chapter05 · 145-ep145

Episode 138: Underwater Combat!

【WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?】

【Wait!? What just happened!?】

【The screen warped, and then all the torpedoes(?) exploded in the distance!?】

【Why are all the future-seeing sharks writhing in pain too!?】

【What was that!? Elegant telekinesis!?】

【Ojou-sama, what did you DO!?】

Viewers who'd been panicking at Karin's lack of preparation for an underwater area were now in an entirely different sort of confusion.

The abyssal water was full of deep-layer bosses specialized for underwater combat. Yet the future-seeing Gungnir Sharks had suddenly spat blood, while the barrage of torpedoes from the Fortress Crabs had exploded far short of the ojou-sama.

Some even wondered if she'd secretly equipped special underwater magic gear. But Karin's answer was simple.

"I used no magic equipment! I merely performed an Elegant pseudo fa jin strike underwater!"

Glancing at comments on her phone in its waterproof case, Karin replied through the underwater microphone and swung her fist again.

DOBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

""""GWYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?""""

DOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!

A tremendous impact boomed and spread through the water, almost as if a nuclear bomb had exploded there. Repeating the previous scene, the sharks writhed and the torpedoes aimed at Karin burst apart.

The explanation was simple: the destructive force generated by Karin's physical abilities traveled through the water and struck the bosses in an area attack they could neither see nor dodge.

"Phew! Water transmits the shockwave? from my Elegant fists so nicely. It makes fighting easier! And by applying the fa jin I learned through Mitsuki-sama's introduction, I improved the efficiency and direction of that shockwave!"

Karin spoke without a care, but her comments were in uproar.

【WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?】

【No way!? What IS this!?】

【She explained it, but my brain can't keep up!?】

【How many times do I have to ask if she's SERIOUS!?】

【Eh? Hah? A shockwave... against deep-layer bosses??? ALL of them??? At long range???】

【Her punches ARE strong enough to make that happen... No, she's still bending the laws of physics, isn't she!?】

【We have a space like this beneath Tokyo. Physics has been in trouble for a while... But there's a LIMIT!?】

【Wait, it's an invisible underwater area attack, so even when the sharks look into the future, all they see is themselves suddenly coughing blood?】

【More like future DEATH!?】

【Sharks: 'I'll check the future lol' → S U D D E N D E A T H】

【'Water makes fighting easier' ← That's NOT something a land creature with lungs should say????】

【Are we even sure this ojou-sama is an Earth life form!?】

【Wait, could she actually be STRONGER underwater!?】

【Huh!?】

【I thought knowing about the water and only preparing a microphone was crazier than usual. Is THIS why!?】

The sight of Karin sweeping aside multiple deep-layer bosses with her fists left the viewers briefly speechless before the questions poured out.

Of course, the water limited her mobility, especially with the strain on her dress. Fighting on land would be much more Elegant. But underwater, Karin's already formidable fists created long-range area attacks that traveled through the water, regardless of the monster's defense against a direct punch.

Depending on her enemies, she no longer even had to dodge. Like this!

"ORARARARARARA, DESU WAAAAAAAAA!"

DOBOBOBOBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

""""GWEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?""""

The torpedoes coming from every direction burst without reaching her. No matter how far ahead the sharks saw or how nimbly they swam around her, they couldn't even get close, battered one-sidedly from afar.

"Hmm. Water makes ranged attacks wonderfully convenient, but not being able to plant my feet firmly is a drawback. I am focusing the shockwaves using skills like <Recoil-Free Cannon>, and using fa jin to create more power with smaller movements, but I still cannot finish them off easily... Well, it does let me strike a wide area at once. If the blows are weaker, I need merely punch them more often!"

"I still have much training to do," Karin muttered with a hint of dissatisfaction. She kept swinging her fists underwater, and the sharks coughing blood began dissolving one by one, signaling their deaths.

【WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!? Every shark died before even reaching her!?】

【No no no, is this real!?】

【Isn't this a bit too one-sided!?】

【What IS an ojou-sama with an underwater advantage over sharks and crabs!?】

【What happened to underwater fights being a challenge every explorer dreads...?】

【She's been throwing shockwaves nonstop without coming up for air. How big ARE her lungs!?】

【This is way past questions of lung capacity!?】

【Her lung capacity is a rounding error!】

【Wait, is she really going to clear an abyssal underwater floor without damage, without even having to dodge!? And with no magic equipment!?】

The defeat of one underwater deep-layer boss after another set the comments buzzing. Still, even Karin couldn't fight perfectly with shockwaves alone.

""""GISHASHASHASHASHA!!""""

Torpedoes outranged her shockwaves. Realizing this, the Fortress Crabs retreated all at once, moving with surprising speed for their massive size. They began firing while withdrawing. Already farther away than the Gungnir Sharks, they'd sustained less damage and retained most of their guns. They now became high-speed mobile 'fortresses' bent on a battle of attrition.

【That's the mid-layer nightmare fly caterpillar's strategy!?】

【First the Humanoid, now them. Is this a trend in the abyss!?】

【The WORST trend!】

【Deep-layer bosses shouldn't do this—especially underwater!?】

【Won't this be difficult!?】

Underwater, Storm Style couldn't give Karin its full mobility boost. Moving rapidly would also strain her dress. The viewers' worries were justified; this was troublesome even for Karin.

But—

"Of course they would do that. However—I needn't go along with it and drag out the stream!"

BWOOM!

Karin swept away the torpedoes with a punch's shockwave, then burst forward through the water in a streamlined glide. Storm Style controlled the small amount of air it could manage underwater to reduce the strain on her dress—though only to a limited extent—and she launched herself into the sky.

Missiles, rather than torpedoes, naturally flew up from the water after her. But now Karin fully equipped Storm Style. With inhuman aerial maneuvers and wind armor, she evaded every shot, then drew a superheavy weapon crafted from dungeon walls: her enormous hammer.

She held it tight and drove Storm Style to full output, whirling through the air at high speed while blasting incoming missiles away with the wind.

"And now—I shall catch all of you at once, desu waaaaaaaa!!!"

SHWING—DOBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!

BWASHAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!

It was a high-mass, high-speed strike like a meteor, as she'd demonstrated in Okutama Dungeon's abyss. Driven by centrifugal force and Karin's strength, the giant hammer outpaced even sound as it fell toward the surface where the deep-layer bosses swarmed.

Even bullets could supposedly travel only a few meters through water. But the hammer tore straight through. An enormous impact erupted, heaving up the surface across the entire floor and sending what looked like tsunamis racing out in all directions from the point of impact.

As viewers stared speechlessly at the impossible sight—float.

The army of Fortress Crabs surfaced and stopped moving. The shockwave had devastated a far wider area than Karin's fists, apparently destroying them utterly from within.

【W-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?】

【What WAS THAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?】

【All the crabs are deeeeeeead!?】

【Didn't she just kill everything in an area MUCH larger than when she used her fists on the sharks!?】

【How is she wiping out armies of deep-layer bosses even MORE efficiently than on Okutama's first abyssal floor!?】

【Is this dynamite fishing!?】

【Dynamite fishing (physical)】

【Dynamite's always physical...】

【Dynamite Ojou-sama!?】

【How is that NOT about a dynamite body, but an insane ojou-sama using dynamite-fishing tactics in the abyss!?】

【This reads like a bizarre AI illustration...】

【She really is clearing the underwater stage unscathed with no new combat equipment!?】

The comments raced as Karin ran wild underwater just as on land—or, in some respects, even more outrageously. No one noticed that Mitsuki had 'died' of Elegance and couldn't even type anymore.

And Karin's underwater rampage wasn't finished.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!"

"!"

Countless tentacles suddenly burst from the water where the Fortress Crabs floated, along with black liquid shot hard enough to slice the air toward Karin. Shoving aside the crabs' dissolving corpses, a gigantic squid monster emerged.

【Whoa!? What's THAT!?】

【It's HUUUUGE!?】

【Is it a kraken!?】

"Oh, a new monster!"

DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Karin took another mass-produced giant hammer from her item box and threw it with the same force as before, as though greeting the monster with a throwing knife.

But—

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

【Eh】

【Eh!?】

【What!?】

Viewers who had almost assumed victory stared in shock. The kraken dove to avoid the hammer, then resurfaced nearly unharmed despite the shockwave that spread throughout the surrounding water.

Karin had evidently accounted for her hammer failing; the first one hadn't killed this monster alongside the crabs either.

"I see. Its soft body dissipates shockwaves and other physical attacks! The hammer drop does little against it!"

【What the hell!?】

【That's cheating in water, where fighting's hard enough already!?】

【So THAT'S why it was lurking right next to the dynamite-fished crabs!?】

【M-maybe it's time for Desu-Worm-chan!?】

"No. Since we have an underwater stage, I shall use it more Elegantly!"

Karin descended at Storm Style speed and plunged into the water again—RIGHT next to the kraken.

【Wait, Ojou-sama!?】

【What are you doing!?】

【Shockwaves don't work on it, so water's no longer an advantage... And you're too close!?】

【Did she misjudge where she'd land!?】

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!"

Just as viewers feared, the kraken struck with its many tentacles. It was fast even underwater. With no intention of letting her escape merely because she was smaller, the tentacles converged to strangle Karin.

But the next instant—

"Hmph!"

Karin clapped her fists together with all her might beside the kraken—CLANG!!

DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!?"

A deafening boom sounded from her fists. Bubbles formed in enormous numbers around her, flashing with light. A shockwave of tremendous power erupted with the blinding flash, and the kraken screamed.

【Huh!?】

【What was THAT!?】

【Something around Ojou-sama—no, her FISTS—just glowed!?】

【And the squid's in pain!? How!?】

【Ojou-sama, what IS this!?】

"I only noticed recently, but when I punch underwater with all my strength or clap my fists together hard enough, they glow and become Elegant fists! As an added bonus, the shockwave is more powerful than an ordinary punch. I thought if I fired it at close range, it would overcome this level of damage deflection. And I was right!"

Karin answered the comments she'd somehow been checking all along, then continued clapping her fists beside the kraken—CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG! DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!—making music with the sound of destruction.

This was different from her 'pseudo fa jin,' where she delivered destructive force through the water rather than simply punching it. By striking her fists together at immense speed underwater, she compressed the water, creating vast numbers of bubbles and plasma through cavitation. Even the angle of her fists directed the resulting enormous shockwave, which was too powerful for the kraken to dissipate.

【WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?】

【What has this ojou-sama even been DOING for the last few minutes!?】

【Fists shouldn't sound like THAT!?!?!?】

【And now the squid is casually dead tooooooo!?】

【Float. (dead)】

【An underwater, glowing shockwave... That's the pistol shrimp's claw-snapping plasma!?】

【Pistol-Shrimp Ojou-sama!?】

【Why is everyone saying 'pistol shrimp'!? What does it mean!?】

¥10,000

Pistol shrimp have claws that are enormous and powerful for their size. They snap them shut quickly to produce shockwaves and catch prey. The sound can be heard underwater 1.6 kilometers away; the bubbles reach pressures of 1,000 atmospheres and temperatures of 4,400°C, comparable to the sun's surface. The water inside them vaporizes and forms glowing plasma... A S H R I M P F I V E C E N T I M E T E R S L O N G C A N D O A L L T H A T

【An expert!?】

【Love the internet's incredibly specific experts】

【Wait, is that real!? Ojou-sama recreated THAT!?】

【W-well, if an ordinary shrimp can do it, of course Ojou-sama can...】

【They say a bug scaled up to human size would be terrifying, but a 'human-sized ojou-sama' imitating a pistol shrimp is even worse...】

【↑You naturally assume Karin ojou-sama ISN'T human...】

【S-so Ojou-sama's strategy is...?】

【On an underwater floor, she flies in from above and drops extinction-event meteor hammers on distant enemies, hits midrange enemies with invisible, unavoidable fa jin shockwaves, and shoots close-range enemies with a stronger pistol-shrimp cannon...?】

【Underwater Ojou-sama? She's strong at long, mid, and close range. No openings. So... I can't beat her】

【Seriously, what IS this ojou-sama!?】

Comments wouldn't stop after Karin brute-forced even the attack-deflecting kraken. It seemed the kraken was the only new monster species on the floor.

"Hmm. All the rest appear to be ones we have already seen. Let us proceed quickly!"

""""GWEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?""""

She mowed down the monsters throughout the vast area using the same methods as before. Nothing on floor 1 could stop her advance.

【No no no!? This ojou-sama is seriously rampaging underwater like normal!?】

【Is she actually STRONGER on underwater floors!?】

【Given her limited mobility, probably not... But how is she dominating deep-layer bosses THIS thoroughly underwater!?】

【Is she a fish-man!?】

【Ojou-sama was an archerfish fish-man all along...?】

【Strongest, strongest ojou-sama! Strongest fish-man ojou-sama!】

【This flood of fish-man comments lmao】

【Why fish-man and not mermaid lol】

【Not one person called her a mermaid. Seaweed-level lmao】

【She's hardly a sparkly, fluffy mermaid, so fair enough...】

【Even though her dress is so fluffy...】

【Wearing a fluffy dress in a dungeon's abyssal water is WHY they call her a fish-man】

【Hey, Karin ojou-sama has mermaid qualities too! Her singing could sink ships!】

【Not by bewitching the crew. You mean she'd physically break the ship with her booming voice, right?】

Amid the flood of comments on Karin's effortless advance through the abyssal waters—

"Oh! I have defeated most of the monsters here, and now I have reached the boss room!"

Karin had been flying in Storm Style, occasionally diving to annihilate monsters. She landed on a lonely scrap of land beyond the horizon, before a door that presumably led down to the bottom of the vast body of water.

【Already at the boss room!?】

【I can't believe how worried we were at the beginning. She just blew straight through!?】

【She REALLY cleared an abyssal underwater floor without a scratch!?】

【You've got to be kidding...!?】

【At this rate, maybe the boss will be easy too...?】

【She practically beat that ridiculous spatial-magic boss unscathed...】

【And the boss room's at least accessible from land. The dungeon showed a little mercy...】

【That's too complacent!? I get why after that conquest, but still!】

Karin descended the stairs as some viewers' sense of danger dulled from her performance. It snapped back almost immediately.

"Oh? This... The boss room is like a great big pool, desu no ne."

Beyond the stairs stretched a chamber unusually large for a boss room, though not quite as big as the one where she'd fought <Gigant Fortress>. Like the floor above, the entire space was filled with water.

【Hah...?】

【H-hey, I had a feeling, but...】

【The boss room is underwater too!?】

The viewers imagined the worst. An even greater threat rose through the surface.

"—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!"

Water heaved up to the height of a mountain as a colossal pure-white dragon emerged, with flipper-like limbs. But the true danger wasn't its body, which dwarfed even <Gigant Fortress>.

ZGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

The water filling the chamber surged as though it had a will of its own—or rather, as though obeying the will of the white boss. DODODODOOOOOOOOOON!

The great dragon submerged again as though taking shelter. Some water shot toward Karin in countless jets like water cutters; other masses rose as tsunamis. All of it attacked at once.

【Huh!?】

【What IS this!?】

【Wait, is it—!?】

【It controls the water on the ENTIRE floor!?】

【That's cheating!?】

【Arakawa Dungeon, when are you going to STOP with this nonsense!?】

【The abyss really is too dangerous!?】

【Ojou-sama, fighting THIS unprepared is too much!?】

The comments instantly descended into panic at a scene that went far beyond an ordinary 'difficult underwater stage.' But—

"I see. So that is how it works."

Karin's eyes reflected neither fear nor hesitation.

"In the sense that the entire floor is an enemy, this resembles the wall-merging dragon I faced earlier. Then let us begin conquering it!"

Demonic Dragon Armor: Storm Style—maximum output!

She flew into the air, using the magic armor's enhanced mobility to evade the onrushing water from every direction, and began fighting the mythic-looking giant boss.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

I confess that the model for this water-controlling boss was Ceadeus, the Elder Dragon from Monster Hunter, desu wa.