I hadn't noticed it during the large battle but while we were slaughtering our way through the gigantic goblin horde at Alessa. I had managed to level up from the Goblin General's crystal.
[Rank 8; Crystals: 2901/3600; Skill Capacity: 90; EP: 64]
[It's been a while since I leveled up! The last time this happened was back in the Demon Wolf's Garden!]
Surprised I didn't level up before but considering I didn't devour any crystal on sight and only selectively chose them, it made a bit of sense.
We had continued making our way over to the dungeon on high alert for more goblins but more never came. Although...
[The goblins are just lying outside my detection radius. Each time we get close, they run away.]
(Nn. Cowards.)
[It's not that Fran. There's something else going on... but what?]
(Nn... a trap?)
[It's possible...]
We would just have to wait and see if the goblins tried to swarm them en masse but for now their numbers were extremely low.
It wasn't until we got close to the dungeon that I finally started detecting loads of goblins...
Absolute gargantuan amounts of them...
[There's at least a thousand around here!]
(Nn.)
Fran immediately went to warn Donadrond about what she was sensing. Donadrond immediately took Fran's word and the group halted their activities and set up camp.
"Are we sure there's loads of goblins around here?"
"I don't see any... right?"
"No. There's definitely some."
One of the Scout Class adventurers came over.
"There's loads of them, I'm not sure how many but I could sense them a bit."
This guy had Danger Sense but other than that, his other Skills were poultry. Still, with his word, it erased the doubt about Fran's senses.
A few hours went by as we continued helping construct the camp. Fran was helping out with much of the heavy labor since, despite her looks, she was by far one of the strongest here. Part of it was funny to see a tiny girl picking up a giant crate filled with weapons.
We could still sense large goblin activity but it seemed like they were actively avoiding the area where we were busy setting up our camp.
I questioned why for a bit but it might have something to do with Donadrond now obtaining Goblin Slayer since the last time we met with him. His aura was pouring so obviously the goblins must have noticed it and began avoiding the area.
The number of adventurers we had here compared to back in the guild building was drastically reduced looking at it. It seemed like only the strongest and least cowardly of them came with us but this was still more than enough for the dungeon.
The preparations were going relatively smoothly but there was a point where I could tell something was going wrong.
[Fran.]
(Nn?)
[The goblins are slowly approaching the camp.]
(Nn??)
It seemed like it was barely outside the view of everyone else's detection Skills. I could make out large groups of goblins slightly shifting positions around the camp but they weren't approaching it. It was almost as if they were beginning to plan an assault...
[Warn Donadrond.]
(Nn!)
Fran quickly rushed over towards Donadrond with the news.
"Goblins are preparing an assault?!"
"Nn!"
"The Scouts and Thieves have not reported any moves! How are you so certain?!"
Fran didn't really answer but just looked at Donadrond with a determined look. It was almost as if she was saying that she instinctively knew. That wasn't at all true since it was just Great Sage amplifying my senses to see beyond what anyone else could but still.
"Prepare yourselves! Get in position!"
The camp immediately went into lockdown as the adventurers including the scouts and thieves that were out on patrol came back quickly. It seemed like they had all taken Donadrond at his word but then goblins not attacking were making things really difficult for Fran.
"Fran... are you certain."
"N-nn."
Fran's composure was breaking. Even if no one else could see the goblins, they were definitely there in the dark. The only problem was figuring out how to get them to come... out?
A single goblin came out of the forest and began running away like a sort of coward. Although...
Analytical Appraisal showed a bit of stuff about this goblin in particular.
Name: Goblin Actor
Race: Demon; Fiend
LV: 6/99
HP: 27; MP: 12; Strength: 9; Vitality: 12; Agility: 14; Intelligence: 13; Magic: 4; Dexterity: 9
Skills: Acting 3; Provocation 2; Stick Mastery 2
Titles: Slave of the Evil God
Details: An evil born of a fragment of the Evil God, who was defeated 100,000 years ago. He fights for an Evil Empire and an Evil Mage that must be destroyed at all costs. Threat Level: G.
Crystal Location: Heart
Those cheeky bastards...
(Nn. Want to kill it.)
[Stop Fran!]
Fran was almost about to leap over there to kill it but there was something horrendously off about this goblin. He was quite literally acting pathetic while at the same time trying to provoke others into attacking them. In every sense, this guy was trying to lead whoever was dumb enough into-
"Someone kill that stupid goblin!"
"I'll do it!"
"Talk about a false alarm..."
A trap!
[Stone Bullet!]
I immediately cast a spell to simply murder the goblin to avoid anyone from going out there just to slay it.
Everyone looked over at Fran with confusion before a rather large rumbling took place.
[The goblins, they're approaching...]
If the trap doesn't work, then they'll go with the next best thing. A Mass Assault...
[Fran!]
(Nn! Battle-)
[No. Take a look at everyone else.]
Unlike before where Donadrond had hopped off the wall to enter the thick of battle, he was keeping an eye on the surrounding camp and the meager walls set in place. The goblins are searching for a weak point around the camp and we would need to fill in that gap.
If a single goblin broke through, it would be disastrous since unlike Alessa where we could run back into the city, there was nowhere to run out here.
The adventurers began to collide with the goblins almost immediately with many standing guard while others launched projectiles against the goblins. Although unfortunately the goblins returned fire towards us.
[One injured... two injured... three...]
(Nn?)
[Keeping track of how many of our comrades are being hurt.]
(Then we'll heal them!)
[Right!]
Fran immediately began rushing around the camp and casting all sorts of different variants of healing and support spells. If she couldn't fight, she was sure as hell going to support her teammates.
"GACK!"
"Greater Heal!"
"My wound... thanks!"
"Nn!"
We continued our work here healing others but like before, the goblins were unrelenting. Soon enough a breach was formed that Donadrond immediately rushed over towards.
It was interesting to see his combat style as it focused nearly entirely on power and nothing else. He wasn't particularly using his head and just rushed in with full force, simply blasting back the goblins with pure power alone. Many goblins ran away from him but began switching up their style by firing arrows and spells towards him at a rapid pace but fortunately his innate regenerative capabilities were making sure he kept up. Although just to make sure, I casted a few Support Spells on him just to be safe.
"Hm?"
"Nn. Good luck."
"Heh. You are sure as hell full of surprises!"
Donadrond unleashed the full potential of his explosive force and blasted apart an entire column of goblins apart. Still there were so many more so it was about time that we had begun casting away all.
We launched all sorts of Wind Spells over towards the goblins to knock them back or to send their own arrows back at them. Gale Hazard, Wind Blade, Air Blast, and Wind Wall specifically were ones that we were spamming out but there were still so many coming through.
The numbers didn't go down though, suggesting that they were being summoned from somewhere. Where? That was the question...
Great Sage hasn't contacted me yet about anyone using Summon Kin so where in the hell would they be coming from?
We continued healing up and buffing as many people as possible with my spells but even I had a limit to how much mana I could use. My mana reserves were already beginning to hit the halfway mark...
Not to mention but...
"Greater... Heal!"
Fran was getting exhausted at constantly casting.
Just where in the hell would they be coming from...?
Taking a look at the enemies, the thinnest area they were was at the back of the camp but they would filter in from the sides. The largest group came from the front... that's right! The front!
[Fran. I know you haven't practiced this since the forest but of all times this would be necessary?]
(Nn?... Oh! Nn! Let's do it!)
Fran immediately activated the Skill I was referring to. Air Hike!
It was a Skill I obtained by devouring the Tyrant Saber-Tooth Tiger. Didn't think we would have to take advantage of it like this but desperate times come to desperate measures!
"The hell?!"
"Is Fran flying?!"
"Where's the kid going?"
Seems like we caught the attention of the battling adventures on the ground. While the goblins were into Mass Assault, we had Superior Firepower on our side!
[Split Mind! Fire Javelin! Fire Arrow!]
"Tri-Explosion!"
<Unleashing Autocast.>
Immediately several loads of spells were launched all across the frontline of the battlefield, leaving nothing more than a scorching wasteland in Fran's wake. Still, there were loads of Goblins remaining so we had to get down to the ground to finish off the rest.
Fran landed directly into the fire and ash of the goblin and launched a Sonic Wave mixed with Vibrofang towards the goblins. None of the goblins stood no chance against the attack, even those with shields as the attack pierced straight through and cut them all in half.
Now!
[Stone Wall!]
We immediately sealed up the entrance of the cave and I casted a whole load of more spells around the entrance to jerry rig it for when they start trying to bust out.
Sure enough, they immediately tried to bust out!
"Nn! Everyone! Kill the Goblins!"
It seemed like the battle turned over in the adventurers favor as everyone rushed out of the camp to strike back at the goblins who were beginning to disperse in all angles. Many targeted Fran but a few strikes from her kept the goblins from hurting her. Still, we needed to focus on keeping this entrance shut!
It was like plugging up the exit holes of an Ant Hill!
"Fran! Move aside!"
"Nn?! Ok!?"
Fran immediately hopped out of the way as goblins busted straight through the entrance.
"Wide Impulse!"
Donadrond launched a rather massive blast of aura into the small entrance and blew straight past and through the goblins.
"We'll need to strike and kill the Goblin King and Queen now! The longer we wait! The more bastards come out! GO GO GO!"
"Nn!"
Fran immediately dived into the entrance and activated Elemental Blade: Flame. We immediately began cutting through the goblins as if they were nothing while more began to rush in. The area was too crowded for the goblins to use things like arrows and spells so they had to resort to full scale attacks. Meanwhile...
[Stone Bullet!]
Several waves of stone bullets pierced straight through the goblin numbers. Their numbers were a gigantic disadvantage for them.
We slashed our way through the hordes of goblins that had no end in sight once we had thinned out their numbers. At some point I was thinking that we were finally able to kill them faster than they spawned in. Although I could always be wrong with that assumption...
We spent about 10 minutes trapped at the entrance until finally the goblins stopped coming.
"Is it over?"
[Looks like it.]
"To think goblins could give us so much trouble. This was supposed to be a brand new dungeon as well, the hell happened here?!"
"I'm not sure but if that was just what we were facing on the outside, who knows what the Dungeon Master looks like in here."
"Stay on guard!"
The entire group agreed as we all began to descend into the dungeon together, except for a few of the weak ones, particularly half of the F-Ranks, who stayed behind to guard the entrance to make sure we didn't end up getting surrounded on two sides.
Making our way through the dungeon, Donadrond gave us more tips as we made our way through. Firstly, Dungeons vary in terms of floor count. The older the dungeon, the more floors they contain. This changes between dungeons though so it is only a theory that the age of a dungeon equals its size.
We cleared our way through the dungeon where I essentially acted as a sort of torch to light the dimly lit cave.
"Fran, aren't you... literally burning mana?"
"Nn?"
[In a sense, Elevent is correct.]
(About what?)
[Well for starters, I doubt there's any other weapon that can sustain constant use of Elemental Blade like I can.]
(Oh. Are you ok?)
[Oh I'm perfectly fine, it's just that I'm extremely confusing to everyone else.]
It seemed like everyone else just noticed as well what an anomaly just having a flaming sword around was.
"Yeah... how are you maintaining that for so long?"
"Nn. It's normal."
"No, in no way is that normal."
"No time to question our own allies! Move forward!"
"Right..."
It seemed like Donadrond got the attention off Fran for us. We'll definitely need to thank him later for that.
We continued down through the dungeon and cut through more hordes of goblins. The deeper we were going into the dungeon, the more the number of goblins seemed to increase. It didn't matter how many we cleared out on the outside, there would always be a reserve of goblins on the inside.
We eventually made our way over towards a rather twisted and rather unstable looking bridge that led down.
"This dungeon has a second floor. Hm."
"Should I scout ahead?"
"No, stay here with us. It's too risky to make moves forward."
Elevent was keeping his party close while Fran and Donadrond were looking down. We could see the floor and make out the shapes of a few goblins down below.
"You all, stay behind me! URAH!"
Donadrond immediately launched himself off the side and immediately came crashing down to the bottom floor. We could feel the damn shockwave from his impact into the ground and Fran immediately followed but much more gracefully in comparison. I reduced her fall with a combination of Wind Magic, Float, and Telekinesis to make sure she got down to the ground safely.
The others just took the safer route and just walked down the bridge.
By the time everyone got down to the second floor, the entire bottom of the stairway was decimated with not a single goblin left in sight.
"Onto the next room."
"Nn."
We followed Donadrond while the others began to lag behind us. Both of them combined were a rather formidable force and no goblin really stood a chance.
One moment there would be a horde of goblins, the next there would only be debris and chunks of goblins.
"HAHAHA! Nice work Fran!"
"Nn. Thanks."
Fran seemed really proud of herself. It seemed like Ogres in this world were just as strong as Ogres in my world, at least from looking at Donadrond. I wasn't confident in his strength at first seeing how easily Fran beat him in our first battle but that was mostly because Fran unleashed practically everything against him, not to mention Fran is a rather unpredictable opponent to anyone who hasn't seen her.
Wonder if Donadrond and Hakurou would get along... hm...
The combo of Fran and Donadrond made their way further through the dungeon and there was nothing remarkable while going through the second floor besides endless waves of goblins that every now and then appeared.
We sliced through the waves no problem and eventually made our way to another stairwell but at the bottom of this stairwell was... something a lot different.
[Hold on Fran... don't go down yet.]
(Nn?)
I could feel the movement of hundreds of goblins down there but there were quite a load of different presences of varying strength down there. I decided to have Great Sage map out what I was looking at to make sure.
[...just how many Kings and Queens did they have down there?!]
(Nn?)
I could make out about 11 different chambers down below that led into varying different rooms. One chamber had a door in the middle of it, five of them seemed to be sorts of infirmaries or some variation of it as there were tiny goblins in them, and finally there was another five that were home to Kings and Queens. It made it a total of five Kings and five Queens... no wonder there were so many goblins! These guys were pumping them out like it was just any other Tuesday!
[Warn them.]
(Nn.)
"Too many kings and queens."
"What do you mean too many?!"
Donadrond seemed confused and the others seemed to pitch in their confusion as well.
"Are you telling us there's more than one king and queen?!?"
"Nn."
"Normal colonies don't have more than one king and queen!"
"Yeah but we aren't looking at a normal colony... since this is in the middle of a dungeon..."
"Right... likely the strongest goblins are down there as well. That puts a frontal assault out of the question."
"Nn? Why?"
One of Elevent's party members gave Fran a little run down.
"Goblin Kings and Goblin Queens tend to provide support to their minions through their Skills from what I remember. We won't be able to push through, especially if these are the strongest goblins."
"Nn... then what are we supposed to do?"
"Gather around."
Donadrond gathered the others together and everyone immediately began to pool their different ideas together for a plan of attack.
What was generally agreed on was that it would be impossible to sneak past that massive amount of goblins and take out the kings and queens. Meaning someone had to be some sort of distraction. That role...
"Donadrond."
"Has to be Donadrond."
"Nn. Donadrond."
"Hahaha! Don't worry about it!"
"Now, we'll need someone to discreetly kill the king and queens while the goblins are preoccupied with Donadrond."
It seemed like Elevent's party awas looking towards their leader as their choice but...
"No, I ain't suited fer' a sneak attack. I'm more of a frontline battler."
"Are we going with Fran then?"
"Fran is the next logical choice right? We all saw how she just skipped over the sky of the battlefield earlier... right? That wasn't just me?"
"Yeah... we're trustin' you Fran with killin' those big ones."
"Nn!"
Fran was nearly wagging her tail like some sort of dog from that. It seemed like she was excited about dealing with the massive ones.
The group immediately began to put their plan into action with Donadrond jumping down the massive stairwell with full force once again. The blast killed far more goblins than the previous slam since there were far more goblins gathered.
Although unfortunately for Donadrond... There were far more goblins gathered.
They all immediately began swarming him and it was clear he was immediately struggling.
Elevent rushed down with the other frontlines in his party while the archer and mage they had with them stayed behind and began firing from the top of the stairwell into the gigantic crowd of goblins that were forming against Donadrond.
[Alright, let's test our Stealth Skills this time around Fran!]
(Nn.)
Fran immediately utilized every single one available to her and that essentially nearly wiped away her mana signature. I was even having a difficult time detecting her. Although the problem with her was that she failed to completely wipe away her being even with so many Stealth Skills working in tandem.
Still, this should be enough.
Fran immediately began dashing through the upper sections of the dungeon and kept dashing behind rather large stone pillars that were around the area.
The problem fell to the fact there were five kings and five queens. I severely doubted I could eliminate all of them with a spam of spells so we had to play this more carefully.
[Fran, see any openings?]
(No. Too many weaklings.)
She was right, there were too many surrounding the king and queens still. Although one thing I noticed was that our plan was relatively working as the goblins were completely focused on Donadrond and the other frontline fighters.
Hm...
Oh!
[Hey Fran! Remember that Mana Thread trap we set before?]
(Nn?)
I began instructing Fran to hop between the different stone spikes and pillars that were gathered around the dungeon. One by one, Fran dashed onto it and I immediately placed down some Mana Threads that connected back to me. Soon enough, it was all set.
Fran dashed back to solid ground much to the confusion of the archer and mage.
"What are you doing?!"
"Yeah! You're supposed to be-"
[Pull me! Now!]
(NN! HRKKKKK!!!)
The entire dungeon began to rumble a bit as Fran was putting her full force into the rocks. With Herculean Strength reinforcing her pull, the giant stone pillars were displaced and began to crack and tumble down. With the stone pillars falling, the stone spikes that were attached buckled under the immense weight of the stone pillars and fell alongside them.
The next thing everyone saw was that the giant pillars crushed hundreds of goblins including three of the Queens and two of the Kings.
"Nn... didn't get all of them..."
"R-right..."
"She collapsed the dungeon for that?!"
Fran immediately rushed back in but our footing wouldn't be so stable now since we had collapsed the upper ceiling of the dungeon. Many of the rocks were loose so Fran had to watch her step rather carefully. With the few rocks that were unstable, Fran kicked them into the giant crowd of goblins, possibly injuring a few goblins as a result but I couldn't confirm whether it did or not.
All I could confirm was that the goblins were now fully aware of her presence up above and had begun firing all sorts of spells towards her.
(Nn! ACK!)
[Fran!]
One of the spells ended up blasting a rock that she was standing on apart. Fortunately Fran was able to regain her footing through Air Hike but this was a problem since Air Hike cost way too much mana to maintain.
<Charging blade with 100 MP.>
Fran immediately began heading for a Heavy Slash towards one of the Goblin Queens.
One moment, there was a queen, the next Fran was covered completely with goblin blood and guts.
[Talk about overkill Fran...]
(Nn. It needed to die.)
Goblins were immediately rushing over towards her position but Fran immediately infused me with Flame Magic. The goblins wanted to get close but the temperatures I was burning at was far too much for the goblins to properly approach us. Although Fran wasn't able to properly handle my temperatures either.
"It's... too... hot..."
[Fran, it's not a good idea to keep this up for long! Besides, you are burning way too much of my mana!]
"Nn... triple... slash!"
Fran immediately swung my blade three times into the gigantic crowd of goblins. Many of them were reduced to ash and many others got third degree burns from the strike she unleashed. Even the remaining queen was burnt by the attack but we still had several more Goblin Kings to deal with.
One Goblin King approached Fran from behind and tried to strike her back but I covered it with a Fire Wall to prevent that from happening. Couldn't say the same for her front which was completely exposed as more goblins came rushing in.
Fran was certainly struggling with this many goblins in the way but she charged forward regardless. Literally...
"DRAGON FANG!"
She aimed directly for the last queen and soon enough the last one was no more.
Now all that was left was the Goblin Kings. There remained at least three scattered around here. One tried rushing Fran but soon its head was blown off, not by Fran though.
"FRAN! ARE YOU OK!?"
"Nn. I'm fine Donadrond."
"HAHAHA! HAVEN'T DEALT WITH THIS SORT OF RESISTANCE IN A WHILE!"
Now there were only two left...
At least I had thought so but...
"Where's the other two kings?"
"You didn't notice you torched them?"
"I did?"
Turns out that Triple Slash was a lot more effective than we thought. Not only did we end up burning the last queen with that but we had also apparently torched the Goblin Kings into unrecognizable ash.
[Well done... but maybe hold back on the flames.]
(Nn.)
Fran just looked over towards me with a bit of worry on her face. It only just barely dawned on her on how potent that attack was. If I had to say, it was comparable to Black Flame except in its Black Part and the fact that it was a strike that wasn't infused with the Storm element.
I took a look at my mana after this battle just to get a good look at how much I had left.
Attack: 1001; MP: 939/6600; Durability: 6000/6000
Yabe... I've used way too much MP... Even with that gigantic thing inside me, it doesn't seem like it's contributing at all to my MP gain. All I've got working towards it is my Skills and there's no way those Skills can regenerate that much MP in such little time.
[Fran, we'll need to conserve what MP we have left. No more mass usage of spells unless it's called for. Ok?]
(Nn. Ok.)
I didn't even have enough MP to summon my False Body anymore since the False Body takes MP directly from my blade body to form. Never felt this restricted since Hinata's stupid holy barrier...
"We killed the kings and queens... is the quest over?"
"No, we still got a pesky Dungeon Master to deal with."
"We haven't come across the core either. We need to get that thing under control as well."
"Dungeon Mastah..."
Why did Fran always seem eager about killing something?! I've got to curb that personality trait else she'll just grow up being nothing more than a little demon! My work is really cut out for me...
Ughh....
(Nn? What's wrong master?)
[N-nothing. Let's just kill that Dungeon Master...]
(Nn!)
We continued through the Dungeon and found that there weren't anymore goblins. The remaining goblins we did find simply fled in all directions or simply croaked in the presence of Donadrond and Fran.
"Hm..."
"The goblins don't seem to have a leader now."
"Nn. Really?"
"The goblins we've been facing were coordinated. These ones are terrified and acting off their instincts. They're nothing more than broken beasts that have no sense of integrity."
That's likely suggesting that they don't have a central leader anymore. Meaning we shouldn't be facing any more kings and queens from now on. Still though, there was that Dungeon Master we should be keeping an eye on.
We all came across a rather massive red gateway.
"Hm... seems like behind this door should be the core."
"Let's make a move!"
Everyone agreed as Donadrond pushed the doors open. The entire room was completely pitch-black with no sort of lighting on the inside.
"It's too dark."
"It's fine as long as-"
The gigantic door behind us shut by itself.
Donadrond sighed as everyone else began to panic slightly in the dark.
(Master, can I?)
[Sure, it's necessary for the others.]
Fran lit me up with Flame Magic to provide a bit of light to everyone else. To amplify the amount of light we were creating, I infused a bit of Light Magic in there as well to make sure we were getting enough brightness.
"Good work Fran."
"Right! Now we can... look..."
With the light, we could finally make out what was in this room.
[That is... a lot of bugs...]
<Notice. Hostile Intent Detected.>
[Crud...]
The bugs immediately triggered from the increase in light and began swarming all around our group. There were at least thousands of bugs here...
"PROTECT THE BACKLINE!"
Donadrond immediately positioned himself in front of the archer and mage as a swarm of about twenty bugs charged in towards us before quickly fleeing away back into the gigantic swarm that was surrounding us.
"Crap! There's way too many!"
The bugs began striking with hit and run tactics as they struck the frontline before retreating back into the giant swarm to prepare another assault.
Another swarm targeted Fran specifically this time around and went in but they were promptly obliterated.
(Master is faster and more unpredictable than these bugs.)
Good to know. I think that was her way of a genuine compliment though seeing the smile on her face.
Still, one thing surprised me.
[These things... have a surprising amount of MP for their bodies. Provoke them Fran!]
(Nn!)
Fran immediately activated the Provocation Skill and caused a massive section of the swarm to charge in towards her. It was an opportunity for Fran to train against moving targets that weren't me for a change. She began swinging around her sword like a lunatic and slicing apart bugs like they were nothing. Some bug crystals she missed while others she hit spot on. She would certainly need to train a bit more to make sure she hit the crystal precisely.
A few insects began firing Wind Magic spells over towards Fran but these sorts of spells didn't do that much damage although served as a sort of distraction to try and push her off her feet.
Although, a few of our comrades took the opportunity to try and help Fran out.
"Fire at those Shooters!"
"Right!"
"Got it! Fire Arrow!"
A few arrows and spells were loose. It was nice to see them helping but...
"I'm running out of arrows!"
"No good... there's too many..."
They were already beginning to lose MP and ammunition. It was mostly down to Fran to draw them away from everyone else but the absurd number of them made it damn near impossible for Fran to draw every single one away. Donadrond, Elevent, and the three other front line fighters with him were getting overwhelmed as the bugs were relatively fast for their size. Donadrond couldn't use his explosive force here either.
"DAMMIT!"
"There's too many!"
While Fran was slashing through, I kept my eye on my MP to see if I was recovering enough. Each bug provided about 20-30 MP per kill. Fran was slaughtering at least one a second so I'd have to wait about four minutes before I felt fully recharged.
We kept this going for about another five minutes before finally I fully recharged my MP but at this point our comrades were absolutely exhausted. The only people that weren't were Donadrond and Elevent.
"Stay with us!"
"I... can't... keep... fighting..."
They couldn't fight anymore... and yet there were still so many bugs...
This felt... too familiar...
<Notice. There is a insect detected utilizing a Skill called Summon Kin.>
Knew it! It's that damn Skill again!
[These bugs got Summon Kin too! Even if we slaughter thousands, they'll keep spawning!]
(Master! Then... Can we?)
[Sure, my mana has recovered already. How about a few spells?]
(NN!)
[Split Mind! Tri-Explosion!]
"Tri-Explosion!"
In mere moments, all the bugs around us were eliminated except for a specific red one.
"Nn! There!"
"That bug... it's got Summon Kin... that's why..."
It seemed like our frontline fighter with Appraisal noticed the bug as well. Donadrond threw his axe towards the thing but it easily flew directly past it before it reached. Although...
"NN!!! You're mine!!!"
Fran sliced the thing clean in two and got its crystal.
[That should be all the bugs.]
Everyone seemed exhausted except for Fran but that was likely because of the Stamina Heals we threw in every now and then.
Fran began healing everyone else who had become exhausted from the battle.
"I'm completely out of arrows... I'm a liability now..."
"Same here... got no mana..."
"Well we can't head back."
We looked over towards the giant red gateway that's been shut. Even if those two wanted to leave to prevent themselves from holding us back, they physically couldn't...
Although we did have something for this exact situation.
"Nn. Here."
Fran began pulling out a couple Return Feathers from my blade and handing them to everyone.
"A Return Feather?!"
"Nn."
"This is perfect! Thanks!"
The archer and mage did not hesitate to use it. Elevent and Donadrond approached us though for a bit of questioning.
"Where did you get this many Return Feathers?!"
"Nn. Master gave them to me."
"Master?"
It seemed like those two seemed beyond confused at what Fran said but then Donadrond broke out laughing.
"No wonder you're so strong! You've got a master training you! HAHAHA!"
"Whoever your master is, you have to refer them to me."
"No. Rimuru is my master. Not yours..."
[A little protective?]
(N-no... do you... want another student?)
[I don't. Like you said, I'm your master, not theirs.]
(Nn!)
Fran was holding me closely while it seemed like Elevent was trying to persuade Fran to introduce him to me. Still, Fran wasn't going to budge on that.
"A shame it is... ah... well, let's press on."
"Nn. Right."
After that statement, it seemed like the door in front of us reacted and began to open. Not the door that led us into this room but the door on the other end of the hallway that was just as gigantic as the one we entered.
We could barely make out a specific object in the middle of it all though.
"The Dungeon Core..."
"We're here."
"Nn."
Donadrond held out his hand towards everyone.
"EVERYONE HALT NOW!"
No one dared to take another step. A few frontliners seemed confused but it seemed like Fran and Elevent noticed it.
"The hell is this aura..."
"There's something terrifying in there..."
"Nn. It seems strong."
[It definitely is.]
I only felt an aura like this since I battled the Orc Disaster all that time ago...
[Fran... stay on high alert...]
I would battle it myself but knowing that if the Dungeon is destroyed, then I might as well be risking my own life...
Everyone cautiously entered the room, guards raised.
"Hey!... Welcome! You've all made it to the deepest part of the dungeon."
The doors behind us shut once more. All we had with us now were frontline fighters. In front of us was something beyond terrifying...
"Kral! The hell is that?"
Kral was the only person with us here that was relatively weak in comparison. He was F-Rank by default for being part of Elevent's crew but his power lay around G-Rank. The key kicker here was that he was the only one besides me to have Appraisal. Well, a variant of appraisal.
"I-it's... a-a..."
"Oh? Appraisal user huh? Are you perhaps... Scared?"
Kral was shaking in absolute fear.
"W-WE HAVE TO LEAVE-"
One moment, the demon was there, the next-
[Holy crap! This guy is tough to hold back!!! FRAN!]
Fran immediately rushed in to save Kral as the demon struggled to move his arm down towards him. I had barely been able to react because Great Sage suddenly triggered Thought Acceleration.
Fran deflected the strike aimed for Kral but was sent flying back.
Name: Greater Demon
Race: Fiend; Demonic Beast
Lv.30
HP: 1900; MP: 2409; Strength: 720; Vitality: 798; Agility: 775; Intelligence: 882; Magic: 1108; Dexterity: 658
Skills:
Digging 3; Darkness Magic 4; Coercion 4; Transportation 2; Fear 4, Sword Mastery 5; Sword Arts 5; Abnormal Status Resistance 7; Soil Magic 7; Climbing 1; Poison Magic 7; Mana Barrier 6; Dark Magic 10; Cooking 1; Dark Magic Up(Small); Darkness Immunity; Night Vision; Magic Recovery Rate Up(Medium); Insubordination; Skin hardening; Magic Up (Small); Strength Up(Small)
Extra Skills:
Skill Taker 6
Titles:
Demon Count
Explanation: Only summoned by Dungeon Masters, this being is native to Dungeons. These beings are followers of the Goddess of Chaos, their combat prowess is exceedingly high, with their lowest Threat Level at C. The existence of individuals reaching level S has been confirmed. During the summons, for the sake of increasing the abilities of the Dungeon Master, its abilities are extremely varied.
Crystal Location: Heart
As expected from a monster with over 700 strength!...
[Fran! Are you alright?!]
(N-nn. I'm ok.)
"Impressive. I didn't think anyone could hold back my attack like that."
Kral was on the floor from the sheer shock of nearly dying. The other frontline fighters in Elevents team were beyond horrified to see what had just happened.
"Kral! Speak! What did you see?!"
"I-it's... a-a... Greater Demon..."
Elevent's eyes went wide as he looked back. Donadrond, a guy who hasn't lost composure while with us, was now visibly shaken up.
"What's wrong everyone? Scared-"
"HEY! WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU JUST KILLING THEM?!"
Huh?
I looked over towards the source of the voice to find...
[That thing is weaker than the Goblin General...]
(Nn... another weakling.)
[It's... the Dungeon Master?]
(Nn?!)
Fran just looked over baffled at the Dungeon Master. I'm genuinely surprised that the Dungeon Master wasn't the demon but I've seen weaker to be honest. For one, there was Ramiris.
"Shut it before I tear off your limbs!"
"What an unruly demon."
"Huh?!"
The demon and Dungeon Master were... arguing?
The rest of our comrades were beyond baffled at what they were seeing. Although...
[Fran, use the opportunity and hand feathers to everyone!]
(Nn! Right!)
There were only two people here that were successfully resisting it, which was Elevent and Donadrond. We used every single Stealth Skill we could to sneak past the Demon to get to our comrades. Once we did, we immediately started handing out the feathers like they were candy. The people who were instilled with Fear immediately used the feathers and got out as quickly as possible while Donadrond and Elevent stayed behind while holding onto their respective feathers just in case.
"LOOK! YOU LET SOME GET AWAY!"
"WHAT?!"
The demon was certainly peeved as soon as he turned around to notice only three remained.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST-"
The demon almost immediately fired some dark projectile towards the dungeon master which immediately made him shut up and quake in fear.
"Shut. Up."
The demon looked over at us.
"Those weaklings couldn't normally escape. It was you. Wasn't it?"
"Nn..."
Donadrond and Elevent were already in a battle stance, they were ready to fight as soon as the demon tried it.
"Well then... let's see how long you last without those meat shields!"
The demon was surprisingly fast. It bolted its way towards Fran in a matter of moments. Surprisingly enough though, it wasn't faster than me despite having a far higher agility stat than I did. It was actually more in line with Fran and her total stats.
<Notice. It is likely those stats are its total capability if pushed. It can likely only utilize a certain percentile of its total strength.>
That means... it's not optimized?
<This is likely the case.>
That explains it. I likely only had low stats in my False Body because I was stuck in my human form. If I could get out of my human form, I could likely have far higher stats. Still, from looking at the Greater Demon, his overall potential was horrendously high compared to Fran who has gotten used to her own body.
The demon continuously tried to strike her but she skillfully deflected most of the strikes aimed at her. Although she still felt the overwhelming shockwaves from the guy's strength.
"N-nn!"
"FRAN! HOLD HIM!"
Donadrond was coming in for a strike on the demon's back only for a giant dark beam to be launched in his direction. In a matter of moments, Donadrond was planted into a nearby wall where he was crushed under a load of rubble.
"I'm not interested in fighting you. I'm interested in this little girl."
Elevent froze as he backed up a bit. Unlike Donadrond, he knew for certain he couldn't take a shot like Donadrond had just done. In essence, he realized he was a liability in this battle and most stayed back as support in the case Fran ever needed it.
"Yes. Stay back weakling. I've got my eye on someone else."
The demon continued clashing with Fran for a while.
"Your blade is holding up well! You don't need to infuse it with mana to keep up with my attacks!"
The guy's blade has to be infused with at least 600 mana since its overall attack stat was higher. I doubt that I could charge all my mana into my blade to destroy it. We'll need to go with a different route of attacking this guy!
"Tri-Explosion!"
"Won't work!"
The spell hit the guy directly, or so I thought.
As it turns out, the guy was not at all hurt from the attack. We only heard cracking but it was just from this guy cracking a few joints to get into the mood of the battle.
"GWAHAHAHA! High level Fire Magic, Fine swordsmanship... What are you? You're no ordinary girl aren't ya? Two can play this game..."
The demon disappeared again.
<!>
Great Sage was immediately sounding an alarm and put Thought Acceleration at full force.
[BEHIND YOU FRAN!]
"NN!!!"
Fran went flying backwards after colliding with the Greater Demon there. He was aiming to cripple Fran with that blow there!
"Nice reflexes!"
The demon vanished once again and immediately appeared straight behind Fran for another strike. Although these tactics were familiar to me.
As soon as the demon re-appeared, I was already ready to strike him.
[Aura Blade!]
"Damn!"
"?!"
[He's attacking you through your shadow. Keep an eye on it.]
(Nn! Ok master!)
We had experimented with this sort of attack pattern back in Tempest. Gobta and Souei were by far the best users of this sort of tactic for very different reasons. Gobta could use it effectively to block an incoming attack on VIPs while Souei figured out how to use webs through it to set down traps in the shadows. If it could be used in those sorts of ways, it shouldn't be too surprising that it could be used offensively like this!
The demon stopped the attack pattern and simply began to charge in against Fran. Elevent watched while Donadrond was picking himself out of the rubble. They just watched in sheer shock as Fran was holding her own against the demon.
Although this battle wasn't in Fran's favor... especially if the demon manages to land a single strike on Fran. He had so much more HP compared to Fran. a single blow to her would be deadly. A blow to him might not even make him worried.
"NN!!!"
Fran tried infusing me with Vibrofang and Flame Magic in hopes that it would shatter through his blade but this thing was surprisingly durable.
"My minions! Kill those pests!"
?
Oh right... The Dungeon Master also existed. A few hobgoblins were summoned and Elevent and Donadrond immediately were under attack from them.
"Let's let the weaklings battle it out, shall we?"
He was just using the opportunity to go full force on Fran without the worry that one of the two would come to her support. In a sense, two different battles were now going on with different results. If they won their battle, they could possibly support Fran but who knows what the demon would plan on doing.
"Why don't we throw in a little magic?! You've got spells don't you?! Darkness-"
Fran immediately started chanting her own spell.
"Nn! Flare Blast!"
"-Bolt!"
The two spells collided in the center of the room. Fran had to put far more mana compared to the demon to keep up with his magic. Still, with both me and Fran combined, we far exceeded his mana store and could regenerate it quicker. The problem was a single spell from him could wipe Fran out...
<!>
[FRAN!]
(NN!)
Fran immediately turned around to deflect the demon again. It seems like he was using the shockwave to distract us!
"Tsk! You truly have master-level swordsmanship! GWAHAHAHA!"
He vanished once again and suddenly he was above us. We launched several more spells towards him but he easily dodged or simply outright blocked them with that barrier of his.
Suddenly he rushed back over towards us to strike us down only for Fran to deflect him.
"Well well..."
The demon backed off for some reason after that strike.
"Seems like my backup was beaten by yours... as expected from shitty ass goblins..."
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!"
Seems like Donadrond and Elevent had taken down the goblins that were summoned earlier.
"Because you're shit! You only exist to be eaten by stronger monsters! Shitty goblin!"
"How dare this demon talk back to me! You keep using that damn sword and yet you've got the better qualification for a mage! Absolute idiot!"
"Really now? Let's see then..."
The demon looked over at Fran with a rather smug look on his face. He suddenly began reaching out his hand and before long. What was he doing?
"FRAN! THAT DEMON-"
Donadrond was screaming towards us. Was he charging up a spell-
<Notice. Fran's Sword Mastery 3 has been taken.>
Wait what?! And when did that reach Level 3?!? No, nevermind that! What do you mean it's been taken?!
"Extra Skill... Skill Taker!"
<The Greater Demon utilized his Extra Skill: Skill Taker 6.>
A pale look fell over Donadrond and Elevent as they suddenly looked over in horror between the demon and Fran. Even I was slightly horrified at what that implied. Fran was essentially robbed of her talent.
"That bastard just took Fran's Skill!"
"This is... a problem..."
"?!"
Fran seemed beyond confused at what happened but before anything else happened, the demon suddenly appeared in front of Fran and struck.
Although...
"The hell!?"
"NN! HYAAA!"
The demon didn't have any strength in that swing. He was expecting Fran to have suddenly become incompetent with the blade.
"No! I certainly took your Sword Mastery! How the hell do you still have it?!"
Alright you bastard! If you're going to steal Fran's hard work at earning that Skill!
"NN!!!"
I'll take your hard earned weapon!
[Devour all! Gluttony!]
My blade body was immediately infused with Gluttony's effects. It turned dark and dreary, I think everyone noticed as the weird effect fell over my blade. As soon as I collided with the demon's weapon, that weapon immediately began to warp and bend in extremely odd ways before rusting apart. The demon immediately released his weapon and backed off as everyone simply watched me completely obliterate his blade and absorb it in its entirety.
<Obtained New Skill: Returning Shadow.>
Oh! Interesting!
According to the Skills description, it returns the weapon back to the user once separated. Unfortunately it didn't work the other way around which was quite unfortunate.
The demon was desperately attempting to call back his weapon but that thing was absolutely obliterated, there was no way it was coming back.
"What the hell did you just do?!"
(Master... what did you do?)
[I ate it.]
(Oh... like the goblin corpses?)
[Yup, like the goblin corpses.]
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"
Fran just simply smirked at the demon.
"My sword was better."
The demon was just beyond baffled, so was everyone else including the Dungeon Master. They were all just trying to process what exactly happened. It seemed like Donadrond was the first one to "figure" out what happened judging by his expression.
People knew that I functioned as an extremely weird Item Box that was in the form of a sword. He is probably thinking that Fran just stored away the demon's blade inside the odd item box. While he's technically right, he was also wrong about what I truly was.
"...tsk... an Advanced Sword Mastery user then... still..."
The demon seemed beyond confused. I'm assuming that he's confused that he doesn't feel any stronger. In theory, he did steal Fran's Sword Mastery, although he failed to account for the fact that Fran still got Sword Mastery from some other source. If he aimed that towards me instead, he likely would've been able to cripple Fran.
I still had to be worried that he might use that Skill again... I don't know what sort of cost it has.
<Notice. It is likely a timed delay before repeated usage of the Skill. There is a 0% chance the opponent will be able to utilize the Skill again during the battle.>
Oh. That's reassuring!
[Alright Fran! Let's get back at him!]
(Nn!)
The demon didn't have a weapon anymore so he just started spamming all sorts of spells towards our direction. There were a whole lot of spells that sounded familiar to Skills that I had like Darkness Thunderbolt. Still, they did not function close to what I had previously seen as there was no elemental infusion in there besides the Dark element.
Still something was strange, the demon didn't seem peeved and wasn't at all exhausting too much mana.
<!>
Something is wrong?... But where?
... wait...
[FRAN! BELOW!]
Before even Fran had time to react, a large stone spike came bursting out of a nearby shadow. I tried as hard as possible to use Telekinesis to slow the damn thing down but...
I wasn't quick enough... Fran's entire left arm came flying off... It was a damn trap by the demon that even Great Sage didn't notice until it was too late. The bastard cloaked that magic with his Darkness Magic before we could even tell what was coming.
"!"
Everyone just looked on in shock as Fran just landed on the ground with both feet but missing an entire arm. Fran was just silent but I could see tears welling up in her eyes...
Her arm was essentially eviscerated, there was no spell that was fixing it.
[Fran... take the potion, here... take it please...]
I immediately pulled out and began pouring a Full Potion onto Fran which regenerated her arm in an instant. I'm thankful that these didn't change even while being reincarnated in a new world...
[Fran... speak... are you ok?! Please tell me you can feel your arm.]
(I-i'm o-ok... t-thanks master...)
Fran was welling up with tears but she wiped them away with her armor.
The demon's smirk became a rather twisted look of sheer confusion as he saw Fran's arm regenerate in a matter of moments.
"How... how in god's name did that arm regenerate?!? What type of potion was that?!? Was that Telekinesis as well?!"
Everyone else just looked on in sheer confusion as well.
Fran was still scared for life from the shock, I on the other hand... let's just say...
I want this demon wiped from the face of this world...!
(Master...)
[What?]
(I will kill it...)
[No, you already lost an arm from the bastard! I'm not letting you fight-]
(NO! I-i'm angry too... if you kill it... then I can't kill it...)
[...]
(Master... support me... please...)
[...Alright.]
The demon began firing off all sorts of spells towards Fran at this point. Until the bastard finally turned his aim towards Donadrond and Elevent.
"If I can't kill you then-!"
[Oh! No he doesn't! Fire Arrow!]
I immediately launched a spell over, but not towards the demon.
"?!? CRAP!"
The demon almost immediately dashed over to take the hit for the Dungeon Core and Dungeon Master.
(Master, what was that?)
[Simple. A lesson. If that demon tries to kill our friends here, we'll kill the Dungeon Master.]
(?)
I began to re-explain a critical detail to Fran. Donadrond mentioned this a while ago to us.
If the Dungeon Core or the Dungeon Master dies, then every monster in the facility dies with it. That little fact had been lingering in the back of my mind for a while now since I was terrified of going out with my False Body. Now I saw an opportunity to take advantage of said information.
(It's...)
[Cowardly. I know. Still, it's cowardly of the demon to attack Donadrond and Elevent right?]
(Nn!)
"N-no chant?! H-how-"
"One on one. Me vs you."
"Tsk... so be it then!"
The demon immediately began firing off even more spells while at the same time keeping his distance away from Fran. Whenever Fran got close, he would simply activate a mana barrier to bounce her away or simply slip into the shadows where we couldn't follow the bastard. Flash Step had a delay whenever we used it so the demon just kept retreating to the shadows once he noticed we used it. Not to mention but he was floating, Flash Step didn't launch us in the air nor could we use it mid air. It was the reason we couldn't dodge that previous strike from him. We had to stick to the ground unfortunately...
(He keeps running away...)
[Right...]
There wasn't much we could do to break this stalemate. I could intervene but Fran wanted to kill the thing by herself. She didn't want to have me intervene in the battle unless I was just her weapon.
<Notice. Suggestion can be made. Accept?>
A suggestion?
I took a listen towards Great Sage and it worked... it would work perfectly.
Accept.
<Understood.>
[Fran. Hold off the demon for at least a minute. Can you do that?]
(Nn!)
The demon continued firing off more spells. Black Bomb, Darkness Thunderbolt, Darkness Blaster, all the works and not a single one of those spells could hit Fran. They were gigantic AOE spells as well but since I was sharing my Evasion Skill with Fran, it meant that no spell could even get close to hurting her. Even those disguised Soil Magic spells couldn't hit Fran after we realized what exactly he was doing.
<Completed.>
Alright!
[Fran. Here's the plan.]
(Nn?)
[If you want to kill it, listen closely.]
(Nn.)
I began explaining it closely to Fran.
(Oh.)
[Are you in?]
(NN!)
We just had to wait...
"DARKNESS... THUNDERBOLT!"
The demon missed again but now he had to recharge before launching another spell like that. That spell had a rather massive amount of recoil...
[Now! Let's go Fran!]
"Nn! I'll defeat you... I will protect Alessa!"
"?!"
"Wind Magic! SONIC SHOOTER!"
Fran immediately launched me towards the ceiling where the Greater Demon was still floating below. She immediately began firing a few Fire Spells.
"You little bitch?! You threw your sword?!"
(I'm trusting you! Master!)
[I won't let you down!]
The demon took a look at the location I was heading.
"Oh? Are you trying to knock down the ceiling on top of me? You think such a stupid plan would work on me!"
The demon immediately launched a Darkness Blaster spell over in my direction where he thought I would be by the time I reached.
"I'll destroy that stupid sword of yours as compensation!"
Although, unfortunately for him. We were going to reverse the little effect that his sword had. I immediately halted all movement using Telekinesis as the Darkness Blaster spell flew straight past and destroyed an unrelated part of the ceiling.
[NOW FRAN!]
"SPATIAL RETURN!"
Fran immediately vanished from her spot and was now holding onto my grip. Once she had a good grip, I let Telekinesis go, letting gravity take its effect. She began to descend on the exact location where the demon was.
"The hell?!"
Spatial Return, a little combination using Degenerate, synthesizing the aspects of Spatial Motion and Returning Shadow. While Returning Shadow allows the blade to return to its user, Spatial Return made it so the opposite could happen. If Fran wanted to, she could teleport back towards her weapon.
"DRAGON! FANG!!!"
"CRAP!"
The demon didn't have the time to retreat to the shadows. He cloaked his hands in his barrier and took the brunt of Fran's strike.
"H-hah! So close wasn't it-"
Like hell I would let her strike fail now!
<Charging blade with 3000 MP.>
"W-WHAT THE HELL?!? HOW DID YOU CHARGE UP YOUR SWORD WITH SO MUCH-"
[You really think I'll let you get away with hurting Fran?]
"W-WHOSE VOICE-"
[Her master. Robbing her Skill, nearly taking her life...]
"W-WHAT?!"
[She'll be taking everything from you. Now, sit there and become sustenance for my little FRAN!]
The demon's barrier was certainly strong. Although there was a limit to how much it could take. It would only take an attack more than his total mana capacity to destroy it. Although... I added a bit more just to be safe.
"DIE!!!"
"G-GRK!!??"
The barrier shattered apart like glass and before long, the hands used to hold back Fran's attack had evaporated from the massive amount of mana. Before long, Fran plunged me deep into the chest of the demon and I could sense a familiar crack and shattering of something on the inside. Before long, there was a faint rainbow that wiped around me as the massive swirl of blue came plunging straight through the demon.
Eventually, we made it through to the other side.
"N-no... t-this... i-is... im...possi..."
The demon fell to the ground, not before shriveling up like an old man and died.
<Notice. You have leveled up. You have acquired 45 Evolution Points.>
Twice in one day... heh.
Fran was busy panting on the ground. I was wondering if she would be able to withstand that attack she unleashed. Thankfully she was able to...
(You're a super duper sword...)
[...and you're an amazing student.]
Fran hugged me tightly. Part of my blade was partially damaged from that gigantic strike but other than that, I was fine.
"G-WHAT?!? M-MY DEMON! YOU KILLED MY DEMON!!!"
Fran seemed annoyed and got off the ground and prepared me in her hand.
"H-HOW DARE YOU COME INTO MY EMPIRE AND DESTROY ALL THAT I'VE WORKED FOR!"
"Nn. You attacked Alessa. Unforgivable."
"T-THAT TRASHY LITTLE CITY! WELL! IF THAT DEMON COULDN'T FINISH THE JOB, THEN THE NEXT ONE I SUMMON WILL-"
Fran appeared straight behind the Dungeon Master by using Flash. Before long, the Dungeon Master lost his horns and his staff in one single blow.
"G-WHA... HOW D-DARE YOU!"
It desperately was trying to fight back against Fran and even tried to wack her with the leftover chunk of his weapon. Didn't work out very well though since it didn't classify as a staff anymore. It was nothing more than one big stick.
"Y-YOU SEE THIS BAND!?!"
"Nn?"
"EVEN IF I DIE! THIS BAND WILL BRING ME BACK! YOU CAN'T KILL ME EVEN IF YOU TRIED!"
[He's right. That band just brings people back from the dead.]
Still, all we needed to do was kill him once-
*slice*
"G-what?"
His hand just came rolling off. Along with the rest of his wrist.
(Now he can't revive.)
[I guess that works?]
The Dungeon Master began screaming in a sheer panic before he just knelt down on the floor, motionless.
<Dungeon Master's life signs have ceased.>
[Wow... he died just like that...]
(Nn?)
Before long, the core he was in control of suddenly began to power off and finally.
The dungeon came to a halt.
[Congratulations Fran. You beat your first dungeon.]
"Nn! Dungeon Defeated!"
Fran raised her fist into the air, she triumphantly won the battle.
I took a look around to see that the room's entire interior had altered into a bunch of squares and a few pillars. There were now a decent amount of lights compared to earlier when only the Dungeon Core was lighting up the entire room.
Oh...
I completely forgot Donadrond and Elevent were here.
Their faces were beyond pale as they just kept staring at Fran. Eventually Donadrond approached Fran.
"That voice..."
I think I had Telepathy on full blast by accident... I only wanted to taunt the demon but I guess this was my big announcement...
"You're master?"
"Nn. She helped."
"I saw... that final attack wasn't yours."
"Master boosted it."
"So it was... but supported. HAHAHAHAHA!"
Donadrond kept laughing for a bit before a flood of relief filled his face.
"Well done Fran."
He patted Fran's head and immediately went over to the demon's corpse.
I could tell Donadrond was still shocked and was simply trying to get his mind off what had just happened.
[Heheh...]
(Master? What's funny?)
[Nothing.]
He reminded me a bit of that guy all those years ago whose leg I healed as a sort of demonstration for Blumund. He was just as shocked although for a vastly different reason.
[Good job Fran. Good job.]
Fran just looked down towards me and smiled.
She really did win against a Greater Demon today.