Episode 26: Bonus Time
“S-Such a thing… impossible…”
I never would have thought Monsters would be drawn to the sound of my declaration of resolve.
That’s fine.
It’s my blunder. Can’t be helped.
But, the size of the Monster that approached is the problem.
It was a dinosaur, about five meters tall and twenty meters long.
It’s sticking its head in from the top of the stairs, looking this way.
I’m peeking through the scope attached to the Gun integrated into the wall I created, so my whole body is hidden. I probably haven’t been spotted.
I hesitated whether to shoot it as is, but if I’m going up there, I have to test if the Gun will even work on it.
Since I can’t aim for its Magic Stone, if an attack to its head isn’t effective, it’s entirely possible I’ll just be eaten and die.
Just thinking about it makes my body tremble.
What to do?
If this Gun, my highest firepower, doesn’t work, it’s over.
Is it really okay to test it?
Wouldn’t it be better to bet on the possibility it’ll retreat without noticing me?
While I was thinking that, the dinosaur, still peeking just its head from the stairs, took a deep breath and opened its mouth wide.
What is it?
Not knowing what it was about to do, the moment I furrowed my brow suspiciously, my entire vision was filled with flames.
Out of sheer surprise, I fired a bullet, and a loud sound echoed, but I had no time for that.
I quickly changed the wall made of Magical Power into a box shape, sealing myself in. The flames I saw through the scope immediately vanished, and the now-limp dinosaur came into view.
“Hah, hah, hah…”
My breathing became shallow, and I placed a hand on my chest as if to suppress my violently pounding heart, dropping to my knees.
Breathing fire, that’s cheating!
No, if it were a dragon, that’d be standard, but you clearly look like a dinosaur, don’t you!?
It was such insane firepower that the room was filled with flames in an instant.
Why are the Monsters up here more dangerous?!
Knowing I could defeat it was good news, but with that, escaping to high ground is meaningless.
Well, it was meaningless given its body length anyway, but that doesn’t change how dangerous it is.
No matter how much I hide by creating a box, I’d probably be steamed alive in no time.
No, if I protect myself with water magic, maybe I can manage… or can I?
In any case, let’s rest for today.
I’m really tired…
Completely exhausted, I moved to another room, created a bed, and lay down.
The blanket is made of finely woven rubber material, so it’s not that uncomfortable to sleep on.
Lying down on such a blanket, and being so tired, I fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.
I woke up, got up, and checked the bed I had slept in, but there was nothing unusual.
I was relieved to find that I could maintain something the size of a bed even while sleeping.
For now, I decided to have breakfast and moved to the room with the stairs, where the dinosaur’s carcass once again caught my eye.
The fact that the corpse is still here means I must have woken up after a short time.
That makes sense. It’s a bit surprising I even managed to sleep for a short while in a place like this.
My body feels refreshed, at least, so that’s good…
“Dragon meat being delicious is a classic, right?”
I thought it might be heavy for breakfast, but if meat is all I have, it’s only natural to eat the tastier-looking option. I used enhancement magic and tried to pull the dinosaur’s carcass, but it didn’t seem to budge.
After making sure there was no sound, I went up the stairs, created a Chainsaw again, and cut off its tail.
This time, it was surprisingly easy to cut off, so when I tried using a knife on it, the hide, though tough, peeled off normally.
I cut it into bite-sized pieces and skewered it.
I didn’t have any seasonings, so I wasn’t expecting much, but the moment I tasted it, I clutched my cheeks and rolled around.
It was that feeling when your taste buds are shocked after not eating anything for a long time.
It’s not like I skipped yesterday’s meal, but what incredible umami…
The flavor was so intense I thought I was going crazy, but as I got used to it, I couldn’t stop my hands and mouth.
Soooo goooood!
This is insane. Just grilling it makes it this delicious!!
I could eat this forever. I’ll load a ton of it onto the Cart.
This is something I’d love to bring back for Naomi.
If I can even make it back, that is… Thinking that, my overly high spirits calmed down.
They didn’t completely plummet, though.
Now that I knew I could defeat the dinosaur, the chances of being able to ascend the stairs ahead had increased.
That said, I want to prepare before going up the stairs.
I have this hide with Fire Resistance, after all. There’s no way I’m not taking it.
Thinking that the Monsters I defeated yesterday might have already disappeared, I went to check the pile of Monsters. The mountain was clearly smaller, but a considerable number still remained.
They’re probably being absorbed starting from the ones touching the ground.
I immediately resumed dismantling the remaining Monsters.
It’s still tough, but I can just barely peel it.
After a hard struggle, I managed to peel off a piece of hide about half the size of a bath towel from each one.
…It can’t be helped.
I did my best. I’m a beginner at dismantling, after all.
Muttering such excuses, I dismantled the other Monster corpses.
And so, after several hours, I had peeled ten hides.
I wondered how to wear them, but after some thought, I attached them to the Cart.
I just couldn’t bring myself to wear something so smelly and caked with flesh.
If wearing it was the only option, I would have, but I figured attaching it to a wall would be just as effective, so I decided to use it as a bulwark.
If I embed them into the walls of the Cart, it’ll be easy to transform it into a defensive wall.
Considering the meat didn’t burn, this should serve as one countermeasure, at least.
And so, after a bit of a struggle, I moved the Cart up the stairs and started exploring.
Perhaps because the Monsters that appear are large, each room is incredibly spacious.
Even the passageways are more than five times wider.
Whoops, this isn’t the time to be thinking about such things.
So, I ran and took up a position near the passage.
Fortunately, this is a straight path. The passage is long too, so I can snipe to my heart’s content.
First, I’ll give up on retrieving bullets and snipe safely from here.
Yesterday, I confirmed it was effective, but I don’t know if I can reliably take them down in one shot.
To check that, I’ll lure them with explosion magic, but just their footsteps—thump, thump, thump, thump—make such a loud noise that vibrations travel through the ground.
If it echoes this much, it seems like I should have heard it from below, but I didn’t hear any such sound yesterday.
Do they usually walk demurely? As I was thinking such foolish things, it came into view.
Victory to the swift! The moment I saw it, I shot it in the head.
I could confirm its Magic Stone, but in its forward-leaning posture, it was hidden by its jaw, making a clean shot difficult, so I aimed for the head.
With a fiercely loud gunshot, the dinosaur’s head snapped up, and it collapsed, but it immediately shook its head, got up, and stood, albeit unsteadily.
“Huh? You’ve got to be kidding me!?”
No, it’s okay. It’s working.
It’s not the best outcome, but I’m not checkmated yet.
Thinking that, I placed my finger on the trigger again.
Now that I knew a headshot wasn’t a guaranteed kill, I didn’t want to let it get any closer, so I aimed for the Magic Stone.
Fortunately, its jaw was raised. I won’t miss this time, I thought, and pulled the trigger.
BAAANG! With the same deafening roar, the bullet was fired.
As expected, the bullet was drawn into the Magic Stone, and the dinosaur collapsed again.
“Phew, I’m out of danger, but this is a bit bad.”
Since I can’t aim for it when its jaw is lowered, luring it closer to defeat it is too dangerous.
That said, not being able to retrieve all my bullets is too harsh.
“Well, I guess I have no choice but to deal with the ones gathering now…”
And so, I continued to shoot down the approaching dinosaurs.
Fourteen of them in total. I kept aiming for their Magic Stones, but I didn’t hit every shot, and ended up firing over forty unrecoverable bullets.
I used three Giant Magic Stones.
Just by defeating the ones that gathered, five days’ worth of Magical Power was gone.
Considering I could take down fifty Monsters with one Magic Stone on the lower Floor where I could retrieve bullets, this is less than a tenth of that.
Even if the efficiency is good for now, at this pace, my Magical Power won’t last.
I needed to quickly come up with a solution.
Fortunately, I have a countermeasure for the fire.
If I could somehow manage even its attacks with Maso, then I could handle anything, but…
I do have Magical Power, so maybe I should try making ridiculously thick heavy armor?
However, if I do that, I’ll need to maintain an unmanageable amount of Magical Power.
If I’m going to assume I’ll take a hit from that dinosaur, I’d want a box shape with a thickness of over one meter.
No, wait…
If I make it that thick, how will I secure my vision?
Besides, if I make it that thick, the hole for the Gun will need considerable leeway, or I won’t be able to aim.
If I’m going to defeat them up close, I’ll need to widen my aiming range.
Thinking about it, it’s quite difficult.
Even if it’s armor instead of a wall, if I make it too thick, I won’t be able to bend my joints no matter what.
Ah, but the enemy is huge, so maybe I can just make iron bars as thick as logs?
It might be able to withstand a single blow, right?
The fire can be dealt with using that hide.
No, if that doesn’t work, I’m done for, so that’s a bit scary.
Seriously, what is this situation where I don’t know the right answer until I try, and everything is life-threatening…
This is all that scumbag’s fault.
That bastard Listol… I’ll never forgive him…
My anger towards Listol simmered and flared up again, but the moment I thought of Yuri, it dissipated like mist.
Ah, I wonder how Yuri is doing right now.
Is she angry? Is she worried about me?
I hope she’s not crying…
I thought about her, partly as a way to escape reality, but the thought that she might be crying spurred my heart to action, and I pressed forward without any real plan.
And so, after passing through two rooms, I found a staircase.
An ascending one, naturally.
Since I’d reached the very end of the floor below, my face lit up at this unexpected stroke of luck.
Thinking this was my chance, I strained my ears as I ascended the stairs.
Just as the lack of sound suggested, there were no Monsters at the top of the stairs.
No… Or rather, there was no sound at all.
Wondering why, I pushed my Enhanced Hearing further, but I still couldn’t hear a single sound.
A strong sense of unease washed over me.
Because if it was a Monster that moved silently, there was a very high chance I’d die.
But having come this far, turning back without even checking was out of the question.
It’s not like I could go home even if I did turn back.
Deciding to at least check, I secured the area before the passage and tried making a sound as a test.
ZDOOOOM
The loud sound of my explosion magic echoed, but no other sound followed.
I waited there for several minutes just in case, but nothing happened.
“So it doesn’t react to sound, huh…”
Resigned, I pressed onward.
Breaking out in a cold sweat from tension each time, I cleared every corner of the passage and advanced, until I saw a statue standing in a distant room.
No, it wasn’t stone.
It was a statue made of silver-colored metal.
Ah, I got it.
I understood everything.
It’s definitely that, I thought, peeking at its chest through my scope.
Sure enough, there was indeed a Magic Stone there.
“Huh…? Isn’t this… Bonus Time?”
I muttered to myself at such a golden opportunity, but on second thought, sniping from afar would consume too much Magical Power, and it would probably start moving if I got closer.
Considering that, it wasn’t so great after all.
That said, if it was in such an exposed spot, I figured I could aim easily. I readied my Gun and slowly approached, aiming, but it showed no signs of moving.
I closed in to less than thirty meters, but it still didn’t move. I’d managed to reach the line where it was within my control range.
At that moment, I immediately aimed at its Magic Stone and fired. It flew back several meters and collapsed.
“Ah, it really is Bonus Time after all.”
As I approached, retrieved the bullet, and absorbed the shattered Magic Stone, I noticed something.
“…There’s barely a scratch on its main body.”
Other Monsters would be pierced through, or even if they had hard parts, the bullet would at least gouge out a large chunk of flesh. Yet, with this one, the area behind the Magic Stone was only slightly dented.
Basically, its only weak point is the Magic Stone.
If it were to protect its Magic Stone with its hands, it would become impossible to defeat.
This meant I absolutely had to go for an instant kill before it started moving, or I’d be in trouble.
However, if it didn’t start moving even when I entered my optimal range, then there was no problem.
Even if a shot was deflected and flew off somewhere, it wouldn’t dissipate instantly. Even if there were many of them, as long as I sniped them at a good pace and quickly retrieved the bullets, most of the power would likely return.
Thinking there was nothing to fear then, I stood up and looked around the room—and broke out in a cold sweat.
I’d thought there was only one, but there were two more in the back of the room.
It’s terrifying how they make no sound and have no presence at all.
The thought of one being in a blind spot from the passage and suddenly activating is truly frightening.
Well, they seem to be out of range for now, so it’s not an immediate problem, though.
And so, I quickly took them down with a single shot each, retrieving the Magic Stones and bullets.
And so, I continued my exploration, keeping as much distance as possible at corners to secure my line of sight.
Then, as I entered the fifth room, there was a Golem right beside the entrance, and I let it activate.
Forgetting about precise aiming, I fired immediately, just hoping to hit it.
The bullet hit its shoulder, making the Golem’s body stagger, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down.
When I shatter their Magic Stones, they get blown away, so why not now?!
Retorting inwardly, I figured if I could buy some time while it staggered, and aimed again, firing instantly.
The moment I fired, aiming for the Magic Stone, the Golem had already raised its fist and was stepping towards me.
It’ll still make it. At this distance, I won’t miss.
With that thought, I kept my eyes fixed on the Golem, watching for the outcome.
The instant the Golem blurred as it lunged towards me, I saw its Magic Stone shatter.
Alright, I won!
The moment I thought that, a powerful impact struck me, and I lost consciousness.