Defense specialization and underwater combat.

The deeper they advanced, the more broken machinery sank into the water, and the more enemies attacking them increased.

Sally dodged them precisely, but as she did, she encountered a faint, floating light that drifted gently through the water—different from the light projectiles. She approached cautiously, wary of its origin, when the light slowly reshaped itself into the form of a large fish and surged toward her with force.

“Wind Cutter!”

She cast the spell swiftly to disrupt it, but the blade of wind passed straight through the translucent body made of light. Sally quickly evaded, sidestepping the charge, but the fish turned and attacked again. This time, she slashed with her dagger, passing it just beside the creature’s form. There was no resistance. The dagger moved through the water as if it were empty. No damage effect followed.

It was possible, with sufficient stamina and defense, to endure an attack just to verify whether the creature was truly a monster. Sally could not do this. Avoiding the repeated charges, she considered her options. One conclusion emerged.

— There is nothing to do but evade until something is found…

For now, the situation remained within evadable limits. Finding a way to proceed became a secondary goal. Yet, compared to the monsters of the eighth layer, this one lacked varied movements, acting simply. It felt as if it was designed with evasion in mind.

Even without Sally’s level of evasion, any player who had progressed this far in the game could likely manage attacks of this scale.

— If this is how it feels, the boss must be something strange indeed.

Sally moves forward, evading with each motion. Not stopping to dodge, but advancing while making only the minimal necessary movements. Time lost is negligible. Almost as if the attacks do not exist.

To perform this while avoiding light projectiles—only Sally could manage such a thing.

The side passage is built in a peculiar manner. Only traps that activate automatically and fish made of light, immune to attack, dwell here. It feels less like a dungeon and more like a gathering of submerged, abandoned things. The further Sally progresses, the more she begins to suspect the boss may not exist at all.

"Ugh, they're multiplying..."

The intangible fish still attacking are not alone. Before her, light takes shape. Two new fish begin swimming around.

"If they're multiplying, the puzzle might be solvable after all!"

The monster follows too closely for one of its kind. Nine times out of ten, there must be some mechanism behind it, but the way to disable it remains unknown. There is no use fretting over what cannot be known. She must continue evading attacks as before. She uses acceleration and deceleration to sidestep linear assaults with ease. Her movements, utilizing up and down in the water, are so fluid and natural—more fishlike than the fish made of light.

She ascends and descends repeatedly, checking the broken fragments gathered at the bottom of the vast space. She searches for diving suit parts as she has before, and also looks for any way to deal with the fish, but finds no clue.

"Okay, then. No choice."

She resolves to keep evading until she reaches the farthest point. Sally pushes off the water again with force, accelerating forward.

After a time, Sally swam through the side tunnel, dragging a vast number of fish behind her. They had become a dense shoal, following without end. There was no way to explore slowly now.

“How many are there even…!?”

She had searched for a way to dispel them while they were still few. Nothing had worked. The diving suit enhanced her movement through water, allowing evasion. But only because it was Sally could this be managed at all.

Still, endurance would not last forever. Even Sally felt the strain. Worse, she could not deflect them with her dagger. The options for avoiding them were limited. The difficulty had risen sharply.

“Create a gap… now!”

She twists her body into the gap formed by the advancing shoal of intangible fish, surging through the passage on the momentum alone. The passage is narrow. Stopping would make evading the fish mass charging from behind impossible.

Moving at high speed, she sees a torrent of light projectiles approaching from deep within the passage. They fill the space, just as the ones behind her do, leaving only slight gaps between them—gaps born from the slight time difference between each shot. Still, Sally charges into the downpour of light projectiles without slowing.

“Fuuu…!”

Sally sharpens her senses until the flow of the surroundings feels slow. Not a single misjudgment is allowed. She threads through the gaps with perfect precision. The light projectiles, so many they seem destined to miss from the start, pass harmlessly behind her. She moves through the corridor as she has before—avoiding every shot. She will not grant the first hit to these mindless bolts of light.

“Got through!”

Beyond the passage, the stream of light projectiles ceases. The door ahead, towering far above her height, comes into view.

At the same moment, the persistent school of fish vanishes. Silence settles in the water. The door before her is the Boss Room. This is the innermost point.

“Ease… yeah, I’ve got it.”

Sally checks the remaining time available for activity underwater. She judges there is sufficient margin to engage in combat. She decides to proceed with confronting the boss as is.

"I think I’ve grown stronger since our first fight in the water."

What lies ahead. Sally closes her eyes briefly, refocuses her concentration, then approaches the door slowly, checking inside.

The interior is spherical. Entirely submerged in water. As before, old parts and machinery of unknown purpose lie scattered across the bottom. Yet no entity resembling the boss is visible anywhere.

"Can’t tell until I go in..."

Sally steps inside, cautious against ambush. A monitor-like device atop a pile of debris begins to emit a faint light. As Sally braces herself, the light beam launcher seen earlier thrusts forward, pushing aside stacked machinery.

It is not the true threat. A strong light forms at the center of the room. The light coalesces. A man emerges—upper body human, lower body fish—holding a spear. The boss’s HP bar appears above him. Sally tenses.

“An impressive defense system. It can manifest physical form.”

She has reached this far. This is the true challenge. For her equipment. For her purpose. Sally cannot lose.

Seeing Sally adjust her dagger, the boss likewise regrasped his spear and swung it in a circle. Along the arc, spectral fish materialized in sequence. The barrel protruding from the spear began to glow as well.

As she anticipated what would come next, the school of fish and beams of light surged toward Sally, just as they had throughout the journey.

“That’s old news!”

Sally shifted quickly from her position, dodging both attacks. The fish and light moved swiftly, yet their paths were straight—aiming directly at her current location.

In an open space, as long as she moved with sufficient speed and range, collision was unlikely. With Sally’s skill, it was nearly impossible.

What demanded real caution was when she ceased evading and turned to attack. And the boss’s own movements, above all others.

As with the previous boss, this one likely possesses several attack patterns.

There is time. The key is to discern the enemy's movements and seek an opening to counter without taking damage.

Avoiding the flurry of attacks, Sally watches the boss closely. The boss moves, raising the spear in hand and swinging it forcefully. This time, unlike before, it is not a summon. Sally instinctively senses something and kicks water, moving swiftly. Something passes just beside the end of Sally’s scarf, moving with force.

"Water current… must remember that."

The boss manipulates the flow of water. A thick current, wide enough to swallow a person whole, emerges through the spherical Boss Room, its duration unknown. Naturally, no guarantee exists that one will survive being caught in it. Visibility is poor. With the need to dodge light projectiles by swimming at high speed, there is no choice but to memorize the location of each new current.

“[Water Cloak]!”

Sally visualizes the Boss Room in her mind, constantly updating the position of the currents to construct her path. She accelerates, closing in on the boss.

The current restricts movement. With no way to know how long it will last or how many will form, lingering to observe as planned is no longer possible.

Through the flying bursts of light, beneath the charge of the advancing fish swarm, and finally deflecting the spear thrust aimed at her like a boss attack, she slices deep into the shoulder with a single-handed dagger.

The sheer number of projectiles enables Sally’s Sword Dance to push her to her limit. The strike lands heavier than it appears. The HP bar dips visibly.

“Damage is registering… huh!”

A new current forms behind her as she presses forward. She twists her body and slips beneath it. Then she sees more phantom fish added to the pursuit.

“Nice, you’re getting serious now!”

Sally sharpens her focus. She deflects a barrage of flying objects with calm precision. Her evasion skills were always high, but they grow sharper with each clash.

She avoids every attack the enemy creates. Cuts through the gaps. Moves in to strike.

The hit-and-run style remains unchanged. But the damage dealt, the give-and-take of offense and defense—no longer comparable to when she defeated the boss in underwater combat.

“Huh… here!”

She evades attacks from above, below, left, and right. Cuts at the boss. Compared to Sally, the boss moves sluggishly. Its spear fails to catch her. Numbers, terrain, all favor the boss. Still, it is the boss that is being pressed back.

The boss’s attacks grow more numerous over time. But as long as there is space for one person, Sally slips through without fail.

The fact that high damage could be dealt without using skills also reduced Sally’s already scarce openings.

As they continued exchanging attacks, the room became crisscrossed with streams of water. Fish and light projectiles, unaffected by the currents due to their position on the boss’s side, continually struck Sally. The situation worsened. Yet Sally’s focus did not falter.

“Once more…!”

Sally seized an opening and slipped through the streams once again, moving straight toward the central boss. No skills. No gaps. Her movements were absolute. The boss could not land a single attack. It sustained a wound so deep it was impossible to count how many times it had been struck.

When her HP dropped below half, Sally stepped back again, watching for the next move. If the boss altered its attack pattern, it would be here.

……!

As Sally had anticipated, the boss shifted its motion. Light gathered, forming two new spears, and a cluster of light began to flow within the current. The position of the water became clear—but that clarity brought no relief.

The cluster of light suddenly broke from the stream, lancing out. Sally dodged by leaning back, but the attack did not end there. She plunged into another current.

Another unpleasant thing…!

The glowing cluster emerged irregularly, targeting Sally from shifting positions. Unlike the beams fired from fixed gunports in the wall, this was a mobile weapon, moving through the water to strike from unexpected angles. Avoiding it would demand even greater focus.

Still, Sally felt relief that the reinforcement direction was predictable.

If she could avoid it, if she could deflect both weapons, nothing would change. And Sally had confidence she could do it.

Sally kicked water again, accelerating toward the boss. From the sides, light projectiles. From the front, a school of fish. With the added barrage, she must weave through gaps as narrow as a needle’s eye.

"Yeah, I’ve seen worse barrages."

Sally muttered without direction, then shot through the school of fish. Body control allowed no margin for error. Avoiding fire had always been part of fighting Maple. Now that she could dodge shots from behind, she would not falter at the front.

To Sally, the gaps—once barely passable—now appeared as safe, clear paths.

Same every time.

Sally dives into the boss’s embrace, brakes sharply, and dodges the two lances swinging at her by mere centimeters, piercing the boss’s chest with a fluid motion through the water.

A target that cannot be caught in a barrage cannot be felled by two lances alone.

Sally must go somewhere now. She must become stronger. The battle fought with concentration pushed to its limit is far beyond anything before.

She advances straight toward the target—again and again—just as the boss does, until the boss’s HP is gone. With greater precision. Greater lethality.

"Equipment. Skills. Leave them behind."

Through the barrage of light, like rain, the blue shadow advanced without deviation, reaching the boss. With the final strike, it cleaved the body in two.