Ch 138 -- I, Mukouda-san Am Also The Greatest!
I peeked into the immense boss room... which was, not surprisingly, full of immense boss monsters. There were large Trolls and Minotaurs aplenty but as the leader of Tempest had warned us, the three Spriggans at the centre of the mob were even larger.
"The Spriggans, they're so big..." I mumbled unconsciously, amazed at just how large they were. They must be 5 metres tall, each of them. How do you beat a monster that huge?
"Dora, Sui, let's go." Fer ordered, shouldering me to one side as he entered the boss room.
"Yeah big guy, right behind you." Dora-chan flew in behind Fer's back, ready for a fight.
"Okay-" even darling battle maniac Sui-chan was eager to engage these monsters.
That left just me standing outside the door, alone. I looked around, not sure what to do now. Wait here by myself? Follow them? Go back to the safe room? They wouldn't care or even notice if I wasn't with them. Uh...
"Ah..." I'd go in too, I decided. Swallowing hard and holding the Mithril short sword that Sui had made, I entered the boss room behind the three battle maniacs.
"Gugaaahh-"
"Gooaaaa-"
"Bumooo-"
A pandemonium of wounded and dying monsters filled the boss room. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan were going wild, battling like crazy, never stopping or giving the ferocious monsters a chance to defend themselves never mind launch any kind of attack. I watched as Fer's wind magic burst through the ranks of giant figures, knocking them to the sides and breaking bones. Dora-chan was buzzing around launching lightning magic everywhere while adroitly avoiding the wild sluggish swings of the monster's weapons. Sui-chan was pyong-pyonging at one side of the room bombarding the distracted monsters with sizzling Acid Bullets. The monsters were getting their asses kicked in a thorough fashion.
"Gooahhh!" Thump thump thump. The sudden roar and vibrations of the stone floor caught my attention. What? A Troll was lumbering towards me. I looked back at the door but decided not to run for it, instead I firmly gripped the Mithril short sword's hilt.
"Guuarrrr!" The Troll roared as it swung a big fist at me. I was scared but the club-like fist was so slow I easily dodged it.
"Uhhh" I ducked and swung my Mithril short sword at the Troll's right leg.
"Goo-Gooah?!" Thunk.
Unbelievably, the Troll was balancing on its left leg, its severed right leg lying to one side. The Troll looked around as if puzzled and I took the opportunity to swing my sword at its left leg too. Thunk. The Troll's left leg ended up lying on the floor on the other side of its partner. The Troll was now immobilised, resting upright on its leg stumps and a good metre shorter, bringing its neck within my reach. Yosh! I stepped forward and stuck the point of my Mithril short sword easily into the Troll's thick wide neck, meeting no apparent resistance.
"Guoooooh-" the Troll issued a last sorrowful moan, slumped forward onto the stone floor and stopped moving.
Did I really beat it? By myself?
"Wow! Wow! I did it! I did it!" I defeated a Troll all by myself! I'm the greatest! After a little while, the dead Troll gradually became more and more transparent and finally disappeared, along with its severed legs. I felt more confident now, certainly more confident than I had been before I decided to enter the boss room. And even better, a drop item! A Troll skin was left behind. I quickly scooped it up and tucked it away in my Item Box, a piece of loot I had won by my own endeavours. I'd cherish it, now what about the other monsters? I looked around, ready to- Ah. What other monsters? The battle was over and of course my contracted monsters hadn't even suffered a scratch dealing with a horde of gigantic opponents including the three immense Spriggans while I had been fighting with a single measly Troll. Ah well.
I went around the boss room collecting the drop items scattered on the floor. There were two drops from the Spriggans, one was a magic stone and the other was some gems, a ruby and an emerald. They were both small but sparkled nicely with no obvious flaws. Sweet! Skins and monster products were all and well but gems and treasure items were, well, what you'd really expect from a dungeon. Still, that Troll skin, the one I had earned by my own efforts was something special, really, I told myself as we headed down the stairs at the back of the boss room to the 23rd level.
After that we proceeded to clear the 23rd, 24th and 25th levels that comprised the rest of the Giant Zone, pausing only to eat lunch. As we went lower, the number of rooms in each level increased as did the number and strength of the monsters we encountered. This didn't faze Fer, Dora-chan and Sui of course, if anything they got more and more enthusiastic at the prospect of beating up on more and stronger opponents. Of course I didn't forget to collect the many drops left lying around after each unequal battle.
We found and opened two treasure chests on our way to the end of the 25th level, one had a diamond ring and the other had a tanzanite necklace. Jewellery was a very welcome drop because it supposedly sells for a high price on the surface. We also encountered 3 Mimics but only one of them dropped a treasure box. However this was not a small one like a jewel box but rather a large decorated box the size of a treasure chest. It looked to be another high-value item.
Taking our time to clear each level of monsters, defeat the bosses and collect all the drops meant we decided to stop for the "night" in the safe area before the 25th level's boss room, to rest and eat before descending to the 26th level the next "morning". There were, of course, no other Adventurers in the safe area room, not this far down in the dungeon.
Fer said that the 26th level "smelled different", in his words, than the 22nd through 25th levels, the Giant Zone. That meant there was a good possibility that the dungeon's structure would change again. What would it be like? I fell asleep with mixed feelings of anxiety and hope but I reassured myself that I had Fer, Dora-chan and Sui with me so I'd be fine.