arc5 · 080-ch80

Arc 5: The Immortal's Coup d'État

Episode 80: Rematch

On Friday, the first day after winter break, Suzuka boarded the Chuo Line the moment school ended.

What enveloped his body was a completely ordinary tracksuit. It wasn't made of any special material, nor from anything that easily conducted mana. Naturally, it had no anti-cutting functionality or anything like that—it was just a tracksuit that felt good to wear.

His favorite tracksuit, purchased during summer vacation, had been completely ruined in his previous exploration. Although he had bought a second one, since this exploration might also leave it tattered, he decided to wear a commercially available tracksuit on the assumption it would break.

His destination was Tokyo Dungeon. To defeat the Cunning Demon Ape Monkey, the area boss of District 5 on Floor 1.

This dungeon exploration would continue until the evening of Monday, Coming of Age Day, which was a holiday. Naturally, he had obtained his parents' permission in advance. As long as he returned in time for dinner like always, it was fine, but unlike Hachioji Dungeon, Tokyo Dungeon was far away, so he needed to leave earlier than usual.

Both Tokyo Dungeon and Hachioji Dungeon have the same monsters appearing on Floor 1. In District 5 of Hachioji Dungeon too, the area boss ape monkey would appear. In that case, going to the closer Hachioji Dungeon would be more efficient.

But Suzuka didn't just want to defeat an ape monkey. He wanted to defeat that ape monkey—the one Suzuka couldn't defeat and had to flee from.

If this were a regular monster, Suzuka might have given up, but fortunately, area bosses are always in the same place, so finding it is easy. Plus, in District 5, very few explorers venture that deep, so there's a low possibility the ape monkey has already been defeated.

It might not be perfect, but Suzuka had spent the past few days simulating bare-handed combat. Today would be the day those results become clear.

"Heh heh heh. Within these three days, I'll conquer the District 5 area boss."

With a dark smile on his face, Suzuka rode the swaying train, heading for Tokyo Dungeon.

◇

Tokyo Dungeon Floor 1 District 3. Before Suzuka, who was in the hilly terrain of District 3, a forest spread out. From here onward was the Floor 1 District 4 area.

Without getting tense, Suzuka stepped into District 4. Suzuka ran through District 4, a forest area, without particular difficulty. Thanks to the strengthening from surpassing level 50 and Body Control reaching level 7, all his movements flowed smoothly and connected like liquid.

Along the way, when he found treasure chests, he collected their contents. Perhaps because few explorers venture into Districts 4 and 5 of Tokyo Dungeon, treasure chests were scattered here and there. Since they were placed in spots hard to notice at a glance, there were probably some he overlooked, but since treasure chests weren't his objective, he proceeded without searching.

He saw monsters along the way too, but ignored them all. He ran Presence Concealment at full power to avoid being detected. Suzuka, who advocated the theory that imagery influences skills, proceeded forward while imagining that his presence was erased by Presence Concealment.

Although Presence Concealment had risen to level 4, he wanted to raise it even more if possible. When Suzuka got tangled up with villains, he wanted to use Presence Concealment to vanish from sight, then place a knife against the neck of the searching villains and say, "Right here." To execute such a cool move, he needed to raise Presence Concealment's skill level. Though he can't hold a knife because of Holy God's Creed.

That ambition of Suzuka's, which he barely understood himself, was necessary, but there was another urgent reason to raise Presence Concealment's skill level. That was because monsters in Districts 4 and 5 could see through poor Presence Concealment.

Suzuka's current level is 52. At this level, he fought the ape monkey and couldn't win, so he tucked his tail and fled. That's why, to wash away that humiliation, he needed to defeat the ape monkey while at level 52. To build a track record proving he could have defeated it if he had kept going as he was.

If he got discovered by other monsters and ended up in combat, his level might rise. District 5 monsters are at least level 70, so if he defeated them, his level would definitely go up.

To defeat the ape monkey in the state he was in when he fled. This is an unreasonable constraint Suzuka set for himself, but he also believes that growing comes only by winning under that constraint.

Suzuka, rendered immortal by Holy God's Creed, thinks that risks in dungeons have decreased. Risk means the degree of danger to life, and Suzuka thinks being immortal means being in the state with absolutely no risk. If you don't take risks, skills won't grow and stats won't increase.

But at least fighting a level 120 area boss ape monkey while at level 52—the dungeon seemed to be judging this as high risk, so there was also the intent to maintain that relationship.

Gradually, the grass at his feet thinned, and the trees became dense. The sun had already set and the surroundings were dark, but since branches and leaves overlapped to block even the starlight, it was even darker.

But Suzuka, whose Night Vision skill was manifesting, wasn't affected by darkness. It was a skill that had manifested before he knew it, since he had been fighting regardless of day or night, but it was a considerably useful skill.

"Oh, crossed the boundary with District 5. Let's get pumped up."

Confirming he had stepped into District 5 by the sensation of crossing the area boundary. He had managed to get through District 4 without being discovered by other monsters. He wanted to continue like this and get to the ape monkey.

Suzuka continued forward, as if hiding in the darkness, yet trying not to change his movement speed.

Before he knew it, he had arrived at the location of the wall where he had fought the ape monkey last time. There were other monsters too, but perhaps because Presence Concealment at skill level 4 worked, or perhaps because of the correction from Suzuka's imagery, he was able to move without being discovered.

"Right, it was going over that way."

Suzuka advanced in the direction the ape monkey had walked away, after Suzuka had stopped moving. Gradually, an ominous presence drifted out, and he could feel the aura unique to the strong.

"Well, I suppose it would notice. Not that I planned to ambush it anyway."

Cunning Demon Ape Monkey: Level 120

Before Suzuka's gaze sat the ape monkey, one of the strongest existences on Floor 1. Around the ape monkey, which sat on a large rock, there were no other monsters. The ape monkey doesn't seem to be the type to fight in cooperation with other monsters.

Six thick, long arms grew from its body, and corresponding to the number of arms, it had three faces. The ape monkey, with the appearance of a statue like some three-faced, six-armed deity, was considerably large. Even while sitting, it easily exceeded three meters. If it stood on two legs, it would probably be five meters.

Such an ape monkey, even when it saw Suzuka, didn't immediately attack. The front face wore a bored expression as if tired of this world, making it hard to read emotions from it.

But Suzuka was certain that the ape monkey before his eyes was the one he had fought last time. Suzuka's instincts were screaming: defeat the ape before your eyes and wash away the disgrace.

"Yo, long time no see, Boss of the Mountain... hey, no minions around either. What happened? Because of that nasty poison, you don't have any friends?"

While throwing out a light jab, he made mana surge through his whole body. Preparation for Body Reinforcement was perfect. The imagery for the Body Arts skill had been considerably reinforced over the past few days. The image of smashing a sword with a fist wasn't solidified yet, but in his delusions, he had beaten the ape monkey countless times.

"Payback for last time——"

Before he finished speaking, the ape monkey's fist was already before his eyes. That massive fist was about the size of Suzuka's upper body.

Frantic at the speed as if it had teleported, he somehow dodged the fist with a backstep. But the ape monkey has six arms. Even if he dodged one, the follow-up fist was already closing in.

"Guh!!"

A moment later than the first fist, as if hiding behind it, another fist was brought down and caught Suzuka from the front. He managed to react and defend, but there's no way a mere level 52 defense could withstand a single blow from a level 120 area boss.

The fist crushed his defense, drove into his face, smashing his nose and shattering his teeth, and as Suzuka was slammed into the ground, he went bouncing away amusingly. But the ape monkey's attacks didn't end there. Before Suzuka could regain his posture, the ape monkey initiated an attack.

When it struck Suzuka's back with a hand blade, his spine couldn't endure it and bent backward. Immediately repaired by Holy God's Creed, but as he tried to regain his posture, his nervous system had been damaged even for an instant, so his movements became sluggish. The ape monkey didn't allow that.

It generated poison that even pierced Suzuka's status abnormality resistance, further hindering his movement. Skin rotted from the poison, internal organs melted into sludge, and while Holy God's Creed repaired it, he was tormented by unbearable pain, but perhaps due to Pain Dullness skill, Suzuka counterattacked against the ape monkey as if feeling no pain at all.

Ducking beneath the ape monkey's storm-like attacks, he finally landed a single blow. But the one that took damage was Suzuka's fist. He couldn't smash through the ape monkey's defense, and the bones of Suzuka's fist shattered and were immediately repaired.

Even though he had the image of punching through even iron plates, the result was that he couldn't even leave a single wound on the ape monkey's belly. The ape monkey skillfully used its six arms plus its tail, and even mixed in the dirty trick of poison, never yielding the initiative to Suzuka.

Even when Suzuka tried to pull back, he couldn't create distance because of the difference in body size. Even if he tried to close in for infighting, the bare-handed ape monkey was also a master of infighting; he was grabbed by the scruff, had all the bones in his body crushed, and was then slammed onto the ground with full force like a playing card.

As Suzuka bounced on the ground, the ape monkey gripped both hands like hammers and brought them down repeatedly, attacking to kill Suzuka. But since he recovered even when attacked, there was no end to it. In the gap when the ape monkey reached out to grab him and tear him apart, Suzuka backed away, finally escaping the ape monkey's fierce assault.

"Haa, haa.... Okay, okay. Got it, got it."

Despite taking that much damage, Suzuka was unharmed. But the tracksuit, which should have been new, now in tatters, told him that the attacks from the ape monkey just now were not an illusion. In just a single exchange, the completely ordinary tracksuit had been reduced to a miserable sight, so stained with Suzuka's blood and dirt that you couldn't tell its original color.

"Me too, you know, I kind of had a feeling. If you could get stronger just by reading manga, I'd be a S〇-yan by now."

Rotating his arms and shoulders as if to check his body's condition. In his delusions, by now the ape monkey should have been beaten up by Suzuka and whining, but delusions are just delusions.

The image training cultivated from manga couldn't raise the Body Arts skill level and couldn't land effective hits on the ape monkey either. But Suzuka didn't give up.

Imagery greatly influences skills. He felt this way of thinking was not wrong. If so, then reading books to cultivate imagination, and reading manga where it's easy to concretize imagery, should be effective.

"Well, it's only the first time. There's no shortage of opponents to test the results of practice, so humor me."

"VOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Toward the raging ape monkey, as if rejecting Suzuka's proposal, Suzuka charged in again and again and again and again, as if looking for trouble.