Chapter 801: Rank 1 (3)

Arta's Secret Base. The story here is fairly simple. To briefly summarize it......

In the story, the Arta family created a secret base near the 'Earth's Core' on this
island to seal away a 'beast.' The Arta family used an object called the 'Divine
Machine' to seal the beast using the power of the Earth's Core, and this duty has
been passed down through generations until now. The problem is that the secret base
had lost power.

[A monster has invaded the laboratory where the Divine Machine is! This must be
someone's plot who wishes for the world's destruction!]

As you progress through the dialogue selecting the correct choices, Arta gives you
the first quest with dialogue like this. The quest objective is to eliminate the
monster that damaged the laboratory and reactivate the Divine Machine.

[Sorry, but because that thing broke the elevator, so you'll have to spend a few
hours climbing down the emergency ladder. I'll open the entrance right now!]

[Be careful! Once you enter, all your powers will disappear since the Core is in an
unstable state! Though the same goes for that Serpent of the End monster!]

He says something like this when you accept the quest. But perhaps my original
impression was off?

'Meeting him in person, he seems to be oddly unpleasant......'

As soon as I entered the lab, he started saying lines that weren't in the game.

["......What is your name?"]

After climbing down a ladder for nearly two hours, Arta's voice came through a
speaker in the lab.

["...Bjorn Yandel."]

["Is that a famous name in the Empire?"]

["Well, somewhat."]

Though it's in Rafdonia, not the Empire. But it's not a lie since I am indeed
famous.

'I don't think they've asked for a name before while progressing through this
part......'

Well, this must be another effect of the reality patch. After introductions, Arta
didn't say much else, so I slowly entered the laboratory while directing the
members.

*Beep-! Beep-! Beep-!*

Inside the laboratory, an ominous siren sound kept repeating. The dome-structured
laboratory had quite a spacious interior......

"Where is the Sniktura......?"

The members grew even more tense when they cautiously entered but couldn't find
what we were looking for. Well, even if its abilities are sealed, a rank 1 is still
a rank 1.

"Raven, Marrone, and Auyen, you three go over there."

First, I gathered the three useless members for this battle in one place.

And......

*Clang, clang.*

I advance toward the center of the lab. At its center there was a hole, resembling
a sinkhole, whose bottom could not be seen......

*Whooooosh-!*

As I approach, a strong wind blew from behind me.

This effect was created by the 'Core' at the bottom of that hole, draining our
Magic Power and Soul Power.

"Are you all ready?"

Instead of answering my question, the members slightly nod their heads while taking
their positions. Okay, seems like everyone's ready......

["Survivor of the fallen empire, in front of you—."]

["I know. I just press this, right?"]

["......"]

As soon as I pressed the button, activating one of the suspicious machines located
in the laboratory, the wind that had been swirling through the interior suddenly
stopped.

And......

[Command input complete.]

[Emergency restoration initiated.]

Along with the narration in ancient language, the siren that had been ringing out
beeping sounds had also stopped. Ah, of course, that was only temporary.

*Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!*

Instead, the sirens began to ring out with an even more urgent tempo than before—.

[Restoration failed.]

[Unidentified object detected inside the connector.]

[Initiating forced ejection.]

Along with such narration, a fierce gust of wind rushed back out from the hole.

And......
[Forced ejection complete.]

A snake was pushed out of the hole like a hidden parasite.

"Prepare for battle!"

It was the rank 1 monster, Sniktura.

***

The Serpent of the End, Sniktura. One of dozens of monsters that appear on the
tenth floor. Actually, even when playing the game, I usually just passed by this
one when encountering it on the tenth floor. The tenth floor was truly hell-level
difficulty in itself. After entering the tenth floor, my main strategy was to avoid
battles as much as possible while heading to the 'Gate of the Abyss.' Well, no
matter what, situations where combat is unavoidable are bound to happen.

Anyway.

'Seeing it here like this, it's kind of cute.'

This isn't the tenth floor where all restrictions are lifted. It's a small
colosseum where everyone had to fight with their active skills sealed. Within this
space, the Sniktura was relatively small and cute. Well, even just by raising up
its head, it still easily exceeded 3 meters.

*Hisss......*

The Sniktura stopped, looking at us, seemingly confused after being ejected from
the hole. Seeing it bang its triple-split tail against the floor, it clearly didn't
like this situation.

"It seems smaller than I've heard?"

Well, that's because it can't use its active skill [Form Transformation] here. On
the tenth floor, this thing was a tricky opponent that could not only change its
size at will but even had patterns to mutate into completely different entities.

'If only Unity worked with [Form Transformation], it would have been an upgrade
over [Giantization]......'

Maybe that's why I didn't hunt this monster much. Even though it's a rank 1
monster, its abilities weren't well suited for a shield barbarian.

[Unidentified object ejection complete.]

[Closing access gate—.]

[Failure, failure, failure, failure—.]

Ah, so noisy.

"What does it keep saying?"

Oh, that?

"It's telling us to fight."

As soon as I said that, the Sniktura lunged at us.

[Kyaaaaaaaaak-!]

Its fangs, which were as large and thick as a decent-sized greatsword, looked
threatening at a glance, and seemed too strong to face with our skills sealed.

But......

'Active skills aren't everything.'

[Defense successful. Wall of Aegis absorbed all damage.]

Fangs of this size can be countered with the 'Wall of Aegis.' After all, this
shield is an overpowered item that allows you to cheese through anything as long as
it's within blockable size.

[......Kaahk!]

The monster seemed a bit flustered when I, who was relatively small in comparison,
effortlessly blocked its attack. It then began draw phlegm from deep within its gut
and spat it towards me.

*Tadat.*

Ah, better dodge this.

*Siiiiiizzle-!*

I dodged out of the way and as soon as the spit landed, the affected area began
corroding instantly. This is due to the effect of its passive [All-Poison Body]. To
summarize it briefly, it gives immunity to all poisons, applies a poison effect
(highest grade) to all your bodily fluids and increases poison-related damage. It's
like the ultimate graduation version of the [Acid Fluid] passive from the Corpse
Golem essence that I used to make good use of......

*Swoosh-!*

It then swung its thick tail at me after I dodged the phlegm.

'Ah, this won't register as a successful block.'

Maybe if [Giantization] was active, but my current small state, I couldn't

perfectly 'block' that tail.

But......

'It's already too late to dodge.'

Still, I raise my shield to cover my upper body and minimize the impact. Of course,
that wouldn't save me from the fate of being slammed into the wall.

*Craaaaash-!*

My body was flung back with no resistance despite blocking with my shield and
slammed into a wall. This was inevitable. The base stats of a rank 1 monster were
beyond just being called monstrous. In [Dungeon and Stone] there's no way to
surpass a rank 1 monster's base stats with any combination.

'Ah, would it be different in 100x mode?'

Hmm... certainly, if you could stack about 30 essences, it might be possible
somehow...... This is just pointless delusions, so let's move on.

"Behell—aaaaaaah!!"

To focus on the battle, I shouted and quickly returned to the battlefield. Ainar,
Sven Parav, and Kaislan are holding the frontline.

"What... Such a monster......!"

"Ugh...! Bjorn! Without abilities, I don't know what to do!"

Everyone was overwhelmed by the massive difference in raw stats, but I wasn't too
worried. It's not like they've only fought monsters for a day or two. They'll get
used to the patterns soon enough. After all, its active skills are sealed just like
ours. Throughout this raid, its patterns would have to be simple......

*Whoosh-!*

While the front line continued their difficult battle, the back line provided
support fire, but dealing damage was nearly impossible.

"Yandel......! Is it even possible to kill this thing?"

Kaislan began to question the battle where neither shooting arrows nor swinging
swords could even leave a scratch. Honestly, what he said wasn't wrong. Especially
when considering the raw stats of a rank 1 monster. There's no way we could output
enough damage to kill this thing with just passives while our abilities are sealed.

'It should be about time for that......'

Just as I was thinking this.

["...I will begin the restoration."]

Arta's voice, different from the narration we'd been hearing, echoes through the
speaker.

And......

["Manual restoration requires assistance from inside the laboratory. I'll

manipulate the lights to indicate—."]

["You mean press the buttons that lights up?"]

["......That's right."]

After finishing the conversation, I instructed the members in the backline to press
the lit buttons once the equipment powered on.

And......

[Emergency stabilization module activated.]

[1%, 2%, 3%, 4%......]

[Error occurred.]
[Magic core repair required.]

After pressing a button, periodic progress notifications echoed through the

speaker, and before one problem could resolve, another problem would arise
requiring another button to be pressed to fix something else. And after some time
passed like this.

"Kaislan, fall back and heal with a potion."

"I'm still fine—."

Hey, your flesh has melted enough to see bone, what do you mean you're fine?

"That's an order."

"Understood......"

At a certain point, after nearly 2 hours of continuous fighting, the vanguard

members, one after another, began repeatedly cycling between retiring from and
returning to the battlefield.

[Emergency stabilization complete.]

*Whooooong-!*

With a sound of power being turned on, the dark laboratory interior suddenly
brightened. This meant the long, long first phase has finally ended, and at the
same time—.

[Field Effect - Destroyed Nuclear Laboratory has been modified.]

[Your fixed resource values will fluctuate relative to distance.]

This also meant we can now properly start the raid. After all, the backline's MP
will start regenerating now. Not much, only up to about 10% at most. However, the
vanguard is still the most important role in this raid.

"Listen well, from now on you absolutely cannot get pushed back!"

Therefore, I gave another strong order to the vanguard. And for good reason, since
we're not the only ones who can regain MP when moving away from that hole. If that
snake bastard crawls too far out, it'll be able to use skills as well.

So......

"Parav! Fall back to the rear!"

I position Sven Parav, our only healer, in the rear to utilize him as a priest
class.

[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has cast Elementalization.]

Also, I had Erwen use [Elementalization] rather than focus on damage.

Since it's a poison-attribute monster, we naturally chose earth.

[Damage received from fire attributes is reduced by half.]

[Damage received from water attributes is doubled.]

[Poison immunity bonus.]

[When using blunt weapons, a strong modifier is added to destructive actions.]

[Physical Resistance has increased significantly......]

[......]

With the poison problem solved, I could fight more aggressively, and my stability
had increased significantly due to gaining knockback resistance.

'Now we just need to slowly wear it down, and then deal with the final enrage
pattern......'

Just as I was thinking this and steadily progressing through the raid without
rushing.

"...Huh?"

Suddenly, the Sniktura's scales began to glow bright red. And that meant only one
thing.

[Sniktura has cast Seed of the End. Target one random character within radius and
inflict an unavoidable strike.]

Something went wrong.

.
.
.
.

[.........'s health has reached 0%.]

[The countdown has begun.]