[Ooooh, good, good. As expected of Kehma-kun. I’ll make a note of that!]
[Father] suddenly opened communications with us. He asked me a question, so I gave him a suitable response.
Please don’t make a personal consultation during a battle, referee!
“Kehma, you were able to respond like usual with Tou-sama? Amazing!”
“He’s your Tou-chan right? I’m just going with that kind of feeling.” [1]
He’s Rokuko’s father, so I decided to not care even if he was God. There’s no reason for me to worry about it.
“To call him Tou-chan… that’s rather impolite to Otou-sama, Kehma-san.”
[Un? I don’t mind, call me what you like. Well, I wouldn’t mind even if Kehma-kun called me Otou-san… ah, I’d actually prefer him to call me Father-in-Law-san you know? Lyon-kun used that for me.] [2]
Listening to us like it was nothing, he answered. Oi, who’s this Lyon-kun guy?
… Ah, so he’s the first emperor of the Raverio Empire. In other words, Haku-san’s master, huh? Looks like he even turned into their currency. One copper coin is 1 Lyon.
“It would be nice if you avoided speaking of that man, Otou-sama. He’s a past mistake.”
[Gotcha.]
Hearing them talk about him like a normal father at daughter, it felt somewhat strange. So the first emperor’s an ex-boyfriend huh… ah, I’m sensing bloodlust from Haku-san. Nothing to see here! Nothing!
*Well, back on topic now, I made a move against the snakes with the [Skeletons] I summoned and mixed into their midst by taking advantage of their turmoil while fighting against the Gargoyles.
They started annihilating Team Dragon King’s snakes.
… From the looks of it, I’d say that after finishing off the Gargoyles, they decided that Team Dragon King was simply a nuisance after our meddling.
The snakes started dashing away like baby spiders, so it was decided that they’d advance separately… Well, the dungeon’s practically a single path the whole way because of the water though. The only branches really, particularly on lower floors, are just the flood gates’ areas. They’re basically just dead ends.
It doesn’t look like they annihilated all of the snakes for now, but it looks like they’re definitely going to make it through the areas separately.
I appreciate that. I didn’t want to think about how good two teams working together would be.
“Ah, I should replenish the Gargoyles huh.”
I repeatedly used the incantation for [Summon Gargoyle]. It’s a pain, but Haku-san’s right here.
The summoned Gargoyles went out to counterattack.
… Ah, the next floor’s a completely submerged area? Before making their way up an ascending staircase, it was a floor that they had to first make their way down a staircase into water.
As a dungeon restriction, there had to be a point where they could take a rest and breathe air on the way since a dungeon that couldn’t be captured was an out, so it wasn’t right to say it was completely submerged, but still…
Setting aside the snakes, the Skeletons didn’t need the rest point at all.
“I’ll sent the Gargoyles to wait at the rest point just in case. They have the magic skill [Spark] since they’ll be at a place where everything’s drenched in sea water… but still…”
“… I wonder if electricity works against bones…”
“Oooh.”
It’d mess muscles up pretty bad, but they’re just bone.
I glanced at Haku-san.
“If you have something you want to ask, please go and ask it. [Spark] is a light-type magic, so it is effective against Skeletons.”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘that sort of thing’ though?”
But well, those bones are just going to skip the rest point. The snakes will probably take a break there though.
Even if I tried having them use [Spark] from the surface of the water—it’d scatter in the water, so it wouldn’t work.
And that’s how the defense is going, but what about the offense?
“Ichika, Meat. How’s our attack going?”
“Team Dragon King’s dungeon, the black armor is obliterating, so I left it to Team Demon King and am just searching and guiding. It’s going well. Also, slugs appeared in defense. They are crowding the ceiling. Should I project it onto the monitor?”
Let’s not look at Team Dragon King’s dungeon. It’s doing alright. What’s on my mind is how to go about interrupting the enemy team that are invading us together. Well, they’d be better off cooperating in trying to capture the dungeon. They’d make progress.
It looking like they are progressing, so let’s add some water to slow them down before they get to the submerged area.
“Alright, open the gates~. Leave them open for a while and drain the water into the enemies’ dungeons.”
“Kay~. For where they are… the third flood gate? Opening!”
Dodododo… the seawater surged, overtaking the Skeletons and snakes.
“… Oh?”
“Kehma, emergency! The aren’t getting swept away!”
The snakes were washed away. However, the Skeletons anchored down by clinging to the walls.
Lining up single file against the wall, the Skeletons sliced through the water current.
By having one of them take the brunt of the water’s momentum, they were able to make it easier on all the rest.
This is a method used by several groups to counter flash flooding… our opponents figured it out faster than I thought. Was it because of a hint from Core 6? Or maybe it was Core 6 or the master’s ability to cope?
“Leave the water going for a while. It doesn’t look like they’re able to move while the water’s flowing, so I’ll throw something at them.”
“G-got it.”
Loading a Gargoyle up into a [Mana Potion (Barrel)], I put it into the water current and had it hit the Skeletons.
The Skeletons weren’t able to hold up, so their formation collapsed and they got washed away.
I decided to have the Gargoyles that got washed into Team Dragon King’s dungeon along with the Skeletons continue on and explore.
… I wonder if they’ll think up a countermeasure for the Gargoyle-in-a-barrel?
Let’s come up with something else.
The water was unexpectedly troublesome.
Even though they could deal with it, they couldn’t advance. By the time that the water had finally stopped, Team Demon King’s dungeon was underwater all the way to the third floor, so another bone fish boss would go there. This time, they learned from their opponent and went with mixing a single boss in with sardine-like small fish.
“… Haah, it looks like the DP I was saving till today is running out too.”
Core 666 let out a sigh.
The Skeletons were all moving together like a centipede and somehow the water current and advance.
… But thanks to that, she realized a new way to deal with the water. She could use this.
“695 is fit to be my rival after all…”
When Core 666 had the Skeletons advance forward, she found a small room near a stairway. The stairs descended into water. It appeared she took the wrong way—or maybe not. Perhaps the floor was pre-submerged?
At any rate, the Skeletons were basically expendable, so Core 666 sent the Skeletons in.
It was like the bottom of the sea.
When they looked up from in the water, there appeared to be a small room with light coming from it, looking like moonlight.
“This is a very stylish floor.”
However, it was still a dungeon. Naturally, it would have traps.
When she tried having the Skeletons use their hands to push the seaweed aside and open a path, their hands abruptly fell off.
“…? Did something happen? No—is something there?”
She had the Skeletons advance further to make sure, but their arms fell off just like their hands had.
“… That’s… Jiji-sama, what is that?”
Hearing Core 666’s question Core 6 looked at the monitor.
It was thread—orichalcum-made thread that had been stretched incredibly thin.
“Hoh. It appears to be thread made from orichalcum… How was it made so thin, though?”
“She was? Perhaps she has a skilled master dwarf blacksmith… Right, I’ll show you an orichalcum ingot next time, it looks quite lovely.”
“Fufu, sounds fun. It’s a promise.”
Still, thread? She didn’t even have a way to cut it, it was orichalcum.
When she looked around, the passage divided into the current way and a side path. The current way was filled with the thread. And ahead, the path that was divided in two merged back together.
It didn’t matter for the Skeletons, but there appeared to be a small room beyond the web that you could take a breath in.
So if you tried to run straight through the passage to try and get a breath of air—you would be sliced into small pieces.
“… So that’s it.”
Core 666 guessed that it could also be used with the water trap.
The thread was sharp enough to slice through bone just by touching it. If they were pressed against it by the force of the water, they’d likely turn into mesh-shaped mincemeat (bone in this case). Just imagining it was gross. It was wonderful.
“Jiji-sama, what if I used my magic sword?”
“Heeh… even Jiji-sama’s magic sword…”
Using [Summon Skeleton] yet again, Core 666 smiled daringly.