Chapter 85: Final Blow

With Aizawa's strike, the battle was pretty much over. Gouchen wasn't needed anymore, and now it was just a matter of delivering the final blow.

[It's bleeding from inside the crystal?]

[So it's not a crystal lizard; it's a lizard covered in crystal.]

[That means we just need to aim for that weak spot in the side!]

The lizard, now with a hole in its armor, would obviously try to protect its weak point. But with four of us attacking, it was only a matter of time before we won.

[White Tiger.]

My fastest shikigami, Byakko, wouldn't get in Grandma or Kanna's way. As soon as it was summoned, it used its magic to coat its body in steel. Byakko's sharp claws were covered with new, reinforced steel, and its entire body was encased in armor, giving it the appearance of some kind of mechanical beast. It reminds me of the robotic animals you see in anime.

Grandma dashed forward at blinding speed, breaking the ground as she moved, and Byakko matched her, charging toward the same target: the lizard's exposed side.

[What!? My magic bounced off!]

[Seiryu.]

Sensing danger, the lizard curled up to protect its vulnerable side and began rolling, trying to crush Aizawa. It was already massive, and the crystal it was covered in deflected magic, making it even more of a hassle. It easily shrugged off Kanna's wind spell. Breaking through that kind of armor meant relying on Aizawa to handle the job. Sёarᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Well, my role here is support. As long as the other three handle the firepower, I can just focus on making things easier for them.

Seiryu, like Byakko, is one of the Four Guardian Beasts. Seiryu, the Azure Dragon, is a green dragon that guards the east and controls wood in the Five Elements theory. Its magic, as you'd expect, involves manipulating trees.

[Watch your feet. I'm going to grow some trees.]

The best way I could think of to stop the rolling lizard was to create massive trees using Seiryu's power. As the lizard crashed into them, the trees, strengthened by Seiryu's magic, began to slow its rotation, roots extending in all directions to bind its limbs and pull it to a stop.

[The side is exposed!]

[Byakko!]

[Now it's an easier target.]

Grandma was the first to react, firing an explosive magic shot directly into the exposed side. I have no idea how she manages to get that much power out of a magic shot with no elemental attributes, but pieces of the lizard's flesh flew everywhere.

As Grandma pulled back, Byakko leaped forward, driving its claws into the lizard's body. For good measure, Aizawa sent another magical blade that shattered the lizard's head, and Kanna's incomprehensible lightning spell burned its flesh through the gaps in the shattered crystal.

: That's overkill.

: Poor thing.

: It put up a decent fight, though.

: Is this seriously the final boss of the dungeon?

: Shouldn't Japan be clearing dungeons nationwide already?

: Agreed.

: Are there any obstacles to that?

: It's probably all about politics and vested interests.

Checking the comments again after switching my watch back on, I saw a flood of foreign language messages zooming by, but the regulars were taking things much more casually.

[Aah! Tsu-kun is getting distracted!]

[Well, it's over, isn't it?]

[Just because it's over doesn't mean you should be glued to your phone, kid. You're just like those young people addicted to their phones.]

Shut up, Grandma. Sure, modern people check their phones at every chance they get, but people were complaining about "youth and their phones" back in your day too. Clearly, it's a problem that's never going away.

Besides, my role in this fight was purely support. I should be allowed to check my phone for a bit, right?

: Are you reading the chat, Kisaragi?

: Yaaay!

: He looks so annoyed, lol.

: Who's the extrovert that said "yaaay" like that?

: Are there even any extroverts here?

: If there are, kick them out! This is an introvert community!

: So toxic it hurts, lol.

[What do you think the media is doing up there right now?]

[They're probably having a field day. I thought this dungeon would have 100 floors, though... it ended at the 81st floor. Kinda disappointing!]

[It was just an estimate, after all.]

[Quit fooling around and figure out what to do with this corpse!]

Oh, right. I've only seen one other final boss monster—like the crab in Takayama Dungeon—and even though this crystal lizard is definitely dead, its body isn't disappearing. Not all final boss monsters leave behind a corpse, as I've heard that some disappear even in overseas dungeons.

[Wow... the purity of this crystal is amazing. I could probably make a new shield out of it.]

[Another shield? Aizawa, you really like shields, huh?]

[Do I? But it's the most reliable form of defense in dungeon exploration, you know?]

[I'll just stick with magic barriers for defense.]

[Uh... we're not going to be able to take all of this crystal, are we?]

[Don't be ridiculous... though, yeah, we can't carry it all.]

[I think we should just take the crystal and leave the rest.]

: Ah, the Sapporo Dungeon's been fully cleared.

Stay tuned with m-v l|-NovelFire.net

: EXs are terrifying.

: Can't we get some new EXs soon?

: If anyone thinks they can become an EX after seeing this, I question their sanity.

: Even if more EXs popped up, wouldn't that be a problem?

: Honestly, EXs seem like bugs in the system.

: Aizawa's attacks were the most "normal" ones.

: "Normal" (piercing super-hard crystal).

: What does "normal" even mean anymore?

: Someone who does shockwave thrusts isn't "normal."

: It's already all over the news, lol.

: Breaking news everywhere.

: They're making such a big deal about it overseas. Tomorrow will be wall-to-wall coverage of the Sapporo Dungeon clearance.

: There's so much footage too.

It seems things are getting pretty wild outside. With my and Aizawa's stream, the Guild should already know the dungeon's been cleared. But even if they do, none of the elite forces can meet us here on the 80th floor, so we'll have to gather up the crystals and make our way out on our own.

What a hassle... I wish there was some kind of elevator that went straight down to the bottom. But since the dungeon repairs itself, that's impossible. Heading back up is always the most annoying part of dungeon exploration.