A green log struck Viers.

It was actually a haymaker by the orc, Tarrok. Viers’ misconception was not so implausible. The orc’s arms were as thick as a tree trunk.

Viers landed on the wall with his feet. Immediately he constructed the path to counterattack.

While the core summoned more dungeon creatures to defend it, Viers exploded with power. Releasing the full breadth of Horizon’s boost to suffuse his being.

The speed of his movement Arte after the 522% boost was like lightning.

The next thing the baby saw was something half-piercing the barrier that it held in so high regard. In the background, Tarrok’s head was split in two but it had no leeway to think about it.

Without giving the misshapen baby time to scream or breathe, Viers exerted even more of his power on the Spear of Leonidas.

“Rwaaaah!”

“Impossible! AAAAAHHHH!”

“AAAAAGGGH!!”

Viers didn’t fuck around. No unnecessary talking, no villain antics, he spoke through actions and those actions were for the sake of killing his target.

What could have been an epic battle between two otherworders, Viers compressed the length of conflict with bold decisiveness and sheer strength. Efficient conflict needed no flair, only result!

As a result, the broken Divine Weapon stabbed the baby right in the chest. The dungeon core’s screams were double, in Viers’ ears and in his mind.

Wait, that was not right.

Why was Viers screaming?

He backed away, eyes blurry and head confused. A severe pain in his chest. Blood in his hand. His blood.

I… I’m hurt?

The baby was still screaming, thrashing around. The monsters it summoned were in a frenzy, attacking Viers with immeasurable fury. Viers was in no shape to fight back.

“Go!”

“Kin is injured! We protect!”

“Fuu!”

“Yaa!”

Viers let his trusty companions handle the reinforcements, Viers calmed his turbulent mind. Like in the anime, in his mindscape it was as if he was standing in a clear water pond with his own image clearly reflected below.

Or so he hoped.

Before he achieved that clear mind state, the surroundings changed into a fiery landscape. The previous stone dungeon walls were nowhere to be seen. The temperature of this place was very high and just like volcanic terrain, there were even lava rivers.

Viers immediately suspected it was the baby’s doing.

“That really hurt! Damn you! I’ll kill you! Kill you!!!”

The baby’s voice reverberated from all around him.

“Ouch ouch hot hot hot! My hair!! Wuaaah!”

“Fuu! Fuu yuu yuu!!”

Dia and Futon panicked as the heat of the terrain got to them. Dia’s leaf hair started burning.

Viers could use the Unreality Field to offset the heat but the wound on his chest was too deep and so he was unable to release it. In a crisis, Viers sent an image telepathy message to Faiya who was unaffected by the heat.

Faiya followed the instructions as soon as he received them. He zipped under Viers and let out a pulse of energy. Within seconds, Viers felt the temperature gradually decrease to an acceptable level.

The fire elemental absorbed the heat within a one-meter radius.

Dia and Futon swiftly took refuge. Futon doused Dia’s hair fire using a bit of rain. Meanwhile, Viers focused on healing himself, turning his healing factor to the max, even bolstering the regen with his life force.

This damage… and so difficult to heal! What the hell? Did I get hit by…

“Despicable thief! This is what you get!”

The baby appeared again. This time it was floating, the barrier that Viers just broke had already reformed completely. There was no trace of any wound on its body.

A massive monster slowly came into being. It was a scaly lizard-like creature with small wings. Its body as if it was made out of magma.

“Magma Wyrm! Destroy him!”

The roar of the bus-sized beast sounded the starting gong of the fight.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

No, Viers thought while still clutching his wounded chest.

I won't die here.

With that conviction, he spurred into action.

Under the earth of Carfax Peninsula, an epic fight between two otherworlders that nobody knew was unfolding.

***

The nameless Dungeon Core watched its mightiest creation rage. It had no direct offensive power but the Magma Wyrm would do its bidding. The three small beings that Tanael summoned mounted a stiff resistance but they were eventually defeated. Although, their defensive battle had achieved its objective. Tanael’s swift recovery was borderline miraculous. The core knew more than anyone else how severe the damage was.

Tanael fought with ice. It might be the weakness of the Magma Wyrm but using ice in the volcano [Room] was very impractical, needing more Victa to use. The core suspected Tanael would self-destruct before long. Outside of its expectations, Tanael half-terraformed the terrain.

[Identify] showed the core that the bottle Tanael shattered was called [Sealed Breath of the Ice Giant]. Fierce winds and ice swallowed part of the area, separating the [Room], into volcano and tundra terrain.

When the puny Tanael fought against the Magma Wyrm, the core was horrified seeing its creation was outmatched so one-sidedly.

How could Tanael be so strong? Tarrok got defeated by a sneak attack but the Magma Wyrm empowered by the [Room] should be able to contend with the mightiest Level 3s.

The baby used its second S-Rank Skill, [Energy Outflux]! A tether of flickering light, like a thin river of mist, connected the baby with the Magma Wyrm and it was no longer pushed back by Tanael, even turning the tables on him.

“Not so tough now, are you?” The core laughed as the Wyrm had Tanael underfoot.

“Ban… Kai…”

A terrifying frost rivaling the [Sealed Breath of the Ice Giant] explosion burst forth from Tanael. The core gasped as the Magma Wyrm’s foot turned frozen solid and fell apart.

The Wyrm’s pained wail was the sound effect and the failing shards of icicles were the visual effect. Tanael revealed his new form.

A dragon-shaped ice ran across his right arm, from shoulder to fist. The blade at the end was coated with frost energy. On his back were a pair of ice wings and a long tail that moved as if it was his own limbs.

Because the baby was looking from above, it could see that a pattern similar to a blooming lotus was formed on the ground beneath Tanael’s feet when he transformed.

“Bankai… Daiguren Hyourin Muramasa,” Tanael’s breath was white and he pointed his sword at the enemy.

“O Dungeon Core, can you withstand the coldness of mine sword?”

The two exchanged intense, silent stares.

“...Done showing off? Then die.”

The core had enough of seeing Tanael’s smug smile and ordered the Wyrm to melt it. It roared a great stream of fiery breath that could melt rocks.

“Cool it!”

Tanael put out a thrust and met the blazing breath with a blast of frigid ice. The deadlock between ice and fire didn't last long, fire won it. But Tanael evaded getting hit by it. The Magma Wyrm continued its attack. The Wyrm was not slow but Tanael was small and agile. He sneaked in some damage between his scurrying all over the place.

“Little sneak! Is running all you can do?” An angry voice said.

“Elden Ring experience, bay-bieh~,” A composed voice said back.

The baby was getting even more emotional. [Energy Outflux] was a super skill, the energy it sent to the Wyrm should be enough to splat Tanael ten times over but it couldn't get a hit.

It was as if he was used to fighting this way.

The baby tried to order control of the Wyrm but it only resulted in making its movement awkward. Seeing the opening after inflicting lots of small damage, Tanael leaped from scales to scales with the agility of a cat before reaching the Wyrm’s head. There, he stabbed his sword into the crown.

The magma lines on the Magma Wyrm’s skin turned blue by the freezing cold energy injection, and so did its organs. Brain, blood, eyes, tongue, all were ice. It fell on its stomach and soon faded away, like dust in the wind.

“What’s the use of making those wings if you can't use those to fly, idiot!” The core said its gripe.

“PRESENTATION!”

That can't be right, the baby thought. I think he’s proud of himself?

“Whatever! You might have bested my [Creature Create: Boss] but this is it. You’re done!”

The baby was gone from Tanael’s vision. It had left Tanael trapped in the [Room].

He’s stuck there but now what? I can’t… You’ve got to be kidding me.

Decisively, Tanael destroyed the [Room] with something that looked like a giant grape. Each fruit was an explosive. The resulting explosions allowed Tanael to land in the previous place, in front of the baby on its cradle.

Once again, Tanael used the broken spear to gore the baby’s S-Rank Skill [Heart Shield]. It didn't have enough time to force Tanael back into a [Room].

“Do it!” The baby stared down at the spearhead pointed at its chest. “You’ll die first!”

Tanael didn't push his weapon further after breaking the shield but held the baby at weapon point. The freezing aura that Tanael emitted turned the room white as a frost layer was formed.

“Peace.”

That was what Tanael said as he withdrew the broken spear. His draconic ice ability was also broken, as was the katana. It seemed that ability cost him.

But because of the one word he said earlier, the dungeon core didn’t care in the slightest.

“You said… peace?”

“Yep.”

“After all you’ve-”

Tanael interrupted after raising his palm.

“You inflict the damage done to your main body to the attacker. A marvelous ability. That means I can't kill you. You’ve seen how strong I am. You can't kill me either. Since we can't kill each other, how about we make up and team up?”

“So if I can be killed, you’ll kill me no questions asked? Scoundrel! Human scumbag! After you stab me now you want to reconcile? Are you kidding me!?”

“Hey, there’s no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits.”

“Outrageous! Get out of my home! Right now!”

“Now now, hear me out.”

“OUUUUUUTTT!!!”

The de-escalation started from there.

***

Later that day, Viers was back at Dia’s Biome. He tried to put up a strong front in front of the dungeon core but his initial damage from his own Spear of Leonidas was substantial.

“You look like shit,” Arsène said to Viers.

“You too,” Viers replied.

True enough, Arsène was like he’d done parachute-less skydiving.

“What happened to you?”

“Met an otherworlder Dungeon Core with damage reflection cheat. Cannot kill it, so we’re business partners now.”

“Huh.”

That was all Arsène said.

“You?”

“Unintentionally toppled a government. Then my wanted rating climbed too high. Got hunted by an angry Level 5 Church Inquisitor.”

“Huh.”

Nothing else needed to be said.