chapter01 · 018-ep18
Episode 18: Brute Force
【YOU IDIOOOOOOOOOOOT!?】
【KARIN-SAMAAAA! LISTEN TO US! THIS ISN'T AN ANIME WORLD!】
【No no no! I thought this girl was trouble plenty of times before, but this time she REALLY is!】
【She's confused, right!? She's panicking! Come back to your senses and run!】
【This is NOT the time to worry about good footage!】
【I knew you were a dummy, but how much of a dummy ARE you!?】
【I said RUN, you stupid ojou-samaaaaa!】
Comments flooded in as Karin's eyes sparkled at the sight of the deep-layer irregular monster—the great serpent also known as a limbless dragon.
【Deep-layer monsters are seriously bad news!】
【We don't even know what abilities it has!?】
【And this snake EATS monsters! Boss monsters! For all we know, it could even be an enhanced variant!】
【Maybe this is why there were fewer encounters in the lower layers. It's REALLY dangerous!】
Every comment amounted to 'Are you out of your mind? Run!' Some appeared to come from veteran explorers, suggesting the snake might be an 'enhanced variant' made stronger than normal by consuming other monsters. Their remarks only increased everyone else's concern.
But—
"It will be all right, desu wa. I have a feeling I can defeat something of that strength. Besides—"
Karin spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"—If I scurried away in front of all these people, I could hardly call myself an ojou-sama!"
On her phone screen, the concurrent viewer count had leaped to a hundred and fifty thousand.
【You really intend to fight it!?】
【This seriously isn't the time for jokes!?】
【There's no stopping this ojou-sama! Setsuna-sama fried her brain!】
【We KNOW how extraordinary you are, but the thing you're facing is terrifying too!】
【Soloing a deep-layer dragon species is asking too much!】
【Sure, part of me thinks Karin ojou-sama could do it!? But do you have ANY reason to think you'll win!?】
【Whoa, there's REALLY a deep-layer monster here!? And a wyrm!?】
【I thought the people posting about it on other streams were exaggerating to steal viewers, but it's actually an emergency!?】
【Huh!? This person is going to FIGHT a deep-layer irregularity!?】
【I saw all these wild clips today and came to the stream, but what the hell is THIS!?】
【A deep-layer monster! And a wyrm, no less! I never thought I'd see a rare species like this!】
Apparently social media and video sites were in an uproar.
Irregularities during dungeon streams tended to raise viewer counts. The appearance of a deep-layer monster that almost no one had a chance to see had drawn this many people in a short time.
Alongside viewers worried for Karin, many newcomers drawn by the commotion were posting comments. Her viewer count was still rising.
Running now was unthinkable.
An ojou-sama who admired Setsuna Kiryuuin would never do that.
So Karin met the gaze of the great serpent looking down on her, even smiling as she glared back.
"Now then, I know nothing about this monster. What sort of power might you possess?"
【【【DON'T FIGHT A DEEP-LAYER IRREGULARITY WITH ZERO INFORMATION!】】】
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
The viewers' screams overlapped with the serpent's roar.
As if that were the signal, the battle began.
"SHAAAAAAH!"
The serpent, having chosen Karin as its prey, moved first.
It raised its head while still emerging from the ceiling, opened its massive jaws and lunged to devour her. Its serpentine burst of speed was easily several times that of the charging minotaur.
"My, where do you think you're biting?"
But Karin dodged that lightning-fast bite with inhuman speed of her own.
【!?】
【Karin ojou-sama disappeared!?】
【Did it eat her!?】
【Is she dead!?】
【She's alive!】
【Don't say stuff like that just because you can't follow her movements, desu wa!】
【She dodged it! She dodged!】
Some mistook her hairbreadth dodge at that speed for being eaten—but the lightning-fast battle only intensified.
"SHAAAAAAAAH!"
Having missed its first attack, the serpent seemed to switch gears completely.
Now it unleashed a ceaseless series of bites. Its head seemed to multiply as it snapped at Karin's slender body. The orc king's remains caught in the assault vanished, and the air torn by the serpent's superfast movements churned and twisted.
And yet—
"As one would expect of a deep-layer monster. You are fast, desu wa. But you'll never catch me like that!"
Karin danced through the flurry of lightning-fast attacks in her fluttering dress, as if she could see the future. Not one of the blows from a body as big as the large chimera's could so much as graze her dress.
【WHOOOOAAAA!?】
【You're kidding!?】
【Is she dodging EVERY attack!?】
【I can't even SEE the snake or ojou-sama moving...!?】
【I can only tell she's dodging from the trail of her flashy dress...!?】
【She's handling something that huge, that fast, in THOSE clothes!?】
【Ojou-sama is INSAAAAANE!?】
【AAAAAH!? SHE'S ACTUALLY HOLDING HER OWN!?】
【Is this an anime!?】
【It's a deep-layer irregularity that might even be an enhanced variant!?】
【Oh, seriously!? What the hell!? Don't blame me if something happens!?】
【It's too late to stop her now. WIN THIS, KARIN-SAMAAAA!】
The fight had begun, and Karin kept dodging a deep-layer monster's attacks. Chat's terror began to turn to excitement.
Then—
"SHAAAAAAAAH!"
SLITHER.
THUD!
Perhaps it had tired of attacking from the ceiling. The serpent dropped out of it.
【IT'S HUUUUGE!?】
【That's a real monster right there!?】
【Bigger than the boss!? What even IS it!?】
It looked to be some forty meters long. Factoring in the girth of its body, its size was truly beyond the pale.
It twisted its long, thick body into coils, completely encircling the constantly moving Karin.
"SHAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Its blood-red mouth closed in on her, leaving no escape. If she jumped, the moment she entered the air, where she couldn't change direction, the serpent would adjust course and swallow her.
"I see. This is your full strength, desu no."
Karin stared the attack down head-on.
"Then it's time I made my move too, desu wa!"
Done testing it, she crouched low.
She dodged the inescapable bite by a hair and drove a fist into the serpent's jaw from below at an angle.
BOGGOOOOOOOOOON!
"GURAAAAAAAAAH!?"
A thunderous blow and a shriek rang out. The serpent's body, including the coils around Karin, was sent flying.
【AAAAAH!? SHE PUNCHED IT AWAY!?】
【Seriously seriously SERIOUSLY!?】
【Can she actually do this!?】
【She's over 160k concurrents toooooo!?】
【WHOOOOO!!!!! KEEP GOING AND FINISH IT!】
But—
"That barely connected, desu wa."
Karin looked dissatisfied.
She'd felt its supple body absorb the impact, while its hard scales blunted the force of her punch.
Even so, she'd sent it flying fast enough that a collision with the dungeon wall should inflict serious damage it couldn't absorb.
But—PLOOP!
Its giant body never struck the wall. Instead, it sank inside without the slightest resistance.
【Huh!?】
【What!?】
【It disappeared into the wall!?】
【Wait, what!? What's happening!?】
"...It is accelerating inside the wall, desu wa."
While chat reeled, Karin alone understood what was happening through her presence-detection skill. She looked up at the ceiling.
At once—PLOOP!
"SHAAAAAAAAH!"
The serpent emerged from the ceiling and fell upon her at the speed of a meteor.
Karin dodged it completely.
Its body was about to crash headfirst into the floor at tremendous speed—but PLOOP! Once again, it sank without resistance into the dungeon-wall material beneath them.
"I wondered how you emerged from an unbroken ceiling... You can swim inside the dungeon walls. That is your power, desu no."
【WHAT!? No way!?】
【What was THAT!?】
【That snake swims inside dungeon walls!?】
【So it's true deep-layer monsters have magiclike abilities!?!?!?】
Yes. With their immense mana, deep-layer monsters displayed abilities beyond a mere boost to their physical strength.
Some had powers that could only be called those of 'magical creatures.' That was why their combat power made such a dramatic leap beyond the monsters of the lower layers.
Veterans of the deep layers said even traits like a lower-layer boss's 'white mist production' were child's play by comparison. That was why the deep layers were feared as 'an alien world.'
And swimming in walls wasn't the only power of the great serpent known as a limbless dragon.
"SHAAAAAAAAH!"
Roaring, it emerged from the floor. The great jaw Karin had struck bore not a single wound. It lunged at her with precisely the same killing power as before.
Its injuries had healed completely during those few seconds in the wall.
【WHAAAAAAAAAT!?】
【Why!? Its wounds healed!?】
【What's going on!?】
【Worm-type monsters are known for insane regeneration, but this is TOO much...!?】
【That's cheating!】
【Wait, does this mean you have to destroy a core inside it!?】
【You expect her to dodge something that fast AND find a core in that huge body!?】
【This is straight-up cheating!?】
【And while it's healing, you can't touch it in the wall!? Enough already!】
"Hah!"
Even so, Karin boldly attacked while dodging its blows.
But no matter how many times she struck it, the result was the same. Karin wasn't hurt, but after every flurry of punches the serpent retreated into the wall, recovered, and attacked again without a scratch.
【Hey, isn't she losing this battle of attrition!?】
【A stamina contest...? She should just run instead of doing THAT!】
【If she runs out of strength, even if she wins, she won't make it out of the dungeon!?】
Chat once more filled with pleas for her to flee.
But the deep-layer monster wasn't about to permit such an easy choice.
"...? What is it, desu no?"
Silence suddenly filled the boss room. The serpent that had been attacking so relentlessly stayed under the floor.
Karin frowned. In the next instant—
GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!
The boss-room floor shook violently.
【What!? The boss room's shaking!?】
【An earthquake!?】
【Can earthquakes happen in dungeons!?】
【No, don't tell me—】
"...!?"
Karin lost her balance on the heaving floor.
"SHAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The serpent burst out of the floor and lunged at her with perfectly timed precision.
"—!"
The shaking stopped just before it emerged, allowing Karin to dodge somehow. But she had been thrown off balance, and this dodge was close.
When the serpent dived into the floor again, it spun at high speed just beneath the surface. Its dense mana repelled the mana filling the dungeon wall, making the ground shake violently.
"SHAAAAAAAAH!"
"I see. You won't go down so easily, desu wa!"
The shaking made it hard even to stand, never mind flee. It struck with lightning speed each time she lost her balance. Karin spoke as the serpent repeated its assault in earnest.
【WHAT!? That snake is causing the earthquake!?】
【Oh, give me a break, you bastard!】
【So THIS is a deep-layer monster...】
【No wonder they call it an alien world...】
【Isn't Karin ojou-sama in serious danger!?】
【The camera's shaking and everything's too fast to tell, but her dodges are getting close...】
【It's amazing she can dodge at all! Most people couldn't stay standing!?】
【This is bad bad BAD!】
【Seriously, run!】
【How could she run when she can barely stand in that shaking!?】
【Don't die, ojou-sama!】
【If you can't run, you have to kill the snake! Hurry or it really will get you!?】
【HOW? It's inside the dungeon walls most of the time!?】
【Without a sound-attack magic skill, this is impossible!?】
Despair filled chat. The situation was that dire.
Hidden within the indestructible dungeon walls and causing earthquakes, the serpent was a calamity impossible to defeat. Any counterattack wounds healed immediately, and it returned to shake the ground and strike again.
Even Karin would struggle to keep dodging forever.
Then—
"..."
On the shaking floor, Karin closed her eyes and crouched.
【Karin-sama!?】
【What are you doing!?】
【Did she give up!? Run out of mana!?】
Chat filled with dread at the unthinkable move in such a desperate situation.
But—
"—Huuuuuuuh."
Karin hadn't given up.
Eyes closed, she exhaled sharply. She lowered her center of gravity to minimize the shaking's effect and gathered her mana. As she concentrated, the many skills within her focused into her fist—
"You are getting on my nerves!! Desu wa!!"
Her mana-laden fist slammed into the heaving floor.
DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!
"GURUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!?"
The dungeon-wall floor exploded into fragments.
The serpent causing the earthquake screamed at the shock running through its entire body and was blasted out of the shattered floor.