Episode 363: A Ray of Hope
Akito and Rui’s attacks caused the Beetle to stagger slightly.
Seeing this, Yuma raised his tension as he bounced around.
“Oh! Not bad, Akito, Rui! I can’t lose either!!”
Yuma jumped high, bringing his two tentacles together above his head. He melted the tentacles into a viscous mass, transforming them into a giant hammer.
He swung the hammer down, slamming it into the Beetle’s body.
The [Iron Hammer], infused with Fire Magical Power, caused the iridescent surface to seethe, triggering a massive explosion.
The Metal Slime was blown away by the impact but landed on the ground, spinning.
As it trembled, looking up, the Beetle was smoking from its back and had stopped moving.
“How’s that! That had to hurt!”
Seeing Yuma’s smug face, Akito grinned.
“Even in that form, you’re not bad. I can’t lose either!”
Akito jumped on Gae Bolg and soared through the cave. When he was directly above the Beetle, he raised his right hand.
“Eat this!!”
Black Lightning swirled around him, taking the form of a black Dragon swimming through the sky. The Dragon opened its ferocious jaws and attacked the Beetle.
It struck the back directly, destroying the outer shell and damaging the inside of the body.
The Beetle raised its horns high, slowly shaking them from side to side in agony.
Rui, who had circled around to the Monster’s rear, didn’t miss the opening. He stopped, overlapping his two Katanas and pouring Magical Power into them.
A tremendous flame swirled around Rui.
The flames blazed up, taking shape and becoming a giant Dragon.
“Go!”
As Rui swung the two Katanas he held, the Fire Dragon snaked through the air, heading towards the Beetle.
It bit down on the head of the struggling Beetle, and the Fire Dragon burst into flames.
When the heat reached a critical point, the Fire Dragon exploded, sending a shockwave through the cave. Fragments of rock fell from the ceiling.
As the dust slowly cleared, the Beetle’s figure, bearing painful wounds, came into view.
The shining iridescent luster was gone. It shook its head violently, destroying the surrounding rock walls with its horns.
Of course, there was no way Yuma and the others would take such sluggish attacks.
Everyone distanced themselves from the Beetle, observing its actions. It was clear that the Beetle had no stamina left.
Thinking so, Akito and Rui looked at Yuma, who was standing there quietly.
“Yuma! Now’s your chance!!”
“Do it, Yuma!”
With Rui and Akito pushing him forward, Yuma hopped towards the Beetle.
Using Wind Magic to jump up, Yuma changed his round body into a ‘Longsword’.
The Longsword pierced the Beetle’s body, deeply penetrating its interior. Activating Fire Magic, the Longsword was imbued with scorching flames.
The Metal body became as hot as magma, burning the Beetle’s insides.
The Monster writhed without making a sound.
Yuma further increased the temperature of his entire body.
“It’s over!”
The magma Longsword flashed brightly, causing an explosion that blew everything away. The Beetle’s body shattered into pieces, falling to the ground and turning to sand.
The “sword” that Yuma had transformed into also fell onto the rocky area with a clatter.
The surface of the sword rippled and undulated, transforming back into a round Metal Slime.
Yuma looked around, confirming that he had defeated the Beetle.
“Alright! We managed to defeat it somehow.”
Rui approached happily, saying, “You did it, Yuma.” Akito, who was in the air, smiled and said, “Not bad!”
Yuma hopped over to the place where the Beetle had died.
A large amount of sand was scattered around. Yuma narrowed his eyes and used his tentacles to sift through the sand, searching for his target.
After wandering around for about a minute, something shone in the sand.
“Ah!”
Yuma hopped over and picked it up with his tentacles.
Holding it up in front of him, it was an “iridescent” Demon Ore, its color changing depending on the viewing angle.
“Is that the Beetle’s Demon Ore?”
Rui, standing behind him, asked. Yuma said, “Yeah,” and stared intently at the Demon Ore he held with his tentacles.
“Maybe it has magical resistance? It was so resistant to magic, I can’t think of anything else.”
“That’s right. If that’s the case, it’s a very useful Demon Ore in actual combat.”
Rui agreed and decided to swallow it immediately. Yuma, who had reverted to human form after Metallization, took out a water bottle from his backpack.
With Akito, who had descended from Gae Bolg, watching, he wiped the Demon Ore with a wet wipe, swallowed it, and washed it down with water from the water bottle.
As it landed in the bottom of his stomach, the change came immediately.
The inside of his stomach became hot all at once.
The reaction was stronger than ordinary Demon Ore. That alone made it clear that this Demon Ore was powerful.
Yuma tried clenching and opening his hands to check, but there was no particular change.
“Hmm, well, I won’t really know unless I get hit by a magical attack.”
“You can check it out in the dungeon later.”
Convinced by Rui’s words, Yuma and the others decided to descend to the lower levels. As they made their way through the Dungeon, Yuma cast Recovery Magic on himself.
He had been casting Recovery Magic regularly since entering the Black Dungeon.
However, recently he hadn’t felt much effect, and he was starting to get a little impatient, but—
“Huh?”
Rui, who was walking in front, reacted to Yuma’s voice.
“What’s wrong, Yuma?”
“No, I just feel like… the Recovery Magic is working…”
At those words, Akito, who was walking next to Rui, made a dubious face.
“Isn’t that a good thing? What’s the matter with that?”
“It is, but the Recovery Magic hasn’t been working well lately. It suddenly feels like it’s gotten better…”
“That’s—”
Rui put his hand to his chin, thinking about something.
“Could it be… because you swallowed the Demon Ore with magical resistance?”
“Eh? That iridescent one? What does that have to do with Recovery Magic?”
“Magic has the effect of inhibiting the Regeneration of Monsters, so it might also affect Recovery Magic. If you think about it that way, magical resistance means you can also acquire resistance to the inhibitory effect, right?”
Yuma was a little puzzled, but he thought that it was certainly possible.
Akito also gave him a bright smile, saying, “Isn’t that great!”
“If that’s true, Yuma’s injuries will heal easily, right? If that’s the case, that’s super lucky! Right, Yuma?”
Yuma looked at his hands. As Akito said, if the iridescent Demon Ore could speed up the healing of his injuries, it would be a dream come true.
He might be able to reach the bottom floor in a fully recovered state.
Yuma descended into the dark Dungeon, holding onto a ray of hope.