Day 30? The Farthest Labyrinth 87F
Yeah, gotta hurry—the boxes are about to get wrecked. I made them pretty sturdy, but these Mirage Tiger guys have PoW close to 800, and they've got "Super Strength" too! If one breaks out, I'm done for. No winning, no escaping—SpE over 800? Impossible! Can't let even one get away. I sprint up the stairs with Jito-eyed Silver Lady, stabbing the boxes like crazy. Can't see inside, which is mentally helpful… because they're crammed in there all tiny and folded! The meows aren't cute anyway—"GWAAAH! GRRRR! GOOOOAAH!"—so whatever. Stab stab. These aren't cats. Not cute at all.
In the end one escaped and chased me around… because it was making clones! Tigers cloning themselves! Jito-eyed Armor Committee Chair elegantly took it down. I was rolling away full-speed… I tried, okay?! Really tried! Ended up rolling, but still!
While dismantling the boxes for magic stones… looks like Mirage Tigers couldn't escape after all. If they'd been Illusion Tigers, they probably would've pulled off a great escape.
Next floor's probably boss-tier again, right? 85F… Honestly, I'm starting to think just following behind Jito-eyed Armor Committee Chair forever might be the move. But if I do that, my title screen is 100% getting "Kept Man" or "Parasite" added. Fourth one would suck! Three is already too many! Why does looking at my own status feel like I'm getting insulted every time?! I've never heard of stats trash-talking the owner before?!
I'm probably the only person in existence whose heart gets chipped away every time he checks his own status. Definitely.
Maybe—just maybe—out of 100+ races, there's at least one…? With the tiniest, microscopic high-school-boy hope, I poke a hole and peek at 85F.
Worst. Absolute worst low-angle view ever! "Ghoul Lv58"? "Ghoul Lv61"? "Ghoul Lv38"? And tons of them?? Not a boss?? Ahhh, it's that pattern—the one where you mow down zombies and then BAM, Necromancer appears at the end!! That one!! Right??
I climb to 85F, gather fireballs, knead them, stretch them out into a big wall. Instant Firewall? Kinda? Push forward behind my fresh-made flame barrier. Mana's burning, but I've got stacks of MP mushrooms, so we're good.
"Ah～ yup, there he is… 'Necromancer Lv85'… somewhere in there…"
Everyone burned up, so no idea which one. But they all burned, so he was definitely there.
She's been in full 24-hour jito-eye shock mode for a while now. Still looks ready to fight. (Even though she hasn't really been fighting.)
"Necromancy Jewel – Commands life and death, Instant Death, Instant Death Resistance." Huge gem. Looks like a proper treasure orb. Red, so probably ruby? Super expensive vibe. If it's red beryl or spinel, maybe affordable? Garnet? No clue—can't tell just from "jewel." This size is necklace territory. Earrings would stretch the earlobes. Only one, so lopsided stretch.
"Here? For you?"
Doubt a skeleton needs instant-death resistance, but right now there's only two of us. Me wearing it? What for? I somehow tanked her instant-death attacks anyway. Probably my "Health" skill doing work? Maybe? My skills are a mystery, but something's clearly helping. Only Luck is invincible, so unless the proc rate hits 100%, I'm fine? Apparently? Don't wanna test it. But seriously—what am I supposed to do with a giant gem? Stretch one ear? What race even does that? Hard pass.
She stares at me intently, not jito this time. After a while she nods slightly and accepts it. Yeah, she really likes gems and accessories. Would probably match the "Element Necklace" design-wise. Feels like she's happy. She's insanely strong but also insanely high-maintenance—am I gonna get stripped bare and turned into a skeleton myself? Whatever. If she's happy, fine. After everything I've given, I deserve some good karma points by now.
Floor above… still… 84F, Lv84. No way I win, right? If it dropped to Lv40s maybe… so another 40 floors? 40 bosses? Gotta figure something out… but what?
Up there's… "Griffon Lv84." What do? They won't fall, they fly. Smoke effective? Would they eat mushrooms? No way they fit in boxes. Maybe nest-boxes?
They're called griffons, so eagle upper body + wings, lion lower body, right? Not the snake-tail version. Combination of bird king and beast king—royal symbol and all—so basically hawk-lion. Didn't bring my fantasy creature encyclopedia… Bird head? Royal family bird-brained? Is that okay for a symbol?
Bird or lion?
Birds supposedly hate strong magnets. Don't have one.
Lion—cat-box strategy might work, but head's bird.
So bird, yeah?
Slipped some paralysis-mushroom-glazed fish through the hole. Instant hit. Fish wins! Fish supremacy! They're pecking like crazy, one grabs a piece, flies off… then spasms and crashes. A fish-loving crash veteran—would probably get along great, but murder time anyway.
Rush up the stairs, clubbing griffons left and right, and suddenly I mutter,
"But seriously, only me, right? Getting into this mess while renovating the living room? Definitely? No workers' comp? Because I'm a NEET? This is a workplace accident, 100%."
Jito-eyed Armor Committee Chair gives me a puzzled look. Better not explain what happened—might get yelled at by the former dungeon master. It was such a nice floor plan… Why the holes? Why renovation banned? Should've written it in the contract… Too scary to say to the ex-boss, though.