Ch.102Spaceship Assault (4)

FWOOOOSH-!!

While I was stalling for time by talking to the Blue Jellyfish, I had been charging my breath. I was charging my breath to use Kiryu Second at any moment.

“There’s no such thing.”

Using that line as my signal, I immediately activated Kiryu Second.

FWOOOOSH-!!

Before the Blue Jellyfish could even resist, I swung my sword.

The Blue Jellyfish was split in two before it could put up any resistance and collapsed. Immediately after, I rummaged through the jellyfish’s slimy body and grabbed the Blue Keycard.

“You, human… attacking during a conversation… how cowardly!”

“Kill the human!”

The other jellyfish hurriedly drew their weapons.

‘Well… honestly, it was a bit cowardly.’

I had to admit that.

‘But… that Blue Jellyfish was quite troublesome.’

I just quickly dispatched it because it was an annoying mid-boss.

It was notorious for randomly activating shields during battle to increase combat difficulty.

It had a pattern of mixing two shields: a Physical Shield that reflected physical attacks once, and a Magical Shield that reflected magic attacks.

But the visual effect for both physical and magic reflection was identical. There was no way to know which shield it was before attacking. Often, I’d confidently use a high-damage skill only to be left near death from the reflected damage.

So, I struck preemptively before the fight began. It wouldn’t have been possible without the overwhelming speed unique to Kiryu Second.

“Kill the human!!!”

Belatedly, the jellyfish took up combat positions with weapons in hand.

“Hey, will my attacks work on this one?!”

At that moment, Taiga shouted in an aggressive tone. He was itching for a fight after having no opportunities to battle.

“Sure!! Burn them all with fire!!!”

I immediately directed Taiga.

“Come forth!! Fenrir!!”

Taiga summoned his Psychorobo.

“GRRRRRR!!”

A hunting dog with a flaming sword in its mouth appeared.

“Inferno Sword!!!”

Taiga activated Fenrir’s exclusive fire-physical skill.

WHOOOOSH-!!

Fenrir, with the flaming sword in its mouth, began tearing through the enemy lines.

FWOOOOSH-!!

Fenrir slashed through the jellyfish-filled enemy ranks with the sword in its mouth.

“ARGHHHH….!”

“S-so strong…!!!”

The jellyfish bodies were immediately shredded by Fenrir’s attack.

“Suck, suck.”

Since there were no wounds to heal, Umi the healer had nothing to do. Faithfully following my orders, Umi was just diligently sucking her finger. Hmm. Umi, your loyalty is certainly appreciated.

“Kuhahaha….. for filthy humans… you’re quite skilled….”

One jellyfish that was surprisingly still alive laughed and spoke.

“I’ll show you… advanced technology that humans can’t comprehend… perfected in the shadow realm. Rapid Regeneration Device!! Activate!!!!”

With the jellyfish’s words, the entire spaceship vibrated.

RUMBLE-! RUMBLE-!!

The bodies of the jellyfish we thought were dead rapidly regenerated. Even the ones we had killed earlier all came back to life.

Well, this was according to the original work. Killing the mid-boss Blue Jellyfish triggers the revival of all the minions.

“Kill the humans!!!”

RUMBLE-! RUMBLE-!!

An enormous number of jellyfish floated toward where we were.

“Damn… there are too many.”

Sasith clicked his tongue and was about to take out his Psychorobo.

“Is this… the fear that SpongeBob felt…!!”

Seeing the scene before me, I trembled.

SpongeBob had faced this overwhelming army of jellyfish with just a stick. He was truly a hero.

“Shota… this bastard’s acting weird again.”

Taiga nudged my side to bring my consciousness back to reality.

Well, fighting them directly would result in injuries. Even if we could win, I wanted everyone to remain unharmed. That was my wish.

POP-!

I took out the Dora-Dora-Gong I had prepared from my pocket. It was a strange object shaped like a plump bellflower root. It even had eyes, nose, and mouth on its body.

GRASP-!!!

I immediately grabbed the Dora-Dora-Gong.

“KIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

The Dora-Dora-Gong immediately let out a horrific scream.

“Hahahahaha! It’s Little Shota!!”

Umi burst into laughter.

“This guy… definitely Shota, right? Look at that scream!! Hehehehe!”

Taiga also seemed to have burst into laughter.

“KIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

The Dora-Dora-Gong just continued to scream.

As I heard the Dora-Dora-Gong’s scream, my consciousness began to fade. That crying sound was the trigger.

FLASH-!!

Soon, all party members’ bodies were enveloped in light. With that as the trigger, we immediately teleported.

——–

POP-!!

When I came to my senses, we were at the dungeon entrance. Oh… it worked perfectly.

Perhaps because it had used all its energy to scream, the Dora-Dora-Gong’s body was rapidly withering.

“Dora-Dora-Gong… that was an excellent scream.”

I stroked the completely withered Dora-Dora-Gong, then tossed it away without hesitation. Well… it was a one-time use item anyway.

‘Damn… my money.’

Honestly, it wasn’t like I didn’t regret it. A huge sum of money went into this one-time item. Damn… my settlement money…

“W-we moved in an instant!!”

Umi seemed unable to believe the situation.

“Indeed… we avoided unnecessary combat.”

Sasith tried to maintain a cool, expressionless face, but he seemed surprised.

“Wow! Shota!! You have some interesting items.”

Taiga chuckled and patted my head.

“But… aren’t the revived enemies going to chase us?”

Sasith asked, looking back.

“Ah… they don’t come to the dungeon entrance. I’m not sure why.”

I made up an excuse. That’s right. It’s a game mechanic. If enemies chased us to the dungeon entrance, save points would be meaningless.

“I see… they’re surprisingly gentlemanly. Those jellyfish might be good guys?”

Umi came to her own understanding.

“Then we’re heading east!!”

I roared, holding up my sword. The blade of the Demon Sword Tomato reflected the spaceship’s lights, emitting a red glow. It’s my sword, but… it’s really cool.

That red light itself seemed to speak to me.

‘When I grow up, I want to be ketchup… I also want to be juice…’

It was like hearing lyrics from a children’s song. Tomato… if you had been born in a peaceful era, you wouldn’t have become a sword. But your modest dream has certainly been conveyed.

———

We immediately headed east.

However, the eastern conquest was more treacherous than the western one.

That’s right. These guys weren’t fools either. Having heard that the Blue Keycard from the west had been stupidly stolen, they were on high alert.

“There they are!!! Kill the humans!!”

“Be careful of the one with the red sword in the middle!! He doesn’t listen to reason!! He’s crazy!!”

The jellyfish immediately formed ranks.

They began positioning themselves to block me specifically.

“Hehehe. Targeting the ace? Fine. I’ll take you on.”

I smiled and raised my sword. By the way… calling me crazy? That’s harsh.

“That one can only swing his sword!! Everyone, put up Physical Shields!!”

At that moment, a jellyfish with an unusually large head shouted loudly.

Oh… a surprisingly clever one.

“Physical Shield!!!”

The jellyfish immediately began putting up futuristic barriers.

FLASH-! POP-!!

With that, they became immune to physical attacks.

“Except for the one with the red sword, the rest are nothing!! Push forward!!!”

The jellyfish, filled with confidence from their Physical Shields, rushed toward our party.

However… there was something they overlooked.

Strictly speaking, I’m the weakest one here. Our party’s main damage dealer was Sasith.

“Sasith!!! Grind them all!!!”

I shouted toward Sasith.

“Come forth!! Squirrel Thunder!!!!”

Sasith immediately took out his Psychorobo.

“THUNDERRR!!!!!”

The squirrel raised its hands high.

CRACKLE-BOOM-!!!!!!

As streams of lightning surged from all directions, the jellyfish were roasted to a crisp, becoming grilled jellyfish.

What good is physical immunity? We can just fry them with magic.

Anyway, sweeping through the jellyfish horde, we broke through the shortest route.

“Block them!! Block them at all costs!!”

“Hold the line!! Hold it!!!!”

The jellyfish horde desperately tried to stop us.

Even knowing they would die, they were giving their all to defend this position. They were monsters with quite admirable professional dedication.

However, personal feelings must be set aside in battle.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Die!! You vermin!!!!”

I spun forward while swinging my sword.

The so-called… Whirlwind!!!!! At this moment, I was a barbarian incarnate.

FWOOOOSH-!!!

Like the blades of a blender, my sword slashed through the jellyfish bodies all at once.

“UGAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

The jellyfish collapsed with miserable screams.

SPIN-!!!

Confirming that the enemies had disappeared, I stopped spinning and landed on the ground.

CLATTER-!

One of the jellyfish soldiers dropped something. A drop item? Curious, I picked up what the jellyfish had dropped.

It was nothing special. Just an ordinary photo.

It showed two large jellyfish and one small jellyfish. Hmm… a family photo? They all look the same as jellyfish, so it’s hard to tell them apart.

“What? It’s not a drop item.”

I immediately tossed the photo away.

“……….!”

Sasith was watching that scene with shocked eyes. What? Why are you looking at me like that?

“Shota… I know you’re not a bad person, but sometimes I question your humanity.”

Sasith said with a serious expression.

“You’re… just a kind psychopath. A harmless lunatic.”

Sasith directed those words at me.

“Hey!!! What kind of rude thing is that to say!!!”

I immediately lunged at Sasith. After a good deal of patting and reconciliation, we headed toward the eastern end again.

The eastern end.

What was guarding it was the Red Jellyfish.

“Don’t come any closer, intruder.”

The red jellyfish, riding a giant robot, immediately took a defensive stance.

WHIRRR-!!

Revealing its wariness toward me, a barrier-like field rose from the machine.

Tsk. The surprise attack strategy was out the window. I clicked my tongue. In this case… I had no choice but to fight.

Of course, I knew the strategy. The hidden card to use here was Umi.