Chapter 31: Nightmare Floor 3 (3)

“…!”

The sudden blinding glare forced me to shut my eyes.

Gwooooooh…

When I opened them a moment later, the surrounding Undead were struggling and melting away. Simultaneously, my stealth deactivated. A few Undead, finally able to perceive me, lunged forward, but they were already dying and posed little threat. I crushed their skulls with my Mace.

“Phew.”

Soon, every Undead surrounding me had melted into nothing. The intense light radiating from the Sun emblem gradually faded.

…Is it over?

However, no clear message appeared. Well, I expected as much. Both the first and second floors ended with a Boss Monster. Floor 3 was likely no different.

I stood still, thinking. “Do I need to go back up?”

Aside from the central cavern and the three-way fork, there was no space left underground. The only option was to return to the surface. But weren’t the Undead up there still intact?

Having no other path, I walked back through the passage leading to the surface. I reached the entrance pit where I first entered.

“Huh?”

As I arrived, I saw bright sunlight streaming down from above. What? Did the sun actually rise? It seemed activating the emblem caused the sun to rise outside as well.

Clenching the Mace in my teeth, I crawled up the wall. When I peeked my head out of the pit, I witnessed a spectacular sight: under a sky with a brilliant sun, countless Undead on the surface were thrashing and melting away.

“Wow…”

I watched for a moment before snapping back to reality. Despite the atmosphere suggesting it was all over, the raid hadn’t ended yet. What was left? It had to be the boss.

I climbed all the way out and scanned the area like a meerkat. There was nothing particular to see until—

Gwooooooh!

The Undead melting in the sun suddenly began swarming toward a single point. Many were already dead, but because their initial numbers were so absurd, the survivors still formed a massive crowd.

“Ugh…!”

I dove back into the pit to avoid being swept up. The ground shook. A few stragglers fell into the pit, and I crushed their heads. After a while, the vibrations stopped. I crawled back up to check the outside.

And…

“…Oh.”

The sight before me left me speechless.

The massive swarm of Undead had gathered in one spot. They were squirming, crushing together, and merging into the shape of a colossal ball. It was, quite literally, a giant mass of flesh. Hands protruding from the heap twitched like antennae. Rather than being disgusted by its grotesque appearance, I felt utterly overwhelmed by its sheer size.

Aaaaaaa—

A low-frequency sound, like a deep hum, leaked from the creature. The noise vibrated strangely against my eardrums. I frowned and reflexively covered my ears.

That thing… is the boss? That?

Damn, it looks way too strong.

“…!”

For a moment, the mass swayed. Just as I thought it looked like it was revving up, it suddenly accelerated at an incredible speed, rolling straight toward me. It was terrifyingly fast.

I desperately threw myself to the side, using the Leap skill.

Kwagagagagaga!

“Kh…!”

The following shockwave shook my balance. Landing with a roll, I stopped time and focused my mind.

Flame Strike. Fairy Bullet.

I summoned the spells in succession and fired. Three Fireballs and five Bullets flew toward the mass.

Kwagagagagang!

A direct hit. However, compared to the creature’s size, the explosion of the Flame Strike looked small, and the Bullets were no better than firecrackers.

Gwoooooooh!

Yet, it seemed to take damage, as the creature let out a pained scream.

‘Did it swallow a train whistle or something?!’

Another unpleasant low-frequency sound. I winced, but then my eyes widened. The area gouged out by my magic was squirming and filling back in. It had regenerated in an instant.

No, hey… that’s cheating.

Before I could even feel cheated, the mass changed again. This time, holes opened all over its body, and it spewed something out simultaneously.

Puhwaaaaak!

Countless streaks of purple liquid poured through the air. I desperately dodged. The ground where the toxic fluid landed melted away.

“Shit…!”

What the hell is this now?!

Barely escaping the biochemical bombardment, I hurriedly looked back. Giving me no time to breathe, the creature was rolling toward me again. I used Leap again to throw myself out of the way!

Kwagagagagaga!

Everything in its path was utterly devastated. As I scrambled to my feet after rolling on the ground, I realized… it was gone.

‘Where did it go?’

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the ground. I looked up. The creature was falling toward my head from the sky like a Meteor.

“…!”

Are you… kidding me?

It was too late to dodge normally, so I stopped time.

Kwoooong!

I used Blink to travel the maximum distance and rolled away.

“Haah, haah…”

Despite its massive size, the thing bounced like a basketball and leaped back into the sky. It was falling toward me again. I barely managed to use Leap as the cooldown finished. Since Flame Strike was also available, I fired it at the mass once more.

Kwaaaaang!

But again, the mass only screamed briefly before rapidly regenerating. Wait a minute… this isn’t right. I sensed something was wrong. This wasn’t an enemy I could possibly defeat. Even staying alive didn’t seem to matter if it took no damage from the sun.

“Hah.”

It was rolling at me again. I used Leap to dodge.

The pit. I had to get back into the pit. Losing my will to fight against such an overwhelming power gap, I thought only of escaping. But there wasn’t even time for that.

The rolling mass performed a feat of braking sharply, instantly changing direction, and rolling right back toward me.

Shit.

With both Leap and Blink on cooldown, I had to dodge with my own body. But the thing was so massive that I couldn’t fully clear the area without a skill.

Kwang!

For a split second, I saw my death. Even though I was only grazed by the edge of the mass, my body was sent flying as if hit by a hundred-ton truck. I flew through the air before being slammed into the dirt. I rolled for a long time before my body finally stopped against a rock.

“Heugh…”

Feeling an impossible amount of pain, I looked down at my body. My right arm was twisted, and my right ribs were caved in. It hurt so much that I stopped time. The dizzying pain vanished instantly.

‘…I’m screwed.’

That was my first thought. I finally understood why such a monstrous Monster appeared as the boss. That mass was born from the merging of all the Undead remaining in the field.

In other words, there shouldn’t have been that many Undead in the first place. When I held out until nightfall, an absurd number of Undead had spawned. That was where it went wrong. Before so many Undead could gather on the surface, I should have gone underground sooner to activate the Sun emblem. Then, a much smaller number of Undead would have merged, creating a boss suited to my level. Not this monster.

It was absurd. How was I supposed to know to find the basement immediately without any information? But this insane difficulty had never cared about being unfair. I had botched the very first step. That was the sole reason for my current predicament.

‘Is this the end?’

If I resumed time, the mass would roll over me again. In this state, I couldn’t dodge. Blink was still on cooldown, and even if I dodged once more, it wouldn’t matter. I was as good as dead.

Facing death for the second time today, following the incident underground, I felt a bit calmer than before. But was there really no way to survive? Is this it?

‘There isn’t.’

My attacks don’t work, I can’t dodge… what could I possibly do?

…Ah. There is one thing left.

A necklace to summon a familiar. But this was practically a suicide mission. Since I hadn’t tamed it yet, this thing wasn’t on my side.

Whatever. I’m about to die anyway. This wasn’t the time to be picky. I braced myself and resumed time.

“…Ack!”

Dizzying pain flooded my body again. With a surge of nausea, blood burst from my mouth. It hurt… it hurt so much it felt miserable. Why was I here in this state?

The message appeared before my eyes.

Damn it, come out.

I placed my final bet.

Ssssss.

Dark red smoke billowed from the necklace around my neck. It began to coalesce and take shape right in front of me. It was a massive four-legged beast. A crimson energy surged around its black body, and its jagged fur looked like blades.

“Diul… please…”

I desperately called out to Diul before the creature fully manifested. Diul, let out a sigh-like sound and squeezed out his remaining strength to cast stealth on me.

Kaoooooo—!

A roar so loud it felt like my eardrums would burst. My whole body tingled. The fully manifested Fligas looked around as if searching for the wretch who had summoned it. But I was already hidden. Fortunately, the trick worked; even with me right in front of it, the beast couldn’t seem to find me.

Rumble—

Just then, the mass rolled toward this location. Fligas turned toward the mass and let out another roar. As Fligas lunged off the ground, a shockwave erupted. Shooting forward like a cannonball at terrifying speed, Fligas leaped over the mass just before impact, taking a huge bite out of it.

The mass screamed and wobbled past me.

“…!”

Fligas immediately charged at the mass again. I used Blink to get as far away as possible from the two monsters.

‘It actually worked…’

I had used it hoping for this. I had succeeded in making them fight each other. The battle between Fligas and the mass was a true clash of titans. Though Fligas was huge, it was only about a third of the size of the mass. However, Fligas clung to it and tore at it savagely, giving the mass no room to roll—like a tiger hunting an elephant. As expected of something with a recommended level of 50, Fligas was powerful.

Wooooooo!

The mass, howling in pain as it was bitten and torn, erupted with toxic fluid again. Soaked in venom, Fligas’s body began to melt and flicker. The mass then tried to roll while Fligas was still latched on. Fligas was crushed against the ground several times before finally being forced off.

Kwooooooo!

Despite this, Fligas’s momentum remained fierce. It charged again, biting and being thrown off, over and over. After a long struggle, the two monsters finally seemed to reach a conclusion. Both the mass and Fligas were in tatters, but Fligas was the first to run out of strength. I watched as the stumbling Fligas began to scatter like dust.

The message popped up. Voided… So if I don’t defeat it personally, this happens? However, the necklace wasn’t destroyed, so it wasn’t judged a total failure.

But that didn’t matter right now.

Wooooo…!

The mass looked like a half-eaten apple. In the very center of its exposed interior, there was a core where the Undead were packed especially tight. It looked like a nucleus. To my eyes, that was the weak point. The mass began squirming from the inside, attempting to regenerate.

“Aaaaaagh…!”

I screamed, pushing my trembling body upward. This was the last and only chance. After recovering all my willpower, I fired Flame Strike and Bullets simultaneously at the nucleus.

Kwaaaaang!

My upper body was a wreck, but my legs still worked. I ran toward the mass. The pain was so intense I felt like I would collapse at any moment, but I knew stopping meant death, so I barely held onto my consciousness.

The flames cleared, and I saw that the howling creature’s core was half-gone, but still intact. It was time for the final blow.

I used Leap to jump toward the mass and Blinked into the interior of its body. Facing the tattered nucleus, I used Blade Whirlwind.

Kwaaaaaa!

The nucleus was shredded to pieces. Along with the falling chunks of corpses, my body plummeted downward.

.

.

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As the messages scrolled past, I smiled and closed my eyes.

That was seriously tough.