NOVPUB
After the collection work was safely completed, the mysterious voice—or rather, the dungeon—asked if it could proceed with Jeanne's lottery drawing."Neeeigh!"
After the collection work was safely completed, the mysterious voice—or rather, the dungeon—asked if it could proceed with Jeanne's lottery drawing.
"Neeeigh!" (Jeanne)
"She says to hurry up and do it." (Nana)
[Alright, alright. Then, here we go! Lottery time. Rattle rattle rattle... ta-da! We have a winner! First prize!]
"Brrrr" (Jeanne)
As Jeanne made a slightly disappointed sound at not getting the grand prize, a golden treasure chest rose from the floor.
Since it would be difficult for Jeanne to open it, Tatsuro opened the lid and looked inside. There was a platinum-gleaming shield about fifty centimeters long in the shape of an elongated pentagon.
"This... well, you can't hold it in [Adult Form] and it's too small in [True Form]. What's going on?" (Tatsuro)
"Neigh?" (Jeanne)
Even the recipient seemed confused, tilting her head. So, thinking the instruction manual might explain something, he took out the parchment that was in the box with it and examined it.
"The Shield of Hartze? Increases the holder's durability and magic resistance... if just having it is enough, should we just tie it to your body? What do you think, Jeanne?" (Tatsuro)
"Neeeigh!" (Jeanne)
"She says she wants to see it." (Nana)
"I see, here it is." (Tatsuro)
Tatsuro took out the fairly heavy shield from the treasure chest and brought it before Jeanne's eyes.
After Jeanne observed it for a while—
"Chomp chomp!" (Jeanne)
"Hey, this isn't an Olympic medal, you shouldn't bite—"(Tatsuro)
Just as Tatsuro was about to say "there's no helping it," there was a cracking sound of metal breaking.
Crunch, crunch, munch munch. Such sounds could be heard coming from Jeanne's mouth.
While Tatsuro and the others were dumbfounded, she used her teeth to snatch the remaining shield from Tatsuro's hand and threw it all into her mouth, crunching, grinding, cracking, and munching away.
At this point, Tatsuro finally came to his senses.
"Heeey! Jeanne! You shouldn't eat something like that! Spit it out! Spit! Your tummy will hurt!" (Tatsuro)
"Brrrr" (Jeanne)
The usually obedient Jeanne refused to listen to Tatsuro's words, shaking her head like a stubborn child, and ended up eating everything.
"Sh-she ate it..." (Tatsuro)
"You shouldn't have eaten that..." (Ai)
"—No, that might have been the right thing to do." (Leah)
"Huh?" (Tatsuro)
At Leah's words, who had sky-blue eyes, Tatsuro and Ai looked at Jeanne to see her skin surface taking on a black glow before settling down.
From within emerged an even harder, sleek black skin.
It looked just like a rhinoceros wearing jet-black armor.
[Skill [Super-Hardened Exterior] has been acquired.]
[Skill [Magic Reduction Particles] has been acquired.]
"Neeeigh!" (Jeanne)
"No no, never mind the neighing. What's going on, Leah?" (Tatsuro)
"I believe she absorbed the item by eating it." (Leah)
"Absorbed it... That was possible? Does that mean she can absorb other items by eating them too?" (Tatsuro)
"No. While it's partly because Jeanne is a magical being, more importantly, it's because that shield's item resonated incredibly well with Jeanne. Eating other random items wouldn't have the same effect." (Leah) 𝐫А₦ÒBÊs̩
"Resonated well, huh. Is that why you ate it, Jeanne? Because you sensed that?" (Tatsuro)
"Neigh!" (Jeanne)
Jeanne nodded firmly in affirmation. Watching this, Athena quietly put back on her Ring of Great Fortune that she had removed from her finger and brought to her mouth.
"Then I guess eating my ring wouldn't work~ Since I don't feel that kind of connection." (Athena)
"Were you planning to eat it?" (Nana)
Nana looked at her sister half-exasperatedly after witnessing that sequence of events.
Unaware of this exchange, Tatsuro asked Jeanne if anything else had changed besides her appearance, to which she nodded again.
Then, as everyone watched, Jeanne began emitting platinum particles from her body.
"Neeeigh" (Jeanne)
"She wants you to try bringing magic near it." (Tatsuro)
"Magic? Understood." (Nana)
Following Jeanne's request, Tatsuro lit up his palm with magic and placed it among the particles. As soon as his light magic entered the platinum particles, it quickly disappeared.
"Neeeigh" (Jeanne)
"Hey. It's apparently a skill called [Magic Reduction Particles]." (Leah)
"It says reduction, but it's powerful enough to completely nullify weak magic, huh." (Tatsuro)
"Physical attacks are blocked by the hard armor, and magic by these light particles. Jeanne is impenetrable!" (Ai)
"Neigh!" (Jeanne)
Praised by Ai, Jeanne proudly puffed out her chest in joy.
Thus, Tatsuro and his companions each cleared all the Extra Dungeon challenges one by one, obtaining prizes and monster materials.
Just when everyone was thinking there was nothing left to do here, the dungeon spoke up again.
[I hereby announce that you have achieved the hidden mission by using all challenge rights individually and emerging victorious in all of them!]
"Huh?" (Athena)
"Pewee" (Cardina)
"Neigh" (Jeanne)
At the sudden hidden mission announcement, everyone raised question marks, and Tatsuro asked as the representative to check the situation.
"This hidden mission? What happens when we complete it?" (Tatsuro)
[Yes, you gain eligibility to participate in a certain game. Of course, participation is optional, but this requires the entire party to participate.]
"Never mind about whether to participate or obligations and whatnot, we can't answer without knowing what this game is first." (Ai)
Ai pressed the dungeon that kept avoiding stating conclusions as usual.
[Ah, that's true. The content is to compete against the hidden boss!]
"Hidden boss... How strong is it? Since it's 'hidden,' it must be stronger than this dungeon's boss." (Tatsuro)
[Well... if I were to express it in levels, it would be around level 70,000?]
"Then we're leaving now, goodbye." (Tatsuro)
As Tatsuro started preparing to leave, thinking there was no way they could fight such an opponent, the dungeon hastily continued with additional explanations.
[No, no, it's not like you have to fight for your life or anything. It's more like a match where life and death aren't at stake? Even if you lose, there's absolutely no chance of dying, and you'll get a title too. It's very, very beneficial!]
"How can you say there's absolutely no chance of dying? With such a high-level opponent, even the aftermath of attacks could kill us." (Tatsuro)
[Well, that's because you won't be fighting in your physical bodies.]
"Not in our physical bodies... what do you mean?" (Tatsuro)
[You see, actually—]
According to the dungeon's explanation, it would be a battle in the mental world, not physical.
More specifically, using tools prepared by the dungeon, only their minds would be transferred to virtual bodies in a separate dimension prepared here, maintaining almost all of their original abilities.
First, everyone present, including the boss, would be given 10 starting points.
When those points reach zero, they would be forcibly returned to reality, and if anyone from Tatsuro's party remained after forcing the hidden boss to return, they would win.
Conversely, if everyone lost their points and was forcibly returned, they would lose—it was truly like a game system.
By the way, the point deduction breakdown would be calculated based on the level of the physical body and equipped items in the real world: effective hit -1 point, fatal wound -10 points, and anything between effective hit and fatal wound -2 to -9 points.
Furthermore, even when receiving attacks, points would only decrease, and there wouldn't even be any pain.
[After all, I don't like pain either.]
"Somehow, the way you say that makes it sound like you'll be the one fighting, Dungeon-san." (Leah)
When Leah jokingly said this in response to the dungeon's very human-like statement, a shocking revelation was made.
[Eh? That's right. The hidden boss is this dungeon itself. Though since we exist in different dimensions, I'll create a virtual body and control it, so I'm quite weakened. While the main body might be over level 70,000, in that form, it's not at a level where humans absolutely can't win!]
After asking several more questions, they considered what to do.
If the dungeon's words were true, they could safely experience fighting a strong enemy, and even if they lost, they would still receive a prize and title as participation rewards.
Moreover, if they won, they would receive three prizes, experience points, SP for all participants, and a powerful title exclusive to the winners.
Hearing all this, there seemed to be no downsides. Even the title given for losing apparently had positive effects rather than negative ones.
If that was the case, considering future prospects and having no urgent business, accepting would be the strategic choice.
"Then, let's try it." (Ai)
"Yeah. What about the rest of you? Anyone opposed to accepting?" (Tatsuro)
As Tatsuro checked with everyone while looking at their faces one by one, no one seemed to object.
"Understood. Then we'll accept." (Tatsuro)
[Really! Then right away—]
"No, let's do that tomorrow. We've been moving around all day, and we'd like to prepare anyway." (Tatsuro)
[Aww, let's do it soon!]
"You seem pretty eager, is there some benefit for you too?" (Athena)
Athena bluntly stated exactly what Tatsuro had been thinking. In response, the dungeon candidly explained the reason.
[What do you think the title given to challengers who lose is?]
"How would we know that?" (Athena)
[Title: Loser. Engraving this permanent title on challengers is one of my few hobbies!]
"...Permanent meaning that even if we found this place again and won another challenge, it wouldn't disappear?" (Athena)
[That's right. While the title effect would be replaced by the winner's title effect, the display itself will remain until death. Just thinking about people seeing the word 'loser' every time they check their status—it gives me shivers!]
"You have quite twisted tastes..." (Athena)
Everyone was taken aback.
Since they had already decided to accept the game, there was an uncomfortable possibility that they might end up satisfying this dungeon's peculiar preferences.
"W-well, we just need to win, right?" (Athena)
"Y-yeah. That's right, Athena. For that very reason, let's restore our energy. Apparently monsters don't come here either." (Tatsuro)
And so, after taking plenty of time to achieve perfect conditions through meals, sleep, weapon maintenance, practice, and strategy meetings, Tatsuro and his companions would enter the game against the dungeon.
