Chapter 40
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: 5th Floor - Lv. 200 Quetzalcoatl (3)
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Boom! Boom!
The impacts came so fast it almost looked like space itself was warping and twisting.
The Exiles who had survived and still had the skills to push forward were diligently planting gems.
Some unlucky souls failed to dodge the fast-moving fragments in time and plummeted to their deaths.
That wasn't a wrong approach. The problem was they couldn't hold on tight enough. They probably didn't plan on riding one straight in.
I planned to do the same thing myself, at any rate.
There was something I absolutely had to get on the boss floor.
The situation right now was pretty damn good.
After its initial breath attack, Quetzalcoatl was stuck in a prolonged grogginess, unable to mount any real resistance.
The next impact hit before it could recover from the last one.
Things were proceeding ideally, right on the pre-planned schedule.
Exactly according to plan, even.
This game was a roguelike, after all.
What that meant was, if you set up the situation right and luck was on your side, you could melt any boss in seconds flat.
Users could die in an instant, but bosses could take all the beatings you dished out and still do their job?
That was way too unfair.
With a solid plan or a clever exploit, Exiles could drop bosses just as easily as bosses could drop Exiles.
You just had to know the method.
The old man marveled.
"This is the cleanest Quetzalcoatl fight I've ever seen."
"Not many under my belt either. Usually, it's dozens or hundreds piling in and handling it somehow."
"I can't say I've seen hundreds..."
"Happens sometimes when bottlenecks pile up on the odd floors above."
But if plans always went perfectly, the world wouldn't have variables.
"The next hit should've landed by now."
Quetzalcoatl's grogginess would last a while longer, but it still wasn't enough.
It hadn't even shifted to phase 2.
Best to skip phase 1 in a flash.
The mage scanned around and spoke up.
"A failed tower..."
I'd given fair warning to my reliable allies beforehand.
I'd spread out the guys whose eyes screamed greed, so they needed to watch out.
If you knew about it and kept it in mind, it wasn't a surprise attack.
But you could still get hit anyway.
"Sniff..."
The little mage looked dejected.
"Was that tower one with two warriors from your party?"
"Yeah..."
Compared to mages or female archers, they hadn't shown much standout spec anyway.
I could barely even remember their faces.
Even so, they didn't seem like the type to go around getting smacked.
"Someone lied about their tenure, huh."
Veteran scams were common. Hell, I was running a trimmed-down version myself.
Looks like this clear wouldn't end neatly.
Time to deal with those bastards.
Blanche could handle it, but she wasn't fully under my thumb, so I'd do it myself.
No helping it.
Losing a warrior from the female archer's party was a shame, but if she died even by some fluke, it'd be a massive loss on the balance sheet.
Guess I'd have to saddle her with more debt.
The Girl kept watching Blanche's movements.
Her conclusion afterward: still worth a shot.
Of course, assuming the opponent fought fair with close-range weapons.
Factoring in unknown gear that could pop out of nowhere, plus the guns at her hips and back, no chance of winning.
And there was one more problem.
"Is she even human? Why's she so pretty."
「Pfft. W-what'd you say?」
The goddess spat something out. It came through as divine speech, so she must've been pretty flustered.
The Girl grumbled on.
"Tall, great figure, doll-like face. Totally unfair. Super sexy. I wanna be like that too."
「That's a fresh and intriguing perspective. Wait, thinking back, did I feel the same when I first saw her?」
The Girl kept grumbling.
"And she's stronger than me. Even with daggers, not sure if I'd win."
「On that note, you're ridiculously strong yourself. But yeah, fair point.」
The goddess gave a cool assessment.
The brute-force style was a unique class viable only for the Girl's stat-crushing build.
Unfortunately, Blanche was an assassin type.
Even among fixed named ones, she was top-tier in fair one-on-one duels.
Bluntly put, an upgrade over the Girl.
"Her face feels upgraded too..."
「No, I guarantee you, different flavors. Not every guy wants a sexy dynamite.」
"Sexy dynamite? Goddess's vocab is so boomer."
「Hey, you punk. Wanna see some real old-man talk?」
"Hehe."
Still, the Girl boldly stood up.
"But someday, I'll make her fall for me first."
「First? Sounds like you've already lost.」
"If she confesses, I win."
「Fine, do what you want.」
To the goddess, it was a subtle situation.
Blanche didn't seem entirely uninterested, but not really either.
From her perspective after a full century: cute, but ambiguous as a romantic target.
Even she thought that about handsome followers.
「Purely ornamental.」
"Goddess wants her too?"
「No, saying she's not my type.」
"Mine? Hehehe. Thanks, I guess."
The Goddess of Chaos sighed.
Watching the kid was fun now, but somehow tiring.
If those killers of the female archer's warrior weren't idiots, they'd realized by now.
The other survivors were enemies.
The boss fight wasn't the issue.
So they'd made their call.
Progress on the boss clear was still decent since only one spot had gone off-script.
The bastards would thrash to survive.
Eliminate other Exiles where possible and stay out of Blanche's sight.
First targets: the weaker ones scattered on the outskirts.
Then, somehow hit me or the female archer's party.
I asked the old man trailing me.
"That tower had one from your party, right?"
"Yes. An archer, but not great with a bow. Third-year, she said..."
The old man replied with a resigned look.
Like dying by my hand was inevitable.
Once suspected, no choice.
If it was acting, it was perfect.
I'd trust him for now. If even that was fake, I'd wait till the end or brush it off.
I scanned around. My dedicated radar—no, the little mage—picked it up.
Impressive focus amid the mana turbulence from the breath's aftermath.
"Look after her."
I bolted without hearing the old man's reply.
I'd calculated spots for two fragments with slots side by side.
First, slot a blue gem into the rear one.
Use [Dash] to shift to the front one in time.
At the perfect angle, I flattened myself against it.
Slot another blue gem.
Two of the same color.
Unlike attraction from different colors, fierce repulsion shoved the fragments apart.
G-forces pressed hard. Loosen grip even a bit, and you're off the map.
Like riding a cannonball.
Of course, not my first rodeo.
I knew the exact release timing.
Dropped from the sky like a bomb.
Several reverse [Dash]es.
Not enough to cancel it all.
I rolled across the fragment with my best landing technique.
Bones cracked and splintered here and there, but healing potions were miracles.
Mid-roll, I spotted a slot and jammed in a red gem.
This'd burn through my hunted stock, but I'd trust the others.
I sprang up from the roll, and flames targeted me.
With potion effects lingering, a light mana flow let me slash them away.
[Fire Bolt] fizzled out.
The opponent frowned, slightly surprised.
Archer garb and gear, but mage proficiency.
Mana gathered in their hands again.
Years of spell-tinkering evident.
And drawing a sword.
Not like the little mage. Pure int-dump mages were just radars with multi-uses.
Real battle mages were like this.
I sneered and vanished with [Stealth].
A sharp sword slash cut where I'd been.
An assassin besides the mage.
Different parties, but teaming up nicely.
Assassin was solid early-mid game.
Ambush hit hard, and [Stealth] was cheat-tier when mana was scarce.
Fake archer mage plus real assassin? Two warriors couldn't handle it.
I'd have to apologize to the female archer properly.
Even if noticing was weird, it was my setup, so my fault.
As always, clashing head-on when easier options existed wasn't smart.
Too many variables in the world.
The mage dashed onto the fragment. Scheming something, but not my problem.
I signaled the goddess.
The hunter and female archer, busy far off on the opposite side, would slot a blue gem.
"Get ready."
The mage, not understanding my words, glanced at the slotted gem.
Had to realize now.
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Grab on tight?"
Truth was, just grabbing wasn't enough. Needed a fragment with space to wedge in safely.
And nail the collision perfectly, or die.
I chugged a healing potion generously.
Tossed the empty vial.
Body stretched long as the fragment launched toward Quetzalcoatl.
Had to do it for the pickup, but I hated it.
Boss floor rewards appeared consistently, uncharacteristically fixed for this game.
But getting them usually meant near-suicide.
So most never knew they existed.
Here, it was this massive serpent's guts.
Surviving the crash was tough. I did it often and still hated it. Aaaargh.
World blurred at insane speed. Ngraaah.
Fragments drifted scattershot but followed patterns.
Altitude differences too.
Even among floating platforms in open sky, cover was possible.
Few small serpents left incoming.
Mostly thanks to Blanche slicing them indiscriminately.
Never saw her use guns.
「Weapons from outside are consumables in the Labyrinth. Guns especially—she'd rather not.」
The Girl nodded at the goddess's words.
From her shotgun grin, that sci-fi piece was rare; probably floors deeper.
With threats gone, Blanche looked idle.
The Girl felt idle too.
No need to chase and surveil hard.
Just hide here and watch.
「Fall back farther.」
'I'm confident hiding my presence! Goddess!'
「She's confident finding people too.」
The Girl just smiled brightly.
Then, Blanche—no more prey—pulled out and donned goggle-like gear.
Chilling.
「Run! Hurry! Run!」
The goddess yelled, uncharacteristically panicked.
The Girl wondered why so urgent but decided to bolt.
Uncle said never fight her head-on.
As she turned, she swore eyes met with Blanche.
Opponent flicked and vanished.
Like dissolving into bluish particles.
Seen it before.
Oh yeah, last floor's Varvara. Banishment to the abyss looked similar.
She spun and ran.
Blue particles reformed ahead.
"Huh?"
The operative materialized, sleek as a lioness.
"Orgel said not to kill you. But you've been peeking at me nonstop, and it's annoying. What do you think, kid?"
Languid voice as she clenched her fist; a dagger-sized blade materialized like hologram. Magical sight.
The Girl gripped her weapon.
The goddess truly sighed this time.
「Should've enforced more distance...」
Repulsion was slower than attraction's bullet speed.
Just enough damage to trigger phase 2, then ride it into the belly—that was the plan.
Direct body hit without planning blacked me out briefly.
Good news: body wedged in properly.
Stuff broken here and there, but alive meant it'd heal.
Better vamp up quick.
Less food drain, less survival stress.
Level vampire enough, get bat form for free flight—perfect.
Humans sucked most.
Sigh, if not for Durstban right there, I'd just snag a vamp and bite.
That's why I always pushed into boss danger zones.
Species change wasn't easy.
For infectious ones like lycanthrope or vampire, just accept it.
Basic undead: die, get revived by necromancer before next world.
Undead conversion was a late-game trick to revive dead allies.
Grab another species card, revert. Undead don't count as dead.
Those cards weren't easy, though.
Rare even post-kingdom.
But one spot guaranteed pre-kingdom: boss floors.
Specifically, this guy's guts I'd now rampage through.
What species card this time?
Rarer than a gacha pull.
Fairy or dwarf? Great.
Centaur or minotaur? Fit my class poorly, but plenty upsides.
Angel or demon? Not holding breath.
I climbed Quetzalcoatl's crushed, mangled body amid countless fragments.
Mouth was standard entry, but this battered? Some hole existed.
Found a wound big enough for me.
La la la, exciting gacha time.