CH 181.1

Chapter 181.1: Super Boss

We were walking on the wasteland with nothing but sand and rock, along the bottom of the valley that was formed from the extremely tall cliff.

According to Ryuuichi’s story, we had to walk around for an hour along the cliff before we arrived at the actual boss stage. We were exchanging more information along the way.

「『Hero』 and 『Saint』, eh. It feels like something that suited you guys for some reason.」

「I never consider myself a hero but… I think your 『King』 suits you.」

「Shut up! It’s not like I can change the name of my vocation.」

No doubt about it! Ryuuichi’s vocation was a rather peculiar one. According to Nonomiya-san and Co’s stories, his vocation couldn’t even be compared to them since its combat prowess was simply too overwhelming.

「And yet, you still can’t beat the boss eh…」

「Well, you’ll understand the reason as soon as you see the boss. We’re currently in a stalemate.」

「Are you sure it’s really okay to mess around with such an opponent?」

「Fortunately, the other party never moved an inch from its current position. It won’t even go after us even if we escaped. That’s the sole reason I’ve survived until now.」

Meaning that the boss will not move from the boss room’s rule was applied to that boss too. I thought that the boss was something like that flying dragon which I saw back then in the jungle but, I guess we’re lucky since we didn’t have to worry about the other party chasing after us.

On the other hand, we couldn’t gain an advantage over the other party either.

「Over there.」

When I looked at where Ryuuichi was pointing, I noticed that the air in the valley was different from before. Extremely powerful mana was drifting about.

We would arrive in the boss room as soon as we came out from the va―― or should I say that the rocky mountain that stayed still was the location of the boss.

「What a number… all of them are monsters, huh.」

There was a huge mountain standing right in the centre of the mortar-shaped ground. Amid the densely packed pillars, there was a huge one in the centre that stood out from the rest like a skyscraper.

Countless goma-like monsters called gargoyle were living in the stone jungle of that mountain.

「Yuuto and I will go down over there. The rest of you girls just stand by in this place.」

「Ryuuichi, are you sure that the two of you are enough to beat all of them? I mean, it’s just too mu-」

「Yes, let us fight along with big brother t-」

「Ryoko, Sakura, take care of those monkeys for us.」

Class Rep and Sakura raised an objection upon seeing the number of monsters that we had never seen before and yet, Ryuuichi dismissed them before they managed to finish their remarks.

No, wait a minute, Ryuuichi didn’t even care about the army of gargoyles.

「Prepare yourself, Yuuto. The boss is coming.」

At that moment, a tremor ran through the ground. Before I even had the time to consider whether it was an earthquake or not, the mountain before us started to change.

「Wha-What the heck is that… It’s way too huge.」

Something like a snake came out from a huge hole.

Its size was huge to the point that it might not even be a snake anymore. I mean, what the hell was that? It was even bigger than a train.

「Here it comes, Yuuto.」

Even though its sheer size was enough to surprise me, Ryuuichi jumped down and rushed toward the snake.

Before I knew it, his hands were already wrapped in black gauntlets with golden patterns, he was also carrying a black great sword in his hand.

「Wait, Ryuuichi! Good grief, what an impatient guy. Sakura, I’ll leave the covering fire to you. Take care of those gargoyles while we fight that giant snake.」

「Understood, big brother. Please be careful.」

「Be careful, Yuuto-kun. And make sure that you drag Ryuuichi back if things get too dangerous.」

「Okay.」

With that, I was chasing after Ryuuichi, running toward that ultra-sized snake whose size was big to the point that I had to raise my face to look at it.

「――Well, we’re literally lacking both strength and manpower to beat this guy.」

「So that’s why you’re waiting for the other classmates to arrive at this place.」

「Yeah, ain’t gonna lie about it being too big for me to defeat it by myself.」

「So you did try to beat it by yourself.」

「It’s been a really long time since I sold a quarrel and got the table turned against me.」

Ryuuichi said with a refreshing smile on his face despite his tattered condition.

Yeah, I somehow got the gist of it, but I was truly convinced upon seeing his smile about this dungeon being nothing but a thrilling battle for Ryuuichi. I’d never met a battle junkie who loved battle more than him, or so I wanted to say, but my grandfather was an even worse battle junkie than Ryuuichi. That person was literally a berserker.

「Anyhow, trying to beat that thing from the front is a fool’s errand.」

Both Ryuuichi and I were beaten black and blue against the ultra-sized snake that I had never seen before. There was no use trying to sugarcoat our current situation, we were escaping from that giant kaijuu… We’re escaping with tails between our legs, returning to the fairy plaza.

Ryuuichi was very tattered, and the same could be said for me.

""

「They go up to five.」

「Seriously… Just how many of THAT is hidden in there?」

At first, there was only one ultra-sized snake. Its size was overwhelming, but both Ryuuichi and I could easily take care of it.

It was easier than I expected―― was what I felt until I saw the second head appear from the mountain.

At that moment, I thought that my eyes were playing a trick on me, or I was hit by some sort of illusion spell but… The second head was a reality.

「U-U~hm, Souma-kun…」

「What’s the matter, Takanashi-san?」

Takanashi-san was keeping her distance, clearly scared of Ryuuichi, but she made a resolute face as she approached me and then opened her mouth.

「Yo-You see… There might be a total of eight heads of that snake.」

「How did you know about that, Takanashi?」

「HYAAAA!?」

Takanashi-san jumped in surprise upon hearing Ryuuichi suddenly asking a question to her, but she calmed down a few seconds later. It resembled the sight of a lion glaring at a little deer.

「I-I saw with my 『Magical Power Analysis』 that there are eight similar reactions of magical power from inside the mountain… that’s why I think that there might be eight of them.」

It seemed that mountain was the nest of the gargoyle, and also the nest of that giant snake. There are eight of those guys, eh.

「As expected, the analytical power of 『Sage』 is reliable. Did you find anything else, Takanashi-san?」

「Let’s see, there are eight snakes but… in fact, it’s just one.」

「EH!?」

「That giant snake is actually coming from a body of a monster!」

「――I see, we’re fighting against Yamata no Orochi, huh.」

Ryuuichi guessed right away the true identity of that giant snake. Indeed, there was no other name that was more appropriate for the eight-headed enormous serpent.

「Also, I think the only possible way to beat that Yamata no Orochi is by destroying the biggest lump of magical power in its centre, which I think is its core.」

「So you’re trying to say that fella can regenerate its head.」

「Yes, I think it’ll keep regenerating its head with the supply of magical power from its core.」

The main reason for our defeat wasn’t because of the number of the giant snake, it was simply because of our opponent’s terrifying regeneration.

""

Ryuuichi and I had beheaded the first head that came out very easily, but the second and then the third that came out from inside the mountain… turned out to be the revived first head.

While blue particles of light were covering the cross-section of its decapitated neck, they regenerated at an extremely terrifying speed considering its size.

In just five minutes, its uninjured head was already baring its huge fangs toward us again.

And then, when the two of us were struggling against the third head, and just barely managed to beat the sh*t of it, another two heads made their appearance, this time showering us with thunder and fire breaths respectively―― In the end, the three heads that we defeated a while ago were resurrected, making the battle into 5 vs 2 which forced us to retreat.

「That’s mean, even if we somehow managed to defeat all of its eight heads…」

「Maybe it’ll just regenerate again.」

It was truly a hopeless situation.

I mean, it was freaking eight giant snakes. Even if we somehow managed to behead all the eight heads, it might just resurrect like nothing.

Moreover, those breath attacks aside, I got this feeling that they still had an ace in the hole.

「The only sure way to kill it is to destroy its core, eh.」

「Ain’t gonna be a simple matter either.」

Yeah. I’m pretty sure that Yamata no Orochi was aware of its own weakness. That’s why the core that connected to the eight heads was hidden within the shell called the mountain.

「Since there’s a place for their head to come out, can we just use that passage to enter into the mountain?」

「That’s most likely impossible since we might not even have any room to spare.」