Chapter 176

Third Dungeon Battle: Onset of War

I was sleeping with Meat as a hug pillow by the time I came to. Alcohol is scary.

… It’s be a good idea to build an alarm clock golem for stuff like this. Let’s use [Healing] on my head. Aah, much better.

But it’s a good thing I clocked out so fast. She might’ve had me drink until I died of alcohol poisoning if not. Haku-san got drunk midway too since she drank out of her machined crystal jug, saying stuff like, “Drink! Drink Beer-sama!”

For now, I just pressed down on my bedhead and poked Meat’s squishy cheek.

“Nuu…”

Meat woke up and let out a voice that sounded like it was stuck in her throat.

Still yawning, I left the room with Meat, who was still rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes.

Heading to the conference room—our meeting place—I joined up with Rokuko.

“Morning, Kehma. You woke up on time, huh.”

“Morning, Rokuko. It’s a good thing I had an alarm clock… haah, it’s the first time I’ve been woken up by an alarm clock since I came to this world… never again… Rather, you’re looking energetic.”

“Eh? It’s because I recharged my batteries so much yesterday with the banquet.”

Rokuko’s skin looked all shiny.

Being able to actually recharge from a banquet like that, isn’t that some kind of talent? It just made me tired.

Ichika was already waiting by the time I made it to the meeting room too. It appears she was the first one here.

Ichika’s skin was glowing as well, so it’s obvious enough that she felt recharged too… ah—come to think of it, Meat’s fur looks a bit glossy too. Am I the weird one here!?

“Ichika’s unexpectedly diligent. There was plenty of time to take your time.”

“Being punctual for commission deadlines and stuff’s the mark of an excellent adventurer after all. It’s common sense.”

“That so… maybe I should quit the adventurer stuff then. I only started being one to be able to enter the town.”

“… Even if it was from takin’ a shortcut, we made it to B-Rank, let’s keep at it, yeah? Yeah?”

And then Haku-san arrived. Just on time.

… Haku-san’s footsteps feel light, like she’s really looking forward to the Dungeon Battle. After all, win or lose, she’ll be able to be physically closer to Rokuko.

I’m more or less thinking of this as a war-by-proxy between Haku-san and the other upper ranking Cores though.

“Oh dear, Kehma-san, do you think you’ll lose?”

“I feel like we’ll win.”

“There shouldn’t be any problems with me relaxing then. Us upper cores (seniors) are only meant to give advice from the backseat in this Dungeon Battle. Give it your best.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll give it a shot.”

“Rokuko-chan, I’ll give you tender guidance even if you lose, alright?”

“Please treat me well if that happens, but Kehma won’t lose.”

Temporarily returning to the arena in [Cave of Desires], we passed through a gate that went directly to [White Beach]’s core room. After arriving there, we went into the Master Room inside of the Dummy Core that was placed there.

I then first used [Summon Gargoyle] to summon ten Gargoyles and had them go to the place scheduled for the Dungeon Battle Gate to be. Summon-types have the flaw that when their summoner faints, they’re sent back. That’s why I waited until just before the battle to summon them.

When I finished looking over and tidying up all of the gimmicks I have scheduled to be active today, it was finally time for the Dungeon Battle to begin.

[Noooow then, it’s time, everyone. You ready to start the Dungeon Battle?]

I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice reverberate through the Master Room we were waiting in. It felt lackadaisical, yet somehow had a gravity to it that made it so that you couldn’t oppose it. It’s a voice you wouldn’t know what to think of. One of the walls turning into a monitor, a man dressed in a navy blue robe with swarthy skin, black hair, and golden eyes appeared. Half of the man’s face was hidden behind a mask.

… This is [Father]? He looks younger than I expected.

[Team Demon King, prepared, father.]

[Team Dragon King, no problems, oh father.]

“Team Sovereign. We are ready, Otou-sama.”

The three teams’ seniors responded… Haku-san also bowed her head, he really must be great.

[Alright, let’s start then—ah, before that. Do any of the junior cores have anything they want to say?]

[This is 666—695, this is our duel!]

[Hey! Ah, 650 here. I just want to say that we’ll be the ones winning. Even if both of you cores work together, we have three! Three! We’re set to win!]

“… This is 695, but I don’t really have anything to say. Please hurry up and start, I’ll be the one to win.”

Rokuko said that? That’s pretty self-confident.

[Hahaha, everyone’s pretty motivated eh? Well then, let’s start… In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… 3-Team Dungeon Battle, START!]

At the same time that [Father] said that final word, two gates opened in the room specified beforehand with a, “Bwoon!”

I prepared plenty of Golems in the room. There are even some Golems carrying boxes on their backs. Inside those boxes are scouting personnel.

Moreover, immediately after that, an overflowing wave of snakes, each the thickness of an arm, poured vigorously out of one of the gates. Looks like that one’s the gate for Team Dragon King.

From the other one came piles of human bones, moving with a clitter clatter noise… Skeletons. So the Demon Lord Team went with those?

While dealing with the snakes and skeletons that appeared with the Golem Corps, I gave Meat instructions.

“Guess we’re starting right away. Invoke the submerging gimmick.”

“Understood. First floodgate, opening.”

Meat operated the monitor.

Dodododododododo… dobaaa!

The floodgate that connected the dungeon’s floor and the ocean opened up. A vast volume of seawater flooded in through the opening, submerging the bottom most floor—the floor with the gates in it—in seawater.

The thing that was just opened was the flood gate that connected the bottom floor to the ocean.

In truth, I made sure to think about the dungeon’s shape to properly make use of the submerging gimmick for this Dungeon Battle.

It’s probably understandable just by me calling it a tower-type dungeon. With the entrance on the bottom floor, you have to capture it while moving up. Then… what would happen if water came down at you from above?

Well, I had it so that the water would come at invaders from above. Water flows towards downwards after all.

So that’s why I built the dungeon downwards like this. Having the entrance at the bottom floor and the core at the first floor, it’s the opposite of the normal layout… You’d have to get to the bottom floor by first entering the top floor though, so it’s the same as a normal dungeon in the sense that it is the farthest in though.

“Really, Kehma-san’s way of thinking surprises me.”

“Hahaha, with the water pushing them back like this, we can block intruders better than just submerging them!”

Just submerging them wouldn’t affect opponents like golems that don’t have to breath. However, if it’s something more like a flash flood, it’ll work like shackles—no, more like an attack.

Seeing the water flood in so strongly on the monitor, I’m confident that their self-confidence is going to collapse.

When I checked out the map, 90% of the bottom floor had already been flooded. I made sure to come up with a way to funnel the water so that the majority of the seawater’s momentum would eventually rush towards the room with the gates in it. It’s best to think of the gate room as being a ditch’s final destination.

Choosing the timing, I opened the door to the gate room.

Seawater flooded into the gate room, water raging like a tsunami. Swept away by the current, the snakes, skeletons, and golems were all pushed into the enemy gates.

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