“Shall we continue?”
Even though the opponent was the Final Boss of the Dungeon Instance, Ai Yue asked the question anyway. Given that the game had become reality, coupled with the Automatic Element Generation System and the fact that the opponent was an AI, she figured there might be some special reaction.
[…]
Perhaps because the damage was too severe, the Gear Giant, now reduced to only its upper half, did not respond. Even the energy barrier and the weapons wrapped around its body had weakened significantly.
“Hmm… is it broken, or is there just no dialogue?”
In truth, this was the first time Ai Yue had used such a shortcut to defeat this boss, so she didn’t have much understanding of its current state. Even with high attention to detail, one couldn’t manually program changes for things that almost never happened; Ai Yue had left that part to the AI and the system to fill in.
“Master Ai Yue, is it over?”
“Oh, Bululu. Pretty much. At least for now, this thing has lost its ability to counterattack.”
“As expected of Master Ai Yue. Not only can you use Holy Magic, which the Demon Race normally cannot, but you managed to solve a foe of this caliber with a single spell.”
Ignoring the negative status effects of this Dungeon Instance, the boss was already Level 80. Combined with its ability to attack at both close and long ranges, it was exceptionally difficult to handle. At the very least, Bululu would have had to endure a bitter struggle to defeat it even without the debuffs.
“Normally cannot… actually, it’s not that the Demon Race can’t use it… forget it, it’s complicated.”
Hearing Bululu claim that the “Demon Race cannot use Holy Magic,” Ai Yue initially wanted to refute it. However, considering how troublesome that explanation would be, she didn’t stop her. Anyway, even if it were theoretically possible, she was practically the only one who could actually do it.
“Regardless, this giant isn’t moving for a while. I plan to look around for any interesting clues.”
With that, Ai Yue leaped onto the giant’s head and cast a spell.
“Holy Judgment.”
Immediately, three tall figures condensed from light appeared in the surroundings. They corresponded to three different roles — the Investigator, the Inquisitor, and the Executioner. As for the spell’s effect…
‘It basically gauges the target’s good and evil. For example, the more lives they’ve taken, the heavier the punishment. But that’s just the surface level.’
The reason Ai Yue used this magic wasn’t to make the Gear Giant realize its wrongdoings or anything of the sort. In fact, the AI that stayed here all the time barely had any impact on the outside world. Her goal was simple: interrogation.
While an AI wasn’t a normal living being, her settings for this dungeon’s AI included basic autonomous thinking and emotions, and those traits had likely undergone some kind of transformation. In short, interrogation would work on this AI.
“Let’s just skip the initial steps and go straight to the punishment.”
To save time, Ai Yue chose to cancel the preceding calculation phase and proceed directly to interrogation with a preset intensity. However, at that moment…
[Detection of severe damage to unit… victory… impossible…]
[…Executing End Protocol. Thank you for using.]
The moment those words were spoken, the Gear Giant, which had been on the verge of death, suddenly erupted with an explosion of power even greater than before. Under this massive surge of energy, its damaged lower half was replaced by pure energy. It didn’t form a solid physical body but existed purely as a manifestation of power.
The beam lance and firearms in its hands also clearly changed, their output power increasing drastically. It wasn’t just using its original weapons, either. With a *vwoom* sound, beams of light burst through various parts of its body, looking like bones growing wildly out of control. These beams pierced through the walls, floor, and ceiling of the boss room.
“Is it using its ultimate?”
Seeing the Gear Giant’s aura weaken while its presence became significantly more dangerous, Bululu and Kurimu both braced themselves for combat. Only Ai Yue noticed that something was wrong.
“No, it’s trying to blow us all up!”
Looking closely, one could see that the red beams protruding from the Gear Giant were different from the beam lance it used as a weapon. Although they also possessed high temperatures and energy, they contained traces similar to the data streams flowing on its surface.
As a Game Developer, Ai Yue naturally knew a bit about programming. She deciphered the command within a single glance — the energy core was entering an overload state.
The Dungeon Instance known as the “Relics of the Lost World Mechanism” was essentially a giant machine capable of operating on its own. This Gear Giant was merely a vessel that the AI managing the dungeon had uploaded itself into for combat. As long as a connection was re-established, the AI could regain full control over the entire dungeon at any time.
Simply put, the Gear Giant was the boss of the dungeon, but the dungeon itself was both the arena and a hidden boss — or rather, the final phase of the boss battle.
“What do we do? Do we retreat?”
Bululu immediately understood the situation from Ai Yue’s words and asked for direction.
“No, we can’t escape. Emergency exit items don’t work in most boss rooms. Besides, this Dungeon Instance is likely located in something like a Subspace. If we try to force our way through the boundaries, we might be teleported to some unknown, distant corner of the world, or worse, get lost in a Temporal Chaos.”
To the native inhabitants of this world, getting lost in a Temporal Chaos was equivalent to being exiled from the world. For Players, it was like clipping out of the map; the essence was the same — there was almost no chance of returning unless you asked the official staff to fish you out.
Well, the setting was quite rigorous.
Wait, that wasn’t the point right now.
“Just like how you handled that Multi-cube Elite Monster before, it’s DPS check time.”
The only saving grace was that it would take some time for the dungeon’s energy core to go from overloading to actually exploding. Furthermore, constant command inputs were required during this period. This meant that as long as they finished off the Gear Giant — or rather, the management AI — before the explosion, they would be fine.
That said, why on earth would a perfectly good dungeon have such a “mutually assured destruction” mechanic that blows up the whole place if conditions aren’t met? Who designed this?
Hmm? You’re saying it was Ai Yue?
I don’t know about that. Who are you talking about? She is the Great Demon King Ai Yue now, not a Game Developer. Besides, even her past self wouldn’t have created such a trash mechanic, right?
“But what can we do? Our attacks aren’t having any effect on this enemy…”
Remembering how their skills had failed to shave off any HP at the start, Bululu didn’t think she or Kurimu could be of much use now. After all, the Gear Giant only stopped attacking and actively defending because it lacked energy; its passive resistances had not been nullified.
However, Ai Yue’s next words brought her train of thought to a screeching halt.
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