kscans

Chapter 21 - Chapter 21

"To have defeated my guardian and come this far... You are quite skilled."

A cool and collected beauty with translucent, light blue hair and a somewhat cold, well-featured face spoke to me. She was the final boss of this Water Dungeon, Undine.

The mid-boss had been changed, so I had thought the final boss might have been changed too... But her lines are the same as in FWO, so has nothing changed?

"You must have come this far in a desperate attempt to reclaim what was taken from you. Self-sacrifice for a loved one is so very noble."

Hm? What's with that line? It wasn't like this in FWO. When she says 'what was taken,' is she talking about Rena?

It's true that I came here as fast as possible to save Shinonome Rena, who was abducted by the being calling itself the Goddess.

But how does Undine know that?

Undine speaks lines, but it's just words coming out of her mouth. She couldn't communicate with players. But now, it's as if she's speaking to me.

Could it be that this thing...

"She is safe, isn't she?"

"Yes. For now."

Undine said with a smirk.

So that's it. This thing can hold a conversation, and it has a clear will of its own. Is one of the Goddess's subordinates inside Undine? Or maybe the Goddess herself.

Well, either way, what I have to do doesn't change.

"I will defeat you and have her returned to me!"

I really shouldn't be saying things like this. Since many people are watching my dungeon clear, any sharp-eyed viewers might realize that the trophy of the Water Dungeon is a person.

But Undine has already revealed it.

There's no turning back now.

If I lose, someone might come to take Rena.

I absolutely have to win this time.

"Very well. Come at me with all you have."

"Yes. I will!"

I'm going all out from the start.

I activated the Manipulator and took a scroll out of my item bag.

"Activate Magic Scroll! Lightning Thunder!!"

"What!? H, hey, why is a swordsman using magic!?"

Undine was clearly flustered. It seems she's not very familiar with FWO's mechanics.

A spear of lightning shot towards her at high speed.

"D, don't underestimate me! I am the Great Water Spirit!!"

Undine waved her hand, and a large amount of water appeared from nowhere, extinguishing the lightning spear I had unleashed. As expected of a final boss. To so easily block magic of her weakness attribute.

"Ugh... It tingles a little."

If even a little damage gets through, it's a win.

Even if it didn't, I managed to temporarily block her vision and apply lightning Magic Cladding to my magic sword, so I'll take it.

"Hmph. Did you think you could do anything to me with just that? ...Wait, what is that sword. It looks a little dangerous."

Seeing my sword, clad in crackling sparks of lightning, Undine turned pale.

Incidentally, the sword I have equipped is a Wind Magic Sword. It has a counter relationship with lightning magic. So the difficulty is lower than applying Magic Cladding with fire attribute magic.

"You're the one who told me to come at you with all I have!"

I used the power of the Manipulator to fly up near the ceiling of the boss room.

My specialty. It's not like I'm flying for no reason.

In FWO, there are damage multipliers for various motions. The more difficult the movement, the stronger the attack becomes.

In the case of the four-sword style, flying at least three meters higher than the target and attacking while diving down has the highest damage multiplier. Furthermore, by performing a spinning slash, the damage is multiplied by four.

And the equipment I'm using is a magic sword.

I've applied lightning magic, Undine's weakness attribute, to all four swords using Magic Cladding. Since the base is a Wind Magic Sword, the multiplier here is a low 1.2x. For all four swords, it only comes out to about 2.1x.

To make up for that, once I reached the ceiling, I temporarily switched my weapons.

The damage multiplier for swapping weapons mid-battle is 1.5x. That's the value for swapping only one main weapon, and in my case, all four swords are treated as main weapons, so I can swap each one. At maximum, my attack power increases by about 5.1x. It creates a huge opening, so not many people do it, but the multiplier is incredible.

I did everything I could and enhanced my attack power to the maximum.

If I can land the spinning slash, the damage will exceed 41x.

"Take this!! Soaring Sky Spiral Slash!!"

"Eek!? T, Tidal Wave!"

"...!!?"

A massive wave, on the level of a tsunami, came crashing down on me.

I hurriedly changed my target from Undine to the torrent of water.

I managed to evade it by slicing through the mass of water.

"That was close..."

If I had taken that head-on, I would have died.

Tidal Wave was an ultimate move used by a mid-boss in a Grade 6 dungeon. Undine, the boss of a Grade 3 dungeon in FWO, shouldn't have been able to use it.

"And it's hard to move!"

Even if you could evade a direct hit from Tidal Wave, it was a very troublesome major technique that flooded the boss area and sealed the player's movements. It was a true ultimate move that was good for dealing damage, and even if it didn't, it could seal your movements so you could be finished off with another technique.

"H, huh? Your movements have gotten a lot slower."

"Kuh!"

I barely dodged the water bullets Undine was shooting.

"Come on, come on, if you don't try hard to dodge, you'll get hit."

Crap, she's toying with me!

As I was desperately searching for a way to break through, the being inside Undine seemed to have gotten cocky from its advantageous position.

"Looks like it was too early for you to challenge me. Since you've come all this way, I'll tell you something nice. I actually have two more major techniques! Hey, are you surprised? Are you in despair? You can run away if you give up, you know. Not that I'll let you!"

Something inside me snapped, putsun.

Undine, who with her cool appearance and demeanor was the number one most popular boss character among male FWO players. I loved her too.

Her character had been ruined. Defiled by a wicked presence.

I can't take it anymore.

"That's not who Undine is!"

"W, what's with the shouting all of a sudden. Even if you act tough, in this water you're just... huh? W, why are you standing on top of the water?"

I was floating with the jetpack I got when I cleared the Black Dungeon.

I had wanted to keep the fact that I had a jetpack a secret, but I couldn't afford to now.

"I'm sorry for lying when I said I was going all out. From now on, I'm using everything I've got. I'm coming at you with my true full power!"