ch321-ch340 · 329-ch329
Chapter 329: The Childhood Friend Is a Sword Saint Flag 【Sword Saint-chan】 Part 4
SIDE: Hoshino Chiharu ('Sword Saint-chan')
(This armor is unbelievably hard—but the joints are its weak point! 【Flying Slash】! And one overhead, too!)
I've lost count of how many times we've fought, but I'm finally getting used to this 'naked skeleton's' movements.
This hollow armor falls apart from a single preemptive strike—a little shock and it scatters.
Left alone, it flings pieces of its torso at me, and touching one means death—so it has to be dealt with first.
(That's a 'Gate,' isn't it? I've read it!)
A spear shoots out from behind me.
It's the same thing as a 'Gate,' after all.
Then it's simple.
There's a lag between the 'Gate' appearing and the attack coming through.
As long as I keep moving without ever stopping, it's nothing to fear.
Which leaves......
(Fast! But—!)
The 'naked skeleton's' true body moves at an abnormal speed.
A full three times faster than me at full speed-build—absolute monster territory.
But its attacks are nothing but thrusts—monotonous—so focusing on evasion is enough to manage.
If the cross-shaped spearhead touches my blade, it takes my sword and arm with it—but parrying the shaft is no problem.
But if I try to attack, the instant my sword touches its shield—I die.
So what I CAN do is......
(【Flying Slash】! And one overhead, too!)
Indirect attacks.
And constant vigilance toward the sky.
I have no defense against that 【Blast Ball】.
If I went all-in on magic defense, I might survive one hit—but I'd be burned over my whole body, unable to move.
So all I can do is keep throwing harassment attacks so it never gets to cast.
(【Flying Slash】! It took the bait!)
A 【Flying Slash】 from just inside the 'naked skeleton's' spear reach.
It blocked with 【Dimension Wall】.
No—that, too, was a 'Gate.'
An absurd skill—but this is where it ends.
I swing, laying my blade right along that 'Gate.'
(【Dimension Slash】!)
Solid feedback.
【Dimension Slash】 can be generated just slightly apart from the blade.
And this time, it ignited on the far side of the 'Gate'......
I hear the 'naked skeleton' collapse.
My win.
(【Flying Slash】!)
I loose a final harassment strike.
Now my MP is down to one more 【Dimension Slash】.
Time to get a look at the one up top......
"No way......"
With a GASHAN, a new skeleton emerges from the darkness......
Not from above.
And armor I know all too well......
A katana at its waist, a bow on its back, and a hammer in its hand......
"Yukiya-senpai......"
I've done it now......
Despite that thought, my body moves.
I charge the 'Samurai skeleton.'
The instant its raised hammer falls to the ground, I leap and cut in one stroke.
And that was that......
(Over so easily......)
That's all it amounts to, when you know what's coming.
Either way—that makes five skeletons down.
Which means......
(【Weapon Enhancement・Sword・Extreme】 【Weapon Enhancement・Sword】! Status—shift from Agility to Magic!)
A fireball comes falling.
It wasn't over......
There's more?
I have to take down the one up top too, then......
Who on earth is it?
Burning......
It wasn't a direct hit, so I endured it somehow—but I don't think I can move anymore.
But at last, I can see it.
The skeleton that descended was a mage draped in a single brown robe.
"Uaaaaah—【Dimension Slash】!"
My body, which shouldn't be able to move, moves—and swings the sword.
One vertical stroke.
It cleaves the 'Fire Mage skeleton' straight in two.
Too easy?
No—this is how it normally goes.
Even the Manticore, Floor 40's boss, ends without ever realizing it's been cut, if it enters range.
Normally, that's the end......
!?
It regenerated......
I cut it in two—and it's whole again.
Charred black from head to toe, and still its body moves on its own......
I close in and land five strikes in one breath.
But none of them connects.
It's not that they cut air.
The 'Fire Mage skeleton' is clearly being cut.
But there's no feedback—as if I were cutting empty air.
(A projection? No—a wraith!?)
I arrive at the answer.
This thing...... is a Lich!
I knew the rumor—that Floor 50's boss is a Lich.
I'd thought it baseless—but maybe an adventurer saw it in a dream like mine, and left it on some forum......
(How do I beat it? Huh? It's backing away?)
The Lich pulls back, looking put out.
So......
It's not that my attacks do nothing at all.
A measly two or three, but damage is getting through.
Then I remember the bad news.
Even the Floor 40 Manticore supposedly has over 10,000 HP.
Then this thing on Floor 50......
50,000? 100,000......
(I'd have to land thirty thousand more strikes before it goes down, huh.)
The distanced Lich conjures a massive fireball from its staff.
A 【Blast Ball】.
This time, I truly cannot move.
This time, too, I failed.
But I am, without question, getting closer......
︙
︙
I wake up.
(Where am I......)
Floor 1 of the HQ dungeon......
We newly rented a place inside the dungeon, and I've decided to sleep here at night.
My sleeping here means they need extra guards, so I'm putting Kuma-chan and the others out—but it's all for conquering Floor 50.
(Ahh...... I've really done it now......)
This may be beyond fixing.
I hold my head in my hands.
No—time to change gears.
This is exactly what Ao-senpai is for.
I'll report before breakfast and have him sort it out.
︙
︙
"Sounds like there was progress in the dream. Did you find out the Fire Mage's true identity?"
Sharp as ever.
We're on the surface, alone in 'Blue Ocean's' meeting room in the HQ building.
The dream business can't leak to the escorts, after all.
Kuma-chan is a member of the SDF, too.
Ao-senpai says we can't trust them completely.
"It wasn't a Fire Mage. The one raining 【Blast Ball】 from above was a Lich. Probably the Floor 50 boss."
"A Lich! You SAW it? I see—so the rumor was true. Incredible! Well done! But then who's the fifth one? Me, Chiharu, the Spear King, the otherworlder with 【Dimension Wall】, and one more......"
That's the problem.
"It was Yukiya-senpai......"
"......"
"......"
"You've done it now, haven't you."
"I have."
The other day, Yukiya-senpai insisted on coming to Floor 50 with us no matter what—so I shut him down, hard.
Lacking the strength, I said.
And in fact, in the dream just now, I felled him in one strike without even using a skill.
I'm not wrong.
But my handling of it afterward wasn't good either.
For whatever reason, Yukiya-senpai went off to the Chiba branch to challenge Watanabe Kasumi......
And lost.
To some middle-aged man nobody could make sense of......
"Isn't the real problem that Chiharu went and beat Hiramatsu-san?"
Yes—Hiramatsu.
The Chiba staffer who beat Yukiya-senpai.
He uses a cross-tipped spear, so I suspected he might be the otherworlder, and went to see his strength for myself.
It was a thoroughly worthwhile time.
Strong enough that without my combat experience against the Spear King skeleton, I might have lost.
But perhaps that wounded Yukiya-senpai's pride.
He hasn't come back to this HQ building since that day......
"Ao-senpai's at fault too. You told him that following us meant death."
"That's what the information said at the time. A flying mage could have been Asuka; a 【Dimension Wall】 user could have been Kaito. If someone clearly identifiable as the Spear King had joined, the question becomes—where did Yukiya go? I thought he'd died on the first Floor 50 attempt. It was said out of concern for Yukiya, you know."
"That's horrible. Apologize and bring him back."
"I'd rather not hear that from you...... Well, in any case, let's find him and apologize together. Now then...... where could he be?"
"Doesn't he have escorts? Couldn't we just contact the escorts to find out?"
If they'd tracked my escapes that way, they'd have known exactly where I went.
"He went out with them, but they say he gave them the slip partway. Honestly, maybe I should speak to the President and have the Dungeon Gate ticket records checked......"
"Chiba is suspicious. I'm going to Chiba today."
"No fighting when you find him, promise?"
While I'm at it, I'll check on the Hiramatsu and dwarf situation for Watanabe Kasumi.
And if I could just find that otherworlder who deploys the 'Gate'......