“Re-recognition: Master is incredible. This unit’s favorability of Master has risen more… Blush.” “Oh, I knew you could do it, my lord…! That was incredible!” “…I think Sora and Shiro might be the real devils here…” From within the bag came four voices of praise and one of utter shock… When your HP and MP—your hope—run out, despair gets the best of you—it slows you down. Sora didn’t even need to stun the Rock Golem anymore; it had stopped moving. Everyone thought this meant victory for Sora and Shiro…until it happened. As soon as the Rock Golem’s HP fell below 20 percent— Its MP—which was around 30 percent—shot down to zero. However: “Whoo-wee! Another one down… He was tough even without the armor, eh?” “…I hate bosses…where the gimmick is their HP and defense… It’s just…tedious…” Either the siblings weren’t worried about it, or they didn’t realize, because they turned away from the Rock Golem— “M-Master?! The enemy seems to be attempting something—!” “S-switch with me, Sora!! Use me in the fight!!” Sora and Shiro heard Jibril and Steph panicking in unison. It wasn’t clear what the golem was trying to do. But despite how many attacks it’d made during the battle, it still had 30 percent of its MP left, which it used all at once. The scale of whatever attack was about to come had the entire party screaming, but: “Ya hear that, Shiro? They think some big finale, self-destruct kind of attack is about to come. You better tell ’em.” “…Mm. Let’s just…say…they shouldn’t…doubt Blank… ” The siblings spoke with smiles plastered across their faces—and boom. The Rock Golem was engulfed in a bright light—and then self-destructed. , , “…………Did it just…?” That’s right—it self-destructed… At least, that was what it looked like to Steph when a small explosion occurred and depleted the remainder of the Rock Golem’s HP in one go. But that wasn’t how things looked to the higher-ranking races in the bag. The Rock Golem had tried taking the siblings down with it, but just before that happened… The tube that Sora had attached to the golem during the fight began to light up. The party realized that all the MP that had gone into the self-destruction turned into an attack that affected only the Rock Golem itself. It was Sora’s fifth skill—Detonation Shot… Detonation Shot turned the target’s MP against it… The skill itself didn’t deal any damage on impact and took a lot of MP—but. Depending on how much MP the target used to attack, the damage that Detonation Shot did to its target increased accordingly—a quintessential Sora move. “And I even told them the enemy would finish himself off for us.” “…You guys…need to listen to people…more… ” With only a sliver of HP left, the Rock Golem was enveloped in the light that signified its defeat. The siblings turned around, stuck out their tongues, and gave each other a high five. “And with that…we’ve cleared today’s goal of beating the thirtieth-floor boss.” “…Let’s…go…home…” The siblings said this—accomplishing the goal they’d set for themselves. They really did beat the Rock Golem without the help of their tank, and their impressive feat didn’t go unnoticed. Outside the Tower, the game’s overseers watched the fight come to an end on a big screen. They were the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Devil’s Army, and they all gulped in unison. Sure…the party was still only on the thirtieth floor. That was less than 30 percent of the entire dungeon. But…the thirtieth-floor boss, the Rock Golem, was supposed to be one of the dungeon’s biggest challenges. Even the Dwarf party from four hundred and eight years ago couldn’t beat this boss without losing some members… There were still many Demonias who awaited them… This, of course, included Demonias far stronger than the Rock Golem they’d just defeated. And that Rock Golem, the leader of its tribe, could barely even move… It called into question something vital: What could anyone in the Tower do to stop these two heroes…? The Joint Chiefs of Staff knew every one of their personnel, and yet they couldn’t envision any of them winning against the hero’s party. Even worse… “…They can’t possibly…defeat the Devil, can they…?” What if they could defeat the Devil…? It was a highly disrespectful idea to toy with, but Genau Ih spoke for his staff when he let these words slip—however. “Gah-ha-ha-ha!! Finally!! Heroes worthy of battle with me!! Excellent!! You deserve praise, Schira Ha!! These are, as you say, the heroes I’ve long awaited!!” “Indeed!! Mweh-heh…Your Evilness, everything shall go as you wish.” The Devil—that is, the fragment of him in Schira Ha’s arms—cackled. It was an arrogant and fearless laugh, but it put the staff at ease. Embarrassed, they realized: This is the Devil. Our creator. The one who shall destroy everything and yet leave us with an eternal fantasy. Yes—there is no being capable of defeating Him…!! “…Yeah… Let’s go home… Might as well just die… So, what, my only talent is ruining all the fun for others with debuffs…? Who gave this hopeless virgin who brings others down permission to live…?” “…Dying… I could get…behind that… I mean…my boobs aren’t gonna…grow either way… I’ve known it, from the start…” The siblings had put on a show like Til and Izuna had asked for—and now they had less than 10 percent of their MP left and were wrestling with true despair. “Oh no!! W-we should switch, we should!! E-everyone, get out of the bag!!” “Sora! Shiro! I’ll cry my damn eyes out if you guys die, please!!” “Urgent: Formulating emergency protocol. Designation: Would Master like a good handful of these milkers, as mentioned previously?” “King Sora!! What were you going to do if your Detonator Shot didn’t finish the boss off all the way?! You don’t have enough MP right now to finish off the last twenty percent now, you don’t!!” “…I put on a show…despite having a flat chest… Just let me…die…okay…?” “I’m really sorry, guys. I was born without a plan and still can’t make one. At least let me plan my suicide.” “J-Jibril!! Please shift us back to the start, this instant!!” “B-but of course!! Master, please find the will to live for just a moment longer!!” The party rushed out of the bag upon their slow realization of Sora’s and Shiro’s mental states— …Uh…maybe our staff can deal with the problem before the heroes reach the Devil? It might end up solving itself, if we’re lucky… The Demonia staff had such high expectations for the siblings during that battle, but they watched those expectations plummet with a smile. “…Schira Ha…are you certain they’ll be able to make it to me?” The Devil shot Schira Ha a questioning look. “Mweh-heh…heh-heh-heh……… Y-yes…?” She averted her eyes and responded with a quavering voice…… It was ten floors a day from there. Every time the party entered the dungeon, they explored each corner of the next ten floors, defeated its boss, then went home. They spent two days working on their mental health, then returned on the third day, where they speed-ran the dungeon until the point where they’d previously left off. Then they were back in for ten more floors and a boss battle before going home. It was a long process, yet they stayed the course; slowly but surely, the party advanced through the Tower dungeon. With every tenth floor, the terrain changed—first, they were on a beautiful beach, and then, a glittering desert. And with each new stage came new mobs and a new boss, all stronger than the previous ones. Each hero unlocked more skills and obtained more gear from treasure chests. Some of the armor they found—primarily armor that Steph was forced to wear—they used during the boss fights, only to end up getting destroyed, leaving Steph a naked mess. The other powerful armor, though, they held on to— Before long, thirteen days had passed since their initial entrance into the Tower dungeon. On their fifth trip, the party headed to the fiftieth floor— “Ha-ha-ha! There they are!! I’ve been waiting for this!!” “Sora?! Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!” It was a harsh volcano stage full of molten magma. The cliff that jutted out of the lava flow was connected by a series of suspension bridges, which acted as a maze. At any given moment, they could easily fall into the magma, where they assumed the heat would eat through their HP for an instant game-over…and thus…death—however. When the volcano stage’s enemies came to attack, Sora screamed with joy. Steph, who clung to Til for dear life, screamed at him in horror… “Why did you attack the enemies?! They didn’t even notice us yet!!” “Why, you ask? Because I’m happy we’ve finally made it to the stage with some mobs I’ve been waiting for—these beautiful Demonia babes!!” The mobs that Sora aggroed were none other than flying Demonias with two wings instead of arms. Harpies—and without a stitch on them! That explained why Sora was so happy when he answered Steph. Oh yeah… There’s been humanoid Demonias—but they were all monsters. These babes are demons—a higher-ranking species. I knew we’d come across them at some point, but I thought it would take longer! This earlier-than-expected encounter meant it was time for Sora to use a new skill!! The second he saw the harpies on the fifty-first floor, he deployed this skill in rapid succession. He used…his Projectile Shot. This skill ripped the armor off skeletons and the Rock Golem from earlier floors—lowering their defenses! Which meant it should have a similar effect against the clothes of the beautiful harpies!! As such, the enraged group of harpies came flying toward the party—while skillfully keeping their most private parts hidden—screeching the entire time. “Jibril! Are they speaking a Demonia language?! Can you tell what they’re saying?!” Sora yelled, and the answer came from within the bag: “It roughly translates to: You do realize this is flat-out sexual harassment, right?! This might be a game, but that doesn’t mean we won’t sue you!! Or something along those lines. ” It was what he thought they were saying, although a bit more modern than he’d expected. “Then tell them to shut up!! ’Cause we’re playing by the same rules that leave you naked when your armor breaks!! If they wanna sue someone, they need to sue their boss who made this game!!” “The only one who ever ends up naked on our side is me, though!!”
Chapter 191
9 min read