part1 · 060-ep60

Episode 60: The First Boss Fight

The Great Ogre raised its club. Ren braced himself.

The next instant—

the massive club came down.

Wham!

The ground shattered open.

"...!"

Ren leapt sideways and dodged. Then put distance between them.

That one blow. Take it head-on, and he wouldn't walk away from it.

"Speed... I'm the faster one, huh."

Ren concentrated magic into his legs.

Body strengthening. Magic Manipulation. Movements he had repeated countless times by now.

He closed in at one burst. Slipped into the Great Ogre's guard and thrust out the spear.

The magic-wreathed spearhead stabbed into the thick hide.

"...Too shallow!"

He yanked the spear back. The Great Ogre flailed its arms.

Ren leapt backward. The club swept past right in front of him. The wind pressure alone rocked his body.

"This thing..."

The power of its attacks was in a different league.

Ren stepped in again. This time his legs. His body. His arms.

Concentrating magic into each for an instant at a time. Dodging the Great Ogre's attacks while driving the spear in again and again.

The wounds kept mounting, little by little.

But—

it didn't fall.

"Not enough...!"

The Great Ogre roared. A giant fist came at him.

Ren dodged.

Right after that, a club swung in a horizontal arc came bearing down on him.

"Kh...!"

He couldn't dodge it completely. In a flash, he held the spear out sideways.

—Clang!

A staggering impact. Ren's body was flung through the air.

"Guh...!"

He tumbled across the ground. Pain shot through him everywhere.

Ren was up at once. But his breathing was ragged, and he'd burned through a good amount of magic, too.

He looked at the Great Ogre once more. Still standing.

"...Strong."

Different from the monsters before it. The fighting style he'd learned wouldn't bring it down easily.

The Great Ogre raised its club again. Ren readied his spear.

But—

his body was heavy. And his magic was running low.

"At this rate..."

He couldn't win.

The Great Ogre stepped in. Ren moved too — but a split second late.

The club came bearing down.

"...!"

And in that moment.

《Survival Adaptation activated.》

The world went silent, just for an instant.

《Beginning adaptation to current threat.》

《Optimizing coordination between Body Strengthening and Magic Manipulation.》

"...!"

A sensation unlike anything before poured into his head.

He could see the flow of magic. Where to send it. When to send it.

His body was coming to understand.

Ren dodged the oncoming club—

by a hair's breadth.

"...That one."

His body felt light.

No.

Not light. The waste was gone.

He hadn't been flooding magic through his whole body. Only at the moments needed. To the places needed.

For just an instant at a time, he was drawing out his full strength.

"With this...!"

Ren stepped in. Magic into his legs. Instant acceleration.

The Great Ogre turned. But Ren was already inside its guard.

He concentrated magic into the spear. Not just the head. Into the spear itself.

Magic ran along the length of the spear.

"—Go!"

He thrust.

—Thud!

The spear punched deep through the Great Ogre's body.

"Gwoooargh!"

The Great Ogre screamed.

Ren tore the spear free. Put distance between them at once.

The Great Ogre staggered hard. Still, it didn't fall.

"Not yet...!"

Ren stepped in once more.

Magic into his legs. His body. His arms. And into the spear.

Linking all of it for a single instant.

The Great Ogre brought its club down. Ren read its arc completely.

Sideways. One more step.

Into its guard.

"This ends—!"

He thrust out the spear. This time, it pierced straight through its guard.

The Great Ogre's massive body swayed.

And—

Thoom!

The giant frame crashed to the ground.

"...Hah..."

Ren stood where he was, breathing hard. He looked at the spear. The magic was already gone.

Even so—

"I won..."

The tenth floor's boss. He had defeated the Great Ogre.

Ren looked at the fallen giant. In that final clash, he had caught a glimpse of his own limits, just a little.

And at the same time—

of how to push past them.

《Combat adaptation through Survival Adaptation complete.》

The display faded.

Ren clenched his fist.

"...I can still get stronger."

The tenth floor. It had taken a long time to make it here.

But beyond here, it only went deeper.

Ren rose slowly. His gaze was turned toward depths of the dungeon he had yet to see.