/
‘Are you done? Then eat this—Disruption.’
Behemoth finally opened his mouth after watching the entire scenario leisurely, like someone watching a TV drama in his living room.
A black ball of lightning was shot out of Behemoth’s mouth.
That’s…a combination of darkness and lightning magic? With that kind of mana density, I should probably handle it with caution.
“Cheeky!”
I put a barrier on my right hand and struck the black lightning.
And at the moment of impact, I activated my time-space magic and transported it to another space.
If I were to tackle it head-on carelessly, the lightning would likely spread throughout this entire floor, and canceling it out with a magic spell containing an equal amount of mana would also risk an outburst.
It takes a considerable amount of mana to use space-time magic to transfer to another space, but I don’t have to worry about it getting out of control.
‘It disappeared?! No friggin’ way!’
But in Behemoth’s eyes, it seemed to have simply disappeared just like he said.
When Iris saw that he had stopped moving in surprise, she squealed.
“I should have known! There’s no way in hell Haruto would lose!”
Umm, my dear Iris, you should know that’s a typical flag you’re setting up right there!
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Tendo and the others also seemed to be dripping with cold sweat.
“Umm, Iris. I don’t think you should say anything about that yet…”
“What, why?”
As Iris tilted her head at Suzuno’s words, Behemoth, who seemed to have regained its composure, let out a low voice that seemed to resonate from the bottom of the earth.
‘…It would seem that you’re a bit capable, but don’t go counting your eggs just yet! Goddamn human!’
With those words, mana erupted from Behemoth’s entire body.
It then clung to the Behemoth’s body and became a reddish-black armor made entirely of magic power.
The pressure directed at me was now stronger than before.
<Master, Behemoth’s stats has more than doubled.>
“So it would seem. Such a pain in the ass.”
He has physical resistance and magic resistance skills, so any half-hearted attack won’t do any damage.
Besides, my magic power has been reduced to a certain extent during the summoning process.
“…Even with that, he’s still no match for me.”
I muttered to myself.
As if he heard my voice, Behemoth rushed at me with even greater speed than before.
He was moving at almost the speed of sound, but it still seemed like slow motion to me, given my physical abilities and thought speed.
Behemoth’s horns were filled with immense amount of magic power, and there is no doubt that a mere graze on it would send me flying.
…Well, that would be if I were only a human.
I shifted my body and stood so that I was exactly in between the left and right horns.
Then I put my right hand on Behemoth’s forehead and killed the momentum of its full-throttle lunge.
I was pushed back a few meters, but that was about it.
“Those are quite some dangerous-looking horns, may I break ‘em?”
I said, glancing at the horns.
‘…A mere human thinks he can stop my thrust.’
“When did I say I was a human?”
‘…What? What do you mean?’
“I just evolved a few minutes ago.”
‘Evolved? I can understand if it were an elf, but a human evolving is just…’
“Well, what can I say.”
Behemoth glared at me and retreated with a swift movement.
‘…I see. Judging by the abilities you’ve displayed, it seems to be true that you have evolved…but that doesn’t change anything.”
The moment he finished saying that, a reddish-black lightning bolt fell directly from above and struck me.
It’s the same as the black lightning ball from earlier…no, It’s a lightning magic that contained even more magic power than that.
‘You shall perish along with your soul! I acknowledge your strength, mighty human!’
A cloud of dust rose up around where I was standing, and the ground several meters around me was scorching hot.
“Haruto!”
“Haruto!”
“Haruto!”
I heard the shouts of Finne, Iris, and Suzuno.
“Now, there should be nothing left of…”
“How could you be so naive. Are you really a legendary demonic beast?”
‘What the—?!’
I said provocatively and used wind magic to clear away the smoke, revealing a perfectly healthy figure.
‘No friggin’ way! My lightning is one that annihilates everything. I infused so much mana into it that not even a corpse would be left behind, much less an extinguished charcoal! So how are you still alive…?’
“Simply put, that level of attack don’t work on me, nothing more.”
‘Doesn’t work on you? That’s impossible!’
“Hey, are you blind or what? In fact, here I am in one piece.”
It was a simple matter of putting up a barrier to protect myself, but Behemoth evidently seemed reluctant to acknowledge reality, he probably can’t even imagine there being such a powerful barrier capable of preventing against that.
Well, I don’t have to explain that much to him anyway.
Well then…
As I drew out my blade to fight back, magic power flooded Behemoth’s body again.
“…Don’t tell me?”
As was the case with Zero, the mana turned into a sphere that covered Behemoth’s entire body, and then shrank to the size of a human.
The sphere cracked open and out of it emerged a muscular and handsome man, less than two meters tall. He had short black hair and looked to be in his thirties or so.
He had horns on his head, the same shape as when he was a beast.
“Now, you’re in a better position to fight, right? We’re finally on equal footing.”
No, it’s just that you’ve been attacking me unilaterally up to this point, and it hasn’t been working. Why are you acting like you’re doing it out of consideration for me?
“What nonsense are you saying—you’re below me, while I’m above you, you mean?”
“What did you just say?!”
Behemoth’s face twisted in anger.
It was the same with Zero, but after transforming into his humanoid form, it’s become easy to see his expression and it’s worth the agitation.
The sound of Asha and the others talking reached my ears.
“He seems like some villain straight out of a comic book doesn’t he…”
“Yuki seems to be in a good mood if he’s saying all that.”
“Well, since he seems to be having fun, it’s all good right?”
Asha, Mogami, and Kusel were the ones having such conversation.
…I will come settle accounts with you guys later.
I was lightly directing intimidation carrying my protest in their direction, and before I knew it, Behemoth in front of me was holding up his fist.
“Don’t you regret it?”
“Regret? I don’t remember saying anything that I regret…”
“…Fine, there will be no need for regrets when you’re dead anyway!”
In the blink of an eye, Behemoth was closing in on me.
I could see the lightning and darkness magic clinging to his fists.
Like all the magic he had used so far, it seems like a bad idea to touch it with my bare hands.
Behemoth shot out his fists at me with considerable speed, but I used my barrier and harden skill in tandem to repel them.
From the side, it may look like Behemoth is overwhelming me with his attacks, but I haven’t moved a foot and I still have plenty of leeway.
“Are you massaging me or what?”
“Grrr.”
I grabbed Behemoth by the wrist and slammed him into the ground with a backhanded throw.
The ground cracked radially, and blood leaked from Behemoth’s mouth.
He must have suffered considerable damage, but Behemoth quickly got up and moved away.
Then, probably realizing that he couldn’t win with his fists, he distorted the space in front of him and plunged his arm into it, pulling out a battle axe.
Although it didn’t seem to have any special abilities like my Black Katana Benizakura, it seemed to contain a lot of mana.
Behemoth waved his axe a few times as if to check its grip, and then came running toward me again.
Perhaps because he was using a weapon that was familiar to his hands, his movements seemed lighter than before.
I narrowly avoided the attack from his weapon that was faster than I had expected—but the next moment, my cheek was ripped open and a stream of blood flowed.
Hmm? I avoided the attack completely just now, didn’t I?
<Yes. It appeared that when he swung the axe, there was some kind of faint whirling around the blade.>
As I was wondering, Ellis answered me.
I see, so it’s better not to dodge too close to the edge.
I pulled out my favorite blade and ran magic power through it.
Then I caught the axe that was swung from above.
Behemoth threw his weight at me, probably thinking that he could overwhelm me with strength due to our size difference.
However, both our strength alone seemed to be evenly matched, and no matter how much effort he put into it, my blade did not even twitch.
“Do you only know how to fight with brute force?”
“What, nonsense? In that case, let me show you.”
As I provoked him in exasperation, Behemoth distanced himself from me.
And then, wondering why his was channeling mana into his legs and axe—his figure disappeared.
Even my eyesight couldn’t keep up with him?!
It’s not a frontal attack, then…from the back!
I quickly turned around and caught the downward swung axe with my blade.
I was able to parry the impact, but was knocked off my stance.
Deciding that it would be a bad idea to give him an opportunity to use magic in this situation, I dodged the axe once and backed away.
As soon as I did, Behemoth’s axe swung after me and hit me directly.
“—He disappeared?!”
However, my figure simply vanished.
Yes, that figure was created using Heat Haze.
Behemoth looked surprised, but it was only for a moment, and he immediately held up his axe to guard against his surroundings.
“Would you look at that, you can actually do it if you tried.”
“What? When did you—Ugh!”
I kicked Behemoth in the back.
Behemoth was blown away, but he regained his stance in the air and slid along the ground with his hands.
And when he came to a complete stop, I quickly moved in front of Behemoth and kicked his jaw.
“Ghah!”
Fresh blood flew from his mouth, and Behemoth collapsed onto his back.
I used my Molding skill to create a chain that bound Behemoth to the ground.
Let’s see…in order to subdue a rebellious prick by making him understand the undeniable difference in power, a little theatrics is imperative.
I molded a throne-like chair in front of Behemoth who was wriggling like a worm, and sat down on it.
Behemoth looked up at me venomously.
Apparently, his hostility is still as strong as ever.
I invoked intimidation and flooded my entire body with crimson mana.
“A-Are you telling me, you still possess this much magic power…”
Behemoth, apparently finally realizing the difference in power, muttered helplessly.
I then spoke out indifferently.
“Yield or suffer eternal torment. Your choice.”
“…Ugh, I see. I finally understand why Kalamiras is under your command.”
Zero didn’t utter anything. He was just watching how things unfold.
“Behemoth, choose. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Behemoth bowed his head at my words.
“P-Please take me under your command. If possible, I would like you bestow me a new name.”
“…Sure, I hope we get on well from now on!”
And so the contract with Behemoth was concluded.
Seeing as Behemoth has joined ranks, I quickly removed his chains and cast a recovery spell on him.
Behemoth, however, was dumbfounded.
“…Why?”
“You’re under my wing now, so it wouldn’t be strange if I healed you. What? You didn’t want me to heal you?”
“No, no. Nothing of the sort.”
I informed Behemoth, who got up and dropped to his knees in fear, his new name and the purpose for which I summoned him.
“Behemoth. First, let me bestow unto you a new name…your new name shall be Glatnis, the Earth Raging Beast, Glatnis.”
“I am humbled. I, Glatnis, pledge my lifelong loyalty to you.”
“Yeah, I’ll be counting on you. And as for why I summoned you…is because I want you to be the boss of this dungeon and manage it for me. You should be able to communicate with me via telepathy, or can you not?”
“Yes, I can. So, you want me to take over the management of this dungeon right?”
“That’s right.”
According to Zero, I can give him boss privileges by manipulating the dungeon core settings.
So I’m thinking of making this guy the boss monster…seems a bit overpowered, no?
Since I’m going through all this trouble, it would be nice if I could manipulate the dungeon itself.
<It’s possible if you use the Dungeon Core. It would require a huge amount of magic power, but it shouldn’t be a problem for Master or Glatnis whatsoever.>
As I was feeling troubled, Ellis answered.
Seriously!
Well then, since I’m here, I guess I’ll just try some things.
“Let’s see…apparently, you’re also capable of manipulating this dungeon with your mana, so I would like to increase the number of floors altogether. Well, I’ll leave the details to you…but I’m thinking perhaps we leave the thirty floors as is, and create new floors underground, what do you think?”
“I understand.”
Well, I’ll just dump the nitty-gritty of it on him.
I guess I’ll just have to come back one of these days to see how it turned out.
Now then, let’s get back to the others.
～
“I kept you guys waiting, my bad.”
“No, I’m glad you were able to get him under your command.”
I nodded at Finne’s words and looked at Glatnis.
“Let me introduce him again. This is Glatnis, my new subordinate.”
“I’m Glatnis. Nice to meet you.”
Everyone greeted him after the other, although they were all a little afraid to do so because they had seen the battle earlier.
“All right then, Zero. Could you lead me and Glatnis to the dungeon core?”
“Yes, sir.”
Then I quickly registered him as an administrator in the dungeon core.
Now Glatnis can freely manipulate the dungeon.
I returned to the others and called out to them.
“All right guys, let’s head back!”
I think I’ll just go back to Perdis and relax for the time being.
I was just thinking about that when I realized something.
“Oh right, I need to inform the other heroes of some things as well…umm, how about, I tell them that there is no boss monster on the 30th floor, so they should return to Glicente once they’ve conquered the 29th floor…that leaves you guys, Tendo, what’s your plan?”
“Hmm, there’s nothing to do if we go back to Glicente anyway, and it’s much more likely for us to increase our levels if we stayed with you, Haruto, so do you mind if we tag along?”
“Sure, I don’t mind. Then, I’ll just quickly go and meet the others and pass the info along, so you guys wait here for a bit!”
I said, and went around to my classmates inside the dungeon to pass along the message.
The function of God Eye is still intact, so it’s nice to know who’s where at times like this.
I finished my errand in a flash and went back to the 30th floor to meet up with everyone.
“Sorry for the wait guys, I’ll now transfer everybody to the entrance.”
Everyone who had been resting in their own way gathered around me.
“See you later, Glatnis. I’m looking forward to seeing how the labyrinth turns out.”
“Leave it to me, sir.”
I nodded to Glatnis, who bowed, and activated the teleportation.