Cave of the Broken God (1)

After roughly two days on the road, we reached the Cave of the Broken God.

Our leveling along the way had gone smoothly, and even the low-level members had hit LV30.

"… We took so long to reach our level, and they got there this easily…"

Ruria was a little shocked.

"Subjugating monsters levels you up faster, that's all. But the combat experience you and the others have piled up makes you stronger, no question about that.

"Still, level matters too.

"So from here, Ruria and the rest of you are going to start leveling as well."

"… Eh? This is an S3-Class dungeon, right…? But we're C-Class…"

Ruria was trembling with apprehension.

Now then, at this point I received a message from Griera.

'I've hired a Dungeon Explorer who knows the Cave of the Broken God well. I added them to your remaining three slots, so get the details from them. Good luck out there.'

That was the gist of it. I replied 'Thank you' and—

"Now, they said they'd be near the entrance, but…"

… I spotted them right away.

"You're…"

"Yo. We meet again, Naoto."

If it wasn't Regina, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

"'Again'? You and I are meeting for the first time, aren't we…"

"Nah, nah. Through Shaina, we pretty much fought each other. So that makes us comrades-in-arms, more or less."

So saying, Regina slung an arm around my shoulder, all chummy.

Her breasts were pressing against me!

"W-well, maybe so."

It wasn't that I'd been won over by her breasts… or so I told myself, but I conceded Regina's point.

Which meant these three were…

"Heya there, Naoto-kun. Looks like Regina's been in your care."

Whoa, what a beauty! Black hair, black eyes, at a glance she looked Japanese… but she probably wasn't.

Graceful and lovely. Prim and dainty, exactly the kind of looks I liked. But with a more grown-up air, someone who'd tasted the bitter and the sweet of life…

Her outfit was like a several-times-sexier version of the kesa robes you'd picture on a lady Tripitaka, the swelling bounty of her chest left utterly unhidden.

She was…

"Are you Servi-san?"

"Yep, that's me. I'm the mercenary, Servi the Wanderer. When I've got time on my hands I do a lot of dungeon exploring too, and I've been inside this Cave of the Broken God before, you know～. Griera got in touch this time, so I came rushing over."

So laughed Servi.

"You and Griera are close, then."

"We're both futanari mercenaries, after all. She's had it rough in a lot of ways, so I've kept an eye on her.

"… If I were strong enough to beat a Demon God, I'd have wanted to do something for her. But.

"Still, lately she seems happy, and I'm glad. She's overjoyed she met a good Master."

So smiled Servi.

She seemed like a kind person.

There'd been a rumor going around that her true identity was Silvana, and sure enough, her atmosphere did resemble Silvana's a little.

… Aah, geez, Griera's sent me a wonderful girl. I could never thank her enough.

I wanted to hug Servi right now.

"Long time no see, Servi."

"Oh, Melvis. You too, at his side? My, my… both of the futanari Masters I know…

"Does this mean I'll end up your comrade someday too, eh～?"

"That would be more than welcome."

"Ahahaha! Well, wherever the wind blows, wherever the mood takes me. If the wind drifts that way, then sure～."

… For now, it seemed I'd been turned down.

"… Servi. How long are you going to keep chatting…?"

I was admonished by a girl with dark eyes.

She was glaring at me, sullen, with sanpaku eyes.

Her wavy green hair gave off a faint seaweed kind of image.

The eyes that fixed me with that scowl were either black or a deep green.

Because she was hunched over, I couldn't tell how big her breasts were… no, they were fairly… no, quite, full-looking. If she stood up straight they'd surely make quite a show.

But a hunched posture with massive jiggling breasts had its own appeal too.

She looked every inch the gloomy-loner type. But cute. Gloomy and cute…

"Gloomy-cute," maybe that was the way to put it!—I thought some such pointless thing.

"And this is?"

"This is Sara, the Curtain-Lifting General. One of our group. She's an excellent Scout, too. I brought her along just in case."

The Curtain-Lifting General… no idea!

Was that an alias for Sha Wujing or Zhu Bajie? Sun Wukong's Great Sage Equal to Heaven is famous, at least…

Between Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie, I figured Sha Wujing.

… There was something a touch kappa-like about her, I couldn't entirely deny.

The forked weapon she carried looked Sha Wujing-ish… no, didn't Zhu Bajie carry something similar too.

Which was it? Well, whatever. If I ever meet Servi's Zhu Bajie companion later, I'll know.

"And so I'm Servi the Tripitaka, see～. What does 'Tripitaka' even mean, I wonder. Ahaha～."

Servi laughed. That one was just as it sounded. Well, "Tripitaka" was the title and "Xuanzang" was the real name.

"'Tripitaka' means a monk versed in the Three Baskets—the Buddhist Sutra Basket, the Vinaya Basket… and what was the other one. Anyway, the three scriptures that all have 'Basket' in them, the Tripitaka."

That much was in my chuunibyou store of knowledge.

Well, I didn't actually know the contents of each one.

"Ooh, is that so. First I've heard of it. Thanks～."

Servi seemed impressed.

"Then, knowledge about Buddhism and the like…?"

"Buddhism? Don't know it～. I just class-changed on my own, that's all.

"Us Garumon take on all kinds of classes, but taking on a class doesn't mean you gain its knowledge, you know."

… Now that she mentioned it, that was true.

Soleil was an Astrologer, but whether she could actually do astrology was beside the point. Her job was dropping shooting stars on enemies.

Although Soleil seemed like she could probably do astrology too.

"Anyway, we're decently strong, so you can count on that much."

So saying, she rang her khakkhara with a shaan.

That was probably an understatement. If I fought these three three-on-three, the current me looked to have no chance of winning.

"Yeah, I'm in your hands."

But for now, they were allies.

Servi, Regina, Sara… if these three, renowned as having upper S-Class-tier ability, were joining us, they'd be tremendously reliable.

"All right then, let me explain things first. This is your first time dungeon exploring, right."

Servi went on to explain dungeon conquest in further detail.

I'll cover those details separately.

We decided to take it on with three teams: two conquest teams and one Gate Defense team.

For the first run only, they'd accompany us as the Gate Defense team.

Conquest Team 1 (Naoto's Team)

Ruria

Meifa

Farida

Lyuka

Adelia

Kanan

Lizalind

Kishilia

Gate Defense Team (Servi's Team)

Servi

Regina

Sara

Seika

Maika

Sonya

Soleil

Himeno

Conquest Team 2 (Melvis's Team)

Melvis

Yufi

Tytis

Klara

Irana

Colette

Luna

Leone

In other words, for this first run only, my Conquest Team 1 and the Gate Defense team, two teams, would enter the dungeon.

Once we'd gotten a feel for things, the Gate Defense team would swap with Conquest Team 2.

After that, at night the Gate Defense team would handle Gate defense while the conquest teams went out through the Gate to rest above ground…

That was the tactic we'd take it on with.

Well, the finer points of the formation policy, also separately.

Katsun, katsun…

We stepped into the dungeon. The stone-built floor and walls had real atmosphere.

It was a dark dungeon, but torches were mounted on the walls, so inside it was fairly bright.

"… I mean, torches. Who maintains the torches?"

"They've been here since the dungeon formed. They're magic torches, they burn on and on forever."

"Huh… convenient. Can't we take them?"

"They're maintained by the dungeon's magic, so if you took one it'd probably go out.

"Things like the contents of treasure chests are items prepared to be taken home, in a 'tch, no helping it, take 'em' kind of way, so those are fine. But if you try to carry off the dungeon's resources beyond that, you might make it angry.

"A Dungeon Explorer should act with respect for the dungeon."

"… I see. Understood."

Put that way, I couldn't very well do anything strange.

I walked along, chatting with Servi about that sort of thing.

A floor and walls assembled from cut-out stone…

Well, thanks to games, a dungeon was exactly this kind of image to me, but it really only looked like something built by the hands of laborers—people, or demonkin, either was fine.

"Do demonkin build dungeons by hard work? Or is it auto-generated?"

"It's not really understood. But seems it's both.

"In this world, basically anything goes as long as you've got magic, and demonkin have their own construction methods, so they apparently throw up a dungeon this size in no time.

"Well, on the human side too, there are construction cheats like Alchemists who knock out a fortress wall in a flash.

"For dungeons whose design changes each time you enter, maybe while it's between runs these stones go zipping around and reassemble into a different shape."

"I see…"

The walls and floor felt like roughly cut stone. They were grainy, so it wasn't slippery—no problem at all for fighting.

The path was 10 meters wide, with about the same height.

For a dungeon I thought it was more than spacious enough, but compared to our usual battlefield it came out to about a quarter the size.

Still, I couldn't see it causing any particular trouble. For the girls who could fly, fighting on the wing should be no problem either.

With Regina's super-speed on that Somersault Cloud of hers, and the field down to a quarter the size on top of that, I got a little worried whether she'd be all right.

"Regina."

When something's on my mind, I ask.

"Hm? Eh, no problem."

A breezy answer.

"… You really are amazing. Pulling off all that movement that transcends the system, dodging guaranteed-hits and whatnot, it's genuinely amazing."

"Hahaha! Don't praise me like that. Well, it's only natural I'm amazing, though!"

Regina seemed like the type to get fairly carried away.

"… Servi."

Sara whispered into Servi's ear.

"Ah, hold up a sec—"

At Servi's word, everyone stopped.

Sara stepped forward and gave one spot a poke with her two-pronged spear, and—

Kashaan!

A bed of needles suddenly dropped from above and zaku!—stabbed into the hard-looking stone floor.

"Okay, all good. Watch your step walking over it."

So saying, Servi nonchalantly trod on the underside of the needle-bed and went on ahead.

… So the dungeon really was full of traps.

Get stabbed by something like that and everyone would take damage.

Inside a dungeon there's no natural recovery. Let small damage like that accumulate and it becomes life-threatening.

… I had to be careful. Well, the ones being careful were Sara and Irana, but.

I had no idea at all where the traps were.

"… Servi."

"Ah, try not to step on that floor there～."

"… Servi."

"Yep, yep, don't touch the left wall～."

… Sara was far too shy. She didn't tell us directly, only Servi.

… Well, she was cute, so it was fine.

"But I'd love to hear cute Sara's voice too…"

"… Eu…"

It seemed Sara had heard my muttering; her ears had gone bright red.

Gloomy-cute.

"During this exploration, I'd be happy if you got even a little used to me."

"Ho, smooth as silk with the flirting. Quite the operator."

I'd earned Regina's respect.

"Eh, Sara's this cute, so flirting with her is only natural, isn't it?"

"Nah, nah, there are plenty of Masters who pick on Sara. Annoying as hell, I think."

"Eeh? When she's this cute… well, I voiced a complaint too, though."

"Haha. 'I want to hear your cute voice' isn't a complaint, is it."

Chatting like that, we walked. And then…

"… Eu…"

Sara was looking at me. Could it be…

"Everyone, stop."

I called everyone to a halt.

Sara came pattering over. And then, into my ear…

"… There's an enemy. Just one. Past that corner up ahead."

She whispered it to me in a quiet, cute voice… Told that, when I probed for the presence, sure enough I could feel it.

"Thanks, Sara.

"All right, let's go. Ruria, Meifa, Farida."

"Eh…! Y-yes!"

Ruria wore a tense expression.

A preemptive attack—was it just a matter of hitting them with a technique?

"… All right, Farida. The opponent outclasses us. Let's go all out, one fight at a time.

"Focus your minds. The instant the enemy comes into view past there.

"Ruria, Meifa, you understand too, yes."

"… Yes."

"Yes!"

All three were focusing well.

And then…

"Accelerate! Stop, Speed Reset! Free Act!"

"Phantom Tree-Blade!"

"Blade Demon Descent, Iaijutsu, Infinite Blade!"

Zan! Zan! Zan! Zan!

A flowing four-hit combo the instant it came into view. Splendid. Magnificent coordination you'd never think came from LV30.

"Grrrrrr…"

The monster that appeared was

LV105 White Statue

a white stone statue that had come to life and started moving.

… Hard! The damage from the four-hit combo was a mere 15 dots.

"Meifa, Leaf Dance."

"Yes!"

Basa! Leaves scattered and danced.

Buon!

"Ruria, fall back!"

"Kuh."

Gakiin!

Ruria leapt back, using her blade as a shield… She'd defended solidly. But, 35 damage. Heavy…

White Knuckle Non-element physical super-large damage

an attack of that sort.

"Fuuuu… it's strong…!"

Ruria quietly re-set her stance with her blade.

"All right, Meifa, Shadow Clone. Farida, Free Act on Meifa's Shadow Clone's Earth Barrier.

"Shadow Clone, Earth Barrier.

"Ruria, hang in there!"

"Yes!"

Gakiin!

Meifa's Shadow Clone got struck. It defended solidly, and with Earth Barrier halved it. 18 damage.

Good, we could keep defending like this for 5 turns. With luck, Stealth Step would extend it a few more turns.

"Haaah! Infinite Blade!"

Kaki kaki kakiin!

A three-hit combo brought it down. 73 dots left.

… The enemy was hard, but yeah, Ruria's lack of firepower was the problem—

It was good the enemy was a single one. If there'd been multiples, we'd run out of technique uses before finishing them. Against a hard enemy like this, switching her trait to Blade Demon might have been a hand to play.

That was my own negligence.

In any case, the only damage source in this party was Ruria.

If she could just finish it off at 12 dots a turn over 6 turns, we'd be fine. Of course, higher critical damage would be even better if possible.

Bon bon!

Just when I thought it would stay that course, the White Statue launched both hands at us like rocket punches.

White Rocket Punch Non-element physical super-large damage, 2 hits, small recoil damage

Meifa's Shadow Clone took 36 damage, leaving 28 HP. One more turn was OK, but…

Well, the small recoil damage was a help. Our damage sources were scarce, so even a little extra was welcome.

"Infinite Blade!"

Bon bon!

Oh, Meifa's shadow triggered Stealth Step once! But… it was awkward. 10 HP left, it could only take one hit next time. That was actually a bit of a bother.

"Infinite Blade!"

Ruria was steadily dealing damage.

Bon bon!

"Clone, Earth Barrier, Meifa, Earth Barrier!"

"Yes!"

The clone fell and Meifa pulled the attack immediately. They shared 18 damage apiece.

Next turn.

"Same again. Meifa, Shadow Clone; Farida, Free Act."

"Earth Barrier!"

The clone's Earth Barrier pulled the attack.

"Infinite Blade!"

Good, the damage had piled up nicely. Two more turns and we'd get there.

"Infinite Blade! Infinite Blade!"

Zuzuun…!

And so, combat over.

"Haa, haa, haa…"

Ruria panted roughly.

Now then, having defeated a powerful foe, it looked like all three could level up safely.

Would some good skill come…

Race: Samurai General

Attribute: Non

Name: Ruria

Value: 6900

LV: 31 / 50

HP : 92

Str: 45

Spd: 45

Tech: 50

Mag: 37

Def: 43

MDef: 40

Trait: Blade Mastery Sword attack count +1

Blade Demon Sword attack damage 50% UP

Skills

Iaijutsu 10 Grants piercing on attack

Continuous Flash 10 Non-element physical small damage, 2 hits, preemptive

Power Charge 5 Self attack power 50% UP, stackable

Stealth Step 10 Auto-trigger, 50% evasion

Infinite Blade 10 Non-element physical medium damage, Tech% for 2-hit attack + 2x + guaranteed hit

Blade Demon Descent 5 Self technique 2x, not stackable, manual trigger

Parry 10 Auto-trigger, blocks 50% of attacks aimed at self

Hero 10 Auto-triggers at Tech%. 1 turn, damage 2x

"Ooh, growth right where I wanted it!"

Tech hit 50! And Hero was the perfect skill to fill in Ruria's lack of firepower.

Damage 2x for 10 turns! That was a good skill.

And combining Tech% with Blade Demon Descent finally brought it to 100%. That was good growth.

Meifa and Farida, unfortunately, only got stat growth.

"But one more fight is rough, huh. Three Infinite Blades, that's pushing it…

"Should we swap one for Lyuka or Adelia."

"O-one? Doing that battle again… with just one swapped out!?"

Ruria still wasn't used to my methods and was a bit spooked.

"… You look gentle, but you're pretty Spartan, huh…"

Servi, who'd casually finished a battle of her own behind us, muttered.

At last, the curtain on the dungeon conquest had risen.