nod nod, jiggle-jiggle)
Currently, I've adjusted everything to work for the present condition. If I unleashed everything, I won't be able to control it, and self-destruction will begin, but as long as I didn't lose focus on suppressing, I could now fight without suffering self-inflicted damage.
That's why I decided to pull out『Magician's Bracelet – InT MiN 30% UP, Magic Attack/Defense Boost (Greater), Sorcery Control (Greater), Magic Shroud』and 『Serpent Tamer's Necklace – INT +40% Up, Snake Replication (x3, generated from own body via MP), Venom Creation, Scale Hardening, +DEF, 7 Slots』, and『Aberrant Necklace – Mutation, Aberration, Mucus (All Resistances, All Status Ailment Infliction), +DEF』, and sealed and since forgotten 『Demon Beast Bracelet – Increase All Abilities』and 『Reflective Shield – Reflection』, and 『Flickering Cloak – Flicker』to experiment.
Consciously layering them one by one into the Magic Wrap, I carefully synchronize them. Equipping all these at once, made a tangible difference in power that I could feel when activating Magic Wrap… My InT and control stats had risen, but the subtle effect of the Beast Bracelet's ability boost was also working, the control was unstable.
But unstable means it's still within controllable bounds. I shifted my attention away from the Magic Wrap, to the monsters.
Clicking ominously, massive pincer-like fangs snapping the sides of its jaws or perhaps more technically its gnathal appendages or even mandibles they stared at me with their compound eyes. Don't stare at me like that, okay? Then again, it's got compound eyes, so even when it's not looking at me, it is looking at me. It's like some kind of 『Pervert Gaze Mode』 where you're getting full-on eye contact even when it's facing away.
This nasty reddish-black creepy looking thing is called 『Knight Ant Lv 91』. Not night as in nighttime, but knight as in armored warrior. Standing upright on two legs, this human-sized ant would be enough to mentally destroy anyone without a high enough gross tolerance. Its chitinous armor had an uncanny sheen, like somewhere between exoskeleton and full plate, and its four long arms held a sword and shield. But the face was still an ant's, giving off the impression of an armored knight, but since the head was an ant it looked super creepy!
They say ants stop moving when cooled down, but since this was an experiment, I'd endure it. I also heard they hate alcohol and rubber, but I haven't found any rubber yet, and as a sixteen-year-old Highschool Boy I had no alcohol either. I wouldn't waste my precious cooking wine on something like an ant! Although it doesn't seem like this world had any restrictions on a drinking age?
It was a pretty fast ant, but in a world of delayed time and slow-motion perception, it was practically frozen. Which only made it look extra grotesque. Close combat? No thanks. I extended my World Tree Staff to turn it into a three-meter pole and began testing things out from mid-range.
Circling around to the flank of the three ants, I drive forward in a sudden step, lifting my weight as I rise, half-rotating my body and swinging the staff with the turn, carrying the centrifugal force as I drive it upward into the ant's armpits. The two swords catch the blow. Twisting my body back around, I sink low, reverse the spin, and sweep at their knees. As its shield drops, I step in head-on, slashing upward from below to cut away both sword-bearing arms, then take another spin and chop off the now unprotected head with the staff.
Accelerating, I lunge toward the second one, carrying the staff's spin from a waltz-like turn into a whirling spin, sweeping with centrifugal force. It meets the block, then twisting back, I reverse the rotation, drawing it in to slash through. Shifting left and right in turning dance-steps, circling as if in rondo, I force all four of its arms open wide, then abruptly shift the spin into a vertical arc and cut it down.
With the third, I simply closed straight into range and cut. Holding the staff at center, I spun it to add centrifugal force, slid my grip out toward the end as I stepped, and just split it down the middle. Exhaling, I moved my body, no self-damage. Even the sequence leading to『Kyojitsu』had no issues. 『Magician's Bracelet – InT MiN 30% UP, Magic Attack/Defense Boost (Greater), Sorcery Control (Greater), Magic Shroud』 The +30 % InT & MiN from the Magician's Bracelet, plus its Magic Shroud effect, must be stabilizing Magic Wrap. Despite adding so many pieces at once, I could still control it. And perhaps the boost from +40 % InT from Serpent Tamer's Necklace, together with the all-stat boost from the Beast Armlet, worked better than I expected for my stats too.
That leaves 『Orb of Life – Transmutation, Body Refinement through Alchemy and Arts of Lovemaking, Requirement: Alchemist, Great Sage』. I've got the Great Sage part, but 『Body Refinement』sounds sketchy. Sure, Arts of Lovemaking is suspect enough, but this『Refinement』 feels like some sort of a human transmutation thing, possibly turning one into an alchemic cyborg homunculus or some immortal hermit. I can already fight fine as is, so that one stays sealed.
As for the 『Aberrant Necklace – Mutation, Aberration, Mucus (All Resistances, All Status Ailment Infliction), +DEF』, it probably won't matter much in battle, but it feels like it would pair nicely with Magic Hands. And tonight I've got revenge waiting for me over this morning's defeat. Well, let's practice!
「Sorry to keep you waiting, huh? There were only seventeen ants on my side but I'm last again? Aah, I got it, they were too gross, so you wiped them out instantly. Alright, let's head down.」
「You, added more, equipment… didn't you?」
Looks like they noticed. She didn't notice the equipment that I splotted into the stuff that I was already wearing, but the necklace might've given me away. Still, I'm in control, so no issue, and the Aberrant Necklace only becomes any kind of issue after dark.
「Felt like I had a little leeway, so I gave the new setup a try, and turns out it's pretty usable? Like, I just added some INT and control-based gear, maybe?」
「The limits of your body You are violating them The equipment… will break your body again! 」
「Thanks. Don't worry, I'll adjust as needed, so it should be fine? I mean, I've got Max-level 『Regeneration』 now, with both 『Healing』 and 『Recovery』 added in, so I should be able to manage. And besides, it didn't even cause any self-inflicted damage? Yeah, I'm fine. Probably?」
They were clearly worried about me. Well, Dancing Girl-san has already seen me tearing myself into shreds before? So I reached out and gently patted both their heads. Armored Pres-san really enjoys being petted, but Dancing Girl-san seems pretty happy too?
And now the 92nd floor. With 『Kyojitsu』 in maximum focus and precision control, I carve through the『Bind Plants Lv 92』 If I didn't finish them perfectly, without any sign of self-destruction, those two would keep worrying. So, from start to finish, I moved in full slow motion in continuous 『Kyojitsu』 chaining and cutting, simply, minimally, without waste. That simplicity is exactly what makes it hard. My body screeched in protest, but I kept control, kept my balance. The moment I stepped in, I had already finished the cut. As one slash ended, I stepped directly into the next, seamlessly cutting down the next Bind Plant in the same breath.
While controlling not only my own body but also every active skill, spell, and equipment trait, I track all enemy movements caught by 『Rajingan』, adjusting and regulating both high-speed movement and instantaneous leaps through 『Teleportation』, all governed by the rapid parallel processing of 『Wisdom』. Sustaining that processing speed while maintaining slow-motion state, and keeping the full power of 『Magic Wrap』under perfect control, and continuously using 『Kyojitsu』threatened to leave me unconsciousness a number of times. But unless I can show that I can handle at least this much with ease, I won't be able to calm them down.
I cleared all 100+ of the 「Bind Plant Lv 92」. Since they didn't say a word afterward, it seems they deemed my performance acceptable. They probably still had concerns, though, so I'll treat them to snacks and some head pats later.
Next is the 93rd floor. If it's this deep already, it may be time to seriously reassess the entire dungeon's progression. If a dungeon that was considered shallow suddenly grew to intermediate deepness then even seasoned adventurers might end up in danger. And dungeons under 50 floors are usually considered no overflow risk, so they're usually left for later, remaining unchecked. Let's drop a word about this to Meripapa-san…'s attendant on the way back.