The final room of the dungeon is the size of an assembly hall. Other than the size, this room has a few distinctive features that the previous rooms don’t. For one thing, there are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling instead of torches. Instead of uneven ground, there are black marble tiles on the floor. There are mountains of treasures piled on all four corners of the room. Gold coins, jewelries, different types of gems as big as a human’s fist, and all kinds of expensive-looking tools and trinkets. I don’t know how much they’re worth, and I don’t care. The only things that got my attention are an armor that’s placed in the middle of the room and a throne that’s at the far end of the room.

   The armor is black in color and made from some kind of metallic material. Whatever it is, it’s smooth and shiny. I could even see our reflection from it. The helmet is probably inspired by a Daemon or some similar entity since it has two long curved horns poking out from its forehead. Even though its design is Western in nature, I see a katana hanging from both sides of its waists.

   “Neat, huh? It took me three whole days to come up with the design.”

   The voice came from the throne. Or more precisely, the boy who’s sitting on it. The throne is placed on top of a really long set of stairs. There’s so many of them I actually had to tilt my head upwards to get a good look at the boy.

   The boy is around my age. He has short, spiky black hair and no distinctive features. He’s sitting down, so I can’t exactly tell his height. He’s wearing the same black robe that Manabu and Imakai were wearing.

   “I named him Susanoo! You can say that he’s my other half!” the boy, who I assume is Kamei, informed me proudly.

   Susanoo, full name Susanoo-no-Mikoto, a God born between the Gods Izanagi and Izanami. He is the God of storms, seas and the Deity of love and marriage.

   He’s also a renowned trickster and troublemaker.

   How ironic. Kamei caused the people of Faypeak lots of trouble by building the dungeons and disrupting the world’s economy and safety. He is the entire reason Faypeak is experiencing its worst crisis. And now, he named his greatest creation after a trouble-making deity. It might be a coincidence, or he may be doing it on purpose.

   “By the way, nice job taking care of Tenha! How did it feel when you killed him?” Kamei asks in a mocking way.

   I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll definitely lose some sleep over it. You, on the other hand, sure don’t look guilty for someone who tricked his own comrade to lose his humanity.”

   Kamei leans back on his throne and starts laughing. His laughter is extremely unpleasant to listen to, to say the least.

   “Why should I? It was his own fault for being so gullible! Besides, I didn’t trick him. I withheld some vital information. These are two different things.”

   “Let me guess. You’re going to say that he should have asked.”

   “Well, duh! It was his own fault. Nothing to do with me.”

   I shrugged my shoulders again. “If you say so.”

   “Oh? So you’re not going to go full lecture mode on me?”

   “What do you take me for, some kind of preachy and self-righteous Shounen protagonist?”

   “...You aren’t?”

   “Nope. I was never a fan of those types of protagonists, and I don’t intend to become one myself.”

   Kamei uses his right hand to wipe off some imaginary sweat off his forehead while looking really relieved.

   “Whew, boy am I glad to hear that! The last three I got rid of wouldn’t shut up about morals and whatnot, you know? It was an absolute Hell! You won’t believe how happy I was when they finally died.”

   “Oh, you poor thing. You must have been through a lot…” I mumble sarcastically. “Ah, whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

   I shift my gaze to Susanoo.

   “We’re here to defeat that champion of yours so that we could end this once and for all.”
 
   “That’s the spirit! Susanoo, prepare for combat!” Kamei orders.

   At its master’s command, Susanoo unsheathes both its katanas and puts up a fighting stance. The white blade of the katana on its left hand is crackling with electricity, while the one on the right has a blade made from some kind of purple metal which glows in a sinister black light. It’s probably safe to assume that both of them have different abilities.

   “Ichika-senpai, Kaede and Wilmort-san, I need you three to act as the vanguards! Darum-san and Rynis-san, please back them up! Maya, get ready to pull them out in case things went wrong! Lucas-san, please go all out on Support Spells! Everyone else, get ready to switch in at any moment!”

   Now, I have a valid reason on why I limited the number of people who’s attacking Susanoo. For one thing, we don’t know a single thing about it or its two katanas. I mean, Kamei made the armor knowing full well that it’s going to fight dozens of opponents at the same time. There’s no way we can let our guard down around it. On a side note, Rynis-san is a human woman who is a tank just like Darum-san.

   Catherina was the fastest among the three girls to reach Susanoo. She raises her sword and swings it towards it. The armor reacts by blocking the attack with its purple sword without any effort whatsoever.

   I notice Catherina grimacing. She backs away immediately.

   “That purple sword just sucked away some of my life force and mana!” she reports.

   “Lucas-san, please fire some Elemental Spells at it!” I request.

   “On it.”

   Lucas-san begins chanting rapidly. Moments later, dozens of fireballs, lightning bolts and ice shards the size of a human’s head fly towards Susanoo with a speed that could barely be seen by naked eyes. Susanoo lifts its purple sword, and all the elemental projectiles were absorbed by it and disappeared without a trace.

   I pull one of my Gravitas out of thin-air and hurl it towards Susanoo. It blocked my sword with its favorite purple sword. The moment the two blades made contact, I activated Gravitas’ gravity ability.

   SLAM!

   I increased the purple sword’s weight hundredfold. It got so heavy Susanoo dropped it on the floor.

   “What the-”

   I took a peek at Kamei. He looked completely dumbfounded.

   “No fair! I wasn’t expecting gravity magic!” he whines.

   To be fair, there wasn’t any in this game. But that’s besides the point. If he did some research on me, he would have known that I own a weapon with the power of gravity.

   While Susanoo is still trying to pick up its fallen sword, Catherina, Ichika and Kaede rush towards it with their own swords aimed at its throat. I’m not exactly sure whether beheading it will work, but I guess you have to try anything to take it down.

   “Susanoo, forget about that katana for now!” Kamei commands.

   At his command, Susanoo stood upright again and held the remaining katana with both hands. Suddenly, the electricity on the blade crackled even louder. Sensing danger, the three girls backed away immediately. Darum-san and Rynis-san stood in front of them with their huge shields prepared to guard them from incoming harm. Lucas-san and I exchanged a look and nod at each other. Two seconds later, multiple layers of Barriers are formed in front of us and those who’re not participating in the fight, and not a moment too soon.

   The katana discharged enough electricity to fry everyone inside the room. It only lasted for a single second, and everything seemed normal in the next. Oddly enough, none of the invisible walls Lucas-san and I made were damaged, even though the voltage looked pretty high. I look at Darum-san and Rynis-san. Both of them looked fine as well.

   “Are the two of you all right?” I ask just in case.

   “I’m all fine and dandy, lad!” Darum-san reports.

   “Same here! Well, except that my hands are slightly tingling from all those electricity.”

   “Pfft, you won’t feel fine soon enough.” Kamei scoffs.

   I tilt my head to look at the throne once more. I’m more or less not surprised to see Kamei completely unharmed. I am, however, a little surprised to see that he’s grimacing. His face is also a bit sweaty. It’s like he’s been working out. However, I quickly lost interest in Kamei’s physical condition as I noticed that the treasures placed around all four corners of the room, particularly gold coins, are making clinking sounds. At the next moment, they’re flying towards the vanguard.

   “Whoa!”

   “What the-”

   More and more gold coins are attaching themselves to Darum-san’s and Rynis-san’s shields. Eventually, their shields got so heavy they couldn’t even lift them up. Even so, they had it easy.

   “Eeeeek! Stay away stay away stay away~!!!”

   Maya is flying all over the place frantically in order to avoid all the metallic treasures that are trying to attach themselves to her. Watching her being so desperate and frantic made Kamei laugh hysterically.

   “Fly, tiny little bat, fly! You’re going to be caught sooner or later, but keep on trying!” he howls.

   While he’s busy cackling his heart out, I’ve already thought of a way to counter the electromagnetism ability of the white katana.

   “Everyone who can cast Tidal Blast, chant the incantation right now!” I command. “Once you’re ready, wait for my signal to cast it all at the same time!”

   “Oh, no you don’t! Susanoo, stop them!”

   “Vanguards, I need you to stall that armor at all costs!”

   Meanwhile, I have put away my staff and Gravitas. I then pull out Namigiri, the glaive I obtained from Maya’s world.

   “Nothing you do will make a difference! Just surrender and wait for your death!” Kamei taunts.

   Naturally, I ignored him. I have better things to focus on right now.

   More and more people have finished chanting the incantations required to cast Tidal Blast and are looking at me expectantly. However, it’s not everyone yet. I need the torrent to be as huge as possible-
  
   “AAAAAAAHHH~!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME~!!!”

   I look towards Maya. There are hundreds of coins and other assorted treasures stuck to her body. They’re so heavy she has crash landed on the ground.

   Kamei laughs hysterically once more.

   “That’s one down!” he guffaws.

   The team responsible for stalling Susanoo aren’t doing that well either. Darum-san and Rynis-san can’t use their treasure-infested shields, so they had to use their spare ones which aren’t as effective. The two tanks and the three girls are spared from being affected with electromagnetism, but Susanoo has zero trouble in fighting five opponents at the same time.

   I look at all the spell-casters. All of them are ready. Nice timing there.

   “NOW!”

   At my command, more than thirty Tidal Blasts were cast at the same time. Before they could spread to every single corner of the room, I used Namigiri’s ability and willed the water to form two giant spheres.

   “Vanguards, create some distance between yourselves and that armor! After that, hold your breath for a few seconds!” I command next.

   Catherina swings her sword like a bat and uses the flat side of the blade to knock Susanoo away. At the same time, all of them minus Maya took a few steps back. Seizing the opportunity, I used one of the spheres to contain Susanoo and the other to wash away all the treasures that were stuck on the tanks’ shields and Maya. Once that’s done, I willed the treasure-infested sphere to join its fellow and form an even bigger sphere.

   Now, anyone who studies science knows that it’s an extremely bad idea to mix water and electricity. Even though Susanoo is being trapped in the middle of the sphere, I could still tell that it’s being electrocuted. I’m not sure whether it’s doing any damage, though.

   “Ha! You thought that could stop my masterpiece? Dream on!”

   Susanoo swam out of the sphere like nothing and landed on the ground. It then bends down and picks up its purple katana. Strange, I swear that Gravitas’ ability is still being activated.

   “What did you do?” I ask Kamei.

   “I used my authority as the Dungeon Master to make Susanoo and his weapons immune from gravity magic. Also, he can’t drown now!” he replied smugly.

   “So, you cheated.” I conclude.

   “No I didn’t! Rather, it was your fault for doing something I wasn’t expecting!”

   …Wow. Tenha sure wasn’t kidding when he said that Kamei would resort to cheating if things don’t go his way. The worst part is, his ability is so cheating he’s allow to-

   “COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!”

   All of a sudden, Kamei begins coughing uncontrollably. It took a few seconds for the coughing to stop.

   “Pardon my coughing fit just now.” Kamei wheezes. “Man, it just keeps on getting worse.”

   “Do you want some medicine?” I offer. “I’m pretty sure someone here can go to the surface and buy some.”

   “Wait, are you serious? Are you actually offering your enemy a relief to his pain?”

   “Look, I don’t care one bit about you. It’s just that we can’t concentrate if you keep on distracting us with your coughing.”

   “Oh, don’t mind me. That was caused by a side effect whenever I used my ability. At least, I think it is.”

   “Well, remember to keep it down.” I told him as nonchalantly as I could.

   …Wow, I don’t believe this. He actually confessed how his ability works. It might be a lie, or it might be, as he said, his own assumption as he’s not familiar with how his ability works. Whichever the case, it’s still worth planning my strategy based on that.

   “Everyone, I’m going to be reckless for a bit! I won’t say how, just stay alert and be prepared to face any situation!” I announce loudly.

   After giving everyone in my party a heads-up, I put away Namigiri and bring out Tensai, the shiny katana I obtained when I conquered Ichika. I proceed to unsheathe it.

   Kamei laughed in that really unpleasant way of his.

   “Are you thinking that just because you’re using a katana too you’re somehow on equal footing with Susanoo? You’re way dumber than I thought!” he mocks.

   “Since when did I say that I’m going to fight Susanoo?”

   “...Eh?”

   I point Tensai at the ceiling and concentrate. A moment later, the blade starts glowing in a golden light. I hear Maya making a sound like she’s being strangled.

   “Everyone, please be careful! Kotaro-senpai is going to start up a storm and wreck the entire place!” she warns.

   Oh, right. Maya had first-hand experience in what Tensai’s capable of. She’s wrong about one thing, though. I have no interest in wrecking the whole room. Just the ceiling.

   BOOM!

   “Whoa, hey!”

   The tornado created by Tensai made a huge hole in the ceiling. Different sizes of debris began falling like some kind of stone rain until it stopped abruptly.

   “Do you mind, NOT wrecking the place I put in the effort to make?” Kamei wheezes.

   The ceiling’s not the only thing that’s a wreck, believe you me. Kamei is panting heavily, and he’s sweating profusely like he just came out of a sauna after being in there for more than an hour.

   “Wow, you’re in terrible shape.” I note.

   “Seriously, there’s always, and I mean ALWAYS, idiots like you who just love to mess around and ignore the rules!” he rants while ignoring me. “Why can’t you just move like I want you to?”

   I shrugged. “It’s more fun this way. Rules are meant to be broken, anyway.”

   “Only then I’m the one who’s doing it! You’re just a mindless sheep! You should know better and let me snuff out your pathetic little life!” he screeches.

   “I don’t wanna.”

   “Just! Listen to me!”

   “Who’re you, my mom? Why don’t you try and make me?”

   “You know what? I think I will! In fact, I’m going to make so many rules you’ll have zero chance of winning! Have fun dying, you pathetic piece of garbage! You and your merry band of “”friends” can all go rot in some garbage dump!”

   Kamei closed his eyes so that he could concentrate better. Catherina wanted to jump him but was stopped by Susanoo. The two of them begin a fight so fast my eyes can’t keep up one bit.

   “Are we not in serious trouble, Kotaro?” Ichika asks me while looking really worried.

   “Don’t worry, Ichika-senpai. If things go the way I think they would, we’ll win without having to do anything.” I assure her.

   I let out a sigh.

   “I’ll probably lose even more sleep, though…” I mumble.

   “Whatever do you mean by that?”

   “Ack!”

   I look over at Kamei. He’s bending over his throne, and he looks like he’s about to pass out at any moment.

   “It’s not supposed to end up like this…” he whispers.

   Right after he muttered those words, he stopped breathing.