At Last, the First Boss Battle
Might as well knock out a few upgrades first.
They say you tap even a stone bridge before you cross it. A legendary weapon in hand didn't change the fact that disaster could hit anywhere, at any time.
Enhance this stat?
Strength LV.3 → LV.4
Required Gold: 15,000 G
What? Fifteen thousand?
He let out a hollow laugh at the window hanging in empty air. Set against what it had cost to climb from level 2 to level 3, the price had ballooned fivefold.
Nothing for it. The other stats were still stuck at level 2 — he'd just have to push those up to 3.
At last, every preparation for the fifth-floor boss fight was done. All that remained was to slam into it and see what came out the other side.
Flash—!
He triggered his trait and stepped into the Tower.
So this was the inside of that fortress? The moment he arrived, he took a slow look around. Dead center of enemy ground, the air pressing in from every direction felt wrong. The enormous temple rearing up dead ahead was the worst of it. Around the entrance, towers grotesquely piled from unidentified bone stood on vicious display.
One glance was enough. The boss was inside that gloomy temple. No question.
Pop! Flaaash—!!
Summoning circles tore open one after another on every side. Orcs poured out, wrapped in heavy, solid steel plate and armed with brutal weapons. And behind them—
Thud—! Thud—!
From the deep dark inside the temple came the weight of ponderous footsteps. A moment later, what stepped into view was an orc shaman of tremendous bulk, leaking a killing intent and an aura that were anything but ordinary.
Holy shit. That face was genuinely murderous.
He swallowed dry against the suffocating tension.
"I'm counting on you, Charlotte!"
"Leave it to me, Master."
Shing—!
She drew the Radiant Sun Sword at her hip with crushing presence.
"Not so much as a fingertip of those filthy beasts will touch Master's precious body."
Heh. Classic Charlotte. Reliable as ever.
He had just taken one satisfied step back when the messages rose.
The trial begins.
Fight well.
With the system message, the curtain finally rose.
Tong—!
The orc shaman thrust a grotesque skull staff high and tapped the floor with its tip.
Wiiiiiing—!!
A colossal magic circle of red sigils flooded the entire floor like a tsunami. At the same instant, the orcs strewn all around twisted violently.
Crrack! Crunch!
Their bulk swelled to at least twice its size, and their skin darkened to the color of black iron.
A full-body coating of armament aura? That was crossing the line pretty damn hard.
He could only click his tongue at a difficulty vicious enough to suit a boss fight.
Thud—! Thud—!
The orc shaman heavily struck the floor twice more with the tip of that grotesque staff.
Now what? Startled, Minjun whipped his gaze around — but nothing he could see had changed.
Instead—
"Uwooooooh—!!"
The orcs bellowed and charged the two of them.
"Master, behind me!"
At Charlotte's urgent cry, Minjun slipped behind her broad back without a word.
"Haaah!"
Shing—!!
She swung the sun sword with everything she had at the oncoming horde. A golden flash fierce enough to blind carved a straight line through them.
Slash—!
The pitch-black muscle-pigs that had grotesquely filled his vision were cut in half.
"Uwooook—!!"
Screams foul enough to rot an eardrum burst out with them, and sticky blood sprayed in every direction.
Yeah. The sun sword performed. No question.
An S-rank golem like Charlotte paired with a legendary-grade weapon was, simply put, the strongest thing in the room. She ground the black tide rushing in like a flood into paste without slowing down. Up to here, they pushed through clean, without a single problem.
The real problem started now.
Thud! Thud!
The orc shaman, who had held his ground until this moment, finally moved.
"For the glory of the great Master!!"
Fwoosh—!!
As Charlotte roared, sacred golden flame coiled furiously along the blade. She twisted at the waist and swung with all her strength. A massive crescent of sword energy tore forward, fierce enough to take a head off in one stroke.
This clears the fifth-floor boss easy!
Boom—!!
"...Huh?"
Charlotte's sure-kill strike had been stopped? More precisely, it had detonated against an invisible wall right in front of the orc.
Grin—!
The orc shaman, without so much as a scratch, looked down on the two of them frozen in shock and smiled with killing intent.
So a boss was a boss after all. This bastard was anything but easy. One wrong move, and he might taste his first bone-deep failure since entering the Tower.
Fwoosh—!
Sneering, the orc shaman swept his staff in a wide arc. Dozens of crimson fireballs bloomed in the air overhead.
Whoosh!
The instant the staff's tip leveled on the two of them, the fire poured down without mercy.
"Haaah!"
Charlotte fired sword energy in a rapid chain.
Boom! Crash!
The flame orbs detonated violently in midair before they could arrive.
Then—
Grin—!
Wearing a knowing smile, the orc shaman flicked a thick finger.
"Charlotte, dodge!!"
Minjun's shout and the flare came in the same instant. A huge red magic circle flashed beneath Charlotte's feet, and a terrifying pillar of fire erupted, swallowing her whole.
"Charlotte!!"
Whoosh!
Something burst out of the acrid flames. Charlotte — armor scorched pitch-black. She hadn't died on the spot, thankfully, but she looked like she'd taken no small amount of damage.
Shit. I let my guard down way too far. I should've prepared harder than this!
Ding!
A system window rose indifferently before his eyes.
Abandon the trial?
As if it had read the anxiety in his chest, a give-up prompt appeared with impeccable timing.
Right. I know the attack pattern now. Pull back, work out a counter, and—
Just as Minjun's finger moved for the Yes button, Charlotte thrust out an arm and blocked him.
"I can... do this."
"Hey, don't push it! What are you gonna do if you actually die!"
To Minjun, she was his one and only fighting force. He couldn't lose her here for nothing.
"Master. If it pleases you... would you grant me a spell of victory?"
"A spell of victory? Don't tell me..."
She wanted that, in this situation? Dumbfounded, he shook his head and stepped in close. He put his lips right against her ear and whispered.
"You're a cock-hungry sow."
"......!!"
For an instant, Charlotte's shoulders flinched. Then, resolve forged anew, she advanced on the orc shaman.
You're a cock-hungry sow. Yeah. I'm Master's cock-hungry sow. Deal with the pig in front of me, and tonight I get to burn hot with Master again!
Creak!
Strength locked into the hand on her sword, and a will bordering on madness flooded both eyes.
"Keh heh! Keh heh heh!"
Mocking her stagger, the shaman raised his staff high.
RUMBLE—!!
The air around them began to boil. The mood turned ugly.
"Sh-shit!!"
What manifested in the air before his eyes was, literally, a colossal fireball the size of a meteor. The scale ripped a double curse out of him on reflex.
How the hell do you block something like that!
"Hnnn—. Hoo!"
Charlotte, though, did not panic.
"Uwooooh—!!"
The shaman hurled the gigantic fireball with a vicious roar, as if telling them both to just die.
RUMBLE—!!!
It dyed his vision redder and redder as it closed in.
Oh, fuck!
His face went corpse-pale in an instant, like hypothermia had hit him.
Then a wondrous change came over the legendary sword in Charlotte's hand — the Radiant Sun Sword.
Fwoosh!!
With a roar, brilliant golden fire coiled around the blade. The weapon swelled enormous, as if someone were pumping air into a balloon.
"Hnnngh!"
She hoisted the bloated golden greatsword high overhead. Her gaze was already locked on the fireball that had closed to point-blank range.
This strike is for Master's honor. This victory is for Master's boundless glory!
Emperor Strike
"Emperor Strike!!!"
Teeth clenched, she brought the sword down with everything she had. The blade flashed — and the instant it touched the crimson fireball—
Screeeech—!!
With a heavy resonance, the house-sized meteor split clean in half, as if Moses had just parted the sea.
"Urgh—!!"
Hot wind blasted outward. Minjun ducked hard and grimaced.
Insane!! She actually blocked that?!
Minjun wasn't the only one shocked. The orc shaman who had just thrown that tremendous magic at them was just as stunned, eyes nearly popping out of his head.
"I still have one strike left."
Radiating a killing intent that was anything but ordinary, Charlotte reset her stance. Startled by her fighting spirit, the orc shaman hastily swung his staff and threw up a barrier. The wall, so transparent it had barely been visible, thickened until it stood out plain. Only then did he relax, and a vile grin split his face.
Emperor Strike
"Emperor Strike!!"
Charlotte unleashed the technique again — this time in a horizontal swing. The gigantic golden blade became an enormous wave of sword energy and flew with ferocious speed.
Crash—!!
The sound of a glass window shattering rang out, deafening. The orc shaman's confident face twisted visibly. But her attack didn't stop there.
Crack! Crash!
She smashed the shields he had stacked up as lightly as paper. Before he knew it, the distance had closed to the end of his nose.
Screeeech—!
The thick, massive torso split clean.
"U... urrrgh..."
Slide—. Thud!!
The upper body slid along the cut and hit the floor with a heavy crash.
"You did amazing, Charlotte!"
"Hah! Hah..."
Thump—!
Charlotte dropped to one knee, panting rough.
"Charlotte!"
He ignored the result windows and loot alerts filling his vision and ran straight to her.
"Did you push so hard a wound split open?"
"I... I'm fine, Master. I'm only a little tired."
At that, Minjun let out a sigh of relief.
"Um, Master. May I... make one request?"
"Y-yeah! We cleared the boss thanks to you. What wouldn't I do for you!"
"Tonight as well... I want you to hold me. Hot."
"I'll fuck you so hard the bed cracks and shatters!"
At the vulgar answer she'd been hoping for, a rapturous smile bloomed across her face.
And that night—
"Oink—!♥ Oiiiiink—!!♥"
Until the sun came up the next morning, beastlike moans of pleasure never stopped.
Ding-dong—!
Finally!
The moment the doorbell rang, Minjun scrambled for the entryway. He hauled a box the size of a person inside, then hummed as he tore the packaging open. A real doll — the material for his second golem.
"Master. Are you... perhaps thinking of making a new golem?"
Charlotte, who had been watching, asked carefully, her face anything but pleased.
"Why? Worried I'll stop paying attention to you?"
"...It's shameful, but yes."
Unable to meet his eyes, she gave a sulky little nod.
"Charlotte."
"Yes, Mas— mmph♥!"
Minjun closed the distance, seized her waist with force, and roughly stole her lips. A wet, greedy sound followed — slurp—♥ mmph, mmph!♥ slick, chu!
"Hnn...! Haaahn...♥"
She melted into his arms, dazed as if dead drunk.
"The higher we climb the Tower, the more the difficulty turns into a goddamn nightmare. A solid partner fighting right beside you would be a huge help to you too, wouldn't it?"
Mmph!♥ Sluuurp—!!♥
He pressed his mouth to hers again and greedily devoured her sweet tongue.
"Remember this, Charlotte. The one who took my first time was you. You're my eternal number one."
"Aaah... if Master says it like that, then I understand♥"
Way too easy.
Leaving the perfectly persuaded, flushed Charlotte behind him, he used the Golem Core he'd taken as the boss-fight reward.
Flaaaash—!!
Just as when he'd made Charlotte, a gigantic magic circle opened. Blinding light poured out, and the room went loud with it.
Honestly, I got stupid lucky that time. This round, I'll be grateful if something even halfway usable comes out.
He lowered his expectations a notch and waited for the light to fade and the result to show itself.
A moment later, what revealed itself before the two of them was—
"......!!"
A bob split exactly half white and half black. Ears stretching long to either side of her head, and sharp horns rising above. A beastkin woman whose breasts were huge enough to overwhelm even Charlotte, with hips that looked ready to burst.
"Holy shit!! A mega-titted, thicc beastgirl just dropped!!!"
Drunk on joy, Minjun clenched both fists and roared.
"Tch!"
No way. She's way bigger than me?!
Hit by a tremendous sense of crisis, Charlotte scowled and clicked her tongue.