While the Feathered Serpent looked down at us, the priest’s voice rang out like an echo.

Power... is overflowing! Was the me of the past truly this insignificant?!It seemed his consciousness was still lingering even after he had offered himself as a sacrifice and been absorbed.

It would disappear on its own with time, but we’d probably kill it first.

Anyway, I looked up at the Feathered Serpent and let out a little exclamation of admiration.

“My goodness, you look much better than before. You’ve filled out nicely, and now you’ve even got feathers.”

...So your mouth is still alive. Still, at the end of the day, you are nothing more than a lowly creature, so I shall be generous and forgive it.“Well, what a surprise. Then can I go?”

At that, the Feathered Serpent let out a low cry.

KEEEEERRR—!

The priest burst into hearty laughter too as he replied.

Heh heh... as if that would happen. I meant I would grant you a swift death.“You hold grudges pretty hard for a transcendent being. Is it because you’re only wearing the shell?”

Did that line get under its skin?

A blatant killing intent began pouring off it.

...I have changed my mind. I shall take you into this body and make you suffer for all eternity.“Not very consistent either. For a transcendent being, you’re kind of disappointing in a lot of ways.”

KEEEEERRR—!The Feathered Serpent roared once more.

It looked like it had decided there was no longer any value in talking to us.

A moment later, it drew its long body in slightly, then began gliding through the air as though it were swimming.

In an instant, it swept over our heads, and golden feathers came drifting down from above.

At the same time, every last one of the barbarians in the area gripped their weapons and charged toward us.

The contents themselves were the same as the [Altar] and [Temple] we’d already cleared before, but the difference now was that everything was wrapped in golden light.

You could call it a kind of buff.

The dungeon had matched them to its own level and bumped them all the way from D-rank to B+.

Considering their numbers, they were honestly even more dangerous than the Black Serpent Fang warriors had been.

“But our Gyu-ri’s even stronger.”

“That’s right, Sunbae!”

“Hold the line for us, please.”

“Got it, Sunbae!”

Wearing a bright smile, Dang Gyu-ri stepped forward to meet them.

Ssssss...The shadow at their feet spread wide behind them, thick pillars rose up, and a roof covered overhead.

From the completed [Umbral Corridor], the Gyu shadow undead stepped out.

The Research Director, the Dark-Shadow Commander, the Blood Sword Commander, and Ghost Demon.

JINGLE...With Ghost Demon’s buff on them, the two commanders leaped right into the middle of the enemy ranks and began swinging their swords mercilessly.

SHRRRKKK!

Three or four barbarians fell with every slash, but as if they didn’t even possess the concept of fear, they kept blindly tightening the encirclement.

That said, most of them were being ground apart before they could even get within a certain distance, and even if they did make it in, they’d still have to deal with Dang Gyu-ri.

The ground side is stable for now.

What really mattered was the aerial battle, and preparations for that were already proceeding smoothly.

Seo Ye-in and Fast-Luckless lined up a row of objects that looked like oversized travel suitcases in one place.

The things they’d received from the Hyeseong Group scholarship students—

“The new weapon.”

The new weapon.The moment they poured mana into them, the cases all sprang open at once, revealing complex mechanical devices inside.

They rapidly clicked and clanked as they merged and transformed, rising higher and higher like a tower.

Then the whole thing tilted slightly toward the Feathered Serpent.

It wasn’t a tower at all.

It was a massive gun barrel.

Seo Ye-in added an explanation, her eyes shining brightly.

“Anti-air mode.”

Standing beside the mana anti-air cannon together with her [Mirror Image], she got to work in earnest.

As she activated skills like [Mana Round] and [Impact Bomb]—

WOOOOOOOONG—!

With a mechanical hum, the gauge bars attached to the side of the barrel began filling up one by one.

It’s charge-based.

WOOOOOOOONG—!

The first few bars were red, then after it filled a little more, they changed to green.

That meant it was ready to fire.

It looked like they would turn yellow if it charged further, but Seo Ye-in didn’t seem interested in waiting any longer. She signaled to her mirror with a glance.

The next instant, blue fire burst from the barrel—

BOOOOOOM—!

A blue explosion erupted at the back of the Feathered Serpent’s neck.

Judging by the way it roared in pain and twisted its body, the damage seemed substantial.

KEEEEERRRRR—!How dare such insignificant creatures—!The priest shouted too, his voice thick with rage.

At that, I exchanged a look with Seo Ye-in.

“If we’re insignificant creatures, shouldn’t getting hit by us not hurt?”

“It should.”

“And I don’t really get why he’s getting mad at insignificant creatures.”

“I don’t get it either.”

......The Feathered Serpent must have remembered that the more it talked to us, the angrier it got, because it shut its mouth again and resumed the fight.

With a single sweep of its tail, the golden feathers drifting through the air all focused toward us.

They explode if they touch you.

An obvious statement, but painful all the same.

On top of that, because they were feather-shaped, each one had a different speed and trajectory.

That made them hard to predict, which raised the difficulty of dodging them, and it was one of the small reasons this dungeon had become such an avoid-at-all-costs one.

For us, it’s manageable.

Dang Gyu-ri and I stepped here and there, and the feathers that barely grazed past us exploded the instant they hit the ground.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The problem is the mana anti-air cannon.

It was far too large and heavy to move, so dodging with it was obviously impossible.

But if we abandoned it and only saved ourselves, it would become unusable in no time.

So we have no choice but to block.

That was why I’d kept Director Gyu out for this.

He climbed up onto the anti-air cannon, then puffed up his upper body like a balloon.

And he took the falling golden feathers head-on with his body.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

At that, the priest, who had seemed like he would never open his mouth again, couldn’t hold back another comment.

How admirable, that willingness to sacrifice your comrades for one another. But how long do you think you can last?Just like he said, each time a golden explosion went off, Director Gyu’s body was being torn apart into rags.

He had considerable toughness and even regeneration, but the damage was stacking up faster than he could recover.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

In the end, he couldn’t endure it and scattered away as black smoke.

Then he came walking right back out of the corridor in utterly pristine condition.

The priest’s expression turned blank with disbelief.

...What?“It’s a Gyu shadow undead.”

Well, from his point of view, I guess that would be unfamiliar.

Of course, even Director Gyu couldn’t block the countless feathers all by himself.

Every time he was resummoned, there was also a brief moment when he was out of commission.

A few of the feathers tried to hit Seo Ye-in or the anti-air cannon, but right before they could, a fist-sized cumulus cloud flew in and gulped them down.

It was an A-rank item with considerable magic defense, so it could handle one or two at a time.

At the same time, the anti-air cannon continued charging steadily, and—

BOOOOOOM—!

Another powerful shot detonated against the creature’s body.

KEEEEERRRRR—!The Feathered Serpent let out a roar thick with pain and fury.

Then, as if trying to change tactics, it began flying rapidly.

A simple thought, but an effective one.

If it flew around erratically, it would be harder to hit.

Then I guess it’s about time I did my part too.

[You use 'Octopus Arms'.]

[You use 'Amplification'.]

[The rank of 'Core' rises. (A+→S+)]

[The rank of 'Wind Force' rises. (A+→S+)]

[The rank of 'Spiral Explosion' rises. (A+→S+)]

[The rank of 'Move Command' rises. (C→A)]

[The rank of 'Diamond Freeze' rises. (C→A)]

[The rank of 'Concussion Mark' rises. (B→S)]

[The rank of 'Mystic Sound Jade Demon Finger'...]

[The rank of 'Frost-White Shot'...]

......

I lifted my staff and pointed it up.

A current of air carrying physical force gathered in one spot, forming a vortex.

[Wind Force]

[Spiral Explosion]

WHOOOOOOO—

The Feathered Serpent struggled to break free against the vortex, but the rank gap was two full stages, so it was dragged in bit by bit and pinned in place.

The mana anti-air cannon hit it for the third time.

BOOOOOOM—!

Another shrill cry rang out, and the priest shouted in fury.

How dare a lowly creature, how dare you—!“You really do love that word, lowly creature.”

This was the kind of thing that only made the embarrassment worse when said out loud.

With its new tactic shut down immediately, it looked like the creature was trying to change tactics again.

This time, to something more aggressive.

The feathers gathered in front of it, forming a golden sphere that grew larger and larger.

Back in the [Temple], that was its super-finisher.

At the time, it had been the priest’s final move, prepared at the cost of his life.

It even came with homing functionality, and it accelerated over time.

And the one it was using now was several times larger than the one back then, so its destructive power would naturally be several times greater too.

Back then, I dealt with it by putting my brain in full gear.

I deliberately kept dodging to raise the sphere’s speed as much as possible, then calculated the angle and intentionally got hit by it.

As a result, [Distortion] had triggered and slammed it into the wall.

But now I don’t have to work that hard anymore.

I hadn’t learned just one or two skills over the past year.

I stared indifferently at the golden sphere rushing closer by the second, then quietly brought my staff up to it.

[Dipper-Shifting Star-Transposition]

A massive force coiled around the tip of my staff.

Then I spun it around and hurled it straight into the middle of the barbarians—

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAAAANG—!

A whole chunk of them vanished in the blink of an eye.

......! ......!The Feathered Serpent and the priest both seemed too shocked to speak for a moment.

So I casually asked them,

“This has kind of a nice feel to it. Got any more?”

...Very well, if you insist—!The Feathered Serpent began radiating an even more intense golden light than before.

Every last feather it had scattered throughout the battle came rushing together, creating multiple spheres just like the one from a moment ago.

This is basically its real super-finisher.

Normally, it only pulled this out once the battle had reached a certain fever pitch, but the timing had been pushed way forward.

Maybe because every tactic it tried kept getting shut down, or maybe because I kept picking at its nerves.

There are too many to block like that.

Even Director Gyu would get deleted by a single one, and even [Dipper-Shifting Star-Transposition] could only knock them away one at a time.

So how did you deal with multiple homing projectiles that accelerated over time?

You cut them off at the source.

FWIIIIISH—

Wind had already gathered and compressed at my fingertips.

The moment I finished preparing Wind Force—

[You inscribe 'Concussion Mark(S)' on the target.]

[Duration 00:00:19]

[Cooldown 00:02:59]

I kicked off the ground and leaped.

Then I used ★Blink★ to move directly above its head and brought my attack straight down.

BOOOOOOOOM—!

Its massive body plummeted a long way below.

Looks like the concussion effect triggered.

The golden spheres shattered apart in every direction.

On top of that, it staggered in midair, then fell outright.

KWAAAAAANG—!

Now’s the chance.

Next, I pulled out [Magic Scroll - Glacier Summon (S)] from my inventory.

[You use 'Diamond Freeze(A)'.]

[Duration 00:00:49]

[Cooldown 00:04:59]

I added the effect that made the next freeze impossible to remove.

Then I tore the scroll clean in half, and an enormous surge of energy burst free as the space around us rippled.

A gigantic glacier materialized, then dropped straight down and crushed the Feathered Serpent beneath it.

KWAAAAAANG—!