Worthless Skill Escape (WN)

Chapter 203

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TL: ALT

Chapter 203 – Thousand-day Move

‘Dungeon Flood has occurred in the B-Rank Dungeon “Kandori Kiriko’s Left Eye Vitreous Body Dungeon.”‘

‘Cascade has occurred due to Flood in the B-Rank Dungeon “Kandori Kiriko’s Left Eye Vitreous Body Dungeon.”‘

‘Dungeon Flood has occurred in the C-Rank Dungeon “Kandori Kiriko’s Left Sternocleidomastoid Dungeon.”‘

‘Dungeon Flood has occurred in the C-Rank Dungeon “Kandori Kiriko’s Right Scaphoid Dungeon.”‘

‘Dungeon Flood has occurred in the B-Rank Dungeon “Kandori Kiriko’s Duodenum Dungeon.”‘

‘C-Rank Dungeon――’

Every time Kandori’s body shook while lying face up, the Voice of Heaven announced the Flood.

I wasn’t the only one who could hear the Voice of Heaven.

The faces of the explorers of the Men’s Association were pale beyond fear.

Kandori’s body was shaking, and it was clearly beyond the level of a convulsion.

The arm hidden under the white robe was throbbing, and the features of her face were irregularly distorted.

The white robe on Kandori’s right arm was torn from the inside.

What came out was not a bare right arm.

“Ugh!?”

It looked exactly like the tube worm I had seen in the underwater area on the way here.

Looking closer, Kandori’s finger, which had been in her pocket until now, was actually a tubeworm “finger” with a red tip on a white tube.

In addition to her arms, her pants and shirt had also been torn off, and tubeworm-like things matching the thickness of her legs and torso could be seen peeking out.

The only part that is barely human is her face.

Her skin, which is the colorless white characteristic of deep sea creatures, is covered with countless black dots.

It’s a strange metaphor, but they look like black stars that absorb light.

I think each one of them is a portal to the dungeon.

When I looked at Kandori’s status using the Detailed Appraisal function, I forgot to make a note of something.

Status──────────────────

Kandori Kiriko

Tube Worm Mother Root

Level 221309

…..

──────────────────────

Human explorer statuses usually have the format of the name followed by the level.

However, in Kandori’s status, there is a section between the name and the level called Tube Worm Mother Root.

It’s a word I’ve never heard before, but it’s definitely the name of a monster.

When you appraise a monster, the type of monster is displayed here.

For example,

Atropos

Mini Slime

Level 297

Something like that.

I don’t know if this is just a specification for monsters or if it’s just for humans that the word “human” is left out.

In Clovis’ status, it said High Human for the disguised one and Elf for the real one.

I’ve never seen Haruka-san’s status, but I think it probably says Elf.

I don’t know about Honoka-chan, who has Elf blood.

But let’s leave that aside for now.

If you take the status at face value, Kandori is no longer human.

She is a monster called Tube Worm Mother Root.

In the Detailed Appraisal,

Status──────────────────

Tube Worm Mother Root

The mother root of Tube Worms has grown larger over time by accumulating vast amounts of DP, created for the purpose of further reproduction. They spread their underground roots by burrowing into the floor and walls of dungeons, and from these roots, they send out tube worms that become branches within the dungeon. They rapidly erode the DP cycle of the dungeon itself, eventually transforming the dungeon into their own body.

────────────────────

Well, it’s a description so bad it doesn’t even need an explanation.

The chain of dungeon floods caused Kandori’s body to pulse eerily, and a black star appeared from beneath her skin.

The black star gradually covered the surface of the pale tube worm.

If I had to use a metaphor for the black star, it would be something like a black nebula.

This black nebula became white and hazy.

I didn’t feel threatened by the haze.

At least, there was no sign of the Demon King’s unique bonus ability, “able to detect attacks that could kill you in advance,” reacting.

But that didn’t mean I could just leave it alone.

When I used the Usurper’s skill to analyze the white haze,

────────────────────

Slime Macrophage Lv3

────────────────────

“Eh?”

I was confused for a moment, but I soon understood.

It was a dungeon flood.

When the dungeon flooded, the monsters that could no longer stay inside the dungeon overflowed.

The reason Kandori’s macro didn’t name them is probably because the ones that overflowed were the monsters inside the dungeon, not the monsters that Kandori had created with Split and had them attack the dungeon.

That white haze is a “cloud” of the countless slime macrophages that overflowed.

In fact, when I reappraised it,

────────────────────

Slime Macrophage Lv92

────────────────────

I could see that I had reappraised a different individual than the one I had just appraised.

Anyway,

“Flare Storm!”

The flame storm I created with my chanting blows the slime macrophages apart.

Although the level of each individual varies, most of the dungeons in Kandori’s body are C-rank.

The number decreases as the rank increases to B and A, and so far, no S-rank dungeons have appeared in Voice of Heaven.

Most likely, Kandori’s method is limited to A-rank dungeons.

There are only a few S-rank dungeons in the entire country.

Even the strongest person shouldn’t exceed 1000 in A-rank dungeons.

Right now, it’s just a bunch of weak mobs that I can kick around with my magic, even if it’s a weaker version of my usual spells.

Anyway,

“Diamond Dust! Thunderstorm! Stream Ray! … There’s no end to it!”

It’s easy to defeat them, but from the dungeon inside Kandori’s body, which has been flooded with a series of cascades, a white haze pours out without a moment’s rest.

The reason I change the magic attribute every time is because sometimes I miss.

If the same Magic Absorption that Kandori had was activated by chance (or bad luck), or if there was a person with a special skill like Fire Elemental Nullification.

Both of these are limited to fairly high-level individuals, so the absolute number is very small.

If I keep switching attributes and shooting area magic, they die quickly.

Even though I know that’s not the case, I can’t help but envy the powerful skills like Magic Absorption and Fire Elemental Nullification.

Was it a waste to fulfill the requirement of 400 consecutive slime kills in the first dungeon?

No, it’s true that getting Self-Regeneration early on helped me a lot.

That aside, I need to figure out a way out.

The most powerful way to get time to think is to use the Escape from Reality feature, but it’s difficult to use in my current situation.

The fact that it has disadvantages when used continuously is also a problem.

Instead, I decided to use the Magic Swordsman’s unique bonus, “Accelerate Thinking by Spending MP.”

The skill that this unique bonus is based on is called Thought Acceleration, and it has the following effect.

Skill──────────────────

Thought Acceleration 1

When danger is imminent, it accelerates the speed of thought for (S.Lv x 3) seconds.

────────────────────

This is the effect.

On the other hand, the Magic Swordsman’s unique bonus can be used even when there is no “imminent danger,” although it has the disadvantage of consuming MP.

Since the slime macrophage is “weaker” than me, I don’t feel that there is any imminent danger.

Even if I wanted to use Escape from Reality, it would be difficult for me to decide in my current situation.

In this respect, the unique bonus version of Thought Acceleration is much easier to use than the Thought Acceleration skill.

Without chanting any incantations, I bathe the area in a white haze as I consider a way out of this situation in the time that feels like it’s moving so slowly.

First, I consider the possibility of retreating.

I’ll somehow gather the Men’s Association explorers scattered around this lab and escape outside.

I don’t have to deal with Kandori alone.

But it’s difficult to kill more than ten explorers who can’t move at the same time.

Should I temporarily add them to my party and use the Dungeon Master’s unique bonus to escape the dungeon?

But since a party can only have up to six members, I’d end up leaving almost half of the raiders behind.

Should I use Escape to reset the situation and start over?

No, that’s not possible in the current situation, either.

I need to keep firing area-of-effect magic to suppress the slime macrophages pouring in like a cloud.

The rate at which the slime macrophages are spreading doesn’t feel very fast to me right now.

But if I were to use my normal sense of time, they could spread across the entire room in a matter of seconds.

As you already know, it is not possible to perform other actions while in the Escape state.

It would be dangerous to ignore the white haze and remain in an unprotected position for 15 seconds.

I could possibly withstand it with my current HP, but I want to save that as a last resort.

So now is not the time to use Escape.

But at the same time, I have a strong feeling that now is not the time to escape.

It’s not a logical thought but a feeling I get from my skin.

This is…

Skill──────────────────

Battle Instincts

Makes decisions regarding the state of the battle, such as when to attack and when to retreat, more accurately. However, the original decision-making ability is based on the skill holder’s experience.

────────────────────

I believe this skill is reacting.

My intuition, based on vague experiences that I can’t even fully express, tells me that I should push now.

Can I trust this feeling?

The skill description only says that “judgments will become more accurate.

There is no guarantee that these judgments will be absolutely correct.

After all, they are judgments based on my experience.

But they are not something I can ignore without reason.

It’s bound to be a slightly better decision than the one I would have made originally.

Then, let’s think about how to actively resolve this situation.

Why did I get into a situation with no end in sight, a situation that in shogi would be called a “thousand-day move”?

The reason is that I have no way of destroying the dungeon in Kandori’s body, the source of the slime macrophage’s haze.

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