Featured Image Credited: Loli Goth
[This…..is just inviting me to head down right.] (Ryouta)
I stared at the staircase as I mumbled to myself.
Instead of getting a drop from that rare monster, the drop was a staircase leading down to the next floor.
What"s more, after thinking that there were no more stairs leading down to another floor, this thing appeared out of a sudden.
A hidden staircase, a hidden floor.
My heart was beating in excitement to check out what lies below this staircase.
Thus I did a thorough check on my gears and equipment.
My dual guns, the plentiful normal bullets, Freezing Bullet, Flaming Bullet, Homing Bullet, Restraint Bullet, and the Bullet Enhancer.
Though just a few days ago I still had my Recovery Bullets, but because the situation needed it that during our whole trip of Indole I sort of used it all up.
Still, I should be able to overcome most situations by evading their attacks, reducing needless damages. With that, I proceeded to walk down to the next floor.
Right after I went down, the staircase disappeared.
[Is this those sorts of situations where you have to complete an objective before you can leave. Or is it……] (Ryouta)
Regardlessly, I would wish to completely explore this dungeon, thus I stayed vigilant.
What appeared in front of me was a completely different scenario compared to the floor above.
The floors above were all just straight and narrow paths, but this floor had nothing but blinding white s.p.a.ce, as if I"ve just crossed through an entirely different world altogether.
Even though this was connected to the dungeon, but the air around here was different.
I had no idea if anything were to appear, so I tightly gripped my guns as I cautiously head forward.
After a while, I was in a slightly wider area.
It wasn"t as big as a gymnasium, but more of the size of a city garden.
And in the middle of the s.p.a.ce, there stood a guy.
Wait my bad, it was just a monster.
It had silver hair and a beard attached to his face, and a black cloak covering his stylish clothes making him look like a n.o.bleman.
He had bat wings spreading behind his back, and two horns growing from on top of his head.
The word demon comes to mind. Compared to the little devils from above and the half-naked devil on a goat head, I could feel that this person was of the higher cla.s.s demon.
[Can it even converse?] (Ryouta)
While still holding onto my guns I threw a conversation at him.
It raised it"s hands, and with two fingers he pointed at my direction.
Zugoou——-
It sent chills down my spine as I immediately jumped away from where I stood.
The place where I stood just a moment ago was gouged with no sound being made at all.
[Not gonna even reply huh! I guess that"s fine by me too!] (Ryouta)
After landing on the ground, I immediately took out my dual guns and fired normal bullets.
Obviously it wouldn"t be just the normal bullet, I fired it with the intent to fused the bullets together.
Together with 1 Bullet Enhancer I fired the fusioned Penetration Bullet towards him.
Pashin! A screeching sound was heard and the Penetration Bullet was stop dead in it"s tracks and fell down to the ground.
Looking at it closely, I could see a release of magic circle and a pale light wall was surrounding him.
[A barrier huh, or is it a shield. If that"s the case then I"ll use this instead!] (Ryouta)
Switching the normal bullet, I loaded another Bullet Enhancer on each side, and also a Freezing and Flaming Bullet and fired.
Midway it collided and fused into an Annihilation Bullet.
The Annihilation Bullet clashed with the barrier, and it gouged a part of the s.p.a.ce.
The moment I fired I kicked the ground and rushed to hit the partially destroyed barrier, completely breaking it.
I think out the distance between the demon and with the Flaming and Freezing Bullet on both sides I fired another Annihilation Bullet, this time firing from zero distance.
However, before I could fire the opponent immediately distance himself away from it.
He dive below the muzzle.
Below there was an afterglow and with his red eyes he glared at me—–This is bad.
As if doing a body blow the demon wield his arms, he aligned his fingertips at me though rather than a fist, it was his sharp nails.
I immediately did a knee kick and swung his wrists up while kicking.
The strange black aura that was clad on his nails sc.r.a.ped the tip of my chin.
The front of my clothes was then torn apart and something fell to the ground.
I jumped backwards to create a distance while reloading my guns, and continued firing at him.
While I was setting up the fusion Flaming and Freezing Bullets, he set up his barrier and interrupted the process.
The Flaming and Freezing bullets that did not merged flew straight at the barrier.
[It learns really quickly!] (Ryouta)
[…….]
Without saying a word he leaped forward, closing in our distance.
Since he has learned of the fusioned bullets he immediately swapped to close combat, thus I used one hand to fire my gun and respond the rest with body fighting techniques.
Gun=Kata. It was a fighting technique where one uses a gun while using close quarter combat.
Using this self-taught technique, I faced against the demon.
Even though it’s Strength and Speed weren"t that strong, but it"s probably around A, and at worse B.
However his magical barrier is indeed powerful, plus it"s learning adaptability is high during fights.
By just experiencing it once, he can immediately remember the pattern and dodge that attack when it is used again.
It was another difficult monster, to the point where I feel that I was fighting with a real human instead of a monster.
In some way it"s like fighting with yourself.
[d.a.m.nit, his senses are getting sharper.] (Ryouta)
The demon"s attack further evolved. Whenever he did a feint that was not antic.i.p.ated and barely managed to dodge it, my back would start sweating.
Even if I fired a bullet it would not hit him, and if I fired a Homing Bullet it won"t be able to penetrate the barrier.
Eventually even my Flaming Bullets ran out, and also my Restraint and Homing bullets that never once hit ran out too.
I was steadily chased against the wall.
[……….]
For a second I felt that he was smiling at me.
[——It"s too early if you think you are winning!] (Ryouta)
Puchin! A sound could be heard from inside my head, and I trust my muzzle.
The demon tried to get behind me as and I read his movement—–Dropped my guns and grabbed hold of him and whack him.
Clink! The sound was different compared to just now.
The sound was similar to a gla.s.s breaking, or more specifically the barrier broke.
I took my gun back and pull the muzzle on his brain and continuously pulled the trigger.
Firing at point blank distance, and reload my bullet once it was used up.
Normal bullet on the right, Frozen bullet on the left.
[How"s that——-Ku!] (Ryouta)
A counter attack is coming, and I immediately dodged his sharp claws flying towards me.
After keeping a distance, I looked up and saw that his head was bleeding out blue blood.
Not on the right side, but it was bleeding from the cold air from the left side of his head.
[That"s unexpected, he is also weak against magic.] (Ryouta)
After frivolously talking, I could see that he was showing an expression that was unkeen to him for the first time——-I could see his anger.
Even though I fired the same amount from both sides, the left side which was the Freezing Bullet worked well rather than the right side which was filled with Normal bullets.
If it is a magic attack it works, I thought as I loaded more Frozen Bullets—–But.
[d.a.m.nit, I"ve used up my Freezing Bullets too!] (Ryouta)
I threw out swear words.
Since I left Shikuro for an extended period of time, I did not have time to refuel my bullets.
Still I thought that it would be okay to fight against the normal monsters in Aurum, but when fighting an unexpected enemy it would really exhaust my bullets.
The demon who saw my predicament, I could see his mouth distorted into a crooked smile.
[——-! Wind Cutter!] (Ryouta)
Even without my special bullets there is still magic! Thus I shot the magic that I learned by eating the Magical Fruit.
It hit the demon—–but it sustained little damage.
The demon accepted it without his barrier, and without moving he continued laughing.
[f.u.c.k……] (Ryouta)
I backed off and he jumped in front of me.
I avoided and he antic.i.p.ated and grabbed me.
Gradually, I was driven to a wall.
This is bad, if I leave it as is I would get stuck.
Suddenly, I thought of what happened at that time.
I remember seeing something.
I saw what was behind the demon.
If that was the case……..If only I have that.
But……can I do it?
It might not work, but there was a possibility.
However, it is only for a moment.
It was a momentary possibility.
I back off and kept a distance.
As if I was trying to flee, I took a distance.
The demon chased after me expecting me to be cornered into a wall.
Meanwhile he did not stop laughing.
Eventually I was chased at the edge of a s.p.a.ce.
The demon warped his nails and his mouth distorted into the shape of [⊿] while grinning.
Now"s the time! As I gave my gun.
He laughed at me, behaving like a human laughing at me.
He stopped his attack, and as if saying if you can fire your remaining bullets at me then try it.
I fired at the devil——not at him but beyond.
[——–!]
It was the first time the demon was surprised, and after turning around he was surprised again.
There was a little devil there, and it was there for just a moment.
It was a rogue monster that was hatched from a gold dust that was dropped from my clothes when he dealt the first attack on me.
Even if it"s inside the same dungeon the rogue monster could exist for a moment, that was confirmed when I was in Nihonium.
I aimed at that exact moment and shot the little devil with a normal bullet.
Why was that, the demon showed an expression as if he did not understand.
It wasn"t without a plan, because this shot was the deciding factor.
From the pouch, the rogue little devil dropped a Lightning Bullet, and putting 5 Bullet Enhancer I loaded the Lightning Bullet inside.
And with it I strike at the demon.
[Sorry for overlooking this.] (Ryouta)
I mumbled, and pulled the trigger.
The Lightning Bullet fired from zero distance, and lightning wrapped around the demon.
The lightning was discharging around the demon"s body, as the demon groaned in pain.
Eventually, he was burnt to crisp, collapsed from his knees and fell to the ground.
Then one bullet dropped, it was a shiny Rainbow Bullet.
I picked it up with high expectations as it would be something amazing coming from such a strong enemy, and since it was a strong enemy far beyond of a Dungeon Master, it must be great.
———Please choose one Infinite Bullet.
S expected, the moment I heard the voice I know that it would be [Amazing].
After thinking for a moment, I chose the Lightning Bullet made from the gold dust as it was the highest cost just by shooting one of it.
The rainbow-coloured bullet then shone brightly and everything became white, afterwards it was replaced to the Lightning Bullet.
It was just one Lightning Bullet, but this can"t only be merely a Lightning Bullet.
I loaded it into my gun and fired.
The lightning fired into nothing.
I continued firing, and more sparks flew.
No matter how many times I fired, the lightning discharged, and the bullet wasn"t used.
It was an Infinite Lightning Bullet.
[It may have been better if it was an Infinite Recovery Bullets too.] (Ryouta)
I wondered as I was stained by this world.
The first priority should be safety, if it was for a long term than the Recovery Bullet might"ve been a better choice.
Well, this was also good in it"s own way.
Well, after getting my rare item, should I head back now.
[Congratulations] (TLN: It was in katakana)
[Huh?] (Ryouta)
Suddenly a voice caught hold of me, I was surprised and turned around.
It was a girl that I"ve never met standing there.
She was about 140 centimeters tall, and was wearing a gothic loli clothes, and had the same bat wings and horn as the demon before.
[Are you a monster!?!] (Ryouta)
I held my gun, but.
[No no, I ain"t a monster.]
[……Then, what are you?] (Ryouta)
Well, it seemed that the reaction of the girl doesn"t match of a monster.
But why was she here? And why does she look like the demon just a while ago?
Various doubts appeared, but the moment she answered I half understood.
[My name is Aurum, and I"m the G.o.d of this Dungeon.] (I SMELL G.o.d!)