While I was aware that Kanami-chan, Supesei-san and the others were occupying themselves as they waited for me, I wanted to capture this labyrinth before anything else.
For breakfast, I enjoyed both the Vortex Turtle and the Gillman Lord Dominaria.
I wanted to eat the Vortex Turtle specifically before it was consumed by the labyrinth and disappeared. After making my way through the massive shell, I enjoyed the heart that was about the size of a fully grown hobgoblin. I sliced it up along with its huge liver and enjoyed it as sashimi while I barbecued two of its legs.
Instead of having the intended delicate flavor, the sashimi was crunchy. Unique tastes weren't bad every so often, so it became tolerable with a swash of liquor.
Though, when I turned to taste Dominaria, I found it had a heavy yet enriched flavor. The aftertaste especially was refreshing. When I consumed it at a specific temperature, the texture was out of this world. Though… I inadvertently ate too much.
I ate Dominaria with a side of Ragon. The Ragon was the huge fish that Dominaria rode, and it had plenty of tallow that was enjoyable. The pink body had a slight sweet fragrance which only served to stimulate my appetite.
All of my dishes were delicious, and I ate happily as I did heartily.
Because both floor bosses were high-level monsters, my entire body brimmed with power after every bite.
[Ability learned: Hardened Scaled Husk Generation]
[Ability learned: Intermediate Summoning: Fishman]
[Ability learned: Erupting Thorn Generation]
[Ability learned: Shell Generation]
[Ability learned: Multiple Shells]
There were a lot of generation abilities in particular this time around.
I received[Hardened Scaled Husk Generation] and [Intermediate Summoning: Fishman] from Dominaria, whilst [Erupting Thorn Generation], [Shell Generation] and [Multiple Shells]came from the Vortex Turtle.
The abilities certainly suited the both bosses' characteristics.
Giving into my temptation to experiment, I immediately used [Intermediate Summoning: Fishman]and a Sahuagin [1] appeared. It was a single class higher than a Gillman -- like hobgoblins to goblins. Though, at best I was able to summon a black Gillman Lord.
I found that they actually had a moderate amount of intelligence and were able to act autonomously when I allowed it.
They didn't need detailed instructions since they could move independently, though it became necessary for anything more complex. I'm sure that higher-ranking ones wouldn't require any commands to be able to act on their own, but it's good enough for the moment. I guess..
It does make the subjugation a little easier regardless, and they'll be a rather significant help in the future I'm sure.
I opted to take this as a good omen for the morning and went off to continue my grand dungeon conquest. From the 31st floor onward, it was necessary to follow a myriad of intricate waterways that flowed in midair.
The stairs I came from earlier descend down to a semicircle that goes around for about ten meters, and then that's it, nothing else but air and the water path.
I could neither see a ceiling nor the ground below. I basically felt that I was standing in an isolated area some two thousand meters in the air, it made it better to ponder my surroundings.
The foothold certainly gave that kind of vibe. I separated a part of myself so I could test it out. It went out, and then a little while later it somehow appeared above me. Well, before it uneventfully dropped in front of me making a face and continued falling.
It appeared that the space in that place looped. After falling to a certain point, it transferred back up into the air and… fell back down. Even though the possibility of crashing to one's death disappeared, the true risk remained. One carelessly awkward mistake would put me into this loop endlessly, and cause me to horribly starve to death. As that type of death was particularly undesirable, extra caution was demanded.
In order to advance forward, it was necessary to travel through the water cylinders that were several meters thick. I had made another attempt to bypass the floor by flying, but just as I was cautious about, the mysterious power of the floor denied me flight. I made several attempts, but there was simply a limiter placed on flight so I gave up.
Yielding the idea of an easy way, I proceeded steadily through the waterway. However, I was certainly not going to swim.
I compensated my spirits and lack of flight with my magic and used [Intermediate Summoning: Fishman] to summon a black Gillman Lord and gave him the direct honor of becoming my surfboard. I do believe he enjoyed it, though a little more than expected...
Either way, because of the effects of the rare skill[Water Ride Johnny], I was able to go forward without getting tired. There truly are scores of ways to use these summoning abilities, I should experiment more when I return.
As I progressed, I found that it was possible to switch between routes by dropping down to paths lower down, though transfer back above became impossible. As this type of three-dimensional maze was rather new to me, I had a considerably hard time with it.
The structure alone was difficult, it was only more troublesome as dungeon monsters attacked without mercy.
There were the "Four-armed Mantis Shrimp' that were as big as a bear with a hard exoskeleton. A single solid blow could knock you right out of the water path, and it attacked rather quickly with its four arms like an artillery bombardment.
The "Blue Mermen Knights" attacked in groups, though it was regrettable that there were only male knights. They had well-trained upper bodies and were equipped with blue magic-metal armor with the lower body of a fish. They were excellent weapon users.
The next were "Riot Sharks" that were basically sharks with five eyes and had an organ that shot lightning. The pectoral fins were as thick as my leg and the attacks had rather strange trajectories since their fins evolved into some sort of tentacles like an octopus.
All of them weren't particularly threatening after the first encounter, though it did take a few hours whilst both warding them off and figuring out the maze.
Either way, I was able to reach the 35th floor without taking near as much time as I through at the beginning as I eventually got better at the maze puzzles.
The floor boss of the 35th reigned over a huge water dome that was formed from a nexus of various waterways intersecting at one point. Inside, there was a perfect sphere exactly six meters around. It was so smooth of a surface that even I couldn't discern a single spot of unevenness. That was the boss, "Aquarium the Ball Golem".
It wasn't really clear what it was made out of, and despite the clarity of the spring water it was difficult to see the boss clearly. I had pondered how the Ball Golem attacked without limbs.
I had considered whether it attacked by just charging at high speeds using a super-hard body. Well, it did that, but it also had two different kinds of water cutters that temporarily extend to absorb water from the surroundings and released it with massive force. It was rather difficult to evade actually.
The internal core of the golem could rampage and cause a rather serious explosion, though concern on that was on the backburner since it was a self-destruction technique that certainly wouldn't be used at the onset.
Compared to Vortex Turtle from the other floor, this thing's defense was on the same tier.
My overall review rated this guy as the worst floor boss.
What was even worse was the fact that this guy kept running away which made it extremely difficult to get in to attack it head-on. It made the fight so much more difficult than it needed to be, though I suppose that is the intended purpose.
Simply the worst.
[Floor boss [Aquarium the Ball Golem] successfully eliminated.]
[Yatendouji is permitted to proceed to the next floor, floor boss [Aquarium the Ball Golem] can hereafter be passed without battle.]
[Yatendouji has been awarded the[Pursuer of the Fleeing Ball]as a first time subjugation bonus.]
[Yatendouji has been assigned the Rare Skill[Underwater Stalker]as a bonus for a solo kill.]
Further elaborating about the Ball Golem was that it was able to use the battlefield to the maximum. Despite the fact that the water dome was a nexus of various paths, so the moment it seemed like you closed in to finally attack it, it flees away at lightning speed down one of the scour of waterways that surrounded the dome.
A good conventional floor boss tries to smash you with all of its power, this one prefered to just keep running away place to place without fighting.
All frustration aside, the strategy was assuredly effective as hours were spent chasing the cowardly rock around.
This entire place, the golem included, give off the vibe that it's not necessary to just outright kill you. In other words, the complete and utter intent of the entire floor and boss is to drain you of all your mental and physical energy, or until your body breaks. It's the kind of existence that will keep going on and on endlessly.
Combined with the fact that the energy that fuels the Ball Golem is drawn from the dungeon, giving it the ability to legitimately go on forever, whilst a living body will eventually get tired. It opts to just escape endlessly to allow you to give chance, and then run again. Letting your endurance, willpower, and fighting power exponentially be exhausted.
It also did a loop from the top to the bottom whenever you tried to ambush it, and it was near impossible to corner because of the myriad of waterways it could choose to escape down.
Really…. Really dirty tactics….
It was as hard to see as it was to capture, though I was fortunate since it basically opted to almost never attack me.
The moment I lost focus for an instant it was gone, using that loss of focus to flee instead of making an attack.
I tried waiting for the opportune moment to approach it, but it never appeared.
I pondered whether or not if there were special conditions to approach it. Either way, I didn't see any and I was certain I couldn't attack it through normal means.
In the end, I grew highly frustrated and opted to summon a large amount of Gillman Lords and black Gillman Lords, then using [Human Bomb]on them for added effect. I even went the extra mile to show my consideration of the cowardly rock by using [Parasite]on the gillman to use their bodily fluids as fuel.
Thus my demonic Kamikaze campaign was initiated over the course of hours within this confined space. The time it took was a mix of wanting to savor destroying this boss, and biding my time to dull its movements to skewer it myself.
Luckily, I didn't destroy the nucleus of the golem, so I could eat it later.
The moment Aquarium was destroyed, a set of stairs appeared in the middle of the air as well. A rather strange spectacle to be sure.
While the fatigue from this long subjugation has begun to pile up, the bottom floor is near. I gathered up my fighting spirit for a moment, then exited the water dome to the 36th floor.
It was a massive wetland with a multitude of waterfalls gushing down from the ceiling.