chapter4 · 082-ep82

Episode 82: Killing Every Type of...

"What the hell is going on!?"

Obviously, nobody was going to answer me.

The shaking was still going.

Right in front of me, what had been a wall was collapsing, and beyond it, paths that had never existed were forming.

"Come on, this is way too much!"

I looked around with Interference Eye+.

It only made things more incomprehensible.

The routes I'd learned over these two days connected to entirely different places in spots.

Space had opened up behind dead ends, while corridors I'd walked again and again were sealed off with rock.

"Base camp's okay, right?"

That was the one thing I couldn't afford to lose.

A week's worth of food and water was sitting there.

I hurriedly searched with Interference Eye+ — the area where I'd left my supplies was still intact.

"Thank god..."

"I'm sorry, the dungeon ate your food" is not a story anyone can laugh off.

While I stood there relieved, the shaking gradually weakened.

"Was that it?"

I could still hear small sounds, but the walls weren't grinding onward like before.

Once more I spread Interference Eye+ out, this time hunting for monsters.

"...Whoa."

They were here.

After finding not a single one no matter how I searched, now I could see several, plain as day.

"Isn't this a bit too sudden an increase?"

And they were dense, somehow.

I'd gotten used to reading the Magic of the monsters I'd fought so far, but the ones in view all looked stronger than before, across the board.

"Did wiping out every monster bump it to the next stage, or what?"

In a game, that'd be a completely standard mechanic.

Clear all the small fry, and the next area unlocks, that sort of thing.

No idea if this place actually ran on that logic, but this had happened the instant I downed the last one — there was no way it was unrelated.

"Well, if they're back, that helps me."

I had a thousand to kill.

Up until minutes ago I'd genuinely believed I'd run out of opponents, so more spawning was a blessing.

"...Oh."

Then it hit me.

"The Achievement."

The dungeon moving out of nowhere had made me completely forget.

If I'd downed the last one, what about the kill-every-type Achievement?

I checked right away.

【Achievement Unlocked】

【S: Defeat every type of monster appearing during a single dungeon clear】

"I got it!"

Yes.

So the monsters up until now really had been every type there was.

"One down."

The thousand was nowhere near done, though.

One S-rank in the bag, at least.

And a world first, on top of that.

"I'm allowed to expect a good reward here, right?"

It was an S.

Rank above everything I'd taken so far, clearly.

Surely it owed me something nice.

【World-First Reward will be granted】

"There it is."

【Universal Adaptation Acquired】

"Universal Adaptation?"

As a reward for killing every type, the name sure fit the theme.

No clue what it actually did, though.

I opened the description.

【Universal Adaptation】

【During combat, the more you observe a single target or attacks and movements of the same type, the more your body adapts to that target. As adaptation progresses, your reactions and movements against that target are gradually optimized】

"...Optimized?"

Sounded impressive, anyway.

Hard to grasp from reading alone, though.

My body adapts — what does that even mean in practice?

"Well, I'll know when I try it."

And targets had just respawned in bulk.

I searched for a nearby signature with Interference Eye+.

"This way."

I entered one of the freshly made passages.

It hadn't existed minutes ago, so of course I'd never walked it.

Even so, Interference Eye+ showed me the layout ahead, so it didn't feel like getting lost.

"And here I thought I'd learned this dungeon inside out these past two days."

I basically had to memorize it all over again.

Well, mapping it out in my head didn't take as long as it used to, at least.

A little way in, something came walking from the other direction.

"An armored Greyfish?"

Probably.

Gray body, sword in hand — same as ever.

Just a size bigger than any I'd seen before.

The sword looked a bit thicker too, and it even had something like armor on its shoulders.

"Like an enhanced version?"

No idea what they were officially called, but it clearly wasn't the exact same monster as before.

The Magic it showed through Interference Eye+ was dense too.

"Perfect test dummy for Universal Adaptation."

I tilted toward Agility a little with Enchant Swap and watched its movements.

It swung its sword.

"Fast—!"

I ducked the flying slash sideways in a hurry.

Made it — barely.

"Faster than the last batch."

No doubt about it, they'd gotten stronger.

The armored Greyfish raised its sword again.

The same kind of slash.

This time, having seen it once, I could move a beat earlier.

"Well, yeah. I'd seen it once."

Whether that was Universal Adaptation or just me remembering the move, I couldn't tell.

I watched a little longer.

Third swing.

The sword came around.

"Hm?"

I did try to dodge.

But before I could throw myself sideways, my body had already slipped a touch diagonally forward.

The slash ripped past beside me.

"...What was that?"

Dodged.

No — more than just dodged.

I was closer to the armored Greyfish than before.

The old me would have fled much farther sideways.

"Meaning this way was better?"

If I could close distance while dodging, then sure, that was better.

But I hadn't moved that way on purpose.

As I watched, the armored Greyfish swung its sword directly at me this time.

"Whoa—"

Nothing like the slashes from before.

The blade came closer than I expected, and I yanked myself back in a panic.

"So it doesn't auto-dodge everything for me."

Well, fair.

If it did, that'd be straight-up broken.

The armored Greyfish came in again.

Sword again.

This swing resembled the last one.

"Oh."

Just as I moved to pull back, my feet took half a step back ahead of me.

Exactly out of the blade's reach, without my upper body having to bail at all.

And slipping forward again afterward felt effortless.

"So that's it!"

Probably.

The more I watched the same attack, the more my body started adjusting before my brain even worked out how to dodge.

"It isn't just dodging."

It cut the wasted movement.

It even left me positioned to attack right after.

"This is crazy good."

Wasn't this a straight-up jackpot?

Enemy Observation read the target's habits while my body got used to whatever it saw.

"Aren't these two a little too good together?"

Part of me wanted to keep testing.

But I couldn't spend all day playing with one monster.

I shifted toward Strength with Enchant Swap.

This time, the moment the armored Greyfish began its swing, my body slid out of the blade's path even more naturally than before.

And I slipped straight into its guard.

"This is so easy!"

I drove a fist into its gut.

On the old ones, that would have hurt it badly.

This one just rocked back a step and kept standing like nothing happened.

"Tough, as expected."

It brought its sword back around.

I'd seen this movement once already too.

Before I knew it, my body had dipped just low enough for the sword to pass overhead.

"Ohh."

It didn't feel like ducking on purpose.

More like: I moved to dodge, and my body settled into whatever spot was easiest, on its own.

"Isn't this gonna be kind of insane once I'm used to it?"

I landed another punch.

Only then did the armored Greyfish finally dissolve into light.

"Huh. Got it."

The enemies themselves were stronger now, so each kill took longer than before.

But the longer a fight ran, the easier my own movement got.

"Yeah, that's an S-rank reward alright."

I wanted to test it on the next target too.

I looked around with Interference Eye+.

"Two nearby."

Signatures deeper in as well.

Given that there'd been nothing at all minutes ago, they really had multiplied.

"If this keeps the thousand moving, I'll take it."

The next one I found was close to the small bow-wielder from before.

Bigger than the old ones too.

Its arrows came faster.

I dodged the first shot wide.

Dodged the second.

By the third, my body was moving less than I'd intended.

"Yeah, it's definitely working."

A slight shoulder shift and the arrow passed by, my feet still carrying me forward.

Before, every dodge used to cost me a beat of momentum.

"I'm dodging while advancing?"

Weird feeling, watching myself do it.

"This is fun."

Just as I moved to close the distance, another arrow came flying.

This time I stopped it with Stagnation.

"Stockpile."

The spent arrow dropped to the floor.

I checked what had flowed into my body.

【Current stockpile: 16%】

"Better keep this topped up too."

With the dungeon this crowded, there'd be no shortage of chances to catch attacks.

Might as well carry a decent reserve for Dispersion.

I put down the archer and headed for the next signature.

The renovated dungeon was, sure enough, full of monsters resembling the ones I'd already fought.

It wasn't an endless parade of brand-new species.

They were just a size bigger, better armed, hitting harder with the same moves.

"Really does feel like a second phase."

No idea whether that was the official term.

As I fought on, the feel of Universal Adaptation slowly came into focus.

It wasn't some autopilot that handled everything without my input just because I'd seen the attack.

When I moved to dodge.

When I moved to attack.

Within those actions, my body trimmed out the excess.

"Isn't my body getting better at this than I am?"

I have complicated feelings about that.

Eh. If it makes things easier, fine.

Meanwhile, the attacks that were hard to dodge went into Stockpile.

Roars.

Slashes.

Incoming arrows.

Maybe because each hit from these new monsters packed more force, the stockpile filled a little faster too.

After a few kills, I checked — already past half.

【Current stockpile: 57%】

"That was quick."

Still had plenty of room.

Nothing was forcing me to use Dispersion yet, so I held onto it.

I looked for the next one with Interference Eye+.

"...They're close."

Three just ahead.

Signatures beyond them too.

"Well, they just spawned in bulk. Figures."

If anything, searching used to be the slow part. This was a mercy.

I went at the three and fought.

By the time all three were down, my stockpile had grown a fair amount.

【Current stockpile: 79%】

"That's a lot."

About time to spend a little, maybe.

But I was still practicing with Dispersion; building a bit more first couldn't hurt.

"I'll experiment just short of full."

I looked for the next monster.

"...Huh?"

More signatures than before.

Two close by.

Three a little farther off.

A few more deeper in.

"Are the numbers climbing?"

I knew there'd been a lot ever since the dungeon changed.

But they felt noticeably closer than a minute ago.

"Maybe this stretch is just a crowded spot?"

If so, jackpot, as far as the thousand went.

I engaged the two nearby and stockpiled one of their attacks.

【Current stockpile: 86%】

"Almost."

Next, three.

I fought those down too, catching only the hardest-to-dodge attacks with Stagnation.

【Current stockpile: 92%】

"Time to spend some."

Filling it to max wouldn't earn me anything now.

No point forcing it all the way up.

I'd shave it down with Dispersion, then move on.

That was the plan as I checked my surroundings.

"...Hm?"

More again.

"Wait, were there this many just now?"

The passage ahead.

The tunnel branching in from the side.

Signatures behind me too.

If they'd just clustered nearby, fine.

But ones that had been far away had closed the gap.

"Something's off, isn't it?"

Uneasy, I switched Interference Eye+ over to its wider view.

It let me take in the passages around me from slightly above, all at once.

"........"

At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks.

They weren't.

The monster off to the right had picked the fork that led toward me.

So had the one deeper in.

Even the signature in the lower passage was creeping my way.

"Hold on."

I hadn't wandered into a monster-dense area.

They were moving.

And not just one or two of them.

"This..."

I widened the range further.

Even distant signatures had, at some point, turned toward where I stood.

"Are they all coming this way?"

Not just from ahead.

Another passage was feeding them toward me too.

Signatures that should have been nowhere near me were converging on my position.

"...Yeah, this is bad."

This one, realistically, might be game over.