Hidden Dungeon (4)

"Hrrngh!"

The cow-head blasted a snort through its enormous nostrils.

That crazy, disgusting bastard. A cow's head would've been plenty on its own — but somehow, it had eight eyes. Like a spider's simple eyes.

"Fall back about five meters! Don't worry about me — just focus on keeping yourselves alive!"

I'd called desperately for Angel, but she hadn't shown. What that meant, probably, was that even with Causality inflated, this was a creature I could take down on my own.

That's what I wanted to believe, anyway.

"GROAAAH!"

The creature threw its upper body back and bellowed, showing off. The clearing filled with its roar.

"Alright. Let's do this."

It was a monster I'd never seen before, sure — but who was I? I was the guy who'd seen the end of the game with nothing but raw mechanical control, not a single skill to my name.

I tightened my grip on Levatein and locked my gaze on the creature. Our eyes met in the air between us. A brief silence stretched as we read each other's presence —

"GROAAAAH!!"

— and then the creature brought one of its four arms, the one holding the axe, crashing down, and the silence shattered.

"Hup."

I drew a deep breath and contracted every muscle in my body. Planting both feet into the earth, I swung Levatein to meet the axe coming down on a sharp right diagonal.

CLANG—!

Steel rang against steel, a clear, bright note — and the wrist holding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Levatein began to fold under the force. At this rate, it would break. I wrapped my entire body in wind spirit energy and spun, letting the creature's descending axe slide off. The deflected blade slammed into the ground, and a shockwave burst outward. I let myself ride the blast, spinning again the same way to scatter the impact.

While I was eating that shockwave, the creature yanked its axe free, snorted a blast of breath, and locked blazing eyes on me.

"Hmm."

That first exchange. I'd taken that axe with nothing but raw strength — no technique at all.

"This is doable."

Maybe my brain had been pickled by Hell Mode's insane difficulty, but that had felt manageable. I'd expected to get overpowered, of course. That was why I'd planned to let the axe slide off with spirit energy the moment my wrist started to fold. But that window — the time it took for my wrist to start giving — had been way later than I'd expected.

Right now, with Levatein equipped, my Strength stat was 50. Judging by that last blow, the creature's Strength was around 100. Double mine, but that didn't matter. Because my main stat wasn't Strength — it was Mana. After classing up to Spirit Swordsman, I'd poured everything into Mana to maximize my use of the spirits. Even with Levatein's inflation factored in, it sat at a full 100. Same as that thing's Strength.

In other words: this was doable.

"Come on, then."

I flicked the tip of my sword, baiting it.

"GROAAAAH!"

The cow-head roared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and charged, scraping across the ground on those spindly spider legs that didn't match its massive voice at all. It heaved its lower body up, loading that enormous weight into its front legs, about to smash them down on me.

The axe swing just now, and this front-leg stomp. I'd figured out the pattern. This thing was just a mashup. Minotaur and Arachne Queen. The patterns were nothing more than those two mixed together — no other tricks.

No wonder Angel hadn't shown up. She hadn't appeared because she believed I could handle this myself.

I drove Levatein into the ground, linking my mana with the earth, and spoke the skill's name.

I fired it off with the intent of scooping up the earth itself. A pillar of dirt erupted from the ground and slammed into the monster's abdomen — right as it was lifting its lower body, before it could put its weight into the stomp.

"Bingo."

The creature's lower body took the pillar I'd just raised, and its center of gravity shifted. From coming down... to falling backward.

Forced parry: success.

"Alright, everyone — DPS time! Hit it with the strongest skill you've got!"

I shouted to my party behind me, then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quietly murmured my skill.

I couldn't use Spirit Ground to lower that monster's elemental affinity. If I one-shot it, my party members wouldn't get any contribution at all.

I shifted my left foot back, transferring my weight onto my right. Wind and flame intertwined along Levatein's blade. Current flowed from the hilt — and a thread of crimson fire drew itself between me and the creature.

BOOM! BANG—! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Sequential explosions ripped through the air. I spun the blade in a finishing flourish — no scabbard to return it to — and the ravenous Flame Flower devoured the monster whole.

Then the sound of damage pouring in from behind reached me. Alice was emptying her Uzi's magazine, pumping out mana rounds, while Violet whipped her telekinetic lash like a woman possessed. The President used her Golden Eyes to sync attributes with Rebecca, driving spears of ice into the creature.

"GROAAH!!"

The creature thrashed on the ground, those hideous spider legs kicking wildly, then shoved itself up with its muscle-bound arms, forcing its body upright.

Huh? The cow-head's gaze wasn't on me — it was locked on the back line pouring out ranged attacks. Classic. Boss priority goes to the rear, not the front.

"Not happening."

I wrapped myself in wind spirit steps and launched into the air above it. It had tried to stomp me with its full weight earlier, so I owed it some payback. Crimson flame wrapped around my feet. I detonated a flame spirit step and drove my heel down into its belly.

Ah — this wasn't the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step. This was the Flame Sovereign Step.

The impact to its gut was too much for those spindly spider legs. It collapsed right back to the ground.

"DPS time again!"

Having forced another parry, I shouted to my party. Having followed my instructions to the letter throughout the hidden dungeon and racked up plenty of experience along the way, they mechanically poured on the damage.

THWACK!

After taking hit after hit, Rebecca's ice spear finally punched through the monster's brow.

Ding—!

A cheerful interface window popped up with an alert.

"Okay!"

I'd been a little thrown in the final boss room, but we'd cleared it. Beneath the monster's corpse, crumbling away to ash, a brilliant golden chest sat waiting. That was the hidden dungeon reward. The moment you opened that chest, two random rewards assigned to this dungeon would pop out.

"Anyone here feeling lucky today?!"

This kind of thing worked best when someone with golden luck did the pulling. I looked around at my party.

"Me! Me!"

Alice shot her hand straight up, her eyes sparkling like a cat's.

"Okay! Alice, you're up!"

If it was our adorable Alice, her gacha luck was going to be insane. She pattered over to the chest, her hands trembling as she slowly reached for it.

"LET'S GOOOOO!!!"

At my shout, Alice flipped the lid open. Brilliant gold light burst out, and two items emerged.

"Ohh! What'd we get!"

I excitedly appraised the two items from the chest.

"Nice!"

Leave it to Alice — she was worth every bit of how pretty she was. She'd pulled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠premium goods even among the high-tier drops.

Now, how were we supposed to divide the items? I was in the middle of that happy dilemma when a tiny hole opened beside me, and a tiny hand suddenly poked out.

What... what was this...

"P-Playeeer...!"

Angel's voice stretched out from inside the hole, like something was dragging her. Her tiny hand caught on the edge of the opening, and she started pulling herself through with effort. Slowly, Angel's face began to emerge.

"Hey! Are you okay?!"

The Angel that came out of that hole looked grotesque. Someone on the other side was yanking her by the hair — her blonde locks were all pulled toward the space behind, and her face was twisted in pain.

"Hey, you crazy bitch, don't you dare talk! I told you not to say a word!"

A voice identical to Angel's came from the space beyond the hole.

Who the hell was that?

"P-Player... Use Regeneration... on the boss... The rewards... double..."

Even with her hair being yanked, even with a hand clamped over her mouth from the space behind, Angel's eyes went wide as she forced the words out, one by one. Then she was yanked back through the hole — whoosh — and it snapped shut.

"Do you actually have something wrong with your head?"

Violet asked from behind, genuinely worried. I ignored her completely and chewed over what Angel had just said.

Regeneration. Use it on the boss. Rewards double.

Wait. Did this actually work?

"Everyone! Fall back five meters for a second."

Half-skeptical, I waved my party back.

"What are you even doing?"

Violet grumbling and tried to argue, but contrary to her words, she'd learned well enough by now — she scuttled back faster than anyone.

Once I figured there was enough distance between me and the party, I gripped Levatein.

WHOOSH!

My vision flooded with flame.

The fire warped and wriggled, forming letters that shone before my eyes. I swallowed.

"I... wish to regenerate this dungeon's boss."

The moment the words left my mouth, the flames filling my vision vanished, then — whoosh — fire began gathering toward the center of the clearing. And the shape those flames formed as they came together...

A spider's abdomen for a lower body. An upper body defined by a muscle-bound cow's head.

The hidden boss we'd just finished fighting.

"What is going on?!"

Violet screamed from behind. I didn't feel any different. For real? This sword's Regeneration could be used like this?

The corners of my mouth shot up with manic glee.

Rewards doubled. Experience doubled.

"Heh heh heh!!"

Laughter spilled out of me.

"What even is that?! Did you do that?!!"

Violet was panicking, still shouting at me, but I ignored her completely and kept laughing. This didn't stop at double. Three-day cooldown. Once that time was up, it could even be triple.

"Angel!"

Overwhelmed, I shouted toward the Angel who'd been dragged through the hole.

"THANK YOOOOU!!! Everyone, get ready for combat! Same as before — I'll knock it down, you dump everything you've got!!!"

Ah, Angel... You really were an angel.

"Hrrngh—?"

The flames had already vanished, and the cow-head, fully restored to its original form, snorted in confusion.

"The rewards are DOUBLED!!"

Without mercy, I slammed a Spirit Slash into the bewildered cow-head's skull.