A New Goal

―7612 years after the start of the game.

[Gods' Ordeal] UG 350th Floor!

So much time has passed since I started diving into [Gods' Ordeal]'s

dungeon that my sense of time has started to numb. Why did it take this

much time, you ask? Well, keeping the sheer size of each floor aside, every

floor in the dungeon had a unique nature.

The eleventh to the fiftieth floors were a magma zone.

The fifty-first to the hundredth floors were a freezing zone, tundra.

The next fifty floors were a desert zone. Whenever I would walk in that

zone, the sand would suddenly attack me with a sand spear as if it were a

sentient being.

The fifty floors after that were an underwater zone. The entire zone was

submerged in the water. Moreover, the water sapped my HP bit by bit.

The following fifty floors were a wind blade zone. Wind blades incessantly

rained upon the player in this zone.

The 251st to 300th floors were a thunderbolt zone. Here, thunder and

lightning incessantly rained down.

I will omit the process, but I only started clearing those areas when I raised

my skill to the "Assimilation" level. As a result, I acquired [Heat

Assimilation], [Ice Assimilation], [Earth and Sand Assimilation],

[Wind Assimilation], [Water Assimilation], and [Thunder

Assimilation].

After the 300th floor was the dragon zone that was filled with various

kinds of dragons. And today, I've reached the 350th floor.

In the center of the floor, I saw a tiny and adorable golden dragon sitting

inside a magic circle.

Even when I approached the golden dragon, it didn't move. However, its

eyes never left me and kept me locked in its coercion. What a terrifying

pressure! This fella is clearly a cut above the rest of the dragons.

I unsheathed [Raikiri], a sword I got after subjugating [Thunder Lion

King] in the 300th floor's trial. It looked like a sword from another world

and was called [Nihontou]. The sword fit my current sword art.

「Well then, Golden Dragon! Let's fight to the death in a battle that will

burn our souls.」

I shouted while pointing [Raikiri]'s tip toward the Golden Dragon.

Hearing my voice, the dragon finally raised its head in a slow manner as if

it were reluctant to fight me. It then looked at me again.

『Eighth Trial: Defeat Golden Dragon Fafnir! Begin.』

As soon as I heard the inorganic female voice in my head, the battle began.

***

I ran toward the 349th floor as if my life depended on it.

「PUAH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!」

When I reached the floor, I collapsed on the top of the cold ground with my

face looking up. Then, I laughed at the top of my lungs.

I lost. I had been completely defeated. It wasn't because of a disparity

between physical strength. I lost because my opponent invalidated all my

attacks. Keeping the matter of my sword blade failing to cut through its

scale aside, even the shockwaves erupted due to my slash got canceled too.

Maybe, the sword attack itself had been nullified. In short, it should've been

the effect of [Physical Attack Resistance]. No! It might have been at the

level of [Physical Attack Invalid].

If that was the case, I couldn't defeat that fella no matter how powerful my

physical attacks became.

This is it! My next goal is to subjugate that Golden Dragon.

I went back to the upper ground in a hurry while suppressing the joy in my

heart.

Anyhow, I had no prospect for victory unless I could do something about

my opponent's [Physical Attack Invalid]. If my sword couldn't reach it,

I had to look for another method.

This reminded me that I had acquired numerous books, including grimoires,

during my exploration in this dungeon. As for the grimoires—maybe

because it was the effect of my gift, [The Most Incompetent in This

World]—I couldn't form a contract with any one of them. So, I just threw

them into my item box.

Properly speaking, grimoires were something one should contract with, and

not read. I had forgotten from whom I had heard that piece of information

due to it happening long ago before I entered this place. However, I was

sure that this should be the case.

Even if I couldn't form a contract with a grimoire, the grimoires were still

composed of letters. If I could master and understand those letters, I might

be able to gain useful knowledge.

Naturally, no one would even consider the option of reading a grimoire's

text in a normal situation. I mean, one would be risking frying one's brain

by doing that.

Yet, I braved such danger without a second thought. Rather, the feat being

impossible made me even more passionate. I felt as if it was some sort of a

sense of duty for me. In short, the option of not doing it didn't exist for me.

Accompanied by a plop, I lay down with the elixir ready in my mouth and

started reading a grimoire.