Genocide Reality - Chapter 25 - Corridor of Flames

When I descended to the eighth floor, it was like stepping into a scorching hell.

 

Here and there, fiery magma flowed, and walking on it would cause damage.

 

“It’s an amazing sight to see it in real life like this. I wonder how this below the underground water area doesn’t cause the water above to boil and evaporate.”

 

Is it some kind of magic?

 

Or maybe the water is pooling above, shutting out the effect on the upper floors.

 

Come to think of it, the water above felt a bit lukewarm.

 

Thanks to the moderately warm water, piranhas and such might be breeding.

 

“Why not have crocodiles anyway? And while we’re at it, they should plant banana trees, too.”

 

I walk onward over the lava without a care in the world, saying carefree things.

 

Each step makes a sizzling, nasty sound, but no damage is done. It’s because I’m wearing the ‘Boots of the Water Spirits’.

 

They are a high-performance piece of equipment, but the most important effect of these rare boots is that they neutralize the damage of the Corridor of Flames.

 

But pnly the part wearing the boots becomes invincible against flame damage.

 

When you step on it with the ‘Boots of the Water Spirits’, only there the lava cools and hardens into a black rock.

 

It will probably return to its original state over time, but I can keep going like this.

 

On this eighth floor, the accumulation of lava obstructs the way, forcing one to zigzag endlessly to try and avoid it. However, by moving forward like this, I can take a considerable shortcut.

 

Since I am in competition with Nanami’s party, I am quite grateful for this advantage.

 

“Ooooooh!”

 

Suddenly, a group of fiery men who let out such a battle cry came running from the other side of the lava, making an unpleasant sound as their flesh burned.

 

I’m a little startled, but they are not a cluster of flames; they are humans who have their bodies set on fire, so they shouldn’t be very strong enemies.

 

“Fire Fighter!”

 

That is the name of the monster.

 

But it’s just men whose bodies are being burned by flames leaping at me… but seeing them in person is really scary.

 

“Uwooo!”

 

“I don’t fucking get it, Die!”

 

I wielded my ‘Solitude’ and continued slashing. These enemies are so easy to cut down that it’s anticlimactic.

 

These guys’ attacks are creepy and scary because they just run screaming and lunge at you, and they don’t make sense.

 

Their behavior is similar to that of zombies.

 

And they are not the kind of zombies that come on slowly like those on the fourth floor, but the kind that run as fast as they can.

 

“Uwooo!”

 

“Damn it! Die!”

 

They don’t even carry weapons; they simply launch inexplicable self-immolation attacks, completely mad.

 

I’m not particularly scared of anything, but I’m not fond of monsters like this that exhibit anti-biological behavior despite being of this type.

 

For example, spiders with no heads, so you can’t even tell which end is front or back.

 

I don’t dislike insects, but creatures that move in ways that make no sense, and you can’t fathom what they’re thinking, give me the creeps.

 

In a way, this could be an opportunity to overcome a phobia.

 

I focused on regulating my breathing and deliberately calming my mind. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, I faced the men rushing at me like a human torch with the determination to take them on, taking advantage of the fact that they were on fire.

 

They charged at me with such momentum that their arms and legs, once slashed, violently collided with my body, but I endured both the impact and the unease.

 

If you let yourself feel a visceral aversion to these kinds of attacks, that could become a vulnerability.

 

A small vulnerability like that could potentially turn into something fatal down the line.

 

A steadfast heart, a heart that is not intimidated by any surprise attack, must be maintained.

 

“Uaaagggh!”

 

“Ha, is that all you’ve got!”

 

They die when you cut them.

 

With humanoid enemies like these, you can easily kill them by either severing their heads or stabbing them in the heart.

 

By ingraining the simple and straightforward fact, the simple and straightforward action into my body, the fear disappeared.

 

You kill the enemies that come at you, you kill them faster than you think.

 

Before I knew it, the surroundings had turned into a blazing pile of flesh.

 

If there were such a thing as a scorching hell where sinners were burned in flames, this scene would undoubtedly resemble it.

 

“I suppose I’m a demon of hell, in a way.”

 

The floor is lava, so I can’t sit. I kept my back pressed against the wall to catch my breath and restore my health and stamina with a potion.

 

“Alright.”

 

On to the next. In this level, dangerous enemies don’t appear until the boss room. As part of mental training, I decided to press forward without taking breaks whenever possible.

 

I switched weapons from ‘Solitude’ to my spiritual sword, ‘Onsatsumaru’.

 

As expected, the fire elemental appeared at the end of the path.

 

These monsters are like relatives of the water elementals that were on the floor above, but they are shaped like a flame lizard.

 

I guess they are salamanders.

 

One thing to be cautious about is that like their relatives, they can only be killed with magic since they are elemental beings.

 

“Fofo!”

 

With a strange cry, the fire spirit spits out a fireball from its mouth. It was of a lower grade size, but two shots flew at once.

 

“Still no incantation, huh? I envy you.”

 

I ran while avoiding the incoming Fireballs and, as I closed in, raised my left hand and chanted the Fireball spell.

 

“Lo Ia Foi (Beginner Flame, Shoot!)”

 

In front of me, two Fireballs clashed and neutralized each other, both being of the same rank.

 

The enemy fires two shots at a time, and I would always get hit by one, but I absorbed it with the ‘Mantle of Diminishing’ and swung the Onsatsumaru.

 

After two swings, the fire elemental’s figure turned into smoke and disappeared.

 

Alas, the spirit had no solid feeling of having killed it.

 

“Instead, it’s good training for battles with mages.”

 

I believe my speed has improved significantly from swinging the heavy nodachi, but I can’t keep up with the speed of incantationless spells.

 

That’s why I need more training in magic duels. Taking Fireball hits without dying also serves as training to enhance my resistance against fire.

 

“Oh, two more are coming.”

 

Facing the two Fire Element spirits that appeared around the corner, I shot a series of lower-tier fireballs while running in, slashing them apart.

 

Three fireballs flew at me after one was blocked.

 

I narrowly avoided one, and it singed my bangs, but I paid it no mind as I swung the spirit blade towards one of the elementals, dispelling it.

 

But… in the meantime, I took a direct hit from a two-shot fireball volley from the other.

 

“Gah, I need to get used to this!”

 

Even when hit by a direct magical attack, I must not be shaken. If I get distracted by such things and create an opening, I could be killed.

 

An unwavering heart, an unwavering spirit, that’s what enhances my resistance against magic.

 

A steadfast mind.

 

With a violent shock to my body, I wielded my Onsatsumaru with all my strength to snuff out the second Fire Elemental.

 

I am wearing the ‘Mantle of Diminishing’ which is heat resistant and reduces magical damage, and under it I am also wearing chainmail.

 

I slash at the second one, careful not to be shaken by the impact of the violent explosion.

 

Quickly regenerating my health and stamina with potions, I continued through the burning corridor of fire, finding and killing fire elementals.

 

“Oops.”

 

I saw another new enemy in the distance.

 

Quickly, I put away my spirit sword and pulled out the ‘Solitude’ from my back.

 

What appeared was Flame Face.

 

It looked like an ogre, but it had only a body of a big face.

 

Its big, ugly face, about one meter in diameter, is burning up fiercely like a fireball.

 

The lower half of the big, spectral face cracks open. It seems to have opened its mouth.

 

“Fugegya, fugegya!”

 

With an unintelligible cry, a fireball spits out from the Flame Face’s large mouth.

 

“Guh!”

 

I narrowly avoided it, but the explosion was incredible.

 

It felt stronger than the intermediate level. It may not be as strong as the high level, but it is a powerful fireball. This may just look like a fireball, but it may be a breath of fire.

 

Now, how to kill it?

 

I didn’t want to take a direct hit from those Fireballs.

 

I should be able to neutralize them by shooting back a mid-level or a high-level Fireball, but I’ve been going non-stop so my mana is running low.

 

Not being able to see one’s mana total is a terrible thing.

 

If you don’t have enough mana when you need magic, that alone could lead to death in the dungeon.

 

“Then how about this?”

 

I kicked the large fireball that flew toward me with great force.

 

The ball was extinguished with a sizzling sound.

 

The ‘boots of the water spirit’ are effective against the flying fireballs.

 

I ran in and kicked the Flame Face in the face with all my might.

 

It was like kicking a soccer ball. Flame Face lost its balance and fell over with a thud.

 

Since more than a third of his body is his face, it must have been unbalanced.

 

Seeing its awkward flailing body made me want to laugh, but I paid it no mind and swung ‘Solitude’ with all my might at its massive head.

 

Like a watermelon splitting, the big head cracked open and red blood splattered.

 

The Flame Face, whose head had been split open, jerked and twitched its limbs, but soon stopped moving.

 

“What a trivial thing.”

 

In the end, the monsters on this floor are only this much trouble as long as you can handle the Fireball spells.

 

I’m running out of mana, so it helps that they’re weaker than they look.

 

I continued to kick up Flame Face’s faces and chop off their heads in a manner similar to splitting a watermelon.

 

I had already plunged straight through the Corridor of Flames and was close to my goal. At this rate, it won’t be long before I reach the boss’s room.

 

I’ve taken care of most of the enemies, and as expected, I’m exhausted. I should take a short break to recover my mana in preparation for the boss.

 

Just as I was thinking that, I got a shiver.

 

With a clank, a large knight clad in black armor walked down the Corridor of Flames.

 

The Death Knight in black armor. On this eighth floor, there was no reason for such a powerful monster to appear.

 

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating due to the heat of the flaming corridor. I soon realized it was an ‘invasion’.

 

The Black Death Knight, is the boss of the tenth floor.

 

No, the boss, the guardian of the door, wouldn’t “invade”. It’s more likely a regular monster found from the fourteenth floor and beyond.

 

However, it’s impossible for an “invasion” to occur from the fourteenth floor to the eighth floor. But I’ll think about that later; I need to deal with the reality in front of me.

 

As I thought this, I involuntarily froze. Despite telling myself not to “create an opening” over being caught off guard.

 

I was surprised to see another knight wearing the same black steel full-body armor appear from the back of the the Black Death Knight.

 

“Impossible…”

 

Two ‘invasions’ at once, two at once, is absolutely impossible.

 

Because that would mean a collapse of the game balance.

 

No matter how powerful the enemy is, if there’s only one, it’s manageable. With one, there’s still an escape route if you’re cautious.

 

That’s within the bounds of fair gameplay.

 

But if two invade, you run the risk of being surrounded by monsters of much higher rank.

 

The precarious balance maintained by Genocide Reality.

 

A monster that could potentially disrupt that balance, with eyes filled with murderous intent peeking from behind the slits of its black armor helmet, is glaring at me.

 

The Black Death Knight draws its sword towards my frozen form and swings its ominous black death sword in a mechanical, puppet-like motion as if controlled by invisible strings.