Chapter 20: “Dragon’s Cradle,” and to the Beastkin Village 09
The 20th floor underground was, as expected, the type where the place you descended to was directly the boss room.
What’s in front of me now is a super-gigantic slime, like a small mountain. Inside its translucent body, countless cores that look like eyeballs are floating. Each of those cores is nearly one meter in diameter, so much so that you’d think the scale was wrong. According to the prior information, it shouldn’t have been this big, so it’s definitely a Rare Boss.
“We don’t know what kind of attacks it will use. Frei, use ‘Absolute Barrier Magic.’ Shizuna, put your ‘Spirits’ in front.”
“Yes, Lord Soushi.”
“Got it.”
Normally, you’d expect it to crush you with its mountain-like body or extend tentacles to capture you. In fact, the original boss of this floor, the “Titan Slime,” was said to do just that.
However, with the slime in front of me, those cores that look like eyeballs give me a very bad feeling.
“Mariane, can you ‘Appraise’ it?”
“I’m doing it now… It’s a monster called ‘Evil Eyes.’ It has high physical resistance, magic resistance, and is skilled in Status Effect Attacks.”
“Status effects, huh? I wonder to what extent.”
As we got into battle formation, the Evil Eyes shook its mountain-like body with a shudder. As usual, I stepped forward and activated the ‘Provoke’ skill, preparing to take the attack.
Then, the cores inside the Evil Eyes—the eyeballs—all turned towards us at once. And the pupils of those eyeballs began to emit suspicious light one after another.
“…!? What…?”
At that moment, a tremendous unpleasantness ran through my entire body, over and over again. It was an indescribable unpleasantness, like a chill, nausea, or fear.
There’s no doubt that these intense unpleasant feelings are due to the power of the Evil Eyes. Could this be what they call a Status Effect Attack? Certainly, in myths from my previous life, there were beings with the ability to petrify just by glaring…
“But does this mean it’s not working?”
Fortunately, or perhaps not, I feel the unpleasantness, but it doesn’t paralyze my body, petrify me, or mess with my mental state. This is probably thanks to the high levels of my various resistance skills and the ‘Fallen Angel’s Remorse’ accessory, which has ‘+5 to All Status Ailment Resistances.’
However, it might be dangerous if the other members are subjected to this attack. I further strengthen ‘Provoke’ to draw the Evil Eyes’ attention.
“Lord Soushi, I can tell you’re taking some kind of attack, but are you alright?”
Sakurahime calls out with a worried voice before I can give the next instruction.
“I’m fine. Those eyeball-like parts seem to inflict status ailments just by looking at you. I’m drawing its attention now, so everyone, attack it.”
“Understood. Let’s go, everyone.”
“Okay. Magic first, Sfenia, please.”
“Yes. Magic coming up.”
While I endure the unpleasantness, the members begin their attack.
Numerous spears of fire hit, beams of light penetrate several eyeballs, and the vanguard surrounds the Evil Eyes and begins their assault. Each time a blade is swung, the Evil Eyes’ translucent body is scraped away, and the exposed eyeballs are cleaved in two.
The Evil Eyes also tries to counterattack by extending countless tentacles from the upper part of its body, but they are cut down by the rearguard’s wind magic. Geshura’s magic is particularly powerful, with huge scythe-like blades cutting down the tentacles in bunches as if mowing grass.
Actually, what I was most worried about was a body slam using its massive size, but the Evil Eyes seemed to be very slow due to its size. It might be a monster that has allocated most of its abilities to status effect attacks.
It took time because of the Evil Eyes’ size, but when the last eyeball was severed by Sakurahime’s naginata ‘Blizzard,’ the Evil Eyes disappeared into black mist along with its remaining body.
“It was troublesome due to its size, but I don’t think it was as strong as a Rare Boss should be. Was it mainly an attack that caused status ailments?”
As Sakurahime brings over a Magic Stone about the size of a hug, Mariane nods and replies.
“I think so. I’ve never heard of being able to inflict status ailments just by glaring, but if all those eyeballs were inflicting status ailments, then Lord Soushi’s burden must have been considerable, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s a scary story. How was it for Lord Soushi?”
“Well, I felt sick enough that it was hard to move. But nothing else happened, so I don’t know how powerful it was.”
“If Soushi-san felt sick, then an ordinary adventurer would have suffered a fatal status ailment. It must have been a terrifying monster.”
No one disputed Mariane’s analysis. Considering the high level of my various resistance skills and the protection provided by ‘Fallen Angel’s Remorse,’ that attack, which still damaged me, must have been quite terrifying. I have no choice but to agree.
Now, if it’s such a formidable enemy, naturally we expect a lot from the contents of the treasure chest. But…
“Huh? Was there ever a treasure chest of this color?”
In front of Larni, who is tilting her head, a treasure chest with a rainbow-colored luster has appeared.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a treasure chest like this. I’ve never heard of such a thing appearing in the guild’s records.”
Hearing the words of Dorozitte, the Grand Master of the guild, Larni wags her tail excitedly and looks at me with expectant eyes. When I give her permission, Larni leaps for joy and opens the lid.
What came out was a suit of armor with a faint golden glow and a rather rugged atmosphere. In terms of atmosphere, it was similar to the golden armor with the names of constellations that appeared in a manga I read a long time ago. But even if I gave such an explanation, no one would understand.
“Wow, it’s a really flashy, or rather, conspicuous armor. It’s an Orichalcum armor, right?”
Larni touches the armor with her hands and glances at me. Well, I know what she wants to say. No matter how you look at it, it looks like armor for me to wear. It looks like it, but as an old man, I hesitate fiercely to wear this faintly golden armor.
Mariane appraises it as usual, and then her eyes widen and she lets out a breath, “Hoh…”
“It’s an armor called ‘Summit of Divine Peak.’ It seems to have the effects of Divine Mighty Power +5, Divine Steel Body +5, All Status Ailment Resistance +5, and All-Element Magic Resistance +5.”
“I’m speechless. It’s not at the level of a national treasure or something, it’s practically divine equipment.”
Dorozitte goes to the Orichalcum armor… ‘Summit of Divine Peak,’ hugs it, and begins to rub her cheek against it. It seems that something touched her heartstrings, but Mariane looks at it with a complicated expression.
Geshura, who usually doesn’t show much interest in equipment, also approaches and begins to examine the armor’s parts. “I see, the joints are processed like this. But this should increase the weight, but they seem to have disregarded that and sought strength,” she says, so it may be an armor that has something to see from a technical point of view.
Anyway, that’s the end of the exploration for today. Unfortunately, no equipment for the members came out, but let’s bet on tomorrow, the final day.