The next morning, unusually, Snow was waiting for me in his office early.
Since Snow was going to the Siddharth family, she was wearing an indigo bell-line dress instead of her usual traditional dress. Her hair ornaments had also been replaced with luxury items, and her usual tribal-people image had disappeared, transforming her into a magnificent young lady.
The over-decorated jewelry hid her horns and the long skirt hid her tail, so there was not the slightest hint of a dragon person (dragonet).
There was a cool, beautiful girl standing there who had nothing to complain about.
That beautiful girl glanced at me.
I'm not going to be able to go there," she repeated over and over again, and then she added, "I don't mind if you came to kidnap me at .......
It's very troublesome that he never speaks to me while looking at me repeatedly, so I mercilessly ignored him and headed out into the labyrinth on my own.
Today's main goal was to try out my new sword, the 'Crescent Pectrazi's Straight Sword'.
My target is the 26th layer of the Crystal Golem. If I could slay that one, the difficulty level of the labyrinth would instantly decrease.
I'm going to aim for the 26th layer and proceed at once.
The only thing I have to leverage is the Rio Eagle on the 22nd layer, but I ignored it as usual, so no problems arise.
Then I reach the 26th layer in question. Selecting a suitable crystal golem with 《Dimension》 and holding the "Crescent Pectrazi's Straight Sword
--The battle was instantaneous.
The moment the Crystal Golem swings its fist down, I slash the enemy's body to the side.
With just that, the crystal golem's upper body shifted sideways and fell to the ground with a crunch.
With a single blow, it was cut in half.
It felt as if he had slashed through Styrofoam. I watched the crystal golem become light and disappear, and the response in my voice.
''S-awesome ......!
In the face of the sharpness of the weapon, which was beyond my imagination, I could only admire it. I didn't expect the weapon's attack power to change so much just by changing it slightly. The most important thing is that the sword hasn't spilled a single blade. With this, it looks like I'll be able to fight a series of battles.
The odds of winning the 26th and 27th layers were solidified in my mind, and I proceeded to the depths of the labyrinth with great enthusiasm.
Along the way, a few Crystal Golems were my opponents, but the monsters that had lost the advantage of hardness were only as strong as the monsters around layer 10.
He slashed them down one after another without any problems.
It was the same at the 27th layer as well.
Although the enemies at the 27th layer had more species that were faster than the 26th layer, this one was also based on monsters that relied on hardness. Its difficulty level is not so different from that of the 26th layer.
''Can we lightly defeat the boss monsters here ......?
I use Dimension to figure out the staircase as well as look for the boss monster. If possible, I want to fight a boss monster whose features are crystal and seems to rely on hardness.
I find an area of ice a bit farther away, but I give up on attacking it due to its incompatibility.
For me, who is mainly a sword player, attribute-based monsters are difficult to fight. The only attribute magic I have is freezing magic, so the ice area could be called the demon's gate. It will probably take a lot of effort to make a decisive move.
I slashed 27 layers of ants, birds, and insects as I moved deeper and deeper into the area.
There were a few monsters that called out to the swarm, but as long as I avoided the reinforcements with Dimension, there was no problem.
As a result, we reached the 28th level in less than half a second.
The 27th layer was a transparent crystal cave, but the 28th layer was slightly different.
Instead of a clear white world, it had been transformed into a colorful, rainbow-colored world.
The walls were still made of special ores, but unlike the 27th layer, they were not unified only by the crystals. I don't know the name of the ore, but it shines beautifully in seven colors.
I thrust my sword against its hard wall.
It's not that I tried it because it was going to be a gold mine. It's because the hardness of the wall is related to the battle. It's to see if hitting the enemy against the wall like before will be effective.
The wall will chip away and the ore will fall into your palm.
However, the ore that fell into the palm of my hand quickly lost its brilliance and became a dull black stone. Even if you 'gaze' at it, it doesn't seem to turn into gold even if you scrape it off, as it's just a stone. And its hardness seems to be softer than the previous crystal.
With the information I received, I continued on my way while being cautious of my surroundings.
Naturally, I use the "Dimension" to look for the stairs. For now, I'm going to continue on until either the "Crescent Pectrazi's Straight Sword" is no longer valid or the opponent's attack is snatched by me.
To be honest, I was confident that my proper hierarchy, equipped with the Straight Sword of Crescent Pectrazuli, was much deeper. I have to think so because I still haven't taken a single decent hit from my opponent. It would still be safe to dive deeper.
In the past, there was no time limit, so he had plenty of time to explore, but now it was different.
Considering the dealings with the Palinclones, the sooner we explore, the better. Because of the two beautiful girls in the example, the need to level up as soon as possible has also been created.
When we were advancing through the rainbow-colored corridor a little too quickly, an arm suddenly sprouted from the side wall.
I had grasped the beginning of that growth with the 《Dimension》. I immediately took the distance and fled to a place where the arms couldn't reach me.
It was the first time I'd seen this pattern, but it was still to be expected.
If it was a game labyrinth, it would be a common kind of trap.
If I am now on the highest level of caution, this level of surprise attack would not be snatched away.
I'm not going to be able to get a good idea of what to do with it.
As it is, the arm continues to extend, and a monster that looks like a different color of crystal golem comes out of the wall.
[Monster] Rainbow Golem: rank 27.
I raise my sword and intercept the rainbow golem.
I determine that it's the same type of monster as the Poison Salamander on layer 24. It would be a monster that always fights in its own specialty terrain, always taking me by surprise first.
To prevent it from returning to the wall, I decide to push it through at once with a series of attacks.
The sword slashes through the body of the rainbow golem with no problem, dismantling it. Apparently, even the 28 layers of monsters can be sliced through like silk by this sword.
While slicing the rainbow golem into small pieces, I can clearly see that my attitude towards equipment is changing.
Until now, I thought it was quicker to raise my level rather than focusing on equipment, but it seems different when dealing with a deep layer of special monsters.
By preparing a weapon that matches the characteristics of your opponent, your exploration efficiency jumps many times over.
In fact, after switching to the 'Straight Sword of Crescent Pectrazi', the search speed so far has more than doubled.
The dismembered rainbow golem wriggled softly like clay and didn't easily turn into light and disappear.
Unlike the crystal golem, it was strangely stubborn.
Carefully carving it into a magical stone, I turned it into a magical stone and proceeded to the back of the room.
I suddenly put my hand on the wall and spread out the 《Dimension》, but it didn't penetrate to the inside of the wall.
Although I know that there are gaps in any substance, the magic power does not penetrate this wall well. I thought it would work against the wall as well since I succeeded against the lava, but it doesn't seem to work that way.
Somehow, I feel that the penetration rate of Dimension is related to my understanding of matter and phenomena.
For some reason (...) I now have a deep understanding of hot things like lava and fire. I don't know when I became like that, but I don't feel threatened at all by heat sources as small as 24 or 25 layers. I see it as a phenomenon I can handle.
In contrast, I haven't been able to keep up with my understanding of this wall of ore.
It's an ore that doesn't even have the knowledge of the original world to work with.
We have no idea what it's based on, what molecules it's composed of, or what kind of logic it exists from. Hence, the 《Dimension》 will not be able to penetrate.
When I return, it might be a good idea to ask Alibers-san to teach me about the ore. If I know the material and its properties, there's a chance I can penetrate it.
I proceed to scrape the walls and collect the stones.
It's a souvenir for Mr. Alivers.
In the meantime, the rainbow golems continue to attack.
Although they were trying various tricks, such as countless hands sprouting from underfoot or falling from the ceiling, they were not a threat to me.
This is because as long as I caught the moment the monster came out of the wall with Dimension, the Rainbow Golem's speed wouldn't even be able to touch me.
However, it seems that the Rainbow Golem's characteristics weren't just about being able to come and go on the wall at will.
It was when the rainbow golems attacked from all directions and cut them all down.
The writhing pieces of the rainbow golems gathered in one place and swelled in volume.
'Ahh ....... There is.''
I look at the pattern I see so often in games and relax my mouth a bit.
I'm even a little impressed.
After the pieces of the rainbow golem finished fusing together, a humanoid monster was born that boasted a volume more than five times larger.
[Monster] Protian Golem: Rank 30.
In the 28th layer, this was how the boss seemed to be born.
No wonder they couldn't find the boss by expanding the Dimension.
In other words, this wall itself was the boss's area, and the Rainbow Golem was the subordinate monster.
I'm going to take on a strong opponent for the first time in a long time and rebuild my magic.
''-- Magic, Dee Winter, Dee Snow,''
From what I can see, he seems to be pushing me with physical attacks, but that doesn't mean he won't use magic.
I mobilize all my magic and go into battle.
The Protean Golem swings its large arms down towards me.
I thought its speed would slow down due to its increased body mass, but that wasn't the case. It was several orders of magnitude faster than the rainbow golem, and its attack range was an order of magnitude higher.
The quintessential boss of the last stage of the 20th layer range.
Even a simple repetition of normal attacks would make me break out in a cold sweat.
Now that I've reached the 28th level, there's no doubt that I'm one of the best in the world. Since they're hurting me, the Protean Golem is able to overwhelm almost all searchers.
I lick my lips with my tongue and shudder.
I tremble.
A warrior shiver.
I've been frustrated with a lot of special combat lately.
It's nice to be a leader and a searcher, but sometimes I want to give it my all as a single searcher.
I know that my game-loving personality is working in the wrong direction. But I can't keep those feelings in check. The fact that no one is beside me loosens my control.
With a thin smile plastered on my face, I swing my sword while gushing out my magic power.
The sword, swung directly to the side, gouges into the protean golem's arm - and stops. Like the rainbow golem, it can't be severed with a single blow.
He immediately pulls it out with all his strength.
Immediately after, the Protean Golem's other hand attacks. I leapt forward and climbed onto its arm.
''--Magic [Ice].''
A mist of cold air that had turned into a deadly weapon leaked out of my palm.
Since that day when I waved all my bonus points to 'Freeze Magic', my freeze magic has become something else.
It has evolved into a fine attacking magic that suits the fantasy world.
''Guh, guh, guh, guh--!
With a cracking sound, the Protean Golem's arms freeze with a tremendous force.
The Protean Golem lets out a cry of grief from the gaps in its body.
Apparently, unlike the crystal golem, it has a low resistance to magic for the element that can combine with other monsters.
The golem, whose arm joints were frozen, tries to shake its body and shake me off.
I'm not going to be able to get my hands on any of them. Then I aim my sword at the protean golem's leg, which has an opening. As before, the sword stops in the middle. But that's fine.
I don't expect to be able to sever it in one go. The blade is through, so there's no need to panic about anything. Just aim at the same spot over and over again.
The Protean Golem roared and waved its hands around repeatedly.
However, its one arm is frozen by the [Ice] and is not moving well.
Aiming at that frozen part, I counter-strike with my sword. Although the impact blew me backwards, the sword made a crack in the brittle arm.
It would be a few more times.
I swing my sword repeatedly at the protean golem, which repeatedly attacks me in volume.
The only thing I aim at is the spot where I made the cut once. With the same slash, the Protean Golem's arms and legs are finally severed one by one.
The Protean Golem, whose body was shaved, fell down, losing its stance.
However, it has not lost its will to fight.
The fallen Protean Golem grabs the severed leg and glues it to the end of the leg. Then, like clay, they intertwined and the leg regenerated.
'Wow. ......'
Seeing its troublesome abilities, I briefly consider retreating.
However, I change my mind when I see the protean golem that doesn't try to glue the frozen arm together.
Maybe the part damaged by the freeze can't be recovered.
''-- Magic 《Dimensional Snow (Di Snow)》!
He immediately increases the amount of ice-cold magic.
In contrast, the Protean Golem resumes its attack with its remaining arms.
With the 《Dimensional Snow (Dee Snow)》 all over his body, the Protean Golem becomes more and more frozen. Even so, it forces its creaky and frozen body to move and comes towards us.
Once again, we are in close combat, and our swords and arms cross.
I slash off my arm in the same procedure as before and look at it again.
The Protean Golem tried to glue the frozen arm together, but it failed to do so. The arm falls to the ground and shatters. The Protean Golem lost both arms and finally attacked with its legs.
I slash off both of the Protean Golem's legs in the same way, making it a masterpiece. After that, it sends its head flying, carves its body, and thrusts its sword into its heart.
When I finished all possible attacks, the Protean Golem turned into light and disappeared.
[The title 'Fort of Greed' has been acquired.
A correction of +0.01 is added to your strength.
I guess it was a good match: ......
I finish defeating the 28-layered boss and wonder about its lack of responsiveness.
It's clear that the sword has been strengthened, ignoring one of my opponent's strengths: hardness.
But even so, it's not a simple matter. I haven't even used 《Midwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Di Overwinter)》 yet.
Perhaps freezing magic was the Protian Golem's weakness.
I picked up the magic stone dropped by the Protean Golem and proceeded further.
For me now, the 28th layer was not a problem.
I descend the stairs leading to the 29th level without being blocked by anything.
◆◆◆◆◆ ...
The 29th layer was unique in its own right.
Even though the corridor has a unique terrain, it still maintains its appearance as a path. The only exceptions were the guardian's rooms at the 10th and 20th levels. However, this time, even though it wasn't a guardian's room, it was an open space without a path.
And the ground was not stone, but sand.
It seemed that we had to walk on the seven colored sand to reach the 29th level.
If possible, I'd like to find the stairs to the 30th layer before leaving today: ......
Without letting my guard down, I begin to make my way through layer 29.
However, the sand is too soft and difficult to walk on.
Attacking with your body is going to be harder to get into at the 29th layer.
If you are an explorer who mainly uses attack magic, there seems to be no problem .......
There's no point in asking for something that isn't there.
I move forward for now to fill the map.
Then I find a lone enemy monster with Dimension, so I try to engage it to test it out.
[Monster] Jewel Fish: Rank 29.
It's a giant, seven-colored fish swimming in a sea of sand.
The jewelfish swims on the ground, its speed gradually increasing as it leaps toward me, its fangs flashing. I dodge the jewelfish's rapidly accelerating bite by twisting around and dodging its bite.
I dodge, but I'm amazed at its final speed.
Until now, all the jewel-based monsters had been slow to move. But this one was different; it reminded me of the 22nd layer Rio Eagle. I'm not going to be able to get my hands on any of them.
I choose the magic I need in an instant.
"Magic Overwinter in the Overcrowded Dimension.
I finish building and compress it into my body to hide it so that I can activate the magic at any time.
I don't activate it yet.
The Midwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Di Overwinter) is a high consumption magic.
If I use it for dozens of seconds, it would make me unable to fight.
Therefore, you have 1 second to activate it.
No, 0.5 seconds.
"--Dimensional Winter.
I deploy a suppressed magical winter to capture the jewelfish's movement.
At the same time, I increase the cold air around me.
The Jewelfish swims around the surrounding sand, looking for an opening for me.
And the moment it turns into my blind spot, Jewelfish pounces on me.
''--Release.''
The width of my body is 50 centimeters in circumference.
《Midwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Di Overwinter)》 unfolds.
Die Overwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Die Overwinter) wrapped around the Jewelfish's body, stalling its momentum. And the magic power of the dense dimensional attribute gives me a huge amount of information.
Every 0.01 seconds, I know how much Jewelfish is moving in 0.01 seconds.
The location information is perfect.
The information-gathering ability of the "Midwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Di Overwinter)" isn't the only thing it can do. It can capture every creak in the Jewelfish's musculature and where the force is being applied, as well.
Posture, center of gravity, and force, he grasps everything, calculates, and predicts the Jewel Fish's movements.
All that's left to do is place the sword on that prediction.
There is no way to evade the slow-moving jewelfish.
After 0.5 seconds, the Jewelfish that was lowered into two pieces was flying in the air.
The jewelfish fell far away and disappeared as a light.
'Fufu......'
I hold my head down and go to pick up the Jewel Fish magic stone.
Honestly, the fuel efficiency of this magic sucks.
However, I also think it's a magic that can be turned into more depending on how it's used.
In fact, there was a lot of waste in the battle I just had.
I didn't need that much information if I was just going to slash that fish. If I could take away a little bit of speed and get a little bit of positional information, that's the only opponent I could defeat.
However, I didn't know how much magic power I had, and I even figured out the movement of the monster's muscle tissue. Besides, the seconds of use were simply too long. There are still many things to reflect on.
''If only I could control it, I would be able to do more ......
Next time, try to keep it to 0.2 seconds or less, and try to keep your information acquisition to just enough to understand the enemy's line of sight.
That way, I might not have a headache after using it.
The moment I was about to pick up the magic stone while counting the MP used - my right foot is dragged into the sand.
''--Huh?
As if I've slipped into a pit, my right foot falls to the ground, and I quickly put all my strength into my left foot to get out.
I give up picking up the magic stone and expand the Dimension.
I spread it out in the sand (...).
It's difficult for the Dimension to penetrate. However, unlike something as dense as a wall, the sand ground has wider gaps. By infiltrating the magic power there, I was able to search for it, albeit roughly.
I find a single monster in the depths of the sand.
[Monster] Eddy Anchor: Rank 29.
The figure looked like a giant spider, but I quickly reconsidered.
This name, this characteristic is not a spider - it's an antigod.
I don't know how to counter it, and I strain my legs to keep my distance.
But the soft sand sinks and I can't move properly.
The sand at my feet is moving in a strange way. It's like a vortex.
I understand it through 《Dimension》.
Eddie Anchor is manipulating the sand and trying to pull me in.
I lose my balance and get on my hands and feet.
If I don't, I'll be sucked up to the eddie-anchor with the flow of sand.
I spin my thoughts rapidly.
However, I still feel that I don't have enough information to defeat the eddie anchor.
Gather information on the softness of the sand, the flow of the sand, the quality of the sand, and the sand in contact with the feet.
The next step is to see if there is anything around us that can be used. --but there's nothing but flowing sand for 100 meters around.
We find another Eddie anchor in the distance. --but it's too far away to affect the current situation.
I observe the condition of the eddie anchor as it attracts me. --Using its six legs and magical power to manipulate the sand, it opens its large mouth and waits for its prey to enter. Its shell resembles ore and looks very hard.
Then--.
...the magic freeze.
I take out water from my possessions and sprinkle it on the sand. At the same time, he activates the Freeze Magic. It forces the soft sand to harden.
For a moment, a foothold that I can put my strength into is created.
I leap while shattering the frozen sand and take a leap, taking directly above the Eddy Anchor who was in the center of the vortex.
Then I threw the sword in my hand as hard as I could right below. The sword is sucked into Eddy Anchor's mouth and fresh blood dances like a fountain.
I land on the sandy ground in the distance and check the enemy's status with Dimension.
Just as the Eddy Anchor was about to turn into a light and disappear.
I take a breath and start thinking about how to retrieve the sword and magic stone - but my thoughts are brought to a halt by an unexpected situation.
-- the sand doesn't stop moving.
Despite the fact that the eddy anchor that would have controlled the sand has disappeared, the sucking in has not stopped. Rather, it's intensifying.
I unfold the Dimension again and investigate the cause.
Then I realize.
There is a hole in the bottom of this 29 layers of sand--
The hole led to the layer below, and with the disappearance of the eddy anchor that had been blocking it, the sand was falling downward at a brisk pace.
'Wha......!?'
I'm caught in a swirl of sand that's gaining momentum.
If I don't, I'll get sucked into the 30 layers and fall off.
I'm not sure.
Whether or not I'm going to fall down to the 30th layer.
If I want to escape, I can.
Just as I did before, I could use water and magic to create a foothold and that would solve the problem.
However, the problem is the Crescent Pectrazi's Straight Sword, which would have fallen to the 30th layer.
It's only a weapon, a consumable. If I hunt the Lineskitter again and get the 'Crescent Pectrazuli', I can get a replacement.
Nevertheless, it felt dishonest to lose the work that Alibers-san had put her heart and soul into, in just one day. Besides, losing the 'Straight Sword of Crescent Pectrazi' here would greatly delay my plans to explore the labyrinth. It was simply a waste of time.
...... No need to worry about the height.
There was soft sand at the end of the fall.
Considering my current physical abilities, I wouldn't be able to do any damage.
What I'm worried about is plunging into 30 layers by myself.
The plan was for Snow and I to challenge the guardian (guardian) alone.
However, if this is the case, I will be challenging it alone (solo).
............
I'm confident that I can beat the Guardian.
I've never had a hard time in a fight until today.
Even a 30th layer guardian is a mere boss monster, and from the feel of a 28th layer boss monster, I feel I can overwhelm them unscathed.
The Guardian(Guardian) has a high reputation in the world, but that is the reputation of the ordinary people in this world.
As a 'Gentile' and with a privileged status, I wouldn't be able to fit into that scale.
Maybe I'm not as strong as the rumors and could easily win on my own.
'Then go to ......'
''You might want to give priority to the 'Crescent Pectrazi's Straight Sword'.
Above all, I'm especially confident in my speed. If I'm alone, it's easy for me to escape.
If you think you have the slightest bit of leverage, all you have to do is run away immediately.
"Let's go get .......
I take a deep breath and fill my lungs with air.
At will, I dive myself into the sand stream.
I swim through the sand and find a hole in the bottom of the 29th layer.
Of course, I don't open my eyes. I'm swimming with the 《Dimension》 reliance.
Thus, I pass through the hole and fall into the space of the 30th layer.