nSecond Dungeon Battle

nOnset of War

n

nOh, Kehma. Good with your preparations? “Yeah, I’m good any time.”

nKuhahahaha! I like your spirit, human! Come to where this one is fast okay? You don’t have any time to waste! “T-there’s no point in shouting you know!?”

nIt was the day of the dungeon battle. I was standing next to Rokuko in the master room.

nMeat and Ichika were also together on standby… Eh? What about their inn duties? Yep, I’ll know it if a guest comes into the region surrounding the inn and dungeon, so it’s fine if I just forward them to the dining room before they arrive at reception.

nThere’s also my trump card of having the golems serve them.

nWith the fight being the splendid length of a single day, there’s no beating this perfect situation. I was thinking about that while en route to sleep with my indispensable favorite pillow… Most of all, it seems that mutual dungeon core battles can potentially last for a few days. A day is a comparatively short-term decisive battle…

nThis is the last confirmation. The battle is one day, there will be no offensive movements from us for twenty-four hours, just defense. If I win, we get fifty gold coins, five silver coins, and the crystal figurine. If Kehma wins, you get enough of Flame Cavern’s domain to pass the cave through. “Oi oi, you’re missing the victory condition. When I exceed the fifth floor… I win if we reach the sixth floor or beyond, in addition…”

nForgot about that. If you manage to touch the dungeon core on the bottom floor, we’ll give you half of Tsuia Mountain. So, sound good? “Yeah. Don’t forget that okay? By the way, how far down is your last floor?”

nHahaha! Foolish, you think I’d tell you something like that? But don’t worry, it’s not three digits.

nConcluding the confirmation of our victory conditions, I asked Rokuko and them if they were ready with their preparations.

n“Goshujin-sama, the golem corps, are ready, whenever.”

n“Ya made ’em to be ready whenever… uuuuum, we’re also good.”

nThe golems were left to Meat and Ichika respectively. Our main war potential this time is the golems. I got a hold of a lot of materials to use after all… still as expected though, strength in numbers. Even if I summoned the rats they’d just die in vain this time.

n“So then is it fine to start now?”

nYeah, go for it—

n… It wasn’t really disorganized, but that signaled the dungeon battle’s start.

nIt’s good enough, though I’m the one saying it.

nAt any rate, our dungeon’s spaces connected to each other.

nTsuia Mountain’s crater that served as the Flame Cavern’s entrance and our Cave of Desires’ fourth underground floor room that no adventurers ever came to connected.

nSince we connected at a spot that wasn’t the entrance, we could do the dungeon battle without having to close the dungeon… Conversely, we would immediately lose if they could attack us. That’s the starting position precisely because we’re able to one-sidedly attack.

n… Incidentally, that crystal golem was put away and locked up in a treasure storage, so we can’t use it.

nAnd so, we were about to invade with the method I’ve prepared for some time now.

n“So Ichika. Open the door.”

n“Roger that~”

n

n*

n

nIt’s been one week since the agreement. Today is the long awaited dungeon battle.

n(How did I do it before…?)

nOntentoo was trying to recall, but stopped. That wasn’t something to think about now.

nAttacking is my specialty…

nHe muttered.

nThis time was a defensive battle. His first dungeon battle in this format. The human would attack their defenses, but this was the first time he’d heard something like that being done for a dungeon battle.

n“That guy came up with something interesting.”

n“112! Is it this one’s turn!?”

nThough it was obviously unreasonable for them to reach the bottom floor, they might unexpectedly easily be able to get to the fifth floor.

n“Aaalright, let’s see your fighting spirit, Redra!!”

n“Yeah! This one increased the number of red lizards to ten times the usual for today! The passages are overflowing with red lizards!”

nOverflowing huh, the red lizards aren’t just overflowing in the rooms, but in the passageways as well. All the same, there’s probably a bit too many. However, Redra is my wife and it’s fine to let her have fun.

n“… Well it’s probably just the right amount if we’re bashing our monsters against each other…”

nSo then is it fine to start now? “Yeah, go for it—”

nWith the spaces connected together, it felt like the signal to start with Kehma just now felt a little flat.

n… If I remember correctly, it’s usually something more. Like starting it with vigor and giving it a roar… I think.

n“Mugugu, this one’s fighting spirit was dampened…”

n“This one’s interesting. It’s a praiseworthy achievement if his goal was to weaken Redra’s spirit.”

nHowever, there was no sign that anything entered.

nThe time limit is one day, there’s no way he could take his time for twenty-four hours. Is that alright?

nBut, I withdrew that idea at once.

nA large volume of water flowed in from the other side of the open passage.

n“… Huh!?”

nWater flooded into the passage like a tsunami. The water hit the Flame Cavern’s hot walls and floors, steaming… The water washed away the red lizards as well.

n“… Huuuuuuh!?”

nIt was an unbelievably extreme sight.

nThis is a volcano. The entrance is normally the top of a mountain. At best the only water that would get it was a bit of rain.

nHowever, enough water poured in to fill the passage… Our vanguard, the red lizards, were washed away in a group by the water’s momentum.

nThe water flowed through the dungeon, reaching the stairs to the second floor with surprising swiftness.

nThe red lizards were drowning, knocking into walls, and pummeled by other red lizards. The green dots signifying allies were decreasing in number fast.

n“W-what just happened!? What in the world is this!?”

n“Ha, hahaha… the heck…?”

nAnd yet, this tsunami shows reactions from the enemy. When Ontentoo looked at the monitor to see how many, well, it showed that the whole surface of the map was painted in red.

nIn other words, this water making its way through was bad. It passed through the second floor already and reached the third floor. The time that had passed so far hadn’t even been thirty minutes.

n(… To break through the second floor this fast… wouldn’t he even be able to make it to the fiftieth floor within the twenty-four hours? Kukuku, there’s no way!)

nIn truth, at the rate of breaking through two floors every thirty minutes, they’d get to the ninety-sixth floor. Almost double the number.

n“However, that doesn’t mean he can keep going like that.”

nOntentoo’s actions were precise. He opened a tunnel that lead outside the dungeon so that this water (enemy) wouldn’t pass the fourth floor.

nHe couldn’t remodel a floor with an enemy on it. He’d already given up on the third floor.

nThe water promptly reached the fourth floor, but this time it flowed towards the outside of the dungeon. A large amount of red lizards also flowed out.

n“… Kukuku, what’ll you do now Kehma? Oi, Redra!”

n“Eh, ah, huh!? The heck was that for!?”

n“Kukakaka! Just letting you know they broke through the third floor! Go to the boss room, they’ll be there soon, show them your spirit!”

n“Eeeeh!? Isn’t that too fast!?”

n“Send them back if they’re almost dead, don’t kill them on accident yeah? Just show them you Exist!”

n“Y-yeah!!”

nRedra teleported into the boss room on the fifth floor while flustered.

n

n*

n

n“What’s this, so vulgar…”

n“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s water. You know, the foundation?”

n“Foundation!?”

nThat is, the summit only had a single entrance and exit at the top, so it should be appropriate to pour water into it.

nMoreover, it would rather be a discourtesy if we didn’t pour water into a fire-type dungeon. I already came to this decision when we heard the information about it from Haku-san.

nAnd so, on dungeon’s first floor… I set up a perfectly secret room with a Water Source installed at its ceiling. Then when the battle began, I opened the door and poured it all out.

nIt wasn’t just normal water either of course. I mixed in water fleas. Terribly reasonable price of a set of one thousand of them for 1 DP. Since this world doesn’t have microscopes either, they probably can’t even see them mixed in the water. They’re extremely small so it’s hard to use them that easily. They can’t move freely and I can’t even use them as eyes. However, they showed up as allies. Mapping complete.

nThough I made some ball-shaped water golems and threw them in just in case, they were just destroyed on impact when the water knocked them against T-junction walls… Water golems are weak if they aren’t wrapped in something.

nHowever, Ontentoo reacted quickly. He opened a tunnel to drain it out of the dungeon.

nHowever, I expected that.

n“Now then, I didn’t use it last time, but the second wave this time is invasion by the golem corps. Rokuko, Meat, Ichika. Plan B is a go. Are preparations finished?”

n“Sure thing! … But ‘Plan B’? Seriously?”

n“Yes, ready anytime.”

n“Meat-senpai is frank as always… but let’s give ‘er a go.”

nHearing the three answer, I nodded.

n“Alright! Golem Army Corps, forward!!”

n