Ch.336[Episode 336] Underworld Zone 3 Hard

“…No. It’s a bit different.”

Sir Dominic noticed that Slaton Bex’s appearance was somewhat different from before.

More precisely, it was the fact that Sir Dominic calling out Slaton Bex’s name didn’t seem to have much impact.

Above all…

“Sir Dominic! This time will be different!”

“So enemies meet on a narrow bridge after all.”

“Today I shall finally avenge my past defeat.”

The Slaton Bex before them was repeating the same phrases over and over.

“It’s a digitized monster.”

Sir Dominica accurately defined the Slaton Bex standing before them.

“Could this be something that appears as the person I hate most?”

Of course, Sir Dominica didn’t know everything either, so she misjudged some aspects.

“It seems that thing is the key to clearing this stage.”

Sir Dominic noticed that Slaton Bex was too large to exit the gate.

This meant that while Slaton Bex remained on the battlefield, no monsters would be reinforced.

“Perhaps we can break through this terrible round…”

Sir Dominic raised his shield once more.

Slaton Bex had a habit of eating nearby creatures to become stronger whenever his health was reduced or he found himself in a disadvantageous situation.

Well aware of this fact, Sir Dominic thought that if they utilized Slaton Bex’s characteristics properly, they could handle this tremendous horde of monsters.

“Captain Elang! Slaton Bex is an extremely greedy demon! If we inflict even a little damage, he’ll start devouring the surrounding monsters!”

“Ah, yes!”

Sir Dominic had assumed that Sir Dominica would know something about Slaton Bex, but realized Captain Elang wouldn’t.

So Sir Dominic briefly conveyed information about Slaton Bex to Captain Elang as well.

Fortunately, Captain Elang understood what Sir Dominic was saying.

She moved Suzuki, one of the remaining androids, to the back while asking Li to continuously inflict damage on Slaton Bex.

There was an enormous gap in power between Li and Slaton Bex, but she could steadily inflict 1 or 2 points of damage.

“…It hurts! It hurts!”

And Slaton Bex… or more precisely, the digitized copy of Slaton Bex, just as Sir Dominic had predicted, immediately devoured a nearby goblin as soon as his health dropped slightly.

If it had been the original Slaton Bex, such a trick wouldn’t have worked, but the Slaton Bex before them was a fake copy.

As a result, they were able to induce a certain pattern.

Of course, Slaton Bex wouldn’t endlessly devour monsters just because he was continuously damaged.

“It seems there’s an internal cooldown.”

Sir Dominica sharply noticed this fact.

Slaton Bex’s monster consumption would only activate again after a certain amount of time had passed.

Perhaps during the digitization process, they determined that consumption was too overpowered and implemented some balance patches.

“What a shame. We could have cleared this faster.”

However, this was a disadvantage for Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

They wanted to feed the monsters to Slaton Bex as quickly as possible to clear the field, but that internal cooldown caused more delay.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica raised their shields side by side and slowly walked forward.

Behind them, the sniper Li and Alice continued to attack Slaton Bex’s main body.

The shields pushed monsters toward Slaton Bex like bulldozers, and the damaged Slaton Bex ate the monsters—a continuous cycle.

“My goodness…”

Captain Elang, who had been frantically supplying ammunition to Li, suddenly noticed that the field was gradually becoming cleaner.

All those numerous and powerful monsters had almost… no, completely disappeared due to the remarkable performance of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, along with Slaton Bex’s ally slaughter.

Just now, the last monster went down Slaton Bex’s throat.

It was an ogre that strained the tendons in its neck trying not to be pushed, but unable to overcome the strength of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, it gradually began to be pushed back.

Even during this test of strength, the ogre’s expression was increasingly filled with despair and terror.

Perhaps as an expression of its unwillingness to be pushed any further, the ogre managed to exert maximum strength in its short life, but that wasn’t enough to defeat Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

Finally, the ogre tightly closed its eyes as it fell down Slaton Bex’s throat.

After pushing even the last monster into Slaton Bex, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica breathed sighs of relief.

“I was at a loss for how to handle this, but we got lucky.”

“Indeed. This seems to have been the gimmick all along.”

When Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica first saw the monsters pouring out, they thought it was a bug.

But when Slaton Bex appeared afterward, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica remembered Slaton Bex’s characteristics and concluded this was a stage gimmick.

Presenting a difficult challenge while simultaneously providing the solution.

Anyone could see this was a Gachaland-style stage!

Even if it wasn’t Sir Dominic, anyone would have seen the current situation as more of a gimmick than a bug.

“Quite an interesting gimmick.”

“Indeed. Overwhelming us with sheer numbers to create tension, then providing a solution to give a sense of achievement… Whoever designed this stage must be quite clever.”

“R-really?”

Captain Elang found Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s words quite plausible.

When the monsters first swarmed in, she wondered if it was a bug or punishment for being too greedy, but after hearing Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s explanation, it did seem like a round designed to provide the extreme experience of serious crisis and the satisfaction of overcoming it.

Come on. They wouldn’t make the difficulty impossible for people to clear, right?

It must have all been part of the gimmick.

In the end, Captain Elang’s thoughts leaned toward the idea that this whole situation was just one big gimmick.

“Th-this is fun. Until now it’s been a continuous cycle of monsters appearing and us blocking them, but to introduce such a new gimmick…”

Captain Elang began clapping with a flushed expression.

She thought this was the most interesting gimmick she had experienced in Gachaland so far.

Yesterday, Captain Elang had rated Gachaland at about 3.5 out of 5, but after this experience, her rating had risen to 4.5.

“…Mortals. Haven’t you forgotten something?”

Captain Elang, who had been giving a standing ovation, suddenly froze.

Ah. Right.

Come to think of it, the stage wasn’t over yet.

With that thought, Captain Elang slowly turned her head.

Slaton Bex was still stuck in the gate.

…Even more tightly than before.

“How dare, how dare you ignore me? You beings worth less than cosmic dust, how dare you ignore me?”

Slaton Bex expressed his anger, spitting acidic saliva.

Captain Elang’s eyes darted around nervously at this situation.

It seemed they would need to deal with Slaton Bex to clear the stage.

“Wh-what should we do? He looks so strong…”

Captain Elang was terrified of the obviously powerful Slaton Bex.

Well, after watching him devour monsters so voraciously just moments ago, it would be strange not to be afraid.

Of course, from Slaton Bex’s perspective, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were quite strange individuals.

“There’s nothing to worry about. The situation is actually better than before.”

“That’s right. It’s just one enemy now, isn’t it?”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica spoke casually while rotating their shoulders to loosen their slightly stiff joints.

“If he could move around, it might be troublesome…”

“But against a stationary opponent, we’ll never lose.”

Sir Dominic swung his shield at Slaton Bex, who was tightly wedged in the gate.

One of Slaton Bex’s eyes, exposed beneath his skin, was hit by the corner of the shield and screamed in pain.

“Argh! Ah! You vile mortal scum…!”

Slaton Bex tried to thrash about wildly, but couldn’t.

Due to the stun effect from Sir Dominic’s shield equipment upon impact, he couldn’t move his body.

“How cowardly.”

Sir Dominic pulled his arm back again.

And once more, hitting the same spot, he said:

“A demon speaking of cowardice. How amusing, Slaton Bex!”

“Ugh…! Stop! Stop!”

“Ah, let me have a turn too!”

“Please include me as well!”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica joyfully struck Slaton Bex.

The fake Slaton Bex had enormous health in the data, but at this moment, that vast health only translated into more pain.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were hitting Slaton Bex so enthusiastically that even Alice slightly joined in this one-sided assault.

This one-sided attack by Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica continued for dozens of minutes until Slaton Bex disappeared into data fragments.

“Ugh… how frustrating… I failed to get my revenge again…”

Slaton Bex muttered resentfully as he disappeared.

Could the original have endured longer?

That’s impossible to know.

But what’s certain is…

“Huh…?”

Captain Elang, after witnessing this entire process, uttered a dumbfounded sound.