Chapter 89

This story is a work of fiction.

The characters, organizations, and names are all fictitious and have no connection to any real entities.

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084 - Boss Battle in the 8th Floor of the Capital Dungeon

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The door to the boss room on the 8th floor opens with a heavy sound.

As we enter, the door closes on its own, and a black mist gathers in the center of the room, forming the boss.

Plop, plop, countless half-fishmen appear, and finally, a half-fishman nearly twice the size of a regular one, about 4 meters tall, appears.

To be honest, half-fishmen have fish heads and bodies with human arms and legs. They are quite creepy.

"Big one."

"Perhaps it's the king of the half-fishmen."

"King, you mean."

When I check the King with Detailed Appraisal, it turns out to be the King of Half-Fishmen. Even in a different world, it's still called King.

"The King of Half-Fishmen is a magic warrior. He doesn't use weapons but combines magic and melee combat. He also boosts the abilities of other half-fishmen by 30%, and continuously summons regular half-fishmen. If we don't defeat the King, the regular half-fishmen will keep increasing without limit."

The increasing numbers are troublesome, but it's not something to be overly pessimistic about.

"Gandarban and I will take down the King. Everyone else, reduce the number of minions."

"Roger that!"

It's not a detailed strategy, but I give simple instructions.

I also summon the lower-level thorn spirit Rose and instruct her to guard the rear.

"Annelise, I'm counting on you."

"Got it! Thunderburst!"

A flash of light and a loud boom. Countless lightning bolts clear out the minions.

"Let's go!"

As we charge forward, the King of Half-Fishmen glares at us with hatred.

A magic circle appears in front of the King, and a rapidly spinning water wheel flies toward us.

"Whoa!"

Gandarban holds up his shield and deflects it, but the spinning water saw cuts into the ceiling.

Next, the King summons more minions. Half-fishmen emerge from the ground, floating up.

"Take this!"

I kick a half-fishman in the face, sending it flying like a soccer ball. I hear a bone crack, and the half-fishman disappears mid-summoning.

"Hmph! Anger Lock!"

Gandarban, still holding his shield, body-checks the King, increasing his enmity.

The King stumbles back three steps but quickly throws a punch.

Gandarban's feet sink into the ground as he blocks the punch with his shield.

The walls and floor of the dungeon are not easily destroyed, but at this level of combat, it seems they can be.

I circle around to the King's side and slash at his thick legs.

The legs are bare, without armor or scales, but they are quite hard. As expected of a boss.

"If that's the case, how about this? Heroic Slash!"

With the job Heroic Sword King leveled up and the skill proficiency at (Intermediate), the Heroic Slash reduces the King's HP cap by 20%.

Heroic Slash can sometimes be resisted, but with high MATK, it is less likely to be resisted. Against a boss with high HP, allocating stat points to INT makes it a very powerful, almost cheat-like skill.

"Syaaaaaaaa"

A magic circle appears in front of the angry King.

"Not a chance, Shield Attack!"

The Shield Attack, which knocks back the target, disperses the magic circle.

"Nice one, Gandarban!"

I can't fall behind!

"Penetration!"

Penetration, a skill of the Reincarnated Hero, deals 250 points of damage, ignoring defense.

"Syaaaaaaaa"

The King, recovering from the knockback, rushes at Gandarban.

"Iron Wall!"

Gandarban, like a turtle, endures the countless punches and kicks with his shield, thanks to the Iron Wall skill, which reduces damage by 20% for one minute.

Around us, Rosalina and Rin are reducing the number of minions. As long as the King is alive, minions will keep being summoned.

These minions are much stronger than regular half-fishmen, with their abilities further boosted by 30% due to the King's presence. Even Rosalina and the others could suffer serious injuries if they let their guard down.

Gandarban, using the Anger Lock skill, deals damage to the King with Power Attack and Violent Attack.

I also use my skills to deal damage. Among them, the Chaos Slash skill I learned at Heroic Sword King Level 10 is very useful.

Chaos Slash (Low) not only deals up to 10 slashes but also triples the ATK value of each slash, dealing massive damage.

"Alright, this ends it!"

—Skill: Hero's Return!

Swinging the magic sword Salmann, a dome of scorching heat envelops the King.

"Syaaaaaaaa"

The King writhes in agony within the dome.

This is a skill I learned at Heroic Sword King Level 30. Although its proficiency is still (Slight), it encloses all enemies within a 3-meter radius in a scorching dome, dealing 1500 points of damage, ignoring defense. The 1500 points of damage are evenly divided among the enemies, but since only the King is in the dome, all 1500 points of damage are dealt to him.

The current MP cost of the Hero's Return skill is 150 points, and even as a Reincarnated Hero, I can only use it twice, making it a boss-specific skill.

As the scorching dome disappears, so does the King.

Until we defeated the King, the minions did not interfere at all. My companions are truly reliable, I think, looking around proudly.

"Five left."

The summoning rate of the minions was quite fast, but thanks to Rosalina and the others, only five remain.

"Gandarban, let's finish this."

"Understood!"

Gandarban and I join in, eliminating the remaining minions.

"Everyone, good work. Any injuries?"

"Koron and Karon have minor scratches."

I set my sub-job to Holy Pardoner and heal the two.

"Thank you."

"If you're injured, speak up honestly. There's no shame in it."

"Understood."

With this, we have cleared the 8th floor.

The total number of half-fishmen we fought on the 8th floor easily exceeded 3000.

The drop items are as follows:

＜Regular Half-Fishmen＞

- D-Rank Magic Stone: 150,000 guild coins × 3000 = 450,000,000 guild coins

＜Rare Half-Fishmen＞

- Magic Sword (One-Handed): 1,000,000 guild coins × 70 = 70,000,000 guild coins

- Magic Sword (Two-Handed): 1,200,000 guild coins × 50 = 60,000,000 guild coins

- Magic Spear: 1,000,000 guild coins × 50 = 50,000,000 guild coins

- Magic Bow: 1,500,000 guild coins × 20 = 30,000,000 guild coins

- Magic Staff: 1,200,000 guild coins × 20 = 24,000,000 guild coins

* All magic weapons are water-attribute.

＜Boss Half-Fishmen (Regular)＞

- C-Rank Magic Stone: 300,000 guild coins × 80 = 24,000,000 guild coins

＜Boss Half-Fishmen (Rare)＞

- Magic Sword (One-Handed): 2,000,000 guild coins × 1 = 2,000,000 guild coins

- Magic Spear: 2,000,000 guild coins × 1 = 2,000,000 guild coins

* All magic weapons are water-attribute.

＜Boss King of Half-Fishmen (Regular)＞

- Fire-Attribute Magic Sword (One-Handed): 4,000,000 guild coins × 1 = 4,000,000 guild coins

＜Treasure Chest＞

- Elixir of Youth: Not submitted to the guild, but estimated value is 1,000,000,000 guild coins

- 30 black gold coins worth 100,000 guild coins each = 3,000,000 guild coins

The items obtained from the 8th floor monsters alone amount to 719,000,000 guild coins.

I plan to sell the Elixir of Youth to a duke for a high price.

Even a single trip to the 8th floor yields over 100 million guild coins in profit, making it very lucrative. However, the large number of enemies makes it dangerous. It's a matter of weighing the risks and rewards.

The magic bows are surprisingly expensive. This is because they create arrows with magic, reducing the need for physical arrows.

Wealthy archers are said to eagerly buy magic bows, which sell out quickly when they hit the market.

Even with the 'Lucky Tail' that increases drop rates, the drops are still quite rare, which explains why they sell out quickly.

"Shall we head back?"

There was still daylight when we left the guild.

Maybe I'll check out some street stalls.

"Gandarban, I'm going to check out the stalls, so go back first."

"Understood. I will have Annelise, Rosalina, and Bartz accompany you."

It's not necessary to be so formal, but given Gandarban's position, he has to say it.

I accept this and see Gandarban and the others off.

"Let's go, the three of you."

"Yes, Lord Toi."

"Yes, sir."

"Understood."

Annelise on the right, Rosalina on the left, and Bartz at the back.

The main street of the capital is crowded with people.

The sunset dyes the people and the town red, creating a rather charming scene. It's a mixed bag, but I don't dislike it.

Walking with my dearest Annelise, anywhere feels like heaven to me.

Thank you for reading.

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The next update is on March 25th.