Floormaster Showdown
Arisa here. What kind of crappy game would have the last boss show up when you’re trying to fight a mid-boss, huh? I’d like to give the god who determines our fate a piece of my mind! Difficulty curves are very important, you know!
“A…d-demon lord…”
Level 140?
Wait. A demon lord with a dog’s head?
No way.
This guy is no ordinary demon lord.
It’s the one from the legends.
The devil who burned temples around the world and devoured all the envoys of the gods who walked the earth.
The servant of the evil god who fought the gods’ army and defeated dragons.
What in the world is he doing here?
Is he here because of me?
In my homeland, this violet hair of mine was said to be a cursed color that summoned misfortune.
Did the demon lord appear here because of my unlucky hair and me?
If it wasn’t for me…
My mind starts to spiral into a negative loop, but then master gently pulls me close.
“Arisa, it’s all right.”
Master reassures me in a quiet voice, without even a speck of fear.
“…Okay.”
I manage to mumble an answer.
Of course! This is no time to be freaking out!
I have to protect master and the others!
I’ll use my Unique Skills Never Give Up and Over Boost to blast this guy into the next dimension.
If it doesn’t work the first time, I’ll do it as many times as it takes.
The god who gave me these powers said that the restricted number of uses is a limiter for the soul.
Fine, then—use up my entire soul. I would’ve liked to get cozy with master some more, but it’s a small price to pay to save the people I love.
This hasn’t been such a bad life. If I died now, I’d be happy.
If possible, I hope I can be reincarnated by my optimistic master’s side again in my next life.
Taking a deep breath, I activate my—Huh?
Suddenly, the view in front of me changes. Master must have used “Warp.”
In an instant, I find myself next to Nana and the others.
That reckless master of mine is planning to fight the demon lord alone.
“W-we have to find him!”
I try to use my Space Magic to locate master, who teleported away with the demon lord, but he’s nowhere to be found.
No way. Usually I can find people I know well easily!
“Arisa, it’s the floormaster. We ought to retreat to the rear for now.”
Miss Liza directs everyone to withdraw to a safe area.
She scoops me up under her arm and carries me away like luggage, but I have no time to complain about this uncouth treatment.
I use Over Boost just once to search for him, but I still find nothing.
It’s as if the very concept of Satou has vanished from this world entirely.
“It’s no use… I can’t find him.”
I grind my teeth in frustration at my own uselessness.
“What was thaaat?”
“It was scary like a demon, sir!”
“No. Demon lord.”
“Really?!”
“Are you sure, Mia?”
Mia clearly understood, too.
“No point worryiiiing?”
“But I am worried, sir!”
Tama seems to be the only one who’s not worried.
How can she have such complete faith in him?
Lulu has turned pale, and even Liza and Nana started pacing around when they learned it was a demon lord.
“Honestly, is Tama the only calm one? Deep breaths!”
The elf teachers come over and scold us.
“Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…”
I can’t quite inhale properly, and I end up choking and coughing instead.
Still, I think I’m a little calmer now.
“Damn it, Nana, I told you that the tank must always remain calm.”
“I am terribly sorry, I apologize. I experienced distress because I could not aid master in his time of need, I reflect.”
“Really! You know Satou’s not the type to choose an honorable death against an enemy he can’t defeat, right? If he thought he was going to lose, he’d run away without hesitation. He either left you here because he thinks you’re not ready to fight a demon lord yet or because he knows he can win easily without your help, I’d bet.”
Ugh, it doesn’t make sense. My feelings are starting to catch up to me again!
“He told us not to say anything, but I think you lot can handle the truth. Satou defeated a giant jellyfish monster with five-digit stats in the blink of an eye in space, okay? After seeing something that ridiculous, I know for a fact that it’d be foolish to worry about that man’s safety.”
Five-digit stats?
That’s what he called pest extermination…?
As I listen anxiously to the teachers, the earth shakes intermittently with earthquakes around magnitude three.
“Wobblyyy?”
“It’s shaky, sir!”
“Eek! W-will we be all right?”
“The labyrinth is sturdy. A tremor of this size will not damage it, I declare.”
“Could this be from master fighting the demon lord?”
If he’s out of range of my Space Magic, nothing short of a hail of giant meteors would cause the ground to shake like this from so far away.
The meteor shower I saw before I arrived in Seiryuu City comes to mind, but surely even master isn’t that ridiculously overpowered.
“I don’t think it’s an earthquake. There was a dormant volcano near the border of the great desert, so maybe it erupted or something.”
This earthquake sure is lasting a while, though.
I shudder to think what’s happening at the epicenter.
“I’m back. Sorry to worry you all.”
Naturally, he shows up acting as if he’d only popped out to do some shopping.
“Welcome baaack!”
“Welcome back, sir!”
““Master!””
“Satou.”
“Master, I celebrate your safe return.”
As everyone surrounds him, master’s smile is so ordinary that I hesitate for a moment.
I ask what happened with the demon lord, and he simply replies, “I beat him.”
You beat him? Really, just like that?
I mean, there’s not even a scratch on his clothes, never mind on him.
That was a storied villain of legend, you know?
Demon lords are supposed to be exceptionally, off-the-charts strong…
“Ooh, so that’s the floormaster?”
Master looks around and spots the floormaster standing calmly in the middle of the Room of Trials.
The monster, which appeared shortly after master left, is a thunder squid emperor, covered in red lightning.
It’s over 150 feet tall, with tentacles as long as its body writhing around on the ground.
“What do you want to do? Fight it some other day?”
Master looks at us with concern.
Considering how emotionally exhausted we all are from worrying about him, maybe it would be best to postpone our encounter.
But as I look at master, still perfectly calm after fighting the strongest demon lord ever, I can’t bring myself to give up.
If I want to stand by his side someday, I have to be able to overcome obstacles like this without a problem.
“We’ll do it now! You’re all still good to go, right?”
Everyone else nods, to my relief.
Declaring our intentions to master as he casually gazes at the floormaster, I gather everyone around to give them the rundown on the enemy.
“This thing is called a ‘thunder squid emperor.’ It’s level fifty-nine—a little higher than expected but nothing we can’t handle.”
The others nod meekly.
Even Tama and Pochi, who are obviously thinking about food, since it’s a squid, listen obediently with locked-lips poses.
“Its special attacks are Water Magic and lightning. They’re both dangerous, but the biggest thing to watch out for is those eyes. It’s got a hypnotic-evil-eye move, so we’d better crush it as quickly as possible.”
Fortunately, we’ve got experience fighting a powerful enemy with lightning before, an areamaster called the “lightning elder stag.”
Since this one has Water Magic, too, we’ll have to avoid getting wet in case we’re electrocuted.
“Lulu, can you do it?”
“Y-yes! I’ll do my best.”
Miss Liza appoints Lulu to destroy the eyes, which I think is a good call.
“But out of all the opponents I imagined, this is one of the easier cases. We’re lucky it’s not like the ice ivy emperor Jelil’s group fought in the Middle Stratum, with some special ability like being immune to physical attacks.”
“Yes, if the vanguard’s attacks are effective, I believe we can use the strategy we discussed yesterday.”
I nod at Liza and explain the battle plan and important points to look out for. Then Mia and I cast support magic on everyone, and I activate the Space Magic spell Tactical Talk so we can communicate during the battle.
“All right, we’re ready.”
At that, our overprotective master uses the Practical Magic spell Mana Transfer to recharge Mia’s and my magic.
As always, he has a ridiculous amount of MP.
He just fought the strongest demon lord in history, but he still has that much magic to spare?
“Thank you, master.”
But I can’t let him be the one protecting us forever.
We’ll prove that we’re top-class explorers, too!
Miss Liza reports in with Tactical Talk.
“Arisa, we’re all in position.”
“Okey-dokey.”
Before we engage in battle, I check on the thunder squid emperor once again.
In the time it took for us to get in position, the floormaster has surrounded itself with pink cotton candy–like clouds. They’re letting off a crackling noise, so they must be electrically charged.
If we challenge it at close range, we could easily die of electrocution.
I guess even the Upper Stratum floormaster is nothing to sneeze at.
Tama, Pochi, and Liza, who have scattered in three directions, are waving at me. Honestly, what if the floormaster sees them?
“Mia, start getting your sand giant ready.”
“Mm.”
As Mia begins her chant next to me, I bring a bunch of sand out of my Space Magic Garage onto the floor.
Mia uses her Spirit Magic to create a sand giant pseudo-spirit.
She can do it without sand, but it requires less magic power if the materials are available.
The sand giant is stronger against impact and lightning than a green giant, so I think it’ll be a good shield for our opening moves.
Reacting to Mia’s magic, the thunder squid emperor starts moving.
“Miss Liza, get your team ready, too.”
“Understood.”
Liza charges her Dragon Claw Spear with magic, and the rest of the vanguard charges their orichalcum-alloy Holy Swords with magic, too.
The blue used to make Holy Swords seems to filter the magic somehow: All of their swords glow blue, and the “Spellblade” that appears is glowing bluish-white like master’s “Sacredblade.”
So maybe master’s “Sacredblade” skill is a substitute for the blue’s filter function.
“Let’s go.”
Miss Liza, who’s been on standby on the other side of the large room, fires a ridiculously huge Spellblade Shot at the back of the thunder squid emperor’s head.
The squid monster starts discharging lightning more violently and switches its target from Mia to Liza.
Okay, I know that’s what we planned, but Liza is going a little too hard right now.
“Nana, it’s a bit early, but jump in, please.”
“Understood, I respond.”
Nana, who’s on guard in the front, steps onto the battlefield.
It’s too soon to use “Taunt” yet.
“Javelins engage, I declare.”
Nana creates five javelins with her Foundation ability and strikes the floormaster with them, shifting the target over to her.
Tama and Pochi attack from either side with Spellblade Shots, too. Unlike Liza, they’re using a normal amount of power.
Exactly as they should!
Our plan to keep the floormaster confused by alternating attacks among the four seems to be working well so far.
I used to do the same kind of aggro ping-pong in MMO raid battles all the time.
“… ? Create Sand Giant Suna Shouryou Souzou.”
Next to me, Mia finishes her Spirit Magic chant.
The mountain of sand transforms into a giant, which lumbers toward the thunder squid emperor.
It absorbs the floating lightning clouds that surround the monster as it goes, looking totally nonplussed (or at least it would if sand giants had faces).
Ikwaaaawh.
Once the giant reaches a certain distance, the thunder squid emperor raises its tentacles in a menacing pose, emitting a low-pitch roar.
Lightning flashes among its tentacles, and thunder rumbles painfully loudly as it strikes the sand giant with a lightning attack.
Ouch, my ears.
I covered my eyes with my hand, but my ears are ringing like crazy.
I’ll have to ask master to add something to our armor that blocks out sounds above a certain noise level.
Even after taking that powerful lightning strike, the sand giant just keeps walking toward the floormaster.
Still, it looks like it’s lost almost a third of its health. If it weren’t a lightning-resistant pseudo-spirit, that attack might’ve brought it down.
“My eeeyes! Sir.”
Oh dear. Pochi is squatting down and clutching her face. She must’ve looked straight at it.
The others don’t seem to be as severely affected, but their eyes and ears are probably still temporarily shot, so I’d better start stalling.
“Everyone, calm down! I’ll buy some time. For now, stay away from the squid until your vision recovers!”
At that, the group all puts some distance between themselves and the monster.
“Mia, you all right?”
Mia doesn’t seem to hear me directly, but the Tactical Talk gets through to her, so she nods. I guess she’s fine, then.
“Have the sand giant attack and pin down the squid.”
“Mm.”
On Mia’s orders, the sand giant grabs the floormaster.
The squid monster resists, striking at the giant with its tentacles, but its blows sink through the sand without having much effect.
Realizing its attacks aren’t working, the desperate thunder squid emperor spits out a cloud of poison fog like a squid would use ink, but the sand giant doesn’t breathe or even physically see, so it has no effect.
All right, looks like this is an even better matchup than I expected.
“Let’s crush its hypnotizing eyes while we have the chance.” I look up at Lulu. “Can you shoot them out?”
“I should be able to manage one…”
“Okay, I’ll take care of the other one with magic, then.”
By my side, Lulu prepares her laser gun.
My long-distance shooting isn’t great, so I decide to use Fire Ball Chaser, a spell with a homing mechanism.
Shoot. The squid’s resisting my magic; I didn’t deal any damage.
Lulu’s laser gun hits the other eye, but it bounces off the protective film, so it doesn’t do much damage besides dazzling the squid a little.
“Lulu, could you shoot the squid’s eyes with your physical rifle or the Acceleration Gun?”
“Not right now.”
Lulu points at the thunder squid emperor, which is now guarding its eyes with tentacles.
I guess it really didn’t like that laser gun attack.
“Well, that’s a problem. I guess we’ll have to get close enough to shoot…”
“Pochi can do it, sir!”
“Tama toooo?”
Since the Tactical Talk spell is still connected, Tama’s and Pochi’s cheerful voices come through.
…Wait. Pochi?
“Pochi, are your eyes okay?”
“Yeah, I just splashed a potion on my face, sir!”
I don’t think that’s how potions normally work…but whatever.
“You think you’ve got this?”
“Leave it to us, sir!”
“Aye-aye?”
Hmm, I’m a little worried that the floormaster’s aggro target might shift from the sand giant to Pochi or Tama if they cause too much damage.
But our top priority is crushing the hypnosis eyes, and it doesn’t seem to be able to produce those electric clouds while it’s tangling with the sand giant, so I guess it should be fine.
A woman’s got to have guts, after all!
“Okay, please do, then.”
“You got it!”
“Sir!”
Tama and Pochi strike dramatic poses, then start charging up their Holy Swords.
Their blades both glow blue, with particles of light floating around them.
Oh, good. Looks like Pochi succeeded at controlling hers this time.
“Strawberryyy?”
“I’ve been saving the jerky flavor, sir!”
The two of them pull out magic-recovery potions from the potion holders on their belts and drink them down.
A beef jerky–flavored magic potion? Ew.
Just as the thunder squid emperor pauses its seemingly endless lightning blasts, Pochi and Tama attack.
Pochi dodges a tentacle with “Blink,” quickly approaching its head. Then she slashes with her lengthened Holy Sword, stabbing right into one of the floormaster’s eyes, which it quickly closes in pain.
“Not done yet, sir!”
Whoa! She used a Spellblade Shot while her blade was still stuck into the eye and blew it up… That’s a pretty nasty move to pull with such a cute face.
“Whip sword driiill!”
Closing in on the other side, Tama lashes out with her whip sword coated in “Spellblade,” stabbing the thunder squid emperor’s other eye.
Then she shortens the blade, pulling herself up in the process. I’m surprised the sword doesn’t pop out, until I remember it can produce spikes from the tip. I guess Tama plays dirty, too.
As she gets closer, Tama lashes out with the drill-shaped orichalcum-alloy Holy Sword in her other hand.
I’m impressed she can use such a ridiculous weapon.
Uh-oh, looks like an area-of-effect attack is coming.
“Nana!”
“Giant squid! If you think yourself so impressive, you should light up like a firefly squid, I challenge!”
Ahhh, I don’t know if that’s the “Taunt” I would’ve chosen…
The thunder squid emperor lights up with electricity, and a bolt of lightning strong enough to bring down a bull elephant streaks toward Nana.
“Oh!”
Lulu catches her breath.
Layers and layers of Magic Shields and barriers surround Nana, protecting her from harm.
It’s only the second time I’ve seen this ability, but that defensive power is still crazy.
“Looks like the squid’s getting low on health.”
Nana and the others have all taken a few hits by now, but thanks to our overpowered armor and excessive potions provided by master, our battle lines have stayed strong.
“Indeed, Arisa. It may be time to finish it off.”
When we’ve worn it down about halfway, Miss Liza decides it’s time to go on the offensive.
“Nana, Tama, Pochi, let’s link up.”
“Understood.”
“Aye-aye!”
“Roger, sir!”
Ooh, a combo attack!
“Form zero, Blast Armor, I declare.”
Nana’s golden Holy Sword glows blue and strikes the thunder squid emperor’s defensive barrier.
For a second, it looks like the barrier will hold, but then Nana’s sword flashes, breaking through the barrier completely.
That special move was developed specifically to bust through defensive barriers, after all.
“Form one? Vorpal Fang!”
The Holy Swords Tama holds in each hand produce a single giant fang-like blade.
Tama spins like a top as she attacks, slicing into the defenseless thunder squid emperor and leaving bite mark–like wounds.
The floormaster flails its tentacles at her furiously.
“Easyyy?”
As the tentacles roar through the air, Tama dodges them smoothly.
I wish she wouldn’t show off her acrobatics by avoiding them by a paper-thin margin, though! Leave that sort of thing to masked assassins. Also, you’re supposed to say, Hmph, how foolish, or something.
“Form two, sir! Vanquish Strike!”
Next, Pochi dives in with “Blink,” her whole body shining blue.
Pochi and her Holy Sword drive right into the thunder squid emperor, its barrier gone and its sturdy hide already riddled with wounds.
It reminds me of the last scene of an old mystery movie I watched long ago.
Buigwaaabbbwh.
Pochi uses the momentum of the thrashing squid to launch herself away from the huge wound.
Now that Tama, Pochi, and Nana have done serious damage to it with their combo attack, Miss Liza charges in with blue light fluttering around her.
There’s “Spellblade” extending from the tip of her Dragon Claw Spear, nearly three times longer than usual.
“Form three. Draco Buster!”
Liza launches a barrage of attacks with her shining spear, then finishes the move by whirling around and using the momentum of the spin to drive in one last strike.
The attack breaks through the subcutaneous fat that had already been damaged by Pochi’s assault, piercing deep into the squid’s organs.
Buigwaaaabbbwh.
The thunder squid emperor roars even more loudly.
Meanwhile, Liza bites open the magic-recovery potion she was holding in her mouth and drinks it down.
Her magic quickly recoups from being on the verge of drying out. It’s supposed to be an intermediate potion, but its recovery speed is closer to a greater one.
“Finishing move: Spellblade Blaster.”
Her spear still piercing the squid’s flesh, Liza follows up her attack with another.
I can see blue light shining within the floormaster’s body.
In the next instant, blue blades start to shoot out from inside its skin.
Buigwaaaabbbwh.
Its eyes full of flaming wrath, the thunder squid emperor lashes out at Liza with tentacles and lightning all at once.
“I won’t let you, I declare.”
Using her “Taunt” skill again, Nana jumps in with “Body Strengthening” and “Blink,” moving at superhuman speeds to put herself between Miss Liza and the floormaster.
She blocks one of its tentacles with her large shield and the rest of the tentacles and lightning with Floating Magic Shields.
They’re all so amazing.
The floormaster’s health is nearly down to 30 percent.
If we keep chipping away at it, it’s going to go into rampage mode.
So we have to bring it down quickly.
“Arisa, time.”
“Okey-dokey.”
Mia’s sand giant runs out of health and starts to collapse.
I use the Space Magic spell Labyrinth to buy some time. It’ll last only about thirty seconds at best, but that should be more than enough.
As Mia chugs a magic-recovery potion beside me, I catch a whiff of peach.
So hers are peach-flavored, huh? We’ve got him doing all kinds of improvements for us.
Mia uses the remains of the sand giant to create a quicksand snake with Spirit Magic and bind the thunder squid emperor.
The squid writhes around, trying to tear off the snake, but it seems to be even harder to budge than the giant.
“Lulu, get ready.”
“Okay.”
Lulu, who’s been supporting everyone with her rifle and laser gun, switches over to preparing her Acceleration Gun.
I use my Space Magic to help keep the floormaster from moving, too.
But she’s not aiming for the monster. If she shoots it directly, it’ll resist most damage.
No, she’s aiming for the quicksand snake that’s wrapped around the thunder squid emperor. I suspend it in the air, indirectly holding the monster in place.
Then I pull out a magic potion from my own holder and drink it down in one go.
Ew.
I used a bitter one because it recovers more MP, but the sweet ones really are easier to drink.
If Lulu’s Acceleration Gun hits, it should bring the squid monster down past its last 30 percent.
So before it can go into rampage mode, I’ll use my Unique Skill to finish it off in one blow with the greater Space Magic spell Disintegrate.
Lulu pulls her Acceleration Gun out of her Fairy Pack and gets it ready.
She looks to me questioningly. I nod and give her a “go” signal.
“Targeting complete. Hold.”
“Yes, my lady. Dimension Pile on standby.”
The Acceleration Gun’s new support system responds to Lulu’s command.
Yep, I definitely prefer the lilting tones of master’s voice to those beeps and boops.
The invisible Dimension Pile secures the long, heavy barrel of the Acceleration Gun in place.
“Activate virtual barrel.”
“Okay. Virtual barrel, spread.”
A sixty-foot-long Practical Magic pseudo-material barrel appears in front of the Acceleration Gun.
Yesss, so cool!
“Unlock acceleration magic circle.”
“Aye-aye, ma’am. Battery fully charged.”
The magic power cylinder attached to the side of the Acceleration Gun charged with magic to create magic circles.
…Huh?
I thought it had enough for three last time. Why does it look empty now? Even the spare cylinder seems depleted…
“Acceleration, overdrive.”
Magic circles start appearing along the virtual barrel—Wait, how many is it going to make?!
What the heck? I thought there were only three acceleration magic circles.
Isn’t that closer to, like, a hundred?
“Preparations complete! Arisa?”
Lulu looks at me expectantly.
Well, obviously it’s go time.
I point at the thunder squid emperor and give the signal.
“FIIIIIIRE!”
“Ignition!”
As soon as Lulu’s slim finger pulls the trigger, a bullet rockets out.
With an explosive noise that sounds like BANG or BOOM, a blue light shoots out of Lulu’s Acceleration Gun.
Huh? It’s real buckshot, right?
Why does it look like a laser?
Whoa, that one shot punched a huge hole right through the floormaster’s torso.
The area around the hole caves inward, and the thunder squid emperor’s body starts to shrink back.
Then, as if it’s been torn into pieces by the solidified sand snake, the squid monster falls apart into neat, round slices.
Geh, it even blasted right through the labyrinth wall behind it!
Then our master speaks up as lightly as always.
“Wow, Mach 20 really is amazing.”
Mach what?! So that was twenty times the speed of sound?!
You’ve gotta be kidding me!
But I’m so shocked that I can’t even form the words to scold him.
“Well, you said before that a railgun can reach Mach 20, so I thought I’d give it a try.”
Okay, I know I said that, but still!
Don’t talk about it like you tried a fun new dinner recipe.
No wonder that one shot made the virtual barrel fall apart like it was made of thin ice.
As I stand there feeling exhausted, Tama and Pochi come running up.
“Arisaaa!”
“Victory pose, sir!”
Huh? Wait, that was it?
Seriously? What about my turn, huh?
I didn’t even get to use my Unique Skill!
While my mind goes totally blank, Tama and Pochi grab my hands and drag me along.
Then we do a victory pose in front of the huge treasure chest that appeared on the altar where I did the summoning ritual, taking a commemorative photo with master and the rest of the group. We even bring in our teachers to pose with us for a second one.
And thus…
We acquire our mithril badges.
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