arc1 · 008-ch8

Episode 8: Boss Battle

In the end, it took about seven more hours to reach the tenth floor. On this tenth floor, a dungeon boss—a monster more powerful than the others—awaits. It's a cut above the monsters we've faced so far, so defeating it is no easy task, but the rewards are proportionally greater.

The magic stones sell for a high price, and although rare, the boss sometimes drops weapons, armor, and items. Nobody knows where they're actually stored, but those drop items are traded at premium prices.

Furthermore, in the back of this boss monster's room, there's a small chamber containing a transfer stone connected to the entrance. Once you register yourself to this transfer stone, next time you can instantly return here from the transfer stone near the entrance.

The main reason the members of Hyakka Ryouran entered this Mount Fuji dungeon was to register at the tenth floor's transfer stone.

"Alright, are you all ready? Let's get fired up!"

"I'm always good to go!"

"I'm ready too."

"I am also prepared."

At leader Toomi-san's call, the members responded with full determination. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. Seeing them like this, I couldn't help but think—explorers really are something.

Toomi-san opened the artificial-looking door that seemed out of place in a cave. Four adventurers and one drone cautiously stepped inside.

"There they are. Just like the intel said—two Goblin Knights and two Goblin Magicians."

Upon entering the boss room, the higher-ranked goblins were already in battle formation.

"Kureha, get a defensive spell ready."

"Understood."

Seeing the two Goblin Magicians on the enemy side, Toomi-san gave instructions to Akatsuki-san.

"Hanazono, can I count on you again?"

"Yeah, leave it to me!"

It seemed the plan was for Hanazono to draw their attention while Kurokage-san and Toomi-san took out the magicians.

"Here I go!"

With Akatsuki-san's magic chant complete, Hanazono charged toward the goblins.

"Screech! Screech!"

In response, the Goblin Magicians unleashed their spells. The two Goblin Magicians appeared to have water and earth magic respectively. A blade of water and a sharp stone closed in on Hanazono.

"Fire Wall!"

However, both were blocked by the wall of flames Akatsuki-san deployed, never reaching Hanazono. Nice—I managed to capture a great shot of Akatsuki-san thrusting her staff forward while chanting, right from the front.

That said, they were just goblins, magician or not. They had the wit to target the backline, but apparently it never occurred to them to stagger their attacks. Actually, the backline targeting might have been coincidence or pure instinct in the first place.

With their magic blocked, the two Goblin Knights leaped forward to shield the magicians, landing right in front of Hanazono.

CLANG!

The battle between the two Goblin Knights and Hanazono began. Meanwhile, Kurokage-san and Toomi-san moved wide to the left and right, circling around.

"Haa! Hah! Ei!"

The boss room rang with Hanazono's battle cries and the clash of metal. Akatsuki-san kept firing off weaker, faster-cast Fireballs at the Goblin Magicians in rapid succession, suppressing them and preventing them from casting follow-up magic.

Even the formidable Hanazono seemed to be having a hard time with two Goblin Knights, finding herself on the defensive. Though honestly, being able to hold her own defensively against two knights was incredible in itself.

"Got you."

Right then, Kurokage-san launched a surprise attack on one of the magicians. The distance was too far to hear her voice, but from the movement of her lips captured in the close-up shot, I could tell exactly what she'd said. I'll add a subtitle for this later.

True to her words, Kurokage-san struck from behind the Goblin Magician, piercing it through the back. One Goblin Magician toppled forward.

"Carelessness is a warrior's greatest enemy!"

Distracted by that, the other Goblin Magician was slow to react to Toomi-san's attack and took a spear thrust to the chest, falling backward.

The two immediately rushed to help Hanazono. The battle that had been two-on-one reversed to three-on-two. With this, it was as good as ours.

Kurokage-san and Toomi-san launched their attacks, and when the knights tried to respond, Hanazono's twin swords carved into the Goblin Knights as if unleashing all her pent-up frustration.

In no time at all, they defeated the two Goblin Knights, and once again Hyakka Ryouran claimed victory without taking a single hit.

"Great work!"

Hanazono's brightest smile, directed at the comrades she fought alongside. As I captured it on camera, I felt that frustrating sense of not being able to stand in that place myself.

"Drop item."

Back to her usual laid-back vibe after the battle, Kurokage-san pointed. Sure enough, some kind of item was lying on the ground.

I zoomed the drone camera in on the drop item.

(A Mana Potion?)

What appeared on the screen was a Mana Potion—instantly restoring magical power when consumed. It seemed to be a low-quality one with not much effect, but selling it would probably fetch around 300,000 yen.

However, this party has Akatsuki-san, a spellcaster. As I expected, they decided to keep it rather than sell. It rarely drops, and it could come in handy in an emergency.

After that, the four collected the goblins' magic stones and headed into the small chamber in the back.

In the center of the room, a crystal-like object glowing blue sat atop a black cylindrical pedestal. This must be the so-called transfer stone. It was my first time seeing one.

Since it was my first time seeing it, I was a little moved, but for the members of Hyakka Ryouran, this was apparently old hat.

They took turns holding out their palms and completing their registrations. After filming that, I thought I'd get a close-up of the crystal, so I moved the drone closer.

〈Registered to Floor 10 of the Mount Fuji Dungeon〉

A mechanical voice suddenly echoed through my mind. I had no idea why, but it seemed my drone had been registered too.