After Laura saves me from the succubus’ grasp, instead of panicking and shouting stupid things like I usually would in a situation like this one, even in phantasmal form when nobody can see or hear me, I take our situation seriously and do something productive. I do so to help my teammate to the best of my abilities.

  …Haha. Who am I kidding? I just don’t want to strengthen Laura’s already poor image of me.

  Even in my state, I can still look around and inspect the monsters, so I do that. I focus my attention on the succubus Isabella, and a game screen appears in front of me…

  “It doesn’t? Is it the Unidentifiable skill?”

  Aaah, fuck. It makes sense that the dungeon owner wouldn’t want to give us an easy way out of this fight, and I must admit it’s something I also use on my ‘secret’ monsters. But still, it’s pretty annoying when it’s used against you.

  Meanwhile, Laura drags my body away and starts slapping me. Hey! Who are you to treat me like this!?

  She also says something dangerous as if it were natural, but I don’t care. I know she’s doing it because it’s her way to roleplay her Champion. I, too, have been using the fact that she’s using a succubus to say improper things during this dungeon invasion, so I can’t complain if she uses it as a reason to aggressively flirt with me.

  Maybe a bit too aggressive, though. But when I let go and act like a madman, nobody can stop me either…

  I shrug my shoulders and look for something else I can do while the charm persists.

  It’s then that I see the succubus Isabella kill and absorb something from the human-sized worm, as well as the smaller, although still ridiculously large, worms crawling over the ground.

  Is she… eating the large worm? Will she do the same to the other ones?

  When I inspect one of the worms, I confirm my previous suspicions. “I knew it! It’s the Enlarge skill!”

  Other than the Enlarge skill and the Sinful Blessing one, the worms have nothing going for them. They’re weak, and they have no way to deal damage other than basic attacks. They’re pathetic, even more so than the Stitched!

  They’re even more pathetic when, according to Laura, you take into account they’re very expensive.

  Anyway. Why are they all coming here? Are they sacrificing themselves to feed the queen? Aah, shit. If that’s the case, we must do something to stop them or we’ll die! Stop! Someone stop them!

  …Of course, I’m not worried about the worms, but Isabella.

  Finally, the effect of Charming Eyes ends, and my vision makes a sudden shift as it realigns with the one of my Champion. At the same time, the I feel someone’s hands grabbing my body, inching dangerously close to certain places.

  “Hey…! Stop grabbing my body here and there!”

  “...I wasn’t doing anything,” Laura pouts, looking away from me. Yeah, yeah… sure. If you say so. “Tsk…! So close…” And don’t ‘tsk’ me!

  I get free from my ‘savior’ and stand up on my own and observe the black flames burning to Isabella’s right. They’re incinerating all the worms that try to cross them, but there are way more worms that use another path to approach Isabella.

  This is Laura’s Hellfire. She aimed the path that the largest group of worms is taking, but she missed Isabella. It must’ve been on purpose, as dealing damage to her might have triggered the start of the battle.

  The actual battle, I mean. When Isabella, this dungeon’s boss, starts attacking and trying to kill… or ‘eat’ us.

  “Can you deal with them?” Laura asks, pointing at the rest of the worms.

  “Well… yes, but…” I hesitate, checking the battlefield. “As soon as I attack, I’ll trigger Isabella.”

  There are worms everywhere. They’re coming from all sides in large quantities, converging on Isabella like a swarm. If not because their stats are utter garbage, I’d be freaking out right now. What’s more, they’re so tightly-packed in the inner circle, that once I use Chain Lightning, it’s guaranteed it’ll jump to Isabella, triggering her.

  Even now, as we talk, Isabella is happily ‘feasting’ on those worms that have reached her. Dark energy flows from her victims and gets absorbed into her body. If I could inspect her, I’m sure I’d see her stats increasing in real time.

  “It doesn’t matter. We must kill them before she does.”

  “Yeah, about that…” I scratch my cheek, “you do remember I can’t kill them, right? Neutralize them, sure. Kill them? That’s a problem.”

  “Ah, I forgot about it…!”

  Since the Mystery Event ended, I’ve returned to my usual skills. Which means any lightning damage I deal that would kill the victim, will instead stun it and jump onto the nearest enemy; increasing and multiplying as it jumps, until it runs out of targets.

  “Maybe I can use this to our advantage… Fufufu! Hahaha! Watch this, Lily! Watch as I one-hit-kill that nasty succubus!”

  “But didn’t you just say you can’t kill them…?” Laura grins, provoking me.

  “Y-you know what I mean! Chain Lightning!”

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  I release Chain Lightning on the mass of white worms. I aim for a place furthest from Isabella, where the worms are close enough to guarantee propagation, while at the same time increasing the number of jumps to the maximum.

  Bright lightning pours out of my hands, illuminating the darkness. Unimpeded by the pink mist or the books and crates scattered on the ground, the lightning jumps from worm to worm, incapacitating them before moving to the next.

  It keeps advancing, moving erratically through the battlefield, accumulating more and more power, until… Until it approaches Isabella.

  Sparks fly everywhere, and the lightning jumps at the succubus, its tremendous momentum seems like it could knock out a dragon. The lightning makes the last jump, aiming for Isabella, and…

  …and a large energy shield, the same color of my lightning, appears around Isabella, completely absorbing my spell.

  Isabella’s HP bar doesn’t move even by a millimeter.

  The remaining lightning continues to spread throughout the rest of the room, but the main attack aimed at her disappears as if it was a lie.

  “W-w-w… w-what…!?” My mouth hangs open. This is bullshit!

  “I kind of expected something like this…” mutters Laura from my side. “I knew it wouldn’t be so easy. But good job delaying the worms, I guess.”

  As Laura said, all the worms that were closing in towards Isabella have now stopped moving. If Isabella wants to devour more of them, she’ll have to wait until the stun wears off or she’ll have to go near every single one of them.

  I know it’s a good thing, but… But that wasn’t what I wanted to do! I wanted to drop Isabella to 1 HP!

  Even though she hasn’t taken any damage, forcing her to activate her shield seems to have triggered her. She, still holding the corpse of the last worm she killed, turns her head to glare at me.

  Why do I feel like I’m going to be ‘devoured’ too…?

  “Don’t use any more lightning skills until her shield disappears.”

  “I know.” I nod to Laura’s warning. “I know how Safeguard skills work.”

  It’s a shame Isabella has the Lightning Safeguard skill. It not only nullified my attack, but it also ensures I can’t retry it for now.

  At least the worms are all stunned… It’s the perfect moment to capture one of them, now that they can’t move… I think to myself, slowly inching towards the closest one, disregarding everything else to get my hands on the drool-inducing innate skill the worms possess.

  “Don’t even think about doing it! We don’t have time!” Laura says, pointing at Isabella, who’s glaring at me.

  “Ugh, fine…” I lower my head, frustrated.

  It hurts... It really hurts, but I must do what’s required for the greater good, also called ‘our survival’.

  Oh, Cyam! How much I miss you today! My companion, my pal, my best buddy! If only I could have brought you with me today, I could have obtained the secret ingredient I so much desire…!

  “Don’t… Interrupt…!”

  Isabella extends her hands into the air. I don’t know if it's her skill or a dungeon effect, but pink mist starts filling the whole room. Before, it moved around, creating smoke-like tendrils that seemed alike; but now, the mist gets so dense that it reduces my field of view significantly. It’s even worse when paired with the lack of light.

  The world turns pink, and I start hearing women’s voices coming from all directions. Laughter. Provocative noises and moans.

  Is this paradise… or hell?

  “Grab my hand, Mad Rat! Whatever happens, don’t let go!”

  Following her orders, I grab Laura’s hand before I lose all sight. The last thing I see before everything I can see is pink is a sea of dark flames suddenly wrapping around us, and my HP starting to fall at a fast speed.

  This must be Isabella’s Hellfire. Haha, how ironic. Indeed, succubus think alike, don’t they?

  “Huh…? How much time has passed?”

  The next thing I know, I feel like I’m floating, as if I were in space. Everything is pink. There are no walls or floor, only a pink haze that extends into the infinite.

  “Is this… an illusion?”

  It must be. It shouldn’t be possible for a dungeon to change like this if this wasn’t an illusion. As if to prove my hypothesis, I can see that my HP bar is falling as it was right before I lost my sight.

  I feel a tug on my hand, the same one Laura was grabbing. Her hand slips away, and the single contact with reality I had is gone.

  Shortly after, two more persons appear in front of me. Each one grabs one of my arms and starts pulling at it.

  “Wake up, Mad Rat! I can’t deal with Isabella alone!”

  “Wake up, Mad Rat! I can’t deal with Isabella alone!”

  They say at the same time, with the same voice. I alternate between looking at them, trying to understand what’s going on. On my left, Laura. On my right, Laura too. One Laura, two Lauras. Okay, now I’m sure I must be hallucinating…

  “Did I die and go to hell…? The actual hell I mean.”

  ““Now isn’t the time to fool around! Snap out of it and help me kill that ugly bitch before she kills us both!”” Again, the two ‘Lauras’ talk at the same time, pointing accusingly at each other. ““Stop imitating me! Don’t fall for Isabella’s charms, Mad Rat!””

  “W-wait! Why… why are there two of you!?” That’s the most intelligent thing I can manage to say in my current state.