Chapter 127: Zone 5 (2) |
“Whew, no doubt about it, these things are tough.”
The corpsmen collected the byproducts from the Bone Dinosaur they’d just brought down.
The Security Corps’ elite hunting team.
At present, they were in the middle of a Zone 5 hunt.
Given that this was a field where the fog kept anyone from getting a proper line of sight, Zone 5 was a dangerous place to hunt even for the high-level Climbers strong enough to take on the monsters here.
But they did it because the returns were worth it.
The Mist Ghost Core, dropped by one of the monsters that appeared in Zone 5.
Ever since it had been discovered that it could act as a catalyst to further stabilize magic-stone-based mana power generation, it had become a name-your-price commodity among the firms that researched monster byproducts.
And not just for the money, either. On rare occasions there were Climbers who came to hunt Zone 5 out of sheer adventurousness.
A corpsman on his first Zone 5 hunt muttered as he glanced around.
Another corpsman, as if to show off a senior’s composure, spoke in a leisurely tone.
“You ever hear this one? They say that Taylor lady hunts and roams around out here all by herself.”
“…Huh? Seriously? Isn’t that completely insane?”
“It’s a famous story among the Climbing Bureau staff over there. Apparently she’s doing it to fill the Zone 5 gauge faster for Person123.”
“Well, then, guess that means we’re lending a hand right now too? Ha ha.”
The corpsmen bantered back and forth.
A round of combat had just ended, and everyone’s nerves had loosened a little.
“Don’t let your guard down. Stay alert.”
Justin, the Security Corps’ Deputy Commander, reined the corpsmen back in before they could slacken off.
Person123 had disclosed detailed information about Zone 5, and by now the hunting protocol was more or less established.
But even so, out here in Zone 5, one careless slip meant death.
Just a few months ago, a level-42 corpsman had gotten his head torn off by a Stick Insect in the blink of an eye and died on the spot…
“…Above you!”
Sensing the presence, Justin bellowed.
From a nearby tree, a massive Stick Insect came hurtling down over one corpsman’s head like an arrow.
The targeted corpsman was a beat too slow to react.
It was in that instant.
Flash!
A streak of light flickered, and lightning blew the Stick Insect apart.
The Stick Insect’s corpse, robbed of its strength, dropped to the ground.
The corpsmen froze, staring at the corpse, blinking.
“Wh, what the…?”
Even Justin couldn’t make sense of what had just happened.
…A new anomaly in Zone 5? I’ve never even heard of anything like this.
Dumbstruck, he could only stare in the direction the flash had come from.
*
Once Radiant Incarnation was off cooldown.
I immediately set my plan to exterminate the Zone 5 monsters in motion.
Whoooosh!
At the very back of Zone 5, along the border between Zone 4 and Zone 5, I cast Radiant Incarnation.
‘Here we go.’
I began circling around from the innermost part of Zone 5.
Spotted a Bone Dinosaur right away.
I cast Flame Strike.
Without even bothering to watch the fireball fly, I shot off again.
Next, I ran straight into a Mist Ghost.
It was one of the ones with the ability to create doubles of itself.
The Mist Ghost took a Lightning Strike and burst apart before it could even register me.
Bone Dinosaur, Stick Insect, Great-Claw Ghoul, Mist Ghost.
Those were the four kinds of monsters in Zone 5, and the Bone Dinosaur had the highest spawn rate.
In any case, I flew around at the speed of light, killing monsters as I met them.
Of course, since the fog kept my field of vision so narrow, my original notion, spiraling from the inside out to sweep Zone 5 clean and complete, turned out to be impossible to carry out.
Halfway through, my sense of direction started to disappear.
But it didn’t matter in the slightest.
Even flying around at random, monsters popped into view like fish practically leaping out of a stocked buffet. Because I was moving at light speed.
In the span of a single second, I killed more than ten of them.
And that was only because of the momentary pause each time I struck a monster; without it, I’d have killed far, far more.
And so I began sweeping through Zone 5 in earnest.
‘Hm?’
Along the way I ran into other people too.
They looked like Climbers from the Security Corps side.
One of them seemed to be getting ambushed by a Stick Insect, so as I passed I blew it apart with Lightning Strike.
Kill, kill, kill.
For the ten minutes Radiant Incarnation lasted, I had to hunt as much as I possibly could.
Checking the gauge here and there, it was filling at a ridiculous rate.
‘Can I actually pull this off?’
At this pace… if I played it right, I might just fill the whole thing.
That was when the Demon King spoke up.
– I’ll just freeze the lot of them with my own power. Why bother scurrying around like this?
‘No can do, that.’
If I used the Demon King’s power without limits, I could unleash absurd wide-area attacks like I had on Floor 9.
But there might be people around, like there had been a moment ago.
With my vision so restricted, I couldn’t exactly cut loose with a super wide-area attack like that.
Still, partway through I switched over with the Demon King.
Because even the pauses to stop time and cast my magic skills had started to feel like a waste.
The Demon King flew around in my place, freezing the monsters of Zone 5.
My one worry was whether, on the off chance I really did kill every last monster in Zone 5, the respawn rate wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Whether there were just an unbelievable number of monsters already spawned, or whether the respawns were fast.
I couldn’t tell which, but the monsters kept turning up.
[Zone 5 (99.9%)]
The ten minutes were up.
I had no idea how many I’d killed in total, but at any rate it was a staggering number.
Radiant Incarnation switched off, and I checked the gauge.
Frustratingly, I was short by 0.1%.
Of course, this much I could just cover by hunting from here on.
I’d be able to summon and kill the Zone 5 Boss before the day was out.
Before that, I left Floor 5 and opened the Communication Channel.
[Person123: I’ll be taking on the Zone 5 Boss shortly. Anyone in Zone 5 could get caught up in it, so I’d appreciate it if you’d step outside.]
There had been people hunting earlier, too.
It’d be dangerous if any of them ran into the boss ahead of me for nothing.
The Zone 5 Boss had to be at least around level 100.
[Ignition: What’s up with the Zone 5 gauge? Wasn’t it like 80% a second ago?]
[Plié: Yeah. It suddenly filled at insane speed? Is it a bug?]
[Statute: What bug lol]
[Advent: Huh? Person123 posted saying he’s killing the Zone 5 Boss? Check the Nightmare Channel.]
[Spaceship: Don’t tell me Person123 did the Zone 5 gauge?]
[Resilon: Judging by the post, looks like it…?]
[GreenTea: What kind of chaos is this now, how’d you even do it lolololololol]
I closed the Communication Channel, which had descended into chaos, and entered Floor 5 again.
I went around hunting monsters to fill the remaining 0.1%.
After a fair bit of time had passed like that…
[The Zone 5 Boss appears.]
The message popped up.
I hopped on Plli and started running around Zone 5.
The fog was the problem, as expected.
With my sight blocked, tracking down the boss looked like it would take ages.
Even so, I concentrated as hard as I could and put my Sixth Sense skill to work.
Since it was a boss, my Sixth Sense would react more strongly to it, which let me widen my search range.
‘Don’t tell me I won’t even find it today…?’
I roamed Zone 5 for a good while with that thought in my head.
…Should I give up for today and pick it up tomorrow? Just as that idea was starting to creep in.
“…!”
I whipped my head around toward one side.
My Sixth Sense reacted, very faintly.
I immediately sprinted in that direction.
‘It’s the boss.’
Before long, a monster burst out of the fog.
I dismissed Plli and dropped down to the ground.
A creature shaped like… a white jellyfish? Standing up on its tentacles, more or less.
No, wait, it was hovering a little off the ground, like a ghost.
And it was enormous, of course.
Judging by feel, it was roughly the same size as the Zone 4 Boss.
There was only the satisfaction of having found it, no real tension.
Even through my Sixth Sense, I could tell it was well within my ability to handle.
And if by some slim chance it did get dangerous, I could just use the Demon King’s power.
Anyway… this thing gives off almost no presence even right in front of me?
Fwoom!
The jellyfish boss, writhing without making a sound, brought a single tentacle slamming down toward me.
I hopped lightly to the side and dodged.
The tentacle reduced the ground where I’d just been standing to rubble.
I stopped time right there in midair.
Finishing my Mental Concentration, I fired a fully charged Destruction Ray.
Shooooo…
‘Hm?’
The Destruction Ray punched straight through the boss’s body.
But then the struck section scattered like fog and, in an instant, I watched it return to how it had been.
Next I threw a Flame Strike as well.
Kaboom!
A ferocious blaze surged up and blew the boss apart.
But it was the same thing this time too.
The boss’s body scattered like fog, then reverted to its original state.
What the hell is this…
At this rate, it’s just invincible.
The boss attacked again. A barrage of tentacles.
I dodged the tentacles, darting this way and that.
Then the boss scattered like fog.
“…!”
My Sixth Sense reacted from behind me.
I quickly turned my head.
The boss had suddenly appeared at my back.
Huh, so it teleports too?
The boss opened up what looked like a mouth on the inner part of its tentacle.
A powerful shockwave burst out, and everything in a straight line, ground and trees alike, was swept clean away.
I dodged out of the way in time, naturally.
After putting some distance between us, I stopped time for a moment and thought.
The abilities I’d pinned down were turning its body to fog, teleportation, and the shockwave attack.
Dodging its attacks was no great trouble, but…
The problem was that its ability to turn its body to fog was shrugging off every one of my attacks.
…Could it be that magic skills don’t work, and only physical attacks land?
To check, this time I charged the boss directly.
Dodging the tentacle attacks, I closed in.
I used Leap and pounded the boss’s head with my bare fist.
No sense of impact at all, and again the struck section scattered like smoke. I couldn’t even touch it.
Using Air Walk, I evaded the tentacles lashing at me in midair, then pulled back again.
‘Is this one a gimmick monster?’
There was no way it was actually invincible.
They wouldn’t make it if it couldn’t be beaten, right?
Back when I was clearing a Sub-Tower, there’d been one with a similar ability. The Vampire Boss, the one whose body was made of blood.
That one I’d driven off by just blasting its whole body away with Destruction Ray… but that wouldn’t work on this thing.
“Ah.”
A thought came to me.
The ground where the boss’s tentacles struck had all been smashed to pieces.
It was simple logic.
My physical force doesn’t land on it at all… so how is it exerting physical force?
Fwoom!
Another tentacle came swinging in.
This time I didn’t dodge.
Right before the tentacle could hit me, I cast Lightning Strike.
Bzzzzt!
The tip of the boss’s tentacle burst apart, clean and satisfying.
‘Bingo.’
I had it figured out.
This selfish little bastard, so it only releases its fog ability the moment it attacks?
In that case, all I had to do was aim for that one moment and strike back.
The boss, one tentacle blown off, showed no particular sign of pain and swung another tentacle.
Given that it had turned to fog earlier too, when I closed in dodging tentacles and hit it with my fist…
The window when the fog dropped had to be an extremely brief instant.
I timed it and used Teleportation to evade its attack, and in that very same instant.
Rather than aiming at the tentacle, I cast Hellfire Eruption at the boss’s head.
If its releasing of the fog wasn’t limited to just the attacking tentacle…
Kaboooom!
An enormous pillar of fire shot upward.
The boss didn’t scatter into fog; it took the hit head-on.
Sure enough, its whole body’s fog form drops.
The boss, blazing away in the hellfire, slumped and crumbled.
This was Hellfire Eruption with its power nearly doubled by the Zone 3 Boss Bracelet and the fire magic passive.
But a boss is a boss, and it didn’t die right away. Its life force was tenacious.
I didn’t bother closing in; I laid down a Scorching Zone and kept firing off spells.
Not long after, a message popped up.
[The Zone 5 Boss has been defeated.]
[You have obtained the Zone 5 Boss Kill Reward.]
[You have obtained the Zone 5 Boss First-Kill Reward.]
The Zone 5 Boss.
An easy clear.
I went straight back to the Zone 0 portal and moved into the Reward Room.
Now then, let’s see what dropped.
“Oh.”
There were three rewards.
A boss item that looked to be the First Clear Reward.
By its appearance, a pure white orb.
And an Epic-grade Skill Stone and a Rare-grade Skill Enhancement Stone, one each.
Quite a lot dropped, huh?
I checked the rewards one by one.