In the Name of God - Chapter 78.2
If the raid ended like this, it was obvious he would be criticized for failing to properly inspect the dungeon, and now even a clan member was causing trouble. He was becoming deeply concerned about what would happen to Black Tail’s image after they left the dungeon.
The Team 4 Leader massaged his temples, feeling a throbbing headache coming on.
At the same time Team 4 and Team 5 set out to search for Team 3.
The members of Team 1 and Team 2, who were waiting quietly, looked up at the nest and whispered among themselves.
“By the way, is it really okay for us to just be standing here? Even if it’s the boss room, it’s just a nest, so isn’t the top wide open?”
“What about it? Are you worried they’ll hear our voices?”
“We heard during the briefing. They sleep so much they won’t wake up unless you touch them or provoke them first.”
The team members visualized the two boss monsters hidden behind the massive nest.
Although they had received enough information during the briefing to identify their appearances through drawings, they were curious to see the real things.
There were two boss monsters here.
One was a beast in the form of a large flying squirrel, similar to the common monsters of this place.
However, they were told the other one could not be specifically identified because its appearance changed every time a raid took place.
Sometimes it looked like a flying squirrel, sometimes like an upright-walking boar, and other times it was like an amoeba or even an immobile block of wood.
This was the result of the monster’s special abilities: “Mimicry” and “Transformation.”
“I heard the one with the transformation ability is the most dangerous of the two, right?”
“Yes. That’s why they said it’s crucial to kill that one while it’s asleep. Otherwise, I heard it can even mimic humans and transform.”
“Ugh… it’s like a doppelganger or something…”
“It’s better to think of it as a doppelganger. I heard it has actually mimicked Awakeners and used the exact same abilities before.”
The Team 1 Leader, who had been quietly listening to the team members’ whispering, chimed into the conversation.
“The other boss is just as much of a concern. It doesn’t have transformation abilities, but its basic physical strength is truly overwhelming. You can only face it if you bind its health and movements to some extent by landing a strong blow before it wakes up.”
“Is it really that strong?”
“Yes, it’s strong. And cruel.”
At the leader’s words, the team members showed signs of tension.
“Since this dungeon first appeared, there hasn’t been a single case where the boss was awake from the start. I heard that during the early raid days, which were a period of trial and error, there were times they fought after intentionally waking it, but as numerous casualties occurred, the strategy became fixed. The method is to unconditionally land a critical hit while it’s asleep.”
The leader’s face became quite serious as he looked around at the team members.
“There’s even a saying that if we assume even one of them is awake rather than asleep, the rank of this dungeon would be at least C-rank, not D-.”
Having said that, the leader softened his eyes toward the stiffened team members.
Since there had been no combat at all earlier, he had spoken intimidatingly on purpose, fearing the team members might have let their guard down too much.
Now it was time to soothe them a bit so they wouldn’t be too terrified.
“Of course, such a thing has never happened before, so there’s nothing to worry—”
“Excuse me… Team Leader.”
One team member beside him hunched his shoulders, his face turning pale. His gaze was fixed on the giant nest above the trees, unable to look away.
“Does that thing… toss and turn so much that its head sticks out of the nest, or does it maybe have sleepwalking?”
“What kind of strange talk is that?”
Why would a boss monster have such sleeping habits?
As the leader looked at him with an expression asking what kind of bizarre nonsense he was spouting, the team member reached out a trembling hand and pointed at the nest.
“Until just a moment ago, I could only see the round nest, but over there… I see something like a head with ears.”
“A head with ears?”
The moment the leader’s eyes widened and he looked up at the nest following that fingertip.
His complexion turned deathly pale in an instant.
“E-everyone, prepare for bat—!”
Just as the leader shouted at the top of his lungs.
Something pitch-black burst out from the nest and plummeted toward the leader.
Crunch!
Before he could even dodge, the leader’s body was crushed by the black object and exploded without much resistance. Blood splattered in all directions like a water balloon bursting, and a thick scent of blood stimulated everyone’s noses.
“A-aaaaagh!”
“Team Leader!”
The black beast, crouching atop the lump of meat that “had been” the leader, raised its head. It had the appearance of a bizarrely twisted flying squirrel, and it looked back at the team members with pitch-black pupils. Its mouth was torn open long, reaching all the way near its ears.
Kikikikiki—
Accompanied by a sharp laughter that seemed to tear the eardrums, a slaughter more horrific than ever before began beneath the nest.
***
We, having no way of knowing what had happened to the other teams, were all left dazed by the surrounding scenery.
“What on earth is this…”
I, who thought we would be surrounded by numerous monsters and dragged to a boss room, bit my lip at the appearance of this unexpected space.
This place we had been dragged to was as if a space from my memory had been plucked out and reproduced exactly.
And for good reason…
‘It’s the house where that child lived.’
This place was my very first temple after becoming the one and only god of this world, and it was the home for my Apostle.
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