Chapter 48.1

Let’s Be Victorious against the Central Layer Gatekeeper!

Exploration of the 9th layer had all but finished.

There was just one room left.

Haruki and Karen were standing as far away from the room as they could while still being able to see it.

As this was the floor where the anteaters appeared, Haruki expected there to be a large anteater boss.

However, what he saw now was a little different from that.

The thing that stood in the boss room was a humanoid monster with an anteater head.

It was a demi-human called a Berobero.

It was 2 meters tall.

Its body was slender and it walked on two legs.

And there was a spear in its hand.

Out of all the monsters that Haruki had fought, none of them had been armed with a weapon.

So this one was different from all previous monsters.

But perhaps he should have expected nothing less from the gatekeeper of the central layer.

“…It looks strong.”

Haruki felt a chill go down his spine.

They were probably still too far away for the boss to have noticed them.

However, he still couldn’t see an opening for an attack.

Did it know that they were there?

Or was it just so strong that it never let its guard down?

“Please be the latter.”

Haruki said with a grin.

The thought of a powerful enemy made him shiver with expectation…

As for Karen, she looked scared as she stood next to him and watched the boss.

This was the boss for the 9th floor. And as it was guarding the central layer, it looked very strong.

And even though they still had this distance between them, its strength was tangible.

“…I’m scared.”

That’s what Karen thought.

What she was feeling now was a lot like what she felt when she was abandoned at the monster parade.

It was probably because there was that much a difference in strength between her and the boss.

Still, they had to keep going forward.

The adventure must go on.

If she continued to be scared by the power of an enemy, she would never be able to escape being the same, weak Karen.

＊

“…Let’s go then.”

“Yes!”

Haruki finished checking his equipment and started to heighten his concentration.

This time, they wouldn’t shoot from outside of the room at all.

That probably wouldn’t work.

Haruki couldn’t imagine a scenario where every unleashed bullet wasn’t easily blocked.

Unless the enemy had an opening, then ranged attacks would not hit him.

And so the first thing to do was to cut in deeply.

He had to go to the deep stream of concentration.

Fall and dive.

“…!”

Haruki jumped out with all of his might.

The boss immediately noticed him.

“…”

The boss held his spear ready.

And then it grinned.

Haruki shuddered.

20, 10, 5.

The distance between them vanished and their weapons clashed.

—iiiiinnnng!!

Their arm strength was comparable.

However, the difference in height and weight was too big.

And there was also a difference in skill.

And so Haruki was pushed back.

However, he did not panic.

He allowed himself to rise into the air every time he was hit, as a way of killing some of the force of the enemy’s attacks.

But before he could enter his next attack stance, the boss moved his spear.

The raised spear swung downward over Haruki’s head.

He parried it to the side with his dagger and then used his magic sword to aim for the boss’s throat.

The boss moved quickly.

He turned his wrists and then thrust.

So fast!

Haruki put the breaks on the legs that had been moving forward.

The soles of his shoes screamed.

His body creaked.

The spear went right past Haruki’s eyes.

A cold sweat poured from his skin as he heard the sound of the blade cutting through the air.

He would surely have been defeated if that thrust had hit him now.

That’s how powerful it was. He could feel it from the sound.

He stepped away before the followup attack could come.

Haruki was now out of the boss’s range.

It had only been a short exchange, but it was enough to feel his opponent’s power.

If he fought without thinking, he would lose.

This was not someone you could just push your way through.

He had to concentrate!

Concentrate, condense, observe, imagine, predict, and test.

Find out everything about them and block every attack.

And then–exceed your opponent’s violence!!

And so Haruki attacked the boss relentlessly.

But the boss moved its spear swiftly and blocked every attack.

If Haruki pushed too far in, a sharp counterattack would force him to retreat.

That being said, he couldn’t be a spectator either.

The boss would immediately take advantage of it if he slowed down.

Good.

This was very good!

Haruki laughed.

It had been a while since he faced such a strong enemy.

It had been a while since he went all out.

He had to use all of his abilities to the very limit.

And even then, he didn’t reach the boss.

But Rhea would make up for that.

Her potato stones blocked all of the attacks that he could not.

Just then, Rhea hit him hard on the shoulder.

Haruki frantically jumped back.

And then he fled from the area.

Beside Haruki, a thick, white, swirling mass passed by.

It hit the boss’s spear.

–aaamm!!

She must have been charging it for a while.

Her magic was strong enough to blow away an Owner.

However, while it did make the boss’s feet slide a little, it did little else.

Glare.

The hateful eyes moved away from Haruki and towards Karen.

It ignored Haruki now and moved towards her.

This was bad!

Karen wouldn’t be able to block the boss’s attacks.

Haruki frantically began to move.

He dashed towards Karen as fast as he could.

However, the boss had started to move at the same time.

“Rhea!”

She must have read his mind because she immediately began to fire at the boss.

Though, it must have decided that she wasn’t a threat.

Because the boss didn’t even try to dodge the potato stones.

It didn’t mind being hit.

Karen was almost within range of the boss now.

But before that…

“Haah!”

Haruki picked up Karen and dashed out of the room.

He kept running for at least a hundred meters.

Once he saw that the boss wasn’t chasing them, he slowed down.

Then he turned around and confirmed that they had escaped, and he let out a great sigh of relief.

Haruki collapsed on the ground and his shoulders heaved up and down while he caught his breath.

“…That was close.”

Judging by the boss’s movements, it had been a very dangerous situation.

Up until now, a monster had never rushed past Haruki like that.

Or even if they tried, Karen and Rhea’s attacks would have been enough to kill it.

But the Berobero was different.

It had rushed towards Karen at the same speed as Haruki.

And Rhea’s attacks had done nothing.

No matter how high the defense ability of her armor was, Karen was the rear guard, and she could not stop that level of damage.

Had Haruki not been able to save her back there, she would have been gravely wounded.

“If our old tactics for fighting bosses won’t work here, that will make things really tough.”

They would have to alter their tactics in order to beat this enemy.

Keeping the enemy’s attention on him would be important.

As Karen’s magic was so powerful, it just took one hit for her to become the main target.

Maybe it would be better for her to lower its force and attack multiple times instead…

“No, maybe we just need to level up a little.”

There hadn’t been much of a difference in power with this boss.

It was the same as Haruki. Maybe just a little stronger.

In that case, it would be good to level up so that they were strong enough to overwhelm the boss.

Fighting strong enemies was entertaining for him, but it would all be over if he died in the process.

“…Hmm? What?”

While Haruki had been thinking, Karen was biting her lip as if she was in pain.

In fact, it looked as if there were tears in her eyes.