3 bar menu

Chapter 423

Day 98 – Daytime, Dungeon, 80F

Smooth progress, smooth descent, and we’ve already reached the 80th floor. The lovely nun equipment training session came to an end, after which the Girls returned to their rugged armor, and in the blink of an eye blazed through the mid-levels. Certainly, their armor is still pretty sexy clinging to the body and outlining every feminine curve, but compared to the ultra-tight nun habits, it just doesn’t quite do it for the Highschool Boy.

「Up front, don’t clash! Redirect them! Just surround and whittle them down!」

「「「Jaa!」」」

「But is it really okay not to stop them?」

「If you try to take it head-on, you’ll get crushed. Even if it’s not okay, just let it slide!」

Still, from the 80th floor onward, the pace dropped drastically. That means the margin for safety is just that small at this point. Steady, gradual strength gains are safer and more reliable, but maybe out of impatience, they just want to go deeper and deeper. At the inn, they obsessively repeat anti-personnel combat drills. In the Dungeon, they focus on teamwork and leveling up.

And Sister Girl, likely the most desperate among them, seeing the Girls’ resolution just silently swings her sword with single-minded focus. She’s already a head above the rest of the church group. There’s no hesitation in her blade. Putting it nicely, it means she’s committed to staking her life on the sword. Putting it less nicely, it means her feelings outweigh her fear of death.

Equipment steadily increases via hidden rooms and drops, but major finds are rare. Still, as long as even small gains are made it’s all good. Even if it’s tedious, those incremental upgrades also increase the odds of survival. As they say, 『Dust amassed makes a mountain』 or 『a constant drip wears through stone.』 …Those two supposedly mean the same thing, but I wish the proverbs would pick one, amassing or eroding. If you’re doing both, you’re stuck in a loop and not making progress!

Pres, Bitch Leader, and other party leaders, are not using their signature weapons. Inside enemy territory, the Theocracy, it’s likely would turn into a constant combat, without room for rest, so equipment that consumes too much MP is probably seen as impractical for regular use.

Still, even when riddled with arrows and spears, turned into a walking pincushion, the bull-san charges on, cheerfully, even, chasing after high school girl butts. Though maybe it’s not butts he’s after, but I don’t know (and don’t want to know) the exact nature of a bull’s fetishistic inclinations.

Tough and stubborn. Whether he’s also stubborn and inflexible, I can’t say, but this giant demon ox, 『Behemoth Lv 80』, just keeps charging no matter how much he gets stabbed or slashed. A massive specimen, but apparently not wagyu. Yep, no wagyu seal on this one. Which means he’s not fake-branded, it’s an honest original Floor Boss Behemoth, asking to go into a pot.

「VWOOOOOOOOOOOOH!」(Jiggle-Jiggle~!)

Yeah, sorry. Looks like its patience finally ran out. Slime-san is bouncing after the bull now, clearly intending to eat him. Well, it is beef after all?

Well, can’t be helped now, so I step forward. Armored Pres-san goes even further forward, so Dancing Girl-san moves even further ahead to cover, and while they’re doing that, I leap into the frontmost line. Then Armored Pres-san bursts ahead, and Dancing Girl-san vaults over her. I blast through the air, ending up running shoulder to shoulder in a dead heat, trambling and hacking the annoying bull into pieces, finally turning him into Slime-san’s food. While I managed to cut off one leg, they cut off three legs, a head, and a tail. So one leg is my entire contribution this time?

「Come on, it’s all because you were all teasing and bullying the bull with your 『Come and catch us~ Ufufufufu~』 play, and because of that, Slime-san couldn’t bear the temptation of delicious beef and went for a bite! The four of us were sitting here, dying of boredom since we had nothing to do, and you are just playing with food? Maybe ban this teasing play? Right, Slime-san?」(Jiggle-Jiggle!)

I got a lot of Flat Gaze on me, but I put a hard emphasis on that point. Which sounds nice, but if a Highschool Boy focuses hard on something, it’s usually sexual in nature. That’s just how it goes.

「Look, yeah, it took a while, but we weren’t teasing the bull or anything!」

「Who was it that said 『Come and catch me~ Ufufufufu~』 to the bull! I didn’t say that! And if it did catch us, we’d be screwed!」

「I mean, 『Come and catch me』just not happening?」

「Yeah, and 『Ufufufufu~』 is even less so.」

「But to oneshot that tanky behemoth like that…」

「Yeah, oneshot my confidence along with it? Like, I knew it, but seeing it myself hits different.」

If we take too long, we’ll keep the Delivery Health onee-san waiting, and more importantly, from a Highschool Boy perspective, a gorgeous delivery health onee-san should be welcomed properly. That said, if I went with the traditional, long-passed-down Highschool Boy ritual of naked seiza for a greeting (kneeling respectfully while nude), she’d probably reverse-change on me and bounce.

「Okay, everyone move out.」「「「Okaaay~」」」

Pres-sama’s leading the group. LIke, you can argue that it is a sort of off-campus activity, but since we can’t go back to school, it feels more like an expulsion risk. Still, since we got isekai’d in the middle of attending school, we should technically still be 『Present』. We just can’t actually end the school day? I got teleported still wearing my indoor shoes? I wonder if my regular shoes are alright?

「We’re past 80th floor now, so stay sharp.」「「「Okaa~ay!」」」

When I say the exact same line, it never sharpens anything. But when Pres says it, suddenly everyone’s alert. Still, with the girls’ current gear, everything past this point is the danger zone, loaded with all kinds of risk, so they shouldn’t be allowed past the 80th floor. They really shouldn’t, but they want to. Probably out of allowance. Yeah, I’m broke too, so I get it.

The lower floors do offer insane profits, but at the cost of stepping into an area where survival can’t be guaranteed. Everyone’s always worrying about me, but I’ve got a LuK stat that’s broken past LvMAX limits. In probability theory sense that’s not even a Cheat anymore, and more of a total fraud. And since I’m jobless, I get zero passive buffs from any job, but on the flip side, I’m not bound by any job restrictions either. Yeah, that’s jobless for ya.

So as long as its weapons that have no level restriction I can use any. My destructive output from just my gear already qualifies as cheat-level. I’m just a little weak, just a little brittle, ending up self-destructing a tiny bit as I fight. But in terms of raw firepower, I’m already Dungeon Emperor-class. That’s why I can safely resolve everything by just killing them before they kill me. Simple and easy.

One-shotting the Behemoth, a beast boasting infinite regeneration and absurd durability, makes it clear. Moreover, not a single limb lost, a clean win. Perfect.

Sure, the girls could have taken down the Behemoth too if Pres and the others used their strongest equipment and maxed-out firepower. But it would’ve drained all their MP in just one battle.

And in this world, running out of MP is the same as dying. Monsters don’t stop just because you’re out of juice. They aren’t gonna go『Oh, you’re OOM? I’ll wait』. No, this is a terrifying world where even the Dungeon Emperors just say, 『Nice!』 and jump straight at you?! Yeah, running out of MP as a Highschool Boy’s led to running dry on many things too. Every night becomes a crisis of dwindling Highschool Boy essence! Since Dancing Girl-san’s been teaching all kinds of things, now even Armored Pres-san has picked up some crazy techniques, like, seriously crazy. So now it’s double crazy!

「We couldn’t finish it off, huh~」 「Yeah, you have put some damage on it, even at a risk, or it’s just gonna drag out?」 「You can’t be taking risks, comeon.」 「But a war of attrition isn’t good either~.」 「There just wasn’t a good chance to end it, you know~」 「Status effects and magic getting nullified or resisted really hurts.」 「We probably could’ve done it, if we spent all of our MP?」 「No! That is absolutely not allowed!」 「You just need more damage…」 「「「Yeah, can’t argue after seeing that~.」」」

It feels a bit harsh to say that in conclusion they’re just lacking power, but monsters aren’t supposed to be easy to defeat in the first place. They’re strong, tough, overflowing with vitality, real monsters. Normally, they don’t just instantly die, get blown apart, or get eaten. Even with powerful weapons and levels over 100, monsters on the lower floors become nearly impossible to take down cleanly. And the longer the fight drags out, the more the statistical likelihood of status ailments increases. Yeah, normally, a Behemoth doesn’t get chopped up and eaten while mooing? I think? But well, it was apparently delicious, so I guess that’s fine then. Slime-san seems pretty satisfied, after all? Jiggle-Jiggle?. So cute?

(Jiggle-Jiggle~)

Yup, cute is justice.

It’s not『justice wins』 or 『winners are justice』, no, no. Cute is justice. Jiggle-Jiggle. A supremely obvious truth.

And so, we swiftly go through the 81st, 82nd, and 83rd floors. They are ridiculously strong when it comes to the enemies that are just strong or large groups. The swallows got counter-swallowed, the crocs got croc’d, and even the dolls got played with and wrecked by those professionally played by those doll-play veterans. But on the 84th floor had『Armored Cobra Lv 84』. Tough, fast, slithery. Ground-level enemies are hard to hit, and this one even randomly leaps. Sadly for it, though, none of them seem to have much talent in the 『Slithery』 category. Pretty useless snakes, honestly. However, a massive sea of venomous snakes armed with 『Deadly Poison』『Lethal Poison』and all sorts of status effects.

「Circle formation! Hold the line! We freeze them and then smash!」

「「「Jaa!」」」

The key is not letting them touch you. Focus on defense. Use AOE to compensate for your inferior numbers, weaken them, and cut them down. Calm and clean, smart fighting. Now it all depends on whether their gear can withstand a drawn-out battle. Keep it to as few hits taken as possible, everything will depend on how Resistances will work.

They spit powerful acids and poisons even from afar. But the armor holds. It’s not so poorly made that it would melt from something as basic as an acid from 80th floor. Still, if they were in nun habits, a drawn-out battle would’ve been impossible. The acid would’ve slowly eaten away at them. I would like to see it, but… acid’s a no-go. Unlike『Corrosion』Acid is an unusable skill that dissolves the body itself. But that’s also what makes it so dangerous.

「Raise shields! Avoid getting hit above all else! Just don’t let them get close!」

「「「Jaa!」」」

They’re starting to take hits they can’t dodge, but no debuffs so far. If that chance is truly 0%, then all good. But if even one person gets poisoned, even if it’s a microscopic decimal-point chance that’s not none, that’s some. Then it would be a defeat. We’ve got items ready, just in case, but they’re more like lucky charms, just psychological insurance. While gripping a mushroom, I keep scanning everyone’s condition without pause.

No, it’s a healing mushroom, okay? I’m watching over girls in armor slowly getting covered in slime and goo, so I’m gripping a healing mushroom? Not an MP mushroom? That wouldn’t work.

「Prioritize the high-density groups! Frontliners, hold those at close range! Vice B-san, standby for healing, don’t push forward, okay?」

「「「Jaa!」」」 「Jaadaayo~」

Yeah, 『Jaadaayo~』 is not a proper reply. I can’t tell if that’s 『No, I don’t wanna』 or 『Roger that, yay~』 or some emotionally conflicted mix of both. I just wish they’d pick one already.

「Shimazaki-san, I’m counting on you when the moment comes. Until then, please hold back.」

「I know! Agh, but it’s so frustrating, there are so many of them!」

The Bitch Leader has drawn her Spear of Eternal Ice, but hasn’t activated it. Against snakes, casting Ice Array would wipe them out instantly, but the MP cost is just too high. In the end, the stronger the weapon, the more limitations it comes with. Even with MP batteries it won’t be enough to cover that.

If you have something like Mana Absorption like I do, replenishing batteries is easy, but MP recovery alone there is a limit to how much MP one can recover in a day, and even if one made a huge MP battery, it would just become impossible to keep it full. According to that book, Skill Analysis, 『Mana Absorption』 isn’t even a human skill. 『Regeneration』 either. Humans apparently don’t do that. Is that book trying to tell me something? Well, Pres might be able to Plunder it, but for everyone else, it seems impossible to learn normally.

If it’s snakes, we could just toss in Slime-san and trigger Ice Array. Then we’d have a heaping plate of cold snake set meal, problem solved, quick and easy. Slime-san probably eats MP and HP too, so its recovery’s fast.

Even though they are limited to Lv48 because of me, the Dungeon Emperor group alone is more than enough to wipe out a dungeon, as long as it’s not darkness, bugs, or gross stuff, or Gs. But there’s no way I’d send those three, who were trapped alone in the Dungeon for so long, back down there again. That’s just my selfishness. The girls have no reason to push themselves into danger for my sake. We can handle it… except the bugs and the Gs? That’s all on you guys? Yeah, nope. Miss us with that stuff? Darkness is still better.

They avoid getting hit, keep close-quarters combat minimal, and focus on tight defense, finally, the end of the snake sea is coming in sight. Still no status ailments so far.

「Draw swords, commence extermination! Charge!!」

「「「Roger-yaa! Annihilation start! Destroy!!」」」「「「HYAAAHHH!!」」」

Looks like some of the girls have finally hit their breaking point and gone full post-apocalypse mode. Shouting 『Snakes must be cleansed!』 might make them sound like passionate reptile lovers, but it seems they just mean massacre.

「Skewer ‘em!」 「Gonna slice them into pieces!」 「Let’s just do rough chops.」 「Wait, julienning… sounds really hard!」 「Into shavings!」 「Wait, what’s the difference between minced and diced again?」 「Then let’s go with strip slicing?」 「Uh… maybe quarter moons?」 「Uhh, okay, then shredded?」 「For covering a maiden in slime, their crime is grave!」 「Ughh, their wiggling makes matchstick cuts hard.」 「Mince was so annoying to do~」 「Wedges didn’t work on snakes either!」 「Actually, if we’re slicing them, does that just make it rough cut?」 「Yeah, and we’re gonna get overcharged again for cleaning this armor.」 「「「Unforgivable!!」」」

At first glance, it kind of sounds like they’re flexing their girl power, but in this snake massacre incident, the shaving slice girl might be the most brutal offender, top of the Most Wanted list. Runner-up goes to mincing, and third place to julienne. If you’re using it in battle, 『half-moon cut』has the coolest ring, but shredded has a bad image thanks to Mitsunari? And the fact that no one mentioned homey little cuts like fine or ring slicing shows their 『girly power』 is kind of lacking, but their murder power is clearly excessive. Yeah. Let’s just cut them normally, okay?

(The snakes were deliciously consumed by Slime-san afterwards. Jiggle-Jiggle)