It's the next day after we "entered" the 7th floor, and the weather is...fake. No wonders, since we're inside a cave. What other skies have a huge hole in them?
As for yesterday's event (the most recent ones of the bunch), I decided to link the "avatar" with only the Kigal-Note for now...after having it help me with a certain problem.
I'm eager to know the result of this fusion of the [Gamemaster] skill and the Kigal-Note's processing powers. Having a "live" assistant is much better than consulting with the book every time.
The time for the link to be complete was even reduced from 3 days to 2-and-a-half by excluding my skills. Just how much info is there in that book? Maybe even more than one can anticipate. Seeing how user-friendly the book has been up till now, it wouldn't surprise me if it was "linking-friendly" as well, therefore reducing the time more than it should.
"I miss good food..." mumbled Gust as he pecked on some of the vegetables we'd found in the wild. Losing the mansion, more specifically, the kitchen seems to have brought him to the dumps.
"Keep your head up. We gotta be moving these days." - Garami
The surprise-attack yesterday is still a mystery. And I'm not gonna rest easy until I figure out what that was.
After Gust forced down his breakfast (that wimp), we went to the eastern part of the floor (if the entrance to the 6th floor is the north and the 8th-floor entrance is south).
"Why're we going this way?" - Gust
"The Sahuagins live here, and they fight the aggressive Dungeon monsters. Safer here than to the west." - Garami
"So we are going to ask for shelter? How are you-" - Gust
"You stupid? Who'd wanna live with those war fanatics?" - Garami
I cut off Gust before he could finish his sentence. If we were allowed to live with the Sahuagin, they'd prolly wish to make us fight in this war of theirs. Whatever this Disaster of a Dungeon poses to the world, it's got nothing to do with me. I wouldn't have the power to stop it either way. Besides, I've participated in the destruction of at least half of it already. I've done my contribution to this thing's destruction. Give me a break. Like, seriously.
And it was when we were starting to see the giant fortification in the distance that Gust spoke to me.
"Eh...Garami?!" - Gust
"What-?" - Garami
*CLANG!*
My words were cut short. And if Gust hadn't made me pause, so would I have been.
A huge talon, sharp like a sword and as large as I'm tall had cut the path before us. Literally. A gigantic, spinosaurus-like dinosaur with lots of metal-looking blades sticking out from its back and as part of its claws.
"...We surrender!" - Garami
"EEEEHHH!?" - Gust
"Lord Virt, what is...human?!*" - Sahuagin
Hmm? I thought the dinosaur monsters here were part of the Dungeon's repertoire. Why does this big guy have Sahuagin followers? A bunch of them are running around on the ground below us as we're traveling over the cliff walls. Hey, are some of those fish faces riding the smaller raptor dinos?
"*Grrrrrr...*" - Blade dinosaur
Ehh...nice dino? Please don't eat me-!
*SLASH!*
He attacked! The freaking dino attacked...not me, but the rocks above us. Dust and pebbles fell like rain...along with scales and blood?
"Enemies! Enemies!" shouted the Sahuagins at the bottom. As if encouraged by their shouts, several Glavras-type monsters jumped down from the upper parts of the cliff. Where did they hide!? ...those perception-type skills of mine aren't worth shit.
The Sahuagins ran up the cliff wall thanks to their raptors and faced the Glavras monsters with spears and guts.
Meanwhile, the blade dinosaur was in the front as it slashed through several monsters that looked like the evolution of the tortoise-type monster with a snake's head and neck instead of the original type. How I can be sure they are evolved? These tortoises have 2 snake-heads instead of 1. It's an easy guess.
I didn't wanna join the fight, so I tried to get down from here to escape the battlefield. Gust had already taken flight, with no one caring about him. Tch, lucky bird...
While descending, I noticed that there were no raptors among the Glavras monsters. Only those assisting the Sahuagins. Strange...
"...crap!" - Garami
A snake had tried to circle and attack the Sahuagin from below, but it noticed me and tried to eat me alive. It's the same kind as the boss on the 1st floor! One of the giant snakes! These guys are common grunts on this floor!?
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I threw some webbing on the cliff and used it to haul myself away from the snake's mouth, escaping the fate of being that guy's lunch while dropping a certain something into its mouth. The snake moved its head after me, but stopped and acted like it was trying to cough out something.
Can't blame him. The thing I threw into his mouth was the [Poison Ball] skill. It was one of the two items I asked [Gamemaster] and the Kigal-Note for help with before I started their tuning. A method that would help combat the Glavras monsters if they managed to sneak up on me again.
However, despite that, I managed to escape the snake, and the commotion caught the attention of the other monsters. A huge spider, way bigger than the idiots I tricked during my first visit to the 4th floor, started to spit strong blasts of water at me. Hey, be careful with those!
Using the stones as step boards, I jumped my way up the cliff while dodging the attacks. If there's anything I'm confident about thanks to my stay here in this Dungeon, it's my climbing abilities and my talent for getting out of monsters' sights.
The onslaught of the giant spider continued until I managed to get behind a huge outspring of the cliff. The spider kept on blasting the thing as it didn't see me get out from behind there, but sorry. I've already left. [Optical Camouflage] keeps me hidden from that bloke's eyes. Guess it's not only my perception-type skills that are trash-tier.
I silently climbed up, up, and way above the battlefield while hidden due to my Camouflage. Meanwhile, I could see the Sahuagins, dino-monsters, and the other Glavras monsters duke it out in pure monster-style. It's quite the sight. I've spied on monsters battling before, but this is on a whole new level.
The Sahuagins are skillfully riding the raptor dinos while fending off the cobras, tortoises, and the smaller spiders with their spears and the dinos' claws and fangs. Neither side seems to be taking much damage from the Water-based attacks, so both sides are using physical moves to combat the other, giving the weapon-using, teamwork-used Sahuagin/raptor teams an advantage over the Glavras riffraff.
The giant blade dinosaur, however, is a step above that again. It is facing the twin-headed tortoise, three giant snakes (including the guy who almost tried to eat me), and it even managed to swipe at the giant spider's back while it was busy trying to blast the rock it believed that I was hiding behind. The dinosaur moved its body with such grace you wouldn't believe it, using its sword arms to cut apart the Glavras monsters, shields made outta water to block attacks, and it even produced platforms made outta metal to step on. How does it do that!? It looks awesome!
Ah, this isn't the time to be gaping. Let's get out of here. To the top! Of both this cliff and in life! ...isn't the ground over there a little weird?
I noticed that part of the cliff looked...unnaturally smooth. I climbed past it, but I didn't notice the difference back then. Looking at it from afar, I can see the difference between it and the rest of the cliff...
A skill's effect? Probably. Hmm......
Feeling curious, I produced a [Poison Ball], a purple sphere that I could grab on like a rubber ball, and threw it at the suspicious piece of land. It landed with a splat, and...
"MY EEEEEYEEE!!" - Gigantic snake
Geh!? It's the giant, no, the gigantic snake! The boss who operated the commando room for the 5th floor! Did he escape down to this floor after the encounter with the ghost knight?
"Why you little...punk..." Gigantic snake
The snake tried to curse me, but his words failed him. As he laid eyes on the broadsword of the ghost king in my hands.
...listen, I don't know why I did it either. I reflexively reached out for it from my Storage the moment I understood that the fake land was the boss snake. Its appearance made the boss snake pause, so I'm not complaining about it at this point. But why did he freeze...?
"...you," I spoke to the snake, with my tone as deep as possible while using the skill I obtained from the [Dread Spirit Genocider] title. That "menace"-skill.
"Hii!" shouted the snake with a frail voice while his face turned so pale that it reached even his scales.
"Flee...or be killed." - Garami
"Y-yeeessshhh!!" - Gigantic snake
And with that, the snake fled the place while crashing into the monsters who didn't react in time. The Sahuagins escaped from being flattened, unlike the Glavras monsters who were caught off-guard. Well, the Sahuagins probably thought it was an attack instead of wild panic, but they survived, and that's all that counts.
...but how did that even work out? Did the events on the 6th floor give the gigantic snake some trauma? ...okay, it would. That ghost knight was damn scary back then...and any other time.
After the snake fled, the movements of the Glavras monsters turned more rigid. Maybe the boss snake was buffing the Glavras monsters? The sudden appearance of the monsters may have something to do with the camouflage ability the snake had. Maybe that's even the reason why I was ambushed yesterday. I landed right in the middle of the path to a hidden scouting party.
The Sahuagins seem to have the advantage now. Maybe the boss snake also used some buffs on the Glavras monsters? That could explain why he didn't fight himself. To think something of that size is a support type.
In any case, time for me to leave-*CLANG*-...or not. A metal wall crashed into the road, preventing me from fleeing. Several other metal walls were forced into the ground, blocking my other escape paths. This stupid dino...
---
Meanwhile, in the realm of the Ultimate Gods, Nibiru:
"That unhelpful girl..." - Order
The eponymous goddess of Order glared at Alvatria who was lazying around in the divine garden of Nibiru.
"You trying to get something out of that hack? You never learn, sis."
"...Chaos." - Order
From the shadows emerged a black-clad man. The god of Chaos, who like Order, shares the name of the attribute he governs.
If Order is dressed like a professional working woman, then Chaos' sense of fashion was that of someone suffering from a heavy case of "eight-grade syndrome". He was wearing bandages, an oversized robe, and an eyepatch over his red eyes (red because of his color contacts).
Other than that, he looked completely like a human, despite being a god governing over chaos and monsters. It was a common trait between Order and Chaos, the two youngest Ultimate Gods. They would always have their appearance be that of humans.
"And what headache is our "beloved" older sister giving us today?" - Chaos
"She refuses to allow us to make a move on the Water Disaster." - Order
"...huh? How's that making any sense?" - Chaos
"She proclaimed that "since her Champion is currently trying to earn her honor, nobody else is allowed to disturb her", that lousy rat." - Order
"Ouch. Poor girl, having to work under those conditions where she is being refused divine assistance by her patron goddess," said Chaos as he shrugged.
"That is why I wish to compensate the poor girl a little. Chaos, you are an expert at sneaking around the rules. Do you have any...wise words for me?" - Order
"Why did you pause there? And what's with the attitude? But I got something," he said as he accessed the World System and retrieved a few files.
"...the A-D files? ...now I see." - Order
"Right~? Also, let's call upon our esteemed brother~." - Chaos
The two gods, who by nature should be complete opposites, now came together to give the goddess of evil a lesson she would remember. For better or worse.