The airships are coming closer. Strange water flowing. And I'm sandwiched between them both with nowhere to run!

*Rumble, rumble, rumble...*

A quake shook the earth down below, but the mountain I was on looked like it was not affected. It's a weird kinda feeling.

An explosion happened on the ground underneath the lake that was taken shape down below, and from the depths of the earth rose something made out of rocks and dirt. Its size was around three-quarters of the mountain we're standing on, which I bet is more than 100 meters. It looked like a messy figure made outta clay, with no purpose or goal to its shape.

As I kept on looking at it, its body changed into...water? Is this the same phenomenon that transformed the dry ground into the water down below?

As the transformation continued, the structure changed its shape. Its body turned elongated and slim, like a snake. Several tentacles started to sprout out from its body, deformed batwings too small to carry its big body appeared on its back, a jaw like a crocodile with rows of teeth similar to a shark appeared on its front, and aqua-green water converged and formed its multiple eyes spread around its body at random. A shining sphere was located where the brain should be.

It looks like some Lovecraftian monster had been merged with a spirit of water. Freaky.

WORLD MESSAGE:

The World Quest [Disaster of Water] has been updated to the World Quest: [Glavras the Disaster]

World Quest: Glavras the Disaster Quest giver: World System Administration Quest Description:

The Disaster of Water has shown its face.

Bring down the False God located in the eastern part of the Velantas region on the Invidia continent and save the world.

Quest Content: Defeat the Disaster of Water, [False God Glavras]. Rewards: 5 AP. Title: [Slayer of the Ultimate] ??? (Depends on the level of contribution)

Huh!? Some strange quest popped up? Or, maybe not. The System Message is saying that the contents have been "updated"...

Hold on. It wasn't a "System" Message, but a "World" Message! That's a new one. From the name, I can guess it's aimed at "the whole world" instead of a single person. I bet. I believe. I think...

Though, it doesn't change the situation. The reason for the quest update has to be the giant down there...

Wait, then that huge, chimera-water-snake down there is Glavras? The guy I fought on the 9th floor? We sorta decided that he'd removed his soul from his body, but to think he traded his old flesh for...this...whatever you can call it...

Crap. There are too many strange things going on here for my mind to keep track of it all. Let's forget all that complicated stuff for now and focus on the important things in life. Like surviving.

I was looking for somewhere to hide while the big guy would leave to crush some innocent city someplace else (fighting him? Are you crazy!?) when a loud noise destroyed the tranquility of the night.

[O-hohoho! Finally dug yourself out of your snake hole, eh? Glavras!] - ???

...I know that voice. I've only heard it once before, but I can't forget it. It's the voice of that "black baron" guy who attacked the 3rd floor with his robot army!

The water snake ignored the Black Baron's provocation and simply roared into the night sky. My ears!!

[Hmph. Did your mind get lost when you tried to download it into the Dungeon Core? A fitting end for a traitor such as you!] - Black Baron

His mind? ...can that have something to do with the stat-less body I fought? Also, I have a bad feeling that my destroying the giant crystal on the 8th floor has something to do with this. That thing just screamed sci-fi data-crystal!

[All hands, FI-!] - Black Baron

Before the Black Baron could finish his sentence, the sword-shaped ship let all its guns loose at Glavras. Scary! This is way more dangerous than on TV! And louder! And scarier! I had already hidden behind a rock before I could comprehend what had happened. Scary...

[Hey, Assault! Don't fire before I give the orders!] - Black Baron

[TIME IS MONEY, SO THIS UNIT DECIDED TO CUT IT SHORT] - Assault

[You're cutting my budget short with your trigger happiness! Follow orders!] - Black Baron

...did I meet that trigger-happy jerk? Probably not. I wouldn't have survived.

But despite the bullet carnival, Glavras is still not moving. Even with all those bullet holes...forget it! He's got auto-recovery, that freak! How unfair! The last boss isn't supposed to have healing moves!

Oh, he moved.

After the shots started to converge on his head, Glavras began to dodge the barrage by moving his large body while using his tentacles to swat away the shots.

They also aimed at the ships, forcing the Black Baron's group to take evasive maneuvers, which lowered the number of shots they could perform so that friendly fire wouldn't occur. In exchange, the ships released what looked like fighter planes...or rather, drones. The drones are armed with what looks like "energy shields" and are using them to block the tentacles.

Glavras' counterattack was bound to happen, but couldn't it have done so later rather than sooner? Now it will take more time before that stupid snake becomes swiss cheese...?

"Hey, those bullets are harming Glavras!" - Garami

"Master, have anyone told you that "you are slow"?" - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Shut it! I am talking about how the bullets aren't melting like the ground when they come in contact with that monster." - Garami

"Oh, that part. It is just a guess from my side, but I believe Glavras is using a form of alchemy to turn material into a liquid that he can control and add to his body." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"The keyword is "material", I bet." - Garami

I noticed that all the cannon shots looked like laser bullets from sci-fi movies.

"Correct. Energy-based attacks seem to work. I am not sure if fire would be useful, but attacks of the Light attribute are effective. Probably also attacks of the Darkness attribute." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

You say that, but I got no proper way to attack him from all the way here. [Darkness Bullet] feels too weak for the job, and that's my only long-range Darkness move. I need to increase my repertoire.

"But it seems that physical items of a certain degree of durability can survive for a while." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"How did you figure that out?" - Garami

"I didn't. But it takes a while for the plain ground to dissolve into water, so I think it works that way. Glavras' current body seems to be his Dungeon, so all the damage on the Dungeon due to Master's actions must have greatly lowered his abilities." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Hold on, hold on, hold on there! That's the Dungeon!? That giant water snake?" - Garami

"Since the Dungeon Core is visible inside his body without being deleted by it, I think I am right here." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

"Dungeon Core"...? Oh, the shining sphere. From the name, I guess it's important for the Dungeon.

"What would happen if that gets broken?" - Garami

"If Glavras is using his Dungeon as his new body, and the Dungeon still follows at least some of the rules of the System..." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

True. The situation has left the realms of "normal". The fairy knows that as well, which is the reason why she's taking her sweet time to find her answer.

"A normal Dungeon would be destroyed if it lost its Core. That much is for certain. And regarding Glavras...it may follow the same rules. Maybe." - Avatar of [Gamemaster]

I wouldn't give that answer a top reward for reliability, but it seems like the right one. I'm trusting my hunch here.

Also, Glavras looks extremely weakened now from the onslaught. And nobody's paying attention to me! It's the perfect opportunity for a kill-steal here! Allowing the Black Baron to leave with the quest rewards doesn't sit right with me either, so I'll be a little reckless here. Just to get back at the two biggest jerks I've met in this second life of mine.

Energy attacks seem to work, but I got nothing powerful enough to best Glavras. Materials are turned to water, but it seems to not be an imminent change. The ground is slowly being melted, plus some of those "shield fighter planes" that were knocked out of the sky are still keeping their shape. It should be correct to believe that more durable items are more difficult to turn into water.

The Thaumaturgy Scythe won't help here. If I had more of those gems, then maybe. But I'm pressed for time, so let's go with plan B instead.

After preparing "plan B" so I could whip it out of my Storage at any time, I started to eat the late-night snack I'd kept in the Storage. Monster meat cooked by Sahuagins...yummy...

Hmm? Why am I eating now? Idiot! My SP and MP got greatly reduced during the fight with Glavras' real body! I gotta recover before I jump into the war right in front of me! Literally!

I do have [Mana Auto-Recovery], but these types of skills aren't recovering my MP or whatever 24/7. It simply enhances your natural regenerating abilities to a stupid degree. If I was fighting for my life, the skill couldn't have recovered my MP during that while. My body wouldn't have the spare resources needed for the recovery! It's important to know how to pace oneself and take breaks. And I didn't get any while I was chased by Glavras' body before.

*Gulp*, done. I want properly grilled meat one of these days...

The fighter planes are still in high numbers in the air. Guess the Baron's replacing the broken ones. Why didn't he bring them all out at the same time? Because they would get in his way. Duh!

It's the opposite for me though! Because...I CAN FLYYYY!!

I jumped off the mountain ledge and threw webbings at one of the closer planes and used it to swing across the sky. Just as I predicted, the plane had enough horsepower to fly even with me dangling underneath it. If not, I couldn't imagine it would work well as flying shields.

After jumping off the first plane, I released new threads to swing from plane to plane as I got closer to Glavras. I made sure to stay out of his field of view, which also included me using [Lurk] as a bonus.

[FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!!] - Black Baron

[The boss is sounding like Assault!] - Third ship

...nice. The Baron and Glavras are too busy blasting/smacking each other that they don't see me. Time to strike! ...but where have I heard the voice belonging to the people(robot?) of the third ship...?

Forcing away my little curiosity for whatever was piloting the third ship, I activated [Sticky Limbs] and landed on top of one of the planes close to Glavras. The skill keeps me from falling off even if the planes were to make any sudden movements. Then I pulled out my "plan B", the ghost knight's greatsword, out from my Storage.

I wrapped its handle with some webbing and started to spin the greatsword like some sorta flail. Or maybe calling it a "sling" is better? Yeah, let's go for that.

[...? -!? B-boss! Behind Glavras-!] - Third ship

[Stop using the loudspeakers for everything! ...huh!? Who's she-?] - Black Baron

Too late!

I sent the greatsword flying toward the Dungeon Core in Glavras' skull ([Aiming] and [Throwing] were of much help). The force of the rotation, the elastic webbing thread, my skills, and my stats all contributed enough to allow the sword to force its way through the snake's water body and straight into the Core before the sword melted to water.

Score! I won! Operation "kill-steal" is a success!

...uh-oh. Why is Glavras starting to glow like that?

[Sh-shit! Evade! Retreat!!] - Black Baron

I'm not the only one with a bad feeling about this. The Black Baron is ordering his troops to retreat! I hurriedly jumped/swung from fighter plane to plane as I escaped back to Devil's Peak. I had to rely on the [Web Wings] for the last stretch, then I used threads to climb even higher.

And it was a good thing that I did the last part. Because Glavras exploded into a tidal wave! The wave was so big and the amount of water was so much that the Black Baron's three main ships were caught by the wave (despite being in the air!) and were flushed away!

I almost suffered the same fate! Rather, the waves almost reached my feet! I ignored my exhaustion and climbed a few floors' worths of mountain height just to be safe before I collapsed on the ground. This battle's MVP may have been my [Climbing] skills, outta all things...? Something is falling...

*Stab!*

Hii!! Th-this is...the ghost knight's sword! It fell right in front of me! So close that the tip of my nose got cut!

Okay, okay, OKAY! You can be the MVP here! But I'm still gonna look into taking the [Jump] skill after this! After this battle, I've learned how important it is to quickly gain the upper ground...*faints*...