36-38

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 28: BACK TO THE BEGINNING

Gust's PoV:

Gust flew through the Dungeon towards the battlefield where the Sahuagin faction and the Glavras united front usually did battle. The Quest suddenly expiring, the earthquake that struck the Dungeon, and the appearance of what Garami had dubbed "the King Cobra" could not be a coincidence unless the Goddess of Fate herself had a finger with it.

After a little while, Gust was met with the sight of the Sahuagin army facing off against the Glavras Rexus, and the Glavras Hydraortress... is not what happened.

The Rexus was lying dead with a large bash on its side, probably from Sent's tail hammer by the looks of it. As for the Hydraortress...

"Whahahaha! You finally came out of your hole-in-the-wall, Ophiregina! Now, face me and be defeated, you worm!!" - Hydraortress

He was heading straight for the King Cobra, apparently called Ophiregina.

Gust was confused. Were they not allies? He descended to the Sahuagins that were still down there, watching while in a daze at the Hydraortress charging towards the Ophiregina.

According to the Sahuagins, the Hydraortress did always have a battle-maniac brain, as it always challenged Virt to one-on-one duels, but even the Sahuagins couldn't predict this event.

"I see... then how about our troops?" - Gust

"We had some casualties, but nothing fatal, mostly due to the healing spells lady Garami taught us." - Sahuagin

That is the reason we taught you guys them, thought Gust, while he was planning the next step.

"...Garami asked for us to take care of the new Glavras monster that appeared. Fighting it head-on will only result in our deaths. Therefore, we will attract them both without getting too close. Now, here is the plan..." - Gust

---

Garami's PoV:

Oi, oi, oi. Boss-class monsters aren't supposed to leave their areas.

I rode on the Skeleton Raptor I had made with additional Materials to boost its stats, but the closer I came to the Floor 8-entrance, the more I wanted to turn back. If there was something among the Quest Rewards that I could use, but no~.

So yeah, gotta be stealthy around this bloke...what the-!?

The hydra? Why's he here!? Go and fight against Virt and the Sahuagins!

Argh, the kiting-plan can't work if the hydra's in the way!! I'm not even close to them yet, but I can see that they're starting some kinda infighting. Then it's up to me then. Having these OP-bosses level up more is not what the doctor ordered.

...Yeah, as if there's something they could do against those behemoths at the same time. Damn, this is a mess...oi! Is King Cobra doing that move!?

The Skeleton Raptor is fast on flat ground, but I need some attitude now! Dismiss! And [Sky Jump]!

I climbed the mountain paths that made up the outer rim of the Floor, just in time to escape the favorite attack of the King Cobra: the flood breath.

Even on this wide-open floor, a single breath is enough to cover it with water? The damn Cobra, did he up his game since I left him? The Sahuagins told me that they tried sending people to scout Floor 9 ahead of time, but it seems like they only contributed to level-up the Cobra.

Yeah, having them help out will just come back to bite me. They could probably handle the Cobra alone if they focused on kiting it only, as long as they took certain, no, extremely drastic security measures, but if the hydra's getting more attention than what the Sahuagins can at a safe distance.

I spied on the two monsters currently engrossed in their kaiju battle, and yup. Most of the Cobra's lower half is still inside the tunnel. There's no space to sneak through! Wait, why're they even fighting each other?

Should I throw one of the bombs at them? But the Queen survived one, plus getting the roof in her head. But the Queen survived a blow, so it is probably safe to assume that these guys, a tortoise monster of the same rank and a B-Rank snake, could withstand it as well.

I've only got two more of these and I want to save them...and aren't those guys a little slow? I gave them the perfect plan, so why're they-

*CRASH!*

A giant boulder just crashed into the face of the...hydra!? You are supposed to hit the Cobra, not that guy! Was their aim awry or is the plan to kite both of them?

The plan I gave Gust before he left to meet the Sahuagins was to use a long-range strategy consisting of Virt and Sent. The former would cut up large chunks of rock while the other sent the chunks flying.

With the T-Rex gone, Sent could have supported Virt in the battle against the hydra, but with our current situation...

"Those damn little betrayers! I'll kill 'em all!!" - Hydra

And with that, the hydra's aggro is splendidly aimed at the Virt & Sent combi. That's half the problem... not solved. The Cobra is worth more than the hydra-*CRUSH*-...yeah, that gotta do it.

Wow, he looked pissed off! Ah, one of its fangs broke. That explains it. Have a nice trip, Cobra.

---

How nostalgic Floor 8 is now.

Eh? Shouldn't I be worried about Gust and the others? They can just escape to Floor 6 if things get too messy. Both the hydra and the Cobra's too big for the bridges to carry them.

No matter, there's nothing here. Even the lights.

The big crystal in the middle of this relatively small floor should have been glowing like some kinda mother computer, but it's "turned off" if I should continue the computer analogy.

Something's up with the Dungeon. Heck, what is this place supposed to be in the first place? The Sahuagins had greater stats than the Glavras monsters despite being lower-leveled, the whole deal with the castle on Floor 6, that Machinerz-commanding mustache-guy, and not to mention that monsters born in a Dungeon should be loyal to their Dungeon Master. Even Gust was shocked over that part.

Knowing that won't probably change anything. Let's focus on that Dungeon Master for now.

So, I'm baaaaack! Floor 9!!

And what a welcome committee! Tons of Glavras monsters standing guard before the entrance to the floor. Oi, a Monster House right in front of the entrance is against the rules!

Not that they're listing to me, damn it! Time to [Sky Jump] up to the walls!

I escaped the blasts of [Torrent]-based water cannons from the tortoises and the water magic by the smaller cobras and ran across the good ol' labyrinth walls. Ah, this reminds me of when I was just bo---oi! Stop firing at me while I'm reminiscing!

Damn, I've got no time for this. Black Fog! And [Chaotic Concurrence]!

The Glavras forces were covered in the smokescreen-like darkness magic that was used twice due to the skill. That should give me some room to hide with [Stealth]. Then, up with the old Floor 9 map and straight to the last Floor!

---

There it was. The entrance to the final Floor. And just like back then, there are tortoises around the entrance camouflaged as rocks. And there are many of them! More than the two back when I first entered this Floor.

I did meet many enemies that followed me over the walls, but do these guys think I'm not being suspicious of an empty corridor right before the goal? Better just climb over them. Getting into a brawl now would just be a loss of time.

The tortoises were too busy acting like rocks to even think about keeping an eye on the walls. If they could see me with all my stealth skills on is a different story.

I jumped down from the wall and...stopped just before the entrance.

Wait, why do I have to complete some "urgent Quest"? Especially against something that's the boss over this whole hellhole of a Dungeon? I'm not even sure if there's a reward for this job.

With that in mind, let's go back. It's better digging stone than having to face some super-boss. The Sahuagins will see things my way, especially when they've seen the strength of the King Cobra.

Mhm. Your own life is always more important than whatever that Dungeon Master stole. Then-*BONK!*-!?

M-my heeeaaaad!!! What was that!? Which f*cking idiot is throwing stones on people? I swear I'm gonna give that guy a taste of his real medicine!

I couldn't identify the culprit, but their weapon is a different story. A big, ink-black rock, bigger than my fist. Oi, you shouldn't throw stuff that big on people. Seriously.

Attached to the rock with a string was a piece of paper...wait, is this some "rock letter"? Like an arrow letter? While in doubt, and making sure not to be seen by anyone wanting to check the entrance, I read the letter...WHAT!?

Stupid Champion of mine, get that power-hungry snake already. I warn you, I still can send over another ore even with that place's barrier up and running, even if that is all I can do.

...This threatening attitude and how she refers to me as "her Champion"...is the person who wrote this letter...

If you act like a good demon, I will tell you those requirements to reach your masterpiece. And you can take that Blackiron ore as a prepayment.

!?!? My masterpiece, as in-?!

That's something I could agree to that being a worthy reward...eh. I'll scout the area for now. If the Dungeon Master lives in that underground lake, then it's automatically my victory.

Since there's no reason not to accept a gift, let's take this ore with me as well. Blackiron, where have I heard...oh? Isn't that the big rock from when I escaped the snake back then?

...Hehe. That's some karma. Time to see if I've graduated from someone that could only run away from anything.

---

'This place's as gloomy as I left it,' is my only comment on the tunnels that lead to the bottom floor. Dark and damp, without even candlelights to light up the path. Kinda feels like a tunnel leading to the abyss.

I made my process as silent as possible, in the hope of not alarming the Dungeon Master. Hope he's not paid for his security system...

Despite my worries, I reached the bottom floor without any problems. There were some changes done to the floor since I left the place.

One of them is the lack of that eerie feeling. Now I know that was from the Dread Spirits that flocked to this floor. As for why they've left, I can only attribute it to the death of the Wild Hunt Lord in the castle.

The second and more obvious change is the lighting. Unlike before, there is some sort of powerful light source located somewhere on the lake, illuminating the cave with its blue light. First time in my second life that I want sunglasses.

The light source is kinda weird. Pulsating like a heart or something... Is that the all-famous Dungeon Core? I read that it acted as the Dungeon's heart and brain, but nothing about it being a real heart...

Eh, I'll take a look at it after this mess' done. The important thing is the Master...where is he? I didn't see him the day I left this cave either... maybe he's a chameleon? No, that can't be it. According to the Kigal-Note and the few books from the castle library about Dungeons, you can create monsters based on your race, but there were close to no monsters with camouflaging abilities except for the tortoises of Floor 9, and those seem to be because they're trained for that.

Then he's really in the water then? I can't locate him with [Magic Sight], but that's probably because of the Dungeon Core's light being all-magical, serving as a cover for anything else in the underground cave.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

[Magic Sight] skill level has reached Lv.Max

You have earned 0.6 Skill Points

Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.6 Skill Points were earned.

I foresaw that one. My eyes are hurting for the first time in my life due to using the skill. Just how much mana is stored in that thing?

Back to the point, how do I lure a UMA out of their lake...fishing with dynamite? Nah, too wasteful. Let's go with poison instead.

I opened up the lid for the bottle of Lavellan Poison, then threw the whole thing into the lake. Some seconds later, the lake started to turn a little purplish-oi! Just one bottle was enough to affect the whole lake!? That's freaking scary...

While I was freaking out by the surprising potency of the poison, bubbles started to appear from the bottom of the lake. Here he comes!

*Splash!!*

A gigantic snake appeared from the bottom of the lake. Or rather, compared to the King Cobra, this guy looks lankier. There's no "aura" coming from him like the King Cobra or even the spider Queen.

On the other hand, this snake looks more like the personification of the beauty of a lake in the moonlight. Its body was covered in light-blue scales and a group of horns formed a crown on top of its head, decorated with some kinda blue jewel in the middle.

The fact that its eyes look like those of a dead fish's busting the impression though. All the evidence points to this guy being the Dungeon Master, but let's double-check just to be safe.

I've got the right...guy, but what's up with these strange stats? And only three skills? No, if there's something this strange, then the titles are a bigger candidate for being the culprit.

Or... maybe not. And I thought it was some kinda clone or scapegoat or whatever. Are the skills to blame?

Ah...uh-oh. Ehm...I didn't see anything. Nothing at all. So don't come charging at me like some freakin' zombie-snake while ignoring all my stealth skills!!

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Reptiles: Glavras Ophiregina

Description:

The Glavras Ophiregina. A demi-dragon that originated from a serpent-type monster and the most evolved race of the Dungeon: "The Water-Knot of Glavras" to date.

The Ophiregina values wisdom and knowledge just as much as the Glavras Ophagus, its previous evolved form, but they have turned into a musclehead due to their newfound power, trying to solve their problems with force rather than wits.

Even so, the Ophiregina has a calm personality, but angering it will result in proving the saying of "letting sleeping dragon sleep, or else."

Appearance:

The Glavras Ophiregina is of a similar size to the Glavras Ophigiganta, if not bigger, has blue colored scales that have a line of gold on the tips, and an aqua-blue hood that's always up.

Abilities:

The Glavras Ophiregina may be slow for its species, but its big size allows it to tank more attacks than one would believe. It also has great proficiency with magic and has access to long-range skills such as [Dragon Breath (False)]. In all, it is strong in every possible aspect, maybe except for speed.

Gust's comment: Gyaaaa!! Why did I sign up for this!?

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 29: ADVENT OF THE DISASTER

I threw myself to the floor to escape the large mouth of the snake, aka, Glavras.

*CRASH!*

Is it normal for snakes to eat someone they meet for the first time!? From the looks of it, the charge must have hurt the snake as well. Part of his mouth is bleeding, and his HP went down another 10 points...10 points!?

Looking at his condition, I can see that the [Berserk] skill is activated. It's kinda obvious, but the skill drastically increases your physical abilities in exchange for not using other skills and a reduction in defensive- and mental abilities. This guy's got almost no other skills than [Berserk], and his INT is already zero...

Alright, this is too weird! First, why is most of his stats at 0!? That doesn't make any sense! And if he's been living for over 1.000 years, then he should have obtained at least one more title than those! And why's [Identification Detection] amongst the few skill he has!? Ah, gotta stop Identifying him. With that high skill level, I'm essentially negating my stealth-abilities here.

...So why's he keeping on chasing me even when I've turned off the skill!? I thought it was supposed to only allow you to detect when and where someone used an [Identification]-type skill on you! Ah, can it be that with a high skill level, you'll know where the rude fellow is for a short while? Then I can't do anything but run!

I ran across the shore to escape the berserking dragon, but that turned out to be a bad move. Glavras followed after me as I ran, meaning he left the poisoned lake. Tch, and here I was betting on it weakening him even more...damn.

The poison has disappeared. Did the Dungeon do that, or was it the poison that was too weak? I hope it's the latter. I've got two more bottles in the Storage after all.

And here I'm sure I can beat it if I could get some sneak attacks on it. Its HP is lowering due to the poison, and he's not that strong in defense as the Queen either. Beating this guy will be easy the moment the stealth skills get usable again... unnaturally easy even.

As said before, this guy's something that has lived for over a thousand years. And creatures can obtain EXP simply by living in aether-rich areas, even if it's several, if not hundreds, times slower than hunting monsters or whatever. And I'm not gonna buy some excuses like "he had evolved just recently".

Then there are his skills. A "Pure Lake Dragon" should have some Water attribute skills, right? Not having that is stranger than having so few of them. And [Dungeon Create] is too strange.

I made a quick [Identification] of the skill before I was forced to turn it off, and the result told me that it was a skill to change the Dungeon one is a Dungeon Master of.

That's too strange. Dungeon Masters are supposed to be able to change their Dungeons without the help of skills and such, so why's something like that existing? It feels kinda unnecessary.

As I kept on running over the shore, I noticed a fatal fact about my plan. The wounds on Glavras' face, the ones he had done to himself with the first charge, have healed.

I'm not saying I didn't expect that to happen, skill or not. It's a dragon after all, so I could accept that its ridiculous high lifeforce could heal it or something, but that's too fast. Did the Dungeon heal it? Like some auto-healing service that the Dungeon gives for certain species?

If so, then no way stacking sneak attacks will kill it. I'll need to kill that thing in a single blow with enough power so it won't help no matter how much the Dungeon can recover Glavras' HP...why am I always fighting stuff like this lately? I miss the fight with the Wild Hunt Lord.

Glavras went for a lightning-fast chomp again, so I jumped to the roof, then I used [Sky Jump] and [Blink] to get behind him. While over him, I shot some Gloom Bullets at him, but no damage. Tch, this skill lacks power so much that it's to laugh at.

After I landed, the Darkness Bullet spell I had worked on while in-air finished, which had [Chaotic Concurrence] to back it up. Five dark magic circles appeared and shot bullets made of darkness, not that different from the Gloom Bullets, only bigger. The bullets smashed into Glavras with more force than the Gloom Bullets could from the sound of it, but yeah. A level 15 Darkness spell ain't gonna cut it here.

Already expecting that, I ran away the moment the magic was unleashed. And I think I got an idea just now!

I fired more Gloom Bullets and Dark Bullets to keep the snake after me. Our game of chase lasted for a little while, and to be honest, I'm starting to feel the pain of using [Energy Warfare] all this time. But there's the goal!

I made a sharp left into the opening of the wall and Glavras followed. After reaching the end, I kicked the wall to change directions towards Glavras. The monster snake opened its jaws in hope of swallowing me whole, but I used [Sky Jump] to jump to the wall instead, forcing Glavras to swallow the present I left behind when I did the double-jump.

Not wasting a moment, I hurried out of the cave, just in time to escape the explosion from inside Glavras. Pieces of meat, blood, and fat flew outta the opening to the cave as if a scene from a splatter movie was being filmed there.

Warrior of courage, face the creature of ancient blood to inherit the power of the greatest of Dragons.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Quest reward can be selected from the Quest Log.

Does that mean I did...wait! I didn't say that line! I didn't set up any cliche flags! None at all!!...Huh? Hey, where's the EXP? No way that big guy isn't enough for even one level.

I glanced inside the cave and saw the corpse of Glavras. His neck had been blown off from the bomb I made him swallow, so I think it's safe to say he's dead...unless he's like that famous undead, the Dullahan.

"DAMN IT ALL! AND HERE I THOUGHT THAT THE BODY COULD FINISH IT OFF IF I ADDED THOSE SKILLS TO IT!" - ???

Whoa-!? A loud voice came from behind me all of a sudden. But when I turned around, I saw no one... except for the supposed Dungeon Core shining in the distance too far away for me to recognize its shape.

"WHATEVER! IT DID BUY ME ENOUGH TIME." - Dungeon Core(?)

Oi, that line... and that he called Glavras "the body"...don't tell me-?! No, seriously don't tell me that something like that's allowed!

In my shock, I turned around to confirm that the snake was dead...only to be met with the sight of a large amount of salt in the shape of a snake. Then...aw, come on!

That guy left his freaking body to become his Dungeon!? That's cheating! How are you supposed to kill a Dungeon?

Grr, but there's one fatal flaw with whatever that plan of his is-!? A magic circle? Wait, wait, wait! Just let me use these-

---

The Dungeon Core, no, Glavras observed the white-haired demon disappear in a dark purple magic circle.

Teleportation type...from the divine realm...and that color...no matter. That pest will never be a problem for me again even if she survives the night or not.

Glavras thought so while checking out the situation in the Dungeon. To his surprise, there were no living creatures left in the Dungeon. Did the gods evacuate all the monsters, even the ones still loyal to Glavras? Even so, he had no reason to keep them around even if they were.

The former dragon chuckled to himself in the gods' vain attempt of opposing him. How could the gods ever harm him after all his preparations?

Obtaining the Dungeon Core which is a piece of the Chaos God himself, integrating it with the Ruins of Rebellion to inverse the Core so it would become impossible to be affected by the Ultimate Gods, analyzing the remnants of the Genesis God that made up the "Devil's Spire" mountain right beside the Dungeon, hacking the Terra Sol World-System through the information obtained from the Genesis God to create the [Dungeon Create] skill to cover for the loss of being able to use the Dungeon normally, and finally, harvesting all the hundreds of tons of water that made up the lake region of Velantas to fuel his plans of becoming a god of water.

It was not a foolproof plan, as evidenced by the intrusion of the Black Baron who Glavras had tricked into cooperating with him, or the ghost of Avalar who had been a sort of guardian deity for the Ruins of Rebellion. And worst of all was that wretched demon...

Glavras couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that thing exiting the same cave as his former body now lied in. It had by no means any strength, but something was wrong with it. As if it was the carrier of a lethal disease.

Due to the Dread Spirits that infested the underground lake at that time would strike at the Dungeon Core if he didn't protect it at every possible moment, Glavras couldn't take any measure against the demon that wandered towards the upper levels like a scared ant.

The demon turned out to be both a pain due to helping the Ultimate Gods' campaign against Glavras and a helping hand as in eliminating or driving off certain troublesome individuals, including the Black Baron, the ghost of Avalar, and even less important individuals such as the Crushroach Queen that had infested the upper levels.

Even so, it was also an enemy that destroyed several important resources of Project: Apotheosis. Glavras tried to use the empty shell that used to be his body before transferring his mind, soul, and even his aether to the Dungeon Core. Despite fashioning the body to be an opponent the demon would have difficulty to beat, it was splendidly destroyed without much difficulty.

No matter, that is no longer a problem. Nothing is anymore.

The former Pure Lake Dragon, a creature that was essentially a big frog in a small well who had been furious over the world containing so many greater existences than him and swore vengeance against those who were unjustly better than him, the lord over an extremely small part of the Velantas lake region, laughing madly in his vanity.

---

Garami's PoV:

When the light faded, I noticed I was somewhere on a mountain? The wind's biting cold and the seven moons in the night sky illuminates the black rocks that are part of the mountain that extends to the sky like a spire...wasn't there something wrong with that line just now? Or, that's not so important right now.

Several, screw that, tons of colored lights appeared from the ground at the foot of the mountain. It was mostly blue lights, with two especially big ones going a different way than the smaller ones. Except for that, there were black lights that were aimed at random it seems, along with a few brown ones mixed in. And one of them, a dark purple one...is landing here?

When the purple light struck the ground, a magic circle appeared and revealed...Gust!? I must have been transported the same way then.

"Garami! Where's this? Are those guys here!?" - Gust

...Did the two Dungeon bosses give him a trauma or something? I can see his feathers being drenched in water, and the bird himself looks like he's been through a horror movie marathon. I don't know much about the hydra, but the King Cobra is scary as hell, so I can't make fun of him.

"Only us here. But what about the others?" - Garami

"Phew, they are not here... oh, Virt and the others? They all evacuated to Floor 6 to escape the Dungeon bosses. There were some wounded ones, but no one died." - Gust

Meaning that those blue lights...have already left the area. Guess it's all over then.

The whole deal with the Dungeon ended with a disappointing end, but what can you do? I'm not going back in there. Too many scary things in there, both stuff that originates from the Dungeon and not...

*Rumble, rumble, rumble...*

A quake shook the earth down below, but the mountain I was on looks like it's not affected. Kinda weird feeling.

An explosion happened where the Dungeon should have been, and from the depths of the earth rose something made of earth. Its size was around 100 meters, and as I kept on looking at it, its dirt-based body changed into...water?

As the transformation continued, the structure changed its shape. Its body turned elongated and slim, like a snake. Several tentacles started to sprout out from its body, deformed batwings too small to carry its big body appeared on its back, a jaw like a crocodile with rows of teeth similar to a shark appeared on its front, and aqua-green water converged and formed its multiple eyes spread around its body at random. It looked like some Lovecraftian monster had been merged with a spirit of water.

WORLD MESSAGE:

The World Quest [Disaster of Water] has been replaced with the World Quest: [Glavras the Disaster]

The Disaster of Water has shown its face. Bring down the False God located in the eastern part of the Velantas region on the Invidia continent and save the world.

So it was Glavras. Seriously, that's too freakin' cheating. A "False God", are you kidding with me? They even changed the Quest from "Urgent" to "World".

"Wha-, wha-, wha-" - Gust

And this guy's out of commission. Must be due to the sudden rush from the Dungeon bosses to this guy. Should I visit that grand library place and ask for a refund?

I was looking for somewhere to hide while the big guy would leave to crush some innocent city someplace else when a large noise destroyed the tranquility of the night.

[O-hohoho! Finally dug yourself out of your snake hole, eh? Glavras!] - ???

...I know that voice. I've only heard it one time in my life, but the event that happened due to this guy...due to this guy's subordinates have been etched into my heart...mostly due to irritation and rage.

I looked at the sky and saw something that looked like flying battleships. They weren't the type you can see in sci-fi stories, as these had magical runes all over their bodies and the engines looked like precious gems with a rotating piece of metal around them. They were at least more fantastical than the robots that were on Floor 3 at that time.

There were three of these flying machines, each with its own characteristics. One of them, the mid-sized of the lot, was silver-colored and filled to the brim with gunports and other weapons. The smallest one was colored in rusty red and looked like someone had drawn graffiti on the ship's armor.

The third and final one was bigger than both the previous ones and painted in dark-blue colors, close to black. The loud voice from before had originated from the speakers attached to this ship. Then that's...

"Black Baron! Still trying to make me pay up?" - Glavras

[You better believe I do! Do you know how much those Transport Units cost to build!?] - Black Baron

Why must today be filled with bad news only!? As for the bird, he seems to have fainted on his feet, mumbling something about an A-Rank criminal. I moved him into one of the caves with the opening not facing the ships and the so-called God to prevent any stray shots from hitting him.

"And just how are you supposed to do that? Just look!" - Glavras

With that, Glavras proceeded to strike the ground with one of his tentacles. The place that was struck started to change. The solid ground had been changed to crystal-clear water.

"See? No matter what my body touches, it will turn into water, be it the ground or even attacks! And as a god, I have complete control over any water! Nothing can defeat me now, not even the Ultimate Gods! Nothing-" - Glavras

While in the middle of his speech, Glavras was suddenly barraged by shots from the silver-colored ship. Despite bragging about his invincibility, the bullets struck his body without being turned into water.

[Oi, Assault! Don't fire before I give the orders!] - Black Baron

[BRAGGING DRENCHED WITH VANITY AND NARCISSISM IS NOT WORTH OF HEARING, SO THIS UNIT DECIDED TO CUT IT SHORT] - Assault

[That's still not a good reason to ignore orders... is what I would say usually, but this time, I'll allow it!] - Black Baron

You'll allow it!? But I agree with both of them. That Glavras-fellow seems to be a complete idiot.

[Huh? Oh, the speaker's still on!] - Black Baron

*Click*

...Guess birds of a feather flock together in this world too.

Where was I? Right, Glavras ain't as invulnerable as he has people to believe. The bullets of the Black Baron's team must be of some special metal alloy that prevents Glavras' powers to work on them. As the fireball-like attacks from the ships also damage him, energy-type attacks also seem to be effective. Water evaporates after all. Wonder what would happen if he was exposed to a freeze-beam?

Even so, he's worthy of the name "God". Despite all the bullets, either material or energy-based, he has been hit with, there's no inkling to him growing weaker.

Ain't that weird? Then I looked at the ground he was standing on and guess what, Glavras is transforming the ground under him to water and makes that a part of him to compensate for the bits that get blown off from the Baron's attacks.

...Then what if this keeps on going until Glavras reaches the lithosphere? Oh crap, that's bad!

Prophecies of world destruction aside, how can I fix this mess between two superpowers without getting killed myself? One side is a group of magical war machines led by a freak in military uniform, and the other is a God...or is he?

...I think I can do something about this. But first, dinner. I'm starving due to the speed run down to the underground lake. Gotta refuel before charging in. Glad I got some dried meat from the Sahuagins. And I got the fight of the century as entertainment to boot. Can it get any better?

...I should keep the escapism to a limited degree...*Sigh*. Why do I have to be involved with this~?

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Dragons: Pure Lake Dragon

Description:

The Pure Lake Dragon is said to have evolved from serpent species that have lived more than 100 years in a large body of still water, like a lake. Therefore it is also possible for snakes that live in ponds to evolve into a Pure Lake Dragon.

These creatures are pure creatures to a fault, leading to dramatic differences between each individual. A gentle Pure Lake Dragon will never hurt anything, not even a fly, but a prideful one will kill anyone that it defines as an enemy.

Appearance:

The Pure Lake Dragon has the appearance of a serpentine dragon without limbs and light-blue scales. On its head is a crown made from the dragon's horns, decorated with one or more blue gems. The shape of the crown varies between the different individuals.

The amount of gems is said to represent the dragon's mental alignment. The more gems on the crown, the more merciful the dragon, and vice versa.

Abilities:

The Pure Lake Dragon is by no means any slouch. They are strong in both a physical fight and with magic, but their true worth lies in their power of purification. A single Pure Lake Dragon is enough to clean a small swamp into clear water.

Gust's comment: In some places, they are considered guardian deities.

[ARC 1] CHAPTER 30: GARAMI VS FALSE GOD GLAVRAS

"Heh~. Chaos, you say~." - Garami

"*Munch, munch*, that's right. All Dungeons around the world are been said to be, *gulp*, the spawns of the Ultimate God, Chaos. That snake must have used that fact to achieve godhood by transferring his soul and mind to it. As for how he tuned the Core, or, the Dungeon itself to become a fitting vessel for his divine self-." - Gust

"Through that?" - Garami

"Yes, I think so. The Devil's Spine is a piece of the Genesis God after all. If analyzing that wouldn't give you a hint on how to attain godhood, then nothing will. But I don't think that the Dungeon Core could do that..." - Gust

"The Ruins?" - Garami

"You may have..., no, you must have a point there." - Gust

Gust's stomach finally won over his fear for Glavras and came out of the cave to look at the battle with me (and the lunchboxes). During that time, we discussed the secret over Glavras' sudden promotion to the divine stage, which led to the current theory.

Glavras must have used the inversed Dungeon Core to retrieve the info from this "Spine"-mountain, 'cause I think that this Chaos guy..., god, wouldn't want people to learn from the Genesis God at all costs... which turned out to be a fatal mistake when the Core turned inverse.

Gust gulped down the last of the food and went into hiding again in the cave. Smart move. Those turrets to the Black Baron may not make any noise, wish my gun was like that, but they still pack a punch. Pieces of Glavras' fluid body are blown off with each hit.

Not that the False God looks disturbed by it. He keeps on converting material to water for each bullet and not. He's simply not losing body mass, despite the Black Baron's idea being the right. You can't beat a monster made of water with fists. Heat-inducing bullets are the thing for the job... normally.

"Anyway, you said something about killing that thing, but just what are you planning?" asked Gust, peeking outta the cave.

Why's he asking me at this point? The opponent is a monstrosity of a god created by transforming a freaking Dungeon, and it's in mortal combat with what Gust referred to as an "A-Rank criminal" or whatever. So, do I have a plan?

You bet I do!

---

Breaker's PoV:

[Keep the assault going, Breaker. We should see him weakening any time soon.] - Black Baron

"Yes, yes, sir. Keeping on assaulting, duly noted. Breaker, over and out." - Breaker

The wheel-like Machinerz, Breaker, cut off the communication with his master and laid back lazily in his chair while giving commands to his subordinate Machinerz.

This is not productive at all. That big guy is recovering at an equal pace as we burn off his water reserves. Breaker thought that, but didn't care. It was too much of a pain to do so. The Black Baron should figure that out for himself.

"Fire! Fire! Fire! Fiiiireeee!!" - Scarecrow

And Breaker had his hands filled with the button-mashing idiot. Scarecrow had gotten his own console connected to the cannons, which made good use for his love for buttons on the attack on Glavras.

"Fiiiireee-... huh? Hey, Breaker. Something is jumping over to us." - Scarecrow

"Yes, yes, that is fine. Keep on with the bombardment now." - Breaker

Breaker decided to ignore Scarecrow's warning, as most that come out of his mouth is pure nonsense, and started to take a nap instead when...

*Bang, bang, bang*

Were we hit!?

Breaker thought the sound came from Glavras' attacks but then thought otherwise. Breaker had specifically positioned his ship as far away from Glavras as possible, so far that they were getting a little too close to the Devil's Spine. And the sound came from the hatch, not the hull.

*Bang, bang, bang!*

"Can someone check out that noise already?" - Breaker

"You got it!" - Scarecrow

Scarecrow left his position, meaning the cannons to Breaker's ship stopped for a small moment... until one of the assistant Machinerz switched the cannons to auto-mode. Even without Scarecrow there, it was no big loss.

Breaker returned to his nap, which lasted for around five minutes before the next catastrophe.

"Sir, the Albabots have been released." - Assistant

"Hmm? What is what again? Wait, seriously, what was released!?" - Breaker

Outside the window were several dozens of Machinerz shaped after albatrosses, and of the same size, with a jetpack on their back that doubled as cannon turrets. Breaker swiftly looked to Scarecrow who had just returned and was the only possible suspect for this mess.

"And just what do you think you are doing? The Eaglebots are just going to get in the way of the cannon fire!" - Breaker

"But, that's a Dungeon." - Scarecrow

"...I know it used to be a Dungeon before, but what has-" - Breaker

"Then we just have to look for the Dungeon Core then!" - Scarecrow

"...The Dungeon Core?" - Breaker

That... can work!? Breaker was shocked by his mechanical core over Scarecrow's idea. True, even if it's Glavras' soul is moving it, even with all the modifications done to it, that thing is this essentially a Dungeon. Break the Core, and the whole thing would go down with it, divine or not.

After all, a Dungeon is a spawn of Chaos, an Ultimate God. They were a type of divine creature from the beginning. That's the whole reason why Glavras could pull out this stunt of his. No way breaking the Core will not hurt the False God.

Breaker was so lost in thoughts that it took him quite a while to convert that idea to the Black Baron when he opened a communication line to them. So much that he forgot to wonder how Scarecrow had come up with that idea, that he forgot about asking what that knocking-sound by the hatch was, or to register that someone was hitching a hike with one of the Albabots towards Glavras.

---

Garami's PoV:

This is more difficult than I expected it to be! And I didn't think that riding on a bird-bot with just my threads would be easy either!

On top of the bird-type Machinerz that I had the idiot program to follow my orders in secret, I looked down at Glavras. Big and ugly as heck. He looked like a snake/crocodile before, but due to haphazardly repairing his body on the go, he's starting to look more like a Shoggoth than anything else.

Kinda regret picking these goggles from the reward from Floor 7. That's how ugly he's become. What was these goggles' effect again? Not that they would be better than the Greatshield or full-plate armor.

The herd of bird-based Machinerz started to pepper Glavras with their bullets while searching for the Dungeon Core, somewhere in his body. I mean, he needs something like a heart, since he has no believers or whatever that keeps a god running.

It wasn't much in the beginning, but after a while, more Machinerz came out of the Black Baron's ship, than from the one controlled by this "Assault" character.

Jumping over to that ship was the least of my problems... is what I first expected, but thanks to the gods (the real ones) that it was that idiot that opened the hatch. I think he was called... Scarrow, or something? Well, I had a plan even if it wasn't him who answered, so it was a fortunate miscalculation there.

That they had something as handy as these bird-bots is another thing I didn't expect, but I'm still happy that they had. My original plan was for them to charge in at Glavras when they found the Core to crush it with concentrated fire, but using numbers to overwhelm him is even better.

Also, the bullets they are using are made with some magic-disrupting metal alloy, which is further enhanced to beat Glavras specifically. That Baron sure knows how to hold a grudge.

I simply told that... Carrow guy, about how he could gain some cred with the Baron by telling him about the Core, then I helped him weaving together the idea of using smaller troops to search for it while saving the big cannons for the final blow. I even volunteered to help those guys with the final blow...*giggle*.

As if! Stopping a Disaster is bound to give one heck of a reward. No way I'm giving that away! Also, I've been promised the long-sought-after clues to the Kur Kigal evolution if I crush this guy.

Hmm... this is weird. I was expecting that he would start protecting the place where the Core is located once the bullet-hell started, but he's doing nothin'. Was my plan a flop? Or, do Glavras even think that he needs to protect the Core? He seems stupid, so it's possible he's not thinking about that.

...Got it. It's his head.

The evidence is that he's aiming for the bird-bots around and above his head only. Think about it: if you were a kaiju-class monster and tons of smaller pests flew around you, which one would you focus on first? Those above you that's difficult to catch, or the ones swarming right where your arms are?

I for one would smack the easier ones first, then work on the more difficult ones... unless I had a good reason to take those guys out first.

I told my bird-bot to ask its friends to aim at the big guy's head in the hope of luring out the Core. Soon after, the bird-bots started to flock around Glavras' head, which freaked him out more than anything else in this fight.

Since the big bad's too busy to notice me, I made my bird keep a distance which was enough for [Magic Sight], and there it is! The Dungeon Core is located where the brain should be, with tons of neural circuits attached to it? Or magic circuits? Let's go with the latter.

I ordered the bird-bot to get closer and twirled the barrel of the Thaumaturgy Revolver. All six [Aura of Darkness]-bullets loaded in the barrel disappeared, for then being replaced with five new ones, with 4 of them also being consumed by the gun.

Now the Calamity Bullet's ready. This one should make more than a dent in that big buffoon's ego.

"Damn scrap metal! If that's the case-!" - Glavras

Looks like he finally snapped! Glavras' body started to shrink at an incredible speed while the magic circuits around his mouth started to grow brighter and brighter. Oi, don't tell me-!?

My fears turned out to be true, as Glavras let out a massive roar accompanied by a large burst of water aimed at the three flying ships. A Dragon Breath, no, a False God Breath?!

The three ships and all the bird-bots in between were flushed away by the fake breath. The bots had no chance of surviving, but it seems that the ships kept themselves in one piece... I think. The attack didn't have the turn-to-water property as Glavras' body, but they were flown so far away that I can't even see them anymore. Just how many kilometers away are they now?

Still, that attack wasn't without any risks. Glavras' body has shrunken considerably, enough for him to be only 20 meters high now, way less than half of what he was in the beginning. And now, due to the lower water density, it is possible to see his weak spot located in his head.

"The Core! Take the Core!" - Garami

I shouted to the bird-bots, who were in a daze after having seen their bosses been blown away. They weren't in a position where they had to follow my order, but it was enough for them to remember that their job was to take out Glavras.

The birds started to shoot at Glavras again, but many of them are starting to go empty for bullets. The birds in that situation figured out that they had to bet their last bullet. They charged up the remaining aether in their bodies and did a kamikaze attack on Glavras, exploding just before they got transmuted into water.

Glavras lost another 2-3 meters worth of body mass, but the birds are going down in numbers, fast. I ordered the one I was riding to get us closer. Not caring about saving ammo, I fired the Calamity Bullet while using the Dark Bullet spell at the same time, joining the bots' barrage on the water serpent.

"You again!?" - Glavras

Well, god or not, you would notice someone shooting at you no matter the stealth skills in use.

I didn't give Glavras any more time to comment and fired with all the bullets and spells I had available. But even the Calamity Bullets can't crack the Core. Some sort of barrier?

Glavras changed the structure of his body to create more tentacles and used them straight away to swat the bird-bots outta the sky. I had mine take a good distance... no good. It was smacked down. Mayday, MAYDAY!!

I jumped off the wrecked bot to a new one, but Glavras didn't take a break and chased after me. I escaped using the remaining bird-bots as footholds while shooting all the bullets I had left in Calamity state... eh? Empty? No ammo? NOOOO!!

Alright, fine! Time to use secret weapon #1... and #2 as well! And #3!!

As I ran on the bird-bots, I continued to go higher and higher until I was above Glavras' head. All of the water-tentacles were aimed at me, but who cares? I used the new skill I'd just obtained before my assault on Glavras.

A purple-black magic circle appeared in my hand. It was more elaborate than those from [Darkness Magic] despite being a non-magic skill, and it consumed 100 MP in a single batch, even when counting my cost-reduction abilities. In tandem, I used [Chaotic Concurrence] to triple the number of magic circles.

Then came the nightmare. A large, python-like dragon made of darkness appeared from each magic circle and charged at Glavras. He tried to guard himself with his tentacles, but they were all eroded to nothing when they touched the dragons of darkness.

The dragons, not disturbed the least by Glavras' guard, started to bite, tackle, and crash into the false god, eroding even more of his body at a pace that wouldn't lose to the barrage of the Black Baron's ships. Mostly because Glavras had exhausted himself in driving off the mentioned mad scientist.

But the Dungeon Core located in his cranium was still in one piece! A barrier or something covered the Core, blocking the dragons from finishing their jobs.

I, who was standing on a new bird-bot after launching the dragons, took out the bottles of the weakening poison that we had used on the Queen before and dropped them all onto Glavras. The contact with the water surface was all that was needed for the weakened bottles to crack, pouring their contents into the snake made of water.

Glavras flinched when the content was mixed into his body, and the light of the barrier weakened... not by a lot, but somewhat.

Not caring about the elixir syndrome, I threw all the remaining poisons I had in my Storage, sans for the Hydra poison. I'm not planning on dying together with this guy.

Glavras got busy with trying to purify all the poisons I had dropped into him while holding off the dragons at the same time. Both of them aren't gonna last long, I mean, the opponent is a god, rotten or not.

But they've done their work. The barrier around the Core's considerably weaker now. I took out the last secret weapon and used threads, [Thread Control], [Shooting], and centrifugal force to throw it towards the Dungeon Core like a slingshot.

The final piece in the puzzle, the Deathcaliber of the Wild Hunt Lord, crashed into the barrier, crushed it, then struck the Core, cracking it in two.

WORLD MESSAGE:

World Quest: [Glavras the Disaster] has been cleared.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Acquired title: [Dungeon Raider]

World Quest: [Glavras the Disaster] has been cleared.

Emergency Quest: Cut the Knot has been cleared.

Quest reward can be selected from the Quest Log...

The System Messages started like this while false god gave a silent scream, evoking a gust of wind came out of the destroyed Dungeon Core... or rather, from the Deathcaliber? Oi, don't start with a tornado all of a sudden! Stop that! Demons aren't supposed to flyyyyy~!!!

---

Achievement Titles:

Hunting Titles:

Status Titles:

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Dragons: Zahhak

Description:

The Zahhak is a Darkness Dragon that is said to be the principle of its species. They do not hunt humanoids actively but angering one of these dragons is enough to force countries to their knees and the map to be redrawn.

They are one of the ten Dragon Lord species, meaning they have authority over lesser dragons of the same species. This also means they are the origin of one of the Dragon Slayer Extra Skills.

The S-Rank dragon known as Azi Dahaka is said to be a special mutation of this dragon race.

Appearance:

A Zahhak has a slim body of a Western-type dragon, but its lower body is that of a snake, giving it an appearance not too different from a Lamia.

The Zahhak is covered in dark-purple scales, close to black, has a single set of wings, a python-like head, and has two or more heads growing from its shoulders, all sharing the same python-like appearance as the main head. They can also shapeshift into a more humanoid form.

Abilities:

The Zahhak can control darkness on a level that is equal or better than a Demon King that specializes in the arts of Darkness. The Zahhak is so proficient in it that it can erode even energy if it wanted.

The dragon is also extremely flexible and it is said that it can cover for its weak defense simply by dodging any fatal attacks.

Also, the Zahhak is proficient with any type of magic, even those of the Holy attribute and Light attribute. They still shine the greatest when the magic in question is of the Darkness attribute.

To summarize, the Zahhak is an expert in annoying those who oppose it, for then striking the fatal blow when the opponent is too weak to fight back.

Gust's comment: Great. A dragonfied Garami...