Chapter 84: The Sea god’s dungeon iv

With the Fleshlight buff active, Aria now possessed the raw power of an active A-class hunter.

"What about me, Master? I’m a Fleshlight but I don’t have a buff."

"Support Aria. Do you have anything useful?"

"I do have an attention-drawing skill, but..."

"That’s perfect."

"...Sigh."

Don’t worry. If anything goes wrong I’ll be there immediately.

...Saying that out loud to a Fleshlight in front of two girlfriends felt inappropriate, so I kept it to myself.

A real man shows his intentions through actions, not words. Hmm.

"The stage is set. There’s no choice but to move forward."

Aria drew her sword.

"Let’s dance. Tonight we feast on shark."

Before the so-called "shark-cooking operation" began, Elle carefully prepared the Void Platforms.

The ridiculous name we had given the plan did nothing to ease the crushing pressure of the two muscular Shark Giants.

Even before the fight started, their sheer presence felt like a weight pressing down on my lungs and heart.

"Stay quiet and climb up slowly."

"Alright..."

Elle was extremely tense.

She was the key to this entire strategy. As long as she and I stayed safe up high, Nami and Aria could fight at full strength without having to protect us.

’If only Soul Excretion could solve this cleanly...’

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t.

Judging by the thick blue scales, a B-class Glock had no chance of piercing them. We had no choice but to rely on Aria’s attack power after she received the Fleshlight buff.

Yukihime would cut through the shark giants like a precision sashimi knife. Given the shape of a shark’s head, they probably wouldn’t look up the way humans did or jump to attack us.

Still, I kept Elle close in case anything unexpected happened.

"Stay right next to me."

"Yes..."

An unexpected problem appeared here.

High places are simply terrifying.

Looking down through a completely transparent platform was bad for anyone’s mental health.

Even without a fear of heights, the view was intimidating.

Elle was trembling, her shoulders shaking, but she bit her lip and refused to show any weakness.

Just watching her hold it together made me feel like half the operation had already succeeded.

"Elle."

"Y-yes?"

"You know the suspension-bridge effect? When two people of the opposite sex meet on a shaky bridge, their hearts race and they start liking each other more."

"I’ve heard of it."

"Then right now we have a complete advantage, don’t we?"

Elle’s trembling gradually stopped.

Instead of staring at the precarious platform, she focused entirely on my face.

"I already like you so much there’s nowhere higher for my feelings to go."

"Then let’s treat this like an amusement-park ride and enjoy it."

"Okay!"

A signal came from below. Everything was ready.

I immediately aimed at one of the shark giants and pulled the Glock’s trigger.

*Bang! Bang!*

Exactly as expected, the bullets bounced off harmlessly.

’Pistol firepower isn’t enough.’

I needed a shotgun enhanced with demonic power if I wanted any real chance of using Soul Excretion effectively.

"Kuuuuuu!"

The shark giant roared.

With its fish-like head it had no idea where the attack had come from.

I emptied the rest of the magazine in one continuous burst.

In that same moment Aria swung Yukihime and carved a deep horizontal gash across the giant’s torso.

*Chaow!*

"This deep... is this really my strength?"

Aria looked stunned by the effect of the Fleshlight buff.

"What do you think? Want to become my Fleshlight this time?"

"I prefer being your girlfriend."

"What if my master ordered you to become his Fleshlight?"

"Ren would never make a request that crude!"

"Oh my, how pure."

I shouted while watching the battlefield from above.

"Nami! The other giant is moving!"

"Over here!"

She used a provocative skill developed through her old exhibitionist habits to pull the second giant’s attention. Since Nami didn’t have the Fleshlight buff, her role was purely to buy time.

"Are you okay?!"

"Ha-cha!"

Still wearing only her white bikini, Nami nimbly dodged the heavy swings of the anchor. Even without a buff, a B-class was still a B-class. Impressive!

"Don’t overdo it, Nami! Just keep it busy!"

"Got it!"

The core of the plan was to let Aria fight one giant one-on-one while the rest of us stayed safe and supported. Aria poured everything into powerful sword strikes.

"Haah!!"

Yukihime rapidly turned the shark giant’s body into a mess of deep cuts. Blood poured out, yet the creature kept swinging its massive harpoon and thrashing violently. Charging bites and crushing attacks never stopped.

Aria avoided every one of them with precise footwork while continuing to land clean hits of her own.

"We need to move to the next platform soon, Elle."

"Uh... um... yes!"

She created a new Void Platform. The old one had reached the end of its duration, so Aria and Elle stepped onto the new one together.

’Three minutes already gone.’

Nami still looked like she had some room to spare.

Aria was driving the first giant back hard. The floor was covered in its blood, yet the monster still refused to fall. It was an incredibly tenacious fight.

’Hmm?’

In that brief moment of breathing room I finally noticed the star corals hanging from the ceiling like giant icicles.

Until now I had been too focused to realize my surroundings were full of them.

Now I could finally see usable objects.

’Even a mediocre long-range attacker can contribute.’

They weren’t as massive as the house-sized star coral standing in the center like a tower,

but the ones hanging from the ceiling were still plenty large.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

I fired the Glock, carefully scraping away at the roots.

"What are you doing, Ren?"

"Getting ready to drop one of these."

I had to make sure Aria and Nami wouldn’t get caught in the fall.

For now it was fine. In the worst case I would shout a warning the moment anything changed.

’Keep watching the drop points.’

"Heave! Haaah!"

I kept observing. Still not a single giant down.

Anxiety slowly began to creep in.

"Provocation’s over! Coming your way!"

The moment Nami stopped drawing attention, Aria suddenly found herself facing both shark giants at once.

At that point I felt the plan starting to slip.

’Shouldn’t at least one of them be down by now?’

Aria had been attacking non-stop for six full minutes and they still hadn’t fallen.

Their bodies looked like torn rags and their intestines were nearly spilling out, yet they showed no signs of slowing down.

’This is the real resilience...’

The only option left was pure, relentless attrition!

"Aria! Dodgee!!"

"Huh?"

"Star coral falling watch out!"

Aria instantly read the situation and leapt back.

*Bang! Bang bang bang!!*

With my final shot, the star coral that had been hanging roughly fifteen meters up

crashed directly onto the head of the already eviscerated shark giant.

*Woooooooooooooo!!*

Damn. That had to hurt.

Sorry, but monsters get no mercy!!

The shark giant that had endured Aria’s full-power sword assault for over five minutes

finally collapsed, spewing an enormous amount of jelly under the combined force of the falling coral and Soul Excretion.

"One down!"

"Ren! Watch out!!"

The remaining giant noticed us.

It swung its harpoon. The tip couldn’t reach our height, but the shockwave alone cracked the Void Platform.

"S-Ren...!"

"I’m fine!!"

I pulled Elle into my arms and we fell together.

There wasn’t even time to shove her into the Fleshlight Inventory. When my senses returned I was hugging my girlfriend while trying (and failing) to land in a cool pose.

We had just dropped from nearly ten meters with Elle in my arms.

*Woooo!!*

"Ugh!!"

Even with the extra strength from my raised stats, the impact hurt like hell.

All the air was forced out of my lungs and I struggled to breathe.

"Elle, are you okay?!"

"Yeah... but Ren, you "

Still, she was my girlfriend.

I had to make sure our beautiful K-cup girl was unhurt.

While still lying on the ground I emptied the entire magazine at the approaching shark giant.

*Bang bang bang!!*

I couldn’t move properly while flat on my back.

The remaining giant charged forward, one hand gripping an anchor and the other holding the harpoon taken from its fallen companion!

We had already brought one down with the original plan.

We can still do this, everyone!

"Where do you think you’re going?!"

Aria’s anguished cry rang out as Yukihime drew a perfect crescent through the air.

The beautiful slash, looking like something from a landscape painting, severed the tendons in the shark giant’s leg.

Nami immediately sprinted up the faltering monster, launched herself off its thigh, and delivered a powerful bikini-clad kick straight to its chin.

*Thwack!!*

Just a little more... we can finish this.

Elle grabbed me and shook me hard.

"Ren! Are you okay?! You can’t die! Ren!"

"I’m not dying."

The truth was I didn’t have the strength to stand yet.

Under Aria’s ferocious assault the shark giant barely had attention to spare for us.

In that opening I reloaded the Glock.

I aimed directly at the exposed innards.

"Now."

Time to cook some shark.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Three consecutive shots of the "Evisceration Drill" tore into the giant’s entrails.

It too vomited a massive amount of jelly and collapsed.

"Become a Fleshlight."