Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
「Originally, this is not a proper kitchen so I hope you’ll excuse me.」
Soara put the contents of the can into the pot and proceeded to stir and season it.
I was fascinated by the flow of her work.
She finished it all off by serving the food on plates. After which she bowed once before the food.
「… I made it quickly so I don’t know if it will fit your taste.」
「Whoa! It looks delicious!!」
The finished food looked way better than one you would see even at restaurants.
But even so, Silverie seemed sceptical as she looked at the food.
「… It might be poisoned.」
「But it’s good.」 said Milly while having her mouth stuffed with food.
You should at least be a little cautious.
「… I don’t think there’s anything that seems to be particularly harmful.」 said Shirushu as she licked a bit of the food which she had scooped with her pinkie.
Shirushu’s tongue was sensitive. She was able to differentiate whether a food was old or not by just smelling it.
After Shirushu gave the food a thumbs up everyone, as if being guided by their hungry stomachs, reached their hands for the plates.
「It really is delicious!」
「Hmm, only a professional can use the things they have on hand to turn them into something delicious… Good job Soara-chan.」
Claude and Lydia both praised her.
I tried the food as well and it really was delicious.
I never thought that I’d get to eat such good food deep within a Dungeon.
A rumbling sound was heard… It was probably because she was watching everyone, but Silverie’s stomach signalled that it was empty as well.
Soara immediately served up a small portion and presented it to Silverie.
「Please.」
「….Tsch!」
Silverie took the food with a face that said *It can’t be helped*
However, when she put the food in her mouth her eyes opened up. And then without a single word, she began to mow down the food.
She usually has a fairly unbalanced diet, but she seems to like it a lot.
After Silverie finished eating her portion Soara handed her a napkin.
「How was it?」
「… It was delicious. Really delicious.」
It seems like she acknowledged Soara.
Silverie was usually pretty cold towards strangers, however she became really easy-going around people she had acknowledged.
「Well then, how about we do this. We’ll look after Soara until we escape from the Dungeon. We’ll decide what to do with her afterwards.」 I proposed.
「Yea, yea, let’s do that!」 said Milly while she was tapping her hand on Silverie’s shoulder.
With a tired look Silverie whispered out.
「… Do as you please.」
「YEY!! Thank you Silverie-san. Soara, we did it!!」
「… But I still don’t trust her completely. If she does something shady I’ll immediately eliminate her.」
「That’s a given. After all my reason to exist is to be helpful to people.」 said Soara with a blank look.
Under Soara’s intensity Silverie couldn’t say anything else.
So her reason to exist is to help people huh… The automaton Soara… We seem to have gotten another strange companion.
With Soara following us we went even further ahead.
Monsters really don’t come out here.
「There really are no monsters here.」 I said softly
「After all there is a barrier placed within the laboratory that is set to deploy in case of an emergency.」 replied Soara to my remark.
I see, that has a point. The most important facilities within cities are also built around places with thin mana. That just goes to show how important this place is.
After continuing down the straight passage we encountered a door.
When we opened it a small room, with numerous buttons stuck to the wall, revealed itself.
「What’s this?」
「It’s something similar to an elevator. If you press the button it will go down to the lower floor.」 「Whoa, so I should just press this then?」
「Please wait.」 said Soara stopping Milly as she had stretched out her hand, about to press the button.
「The lower floor is used to manufacture combat automatons. I’m afraid that they have turned into powerful monsters due to this place turning into a Dungeon. I believe it’s better if we don’t proceed any further.」
「We broke through the front of this Dungeon turned city. You don’t need to worry.」
「That’s right♪ If it gets dangerous I’ll protect you. So let’s go together Soara!!」 said Milly
「… Understood. If that’s the case I cannot deny.」
Soara didn’t resist at all when Milly grabbed her hand.
As the elevator moved a feeling of drifting came over me.
「Wh! What’s this?!!」
「… It probably works with some kind of pulley mechanism which allows it to move between the upper and lower rooms.」
A similar mechanism was currently being used in a number of places inside the capital.
However, most, if not all of the mechanisms were powered by brute force and none of them crossed such a distance.
This really is a spectacular piece of engineering.
A thudding sound rang out and the door opened.
In the back of the passage before us, the slight presence of monsters could be felt.
Shirushu was also frowning.
「I can smell a lot of monsters further up.」
「Don’t push yourselves too much.」 I said
「I know♪」 replied Milly energetically, even though she was the one I was most worried about.
As soon as we stepped onto the floor of the room something happened.
Cracking sounds were heard and a dazzling light shined down from directly above us.
「Whoa?!!That’s bright!!」
「Whenever a person sets foot inside here the power automatically turns on.」 said Soara
We were blinded by the light for only a moment and our eyes soon got used to it.
The area was covered in the unpleasant smell of oil and scrap iron. There were also some incomplete automatons that were placed all over the place.
Was it for safety I wonder, however the inside of the floor was divided with iron rails, making it seem narrower than it really was.
Production lines no doubt.
There were also a large number of parts placed all over the place.
Soara then stepped in front of us.
「It seems like there really are automatons that turned into monsters…」
A moving sound could be heard from the direction that Soara was facing.
Something suddenly jumped out at high speed from the passage’s corner.
There small, round shaped automatons appeared.
Their bodies blinked and then blades appeared out of their disk like bodies.
They charged at us while the blades spun rapidly around them.
「J-450 cleaning automatons.」
「… So they’re planning to clean us out huh.」
「This is not the time for jokes, Zeph-kun.」
「Blue Gale!!」
Milly immediately fired off a Blue Gale.
However, the so-called J-450 used a zig-zag manoeuvre in order to evade it.
To think they’d be able to avoid the wide-ranged Blue Gale… They’re small, but they have quite the mobility.
「Lydia! Claude! I’m counting on you!」
「Got it!!」 said Lydia as she dashed off, wielding her axe.
These guys’ movements were certainly fast… they were probably quite light due to their small size.
「….Fu!!」 exhaled Lydia softly, following which she swung her axe with all of her might.
The axe sent one of the J-450 crashing into the wall. The J-450’s blades struck the wall and buried themselves in it, unable to move.
The J-450 tried to move the blades, but they wouldn’t budge.
「Kuro-chan! One went over there!」
「I’m on it! Milly-san please step back.」
「O-Okay!!」
Another J-450 was moving towards Milly from a different direction. Claude stood in front of that J-450 and raised her shield.
She received the enemy attack. I waited for the moment when Claude flicked off the J-450 and cast Time Square.
While time was frozen I cast Blue Sphere twice.
――Double Spell Synthesis Double Blue Sphere.
The J-450 collided with the lump of water. As it collided with the water it began to spin wildly within it.
After a bit it stopped spinning and fell to the ground, never to move again.
Automatons were powered by electricity so they were weak towards water. They couldn’t escape from that characteristic even when they turned into monsters.
The J-450 disappeared alongside a white smoke.
「I’ll help as well!!」 said Milly as she set her sight on the last J-450 and cast Blue Gale.
Milly made sure that her attack would certainly hit…… However, it didn’t.
The J-450 let out a sound that sounded like it was mocking Milly.
It then blew out white smoke and charged at high speed.
「No way!!!」
「Milly!」
Just as I jumped out in order to protect her, Soara appeared before Milly.
Soara’s metal right arm let out a metallic sound as it moved with tremendous speed.
「… I’ll dispose of it.」 whispered out softly Soara and then her rapidly rotating hand landed on the J-450.
A ringing sound was heard and the J-450 stopped its movements.
Soara’s hand had pierced through the J-450.
「T-Thank you…」
「I only did what was natural.」
Soara’s hand then rotated back to normal.
It seemed like Soara’s right hand had the function of a drill.
And just as a drill it had drilled through the J-450’s body.
She pierced through the hard automaton’s body with just one strike… What tremendous destructive power.
Including me, everyone else was shocked as well.
「Phew! You really are strong Soara-chan.」
「You’re all really strong as well. Though it might have not been much I’m glad I was able to help.」 said Soara as she bowed once and then stepped back.
She wants to show us that she doesn’t intend to butt in huh…
Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
5
After that Soara ended up helping us at the crucial moments during combat.
She was holding back to the utmost, but she still lent us a hand at the place where we really needed it. None of us could complain.
She truly is someone that I’d want on our team. She might turn out to be more useful than a certain someone.
「Soara you’re amazing!」 said Milly
「…. She really is.」
… And by the way that certain someone ended up being saved by Soara the most.
And even though she bragged about how she’d protect her if anything dangerous happened. Well it’s not like I didn’t know that I’d turn out this way though…
After progressing even further on, the floor’s appearance changed.
It turned from a messy production facility into a pure white, tremendously wide room.
It was an enormous room in which one could probably even fit in a whole castle or two.
「This is the experiments room. The automaton’s battle power is measured here.」
It really was the ideal place from combat. It also looked like they could even test out some pretty bid automatons in here.
I looked up and saw a room that was protected with a glass screen. That was probably the place where the researchers used in order to look at the fighting automatons.
Behind the glass screen I could see a number of machines that I had seen before. It was similar to the laboratory that we saw before.
「Hm…?」
I suddenly felt something move inside that room.
Am I imagining things…? No, I’m sure it saw a figure of a person…
As I was lost in thought a high pitched sound rang out!!
It was the sound of a loud alarm.
There was a huge door in front of us that began opening while at the same time, the door that we had just entered through began to close.
「Everyone, please get back!」 said Shirushu as her tail stood up.
A powerful monster was coming. Even if Shirushu hadn’t warned us we could figure it out.
The sound coming from within the door became louder and louder and then it appeared.
It was a roundish silver giant.
This should be the boss at the lowest level of the Tiros Abandoned Factory.
Apocrypha
Level 95
Magic Power Level 9,753,432 / 9,753,432
… Its Magic Power was close to 10,000,000. Apocrypha was one of the top ranked bosses.
It was of the same rank as the Satan Wraith that we had encountered back in the East Continent’s Wanarta City Ruins.
The Mana that a Dungeon lets out becomes stronger with time, and stronger monsters begin to appear.
That is how most of the bosses appear. However, if an enormous creature, the corpse of a person with a strong will, or even a building end up becoming monsters, then there is a possibility that a particularly powerful boss will be born. Those are the so called top ranked bosses.
Their Magic Power Level is close to 10 times higher than that of normal bosses, and their fighting prowess isn’t normal.
It was able to wipe out all of us with just a single swing.
The moment Apocrypha began moving, the door from which it came out closed.
It seems like we’re trapped.
「……」
Milly was completely lost for words before Apocrypha’s intimidating air.
Everyone else looked to be the same.
The pressure they were receiving due to the level difference was huge.
Even I, who was relatively accustomed to confronting top ranked bosses, was shaking.
As all of us shook in fear, only Silverie stepped forward.
「Apocrypha huh.」
She calmly began chanting a cast a strengthening spell on herself.
That’s right. This is different from the time where we had to fight the Satan Wraith. Silverie’s level is over 90 and everyone else has grown as well. We have the power to fight against Apocrypha.
「――, ――, … Black Zero.」
As people often say, victory goes to the one that makes the first move. Silverie took that saying literally as she cast a high-speed chant Black Zero.
The spear of black wind struck at Apocrypha’s right leg, forcing it to lean.
But even so Apocrypha didn’t stop charging at us without any fear. It was then that I remembered a certain strategy.
Apocrypha’s movements were dull and it was a boss that had no ranged attacks.
It was possible with Silverie here.
「Everyone, come here.」
「Eh? EH? W-Wait?!」
I grabbed Milly’s hand and ran in the opposite direction of Silverie.
Within the spacious room, I and Silverie were situated on both sides of Apocrypha, placing it in the middle of us.
「Silverie, let’s go with Mirrored Attack.」
「…Hmph. I was planning on that since the beginning.」 saying that Silverie took her position just as I had expected.
It was a collaborative technique, so I thought that the Silverie wouldn’t know about it, due to being a loner, but she seemed to have some knowledge about it.
「Hey, what’s Mirrored Attack?」 asked Milly.
「Just watch.」
「GRRRRRRRR!!」
Apocrypha let out a huge roar and charged at Silverie.
However, that was completely fine. It was according to plan.
I faced my palm towards Apocrypha’s back and cast Time Square.
While time was stopped I cast Red Blast twice.
――Double Spell Synthesis Double Red Blast
The scorching hot line drew an ark and landed on Apocrypha’s back.
The radiating light aimed at a single spot and as it hit it burst forth with flames, covering the giant’s body.
Apocrypha’s metal body turned deep red and white smoke began to rise.
「ARGHHHH?!」
It let out a roar of pain and turned towards me.
It glared at me with its eyes that had turned deep red from anger.
It ignored Silverie and charged at me.
「OH NO!! It’s coming at us!!」
「Don’t worry.」
Apocrypha was just a few steps away from squashing us when suddenly its movements stopped.
That was because this time Silverie’s Black Zero had landed on its back.
Apocrypha then, once again, turned towards Silverie.
「… Why did it go there?」
「Monsters have the habit of prioritizing the person that has attacked them. And Mirrored Attack uses that habit of theirs.」
After sandwiching the monster both parties would attack from both sides.
Just like mirrors facing each other… That was Mirrored Attack.
But sandwiching the enemy and attacking it from both sides it was possible to seal its attacks.
「Milly, slow it’s movement with Green Wall.」
「O-Okay!」
After Milly cast Green Wall, ivy made out of magic power burst forth and wrapped itself around Apocrypha’s legs.
They were only able to slow it down a bit, however that by itself helped a lot.
Apocrypha was moving while constantly trying to root out the ivy. Its speed was considerably slower compared to just now.
And then my Double Red Blast landed once again on its back.
It then came to me, then to Silverie again, and then to me again… Apocrypha was sandwiched between our attacks as it continued moving left and right.
「Amazing!! This way we can defeat it without it doing anything to us!!」
「If only it were that simple…」
If one side’s timing was too fast the other side wouldn’t have the time to cast, and if it was too slow then the other side would get attacked.
And there was no guarantee on how the monster would move as well, so even a single miss would turn to be fatal.
Furthermore, this strategy took too much time.
Low ranked bosses were fine, however when it came to top ranked bosses such as Apocrypha, then it would take several tens of hours to defeat it.
And of course, it wasn’t possible to continue fighting for that long.
「Milly, how much Magic Power does it have left?」
「9,675,655… Oh, it went down to 9,625,365.」
Even though she cast Enchant Spell Quick, which has a bit weaker effect, Silverie’s spell still can’t deal more than 50,000 damage… And my damage is even lower than that. If it continues like this I’ll have to think of something else…
◆ ◆ ◆
「Magicians…!」 A shadow was overlooking Zeph’s fight on the lower floor from the laboratory where Soara had been in.
The owner of that shadow was a frail, elderly person.
There were many, abnormally swollen bumps on his head.
The person’s name was Gepard. He was the lead researcher of this laboratory. … Rather, it’s more appropriate to say that he was the lead researcher. His body had already turned to that of a monster.
During his lifetime he had created various automatons here.
However, one day, due to an order from his superiors he was forced to develop combat automatons.
At first he wasn’t interested in the idea.
The automaton that Gepard wanted to create were ones that helped people’s lives, not harmed them.
However, at that time, it was a necessary procedure in order to be able to resist the threat of the Magician Association and the Adventurer Guild that had their eyes on them.
Tiros’ factories were moved underground and began to produce combat automatons.
The first automatons were far from ready to wage combat.
The image of how they had the automatons fight against the low level adventurers that they had captured within the town, and how the automatons had been instantly destroyed without being able to do anything, was still strong in Gepard’s mind.
He had used that frustration as a stepping stone, to make huge leaps in his research, greatly increasing the strength of his combat automatons.
After several years, his automaton had been the first to defeat an adventurer.
However, even though the automatons were now able to fight against normal attacks, it proved extremely difficult to find a way for them to deal with spells.
It was without a doubt that the spells that could twist the world’s logic were the strongest power within this world. In his later years Gepard strived to create a powerful automaton that wouldn’t lose to the magicians. He spent each day thinking about how to kill magicians…
Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
「Originally, this is not a proper kitchen so I hope you’ll excuse me.」
Soara put the contents of the can into the pot and proceeded to stir and season it.
I was fascinated by the flow of her work.
She finished it all off by serving the food on plates. After which she bowed once before the food.
「… I made it quickly so I don’t know if it will fit your taste.」
「Whoa! It looks delicious!!」
The finished food looked way better than one you would see even at restaurants.
But even so, Silverie seemed sceptical as she looked at the food.
「… It might be poisoned.」
「But it’s good.」 said Milly while having her mouth stuffed with food.
You should at least be a little cautious.
「… I don’t think there’s anything that seems to be particularly harmful.」 said Shirushu as she licked a bit of the food which she had scooped with her pinkie.
Shirushu’s tongue was sensitive. She was able to differentiate whether a food was old or not by just smelling it.
After Shirushu gave the food a thumbs up everyone, as if being guided by their hungry stomachs, reached their hands for the plates.
「It really is delicious!」
「Hmm, only a professional can use the things they have on hand to turn them into something delicious… Good job Soara-chan.」
Claude and Lydia both praised her.
I tried the food as well and it really was delicious.
I never thought that I’d get to eat such good food deep within a Dungeon.
A rumbling sound was heard… It was probably because she was watching everyone, but Silverie’s stomach signalled that it was empty as well.
Soara immediately served up a small portion and presented it to Silverie.
「Please.」
「….Tsch!」
Silverie took the food with a face that said *It can’t be helped*
However, when she put the food in her mouth her eyes opened up. And then without a single word, she began to mow down the food.
She usually has a fairly unbalanced diet, but she seems to like it a lot.
After Silverie finished eating her portion Soara handed her a napkin.
「How was it?」
「… It was delicious. Really delicious.」
It seems like she acknowledged Soara.
Silverie was usually pretty cold towards strangers, however she became really easy-going around people she had acknowledged.
「Well then, how about we do this. We’ll look after Soara until we escape from the Dungeon. We’ll decide what to do with her afterwards.」 I proposed.
「Yea, yea, let’s do that!」 said Milly while she was tapping her hand on Silverie’s shoulder.
With a tired look Silverie whispered out.
「… Do as you please.」
「YEY!! Thank you Silverie-san. Soara, we did it!!」
「… But I still don’t trust her completely. If she does something shady I’ll immediately eliminate her.」
「That’s a given. After all my reason to exist is to be helpful to people.」 said Soara with a blank look.
Under Soara’s intensity Silverie couldn’t say anything else.
So her reason to exist is to help people huh… The automaton Soara… We seem to have gotten another strange companion.
With Soara following us we went even further ahead.
Monsters really don’t come out here.
「There really are no monsters here.」 I said softly
「After all there is a barrier placed within the laboratory that is set to deploy in case of an emergency.」 replied Soara to my remark.
I see, that has a point. The most important facilities within cities are also built around places with thin mana. That just goes to show how important this place is.
After continuing down the straight passage we encountered a door.
When we opened it a small room, with numerous buttons stuck to the wall, revealed itself.
「What’s this?」
「It’s something similar to an elevator. If you press the button it will go down to the lower floor.」 「Whoa, so I should just press this then?」
「Please wait.」 said Soara stopping Milly as she had stretched out her hand, about to press the button.
「The lower floor is used to manufacture combat automatons. I’m afraid that they have turned into powerful monsters due to this place turning into a Dungeon. I believe it’s better if we don’t proceed any further.」
「We broke through the front of this Dungeon turned city. You don’t need to worry.」
「That’s right♪ If it gets dangerous I’ll protect you. So let’s go together Soara!!」 said Milly
「… Understood. If that’s the case I cannot deny.」
Soara didn’t resist at all when Milly grabbed her hand.
As the elevator moved a feeling of drifting came over me.
「Wh! What’s this?!!」
「… It probably works with some kind of pulley mechanism which allows it to move between the upper and lower rooms.」
A similar mechanism was currently being used in a number of places inside the capital.
However, most, if not all of the mechanisms were powered by brute force and none of them crossed such a distance.
This really is a spectacular piece of engineering.
A thudding sound rang out and the door opened.
In the back of the passage before us, the slight presence of monsters could be felt.
Shirushu was also frowning.
「I can smell a lot of monsters further up.」
「Don’t push yourselves too much.」 I said
「I know♪」 replied Milly energetically, even though she was the one I was most worried about.
As soon as we stepped onto the floor of the room something happened.
Cracking sounds were heard and a dazzling light shined down from directly above us.
「Whoa?!!That’s bright!!」
「Whenever a person sets foot inside here the power automatically turns on.」 said Soara
We were blinded by the light for only a moment and our eyes soon got used to it.
The area was covered in the unpleasant smell of oil and scrap iron. There were also some incomplete automatons that were placed all over the place.
Was it for safety I wonder, however the inside of the floor was divided with iron rails, making it seem narrower than it really was.
Production lines no doubt.
There were also a large number of parts placed all over the place.
Soara then stepped in front of us.
「It seems like there really are automatons that turned into monsters…」
A moving sound could be heard from the direction that Soara was facing.
Something suddenly jumped out at high speed from the passage’s corner.
There small, round shaped automatons appeared.
Their bodies blinked and then blades appeared out of their disk like bodies.
They charged at us while the blades spun rapidly around them.
「J-450 cleaning automatons.」
「… So they’re planning to clean us out huh.」
「This is not the time for jokes, Zeph-kun.」
「Blue Gale!!」
Milly immediately fired off a Blue Gale.
However, the so-called J-450 used a zig-zag manoeuvre in order to evade it.
To think they’d be able to avoid the wide-ranged Blue Gale… They’re small, but they have quite the mobility.
「Lydia! Claude! I’m counting on you!」
「Got it!!」 said Lydia as she dashed off, wielding her axe.
These guys’ movements were certainly fast… they were probably quite light due to their small size.
「….Fu!!」 exhaled Lydia softly, following which she swung her axe with all of her might.
The axe sent one of the J-450 crashing into the wall. The J-450’s blades struck the wall and buried themselves in it, unable to move.
The J-450 tried to move the blades, but they wouldn’t budge.
「Kuro-chan! One went over there!」
「I’m on it! Milly-san please step back.」
「O-Okay!!」
Another J-450 was moving towards Milly from a different direction. Claude stood in front of that J-450 and raised her shield.
She received the enemy attack. I waited for the moment when Claude flicked off the J-450 and cast Time Square.
While time was frozen I cast Blue Sphere twice.
――Double Spell Synthesis Double Blue Sphere.
The J-450 collided with the lump of water. As it collided with the water it began to spin wildly within it.
After a bit it stopped spinning and fell to the ground, never to move again.
Automatons were powered by electricity so they were weak towards water. They couldn’t escape from that characteristic even when they turned into monsters.
The J-450 disappeared alongside a white smoke.
「I’ll help as well!!」 said Milly as she set her sight on the last J-450 and cast Blue Gale.
Milly made sure that her attack would certainly hit…… However, it didn’t.
The J-450 let out a sound that sounded like it was mocking Milly.
It then blew out white smoke and charged at high speed.
「No way!!!」
「Milly!」
Just as I jumped out in order to protect her, Soara appeared before Milly.
Soara’s metal right arm let out a metallic sound as it moved with tremendous speed.
「… I’ll dispose of it.」 whispered out softly Soara and then her rapidly rotating hand landed on the J-450.
A ringing sound was heard and the J-450 stopped its movements.
Soara’s hand had pierced through the J-450.
「T-Thank you…」
「I only did what was natural.」
Soara’s hand then rotated back to normal.
It seemed like Soara’s right hand had the function of a drill.
And just as a drill it had drilled through the J-450’s body.
She pierced through the hard automaton’s body with just one strike… What tremendous destructive power.
Including me, everyone else was shocked as well.
「Phew! You really are strong Soara-chan.」
「You’re all really strong as well. Though it might have not been much I’m glad I was able to help.」 said Soara as she bowed once and then stepped back.
She wants to show us that she doesn’t intend to butt in huh…
Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
5
After that Soara ended up helping us at the crucial moments during combat.
She was holding back to the utmost, but she still lent us a hand at the place where we really needed it. None of us could complain.
She truly is someone that I’d want on our team. She might turn out to be more useful than a certain someone.
「Soara you’re amazing!」 said Milly
「…. She really is.」
… And by the way that certain someone ended up being saved by Soara the most.
And even though she bragged about how she’d protect her if anything dangerous happened. Well it’s not like I didn’t know that I’d turn out this way though…
After progressing even further on, the floor’s appearance changed.
It turned from a messy production facility into a pure white, tremendously wide room.
It was an enormous room in which one could probably even fit in a whole castle or two.
「This is the experiments room. The automaton’s battle power is measured here.」
It really was the ideal place from combat. It also looked like they could even test out some pretty bid automatons in here.
I looked up and saw a room that was protected with a glass screen. That was probably the place where the researchers used in order to look at the fighting automatons.
Behind the glass screen I could see a number of machines that I had seen before. It was similar to the laboratory that we saw before.
「Hm…?」
I suddenly felt something move inside that room.
Am I imagining things…? No, I’m sure it saw a figure of a person…
As I was lost in thought a high pitched sound rang out!!
It was the sound of a loud alarm.
There was a huge door in front of us that began opening while at the same time, the door that we had just entered through began to close.
「Everyone, please get back!」 said Shirushu as her tail stood up.
A powerful monster was coming. Even if Shirushu hadn’t warned us we could figure it out.
The sound coming from within the door became louder and louder and then it appeared.
It was a roundish silver giant.
This should be the boss at the lowest level of the Tiros Abandoned Factory.
Apocrypha
Level 95
Magic Power Level 9,753,432 / 9,753,432
… Its Magic Power was close to 10,000,000. Apocrypha was one of the top ranked bosses.
It was of the same rank as the Satan Wraith that we had encountered back in the East Continent’s Wanarta City Ruins.
The Mana that a Dungeon lets out becomes stronger with time, and stronger monsters begin to appear.
That is how most of the bosses appear. However, if an enormous creature, the corpse of a person with a strong will, or even a building end up becoming monsters, then there is a possibility that a particularly powerful boss will be born. Those are the so called top ranked bosses.
Their Magic Power Level is close to 10 times higher than that of normal bosses, and their fighting prowess isn’t normal.
It was able to wipe out all of us with just a single swing.
The moment Apocrypha began moving, the door from which it came out closed.
It seems like we’re trapped.
「……」
Milly was completely lost for words before Apocrypha’s intimidating air.
Everyone else looked to be the same.
The pressure they were receiving due to the level difference was huge.
Even I, who was relatively accustomed to confronting top ranked bosses, was shaking.
As all of us shook in fear, only Silverie stepped forward.
「Apocrypha huh.」
She calmly began chanting a cast a strengthening spell on herself.
That’s right. This is different from the time where we had to fight the Satan Wraith. Silverie’s level is over 90 and everyone else has grown as well. We have the power to fight against Apocrypha.
「――, ――, … Black Zero.」
As people often say, victory goes to the one that makes the first move. Silverie took that saying literally as she cast a high-speed chant Black Zero.
The spear of black wind struck at Apocrypha’s right leg, forcing it to lean.
But even so Apocrypha didn’t stop charging at us without any fear. It was then that I remembered a certain strategy.
Apocrypha’s movements were dull and it was a boss that had no ranged attacks.
It was possible with Silverie here.
「Everyone, come here.」
「Eh? EH? W-Wait?!」
I grabbed Milly’s hand and ran in the opposite direction of Silverie.
Within the spacious room, I and Silverie were situated on both sides of Apocrypha, placing it in the middle of us.
「Silverie, let’s go with Mirrored Attack.」
「…Hmph. I was planning on that since the beginning.」 saying that Silverie took her position just as I had expected.
It was a collaborative technique, so I thought that the Silverie wouldn’t know about it, due to being a loner, but she seemed to have some knowledge about it.
「Hey, what’s Mirrored Attack?」 asked Milly.
「Just watch.」
「GRRRRRRRR!!」
Apocrypha let out a huge roar and charged at Silverie.
However, that was completely fine. It was according to plan.
I faced my palm towards Apocrypha’s back and cast Time Square.
While time was stopped I cast Red Blast twice.
――Double Spell Synthesis Double Red Blast
The scorching hot line drew an ark and landed on Apocrypha’s back.
The radiating light aimed at a single spot and as it hit it burst forth with flames, covering the giant’s body.
Apocrypha’s metal body turned deep red and white smoke began to rise.
「ARGHHHH?!」
It let out a roar of pain and turned towards me.
It glared at me with its eyes that had turned deep red from anger.
It ignored Silverie and charged at me.
「OH NO!! It’s coming at us!!」
「Don’t worry.」
Apocrypha was just a few steps away from squashing us when suddenly its movements stopped.
That was because this time Silverie’s Black Zero had landed on its back.
Apocrypha then, once again, turned towards Silverie.
「… Why did it go there?」
「Monsters have the habit of prioritizing the person that has attacked them. And Mirrored Attack uses that habit of theirs.」
After sandwiching the monster both parties would attack from both sides.
Just like mirrors facing each other… That was Mirrored Attack.
But sandwiching the enemy and attacking it from both sides it was possible to seal its attacks.
「Milly, slow it’s movement with Green Wall.」
「O-Okay!」
After Milly cast Green Wall, ivy made out of magic power burst forth and wrapped itself around Apocrypha’s legs.
They were only able to slow it down a bit, however that by itself helped a lot.
Apocrypha was moving while constantly trying to root out the ivy. Its speed was considerably slower compared to just now.
And then my Double Red Blast landed once again on its back.
It then came to me, then to Silverie again, and then to me again… Apocrypha was sandwiched between our attacks as it continued moving left and right.
「Amazing!! This way we can defeat it without it doing anything to us!!」
「If only it were that simple…」
If one side’s timing was too fast the other side wouldn’t have the time to cast, and if it was too slow then the other side would get attacked.
And there was no guarantee on how the monster would move as well, so even a single miss would turn to be fatal.
Furthermore, this strategy took too much time.
Low ranked bosses were fine, however when it came to top ranked bosses such as Apocrypha, then it would take several tens of hours to defeat it.
And of course, it wasn’t possible to continue fighting for that long.
「Milly, how much Magic Power does it have left?」
「9,675,655… Oh, it went down to 9,625,365.」
Even though she cast Enchant Spell Quick, which has a bit weaker effect, Silverie’s spell still can’t deal more than 50,000 damage… And my damage is even lower than that. If it continues like this I’ll have to think of something else…
◆ ◆ ◆
「Magicians…!」 A shadow was overlooking Zeph’s fight on the lower floor from the laboratory where Soara had been in.
The owner of that shadow was a frail, elderly person.
There were many, abnormally swollen bumps on his head.
The person’s name was Gepard. He was the lead researcher of this laboratory. … Rather, it’s more appropriate to say that he was the lead researcher. His body had already turned to that of a monster.
During his lifetime he had created various automatons here.
However, one day, due to an order from his superiors he was forced to develop combat automatons.
At first he wasn’t interested in the idea.
The automaton that Gepard wanted to create were ones that helped people’s lives, not harmed them.
However, at that time, it was a necessary procedure in order to be able to resist the threat of the Magician Association and the Adventurer Guild that had their eyes on them.
Tiros’ factories were moved underground and began to produce combat automatons.
The first automatons were far from ready to wage combat.
The image of how they had the automatons fight against the low level adventurers that they had captured within the town, and how the automatons had been instantly destroyed without being able to do anything, was still strong in Gepard’s mind.
He had used that frustration as a stepping stone, to make huge leaps in his research, greatly increasing the strength of his combat automatons.
After several years, his automaton had been the first to defeat an adventurer.
However, even though the automatons were now able to fight against normal attacks, it proved extremely difficult to find a way for them to deal with spells.
It was without a doubt that the spells that could twist the world’s logic were the strongest power within this world. In his later years Gepard strived to create a powerful automaton that wouldn’t lose to the magicians. He spent each day thinking about how to kill magicians…
