arc4 · 074-ch74

Episode 74: Area Boss of Floor 1, District 5 Part 2

Note: Contains graphic violence with large amounts of blood. Please proceed with caution.

(What the hell is that.)

Suzuka, whose emotions had thinned to the point where he felt neither pain nor fear, was watching the back of the departing Cunning Demon Ape Monkey.

The ape monkey's voice from earlier, sounding like it had sighed as it lost interest in Suzuka, and its cold gaze as if looking at a stone by the roadside, replayed in his mind over and over.

(You're kidding me. What the hell am I doing.)

At the ape monkey's attitude, a light kindled in Suzuka's heart, which until moments ago had been dead. The raging inferno of boiling anger.

"...What the hell do you mean, escape."

Suzuka stood up unsteadily on his feet. Dizzy from hunger and sleepiness, but surely that was just his imagination too. No matter what happened, this skill would heal it.

("Yeah, that wasn't like me. If I make it to District 4, I win? As if that would ever happen, you IDIOOOOOT.")

Once again, he made magic power roll through his entire body. Even so, the ape monkey didn't even look back at Suzuka. It wasn't viewing him as an enemy at all. Neither as a threat nor as a playmate. Just like the weeds growing by the roadside. Like stones rolling around. Being recognized as such, Suzuka wasn't adult enough to endure it.

("I'm going to beat the crap out of that ape. There's no other victory condition.)

The level difference was more than double. In District 5, he couldn't even lift a finger against ordinary monsters, and his opponent was an area boss. He couldn't even perceive the opponent's attacks, and Suzuka's all-out attack ended with just his own fist breaking.

But so what. So what about it.

Would that be a reason to give up? No, it couldn't be a reason to give up.

There was a monster right in front of him. Yet to tuck tail and run was something that couldn't be tolerated.

("It's not about whether I win or lose. I'm going to win. I'll keep going until I win.")

Suzuka's eyes as he raised his head were dyed in madness. The level difference, the fact that his enemy was an area boss—none of it mattered anymore. What kind of tiny scale had he been measuring with.

("Because I won't die.")

I'm an explorer, and he's a monster. Besides that, everything else is complete crap that doesn't matter.

("You're the one who started this, right? Then keep at it until I die, you AAAAAAPE MOOOOOOKEY!!!")

Running faster than ever before, Suzuka started sprinting. The only thing he could rely on was his own body. He would reinforce his entire body with magic power and deal a full-powered blow—that was all he could do.

But reality didn't go that smoothly. The level difference between Suzuka and the Cunning Demon Ape Monkey wasn't so small that it could be overcome with just fighting spirit. The gap between the two hadn't narrowed enough to be filled by just pulling himself together a bit.

Level 52 and Level 120. The difference was far too wide and deep. That's exactly why explorers grow by fighting monsters appropriate to their own level. Suzuka too had been active in shallow areas appropriate for him, not in the depths of District 4.

Facing the approaching Suzuka, the ape calmly struck back with his fist.

Suzuka's fist and the ape's fist collided head-on. The ape's fist was about the size of Suzuka's upper body. If such a fist and Suzuka's fist collided, they wouldn't even be evenly matched.

Blown away at high speed, Suzuka smashed through trees along the way and crashed into a wall. A scene as if he were shown a replay. Again, a fresh bloody flower bloomed on the wall.

But this time, it didn't end there.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! See, I don't die!! I don't die, see!! I'm still going!! I'll go forever!! Fear the zombie attacktt!!!"

Suzuka didn't even fall to the ground, kicking the wall to accelerate and charging at the ape again.

But the ape's expression didn't change. As if killing an annoying fly, he punched the approaching Suzuka.

Bouncing on the ground, this time he crashed without destroying any trees.

"Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah-ah-ah-ah!! Just 1 damage, you know!! If you repeat it a hundred million times, that's a hundred million damage, you knooow!!")

Echoing an enjoyable voice, Suzuka charged at the ape again and again. Even if he was grabbed and beaten half to death, even if he was showered with poison and his whole body became covered in blisters, he immediately stood up and charged in.

There was no need to consider the desperate difference in power. The last one standing would win. In that case, there was no reason Suzuka, who wouldn't die, couldn't win.

In the night tree sea where the sun had set and the moon showed its face, Suzuka's laughter echoed through the trees.

◇

How much time had passed since then. It must have been three or four days—at least several days.

Without eating food, without drinking water, without sleeping. Suzuka kept challenging the Cunning Demon Ape Monkey.

At first, it was a one-sided battle—no, it couldn't even be called a battle. If Suzuka approached, the ape would just punch him away looking annoyed. Occasionally he was grabbed and smashed into the ground, or his legs were stopped by poison.

But from the hundreds, thousands of times, the one-sided game came to an end.

"Hey hey hey hey!! Has one hand not become enough anymore, little apes!?"

Until now, just waving his hand would blow Suzuka away with no way to counter. But now, he was able to dodge the ape's attacks and endure for a few seconds.

"BUUUOOOOO!!"

But he was still at the level of dodging the ape's attacks a few times. Suzuka, who was punched by the ape, hit the wall and vomited massive amounts of blood. The ape had six arms. Reading the combination attacks unleashed from each of those long arms was still far from perfect.

Even so, being able to dodge the ape's attacks was an incredible thing. The attacks he couldn't even visually perceive at first, his body was starting to learn from receiving them again and again.

Blown away, he stood up and charged again. Suzuka challenged the ape like a madman.

He had managed to land punches several times so far. But he couldn't break through the ape's excessively hard defense, and he hadn't been able to deal any damage.

Even so, he had been able to punch. Still at the level of maybe once every half day, but Suzuka was certainly growing.

That was fun. Suzuka felt the same elation as when he first entered a dungeon.

"Hey hey hey!! That poison doesn't work on me anymore, does it!?"

The ape scattered poisonous smoke all over the area. If inhaled, internal organs would be shredded to pieces; if touched, blisters would form on skin and rot away—a lethal poison. But for Suzuka, it was already nothing.

Whether he had eaten too much and the status abnormality resistance skill level had gone up, or some other reason, gradually he was becoming able to nullify the ape's poison. Even so, he still felt an itching sensation writhing on his skin enough to roll around, but at this level where Suzuka was so high on adrenaline, it couldn't even become noise.

With blood also flowing from his eyes and ears due to the poison's influence, Suzuka approached the ape.

"VAAAAA VAAA VAAAAAA VAAAAAA VAAAAA VAAAAAA VAAAAA VAAAAAA VAAAAA VAAAAAA!!!"

The raging ape swung his fist down. Suzuka dodged it by a paper's breadth. The moment he dodged, another arm came at him. But Suzuka dodged that too. The ape made attacks from blind spots utilizing his long reach, but Suzuka, who shouldn't have been able to see, dodged even that.

The exchange of offense and defense, as if one second were being stretched several times over. Inside the poisonous fog, Suzuka continued to dodge the ape's attacks without caring.

("This is fun, isn't it! You're having fun too, aren't you!? Right!!!")

No damage was going into the ape at all. Even if he kept fighting like this, he didn't know if he could win.

Even so, Suzuka continued to fight. If he couldn't win now, he just had to grow until he could.

There was no way it was impossible. At first, it hadn't even been a battle. But now, it had come to the stage where he might be able to deal damage.

"BUEHH!!!"

Suzuka, who had been smashed into a wall with bullet-like momentum, charged forward at the ape with eyes shining with madness.

And so, the ape's raging angry voice and Suzuka's joyful screaming continued.

◇

Several days had passed since Suzuka had landed a blow on the ape. He wasn't even counting how many days had passed since he encountered the ape.

Suzuka was able to trade blows with the ape for even longer. As if his first time fighting had been a lie, he was fighting the Cunning Demon Ape Monkey, the area boss of Floor 1, District 5.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

Suzuka's laughter, sounding as if he couldn't have any more fun, echoed through the area. As always, Suzuka's attacks couldn't exceed the ape's defense. But the ape's attacks too were unable to catch Suzuka.

Suzuka, whose strength was greatly inferior, couldn't deflect the ape's attacks. That's exactly why he narrowly dodged the six arms approaching from all directions. The ground where the ape struck his fist caved in and the terrain changed, but even that Suzuka took into account as he dodged.

Targeting the slight gap between attacks that could hardly be called an opening, Suzuka punched the ape. Maybe because the levels of body arts and body control had gone up, whereas at first his punching style was like an amateur's, now he could land attacks with power that wouldn't lose even to a heavyweight champion. Even so, Suzuka's fist was softer than the ape's skin, and Suzuka, who had punched, took more damage.

But there was the feeling of having dealt damage. Although it was at the level of 0 damage reaching maybe 1 damage. If he were going to defeat it at this rate, it would take how many more days—no, how many months.

Even so, having the feeling of dealing damage, being able to realize his growth, was very happy. He could think that what he was doing was right, and that made him face the ape even more.

The ape roared at Suzuka, who kept running around escaping. For the past few days the ape had been losing his temper, but his throat didn't break. Like Suzuka's auto-recovery skill, did the ape also have an auto-recovery function?

The ape clenched both hands and smashed them into the ground. Suzuka dodged that attack, but the ground caved in and his body floated up a little.

"DAMN IT!!")

Without missing a beat, the ape clenched his remaining hands and punched Suzuka. But Suzuka too assumed a stance and guarded against the approaching fist.

The ape's fist was about the size of Suzuka's upper body. Even if he guarded, his arm would shatter and he'd be blown away—that didn't change.

But until now, at the moment he was punched, he hadn't even been able to guard, so the fist would drive into his body, crushing his ribs and rupturing his internal organs. But now, by guarding, his arm shattering was all it took. Even when crashing into a wall, he had become able to take a defensive fall, and gradually the total amount of damage was decreasing.

Being able to take a defensive fall even when blown away meant that he could return to battle that much faster. Immediately, Suzuka ran toward the ape. In response, the ape was striking his three pairs of fists against each other in front of his body.

"Hey hey! How many times do I have to test it before you understand I won't die from that poison!? Can't the ape's brain understand it, maybe!? Because you're an ape, you don't get it, do you!! HEY!!!"

Just as Suzuka said, the ape sprayed lethal poison fog from his three mouths. Until now too he had frequently used poison, but because Suzuka's status abnormality resistance skill had gone up, the effect had been underwhelming. However, the poison the ape spat out now was a lethal poison that pierced through Suzuka's status abnormality resistance skill, which should have gone up in level.

The poisonous fog that hung thick. But Suzuka didn't care and charged in.

The moment he touched it, intense pain should have run through him, but Suzuka didn't stop his legs. His skin rotted, his eyes decayed, and when he breathed, poison invaded his body from every mucous membrane, obstructing his body's functions. Sharp pain ran through him as if rubbing his nerves directly with a steel wool pad, but even so, Suzuka didn't stop.

As soon as it rotted, it was repaired. While the poisonous fog drifted, even if it healed, he would be immediately poisoned again, but the garbled skill immediately healed him again.

The ape probably knew it was like pouring water on a hot stone, but he was still testing it. Just as Suzuka employed various schemes to defeat the ape, the ape too, for the sake of killing Suzuka who wouldn't die no matter how much he killed him, was attacking him by every means possible.

Like a thousand-hand game where neither could land a decisive blow, both Suzuka and the ape continued to fight. But between Suzuka, who would absolutely never die no matter what, and the ape, whose attacks were gradually not landing and who had come to engage in a fistfight, Suzuka had the momentum.

To an outside observer, the ape's overwhelming advantage hadn't changed, and the possibility of Suzuka winning was infinitely close to zero. But Suzuka would absolutely never die. No matter how many attacks he received, no matter what pain he was given, Suzuka would stand up. Even if he couldn't win, as long as he kept standing, Suzuka would not lose.

The fight between the two, which was thought to continue for who knows how many more months, had water poured on it from an unexpected place.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

An unfamiliar electronic sound. In the depths of the dungeon where until now only Suzuka's screaming, the ape's angry voice, and the combat sounds from the battle could be heard—was it that other monsters couldn't mix into a fight with an area boss? There had been no interference at all, not even from the side.

An electronic sound that didn't suit the dungeon. Suzuka, who had ascertained its identity, interrupted his fistfight with the ape and stepped back in the direction of the electronic sound.

("My watch... wasn't broken, huh.")

What he picked up was the wristwatch Suzuka had been wearing. It had probably flown off somewhere during the fight. The belt part was broken, but the main unit seemed to be fine.

Suzuka hadn't moved from the position where he first encountered the ape at all. The ape hadn't dragged Suzuka around either—probably because he was just playing by smashing him into the nearby wall.

The fact that this watch's alarm went off meant that currently, it was 7 AM on January 1st. Since the morning sun was also rising in the dungeon, there was no mistake.

His mother had told him to come home on New Year's Day. If he ignored that, it would be troublesome afterward, and more than anything, from his exploration schedule, if he didn't return now, his parents would be contacted. If that happened, a search party might be dispatched.

Search parties inside dungeons were quite expensive. And if it was a search for District 1, Floor 4, it would be a considerable amount of money. Even though he was safe, to needlessly worry them and make them spend money was not good.

In other words, he had to return home.

"Haa... just when I was in the middle of it, distractions come in, don't they.")

The ape didn't chase after the departing Suzuka. Was it being wary, or did it want him to leave quickly? It might have been both.

("Sorry about this, little ape. I've got to go home now. So I'm going back.")

Suzuka spoke to the ape. The ape only let out a low growl like "vuuruuuruuruu."

He didn't think a monster could understand human words. But Suzuka was convinced it was getting across, and he told the ape so.

("Well, see you later.")

With those words, Suzuka left the ape's presence. The ape didn't chase after him afterward. Whether it felt refreshed that he was gone, or whether it was too insignificant to chase after—.

But Suzuka, for the first time, couldn't defeat a monster and chose to run away showing his back. Even though he had absolutely decided he would defeat it. Suzuka, grinding his teeth in frustration over that fact, headed for the dungeon exit.