"Well... now that we've taken a rest after eating stinky food, let's get down to the main dish..."
After taking a break to eat some preserved food and recovering my strength and magic power, I started to speak.
We could spend the night here if we wanted to... but I don't want to sleep in a room with stone floors and walls.
If I slept on the hard floor without bedding, I would probably hurt myself and be out of shape.
"Let's just defeat the boss monster and sleep in the rest room. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready!"
"I'll be fine. I'll take care of the recovery."
Shakuna and Ryuna, the jade-haired sisters, give their trustworthy approval.
Hadiss, standing behind them, also nodded in silence.
"Well... we'll go with the plan we discussed beforehand, but be careful, we're a bit more worn out than we had planned, okay? We only have one life. If we die, we're done, okay?"
"You don't need to tell me that! I'll protect Ryuna without your orders... even if you die!"
"Okay. That's very encouraging."
I shrug at Shakuna's poison comment and turn to the door of the boss's room.
"Well then... let the battle begin!"
I open the door to find a room similar in structure to the boss's room that we have passed through so far.
The only difference was the appearance of the "enemy" in the center of the room. It was not a monster of an insect or a beast, but an indefinite darkness floating vaguely in the air.
That indefinite darkness is the boss monster of the 40th floor. It is a shapeless dark shape monster.
"The boss monster of the 40th floor, the 'Solid Darkness'—Kraphomet. It looks like a ghost, but it is a demon. It has a body, and its physical attacks are effective. Don't be fooled by its appearance and attack it with all your might!"
'AJTIOE*G*EFEK*GVJ+PGEJWE*GJ+EWGOEI!'
The indefinite darkness attacked, spitting out an unintelligible voice. It spits out countless spikes from its human-sized black sphere.
O Angelic Blessing, protect us...'Sanctuary'!
Ryuna immediately deploys her barrier magic, and a white hemispherical barrier repels the black spikes, neutralizing the enemy's attacks.
Immediately after the start of the battle, this monster suddenly unleashes an all-out attack.
In a game, it would have been impossible to avoid the attack and I would have been hit by it, but I was able to avoid the attack because I had talked to Ryuna about it beforehand.
"All right, let's counterattack!"
As soon as the enemy stopped attacking, we started running.
I run from the right, and Shakuna from the left, toward the enemy who froze just after the attack.
"Black Wolf Slash!"
"Sword Dance!"
'AGAERGE$EG#$T!'
Kraphomet shouted in a voice of inaudible range to the human ear.
It was an indefinite darkness with no face or limbs, but at least it seemed to have taken some damage.
"We're moving in! Don't give it any chance to counterattack!"
"Of course! You must keep up too!"
'A$WGYW#HTRJ%&%1#!'
Jet-black tentacles sprouted from the shapeless darkness.
Several tentacles lashed out at us like whips. But Shakuna and I dodge the tentacles and dive into the opponent's pocket, launching a series of attacks.
For the note, the lack of a clear shape makes it difficult to read the preliminary moves of the attack. It is a monster that can kill anyone who sees it for the first time because they never know what it will do next. As I have fought it many times, I was able to avoid its attacks with ease, but Shakuna was hit several times.
Although she was not hit directly, I saw blood everywhere on her body.
Fortunately, I had taught her the attack pattern yesterday, so she was able to avoid it, but if she had fought without any prior information, Shakuna would have been killed by now.
"Take it easy, if you injured, fall back and recover."
"Kuhh... How come you didn't get hit! It's like I'm the one who dragged you down!"
"Do I care? I've been through so many different experiences, after all!"
"Hyaa!"
All of sudden, a spear-sharp darkness shot out from Kraphomet's body.
It tried to attack Shakuna, but I broke the enemy's attack with my sword and saved her. If I had not saved her, Shakuna's brown-skinned body would have been impaled.
"Now, get back! When you have recovered, cover me with your offensive magic. That thing will be here soon!"
"Uh... I can't help it! I'll do as you say!"
Shakuna grunts in frustration and falls back. Then, she drinks the potion I gave her to heal her wounds.
As Haddiss is in the rear, protecting Ryuna with his big shield, I am now the only one in the vanguard, and Kraphomet's attacks are concentrated on me.
"This is the battlefield... a life-threatening struggle!"
'A'GRPGJ'OGVJE”PTIE)FHGG*!!'
Kraphomet shot dark bullets at me. It is a dark magic—'Dark Bullet'.
"What a nuisance!"
I don't need to avoid such an attack.
To me, who has a strong resistance to darkness, I had nothing to fear from the lower level of dark magic.
So, I slashed at Kraphomet while taking a bullet, and it attacked me with a Dark Spear in return.
"Hmph!"
However, I kick the enemy and moves back to avoid the thrust.
I evade a close-range attack, but now Kraphomet attacks me with a tentacle whip.
Earlier I was able to avoid it, but now I am the only target because Shakuna has retreated backward.
So, this time, I couldn't avoid the whip, and I was hit by a whip blow to my torso.
"Ggh...!"
'[email protected]#qg!'
"Don't play with me!"
Kraphomet tries to crush me with a body blow.
But I roll around on the floor to avoid the darkness, and attack with a slash as I stand up.
"Thunderbolt!"
'AHWHHWhrsgs$TrGH#QHsgrH%Wwy!'
Shakuna fired a covering shot with lightning magic.
Kraphomet, who is struck by the thunderbolt, shakes its shapeless dark body violently and lets out a loud scream.
'AAGGGAGAAAAAGAFADFAFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!'
Then... something unusual happened to this dark demon.
The center of the sphere of darkness breaks open like a crack, and a huge single eye is formed there.
Then, snail-like antennae sprouted from the blackened darkness, and an eyeball appeared there, too.
"Here it comes...! Ryuna, get ready!"
"Yes!"
It's the attack we've been waiting for.
It was the big move that Kraphomet would unleash when it took more than a certain amount of damage.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!'
Central single eye. Multiple protruding eyes.
A mysterious light emits from each eye, and these eyes attack us.
The light from each eye is just like an magic's eye.
The light emitted from the central eye has the effect of 'instant death', and the protruding eyes around it have such abnormalities as poison, paralysis, burn, freeze, and petrification.
The success rate of the instant death attack is 10%, and the success rate of each of the status abnormalities is 50%. In addition, the attacks were unavoidable.
Unless very lucky, the victim had a high probability of being affected by one of these effects.
"But... I have a skill to avoid instant death, and the abnormalities. And Ryuna has...!"
"Mirror Shield!"
Ryuna activates the magic I've instructed her to use.
It is one of the barrier magic—'Mirror Shield'.
It is a magic that can be learned at the beginning of the game, but its protective effect is so weak that players do not have a chance to use it from the middle of the game onward.
However, the barrier created by this magic can reflect some attacks.
'AGRBENJW$%HUNWJW#HAEHh3qyh#$H#WQYH!?'
The mirror shield created by Ryuna reflects the light of the magic eye released by Kraphomet.
Ryuna who made the shield, as well as Shakuna and Hadiss who were standing behind her, are safe.
Strangely enough, monsters with these eyes often have no resistance to abnormalities.
Like Medusa who fought Perseus, Kraphomet's irregularly shaped body is petrified.
"One of the attacks that are subject to reflection is the magic eye. It must be nightmarish to have its big move that could destroy the party evaded by a low-level magic."
"Okay, let's counterattack! We'll finish them off at once!"
"Yes!"
Shakuna and Hadiss jump out from the mirror shield and attack the petrified demon.
"That wasn't your lucky day, huh? But you can die now"
I follow them, swinging my sword and slamming it into the petrified demon.
Now, the 40th floor is complete.
Without missing a single man, we have once again advanced deeper and deeper into the Royal Tomb of Salomon.
