ch381-ch400 · 391-ch391

Chapter 391: The Aftermath of It All and the Backlash

(From top to bottom—the 'Mountain Kata!')

Yeah, like I thought, the 'Mountain Kata' isn't a factor at all here.

The spear punches straight through the back of the purple-hided Armor Crocodile and buries itself in the ground.

(Whoa, careful.)

The spear drove deep into the ground, so extracting it takes me a moment.

Just then, the remaining two purple crocs finish their chanting, and 'Water Magic' water spheres come flying.

I'd taken out the middle two of the four, and I'm positioned so that even if I dodge, they won't go flying toward Soushi and the others—should be fine.

I dodge one, and deliberately take the other on the Shield Gauntlet.

Yeah, no problem.

A lower-rank job around Level 20 might get knocked on their butt by the impact, but an upper job at Level 44 with buffs stacked sky-high doesn't even have its arm knocked aside.

But having taken the hit, the two Armor Crocodiles apparently saw it as their chance, and lunge in to bite.

Still, my stance isn't broken, so I can dodge with room to spare.

(Hup! Hup, hup, there!)

Dodge, and strike twice.

And that's that.

Anticlimactic.

No—credit goes to the ridiculous buff stack.

(If I got serious in this state, wouldn't it be dangerous?)

This time I didn't even need it—no, that's not quite right.

I don't know what would happen if I DID use it.

Honestly, it scares me.

What happens if I go Ultra Mode in this state......

(Can my body even take it?)

The buffs I receive from the two of them don't feel like they have any real backlash, so maybe it's fine?

I know that the slow-time effect of super mode has a ferocious backlash.

According to Dr. Amamiya, super mode is apparently far removed from how 【Charge・Spear】 is meant to be used.

There's apparently an overseas scholar who argues that super mode's intended use—the use the dungeon designed it for—is simply stat support for landing a charged attack reliably.

Dr. Amamiya looked it up properly and told me.

And according to another scholar, the order was that 【Heavy Bow User】 came first, and 【Charge Spearman】 was created after.

Originally, the slowed time existed to make sure an arrow hit—shortening aim time was a side effect.

That residue, the theory goes, is what remains in the other charge jobs.

Bottom line: rampaging around with raised stats without using the charge attack is unintended use, so the dungeon doesn't care what backlash comes of it.

Dr. Amamiya also warned me that besides prolonged super mode, there's one other backlash trigger—canceling an attack. That's bad too, don't do it.

The kind where the spear tip has connected but you hold back 【Charge・Spear】's MP release.

You're suppressing it so it doesn't fire, and that suppression is a strain, apparently.

Same for absorbing an attack on the shield without releasing 【Charge・Shield】—and the armor too, presumably.

The 'Helmet Warrior'...... my skeleton releases 【Charge・Spear】 with every attack, and there was always a gap for re-activation, so I think it matches the intended-use theory.

Stacking itself is fine—the dungeon knows about it, since upper jobs exist as offshoots of the practice—but if you stack and then pull some Ultra-C-tier unexpected move, you could die of it, was Dr. Amamiya's threat.

I mean, my brain actually exceeded its limit and wiped my memory.

So: Ultra Mode only for truly short periods, no cancel attacks. Important.

On top of that, pile on more buffs?

Don't. Absolutely don't. That's where I stand right now.

Well, fighting on shallow floors like this doesn't even need spear super mode, so it's not a problem.

Still, I'll need to test it once......

"Whoa."

With a DOSH!, the ground shakes.

That's the impact of Armor Gustave dropping back to earth after Aikawa kicked it up.

Man, I can't believe she got that huge body airborne.

The surface is iron-like—it's probably as heavy as a metal golem, you know?

The shock of the kick that launched it and the impact of the fall probably cracked the magic stone too.

"That's a wrap. I'll put in a finishing blow, just in case."

"Ah, wait. Try not to damage it. Let's make it a present for Mia-san."

Aikawa stops Soushi before he can finish it off.

We've already cleared Floor 20 once, so no result screen appears.

Whether the boss is really dead, we can't tell—but Aikawa might have felt the feedback.

"You planning to carry it back like that? We'll have to dismantle it too. ......What about the meat?"

Meaning, are we going to eat it?

Monsters from dungeons are apparently tasty, basically across the board.

But no poison, sure—still, eating it sight unseen gives me pause.

Probably after checking reactions from overseas folks who've eaten it online.

It's not like we're short on food, so this time let's return everything but the hide to the dungeon, please.

"It would be better if Mia-san saw the real thing too. Ah, but Mia-san's staying over tonight, right?"

I remember that Mia-san and the others are also scheduled to take down a Floor 20 boss in a different new dungeon.

They'll be bringing back the boss's corpse too, so they probably won't be home tomorrow either.

"A surprise?"

That could work......

But is it okay to leave a dead crocodile lying around for two days?

"Hmm, showing her just a big croc probably won't surprise her? Like, she walks into the warehouse, and Aikawa's half-eaten by the crocodile? Or something."

Need impact, you know.

"Why me!?"

"Don't, don't. Unless you explain the situation properly first, she'll get wary and stop coming to the warehouse at all."

I see—Soushi-kun is saying we should prepare properly in advance.

"In that case, hey, how about we go see the Floor 21 World Tree? Lure her out that way."

"Oh, right. The World Tree. Let's hit Floor 21 before dark! Soushi, take the head—Haru-kun, the tail."

"Ah, buffs, gimme buffs."

Soushi suggests, so we dance again.

It's heavy, after all.

Afterward, I head back to the warehouse alone and use the 'Eye Gate' to cross to the far bank.

And then, on to Floor 21......

"Huh? The rain......"

Stopped...... no, it hasn't.

Look up, and I'm covered by the World Tree's branches and leaves.

Rain leaks through in places, and pooled droplets come dropping down here and there.

We're completely under the World Tree's umbrella here.

I'd love to observe more, but first I need to use 【Gate】 to call the two of them in.

"Whoa, it's pitch black in here. Geez—【Partial Beast Transformation】."

Aikawa, coming in, startles at the darkness and 'Beast-Transforms' her eyes, apparently.

I have 【Night Vision】, so it doesn't bother me—but it's already pitch dark in here.

"The top's completely World Tree, huh. Wait around and leaves will start falling on you. The bottom is...... I can't see anything...... There's no ground here, right?"

Soushi grouses, no countermeasure against the dark.

And just as he says, I can't see any land ahead either.

Only the spot where the 'Gate from Floor 19' stands is slightly elevated and has footing—beyond that, nothing but water surface as far as the eye can see.

"Doesn't look like a lake. It's like shallow water continuing onward."

As Aikawa observed up close, you can't see land, but you CAN see the ground.

Shallow, about knee-deep, continuing far into the distance.

Less a lake and more like the water level has risen from the rain?

But the rain in this dungeon never stops, so the water level will stay like this forever.

Dungeons are strange things.

The state of "just after a heavy rain raised the water level" is maintained indefinitely......

"The current doesn't seem too strong either. But can we even fight in this? What are the enemies going to be?"

"Can't see. In Kagawa, the 20s floors are apparently Sahuagin...... Haru-kun, can you see?"

Hmm—ah, there's something.

A rhino...... no, a hippo?