Ch.101Spaceship Assault (3)

We immediately headed toward the spaceship.

Woooooong-!!

A massive space battleship was floating in the sky above. Honestly, it looked incredibly cool. The epitome of every man’s fantasy.

Click-!

Sasith, being a man himself, couldn’t resist and tried to take a picture right away.

However, beings from the hidden world couldn’t be perceived by human cognition. The battleship didn’t appear in the photo.

“Tch.”

Sasith clicked his tongue.

“But… how do we get up there?”

Taiga asked me.

“Huh? Well…”

In the game, when players approached, light would automatically appear. Following the common cliché, riding that light would take you inside the spaceship.

Whoosh-!

I immediately gave a thumbs up. Hitchhiking onto a space battleship… this is a life achievement, you know.

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan couldn’t hitchhike their way onto the Death Star. An achievement those three couldn’t accomplish, I’m doing it right now.

“Give us a ride!!!”

Umi, caught up in the moment, jumped up and down while shouting.

“No… no matter how you look at it, we’re enemies. Why would they give us a ride?”

Taiga said in a tone of disbelief.

Ziiiiing-!!

A massive light appeared beneath the space battleship.

Woooooong-!

As the light descended toward us, our bodies began to float.

“Whoooa…!!”

We were being sucked straight into the space battleship.

“No way. This actually works?”

Taiga said in a surprised tone.

“Pretty generous fellows, aren’t they.”

Sasith remarked.

Well, honestly, it doesn’t make sense… but isn’t this what you call game logic? Anyway, we were sucked right into the space battleship.

The space battleship had a structure resembling a giant Pepero stick.

And… the dungeon’s starting point was in the center.

‘Central Control Room’

Massive letters were written in the center. It was a huge automatic door that obviously looked like it would house a boss.

“That’s where we need to go.”

Sasith headed straight for the door.

Beep-!

Naturally, the door didn’t open so easily.

“Red and Blue administrator keycards required.”

A dry mechanical voice announced.

A typical game feature. It was a system where you needed to collect keycards to open doors. Meaning we had to run around the map collecting keycards in a wild goose chase.

“Keycards… how do we get them?”

Umi looked at me.

“Red is at the eastern end, Blue at the western end.”

I said. Plus, the keycards were guarded by two mid-bosses.

In other words, to clear this dungeon, we needed to traverse both the western and eastern ends.

Typically, first-time players would spend two days on this. Even if you conquered the western end, returning to the starting point and then conquering the eastern end consecutively was extremely difficult.

‘Because the mobs reset immediately.’

That’s right. Once you conquered the west, it triggered a reset of all the enemies you’d defeated. Players would deplete their HP and SP pushing through enemies again, forcing them to continue the next day.

For that reason, I had prepared Doradogang. Using Doradogang would instantly return the player party to the dungeon entrance.

My strategy was to obtain the Red keycard from the west, immediately use Doradogang to return to the center, then conquer the east.

After conquering the east, use Doradogang again to return to the center.

Then clear the path to the central control room and head for the boss battle.

Defeating the boss there would activate the spaceship’s self-destruct system. We would need to escape the dungeon within the time limit.

It was a characteristic of space battleships. They always had self-destruct systems. Why include such a dangerous function? I sometimes wondered, but it was a tension-building device for players. Don’t dig too deep.

And at that point, the mobs would respawn and grab at the players’ pant legs.

Using Doradogang right then, returning to the dungeon entrance, and escaping would allow everyone to get out safely.

I had three Doradogangs. I spent quite a fortune buying them, but it wasn’t a waste.

‘This… isn’t a game anymore.’

That’s what I thought.

If something went wrong, this wasn’t a structure where we could try again.

Death would be the end. Everyone was precious to me. If everyone could conquer the dungeon with their bodies intact, spending a fortune wasn’t regrettable.

“Let’s go west first.”

I immediately directed my party members. Everyone followed me. This feeling of leading… this is the charm of being a tank.

———-

Inside the space battleship, it was filled with jellyfish-like aliens.

“Enemies… eliminate them.”

“Eliminate!”

The jellyfish-like creatures immediately drew their weapons. True to their alien nature, they were armed with ray guns and laser swords.

Wobble-! Wobble-!

They looked rather weak as they wobbled toward us.

“Wow!! They’re cute!!!”

Umi’s eyes lit up as she spoke.

Well… they are kind of cute. They had soft jellyfish-like faces with two round eyes embedded in them. There was a certain pathetic cuteness to them.

“They look weak…..”

Taiga said in a deflated tone.

“Don’t let your guard down. They’re strong.”

I said, drawing my sword.

Their level above their heads was a whopping 30. Without grinding and speccing up, they would be quite formidable opponents.

“Ah… I guess. Shota looks unimpressive but he’s strong too.”

Umi found understanding in a strange comparison. No. Don’t draw that kind of parallel.

Pshew-!! Pshewoooong-!!

At that moment, the aliens began firing their ray guns.

“Here I gooo!!!”

I charged toward the enemies, drawing my beloved sword Tomato.

“Kiryu… Second!!!”

As I charged, I regulated my breathing.

Hisssssss-!!

As steam erupted from my entire body, my movements themselves accelerated.

“Jellyfish Sashimi!!!!!”

I unleashed a sword strike.

Swoooooosh-!!!!!

As the satisfying sensation of cutting through something transmitted to my hand, I moved behind the jellyfish.

Click-!

I can’t resist sheathing my sword here. Deliberately timing it with the jellyfish’s collapse, I put my sword back in its scabbard.

“Keeeeek!!!”

“Hiiiiick!!!!”

“H-Human… strong…!”

The jellyfish bodies were all cut in half and scattered. Tomato itself was such a fine sword that it had the power to cut down enemies in a single strike.

“Sh-Shota. What did you just use?”

Taiga, seeing my Kiryu Second for the first time, widened his eyes. Sasith also had a surprised expression.

“Hmph. Can you feel it? My strength.”

It was natural to feel proud when hearing such words. Ah… learning that new technique was worth it.

“This kid… getting all cocky so quickly….”

Taiga grinned and tried to put me in a headlock as usual.

However, I had no intention of letting him have his way anymore.

Whoosh-!

Temporarily activating Kiryu Second, I immediately moved behind Taiga. Taiga’s headlock could only grasp at empty air.

“Too slow.”

I absolutely can’t resist this line!!!!

“Urgh… this bastard… even more annoying because he’s strong and arrogant… like Frieza…”

Taiga clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Anyway, just follow me, everyone. You can just suck your thumbs.”

I returned the line I had heard during my weaker days.

“Okay.”

Umi immediately started sucking her thumb. Yes. Good. She’s obediently following instructions.

“…….”

Taiga, perhaps due to his remaining pride, refused to suck his thumb.

“Hey!!!! Not sucking?”

Time to establish the pecking order?

“Who in their right mind would actually suck their thumb?!!”

Taiga shouted, his face reddening.

“Slurp! Look at Umi over there. She’s enthusiastically sucking her thumb after hearing my words.”

I pointed at Umi.

Suck-! Suck-!!

Umi was enthusiastically sucking her thumb almost like a child.

Unable to bear being compared to Umi, Taiga finally put his finger in his mouth.

“Happy now? Are you?”

Taiga said angrily.

“Hmm… satisfactory.”

I was satisfied with that.

“Sasiiith!! Aren’t you going to suck your thumb?”

I seized the opportunity to address Sasith. The desire to strip away his cool guy concept was growing vigorously.

“No.”

Sasith cut me off.

“…Well. That’s no fun.”

I clicked my tongue. Forcing him might distance our relationship, so I refrained.

——–

Anyway, our conquest toward the western end proceeded smoothly.

“Humans… intruders… kill them all…!”

Higher forms of jellyfish aliens appeared one after another.

Whiiiiing-!!

One jellyfish was piloting a giant bipedal robot. It looked incredibly tough.

Kwagagagak-!!

The robot charged straight at us.

“Shota!! What’s this thing’s weakness?!”

Sasith immediately took a combat stance.

“Lightning!! Zap it with electricity!!”

I shouted, hurling myself toward the robot.

Chaaaaang-!!!

Creating the Unfilial Shield as I charged, I blocked the robot’s punch with Pinocchio.

“Master!!! Fuuuuuck!! It huuurts…!!!”

Pinocchio cried, tears streaming down. Yes. Cry all you want. Those tears… are proof that you’re human.

“Come forth!!! Squirrel Thunder!!!”

Sasith summoned what appeared to be a new psycho-robo he’d received as a community reward.

Crackle-!!!!

A cute squirrel raised its hands high.

“Thundra!!!”

A spear of lightning formed in the air and pierced the robot.

Crackle-!!!

Engulfed in electricity, the robot became inoperable.

“D-Despicable….!”

The jellyfish tried desperately to operate the disabled robot.

“It’s too late!!!”

I jumped high, holding Tomato.

“Hyaaah!!!”

Then, I swung my sword. My target was singular: the robot’s head.

Swoooooosh-!!!!!!

The sword cleanly bisected the robot.

Kwaaaang-!!

Afterward, the robot’s body exploded with spectacular effects.

In this way, we smoothly conquered the space battleship.

Before long, we reached the western end.

The mid-boss with the Blue key, a blue jellyfish, blocked our path.

“Wait!! This area is restricted to authorized personnel only!!! State your name!!!”

The blue jellyfish shouted, drawing a laser sword.

“Shota.”

I said curtly.

“This is a restricted area. You must have a pass, right?”

The blue jellyfish questioned me once more.

“I don’t have such a thing.”

“You can’t enter without a pass!”

There was nothing more to say. I immediately swung my sword.

Swoooosh-!!

The blue jellyfish’s body was cut in half and collapsed.

“……..!!!”

Seeing this, the jellyfish horde was immediately gripped by fear.

Afterward, we just cleaned up the remaining ones. And so, we obtained the Blue keycard with surprising ease.