242 - - the baptism of the tenth floor

"Perhaps, what you just saw is and ."

According to Yuril's explanation, the white haze-like mass is called the , and the vortex of black air that the spirits of the dead cloak around their bodies is called the .

The Witch of the Swamp breathed a mist similar to the one in the swamp, but it is said to be a smaller version of that in scope and effect.

It is said that corpse monsters, which are already rotting or have no substance, often use this effect.

"So, that was a dark technique user?"

Yes, that would be it.

The dark technique is a special technique given by the evil gods to monsters with a certain level of intelligence.

If they can use it, it seems that they have been keeping more vicious prisoners below the tenth floor.

If you try to keep your distance to check on them, they will be paralyzed by a barrage of "fog" bullets, which are difficult to avoid.

If you try to close the distance between them and the prisoners, you will be in the range of the , which will neutralize you.

The prisoners on the upper floors who pushed us with their numbers were troublesome, but this was an even more formidable opponent.

"As expected, the deeper we go, the more likely we are to die easily.

The current battle, too, was almost a total disaster because of our mishandling of the situation.

The appearance of his opponent, whose delay in judgment at first sight could easily put him in an irretrievable situation, made Thor understand once again why his search for the fixed dungeon was progressing so slowly.

"But, Thor-chan, you're not losing at all!　I was really surprised when I noticed you were in the back!"　

"You were so surprised when you suddenly disappeared."

Thora's voice was raised to cancel out the words of Thor, whose brow was slightly furrowed.

Moo, who had been standing right next to Thor, stroked Thor's leg with a curious look on his face.

Thor's lips lifted in a nod as they looked at him with innocent admiration.

"I see. I've never used it in a real battle before, but I guess I can use it better than I thought."

Thor's movement that slaughtered the monster just now was the work of the third magic technique, .

With its conventional performance, this skill is difficult to use, as it only speeds up the movement of armor, but the other day, it finally reached level 10.

The result is--.

--This skill accelerates the time of a person involved in a battle.

Level: 10 / Usable number of times: 13 times per hour / Activation: instantaneous / Effect: within 33 seconds / Range: contact.

At last, it can be used on a living person.

However, it can only be used on humans, not on monsters.

If it were possible to use it on anything, you could just touch it from one side to the other and make it sink into a wall or the ground.

And of course, the danger is the same as ever.

Even the slightest movement will increase the speed of your body significantly, so you have to pray to God if you want to use it on the spur of the moment.

In the sense that it is necessary to first secure a situation in which it is safe to use it, it is still a step short of the ease of use of and .

"Well, if you use it enough, it will take shape in time. There's no need to rush."

And the danger of is not without countermeasures.

It may take some time to get used to it.

"All right, now that the seed has been broken, let's keep on hunting. I'm counting on you, Sora."

Let me wait for you!

"Can't you leave it to Moe?　Tor-chan."

No, I'm counting on you.

I can't help you, but I'll do my best to support you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

"You are safe and secure just by being here, Mr. Euril!

"Grandma, I'm going to teach you how to do O-en!"

The child jumped up and down on the spot with his hands in the air.

"Don't lose, To-chan!"

"Oh, you're very brave, Mumu."

"Come on, do it!"

"Hmm, me too?"

"You're not playing with me anymore!"

"Yes. Good luck, Thor!

Thor couldn't help but admire the silver-haired beauty as she lifted her hands and jumped lightly, then casually held her mouth as she lifted it.

Basically, only one of the spirits of the dead who used dark arts appeared.

Though it may be a mistake to count it as one skeleton when there are several skeletons attached to its chest.

Thor, bathed in a white haze of flying debris, pushes his way through the passageway without a care in the world.

His steps are even stronger than before.

The effect of the dark technique is reversed by Sora's .

Of course, he is unaffected by the black mist that consumes his body.

Rather, the blade, now sharper and sharper, slices through the bodies of the spirits of the dead.

After two hours of searching in the north section, Thor and his team pull up to the safe zone on the sixth floor.

It would have been convenient if they could have used the stairs on the tenth floor as a resting place, but they were unprepared for this.

On the return trip, perhaps because they had become accustomed to it, it took them less than three hours to reach the spiral staircase.

The next day, we started to search the south side of the tenth floor.

Fortunately, the bars were still up.

The north side was not finished yet, but there was a reason for that.

The owner of the armor store in the back alley is about to finish the set of equipment that we had asked him for.

I was planning to do the reversal anyway.

The south side of the road was as desolate as the north side.

The other side looked old and crumbling, but this side had many holes as if something had hit it.

As Thor and the others braced themselves, a shell-shaped steel doll appeared before them, a familiar sight.

As usual, it was hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey!　Isn't this one different, too?"

"Yeah, there's something attached to it."

As Sola pointed out, the smaller steel dolls had also changed.

Conical protrusions were growing out of its shell.

The translucency of the cones made them resemble icicles.

"Ugh, did it freeze because it was too cold?"

"Even if that's the case, it's unnatural for icicles to grow there."

"I hear footsteps coming from the back passage on the right. Please be careful."

The new steel dolls seem to have extended their sensing range.

A four-legged steel doll emerges from the corner with a deafening sound of hard footsteps.

The appearance of this figure seems to have not changed.

It is the same to the point of being crushed by the ceiling of the passage, stepping on the with ease.

A shell-shaped steel figure rushes to him immediately.

This is another deja vu.

But the next change is something I have never seen before.

From the palms of the steel giant's hands, which were thrust toward us, conical shapes similar to the protrusions on the head were protruding.

Then, the next attack pattern can be roughly predicted.

Thor, his sword at the ready, inhaled quietly and waited for the right moment.

A moment before he could blink...

Thor sees an impossible scene.

It was the sight of two icicles deeply embedded in his chest.