Side Story 2: Undersea Dungeon 13

『Take this!』

「OROOOOOGH!」

I dove at the Boss Jellyfish while sending my five split-swords from different directions. A total of six blades danced through the air.

The Boss Jellyfish tried to knock down the blades by flailing its numerous tentacles, but that wasn’t nearly enough to stop me.

In fact, any tentacles that managed to hit my split-swords were easily sliced apart.

Wounds carved by divine energy were slow to heal, so the Boss Jellyfish’s tentacles dwindled in number.

That said, I wasn’t going to be able to keep this up forever.

Sending five copies of myself flying all over the place was a really flashy attack, but the drain on my mana was brutal. I could feel my mana vanishing at an alarming rate.

This happened despite my supply of divine energy from the divine realm, as well as the mana I drained from the Boss Jellyfish. The loss still far outpaced the gain.

It seems channeling divine energy into my split-blades with the Magic Supply skill had horrendous efficiency.

This skill was meant for supplying mana, not divine energy, so that can’t be helped. I was pretty much brute-forcing it with my power as a divine sword.

The split-blades might be part of me, but they’re far inferior to the main body. The strain of the effort was draining their durability to the point of collapse. I had to send additional divine energy to continuously repair them.

Honestly, if we spent this much divine energy for a direct attack, then this fight might have ended sooner. I’ll have to get much better at handling divine energy if I want to try this kind of attack again.

But enough about that, we’re still in the middle of a fight. I’ll brute-force it all the way to the end!

『Oroooooogh!』

Right as the durability of my split-blades was about to hit zero, I sent all five of them hurtling at the Boss Jellyfish.

『Send them out with a bang!』

Each of the blades stabbed into the main body before exploding. Might as well have them self-destruct if they’re doomed to break, right?

I didn’t have to use any special skill for this. These explosions were simply an unstable flame spell centered on each of the blades.

By the end of it, I had shredded nearly 80% of the tentacles and inflicted heavy damage to the main body. Not to pat myself on the back, but I think that’s pretty good.

Now, the stage was set.

『Fran!』

「Nn. Here I go.」

『Yeah! Smash that thing to pieces!』

In an instant, Fran transformed into black lightning and shot forward. She did not need any preparation or gathering of mana.

Fran in her divine beast form could use Black Lightning Roll as naturally as breathing.

「Shah!」

「Oroooh?」

「Hah! Sei!」

「ORUOOOOURGHH!」

The Boss Jellyfish seemed absolutely bewildered, since it couldn’t follow Fran’s movements at all. But what she did was very simple.

She moved over to a tentacle and sliced it off, then she used Black Lightning Roll again to move onto the next tentacle. She repeated the pattern until there was nothing left to cut.

The deciding factor was her ridiculous speed. She continued moving during her swings, so it was impossible to even catch her afterimage. Not even Urushi and Silent Sea managed to keep up.

And of course, each of our slashes was imbued with divine energy, so the tentacles could no longer regenerate.

With that, the jellyfish had been converted into a limbless blob.

「Hmm.」

『Well? How do you feel?』

Even all of this was pretty much just a warm up to her. Fran wanted to test her movements and swordsmanship in this state.

We paused in the air, just below the ceiling. Fran looked down, opening and closing her hands a few times. Her eyes lit up with a strong sense of joy.

「I feel great.」

Fran smiled. She was now certain of my strength as well as her own.

「We can do it.」

Fran performed a flip in the air, pressing her feet against the ceiling of the dungeon.

She readied me while bending her legs back. Then, she hurled herself straight down. The force of her propulsion left cracks in the ceiling.

「Teeyaaaaaaaahhh!」

「HOROOOOORGH!?」

The Boss Jellyfish shrieked at the sudden bolt of black lightning descending upon it. It probably failed to notice that Fran was right above it.

With a flash of black, we cleaved the Boss Jellyfish in two. It had been the last boss of a formidable dungeon, at least Threat Level A.

And yet we shred through it like tofu, without the slightest resistance.

「Phew…」

Just before hitting the ground, I teleported us to Urushi and Silent Sea. Fran let out a deep breath as she returned to standing posture.

「Nn…」

After confirming that the Boss Jellyfish was completely dead, Fran performed a quiet nod. She was finally satisfied.

The final blow was a slash exceeding Heavenly Judgment, combined with the power of high-density black lightning and the divine attribute. It was clearly impossible for Fran to perform such a technique outside of Divine Beast Form.

But I could tell already. Fran was trying to recall the sensation so that she didn’t have to rely on Divine Beast Form.

「T-That was incredible, Fran! What in the world was that last technique?! It gave me goosebumps!」

「Woof woof!」

Silent Sea-san and Urushi were super excited. The two wolves wagged their tails furiously as they clamored around Fran. Hold on, “goosebumps”…? How am I supposed to tell under those scales and fur?

「As expected of a divine sword wielder! A truly overwhelming display! Requesting your aid was the greatest decision I’ve ever made!」

Well, the client seems satisfied, so that’s a job well done.

View the latest chapters at seeker142.github.io