Chapter 127: Chapter 119 – Checkmate

The drops I got from the two automatas on this floor were strange to say the least.

Aside from the mana crystals, I also got a mithril tea cup, saucer and an adamantium broom. The teacup and saucer were decorated with silver reliefs of some flowers, and the bristles of the broom were made from the long spines of some monster.

They were both absurdly expensive items made from material that was completely contrary to their purposes.

Mithril for dining ware? I had heard that aluminum was once considered so expensive that eating utensils made from them were valued higher than silverware, but such a hard metal like mithril felt like they were putting their efforts in the wrong place.

And the broom, it was a tool reserved for lower workers. Why make one from adamantium and spines so strong that it was more likely to leave marks in the floor than sweep dust? It felt more like a weapon in the shape of a cleaning tool than anything.

But then again, the maids did use cleaning tools as weapons, so perhaps that wasn't as out of there as at first thought.

That aside...

I opened up my stats page.

"Oh, I levelled up."

Over the messages that had appeared, I was focused on enjoyed the taste of those automatas' auras instead, so I didn't know for sure what I had gotten. The level was a bit unexpected.

[Yup! Level 282! Those monsters were a bit low level compared to you but even still after beating so many today it was enough to get you a level!]

Yup yup. Alicia's happy words were worth a million times more than that level.

"Congratulations Master! You've taken another step towards becoming unstoppable!"

Claret on the other hand pumped up her arms.

While I didn't really have any interest in becoming the strongest person in the world or anything, being strong enough to survive against anyone who tried to kill me on the other hand was quite important.

Looking further down my stats page, I saw something even more welcome than the level I had gained.

"[Dimensional Magic] is now at rank three!"

[That means you can do that displacement spell without the wand, right?]

"That's right!"

That wand of displacement was quite helpful in that battle a few months ago. There was no doubt in my mind that such a spell would continue to be useful. But not only that, but as my ranks in [Dimensional Magic] went up, I'd be able to do even more impressive spells. Those automata maids teleported around, but there was no way that such a thing was anywhere close to the limits of such magic.

While I wasn't some sort of physicist, I did know my share of physics and the properties of space-time. What could be done with magic that can warp space-time itself was near limitless.

And the fact that two automatas gave me a rank each for my skill, their own rank nine of the skill wasn't something to scoff at when it came to my own potential growth. I should be able to reach rank seven or even eight by the time we clear this floor.

"I think I'll keep farming these automatas to raise the rank even further."

There would undoubtedly be plenty of benefits to come as I raised the skill's rank further and further.

"Ah, but Claret? Even when my rank in [Dimensional Magic] gets maxed out, I'll still count on you to help me ferment things, alright?"

"Yes Master!"

While my ever loyal familiar probably wouldn't feel down about me superseding her in ability regarding the one skill she had at a higher rank than me, tossing her a bone here and there to make sure her mood doesn't drop was always important.

I didn't want my cute little spirit to become a sad puppy after all.

[Oh yea, your rank in [Cleaning] had gone up as well!]

"Ah...you're right..."

It wasn't really a bad thing. It wasn't. But it wasn't really something that would make me feel happy. At most, it was the feeling of collecting something I didn't really care much about. It was nice to have gotten something, but my feelings leaned closer to apathy than happiness.

"Those maids didn't have [Cleaning], but they had something called [Purification], didn't they?"

[They did. And it was rank 10 as well.]

While I didn't check it before closing the status page, most likely it was the advanced version of the [Cleaning] skill. As expected from maids, they had it maxed it.

As for me, I had no idea what I'd use such a skill for. I probably did less cleaning than the average household, here or on Earth. I only cleaned my clothes often to the lack of them, not because I was some sort of clean freak.

I wore my robes everywhere, so it was a given that I would have to clean it on a regular basis.

Maybe two or three times a week was a bit much for outerwear, but it wasn't pleasant to let dust accumulate so much on such thin cloth.

But in the end, rank three or so was probably enough for my needs. Getting the advanced version of [Cleaning] was beyond excessive.

Not like this really was actually a big deal in the first place.

Reflecting on my thoughts, having something was better than not having it, if only just slightly. If it didn't cost anyone anything, then it was a good thing in comparison.

Entering the next room, I saw two more orichalcum automata standing at attention.

"Do these things only come in pairs?"

At least now I knew how to deal with them. Even if they had more tricks up their sleeves, I had a good idea about how they fought, so it wasn't likely to be a big problem.

 

This floor 99 ended up being harder than expected.

Those living armours weren't difficult one on one, and even if there were two or three of them, it wasn't too bad. But when they teamed up with the automatas, they were a bit absurd to say the least.

All my attempts at circling around them to get to their backs were blocked by the timely assistance from the maids. Either they poked their weapons at me or fired magic. Parrying or blocking only gave the knights time to swing their weapons in the moment I stopped.

It was a bit frustrating, but in the end, I had to take the fights more slowly, breaking through the living armours from the front, or grabbing the automatas on the rare occasions they exposed themselves from behind the walls of mithril.

This really wasn't a floor which took kindly to solo fighters, but the difference in experience gain in combination with my personal desire to beat this dungeon on my own meant that I didn't really have other options in the first place.

In the end, despite speeding through the fights as fast as I could manage, I estimated that it was just about morning by the time I had reached the boss room.

There really wasn't much time left or else I would be late for work, but I really wanted to finish this floor rather than dash back.

The others will probably let it go if I was late for once, as long as it was only a little bit.

It wasn't really a good example for my subordinates nor Alicia, but I was so close to finishing this floor, my emotions swung towards the hundredth floor.

Pushing the large iron doors open, I stepped into the final room.

It was a large stone room with a faded red carpet that ran from the entrance all the way to a pair of well worn thrones on a raised platform. Sitting on those thrones were two monsters.

The one on the left had the appearance similar to the living armours that inhabited this floor, but the plates which comprised of its body had reflective rainbow-like decorations inlaid all across its surfaces. Draped over its shoulders was a bright purple cape lined with white fur. The helm had a royal crown built into it. Finally, in its hands was a sword so enormous and heavy looking that would have made a certain ex-SOLDIER proud.

Beside this living armour was an automaton wearing a sleek dress that shimmered all colours of the rainbow itself. The surface of its expose skin was white like porcelain, and from underneath a thin veil was hair which appeared to be made fine strands of silver. In its hand was a sceptre made of ornately decorated orichalcum with a large crystal the size of my fist secured on the end.

"A Mithril Kingly Armour and an Orichalcum Queen Automata huh?"

[Be careful. Their stats and skills are quite high.]

Taking a glance at the status screens Alicia showed me, I could only confirm that she wasn't understating it at all. They were level 248 and almost everything was roughly twenty percent higher than the ordinary monsters of this floor. The only particular thing to note was that the queen didn't have the [Purification], or even the [Cleaning] skill as expected.

Once I made a third of the way across the worn carpet, the two figures stood as one and raised their weapons. In response, I bent my knees, lowering my centre of gravity a little.

The king raised his sword in both hands. At the same time, the queen lightly waved her wand. The armoured king disappeared from my sight, and instead a presence appeared immediately behind me.

"Shi...!"

I kicked off the ground, the old carpet tore and the stone underneath cracked as I threw my body to the side as hard as I could.

Just over my left shoulder, I could feel the shock wave brush past as a sword more akin to a simple slab of black metal swished past close to the speed of sound.

Only barely dodging the surprisingly swift attack, I slammed my feet into the ground to bring myself to a stop, only to have to kick off of it again and take to the sky as nearly invisible shock waves of compressed air fly through the spot I was just at, slicing the stone my feet broke apart.

My eyes turned to the origin of the wind spell. The orichalcum queen's head moved to follow my motion as she prepared another spell. But my priority was to deal with the oversized piece of mithril which was flying towards me.

The king leapt at me with his weapon over his shoulder, ready to intercept me midair. If I prepared my wings beforehand, dodging such a telegraphed move would have been quite simple, but there wasn't anywhere near enough time to use [Alter Silhouette] in this instance.

Instead, I twisted my body and with both a hand and foot, I slapped the side of the blade away as it approached, flinging me out of his path.

And towards the automaton.

If a construct could look surprised, I imagined that this thing would have had such a look, but alas, it simply stared at me with her unblinking eyes. Whatever spell it was about to use, such a thing would no longer be of use as I quickly approached her position.

Slapping away that metal bar alone wouldn't have been enough to reach her despite it probably weighing more than I did, so I used [Wind Magic] to propel me the rest of the way as well.

As I sailed past the construct, I reached out a hand to grab it, but just as my fingers closed on her shoulder, the automata vanished, leaving nothing for my fingers to grasp onto.

I eyes ran up and I glared at the spot where the living armour had been teleported to just moments before. The automata was now standing in the same exact spot, out of reach of me. Even if I were to use a spell at this point, she would likely be able to teleport out of the way again.

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I didn't know how much MP it took to use, but teleportation sure was an annoying thing to deal with. At the very least, the queen was capable of teleporting with almost no startup time, as if it was any other spell. Not only herself, but other willing targets at that as well, as she had proven with the king.

This really made me wonder just how such a boss could be defeated by a more normal challenger. Being what I was, I only needed a small opening to reverse this situation, and I hadn't gotten even close to depleting my reservoir of tricks and tactics.

(Maybe [Light Magic] lasers?)

No, that was a bad idea. The automata was made mostly out of orichalcum. There was no way I could overpower her defences before I bring myself to my knees from the self-inflicted damage. Even worse, it was possible that these orichalcum constructs could refill their MP pool by absorbing spells through their armour. At the very least, taking advantage of that property was an easy way to beat the orichalcum golems on floor 87.

My best bet was either wait until it ran out of MP, or sneak in a strike in between her spells.

Whether to do that before or after dealing with the living armour that was charging towards me was a different issue though.

The moment the king was within range, he swung his sword down at me with full force. Not letting such an opening go to waste, I forced a burst of [Wind Magic] against my back and propelled myself sliding across the ground between his legs. The moment I was past, I turned around and raised my body. Stamping a foot hard on the stone tiles below, I rotated my hips as a fist rose up from below.

But to my surprise, the white plate armour in front of me flickered. I was no longer looking at his exposed back while under his flapping cape, but instead staring straight at his chest. The sword he had swung down with so much force was now rising towards me.

The queen had gotten me. I hadn't thought about the possibility of teleporting in place to just change facing.

It was certainly an effective tactic. Dealing with the attack at this moment as I was about to deliver the strongest strike I could muster in such a short period of time was extremely difficult.

My mind raced as the sight of the glistening black blade rose up towards my torso, aimed right under my armpit.

This was bad, but it was also an opportunity, as big of a gamble as it was.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining a point in space highlighted by [Sense Presence]. The spot directly beside it, a three dimensional shape large enough to accommodate my body. I pictured it and myself overlapping and merging into one as the space itself bent and folded into itself in some sort of twisted pretzel before bouncing back, the two spots now having interchanged with each other.

Once that image solidified within my mind, I allowed my mana to flow out and be consumed.

With my eyes closed, I couldn't tell with my inborn senses if it had worked for sure. Nothing had changed, no unnatural puff of wind, no strange flickering lights or deafening sounds. But according to my supernatural senses, there was definitely a change. [Sense Presence] told me that the position of my two opponents, as well as Claret who nervously waited at the entrance, had shifted position massively. [Mana Perception] showed me that what was in front of me wasn't the massive body of mithril but the more lithe body of orichalcum.

When I opened my eyes, I was able to confirm that silver hair that stiffly refused to flow with the wind was in front of me instead of the pearl white armour.

My cheeks rose up at my success, and I continued the motion that I had started before the successful teleport.

My foot wasn't properly braced against the ground anymore, but I wasn't facing a thick layer of mithril anymore. My punch was more than enough for orichalcum.

And as to prove that fact, as the queen tried to quickly raise her wand once more to teleport herself out of the way of my attack, my punch connected with where her right shoulder blade would be if she had human anatomy.

Even though orichalcum was stronger than steel, something much softer than mithril and incomparably softer than adamantium was plenty soft enough to me. The queen's torso cracked and bent as it broke apart into thousands of fragments.

With her spell broken, I had another chance, and I wasn't about to ignore it.

Taking advantage of the momentum I had already built, I pushed off of the ground and with my extended arm, I wrapped it around the remaining parts of the automaton's body, pulling her towards me.

I sunk my fangs into her neck and enjoyed the meal I had suddenly gotten a chance to enjoy.

It was quite unfortunate that I didn't have the opportunity to savour the flavour, but even then, the taste of strawberry shortcake ice cream was quite nice.

When I was done, I turned towards the widowed king, ready to preform some more regicide.

I gathered and compressed the air around me, cooling it as much as I could. And when the king closed in enough to strike at me, I teleported behind it and splashed its back with the orb of liquid air as a form of revenge.

After a short wait, as I stayed within its blind spot, I braced myself and punched through the brittle armour and enjoyed myself some tiramisu ice cream.

"Phew. That teamwork was quite a thing."

[I thought our heart would stop when that king suddenly turned around by using teleport.]

"Yea. That really scared me as well."

"Master! Are you hurt anywhere?"

Claret rushed over from where she stood as she waited for the fight to end. Her face was quite pale and she made no effort to hide how nervous she was.

"No, I'm fine. You know, if it's so hard for you to watch my fights, you can just stay behind. Maybe you can find some sort of hobby to entertain yourself with?"

"Am I a bother, Master?"

"Ah, no! No way! I'm just worried that maybe watching me fight is a bit too stressful for you!"

If she was capable of it, she would've probably been sweating bullets the entire time, despite the fight itself actually being quite quick. She really did worry about me so much, but unless if it was proven I couldn't do it, I wanted to continue fighting on my own throughout this dungeon.

Maybe seeing the status page of the monsters was cheating a bit, as was using skills I couldn't possibly use normally, but for me it was within a permissible range. In the end, these were battles of life and death, and deliberately limiting myself to such a degree was asking for trouble.

The constant worry of Claret's was proof enough of that.

But even still, I wouldn't change this decision at least. Not unless if it was unavoidable.

"Then, then let me continue to watch you in all your glory, Master! If something were to happen when I was away, I wouldn't...I..."

This familiar of mine started to drop tears as she imagined that possibility. I knew it wasn't deliberate, but it was still the same as twisting a knife in my heart.

"Alright! Alright! You've made your point! You can keep coming with me! I won't bring it up again."

"Thank you Master!"

It really wasn't her fault. It was the fault of my predecessor for dying in the first place. As unreasonable as that line of thought was, to me, it was still true.

"Anyways, lets get going."

And with that, I picked up the drops as well as collected the contents of the chest which appeared in front of the two thrones.

What I had gotten was some more large mana crystals, that king's sword, a tiara style crown, and a bunch of gold and silver divine coins from the chest.

They were all things which I would likely never use, but leaving them was also a waste.

With everything placed within my bag, we took the exit at the back and finally reached the hundredth floor's fountain room.

"Mmmm! It feels like reaching some sort of milestone moving on to three digits!"

I stretched my arms above my head as we passed into the cave opening.

[There shouldn't be any real difference, yet somehow it really does feel special!]

"Yea. I know it's entirely psychological, but I still can't help it!"

[Hey! There's something there!]

"Huh?"

Interrupting the warm feeling inside, I spotted the thing which Alicia had pointed out.

This room was the same as any other fountain room. It was a large, domed cavern with a single fountain with an empty pedestal on one side, and a thick layer of dust all across the entire surface.

Except the pedestal wasn't empty.

There was a crudely made sealed jar sitting there for some reason.

"Huh. What's that?"

[Some sort of orb?]

Considering that these fountain rooms had always proven themselves to be sanctuaries, I wasn't too cautious about the strange item, but even then I didn't blindly walk over without at least paying attention to my footing.

I leaned over the fountain's water and picked the object up.

It was some sort of vase made from shaping iron by hand. The many indentations looked like fingers pressed along clay, forcibly forming the round shape with three thick legs to stand on. There wasn't any opening on the top either, the thing being completely sealed.

The indentations were slightly wider than my own fingers, but it was clear that whoever had shaped this was a woman.

"Any ideas what this is Claret?"

I casually showed the object to her.

But her reaction was completely different from what I had expected.

She timidly floated there, unmoving from the entrance. Her hands were on her robes as she tightly gripped and twisted the material while she kept her head down. After a few moments, something fell from her face. Wet spots appeared and multiplied on the ground in front of the dark spirit.

Unsure what to make of her actions, I waited until she managed to choke out an answer.

"That...that is...your ashes, Master..."

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