I knew that woman would ruin everything.
Even if I revived again, next time I should just cut her throat before coming in.
[Annihilation for those who regret too late.]
Even though I knew it was useless, I instinctively raised my shield and squeezed my eyes shut.
HUM.
BANG!
“Ugh!”
A tremendous impact struck the shield and shoved my body backward.
What?
Was that not an Instant-Death Attack?
I quickly raised my head and checked the boss.
The intense red light in its eyes had already dimmed.
“Ha.”
I should not have laughed.
But the sheer relief made one slip out anyway.
“So without the noncombat gimmick, the Instant-Death Attack is gone too?”
Then this was manageable.
Its absurd toughness was something time and Durability could solve.
It was practically a doll, so it did not heal either.
As long as I patiently kept hammering away at it, eventually it would break.
‘No reason to drag this out, though.’
Unlike Easy Mode, where the objective had been to pass its trial, this version clearly assumed I would fight it.
If the boss had been nerfed accordingly, Magic might work too.
Of course, they might have made Magic useless specifically to force me to beat it down physically.
“Inventory.”
Nothing suited scrap metal like a taste of scorching fire.
Apparently, freezing metal first and then rapidly heating it worked even better, but I did not know enough about that to care.
I pulled out several [Flame Potions] and threw them at places where they would strike the boss directly.
SHATTER, SHATTER, SHATTER, SHATTER.
FWOOSH……
“Aaaaaah!”
Had the potion's area of effect reached the woman too?
Well.
If she died from this, that was her luck.
“[Fire Arrow], [Fire Arrow], [Fire Arrow].”
I aimed the Magic primarily at its joints.
BOOM!
“Up we go.”
Since stepping backward no longer meant instant death……
[Annihilation for those who regret too late.]
HUM.
The boss's eyes blazed brighter, and a red laser shot from them.
I immediately raised my shield.
BOOM!
“Ha…….”
So the science fiction started here?
<CAUTION! Durability has nearly reached its limit!>
[Durability 13/72]
Already?
I had never used this shield after it became Cursed, so its Durability had been completely full.
And only two attacks had nearly destroyed it?
It might not be a true Instant-Death Attack anymore, but it was still powerful enough to be nearly equivalent.
“I absolutely cannot let that hit me……”
There was at least one good thing.
One more hit would probably exhaust the shield's Durability completely, which would automatically empty the shield Equipment Slot.
Then I could equip an uncursed shield, even if its performance was slightly worse than this one.
Should I call that good luck or bad luck?
“[Domain of Fire].”
At the incantation, a circular red area appeared beneath the boss.
Unlike the boss's deep crimson light, this one leaned slightly more toward vermilion.
FWOOSH!
Orange flames erupted from the marked area and swallowed the boss.
Even with flames rising to its waist, it merely marched steadily toward me and swung its sword.
WHOOSH.
BOOM!
“[Fire Arrow]!”
I rolled sideways to evade, then immediately attacked again.
THUD!
The boss briefly staggered from the hit.
I used the opening to check my remaining Mana.
<Mana : 12%>
As expected, [Domain of Fire] consumed far too much Mana.
Should I have simply kept firing [Fire Arrow] instead?
But the Level of [Fire Arrow] was too low, so it probably would not have dealt enough Damage.
[Punishment for those who challenge recklessly.]
BOOM!
“[Fire Arrow].”
THUD!
I had already used all my [Mana Potions].
If I had known I would have to fight the floor 50 boss like this, I would have saved some.
THUD!
After repeatedly striking nothing but the floor, the boss eventually assumed the same stance it had taken when it first appeared.
More precisely, the stance where it planted its shield into the ground.
[The wisdom of enlightenment for those who act foolishly.]
After reciting a new line, the boss raised its sword with the tip pointed toward the ceiling.
Then it quickly reversed its grip and drove the weapon into the floor.
THUD.
CRACK.
Red light spread along the cracks in the floor.
I knew I had to move before the pattern being drawn along those lines was completed, but the effects of the [Flame Potions] still remained, making it dangerous to approach recklessly.
Even though I had blocked the earlier attack with my shield, it had still reduced my Health.
<Health : 45%>
Just in case, I hurriedly took out a Healing Potion.
It was not a [Health Potion], but a [Regeneration Potion], so restoring myself completely would take some time.
<Health : 47%>
The lines on the floor, which I had not been able to examine properly before, were all connected without a single break.
The circular ring that had first glowed red appeared to form the outer edge of the pattern.
The nearly completed—
No, now fully completed pattern looked like a Magic Circle.
HUMMMM.
With an ominous sound, the glowing pattern became even brighter.
RUMBLE……
“Aah! Aah!”
The floor shook, and spike-like objects erupted from every direction.
[Annihilation for those who regret too late.]
The moment I tried to dodge the spikes, the laser immediately came flying at me.
“Tsk.”
It was too late to dodge that as well.
BANG!
[Durability 0/72] <Item durability has reached its limit. The item has been destroyed.>
<Item Destruction - Cursed Sturdy Gulum Battle Shield>
<Health : 31%>
STAB.
<Health : 23%>
“Ugh.”
I quickly pulled out another shield, but I was one step too slow and one of the rising spikes pierced me.
Since it counted as a boss attack, a single hit tore away a massive amount of Health.
I swallowed another [Regeneration Potion] and dodged the newly emerging spikes.
[Annihilation for those who regret too late.]
HUM.
BOOM!
<Health : 2%>
[Punishment for those who challenge recklessly.]
BOOM!
<Health : 3%>
[Annihilation for those who regret too late.]
“Ah.”
A wall behind me.
Spikes on every side.
I raised my shield.
STAB.
<Health : 0%>
Ah.
Having one come out from behind me is just unfair.
Normal Run 912
The floor 50 boss's dialogue seems to follow the inscription exactly.
It practically tells you the strategy outright.
Not that I know whether that means anything when simply reading it is nowhere near enough to understand immediately.
The first line is just the battle-start dialogue.
The second is its basic attack.
The third is the laser.
The last is its Special Skill.
More importantly, if all it knows how to do is smash downward from above, why is its weapon not a mace?
Anyway, strategy cleared.
Normal Run 913
Ah, seriously.
This part could have changed too.
I thought the Instant-Death Attack was gone.
I cannot use up all my Healing Items after all.
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1223
This time, the Lich King was carrying a spear instead of a staff.
That did not mean it stopped using Magic.
It uses the spear and Magic, and on top of that, its Magic Resistance increased and it seems to have gained Physical Resistance too.
Normal Run 1224
Ah, these patterns are fucking awful.
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1278
I thought the floor 60 boss had no dialogue because it had no vocal cords, but it left final words through something like telepathy or voice transmission.
If I had known this would happen, I would have asked it something.
That Doppelgänger bastard only says whatever he wants and endlessly praises that King bastard, so there is no real conversation to be had with him.
And I cannot exactly ask something that does not understand me even when I speak because we use different languages.
Why does a fantasy game insist on realism only for things like this?
If they were going that far, I should not have been able to communicate with the woman either, but if that had happened, I might genuinely have lost my mind from frustration.
There is also the cyborg boss, but I doubt that bastard would tell me anything with the woman around.
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1512
I finally made it back down to floor 70.
It should never have taken this long, but that woman caused such a scene that I wasted an absurd number of candles.
If she had merely screamed, it would not have been this bad.
There were Runs where she died first and I died afterward, but all that accomplished was proving beyond any doubt that my revival affects hers too.
Normal Run 1513
I died right in front of the Boss Room, so I had to come all the way back down again.
At least the woman seemed to understand that she had been at fault and stayed somewhat quieter this time, so she was less of a hindrance.
Maybe I should be grateful that even when she dies, her memories do not reset.
When we finally entered the Boss Room and she saw the Doppelgänger boss, the first thing she shouted was different from what she had said in Easy Mode.
Then again, the boss obviously looked different.
This time it was an old man with a head full of white hair.
Normal Run 1514
The number of types of Magic the Doppelgänger boss can use increased.
It went from only Wind Magic to Wind Magic and Fire Magic.
What, will it have three types next time?
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1516
I expected it, but he really does not listen to a single word I say.
The King this, the Will that, traitors this, traitors that.
Are you a broken recording?
You do nothing but repeat the same segment over and over.
Even looping a video would not be this boring.
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1518
According to the woman's additional explanation before we entered the Boss Room again, the person copied by the Doppelgänger was the former Emperor of the Empire, who suddenly disappeared before the monsters drove everyone into this dungeon.
Apparently, the Crown Prince became Emperor, but monsters swarmed the Empire less than a week after his coronation, so she still found it easier to call him the Crown Prince or something……
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1556
Whether these bastards are Orcs or Ogres, their hides have definitely become tougher.
Magic works even less effectively on them too.
Normal Run 1673
This bastard was already disgustingly tough, and now it uses Magic too?!
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1801
Just like in Easy Mode, the woman vomited the moment she saw the Chimera on floor 81.
Thinking about it again, I still have no idea what relationship there is between the Chimera and the Cyborg.
On the earlier floors, the monsters and bosses from floors 1 through 9 at least had some similarities.
Are these things mechanical on the inside or something?
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1968
I asked just in case, and the answer was unexpected.
It said it would answer if I won.
But if I win, you cannot answer anymore, can you?
If you do not want to answer, just say so.
Or did it say that because we meet again on floor 99 this time too?
. . . . . .
Normal Run 1990
Please, if you two are going to argue about your shared past, do it when I am not in the middle of a fight.
. . . . . .
Normal Run 2016
I finally defeated the cyborg boss.
That bastard really belongs to a completely different genre from everything else.
Its corpse still has not disappeared, so should I ask now?
Half its face is destroyed, but it should still be able to answer, right?
“You said you would answer me if I won, right?”
At my words, the creature raised its head with a mechanical creak.
Sparks flashed repeatedly from the half of its head that had been completely destroyed.
[……Yes.]
“You cannot fight back anymore in this condition, so that means I won. Right?”
[Your words are correct.]
“Good. Then I will ask.”
“W-Wait.”
The moment I tried to ask the boss something, the woman went pale and hurried toward me.
“Are you really going to ask him?”
“What are the King's abilities?”
Both the woman and the boss flinched in surprise at my question.
Their reasons for being startled seemed different, though.
“There is no way that thing will answer you properly!”
At the woman's shout, the boss glared at her briefly before turning its gaze back toward me.
[I do not know much about that myself.]
“Haah.”
“See! Of course a filthy, lowborn exile like that would……”
[Filthy and lowborn?]
An oppressive force radiated from the creature, so intense that it was difficult to believe it had looked ready to die moments ago.
[Perhaps I am. But am I truly worse than those who steal something another never offered them, then shamelessly insist that it belongs to them?]
“Ugh…….”
For a moment, the woman looked as though she had been struck exactly where it hurt.
Then she put on the same shameless expression as the people he was accusing and glared at him.
“Th-The strong have always taken everything, while the weak disappear into the shadows of history. If something was taken from them, it was because they were weak. Otherwise, how could the Empire ever have become the one and only Empire?”
[Then by that logic, were all the people of the Empire driven into this place by monsters because you were weaker than the monsters?]
“Do not be ridiculous. If not for you exiles, the Empire would have endured for all eternity!”
“Ha.”
Even if the Empire had been a perfectly functional country, it would not have lasted forever.
And judging from this woman alone, I seriously doubted it had been a perfectly functional country in the first place.
“But that is not what I asked.”
I asked what the King's abilities were.
I did not ask for your shared backstory.