[Arc 1] Chapter 24: Dead or Alive… or Something Inbetween

The bladed spinosaurus kept on staring in my direction as if it was probing me for information. It didn't have [Identification], so is it trying to figure what happened by experience?

"Lord Virt... we are alright...*Cough, cough!*" - Sahuagin

Whoops. I was afraid this would happen. The Sahuagin started to cough up blood, and his unconscious allies didn't look any better. Will I be named the culprit for this? Please, nooooo!!

"*Grrrr*" - Spinosaurus

Crap, is he gonna attack? ...Guess not? He's not even looking in this direction. 

Yikes! A parade of Glavras monsters is coming this way! From this direction, I would say they all came from the boss monster's HQ? 

The monster parade consists mostly of spiders for some reason, but there are also tortoises, enemy raptors, and even snakes mixed in. Some of the spiders looked bigger than the others, so maybe they're evolved... and in the back is...

"Virt!! Damn you blasted traitor! This time will be the end of you!!" - Big Snake

That's the Floor 5 Boss! He's alive?! 

He must have regrouped with the other Floor Bosses after Floor 5 and 6 were made unhabitable due to the bombs I used and the King's slash. And it sounds like he's not been taking anger management classes.

Virt, which is the spinosaurus, jumped at the challenge and charged into the small army of monsters. Is he stupid? That's a good 100 monsters right there, with some Rank D, plus a C-Rank to lead them!

If he's got that positive Karma Value from being reckless, then I'm happy being "True Chaos". That stupid-saurus killed my hard-earned Zombies, so I'll not be crying if he gets himself killed.

...But lettin' one of the big bosses of the "resistance" die would dampen the chances of working together. Should I help him? I can't see how... for now, I'll heal these Sahuagins and have them evacuate. 

Heal! Heal! And [Chaotic Concurrence] Heal! And some more Heals! Heal-train!

This must be the best magic of [Magic Ability]. It's the basic spell you get from the Life attribute Magic Skill, but damn it's effective due to its low MP consumption and easy magic formula.

"A-an angel...!" - Sahuagin

Urgh, what's this guy saying? I'm a demon! I'll Heal him an extra round to cure that delusional brain of his. 

"We g-got to help lord Virt!" - Sahuagin

Oi, you're going to fight a bigger group than the guys that trashed you before? Stop it! My precious MP used for the healing spells will be as good as wasted!

"Run." - Garami

"Eh, what did you-?" - Sahuagin

"You, weak." - Garami

The sahuagin's froze when they heard my words. What, that came as such a big shock? You're barely past Lv.10. Fighting a small army of more than 100 monsters ain't the best way to duke it out.

"Come on, she is right. We should bring reinforcements instead of throwing our lives here." - Sahuagin

Oh, a smart guy's among them. It's the one who was conscious when that Virt-guy appeared. He half-forced the other five with him the opposite way of the Glavras army, leaving me behind. 

Now then, what to do? Virt is crushing the spiders with ease while preventing the raptors from passing him, but the said raptors aren't going down due to using the spiders as living shields and the tortoises blocking the attacks with their shells. 

Let's give him some backup. I wanna have a shot against the boss-snake as well. That guy would be great for leveling up [Create Undead], failure or not. 

But first, let me make some backup of my own. Concurrence [Create Undead]! Three dark magic circles appeared underneath the three raptor corpses from the battle before. Give me at least one more ally...

!? A triple-jackpot! What's up with my luck now? It's not gonna be that I'm gonna get that slammed with misfortune after this...right?

W-whatever. Undead raptors, attack the Glavras monsters while supporting that spinosaurus! Oh, almost forgot about this guy. Skeleton Frog, you do the same!

After sending off the undeads to something no different than their second death, I used a bungee thread to climb up from the trench and back to the surface ground. Charging in from the front ain't my style, so the undeads will act as a distraction while I attack from above. Most importantly, I need to do something with the boss-snake. 

There's no need for any elixir syndrome here. Time to use all I have in my arsenal! I retrieved the secret weapon I had stored. I seriously wanted to use it, but it needed some time before I could do so. While I'm at it...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Acquired a skill from the Skill Shop.

Acquired skill: [Marksmanship Lv.1]

I arrived just above the boss-snake. He's throwing magic at the spinosaurus while commanding the mobs. I can see that the Virt-guy keeps on struggling with the tortoise and spider tanks, but some of the tortoises have started to fall from the pressure. The spider corpses disappear after being defeated, but the tortoise corpses remain for some reason.

What's the difference between the spiders and the other monsters? That's not important right now. I aimed at the boss-snake with my secret weapon. 

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

"Wha-!? What the-!?" - Boss-snake

Aha! Take the power of modern... maybe not. This thing's completely a child of fantasy. And the "power"'s not that great either. I think the sound scared him more than the bullets damaged him.

A magic gun that has changed its appearance to fit its new owner. If someone unworthy tries to wield it, they will be cursed with a fate worse than death.

It is created by a mysterious metal alloy and cursed wood of an unknown nature, cladding it in a mystical atmosphere.

It can fire regular- and special Thaumaturgy Bullets, and it can be used as a Magic Catalyst to improve magic spells.

A ring that has changed its appearance for its new owner. If someone unworthy tries to wield it, they will be cursed with a fate worse than death.

It is created by a mysterious metal alloy and a gem with an unknown nature, cladding it in a mystical atmosphere.

If I had to describe the gun, I would call it an automatic revolver? I'm no expert about guns, but this appearance makes no doubt. As for why I know it's auto, well, I tested it. Are you happy? 

Most of the gun's tar-black with dark-bronze parts here and there, making it feel more like a decorated flintlock or other types of old guns instead of a revolver. Is that why it's a magic gun? And this is supposed to be designed for me? Maybe I can use it with [Parry]? Ex-Rank Items are invincible after all, and they will just repair themselves even if broken to pieces.

I gave another few shots at the boss-snake before I had to reload the gun, but even if I say it like that, the ring does the reloading on its own. The bad news is that this ring takes a long time to create a single bullet. 10 minutes for the fastest bullet.

It's been 18 hours since I obtained the items, and during 13 of those hours, I've had the ring produce those 10 min bullets, along with five 1-hour bullets. I've kept it in the Storage until now due to not wanting to waste ammo, but right now-

"Damn, damn, damn it all! Why do I have to be a part of their stupid plans! Can't I retire in peace already!? That stupid Dungeon Master and its stupid plans! Why do you have to force all the work on someone like me? At least give me some subordinates then!! And I had to watch over that freaking castle that attracted that freaking knight, are you f*cking with me!? And then my workplace was obliterated by both that mysterious explosion and the monster knight's attack, then you ask me to be the gopher for those three musclebrains?! And no rewards, stop joking with me!! I want to live underneath the sun, sleep whenever I want, eat good food, sleep whenever I want, AND SLEEP WHENEVER I WANT!! Why did I have to be born in this wretched Dungeon? Why am I cursed to a life of working for those no-good-doers? WHYYYY!?" - Boss(?)-snake

......Okay, I better screw the "Grand reveal of OP-weapon" plans I made. This guy's too pitiable. Crying more tears than his Water Magic can produce is on a level I would call 'stressed'. He's more like an overworked office worker than a Floor Boss at this point. 

I Identified him, and most of his skills are information-related ones. Even his highest attack skill which is [Water Magic] is only on Lv.15, while other skills such as [Sleep Reistance] [Hunger Resistance] are maxed out. Heck, he's got something like [Overwork Resistance]!

Only his stats are worthy of being called a boss, which is one of two reasons why he managed to fight against the roach army on Floor 5. That, and the army was too used to the skills I let them borrow back then.

No way I can stand proud and tall if I beat him. Heck, I'm even sympathizing with him a little. Even if he's lying, that performance is worth sparing his life here, as long as he doesn't try something like this again.

...It's decided. I'll let him run.

Making him leave the battlefield's good enough. There's no bounty on him after all, and his corpse's too high-ranked for me to get a hit. There's the temptation of EXP for killing him, but I would have to waste one Legendary-Rank poison to do that. Letting the spinosaurus do the kill won't give me a single percent of the EXP.

I fired one more shot to get the snake's attention, for then doing the most difficult action I had in my arsenal.

"Hey, stupid reptile! Scared of facing a single demon alone?" - Garami

I taunted it.

No, seriously, that's damn difficult! Talking's worse enough, but having to do so in front of such a large crowd (of monsters)? To top it off, in front of a monster that can crush me easily if I give it a chance? 

The snake looked seriously pissed off. To be honest, I was scared. Facing something stronger than you face-on without any traps is damn scary!!

"You lot, take care of the traitor. This one is mine!" - Boss-snake

It worked! Worked too well! Shape up, Garami. This isn't the time to be scared!

I ran from the boss-snake that started to climb up the trench while giving it a love tap with my bullets. After we were too far away for those in the trench to hear us, I retrieved two new items from the Storage. One of them that I made a theatric turn to show off to the boss-snake.

Seeing the item caused the snake to stop in his tracks. And the item in question is:

The Deathcaliber.

"Yo-y-y-y-you-!? T-th-th-that's-!?" - Boss-snake

Yeah, he would remember the weapon that almost killed him. Time for act 2. Go, go, me!

"Killed him..., the knight." - Garami

"What-!? That thing, you-" - Boss-snake

"However... spare you." - Garami

"Huh? Why's that? Explain already!" - Boss-snake

That's what I'm trying to do, stupid snake. I silenced him by showing him the second item, the Lernaean Hydra Poison. 

As expected of someone with intelligence gathering skills. He understood the danger of this poison just by looking at the bottle. I didn't know that a snake's scale could turn pale like that.

"I kill bosses, but you don't have a bounty. Tiresome to kill, so letting you go." - Garami

"For real-ah. The Quest..." - Boss-snake

So they also received the Quest? No matter...

"Upper floor's safe. No Spirits. They all left after the knight's death." - Garami

The boss-snake looked surprised at first, but then he started to nod to himself. He must have some info about those Spirits after all. I mean, with his (former) job, it would be stranger not to know.

"If you fight, then I will use the poison. But if you not, then you can do anything. Sleep, eat, or even finding a way out is fine. Just don't fight for the Dungeon." - Garami

And there we go! After a serious threat, I gave him an offer he couldn't refuse... in a good way. I want that kinda offer myself...

"But, the other Floor Bosses..." - Boss-snake

"Are to be killed. By me and resistance-, the traitors." - Garami

After hearing my words, the boss-snake started to think. I don't have any [Telepathy] like Gust has, but I can guess what he's thinking. That a wildcard (meaning me) has joined the battlefield, which can cause unparalleled damage (due to the Hydra poison) if they find themselves in a pinch. Then the best opportunity for him is to leave now during the night when there's nobody else with the ability to locate him in the dark. 

"Alright, you have a deal!" - Boss-snake

Phew. Glad I was right. Now, leave already!

"Ahahaha! See you later, suckers!" - Boss-snake (whispering)

...Just how much stress did that guy have to go Benedict Arnold on his own Dungeon? I should treat Gust a little better after this. Now, back to the trench!

---

The fight between the Glavras mobs and the spinosaurus/undeads tag team is at a stalemate. The Glavras monster keeps on falling to the sword-claws of Virt the spinosaurus, while Virt himself keeps on having small amounts of damage piled on top of each other. Sooner or later, he's gonna reach his limit.

The undeads? Still alive, if you can call them that. The [Drain Life] skill turns out to be great in a brawl. Wonder if I could get something like that... and how's the Skeleton Frog still alive?! It had a LUK of over 110, but even so...

Crap, I digressed again, didn't I? Better start giving cover-fire for the undeads... and Virt, by extension only. 

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

The bullets flew through the heads of the unsuspecting Glavras monsters. Eh, did I get better at this? When I first shot the boss-snake, I tried to aim at his eyes, but only hit other parts of his body.

Did [Marksmanship]'s level increase? No, it's too early for that, and it wouldn't be this much of a change. Is it my latent potential that's finally blooming!? Yeah, right.

Uh-oh. Water blasts from spiders incoming! Time to get to cover. I laid myself flat on the ground to escape the spider's counterattack-hey! Now the remaining snakes started throwing magic this way too! 

If that's the case, [Stealth]! Sneaky, silently, like a shinobi, run away! Good, the monsters didn't notice that I had left that place. In that case, let's target some snakes.

I fired again from a different position, sending the Glavras monsters into a small panic. I aimed at the snake monsters... but I failed. Only spider targets were hit. And their corpses disappear as well. And here I have 5 [Create Undead] bullets ready for a zombie pandemic!

When the monsters started to fire at me, I went undercover with my Stealth-skills again and changed my shooting position. Before long, the 72 bullets I had on me were reduced to 21. Some of the raptors tried to climb up the trench, but I threw a sticky thread-bomb at them. 

Aaaand, finished. The long-range monsters were too busy with me to help the tank monsters in defeating that Virt-guy and the undeads. And they had help from the Sahuagins reinforcement that came as well. They're keeping a distance from the undeads I made, but I should explain... yeah. No way. 

"Garami! Are you alright-hey, what's going on here!?" - Gust

Just as I was thinking how to do this without me having to be-*brr*. social about it, my savior with black wings appeared. Nice timing, Gust!

"Explain." - Garami

"Wait, that's my line!" - Gust

"Don't wanna.  You talk." - Garami

After giving Gust a rundown of the events (through [Telepathy]), I dumped all the responsibility of explaining the situation to the Sahuagins and that Virt-guy. Eh? Wasn't I supposed to do something about my treatment towards Gust?

...I forgot. Eh, whatever.

Seems like the negotiations are finished. Gust came back to me and-

"Congratulations! You are now a respectable teacher of the whole Sahuagin tribe." - Gust

"......... No, why're you joking?" - Garami

"I am not joking at all. To make the story as short as possible, these guys were a tribe on the outside of the Dungeon. The mentioned Dungeon had for some reason stolen something extremely important from them, so they entered the place, in the hope of taking it back." - Gust

"...The Dungeon did? Not the monsters?" - Garami

"That is what they said. Also, due to the sudden immigration, or rather, the Dungeon monsters that harassed them as they kept on clearing floors, they have lost most information regarding classes and magics. So I thought-" - Gust

"If it's about the Kigal-Note, why not let you do it?" - Garami

"Sorry to say, but it seems like you won the heart of the Sahuagins when you saved them. The big boss named Virt would also apologize for the zombies he destroyed or something by granting you the honor of teaching them." - Gust

"...And the real reason?" - Garami

"I was the one who suggested it!" - Gust

This little-!!

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Arachnids: Glavras General Aquarect

Description:

A spider monster that was first seen in the Dungeon: "The Water-Knot of Glavras". It leads a troop of Glavras Aquarect to defend the Dungeon, acting as sergeants and generals depending on their ranks.

They are also seen commanding other monsters of equal or lower racial rank in the Dungeon, and they only take commands from their higher-ranked brethren. 

Appearance:

The Glavras General Aquarect is a spider one size bigger than the regular Aquarect, with a small trunk in dark marine colors and dark blue legs. 

Abilities:

The General Aquarect is capable of everything the normal Aquarect can do, including water blasts and swarm tactics. They are also capable of generating medicines and/or poison, depending on the individual.

Their real strength comes from their leadership of the Aquarect swarms, which will drastically increase their Danger Rank, all depending on the size of the swarm the General is leading.

Garami's comment: So, it sits back and commanding forces, only for spraying blasts of water and ailments when you finally reach it? What a coward. I like it!