Ossan Saikyō Chapter 10 Part 03
The next day, we started from the 11th underground floor.
By the 3rd day inside the dungeon, I found myself longing for sunlight.
Back in Japan, I'd never really paid much attention to the sun, but it was strange how much I missed it now.
The first monsters to appear were Hobgoblin Leaders, the superior species of the Hobgoblins from the upper floors.
They were a size larger than ordinary Hobgoblins, and their weapons had been upgraded from wooden clubs to metal maces.
That said, they were still purely physical attackers, making them favorable opponents for us. Even if 10 appeared at once, they posed no real problem.
Their material drop was the maces themselves, though they were probably melted down and reused.
From the 13th underground floor onward, smaller versions of the Gigant Vipers began appearing.
"Smaller" was relative, though. They were still 7-8 meters long and much thicker than normal snakes. Apparently, if one coiled around an adventurer, even the strongest would never escape.
Of course, you could simply crush its head before that happened.
Out of curiosity, I let one wrap itself around me once.
I broke free with brute force and tore its head off with my bare hands.
At this point, I was more of a monster than the monsters.
(E/N: Thank you for realising that, even if it's this late 🤣!)
On the 15th underground floor, we encountered a plant type monster called Poison Roots.
They were troublesome enemies that scattered pollen capable of inflicting poison, paralysis, and hallucinations.
Without resistance skills acquired in lower rank dungeons, they would be a nightmare to deal with.
Fortunately, everyone in our party already had decent resistance skills, and Freynil could nullify the effects with «Absolution».
Watching Sphenia reduce them to ashes with her【Fire Magic】 was almost pitiful, for the monsters that is.
Their material drop was surprisingly large timber logs.
They were so massive that only someone with an【Item Box】could transport them.
They resembled ebony from my previous world and were apparently used to make high quality furniture.
At last, we reached the Boss room on the lowest floor.
The 15th underground floor Boss chamber was nearly twice the width and length of the usual mid-Boss rooms, giving it an overwhelming sense of scale.
Even more intimidating was the enormous amount of black mist gathering at its center.
This wasn't a sign that multiple bosses were appearing.
It was simply because the Boss here was a Lesser Dragon.
Despite the name, it was considered one of the gateway bosses for C-Rank adventurers.
According to Sphenia, it was enormous.
The creature that emerged was a dragon covered in jet black scales.
It looked exactly like the Dragons from fantasy games: a humongous winged reptile.
Yet the magnificent horns crowning its head gave it an almost divine presence.
From its snout to the tip of its tail, it was easily 30 meters long.
Its head alone was nearly 10 meters above the ground, meaning I'd need some ingenuity if I wanted to smash it with my mace.
“So that's a Lesser Dragon? Then real dragons must be even bigger. No wonder they're called the Kings of Monsters.”
Sphenia hurriedly shook her head.
“No... I believe that's actually a normal Dragon. Judging by the color of its scales, it may even be an upper tier Dragon species.”
“Huh? Then it's a rare Boss? Lucky us!”
The fact that Rani could call facing a Dragon "lucky" suggested her senses had become seriously warped.
Still, there was no choice but to fight.
Better than freezing in fear, at least.
“Let's stick to our usual strategy. I'll deal with the breath attack using【Shockwave】, but stay alert anyway. Watch out for its bite, tail, and claws as well.
…
We'll wear it down from the extremities first. If it takes to the air, it'll become troublesome, so we'll destroy its wings before anything else.”
“Got it!”
“Understood.”
“I'll cast «Divine Glory» first. Then I'll target its wings with «Sacred Ray».”
«Divine Glory» illuminated the chamber.
A moment later, Freynil frowned.
“It feels less effective than usual. It seems to have resistance.”
As expected of the King of Monsters.
GYAAAAAAOOOHHHH!!
As if recognizing our attacks as hostile, the Dragon unleashed a deafening roar that shook the entire chamber.
Without mental resistance skills, that roar alone would have left us frozen in place.
“«Flame Bolt»!”
Sphenia's spell pierced one of the Dragon's wings.
Apparently, her【Pierce】skill also applied to magic, leaving several holes in the wing membrane.
GYAAOU!!
The Dragon spun halfway around in fury.
It intended to sweep us away with its enormous tail.
I caught the blow head on with my tower shield.
【Stability】,【Steadfast】,【Steel Core】,【Steel Body】, and my【Strength】skill together allowed me to withstand a force comparable to a dump truck crashing into me.
I returned the favor by slamming my mace into its armored tail.
Part of the tail exploded into minced flesh, though it wasn't enough to sever it completely.
(E/N: This man just broke through Dragon scales, one of the hardest substances in usual fantasy worlds… HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!)
GYAU!?
The Dragon hastily pulled its tail back to regain its balance.
Taking advantage of the opening, Rani leapt high with【Vault】and sliced deeply into the middle of one wing.
She couldn't cut it off in one strike, but Freynil's «Sacred Ray» swept through the same spot, and the wing came crashing down.
GYAU! GRRRAAH!
The dragon raised its head.
A crimson glow gathered within its mouth.
“It's using its breath!”
Sphenia shouted.
I stepped directly in front of the Dragon and braced myself.
The Dragon thrust its head forward.
A torrent of dark crimson flames erupted from its jaws.
“HAAH!”
At the same instant, I unleashed【Shockwave】at full power.
Not just once.
Pushing【Whiplash】to its limit, I fired wave after wave of overlapping【Shockwaves】.
The two forces collided between the dragon and me.
Each burst of scattered flames raised the temperature of the chamber, proof of the breath's terrifying power.
Repeatedly using my skill steadily drained my stamina, but the dragon's flames never broke through my wall of【Shockwaves】.
At last, the fire pouring from its mouth ceased.
“I'm moving in! Cover me!”
“Yes!”
«Sacred Ray» slammed into the Dragon's head.
Several arrows followed immediately after.
The Dragon froze for an instant.
I dashed beneath it and swung my mace with everything I had into one of its massive, scale covered legs.
The leg exploded apart.
The Dragon's enormous body lurched sideways violently.
It desperately tried to stay upright by beating its wings, but Rani leapt into the air and sliced through the remaining wing.
Finally, the Dragon crashed to the ground.
Even as it fell, it stubbornly twisted its neck and lunged to bite me.
The dragon's jaws rushed toward me.
But for me...
That was the moment I'd been waiting for.
I raised my mace high...
...and brought it crashing down onto the King of Monsters' head.
(E/N: Golly! The amount of testosterone coursing through my body will last a week after reading this shi!)
◇◆◇
“That was an incredible battle. I honestly can't believe a Dragon could be defeated so easily.”
Sphenia spoke excitedly as she stared at the Dragon's headless corpse.
“It wasn't that easy. We only won because everyone's strengths worked together. Honestly, I'd say it was a very close fight.”
Trying to sound like a proper leader, I offered a cautious assessment.
“As expected of Soushi-sama.”
Freynil nodded in admiration.
Rani, however, looked at me with exasperation.
“I don't think blocking a Dragon's breath head on counts as 'a close fight'.”
“But after beating something this huge, we're definitely getting amazing skills!”
The moment Rani spoke, new skills flowed into our minds.
Freynil obtained【Amplify】, a skill that increased the effective range of her magic.
It sounded modest, but being able to extend the reach of all her support spells would be invaluable, especially during field operations.
Rani obtained【Edge Lunge】.
It allowed the tip of her sword to extend freely at the instant she struck.
In other words, it expanded her attack range.
It was almost certainly the same skill Crimson Anatolia had used.
Combined with Rani's rapid attack style, its usefulness hardly needed explaining.
Sphenia obtained a skill called【Blitz】.
It was an outrageous ability that allowed her to cast magic without first entering a state of concentration.
The drawback was that after using it, she'd have to wait a while before casting another spell.
However, she could still perform other actions during that time.
For an archer who also specialized in magic, it was almost the perfect skill.
“With this, I'll be able to support you even more, Soushi-sama.”
“So that's the skill Anatolia used? Doesn't that make it practically A-Rank? Isn't this incredible!?”
“To think I'd obtain such a powerful skill... I truly have to be grateful that I met all of you.”
All three seemed completely satisfied with their new abilities.
“So then, what did you get, Soushi?”
“Well... it's called【Marshal's Bearing】. Simply put, it slightly increases the abilities of my party members. That part's great. But it also says it increases the number of soldiers I can command at one time. I honestly have no idea what that's supposed to mean.”
The skill certainly sounded impressive.
Unfortunately, part of its description made absolutely no sense.
“Increase the number of soldiers... You're right, Soushi-sama. I don't really understand it either. If 'soldiers' refers to us, then increasing their number should simply mean recruiting more party members.”
I nodded at Freynil's reasoning.
Then Sphenia thoughtfully spoke up.
“I may be mistaken, but... do you know why adventurer parties are generally limited to 5 members?”
“No. I assumed it was simply tradition.”
“Actually, Boss chambers in dungeons won't allow more than 6 people inside at the same time. Over the course of history, parties naturally settled on 5 members.
…
It's become such common knowledge that it's not even mentioned in the Guild's guidebooks anymore.”
“I see... Then does【Marshal's Bearing】increase the number of people who can enter a Boss chamber together?”
“I believe that's a real possibility. If so, it could be an extremely interesting skill. There are high difficulty dungeons whose Bosses remain undefeated to this day. If this skill allows larger groups to challenge them, it would be tremendously valuable.”
Hmm...
If that was true, then perhaps this skill was subtly telling me to recruit more companions.
Judging by the description, the number of additional people I could command increased with the skill's level.
At the moment, it only allowed one extra person.
Either way, verifying its effects would require at least two more companions.
Honestly... That sounded even harder than defeating a Dragon.
Well, if the opportunity presented itself someday, I'd test it then. That's probably the best way to think about it.
——————
E/N:
Wait, is Mr. Bad Luck telling Ossan to raise an army for a greater threat to the world, equipping the Awakened for harsher times ahead?!
Stay tuned!
——————
——————————
——————————
Comments
Thank you for reading this far!