The next day, we headed to Eternal Darkness.
We warped from the entrance directly to the fifth-floor midpoint.
From there, we headed to our rental house to meet Szilard, who was covering his face with a mask, sunglasses, and even a balaclava for good measure. Our temporary party was ready to go.
We had finished the paperwork to make James Szilard an official member of our party, though only for the duration of this adventure.
“I’m putting my faith in you, Mr. Leader. Hah-hah-hah!”
There was his trademark laugh again. He didn’t skip a beat, not even on such an important day.
Hey, how ’bout you try being the leader, huh?
“Unfortunately, I have to play the role of leader far more often than I’d like. It will be nice to be someone else’s pawn on the battlefield for once!”
It pissed me off to no end, but I totally got where he was coming from. Calling the shots was nerve-racking.
“Besides, if I, a mere guest in your party, were to butt in, I believe the ladies would be upset, would they not?”
I dunno about that.
I asked Haruka what she thought about Szilard taking over for a while.
“Nope. Absolutely not! ☆,” she answered with a big grin.
It felt like she was shooting me a fierce glare, but I was sure it was my imagination. Or at least, I hoped it was.
So, with everything settled, our temporary party headed for the tenth floor.
There were other adventurers on floors one through nine, and the eleventh floor and above contained monsters that could potentially interfere with the cleansing (floors one through nine did, too, of course).
It wasn’t like we could go buck wild in the midpoint, either. And the fifteenth floor had the Kamaku respawn, making it a pain in the ass.
The fifth floor—the one with the Grim Ogre and White Ogre—was suggested as a potential spot. But that idea was shot down because the entire area was too dark, which would make moving around difficult.
So, by process of elimination, we settled on the tenth floor as the site of our epic battle.
…Well, that wasn’t strictly true. There was another factor that made the tenth floor particularly ideal. The space was confined just enough to restrict Keraunos’s movements somewhat, allowing us to exploit the beast’s size. The tenth floor, then, was always the best choice.
“Leave the transportation to me.”
I could hardly believe it when Szilard summoned a griffin. We boarded the creature, Szilard’s Regalia mount, and flew through the skies in comfort. And before long, we’d reached our destination.
Man, griffins are so cool.
Mounts were a very rare type of Regalia. I hoped to find one for myself some day.
“Wait, you mean you had this the whole time? You could have just gotten on this thing and sniped at us from a distance. You would have crushed us.”
“Hah-hah-hah! As if I would do something so boorish!”
I guess he was right. Using a cheap strategy to take us out wouldn’t have done much to achieve his goals back then. I decided to put the matter out of my mind.
And so, thanks to Szilard’s cheat-level transportation, we reached the tenth floor lightning fast and took on the Lord of Death for the third time.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Nooo! You brutes!”
“Quick-cut veggies, coming right up!”
The dying screams of the boss echoed through the coffin-laden space as Haruka sliced the edgelord mummy’s respawn to shreds once again.
Freed from my bondage, I muttered a prayer for the Lord of Death’s respawn as it disappeared into particles of light.
Thanks for always going down so easily. We really appreciate it. Amen.
That was enough for the appetizers. Now it was time for the main course.
“All right, that should take care of that guy. Shall we get started?”
I tried to keep my tone as cheerful as possible. I wanted to make it feel like what we were about to do was no big deal.
“You all set, Jupiter?” I asked.
“I brought it.”
The silver-haired girl lifted the pouch I had given her. She was wearing it around her neck. I could hear the clang of metal from inside.
“That thing’s the key to winning this battle. Keep it close, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, nodding. All her movements seemed sluggish, and she was even quieter than usual. She must have been pretty nervous.
“If you’re not feeling well, Jupiter, we can take a little break—”
“I’m…fine. I won’t run,” she declared, despite her faltering voice. “I want to fight. Along with all of you.”
Look at you, acting all grown-up. You’ve gotten pretty cool, Jupiter.
“All right, got it. In that case, it’s time to get this show on the road… Haruka?”
As soon as I gave the signal, the radiant star, gripping Azure Skies tightly, stepped out in front of Jupiter.
“…Sorry about this, Jupi.”
Haruka’s voice was filled with reluctance. A moment later, she brought down her sword.
“…Ah!”
The treasured blade of the Aono family sliced at Jupiter’s windpipe.
A second later, we heard a satisfying whoosh as the weapon slashed through the air. For a brief moment, everyone imagined Jupiter dying there.
Even though I knew Haruka’s slash was just a bluff, she’d swung with such force that our brains were fooled into thinking she’d made contact.
Such a clean cut delivered by a master was enough to make even Jupiter believe she’d been sliced.
Our perceptions distorted.
I felt a sense of unease, and my mind went blank.
Something began to stir.
The air around us filled with sound.
And then…
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
…it finally manifested.
Black lightning gathered and took on the form of a four-legged beast.
The avatar of paternity let out an enraged roar filled with the desire to protect its beloved daughter. It used its incredible power to absorb Jupiter into its body.
On the surface, it might look like a replay of what happened on the fifteenth floor. But this time, one thing was different.
“Looks like you’ve given up on attacking randomly and made us your targets, huh? That’s right, Keraunos. We’re your true enemies!”
The monstrous father figure began its psychotic rampage.
“Good, bring it on, you damned thunder dog. Your days of causing havoc are over. We’re gonna show you what happens when a beast picks a fight with humans, punk!!!”
Our final stand against Keraunos had begun at last.