000-020 · 020-ch16-5

Chapter 16.5: The Untold Fierce Battle

It's a normal story, but due to the order it was written, it's numbered Chapter 16.5.

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A few days after seeing the two of them up to the upper layer. I descended again to the deepest part of the deep world, but this time I couldn't slip out of the dungeon as before.

The reason was simple.

The Gatekeeper—the sole boss monster standing in the way at the deepest part of the deep world—had regenerated and was blocking the path.

"Robo, standby."

『Bow』

"Hah, wanna give it a shot?"

『Gah, gawoooooo』

I was switching from my everyday equipment to something more suitable for combat and walking toward the boss monster standing in the center of the boss room when Robo, who I'd kept waiting behind me, expressed his desire to join the fight.

"You think you can handle it yet, honestly?"

The Gatekeeper is a boss monster for whom an entire layer is one giant boss area. Naturally, it's stronger than the boss monsters that have appeared in the layers up to this point. Well, there do exist boss monsters that surpass it in individual points—like defense, or perhaps offense—but first of all, the scale is different.

"Well, alright. I'll join in if things get dangerous."

『Bow, Vwooooooooon!!』

When I gave permission since Robo wanted to fight, he let out a great roar and charged at the boss monster. I don't think he can make a dent in it yet, but Robo is a speed type, so he probably won't take many hits.

Meanwhile, the Gatekeeper also raised its body, which had been sinking into the ground, in response to Robo's roar.

Its armor made of metal and hard bone or carapace, and its sturdy skeleton—just the act of standing up caused a deafening explosion of sound across the area. The sound of armor grinding against armor, the sound of feet striking the ground, the sound of magic power flowing through special magic crystal fibers that serve the function of muscles and driving it.

The eight massive legs—four on each side, left and right—stamped down on the ground, and the two pairs of arms that grew directly from the torso were lifted up.

And then, its fifty-meter-long massive body moved to intercept Robo.

Perhaps due to the versatility of human hands, the Gatekeeper's hands were shaped like human hands with five fingers and palms, despite having a torso oriented horizontally to the ground like a crab or shrimp or scorpion with multiple legs.

Those arms sometimes struck the ground with an open palm, and sometimes swung through with a clenched fist. Seeing the massive body from a distance of five hundred meters made its movements appear sluggish, but in reality, once it closed the distance right in front of you, its speed was tremendous.

But Robo had the advantage in speed. Especially when it came to continuous jumping and bouncing movement rather than short-term straight-line dashing. Robo excelled at this movement, and just by doing so he could evade the arms that were dozens of meters long, sometimes using them as stepping stones to close in on the Gatekeeper's main body. Even to my eyes watching from a distance, Robo sometimes looked blurred, so his speed was truly terrifying.

Then the Gatekeeper changed its interception posture. It pulled back the heavily armored arms it had been swinging around and held them high. Instead, magic crystals scattered across its head, torso, and elsewhere—ranging in size from fifty centimeters to about a meter—began to glow with magic power.

And each of them began unleashing countless attacks aimed at Robo.

One crystal—no, one artillery piece unleashed electricity overflowing from its tip. Another artillery piece fired a magic power beam from its central section. And many other artillery pieces deployed various magic arrays in front of them, all of which converged on the single target that was Robo. The accuracy of the unleashed magic wasn't particularly high, so the one hundred-plus artillery pieces mounted on that fifty-meter massive body were performing a certain kind of area suppression.

In response, Robo, who still couldn't use magic, planted his feet firmly for an instant and let out a roar.

『Baaaaaruruguruaaaa!!』

The countless unleashed magic attacks were scattered by a magic power wave emitted through a special method, disappearing before they could hit. Cutting through the remnants of the scattered and extinguished magic, Robo closed in on the Gatekeeper.

A single strike against the Gatekeeper's armor with his forelegs, striking from above.

But protected by its thick exoskeleton, the Gatekeeper took virtually no damage. The armor didn't even warp. It's the type of boss monster that can't be given effective damage without a certain level of attack power, so Robo, who can't freely wield magic power, is still lacking in power.

Then, having judged that attacks to the back wouldn't work, Robo vigorously dove underneath its belly.

In response, the Gatekeeper bent all its legs for an instant to build up power, then leaped using its massive body of god knows how many dozens of tons, spreading its legs wide outward. A body press using its full fifty-meter length.

"Ugh..."

Honestly, the noise when something weighing dozens or hundreds of tons falls is loud enough to be annoying even at this distance. Robo was the same—he somehow escaped the body press, but the subsequent vibration and noise stopped his movement.

Then came another attack from the artillery pieces—this time not individual artillery piece attacks, but a massive magic spell being constructed by multiple artillery pieces building a giant magic array. Since it was aimed at his whole body and Robo was currently on the Gatekeeper's right side, about half of the artillery pieces on that side constructed ten giant magics.

"'Release' 'Cross Holy Sword Shield'"

Just as the unleashed magic was about to swallow Robo, a barrier composed of countless crosses covered him, defending him completely against the magic attack. Apparently, Robo still can't defeat the Gatekeeper alone. Well, this thing isn't just effective against multiple targets or groups—it's anti-army firepower, so Robo actually fought rather well.

Confirming this, I rushed to Robo's vicinity in a matter of seconds using my magic-power-enhanced physical abilities.

"Robo, I'm taking over."

『Gururururu...』

"It's still too early for you. Eat more and grow."

Even so, he's grown compared to when I first met her. In the past, he couldn't scatter magic with his roar, and his legs were slower too. And now, he's at a level where he can fight the Gatekeeper, the boss monster of the deep world's deepest part.

"Watch this, Robo. Alright then, Gatekeeper—I'm going to get a little serious now. Humor me, will you?"

As Robo pulled back, I turned toward the Gatekeeper and declared as much. Since the Gatekeeper has a slow natural respawn rate, I hadn't fought it in a while. As the strongest boss monster in the dungeon right now—in other words, it's an appropriately challenging opponent for training or warming up.

"'First Shackle [Release]' 'Second Shackle [Release]' 'Third Shackle [Release]'"

As I chanted the keywords I'd set in advance and made the image clear, I removed the shackles I normally placed on myself. They were shackles—disguises that concealed my magic power and presence. By removing them, the suppressed magic power and presence began spilling outward.

The Gatekeeper's reaction to this was notable. It was different from when it had been dealing with Robo. Magic power coursed vigorously through the magic circuits throughout its entire body, letting out high-pitched operating sounds repeatedly. Not only that, circuits carrying magic power were reflected on the surface of its body's armor, glowing brightly in blue.

Furthermore, the two pairs of arms that had been raised lowered to its back, and from there they grasped and readied massive weapons. The first pair of arms held a sword and shield. Both arms of the second pair held axes. Massive weapons with blades alone reaching dozens of meters in length.

The additional hidden pair of arms normally stored on its back, as well as countless mechanical tentacles, also began to move. The hidden arms don't grow from the torso like the two pairs of arms—they float physically, connected to somewhere around the back by magic power.

"Not bad."

Yeah. The Gatekeeper as a boss is all about overwhelming attack volume. It's not interesting when it's half-assing it because the opponent's threat level is low.

I slung the 'Cross Holy Sword Shield' I'd used earlier to create a barrier around Robo onto my back, and instead of my usual sword, I drew the single most powerful weapon in my possession from its scabbard—a nodachi with a blade length of 130 centimeters. Its blade wasn't dyed the color of the metal or the material—it was dyed the brilliant red color of magic power.

"Let's go──"

He was clearly in a defensive posture. Unlike when he was dealing with Robo and just attacking to exterminate, he was deploying magic arrays with his artillery pieces while gauging my situation. I'd make the first move.

Just as I was about to step in, the impatient opponent moved first.

The sword he held in his arm was swung down from above with great force. And simultaneously, countless magics of power and number incomparable to before were unleashed, sweeping in as if to engulf that arm as well.

A storm. A veritable magical storm.

In response, I──

"I'll meet it head-on──!"

Against the massive sword of the Gatekeeper swinging down from above, I applied full force of the enhancement from the released magic power, and swung the nodachi as if striking from the side.

GAAAAANG

With a tremendous sound, the sword was deflected and pierced into the ground several meters away from me.

Then came the continuing magical storm. Against that, I deployed a barrier like I did for Robo earlier──

I didn't do anything so crude.

I prefer fights where I move my body rather than pure magical duels. Deflecting everything with defensive magic is possible, but it's boring. It's only when I cut through everything that──

"Zeeeeeeeaaaaaaah!!"

Countless magical attacks flying in. As I cut through all of them simultaneously, I poured even more magic power into the nodachi's blade. Magic, too—even though there are various things like spell formulas, ultimately it's composed of magic power. If you cut through it with another mass of magic power, it loses its effectiveness. Well, things like boulders or ice spears released by magic don't disappear immediately even if the magic vanishes.

"I'm coming at yoooou!"

Yeah, I'm getting a little high-spirited since I'm putting some real effort into this for the first time in a while.

I evaded the ceaseless magical barrage by weaving through it, and by parrying the two axes the Gatekeeper was swinging at just the right moments, I prevented any damage from reaching me. Since I'm raising my magic power at the moment of direct impact, the consumption is a bit intense, but it's still not a problem.

Then I deflected the sword that was swung down again, stabbing it into the ground, and this time I dashed up over it toward the arm, closing the distance to the Gatekeeper.

"Your barrage's weak! What're you doing!!"

The magical barrage and the attacks from the many tentacles growing from the Gatekeeper's back—I evaded and cut through all of them, closing right up to the Gatekeeper's eyes.

"Yo, ha!"

The sword I swung down—but that's all. It destroyed just one of the artillery pieces on its face, then retreated.

I finally get to fight properly for the first time in a while. It's a waste to break it all at once.

"Come on, get more serious. Rampage."

Honestly, defeating this boss monster, the Gatekeeper, isn't all that difficult. Even though it's a massive creature, it also has multiple engines—its magic power core, which is its heart—in several places, and if you destroy all of them, you win.

But that's not fun. It's because it's moderately difficult that it gets me fired up.

They call that a self-imposed challenge play.

Several hours later. Before my eyes was the Gatekeeper—its artillery pieces all destroyed, its arms and legs torn off, its tentacles shredded away—with only its torso remaining.

"Oosh, done."

Finally, I stored the nodachi I'd been using in my magical storage device, and instead took out another weapon—a single spear produced from monster materials. Its shaft came from bone, its blade from fangs and claws. With every other part made from the materials of a certain monster, it had incredibly excellent magic power conductivity, resistance, and storage capacity.

I poured magic power into it with full force. And just as the spear I'd poured to the limit shone blindingly with magic power, I released it and threw it.

The spear and the massive amount of magic power gushing from it all at once destroyed the Gatekeeper's torso—its multiple cores, armor, circuits, and everything else together.

Honestly, I could have won from the beginning by piercing through its defense if I did it this way. But I won, so I deliberately didn't.

Besides, this monster I named the Gatekeeper is overwhelmingly powerful in terms of total strength, but that's ultimately due to the combined high level of its scale, attack volume, defense power, attack power, speed, and so on—not that it has some outstanding single point.

I guess you could say it's able to exert power equivalent to a massive army in a single body. If it's in the same level band—well, I don't know if monsters have levels, but if it's the appropriate level band—its attack magic, physical attacks, and armor probably would be threats.

But for example, there's a boss monster in one place in the deep world that uses fire magic at an impossibly high level. It's so fierce that it would burn through not just my usual barrier magic, but even the barrier enabled by the Cross Holy Sword Shield's effect. Honestly, I'm more afraid of that guy than the Gatekeeper.

It pushes you with numbers and attack volume like a high-level, well-equipped army, but if you carefully wear it down, the numbers decrease, and for instance if you blast it with something like a mortar that humans couldn't withstand, it dies all at once.

The Gatekeeper is precisely a monster of appropriate strength to test whether you're suitable to proceed from the deep world's deepest part to what lies beyond.

That said, fighting it is fun in its own way. Rather than boss monsters where you both die if you don't finish it in one hit, it's the type I prefer since there's room to fight properly with techniques on equal footing.

"Alright, Robo. Let's go home."

『Bow』

Calling the Robo who had been watching, I climbed the stairs again that led beyond the reopened deepest part of the deep world.

My home is waiting.

(End of chapter)