|T/N: I Have confirmed that celestial weapon = Divine weapon|After considering various strategies based on different situations, thinking through various techniques, and

|T/N: I Have confirmed that celestial weapon = Divine weapon|

After considering various strategies based on different situations, thinking through various techniques, and getting proper food and sleep to be in peak physical and mental condition.

If they were to lose after all this preparation, they had resolved to accept the title of losers together quietly. With that determination, they summoned the mysterious voice's dungeon.

[So you've finally decided to take the challenge! Please wait a moment in front of the stone tablet while I prepare everything!]

While wondering what these "preparations" entailed, Tatsuro and the others obediently walked to the stone tablet.

After waiting a short while, the stone tablet sank into the floor, and in its place emerged a five-meter square mirror.

In front of the mirror appeared seven black cords connected to the floor, each with something like a tennis racket grip attached to the end.

Then seven large reclining chairs also appeared.

"What's this? Are we supposed to sit down?" (Ai)

"No, wait a moment. We don't know what might happen." (Tatsuro)

"Okay~" (Ai)

After waiting a few more seconds, the dungeon spoke up, presumably having completed its preparations.

[Sorry for the wait! Now, let me explain. First, the mirror that appeared will show the situation of those who lose points and are forcibly sent back, so everyone can see what's happening.]

"So it's like a monitor." (Tatsuro)

[Next, please keep the object attached to the cord in contact with some part of your body. Your physical bodies will fall asleep, so please sit in the chairs and recline them to get comfortable.]

"Okay" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro and the others obediently followed the instructions, holding the grip-like objects and sitting in the reclining chairs, which they then reclined.

Incidentally, Cardina and Jeanne, who had used [Young Form] to fit in the seat, curled up in the chair portion.

[Preparations are now complete. Are you mentally prepared?]

"Yeah"(Tatsuro)

"Mhm" (Ai)

"Pewee" (Cardina)

"Neigh" (Jeanne)

"Yes, indeed" (Nana)

"Yes" (Leah)

"Ready!" (Athena)

[Then, I'll see you on the other side]

Tatsuro and the others heard the dungeon's voice as their consciousness faded, and they fell into a deep sleep.

When Tatsuro and the others opened their eyes, they found themselves in a vast space with sky-blue stone floors stretching out before them, and nothing but white walls and ceiling. The space was large enough for even Jeanne in her [True Form] to move about freely.

Though their outward appearances were exactly the same, they felt slightly different in their bodies. When they tried moving their hands by opening and closing them, there was a slight delay between their mental commands and the actual movement.

Everyone experienced the same thing, with Ai and Cardina also twisting and moving their bodies similarly.

However, this lag disappeared within a minute, and they could move their bodies exactly as they would their original ones.

"It seems the synchronization is complete~"

From what should have been an empty space, they heard the dungeon's voice - not through a machine, but as if spoken by a living being - and everyone turned to look forward at once.

There stood a beautiful woman, taller than Tatsuro, wearing an elaborate dress with a lapis lazuli hem that touched the ground, adorned with gold, silver, and jewels. She had fox ears and ten fox tails and carried herself with grace.

"A fox beastkin? Is that the dungeon's true form?" (Leah)

"No, no~ That's not right~ My true form is the dungeon itself that you're all in~ This is just the most manageable virtual body I could create within the parameters I set~"

"T-Tatsuro-san!" (Leah)

"Hm? What is it, Leah?" (Tatsuro)

While the dungeon was explaining about its virtual body, suddenly Leah pulled anxiously at Tatsuro's sleeve and whispered in his ear.

"I can't use [All-Seeing Eyes]!" (Leah)

"Is that just against the dungeon in its beastkin form? Or..." (Tatsuro)

"I can't activate it at all!" (Leah)

"Wait a moment." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro had a bad feeling and tried to activate [Level Eater]. However, it wouldn't start.

{Ai, it seems [Level Eater] doesn't work here. Is anything strange on your end?} (Tatsuro)

{Me?} (Ai)

While sharing information with Tatsuro through telepathy, she tried swinging her sword and moving the eight robot hands from her Celestial weapon Gundari Myoo that was attached to her waist, but there didn't seem to be any problems.

{Everything seems fine on my end.} (Ai)

{I see.} (Tatsuro)

"Hey, some of our skills aren't working here." (Tatsuro)

Since they couldn't quite figure out the pattern, Tatsuro decided to ask the dungeon directly.

"Ah, I apologize for that~ It seems you have some skills that are too complex in structure to use without your real body~ But except for such special cases, you should be able to use everything else, so please bear with it~"

"All of our skills seem to work fine, so that must be true!" (Ai)

"...Seems that way. I can use other elemental magic properly too. Are there any other differences from our normal bodies?" (Tatsuro)

"Let's see~ In those bodies, you'll only lose points rather than get injured. Also, since they're not your real bodies, you can't develop your skills no matter how much you use them."

There didn't seem to be any other differences, but on their side, they couldn't use two skills: [Level Eater] and [All-Seeing Eyes].

Incidentally, while Ai's [Valkyrie] was powerful, its skill structure apparently wasn't that complex, so while skill growth wasn't possible, it wasn't weakened.

Even without being able to absorb skill levels with [Level Eater], they could still fight.

The system could be operated normally too, so they could use [Item Box] and such properly.

...However, Leah, who had only thought about fighting with [All-Seeing Eyes], was significantly weakened.

"Are there any other questions~? If not, I'd like to allocate your points~"

"Yeah, go ahead." (Tatsuro)

"Then, I'll distribute 10 points to each of you~"

While thinking that the drawn-out way of speaking hadn't changed, a transparent glass-like speech bubble appeared in the upper right of their field of vision, showing the number 10 in red Arabic numerals.

For Leah, it appeared as the number 10 in this world's numerals, and like the system, it seemed to use whatever characters were easiest for each person to recognize.

Thus, points were distributed to everyone, including the dungeon.

"Well then, you can start the battle whenever you attack~"

"You're pretty relaxed about this." (Tatsuro)

"Relaxed? I find it rather cute that you think you can win~"

"Don't underestimate us. Well then, as you said, we'll make the first move!" (Tatsuro)

"Please do~"

With an expression that showed not even a millimeter of belief in their own defeat, she turned her palms upward in an inviting gesture that seemed almost like a provocation.

They could somehow sense from these artificial bodies that felt so unreal that they wouldn't get injured or die here.

So they decided to take their time and deliver a blow that showed absolutely no consideration for the opponent's survival.

First, Tatsuro readied his usual staff and coat, while Ai equipped her armor and Gundari Myoo, holding just one jeweled sword in her hands.

Of Gundari Myoo's eight hands, three held a whip and the divine weapon spear Justina and Morning Star obtained from the previous battle with Jeanne, three of the remaining five produced energy spear tips from their palms, and the rest were bare fists with spirit claws.

Cardina used [True Form] and equipped a bracelet-type staff on her tail, while Jeanne used [True Form] and activated [Super Hardened Skin] to make her already tough skin even harder, with bracelet-type staves on her feet.

Nana used [True Form] and equipped a bracelet-type staff on her arm, reinforced magic with the Frog Staff, and held Dragon Fang in her remaining hand.

Leah wore her self-made armor and held a hammer, while Athena used [True Form], wore [Dragon Armor], and held the scythe obtained from the previous battle.

After getting into this perfect state, Nana began casting curse magic to apply antidote magic against any poison they might encounter. This would protect them from harm even if the entire space was filled with poison during its effect.

Next came combination magic boosted by light magic, mixing magical bullets, explosions, earth, wind, poison, and lightning.

With Cardina as the focal point, Tatsuro and Jeanne, Nana and Athena began constructing it, using everyone's resources to charge it to their current limit.

"Ah~ That would definitely take quite a few points if it hit directly~"

"But since you said it yourself, wait properly until we fire!" (Tatsuro)

"I know~ Fufu, this might be the most fun I've had in a while~"

Even faced with magic so powerful it would make normal people faint just from sensing it, that relaxed smile never left the dungeon's face.

And now, all their preparations were complete.

"Here we go! Haaaaaaaa!" (Tatsuro)

"Peweeee!!" (Cardina)

Cardina, who held the trigger, fired the magic bullet toward the beastkin-form dungeon at Tatsuro's signal.

It flew straight toward its target with a thunderous roar, spinning rapidly sideways.

However, the dungeon didn't try to dodge it, instead extending its right hand.

It created a water magic shield large enough to completely cover itself and met the attack head-on.

Tatsuro had thought there was no way it could be stopped by just water magic... but.

"No way..." (Tatsuro)

The magic that five magical beings including Tatsuro and Cardina had taken their time to create burst and disappeared the moment it hit the water shield created in an instant.

However, only Tatsuro's side found this surprising; the dungeon deepened its smile as if this was the natural result.

"The power was sufficient, but if I can block it, there's no problem~"

"Pewee~" (Cardina)

"That water shield doesn't seem to have the mass it appears to have." (Ai)

"...Looks that way. Just one cubic centimeter of that water shield is lighter than a pool full of water." (Tatsuro) (T/N: I think the author meant heavier but I will leave it there as it)

"What a monster... I can't even imagine how much training it takes to compress things that much." (Athena)

While everyone was agreeing with Athena's words, the dungeon dispelled the water shield - which had defensive power far beyond steel - revealing itself standing in the exact same spot without having moved a step.

"Well, now that the opening shot has been fired, I'll... take my turn~!"

Saying this, the dungeon crossed its hands in front of its face, palms facing forward, and curled its fingers as if scratching at its joints. Then, small water spheres about one centimeter in diameter appeared at each of its ten fingertips.

"This is bad! Scatter!" (Tatsuro)

"Hahaha, that's correct. You'd better not try to defend~"

Tatsuro's instruction reached them a split second before the opponent's magic, and everyone followed their pre-discussed plan: Nana grabbed Leah and retreated, Cardina used [Adult Form], Jeanne used [Young Form] to minimize their area and retreat, Athena ran away as she was, and Tatsuro was carried away princess-style by Ai.

Then the dungeon swept away its crossed hands as if scratching the sky, and thin streams of water shot out from the ten small water spheres at its fingertips with tremendous force, tracing the ground where Tatsuro and the others had been, moving from top to bottom.

The power was incredible, leaving ten thin, impossibly deep gouges in the sky-blue stone floor wherever it traced.

It was an ultra-advanced version of the water cutter Tatsuro had used before, which cut things by shooting out water in a thin, powerful stream.

If they had taken that attack in their physical bodies, it probably would have sliced through them like butter, ignoring both equipment defense and magic resistance stats.

"This is ridiculous. How can we possibly win against something like that?" (Ai)

"I don't know yet, but two things are bothering me." (Tatsuro)

"Really?" (Ai)

"Yeah. So until I figure those out, can I leave my entire body to you?" (Tatsuro)

"Sure. I'll take care of Tatsuro's body as much as needed." (Ai)

And so, while being carried by Ai, Tatsuro somehow managed to dodge the ten streams of the water cutter that continued with the third shot, fifth shot, and so on, as the dungeon's fingers wiggled to slice up various areas.

The others also kept running around the dungeon while occasionally glancing at Tatsuro, ready to follow his instructions at any time.

Normally, using the magic of such output continuously would have long since caused magical exhaustion, but the dungeon showed no signs of that at all.

In terms of overall magic consumption, it probably used about as much as a single tiny laser would for Tatsuro.

Tatsuro continued observing the opponent to find a way forward. And so he began experimenting based on his conjectures.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read