Third Dungeon Battle: Conclusion
The small, red-haired girl had obviously been inside the armor. This was Core 666 after using humanization.
“Core 666 detached!”
“Detached… she could do that?”
Her red hair was like fresh blood, her red eyes like blazing fire. As if to announce that the armor was inelegant, she was an Ojou-sama that wore a red-based dress with white frills. Even her appearance matched her attribute.
Looking like it grew from her hand, Core 666 took out her fire magic sword and swung it down towards the captured Black Armor, slicing off the chains that held it down… it looks like she went a bit too far, though, as there was a gash on the Black Armor now.
Its freedom regained, the Black Armor clenched its fists and stood back-to-back with Core 666.
The Sahagins launched more chains at them, but this time the two of them somehow managed to cope and avoid them.
—Its movements are different from just a moment ago. Is her master operating it now?
Still though, did Core 666 come out from inside the armor and humanize?
—No, that’s not it. That magic sword. It looked like it grew from her hand, but was it actually like that? In other words, is it that her body is part of the magic swo—
… [Magic Sword]… when Core 666 isn’t using humanization, is that her true appearance?
“Haku-san. Magic swords… could they be monsters?”
“Oh? You didn’t know? Among the world’s magic swords, seventy percent are monsters.”
I just discovered a jarring fact.
Seventy percent. Seventy percent of magic swords aren’t items, but monsters.
Well, there’s stuff like Living Armors, so it’s not that weird that there’s also Living Weapons. Just, for it to still be called a magic sword…
… Ah, come to think of it, our magic swords are Golems, huh.
In that case, to make a magic sword—
“Kehma, what should we do!? How can we win!?”
“Whoops, I was lost in thought there… Well, how about we deal with the Black Armor first? Golem Corps!”
I gave the orichalc.u.m wire to the Golem Corps.
It’s what used to be in the submerged area. I had them collect it and bring it there.
There were handles at the ends of them to make them convenient to carry, so there’s no problems for them throwing it all.
“Take this!”
Having weights attached to their ends, I had them mixed in with the large number of chains and all thrown at once.
*
# Team Demon King’s Point of View #
“Fufu, a place like this won’t be my end!”
Separating from the bound Living Armor she was operating, Core 666 let go of the magic sword (herself).
Then, humanizing from a magic sword, she grasped onto a sword with the same ability as the magic sword that was her true appearance by using a skill named [Doppelganger], she cut off the chains that were restricting the Black Armor.
[Doppelganger] was like an alter ego, but if the [Doppelganger] sword was broken, she would die as well. It was that sort of skill.
“There’s no time to summon Skeletons. I’ll leave the armor’s operation to master, let’s deal with it all ourselves.”
[Got it.]
Leaving the Black Armor that still had the Dummy Core in its abdomen to her master, she cleared away the chains a.s.sailing them with her flame-clad magic sword. Her master also manipulated the Black Armor, continuing to brush away the chains with its empty hands. It was too much for a single person to handle, but they could manage with the two of them. Every direction was covered.
“If it’s like this, we can do it.”
[Yeah.]
Chains continued to be thrown at them. Once again, Core 666 used her magic sword and her master used the armor’s hands to clear them—
Shlink!
—However, trying to brush them away, both of the Black Armor’s arms and its neck was severed.
[Huh?]
Something with an extreme sharpness was mixed into the chains, a few pa.s.sing barely centimeters above Core 666’s head.
With a bang, two heavy iron weights. .h.i.t the ground. A super fine wire stretched between the weights, pulled taut. It was able to withstand the force of being pulled both despite being such a thin wire. This is what cut through the Black Armor just before, it was the same orichalc.u.m thread as before.
[Is it the same thing as a bit ago…? It’s way too sharp.]
“Oh? Master, look at what you’ve done to my armor…”
[Sorry.]
“… Well, perhaps I should have expected this to happen after allowing you to use it? I can’t leave my back to you anymore… You legs look fine, though. Master, just run around. It will be a little harder, but it should be alright if you pay careful attention to where you’re running.”
The Living Armor wouldn’t die from something like this. However, the chains and well as that super sharp orichalc.u.m thread was thrown at them once again.
Das.h.i.+ng between them, Core 666 intercepted the orichalc.u.m thread with her [Indestructible] magic sword. It fell to the ground… she’d have to be careful so as to not sever her feet.
“Those weights at the ends of the wires will serve as a mark for where they are. The armor doesn’t have [Indestructible], so make sure to avoid it.”
[Yeah. Aidi, you be careful too. Only your sword has [Indestructible] after all.]
They separated from each other. If they ran in different directions, their enemies would have to attack multiple spots.
The Tentacle Slime used the moment they separated as a chance to come back in. It appeared to target the Black Armor that couldn’t use magic to attack. Conversely, Core 666 aimed at it.
Another set of weights flew towards each of them. Core 666 didn’t bother evading, relying on her sword to block it.
The Black Armor avoided it by moving far to the side. However, its body was sliced in two through the middle.
“Eh—”
[Huh—?]
The orichalc.u.m string that was caught by her magic sword fell to the ground.
The Black Armor’s upper body slammed onto the ground with a bang, its lower half collapsing to its knees.
They didn’t know what happened. The Black Armor should have avoided the string. Yet here it was, cut in two.
As expected, even the Living Armor would die after being cut in two through the center of the torso, the largest part of its body.
The Dummy Core that had been hiding inside of its upper body had already dropped to the ground. Fortunately, it looked to still be intact… however, as they were deep inside enemy territory and it was without the protection of the Black Armor, their defeat condition was both exposed and unprotected. What would the outcome of that be?
It was as clear as day.
Even though Core 666 tried das.h.i.+ng over to it, the Tentacle Slime blocked her way.
She tried attacking it over and over with her magic sword, but the liquid-filled slime wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Moreover, since the Tentacle Slime was able to use more than two tentacles simultaneously, it was more than capable of attacking while blocking the sword.
The Dummy Core was picked up by a Golem, and before Core 666 noticed—
—Broke it.