kscans

Chapter 130 - Chapter 130

A beautiful woman stood in the center of a flower field.

"Ah! You're finally here! I've been waiting!!"

She was Flora, the goddess who presided over flowers. The final boss of the Komura Dungeon.

"I've been waiting forever. You were right outside the door, weren't you? What were you doing?"

"Checking our equipment, among other things."

Hayate replied, though he sounded slightly displeased.

It was understandable. A character from the game he loved so much was being possessed again. Last time he didn't have proof, but this time, they knew for a fact that the Goddess was inside Flora.

"Anyway, we've worked hard to climb all the way up here, and we're about to challenge you, so could you please deliver your opening lines?"

"Opening lines? Uhm... Oh! That! Fuhahaha, well met, heroes!"

"............"

Hayate glared at Flora in silence.

"S-Sorry. It was a joke. Don't look at me with such scary eyes. I'll be serious."

The smile vanished from Flora's face. She stared at Hayate's party with cold eyes and opened her mouth.

"To have reached this place means you have defeated my servants. My cute servants, to whom I, the Goddess of Flowers, gave life."

Even when it was a game, many players who faced Flora felt an anger so strong it was hard to believe she was just an NPC.

Now, it was real. Hayate and the others in the chamber were exposed to a killing intent so intense it made their skin tingle.

"...Hey. Don't make her angry."

From Naoto's perspective, it seemed like it would have been easier to fight when the Goddess herself was at the forefront just moments ago. But Flora's lines were predetermined by the system; this was her natural reaction.

"No, this is good. The Flora fight has to be like this."

Despite the cold sweat on his brow, Hayate was smiling.

As it happened, the boss's strength in the Komura Dungeon changed depending on how many enemies you defeated before the boss fight. Furthermore, if you used a lot of fire-based magic attacks to annihilate the monsters, Flora would become considerably stronger.

Hayate, of course, knew this.

It was a battle where defeat carried the risk of not regaining consciousness. Even if they had set revival potions to be used automatically, their opponent was the Goddess who brought the effects of dungeons and items into this world, so there was a chance that revival wouldn't work properly.

Even so, Hayate and his party chose to fight Flora in her Strongest State.

They had burned through the swarms of plant-type monsters with twin swords clad in fire magic and reduced them to ashes with Mei's composite spells to get here. If the settings were the same as in the game, the boss's strength level should be at the maximum of 6 out of 6.

"Here I come. I shall use your corpses as the foundation for the next servants I create."

Flora raised her hand, and countless wooden roots shot up from the ground. It was a preemptive strike that only the strongest version of Flora would use.

Hayate and the others dodged it with ease. It was an attack they had fully anticipated.

"Yeah. She's definitely at her strongest."

"You better be sure this is going to work!"

"There's no guarantee, but..."

"You agreed to the plan, didn't you? No complaining!"

At strength levels 1 through 5, Flora's next move could sometimes be unpredictable. By intentionally raising her to the maximum level, her actions became easier to read. Furthermore, at level 6, while the boss's attack power increased, her health decreased. It was a common strategy used by high-level FWO players to achieve a no-damage clear of the Komura Dungeon.

"Naoto, that thing is—"

"I know!!"

It was a linear attack. Taking it head-on would significantly chip away at his weapon's durability.

The wooden roots, manipulated by Flora's palm, surged forward one after another, but Naoto skillfully deflected them. Just behind him, Mei was drawing a magic circle for a composite spell, beginning her incantation.

"Alright, I'm going in. Rena, support me."

"Leave it to me!"

Breaking from their defensive formation, Hayate ran along the top of the wooden roots, closing in on Flora.

"Ugh—d-don't come any closer!"

The memory of being thrashed by Hayate before resurfaced, and the Goddess desperately manipulated the plants to keep him at bay.

"Your true self is showing. Also, those linear attacks won't hit me."

Normally, Flora in her strongest state would launch attacks with hard-to-read trajectories. But those were limited in number. Hayate's plan to make the Goddess焦る by triggering her past trauma and forcing her into simpler attack patterns was succeeding brilliantly.

"Why won't they hit?! Just stop moving!!"

Plants shot up from the ground, trying to entangle Hayate's legs. He had no choice but to jump up to evade.

"Ah! That's not a good way to dodge."

A smirk appeared on the Goddess's face as she focused attacks on the airborne Hayate from all directions. It was a situation with no escape, but Hayate wasn't panicking.

Something flew in at high speed, blasting away a section of the plants.

It was a powerful arrow fired by Rena. She had created an escape route for Hayate.

"Rena, thanks!"

"Mhm. Hayate, she said she's ready."

"Got it!!"

Hearing Rena's words, Hayate closed the distance to Flora even further.

It was the signal that Mei had finished her incantation.

The strategy was for Mei to burn away the surrounding plants with her explosive flame magic, leaving Flora defenseless for Hayate to approach and deliver the finishing blow, since party members didn't take damage from each other's spells.

"Here I go. Composite Magic, activate! Directional Explosion!!"

A ball of super-heated fire swirled just in front of Mei's palm. It shot out in a single line, incinerating all the plants in its path as it rocketed toward the Goddess.

"Eek?! A-Aqua Blast Rot!"

A giant pillar of water erupted from the ground, extinguishing Mei's spell.

"Whoa! Seriously? That was close."

Hayate, who had been advancing through the Explosion to get closer to the Goddess, came to a halt.

"Huh? When did you get this close?! D-Don't tell me, you were running through the magic?"

What seemed like a good plan to catch the Goddess off guard had ended in failure when the plant-type dungeon boss used a major technique from a water-type dungeon boss.

"That's just cheating, you know."

"Using multiple major techniques is one thing, but at least stick to plant-types."

Hayate and Rena chided the Goddess.

"It's not! I learned it, so it's my technique! Besides, you're the real cheaters! Running through fire like that makes no sense!!"

Incidentally, advancing on a boss by running through an ally's magic was a common tactic for regular players back when FWO was a game. However, in reality, you could still feel the heat of the flames, so almost no one was willing to do it, even knowing they wouldn't take damage.

"That's enough! From now on, I'm using every power I can, and I'm coming at you with everything I've got!!"

"Isn't that what Hayate—"

Rena was about to point out that the Goddess had just stolen the line Hayate had used when he challenged her while she possessed Undine.

"Lord of Hydra! Roots End Over!!"

Eight pillars of water rose from behind Flora, forming into dragons. Furthermore, the entire boss room was covered in wooden roots, leaving no room to escape. Naturally, no such specification existed in FWO.

"You've angered this Goddess, you know. If you apologize with all your might right now for using cheats, I might just maybe not not forgive you!"

It was a desperate situation. But Hayate laughed.

"If that's how you want to play, then we'll do the same."

"...Huh?"

The Goddess felt a sense of unease at Hayate's calm demeanor.

She had unleashed two major techniques and held an overwhelming advantage. It was because she thought this that the Goddess was unable to stop Hayate's next move.

Hayate pulled something from his item bag and shouted.

"Magic Scroll, activate! Summon!!"

A magic circle unfolded, glowing brilliantly.

When the light subsided—

"I was told you'd call if you were in a pinch."

"Yeah, but what is this situation?"

"Is this what hell looks like?"

"Look, Flora's using a major water technique."

"Isn't that cheating?"

Hayate's five classmates, including Ryunosuke, appeared in the room.

"Huh? W-Wait. W-What is this?!"

The Goddess was flustered, unable to comprehend the meaning of five more well-equipped, powerful-looking individuals suddenly appearing. But it wasn't over yet.

"As you can see, we're in a pinch. So, everyone, we're going all out from the start to get through this!"

Hayate brought his sword-wielding right hand up in front of his face and held his wrist with his left hand.

"I see."

"You're using that already?"

"You're doing it?! Right here, right now!"

"Roger that."

The eight classmates gathered here, excluding Hayate, struck the same pose.

"""Aura, Re-lease!!"""