BTOG 132 – Absolute Confidence

Down the hidden passage.

“Oh…”

When I arrived at the deepest part of the ancient ruins of the Flame, I couldn’t help but let out amazement at the sight that was beyond my imagination.

The size of the room was not so different from the boss rooms of other dungeons, but magma was spewing everywhere, painting the whole room red.

“So, this is the boss room.”

“Yes, it’s the domain of the Volcano Golem.”

At the same time as Meguru’s finished her words, the hidden passage we had come through was blocked by rocks.

I see, the only way to escape is by defeating the boss or dying, which is the same as any other boss battle.

The moment I see a shadow floating in the magma pool at the back of the room, I take a gentle step to the left. A mass of lava shot out from the magma pool and went through the place where I was standing a few moments ago.

“Nice evade.”

“If you know that, please tell me beforehand!”

“No, I’ve never seen it do that before. I’ve only tried to fight it three times, so there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“Oh, it can’t be helped then.”

Not letting us converse any longer, the magma pool is rising, and something is appearing from inside of it.

The magma blew up, leaving a humanoid golem with its entire body covered in scorching magma.

The height was about 10 meters tall. It looks bulky, but it seemed to have a fair amount of mobility.

It had three HP gauges. This might become a long battle.

<Volcano Golem Lv. 79.>

“Ooh, its level is pretty high.”

“Anyway, be careful to avoid direct hits. If it’s just pure attack, this guy’s power is probably comparable to that giant dragon.”

“Giant dragon, you say?”

Meguru’s words reminded me of a raid battle I had a few days ago.

At that time, there were only a few times that I could take the direct attacks of the giant dragon. It’s all thanks to Tetsuya and Shuya acting as vanguards that we could hold it back.

Well, I have a rough idea of the attack power of giant dragons, and even if the golem in front of me had the same firepower as a giant dragon, that would pose no problem to the current me.

“It will use mainly physical attacks in the first phase, right?”

“Yes. It’s also possible to avoid attribute attacks if you watch for the sign.”

“Okay. let’s do this.”

The distance between us was several dozen meters. Once the golem has risen from the magma pool to solid ground, we both close the distance to it.

It seems that Meguru has more agility than me. Because of it, he reached the golem much faster, and he then swung his ice mace to open the fight.

I could hear the high pitch “DING!” echoed from his strike, and the part that received the blow froze. Was that the effect of the ice-attributed attack?

“Hooo, that’s cool.”

The golem’s body heat melted the ice in an instant, but the moment the ice attribute passed through, the magma on the golem’s body surface cooled and hardened.

I feel like if we could coordinate it right and hit it on its solidified state, we could deal quite damage to it. But I guess it’s hard to match our timing.

Each time Meguru attacked, the ice effect ran, and the sound it made was very pleasant.

It seems that Meguru has a lot of agility in his stats. That weapon’s light weight probably took part in this, but his attack speed is certainly fast.

Now it’s my turn; I slammed [Yoiyami] into the Volcano Golem’s legs. A spattering magma grazed my cheek and reduced my HP a bit, but with this, I can confirm, my attack could reach its main body under the magma, and the damage is properly registered.

The chip damage from the magma’s splatter is troublesome, but that could be mitigated using a potion.

I dodged the golem’s fist with a backstep and slammed three times into the arm that had gouged the earth in my place.

Intending to take the hate away from Meguru, I keep struck the magma-covered golem with the [Yoiyami]  as hard as possible.

=====.

I think ten minutes have passed.

While occasionally using potions to heal, I was fighting the Volcano Golem head-on.

“URYAAAAAA!”

My [Yoiyami] and the golem’s fist collided, producing a loud sound like an echo of a temple bell.

It seems I would not get overwhelmed even if I challenged it directly.

“Fufufu, is this really the level of giant’s dragon attack power?”

The power of my attack and the golem’s attack, with no skills used and using only pure power, is an even match.

At this point, I could care less about the damage caused by the splattering magma, and I truly enjoyed our slugfest to the fullest.

“Icicle Blast!”

While I was receiving the golem’s attack, Meguru’s attribute attack pierced one of the golem’s legs.

The four ice strikes instantly froze and shattered the magma, carving clear damage on the golem’s main body.

That must be the art of the [One-handed mace] skill. Once you reach proficiency above 500, you can gain attributed art from that skill.

By the way, my skill proficiency for [One-handed mace] is still very low!

I’m not sure why I haven’t been able to learn the attribute attack even though I mastered the [Blunt weapon] skill, but if I believe, if I were to keep using Kanabou{two-handed mace}, someday I bound to learn some attribute art as Meguru did.

“Come, why don’t you look over here?”

It seems that the golem’s target has shifted to Meguru, probably because he gained a lot of hate with his last move.

However, it was just planned.

And this is the time to release everything I had slowly and carefully piled up to this point.

When the golem turned toward Meguru, I put all my strength to hit the golem’s legs, which already cracked from my endless pounding.

What happens next is quite obvious.

*BA-KIN* {CRACK}

There was the shattering sound coming from the golem’s leg.

Even though we successfully destroyed one of its legs, it was not something to boast about because this golem was designed in such a way that makes it easy to destroy its body part. In exchange, it could quickly repair itself utilizing the surrounding rock.

A single shattered leg won’t buy us much time. But that doesn’t mean that was pointless.

Thanks to this, we created the chance we needed.

“Nice work, Sukuna! <Aqua Break>!”

Meguru’s follow-up attribute attack pierces the golem’s head, which loses its stance due to the absence of its one leg. It seems that he uses a water element attack this time.

The golem turns its back, but because it has no legs, it can’t keep its footing and falls backward.

“Oi W-Wait, don’t fall on me!”

I was a little distracted after successfully destroying its leg, and I got into a bit of panic when the golem fell toward me.

Still, I managed to get out of harm’s way just in time.

I tried to launch another attack at the defenseless golem that had fallen to the ground. However, the surrounding magma was drawn to the golem as if to protect its entire body.

There was no way I could touch it, and if I did, the magma would take one of my limbs with it, so I obediently stepped back.

“You were aiming for that?”

“Sort of. I’m glad it worked.”

I’m not that good at measuring monster body durability, especially when it’s a large monster like this.

“I was also impressed with the aqua break just now. flipping that huge body sure feels good.”

“I totally get what you mean.”

I know what it feels like to lift a giant monster by your hand. So I could only nod my head when I saw Meguru’s joyful expression.

“Now, here comes the second form…”

The golem in front of me transformed after I had spent more than ten minutes cutting down its first HP bar.

I think its behavior is similar to Ars Nova, the great dragon of Waves, minus the wide-range wave attack that it unleashed during its gauge transition.

It is starting its transformation; an armor of flowing magma before has now evolved.

“That’s right. When that magma recedes, it will show us the second form. It would wear an explosive armor that could explode when you hit it, and this is where the fun begins.”

Meguru’s previously relaxed expression tightened. In the three battles he’s fought so far. He’s only been able to break through this second form once.

The magma that had covered the golem receded, and a golem clad in cooled hardened lava armor appeared from within.

You can see through the cracks a red hot body that looks like it’s about to explode. This must be the explosive armor Meguru was talking about.

The magma completely receded, and I stretched to relax my body as I watched the golem howl in silence.

“Okay then…”

After ten or so minutes of fighting, I was finally sure.

At first, I thought I was mistaken, but I wasn’t.

When I understood this, I called out to Meguru.

“Meguru, can I have a word with you?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Now, for a little, please stay at a distance and watch. I’m going to peel off its armor and make this fight easier.”

“You mean you’re going to take on it alone? I’m well aware of Sukuna’s abilities, but it’s too dangerous! His exploding armor is a real nuisance!”

It’s not that I don’t understand what Meguru was trying to convey.

Indeed, the armor that explodes every time you hit it would be a massive threat compared to a magma splatter.

I’m sure that Meguru is stopping me because he has experienced it three times and truly believes that my single-man suicide attack is reckless.

“Ummm, how should I explain this…”

Since that day when the giant dragon killed Rin-chan, and I went out of control, or to be more precise, it was when I regained my forgotten memories and feelings.

I’ve been feeling different ever since I and “me” became one.

I feel like I’m in good shape. My body is lighter, and my mind is clearer than ever.

Thinking about it, I have always lived my life with something missing.

Sometimes it’s an impulse. Sometimes it’s a memory. Sometimes it’s an emotion.

With a distorted mind, I own too much power in my hand.

On that day, when I accepted the negative impulses that I had avoided, remembered my memories, regained my emotions. I finally had a complete body and soul after I put them all in the proper place.

That’s right.

Now, more than ever before, I feel in control of my entire being.

“It’s okay, Meguru.”

“What do you mean it’s oka…”

Meguru is still trying to stop me, so I put my finger on his lips to interrupt Meguru’s words.

“It’s okay. Right now, I’m the strongest.”

Without hiding his surprise, Meguru gazed at my absolute confidence in my smile.

=================.

A note:

Absolute confidence.

The strongest confidence.

It’s time for the true awakening of the blunt type ogre girl.

After all, for the first time in her life, she’s feels fulfilled and gets super excited.

Tl note:

…it was supposed to be “the true awakening of bludgeoning oni-musume.” {oni-girl} but well, the title is fixed in place… welp.