Chapter 29 – Floor 5. False Reunion

“KYEEEEEEK!!! A shark!”

“It’s an alligator.”

“Ah, I’m not very educated…”

Can’t blame someone for not being educated. I like people who recognize and accept their own shortcomings.

‘It’s bigger than I expected.’

I thought its height would be at most a person’s height, but that was nowhere close. Probably around 3 meters.

Albert and the other criminals also seemed stunned, staring blankly at the King of the Sewers with dismayed expressions, having only heard it was big but not realizing it was this big.

And then there were the reptilian eyes looking down at us.

‘Hmm. Seems like we should be worried about getting stepped on rather than bitten. How the hell did anyone beat this thing in this crazy game?’

Later in the game, you can even beat demons bare-handed, so a giant alligator doesn’t seem like much in comparison.

『King of the Sewers, Besha』Level: 10★

Health: 405/405 ■■■■■■■■■■

【A giant alligator with white skin living in White Chamber’s underground sewers. The continuously flowing magic can create such monsters. For reference, it’s female.】

The last part wasn’t particularly interesting to me, but anyway, the revealed health stat was in the 400s—the highest so far.

Considering that the Wanderer’s health, even combined with the Bell of Doom, barely reached the 300s, this boss made me wonder if it was actually designed to be beatable by early-game players.

‘At least its accuracy is low, thankfully.’

Though in reality, that wouldn’t stop it from destroying us in all sorts of bizarre ways.

“We’d need a sack to catch it.”

“There is a sack.”

Albert, who had been grumbling, thought for a moment, then nodded as if understanding what I meant.

“Indeed there is.”

STRETCH—

The King of the Sewers opened its maw wide. Its mouth rose to the height of a small building, forcing us to look up.

Shadow covered us as if it were trying to monopolize the warm sunlight coming through the gaps.

BOOM!!!

But the sonic boom it created shook the cavern greatly, vibrating our eardrums as if about to rupture them.

The world tilted woozily.

“What the f…!”

My body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, the floor rushing up to my face.

I had never seen or heard of such a pattern. No matter how difficult the game, what kind of crazy enemy applies area-of-effect status ailments the moment you encounter it, without even making contact?

Despite fuming at such unfairness, the King of the Sewers was slowly moving its massive body toward us.

“Be… Be… Besha!!”

HALT—

I don’t know. I just need to resolve this immediate situation, or else I’ll be eaten and my life will be over before I can even think about defeating it.

Fortunately, it still responded to its name. The white alligator, which had been slowly approaching, stopped at the shout of “Besha” and quietly looked down at me.

I slowly raised my body. Without making any provocative movements.

Cold sweat poured like rain, but I moved casually to avoid showing any signs of distress.

‘Fuck. Those teeth are fucking huge.’

Seeing the blunt saw-like teeth of the creature now right in front of me, I had to bite my lip hard to suppress a scream.

The smell of rotten fish rising from its mouth was extremely nauseating.

If bitten by those teeth, I’d become its protein supplement, transformed into part of its muscles.

I finally stood up and took out Jeff’s alligator statue that I had carefully kept in my pocket.

“Besha! Besha! Don’t you recognize me?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer like “Desu desu human! How about I tear off one leg for you?”, but the creature seemed to recognize its owner’s alligator statue, violently flicking its tail and reacting intensely.

That violent thrashing created water streams that sprayed like bombs and droplets that poured like rain.

“Remember our precious memories!”

And I threw it.

The flying alligator statue traced a parabolic trajectory through the air.

The King of the Sewers, seemingly surprised by the sudden throw, turned its body to follow the statue modeled after itself.

“Severa! Ice Lance!”

The temperature around dropped instantly, and a huge ice chunk brushed past my ear.

My knees felt weak at how dangerously close it had come to hitting my head, but the flying ice lance directly struck the open jaws of the King of the Sewers.

Cold spread, freezing the water in the sewer.

“KYAAAAAAAH!!! I!!! ALMOST!!! GOT!!! HIT!!!”

“Hmph.”

Was she that eager to frag me?

Severa turned her head away primly, as if pretending she didn’t know anything.

I decided to focus on the King of the Sewers for now, making a mental note to teach her her place if we survived.

“Everyone get up and shoot whatever you’ve got! That won’t hold it for long!”

“Ugh… my vision is spinning…”

Despite saying that, Albert seemed to roughly aim his bow and shot an arrow. The arrow that flew aimed steadily for the alligator’s nape and embedded itself.

However, it must have been shallow, as it was pulled out and disappeared into the water with the alligator’s violent thrashing.

The criminals who got up after him also aimed and shot bows and crossbows, and those without them threw stones.

Another ice lance flew.

This time it was a lance that froze the legs to more effectively restrict movement, but it still didn’t buy much time.

Already, CRACK— a large fissure had formed.

But that was enough. TWANG— TWANG— with the continuous sound of bowstrings being released, arrows and bolts were embedding themselves everywhere.

‘It doesn’t seem to be taking proper damage, though.’

Except for the arrows Albert shot, those fired by the criminals caused only about 1-2 damage. Of course, even Albert’s relatively better bow couldn’t be said to be particularly effective.

The boss, King of the Sewers, had too high defense. Though the criminals’ low stats were certainly part of the reason too.

‘Stone throwing doesn’t cause any damage at all. Still, if we use all the ice lances and about two fireballs, we could reduce it to half.’

Skipping the aiming process, it takes 2 turns to chant and fire a spell.

According to calculations, we should be able to see the Frenzy phase safely before Severa’s Fuel meter runs out.

‘No.’

If there’s a more efficient method, we should use it.

“Severa, after using all the ice lances and one fireball, approach and use Inevitable End.”

“…”

“Now you won’t even answer me…”

As long as she understands, there’s no problem.

Anyway, she obeys my words, so she won’t deliberately not do what I’ve ordered or sabotage it.

***

Disgusting water, disgusting air, and no sunlight.

Though resentful of the owner who abandoned her in such a place, she still survived.

Believing that one day, he would come to get her.

The owner she met after several years looked quite different. The chick-like yellow hair was now dull black, and the once unblemished face was now covered with many scars.

Though much had changed, the statue the owner always made while looking at her was unmistakably his.

He must have gone through a lot too. But finally, he came to get her!

Joyful, she wagged her tail like when she used to show affection to him as a child.

Though she had grown much bigger than back then, he would still find her cute like before.

Back to the old days—

The statue flying through the air. Why did the owner throw it?

Perhaps he accidentally dropped it while trying to show it to her. If so, she should return it.

Though worried that the owner might disappear if she turned away, he would be sad if the statue was lost.

She turned around and slid through the dirty water she had become accustomed to, moving toward the sculpture that had SPLASH— fallen into the water, intending to retrieve it.

CRACK—

Sudden coldness. Coldness that stiffened her body. Coldness that stopped her thoughts.

She didn’t understand. Couldn’t.

The only advantage of this place was that it wasn’t that cold even in winter.

But it was ice. The unpleasant cold thing she had seen years ago and never again.

It was wrapping around her body, making it difficult to move.

Plus, it hurt. Her mouth hurt like it had been hit by a stone. The pricking pain was also irritating.

Why? Was it the owner’s doing?

Why? Did he not like her anymore?

Why? Was she too big now?

Why— Why— Why— Why— Why—

Questions trailed one after another. But the owner didn’t answer.

More than the cold, stinging, and hot pain, she felt resentment toward the owner.

And then something whitish flying before her eyes.

『Inevitable End—』

SLASH—

It hurt. It was as if her soul was being torn apart, but something even greater swallowed that pain and inflated her body.

She looked at the owner.

“As expected of a boss, the effect is mild. Still, 25% max health damage to a boss is excellent.”

The owner’s face, grinning despite knowing her pain.

All that remained was directionless killing intent.

***

Severa, who had used 『Inevitable End』and exhausted her Fuel meter, returned to onahole form.

Though originally designed to instantly kill humans, animals, and insect-type creatures, 『Inevitable End』, which had been changed to near-death by the DunGal Pack’s adjustment, had a mild effect on bosses.

If the log about reduced effectiveness had appeared twice, it would mean that mini-bosses also resist 『Inevitable End』 to some extent.

Still, dealing 100 damage with a single spell was more than excellent.

‘Though if I use that, I have to charge the staff until the Magic meter is fully filled.’

A Magic consumption of 150 is no joke. Even at max level, you can’t use it without investing somewhat in Mental.

“The remaining health is… about 160. Everyone get ready. It’s starting.”

At my words, Albert and all the criminals tensed, each holding their weapons.

The King of the Sewers, whose movement restriction had been removed because the fireball had melted the ice, slowly looked at us again, bulging the muscles under its thick skin.

The once-white skin was blackened and blotchy from the flames, and a deep three-pronged wound, identical to the one on my chest, was visible on its snout.

Thick killing intent and madness mixed in the once-expressionless reptilian eyes.

As that gaze focused entirely on me, I pointed my axe at it.

“Hey, can’t you look a bit friendlier?”

“It’s too scary.”

Damn scary, for real.