The fourth basement floor was a truly unusual place. It was a sea where the raging waves were frozen mid-motion… a world of ice where time itself seemed to have ground to a halt.
The golem stationed here was modeled after Isis-san. Much like her, it seemed to prioritize her signature ice magic alongside her Magic Power of Death.
“So this is the golem based on Isis-san?”
(Yeah. Its name is the Frozen Absolute Boundary Kalis Merenade. It’s a back-row type that fights using powerful magic attacks. All right, I’ll call it out~)
At Roze-san’s word, a crack formed in one of the frozen waves. When it shattered, the golem revealed itself. It was the most humanoid one I had seen so far, appearing as a floating, empty white robe.
However, three giant beasts made of ice—a bird, a snake, and a wolf—followed closely behind it.
“What are those giant ice beasts behind it?”
(They’re also part of the Frozen Absolute Boundary Kalis Merenade. They protect the main body~. And get this—while the Three Beasts protect it, the main body of the Frozen Absolute Boundary Kalis Merenade rains down magic attacks. You can’t even touch the main body until you defeat those three first. And even if you do take them down, they revive after a short delay.)
“I see. So to defeat the Frozen Absolute Boundary Kalis Merenade, you have to kill the Guardian Beasts and then damage the robe during the tiny window before they reappear…”
It was like a boss in a game that remained invulnerable until certain conditions were met. Considering Roze-san said the main body was unreachable otherwise, the defensive power of those Three Beasts must have been sturdy enough to thwart even a Count-class demon.
And while you were struggling against them, the main body would be spamming super-powerful magic…
“By the way, what kind of magic does the main body use?”
(When it first engages, it always starts with Isis-sama’s Cocytus Infinity and Cocytus Zero. After that, it uses all sorts of things depending on the situation, but it mostly focuses on ice magic~)
Weren’t those the same ridiculous spells that had effectively defeated Iris-san in a single hit? I recalled them being terrifying powers that could freeze and shatter time and magic power itself.
And it fired those right at the start… It was basically a boss designed to hit the player with a total-party-kill attack the moment the battle began.
Next, we reached B5F. According to Roze-san, this was the domain of Alice’s golem—the strongest of them all, excluding the pair based on Kuro and Ein-san.
The area was a somewhat eerie space. We stood before the gates of an old castle, illuminated by the pale moonlight of a perpetual night. I assumed the golem was waiting beyond those closed doors.
“This place has an incredible atmosphere.”
(The Sneering Moonlight Luminax is in here. It’s a very special golem with a lot of different gimmicks~. I’ll call it now.)
As if responding to Roze-san’s voice, the castle gates swung open. Beyond them lay a wide, open space where a giant armored golem stood, gripping a massive axe.
It was a majestic, knightly golem… which felt quite different from the image the name had conjured in my head.
“Is this Alice’s golem?”
(Yeah. The Sneering Moonlight Luminax… Phase 1.)
“Phase 1? Does that mean it transforms?”
(Bingo! The Sneering Moonlight Luminax changes its form as the battle progresses. That armor is just a fake; no matter how much you hit it, you won’t deal any damage. You have to hit the armor’s shadow to actually hurt it.)
“Ah, I see. So the conspicuous armor is a decoy while the shadow—the real body—attacks from blind spots.”
(Yep. And once it takes a certain amount of damage, it does this… Phase 2 Transition.)
The moment Roze-san spoke, the armor before my eyes shattered into pieces. The shadow began to writhe and swell, growing massive until it took the shape of a magic beast.
“Wait, that form… Isn’t that the Volganic Beast?”
(That’s right. For Phase 2, the Sneering Moonlight Luminax shifts into the forms of the four golems we’ve seen so far, depending on the situation.)
“Now that you mention it, Alice was always good at transformation magic.”
Alternatively, Alice had said she had a hand in the design, so perhaps she had artificially recreated the abilities of Hecatoncheir. Even if these were golems I had already seen defeated by the time I reached this floor, having to deal with something that could cycle through all four forms was incredibly troublesome.
(And when that takes enough damage… Phase 3 Transition.)
“W-Wow… Okay, I see why this one is considered the strongest of the five.”
As it entered Phase 3, the Sneering Moonlight Luminax split into four separate entities… and each one took the form of one of the previous Six Kings Golems.
In other words, you had to fight four Six Kings Golems simultaneously. Of course it was the strongest.
“Is this the final form?”
(No. Once you defeat these four, it enters the final phase… Final Phase Transition.)
Following Roze-san’s command, the Sneering Moonlight Luminax shifted into its last form. The four golems sank into the shadows and merged into one. When the shadow rose again, it had transformed into a small, clown-like humanoid.
This was the final phase of the Sneering Moonlight Luminax. It lacked the sheer size of the previous golems, but the intimidation it radiated was staggering.
“…It looks dangerous.”
(The Sneering Moonlight Luminax’s final phase is amazing at both melee and magic, but more than anything, its speed is on a completely different level. It’s so fast that even someone at the highest-ranking Count-class level wouldn’t even be able to see it move.)
“That’s terrifying.”
I felt like this was already plenty strong enough to be the final boss of the dungeon, yet there was still Kuro’s golem, which was supposedly even stronger. I couldn’t even imagine what that would be like…
??? “Hey, Doctor M. That’s enough. Heal Senpai already.”
Doctor M “Eh? But I wasn’t done talking yet… Oh well, fine. There!”
Serious-senpai “…Hey… Hey… I have a lot of things I want to say, like ‘why didn’t you come help me sooner?’, but for now, just one thing… If you could heal me just by snapping your fingers, then what was the point of that entire lecture!?”
Doctor M “I wanted to talk!”
Serious-senpai “At least lie to me and say it was for the sake of the treatment!!”