Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
“Muah-ha-ha… Finally, finally the time has come… for us to face the boss. How do you feel, Sakura?”
Kanata posed that question as he tried to show off by striking a weird pose and touching his black eyepatch. They were on their final round through the dungeon and had cleared the mission at legendary level to obtain a key box.
When the kids held it up in front of the large gate, said entrance glowed in a mysterious light and then opened.
“I’m not sure…”
“In that case… Did you manage to get used to your new sword and Secret Sword God Technique?”
“Well, I guess I have.”
Before they went on this final round through the dungeon, Kanata had told Sakura to synthesize Secret Sword God Technique. He worried the 4-star Secret Technique skills might be insufficient.
“Let’s go in, then… You’ve already cast as many buffs as you can, right?”
“All clear, let’s go.”
Kanata and Sakura walked through the large gate. Inside it was pitch black. Though for some reason, they could see each other. Sakura tried using Clairvoyance, but other than Kanata’s naked upper body, she couldn’t see anything.
“Sakura… watch your steps, will you?”
“The same goes for you. I’m somewhat used to it… from the time I couldn’t see. But you probably never experienced something like this.”
Almost unconsciously, they took each other’s hands.
Once they’d walked for a bit, the room suddenly lit up. The place they were in had a facility-like feel, with green lights running down the walls in constant intervals1.
“Amazing… that’s so cool… Ah~! This feels like a true boss room…”
“Yes, yes, it does… More importantly, look over there. That’s probably the boss, no?”
Where Sakura was pointing… in the center of the room, there were two black bird magic beasts, about 2.5 times as tall as an adult human, shining with the same green light as the other magic beasts in this dungeon. Both birds looked almost the same.
“I guess… Are those ravens?”
“At any rate, it isn’t just one boss, is it?”
“Looks like it.”
While the two kids talked amicably, the two ravens opened their eyes. The first one’s shone green like emeralds, while the second one’s were golden. Then, they let out a roar-like cry, immediately spread their wings, and flew up towards the extremely high ceiling of the room.
«I am Muninn, Great Raven of Memory.»
«I am Huginn2, Great Raven of Thought.»
The two birds introduced themselves as they hovered in mid-air, looking down on the kids.
“Oh~~… that’s so cool! Me too, me too! My name is Kanata! I come from another world and am also known as the jet-black…”
“…Idiot. Why are you spouting nonsense in this situation? This isn’t a competition, you know.”
The two ravens observed the kids acting perfectly in sync, as if they were performing the comedy skit of a married couple, looking at them as if they were seeing something incomprehensible.
«Say, Muninn.»
«What is it, Huginn?»
«Did that boy and girl come here to fool around, caw?»
«I cannot say. But they seem to have the power required, caw.”»
Afterwards, the two birds fell silent for a few seconds. Finally, they both spoke in the same breath.
««Either way, we shall confront them, caw!»»
The birds flew up even higher.
“This is getting better and better!”
“Will… will we be alright? They do look strong, you know?”
“Well… watch and learn,” Kanata said and disappeared from Sakura’s side.
Next, he reappeared above the large raven that called itself Muninn. Then, he swung his spear while yelling something.
“Secret Spear God Technique… Five Early Summer Rains3.”
«W-What!?»
The next moment, Muninn was assaulted by what felt like a downpour of countless spear strikes. Holes opened up all over its body. And every single one of these strikes packed extraordinary power. Consequently, this single ability was enough for Muninn to breathe its last.
«Mu… ninn!?»
Huginn shouted its partner’s name, but there was no answer. The corpse of the large raven and the one SS- plus five S-Rank magic cores that had emerged from it… didn’t fall from the sky, instead they were already lying the ground. Kanata had moved them there via teleportation.
He then returned to Sakura’s side.
“There you go.”
“Wha-… You defeated it so easily… As expected of you, Kanata!”
“Muah-ha-ha… This is my true power. The real strength on a chronic chuunibyou…”
“Oh, so you are self-conscious about it.”
Huginn looked at the kids who had continued their comedy skit with relaxed expressions.
«E-Enjoy making fun of this while you still can, caw!”»
As soon as the raven shouted these words, the magic circles of three S-Rank skills expanded at once. When she saw that, Sakura got a bit flustered, but Kanata’s expression stayed calm.
Right away, the magic was shot off towards the kids. The first circle produced countless featherlike arrows composed of darkness and wind magic, the second manifested as lasers made of darkness and wind magic, and the last unleashed a storm of wind and ice magic.
No matter how you looked at them, they were abilities with high power… However, they all disappeared before hitting the kids. A slightly blue, transparent barrier could be seen stretching around both Kanata and Sakura.
“See, nothing to worry about.”
“W-What is this… dome-shaped thing?”
“It’s an ability of Stýra Rúm, you see,” Kanata declared proudly. “Everything that hits this wall is teleported to a place I have specified. Heh-heh-heh… My skill isn’t mere teleportation. There’s still lots of things I haven’t used yet.”
The moment he finished his explanation, the magic that Huginn had shot off reappeared… Right above the bird.
«Caw…!?»
Huginn didn’t have the time to evade and was struck by everything. Since most of it had been aimed at its wings, the raven, who had been flying close to the ceiling, lost its ability to stay airborne and fell to the ground while scattering black feathers.
“Is it dead?”
“Not yet. There’s something we need to do before we kill it.”
“Something we need to do?”
“Yep. We have to use Reincarnation. Defeating the other bird earlier most likely got us to the level cap.”
When she heard that, Sakura checked her status screen. And for sure, she was able to use Reincarnation. Since Kanata had told her so, she used the command. The boy had obviously already done so at this point.
“Good… Then, you should be the one to strike the finishing blow.”
“Why me?”
“That’s because if we ever, for whatever reason, become adventurers, they won’t accept any magic cores unless you were the one who killed the magic beasts they’re from. It’s in preparation for that possibility.”
“U-Understood!”
Huginn had been trying to get airborne again while the kids were busy talking and using Reincarnation, but the moment they were done talking, its head went flying. That had been Sakura’s attack.
Thus, the two kids cleared the dungeon without incident.
TL notes:
And that does it for Kanata and Sakura’s dungeon (well, we still get to see the loot next time). Unsurprisingly, it was another curb stomp battle with the bosses unable to put up any resistance.
It’s interesting that the Boss Shuu and Rir faced immediately realized that it had no chance of victory, while the ravens here (same as Rose) had no idea what hit them. I guess it’s because Shuu and Rir allocated all their STP from reincarnating 14 times before facing the boss, while neither Alim and Mika nor Kanata and Sakura used much of it. Or maybe the eagle was the only one among them with something resembling survival instinct.
Footnotes:
- So, you can get boss fights inside a room instead of a field of grass + fake sky. Though we never got any information how Rose’s boss stage looked like. That one might’ve been inside, too.
- The names in the original are ムニン (munin) and フニン (funin), most probably referring to Odin’s ravens Huginn and Muninn. The latter is written as フギン (fugin) in katakana, so I assume that’s a typo here. Also, the original had “thought” and “memory” switched, but at least according to Wikipedia they should be like I wrote them here.
- The original is 五の五月雨 (“early summer rain of five”). Maybe it means “early summer rain of may” instead?