novelraw Chapter 125
Chapter 125
Chapter 125
Finger Man returned to the altar.
The stone monument was smeared with red stains.
In the center of a blood pool, a man was leaning against the stone monument, already dead.
Finger Man noticed the grimoire the man was holding and picked it up to examine it.
He flipped through the grimoire's pages.
Though it was filled with characters Finger Man couldn't understand, he grasped the meaning of the photograph tucked into the final page.
It showed a teenage girl of high school age and the man from better days.
Perhaps they were brother and sister. They looked very close.
On the back of the photo were written their names and a date.
Finger Man wasn't sentimental enough to feel anything for the man before him.
Still, he didn't particularly dislike him either.
Finger Man stripped the coat from the man.
Though it was soaked in blood, it was still wearable.
He slipped his arms into the sleeves, tucked the grimoire into his coat, and used 'Super Catcher Lv3' to store the man's corpse.
"Well then, time to head back."
Finger Man looked up toward the heavens.
His field of vision was a relentless 4 meters or so of pure darkness.
Into that boundless darkness, Finger Man flung a Finger Snap.
Imagining a pillar of light, he unleashed an explosion in a cylindrical blaze.
The flames seared through the darkness, expanding his field of view.
Scanning the illuminated cavern carefully, he spotted the collapsed ledge from earlier and a protrusion he could probably ride.
Finger Man leapt high.
With a single jump, he returned to the ritual chamber.
"That black thing flew even farther up, didn't it?"
"Gii (Translation: My master, over there.)"
The pillar of light illuminated the direction indicated by the black tentacle.
Looking closer, there was a hole in the ceiling, stained with tar-like liquid.
Having found the trace, Finger Man began his pursuit.
The trail led out of Central.
As he followed it, a series of tremendous tremors reached Finger Man.
It seemed someone was engaged in battle.
As if invited, he headed toward the direction of the intense sounds.
"Oh? And who might you be?"
Just as he was about to leave Central's gate, black assassins blocked his path.
They were Dark Apostles.
Finger Man swung his hand horizontally and used Finger Snap.
The horizontal destruction that extended the blast site like a slash—this was the Absolute Sword Excalibur Finger Man had discovered through battle.
Using skill control, he split the explosion and passed through Central.
He returned to the surface of the dungeon, where the mist was thinner.
And there, he caught up to the monster.
"Found you."
Finger Man smiled gently.
The Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) noticed Finger Man and swept aside the massive arm that had been pounding Bean Pastry like a rice cake.
They were still far apart—easily over 100 meters.
Yet the massive arm stretched like elastic rubber and could powerfully strike Finger Man from afar.
The destructive force was unprecedented. Even the aftermath of a single blow carved a massive diagonal gash into the giant tower looming behind Finger Man.
Finger Man was smashed back into the very same giant tower he had just exited, vanishing into a mountain of rubble.
"......N-no way......"
Jiu, the only explorer still sane, suffered a splitting headache but pushed through the darkness and reached the insane battlefield on her own.
Blood streaming from her forehead blurred her vision as she bore witness from the edge of the battlefield.
She had clearly seen Finger Man just get sent flying.
Jiu collapsed to her knees.
"......Finger Man......even you can't reach it......?"
She let out a short, unconscious cry.
The Dungeon Foundation's top explorer, 'Mister', and the comparable Bean Pastry—
and yet even they were easily brushed aside by the blasphemous monster.
Could it really be that even Finger Man, who had saved her that day, was no match?
Somewhere in her heart, Jiu had kept a backup hope.
No matter how hopeless it looked, he was still there. Finger Man was still there.
That hope was now crumbling with a sound.
——Snap
It was a very small sound.
From far away, near the towering giant tower, she definitely heard it.
Immediately after, a star was born in the darkness.
Her vision turned white, and suddenly everything became visible.
Until then, her view had been sealed by darkness—but now, light radiated from a single point and illuminated everything.
A heroic explosive attack that incinerated all darkness and turned enemies to charred remains. The prelude.
The Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) attempted to gulp down the source of the blast.
But as if sensing something, the monster instantly spread its wings wide and fled the blast zone.
It realized this strike was far stronger than the last.
There exists no method to fully control the rampage of astronomical energy.
The star pulsed once, then exploded.
The Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) could not escape.
Blasted away by the explosion, it was flung all the way to the outer edge of the silver dungeon. Cracks spread radially across the wall. It embedded deeply into the outer wall, vomiting tar-like filth from its mouth.
It couldn't hide its shock that a threat to its existence had appeared.
"Bou, u, o......"
Yet, the Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) was still alive.
Its HP had been heavily drained, but it wasn't dead.
Thanks to the explosion, the surrounding Dark Mist had temporarily scattered.
Far beyond his now-clear vision, Finger Man spotted the still-breathing Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) and let out an impressed murmur.
"I thought I hit ATK 80 million...... Is that thing stronger than me?"
"Gii (Translation: Incoming counterattack, I believe.)"
"Eh? Seriously?"
The Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria) also fixed its gaze on Finger Man standing at the base of the giant tower.
"Bo, o, wooooooh——!!"
A spine-chilling roar echoed through the dungeon.
Resonating, the rotting flesh on the skirts let out screams.
The frenzied concerto tore open earth and sky.
It was no illusion.
Look—rifts in the dimension were forming within the Dark Mist.
Something was emerging from those dimensional rifts.
A great monster from another world, having come peering from the far reaches of darkness, raised its head at its comrade's call and came to annihilate the enemy.
Its form was liquefied malice.
Tar-like black fluid poured from the sky to the ground like rain.
The liquefied malice found Finger Man.
Kiiiiiiiii——a piercing sound shook the air.
A black light flashed brightly.
Immediately after, the base of the giant tower, including Finger Man, was engulfed in white and black light——a black fireball appeared, and everything evaporated.
The sound arrived late.
A shockwave traveling at 140 meters per second swept across the earth.
It was a deathly heatwave that melted skin, seared lungs, and scorched eyes.
Once caught in it, there was no hope—every living thing would be utterly annihilated.
Fortunately, Jiu wasn't close enough to the giant tower to be killed instantly by the heatwave, and by lying low in a depression at her feet, she managed to avoid a direct hit.
The explorers were even farther away, so the damage compared to the blast site was much smaller.
Jiu squinted open her eyes, bracing herself against the blast to avoid being blown away, and looked toward the giant tower.
The tower had lost its support and had begun to collapse.
A tower nearly 400 meters in diameter had been toppled in a single blow.
Faced with destruction beyond human comprehension, Jiu shuddered.
"......Th-that's......"
Jiu had once again spotted someone she couldn't believe.
At the base of the collapsing tower, amidst the scorched and molten earth from the intense heat and black flames, she saw a human figure slowly rising.
It was Finger Man.
He was inside the heat that could destroy lungs just by breathing it in, brushing dust off his coat with his hand, as if that was the only thing that mattered. Clearly not the time to be worrying about that.
"Better than I thought... maybe I can manage."
Finger Man deactivated 'Silver Shield Lv9'.
He pulled out a syringe, injected it into his neck, and his body twitched violently.
Jiu stared at the sight from a distance, her mouth hanging half-open.
She tried hard to understand what she was seeing—but it was impossible.
(......How. Just how did he...)
The questions and astonishment were endless.
But the battle wasn't gentle enough to wait for those who couldn't keep up.
That scream echoed through the dungeon once more.
Kiiiii——a shrill sound shook the air, preparing for the next incineration.
"Finger Man! Please run!"
Jiu shouted with all her might.
She tried desperately to get her voice through to Finger Man, who still hadn't taken evasive action.
That attack.
It was the black flame of destruction from the liquefied malice.
If that dark flash of destruction lit up again, it would surely destroy Finger Man this time.
——Snap.
Finger Man saw it.
The dark trajectory aimed to kill him.
A straight line of malice, stabbing forward with black flame.
To counter that straight line head-on, Finger Man responded in kind.
The super-speed, ultra-dense dark flame heat ray fired by the liquefied malice collided with the ultimate spear sent by Finger Man——for 0.1 seconds they were evenly matched, then Finger Snap reached the malice, and caused the divine body born from myth to explode.
And it didn't stop there.
The ultimate spear, with ATK 100 million and HP 20,000, stretched forward, farther and farther——and even struck down the Knight of the God-Eater (Systeri Noteria), who had been observing the duel from behind the liquefied malice, attached to the outer wall.
Swallowed by a crimson explosion, the underlings of the gods let out cries of agony that echoed through the dungeon.
Jiu widened her eyes.
What was she even seeing?
Most of it defied comprehension, nothing felt real.
It was a scene she couldn't believe.
But the young man known as Finger Man was her connection to the ordinary.
He had peacefully explored the dungeon from the supply base, and even brought rare anomalous substances for appraisal.
That normalcy must be reality. And because of that, everything before her eyes was also truly happening in reality.
(......Finger Man......just who... are you really?)
With the last of her rationality, Jiu stared intently at the man standing far away.
—───
——From the perspective of Akagi Hideo
Whoa, wait a sec.
A new boss character just popped up out of nowhere.
And the moment our eyes met, I got burned right out of the gate.
Oh, and I picked up Mister.
He was collapsed really close to the giant tower, so I stored him away to keep him safe.
But man, he was seriously messed up... Maybe it's because I let that experience go to waste...? Unforgivable. I'll bring judgment upon that wicked experience myself!
(Skill level has increased.)
(Skill level has increased.)
Oh?
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Akagi Hideo
Level 255
HP 12,002/191,800
MP 16,710/51,400
Skills
'Finger Snap Lv6'
'Phobia Syndrome Lv8'
'One Strike Lv8'
'Steel Spirit'
'Probability Time: Coin Lv2'
'Super Metal Assault Lv8'
'Blue Pulsation Lv4'
'Black Swamp's Severer'
'Super Catcher Lv4'
'Until the Very End Together'
'Silver Shield Lv9'
Equipment
'Blue Blood Lv5' G4
'Proof of the Chosen One Lv4' G4
'Labyrinth Conqueror' G4
'Bloodstained Comrade' G4
'Metal Trap Room Lv3' G4
'Traces of a Dream' G4
────────────────────
───────────────────
'One Strike Lv8'
Defeating a powerful enemy is no easy task.
Even more so if using only a single attack.
Multiplies the final calculated damage by 5.5x. Can be used once every 168 hours.
Unlock condition: Deal over 100,000,000 damage in a single strike to a boss and kill it.
───────────────────
5.5x. Honestly, hard to use in practice.
With how it is now, a finger snap would deal 550 million ATK, right?
Where the heck would I even use that? It'd kill people.
"Gii"
"Hm? What's that, Gii-san? ...Ah! Don't run, experience points!!"
Gii-san pointed with a tentacle, and I noticed that boss jerk I'd blasted away earlier was trying to fly off and escape again.
This time, I won't let him get away.
Wait, huh? Something's making noise behind me... Holy crap, that tower's about to collapse. And it's falling this way.
As I was thinking I should get away from the tower, I spotted Jiu-san collapsed in the distance. She looked like a warrior woman from the wastelands.
Did she cramp up or something?
I have to save her. Maybe I'll get to carry her on my back and it'll turn into a rom-com situation (says the virgin).
""Jiu-san, I'll carry you on my back." (cool voice)"
"......Finger Man-san."
Huh. She's making a really confused face.
Crap. Is she mad because I barged into Central on my own?
"......That tower."
"Huh, the tower? Oh yeah, it's collapsing."
"......At this rate, we'll all be crushed. Is there anything you can do? Like blasting it away all at once."
"Well, I'm not sure......"
She didn't scold me, but she sure threw an impossible request my way.
Can I really pull this off? I mean, I'm running out of time here.
If I'm going to blow up the tower... hmm, if I do that huge a Finger Snap, I feel like I'll take everyone with me. Honestly, once my ATK goes over 100 million, I'm not even sure I can control it...
I mean, while I'm debating this, my experience points are getting farther away...!
I want to carry her and feel her chest on my back... No, but that'd mean carrying everyone to safety one by one, and that's just not feasible... Ahh, no! My experience points are escaping!
"......Sorry for asking the impossible. This situation... I can't make sense of anything. And analyzing information is supposed to be my job. I didn't understand a thing. About this dungeon, about escaping, or anything else... And after all, it's not like we can even escape this dungeon, right? So maybe it doesn't matter if I give up here."
Is that really true?
She's saying all this complicated stuff, but in the end, isn't it just about beating the boss? (brain off)
Jiu-san, wearing a look of resignation, keeps her eyes on the collapsing giant tower and continues.
"......I really wanted to learn more about you, Finger Man-san."
"About me?"
"......Yes. Now I can say it—I wanted to understand even one thing about you."
"Huh. About me, huh. But honestly, there's nothing all that interesting."
But well, if such a beauty says she wants to know, I can't exactly turn her down.
"I'll tell you all about me later."
"......Later?"
"Yes. So for now, I'll put you away."
"......Huh?"
That's probably the most efficient way.
"——Leave everything else to me."
Beat the boss. Problem solved. Court adjourned, that kind of vibe.
And so, okay, beauties, the injured, and—whoops, can't forget Happy-san—let's put you all away nowww.
Somehow, I managed to put everyone away before the tower collapsed, all in about ten seconds.
I think I've got everything now.
Huh?
When I looked again, there was a huge crater.
In the center, a wild bean pastry had fallen.
"Chi-chi... (Translation: Thought I was gonna die, chi...)"
"Shimaenaga-san, what are you doing in a place like—wait, aren't you kinda huge...?"
"Chi-chi! Chi-chi-chi! (Translation: Hurry up and beat the boss, chi! He's getting away, chi!)"
Oh! That's right! I've got to hurry!
I safely collected Shimaenaga-san and dashed after the dungeon boss.