―7612 years after the start of the game.
[Gods' Ordeal] UG 350th Floor!
So much time has passed since I started diving into [Gods' Ordeal]'s
dungeon that my sense of time has started to numb. Why did it take this
much time, you ask? Well, keeping the sheer size of each floor aside, every
floor in the dungeon had a unique nature.
The eleventh to the fiftieth floors were a magma zone.
The fifty-first to the hundredth floors were a freezing zone, tundra.
The next fifty floors were a desert zone. Whenever I would walk in that
zone, the sand would suddenly attack me with a sand spear as if it were a
sentient being.
The fifty floors after that were an underwater zone. The entire zone was
submerged in the water. Moreover, the water sapped my HP bit by bit.
The following fifty floors were a wind blade zone. Wind blades incessantly
rained upon the player in this zone.
The 251st to 300th floors were a thunderbolt zone. Here, thunder and
lightning incessantly rained down.
I will omit the process, but I only started clearing those areas when I raised
my skill to the "Assimilation" level. As a result, I acquired [Heat
Assimilation], [Ice Assimilation], [Earth and Sand Assimilation],
[Wind Assimilation], [Water Assimilation], and [Thunder
Assimilation].
After the 300th floor was the dragon zone that was filled with various
kinds of dragons. And today, I've reached the 350th floor.
In the center of the floor, I saw a tiny and adorable golden dragon sitting
inside a magic circle.
Even when I approached the golden dragon, it didn't move. However, its
eyes never left me and kept me locked in its coercion. What a terrifying
pressure! This fella is clearly a cut above the rest of the dragons.
I unsheathed [Raikiri], a sword I got after subjugating [Thunder Lion
King] in the 300th floor's trial. It looked like a sword from another world
and was called [Nihontou]. The sword fit my current sword art.
「Well then, Golden Dragon! Let's fight to the death in a battle that will
burn our souls.」
I shouted while pointing [Raikiri]'s tip toward the Golden Dragon.
Hearing my voice, the dragon finally raised its head in a slow manner as if
it were reluctant to fight me. It then looked at me again.
『Eighth Trial: Defeat Golden Dragon Fafnir! Begin.』
As soon as I heard the inorganic female voice in my head, the battle began.
***
I ran toward the 349th floor as if my life depended on it.
「PUAH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!」
When I reached the floor, I collapsed on the top of the cold ground with my
face looking up. Then, I laughed at the top of my lungs.
I lost. I had been completely defeated. It wasn't because of a disparity
between physical strength. I lost because my opponent invalidated all my
attacks. Keeping the matter of my sword blade failing to cut through its
scale aside, even the shockwaves erupted due to my slash got canceled too.
Maybe, the sword attack itself had been nullified. In short, it should've been
the effect of [Physical Attack Resistance]. No! It might have been at the
level of [Physical Attack Invalid].
If that was the case, I couldn't defeat that fella no matter how powerful my
physical attacks became.
This is it! My next goal is to subjugate that Golden Dragon.
I went back to the upper ground in a hurry while suppressing the joy in my
heart.
Anyhow, I had no prospect for victory unless I could do something about
my opponent's [Physical Attack Invalid]. If my sword couldn't reach it,
I had to look for another method.
This reminded me that I had acquired numerous books, including grimoires,
during my exploration in this dungeon. As for the grimoires—maybe
because it was the effect of my gift, [The Most Incompetent in This
World]—I couldn't form a contract with any one of them. So, I just threw
them into my item box.
Properly speaking, grimoires were something one should contract with, and
not read. I had forgotten from whom I had heard that piece of information
due to it happening long ago before I entered this place. However, I was
sure that this should be the case.
Even if I couldn't form a contract with a grimoire, the grimoires were still
composed of letters. If I could master and understand those letters, I might
be able to gain useful knowledge.
Naturally, no one would even consider the option of reading a grimoire's
text in a normal situation. I mean, one would be risking frying one's brain
by doing that.
Yet, I braved such danger without a second thought. Rather, the feat being
impossible made me even more passionate. I felt as if it was some sort of a
sense of duty for me. In short, the option of not doing it didn't exist for me.
Accompanied by a plop, I lay down with the elixir ready in my mouth and
started reading a grimoire.