Reincarnated in the game world ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation]-Chapter 589Vol. 11 - - The fall of 4th Fortress (But how to cross the hole..?!)

—A tremendous explosion shook the whole corridor.

This was such an unexpected, and shocking situation, that it even halted the ongoing skirmishes on the ground for a moment as everyone—the alliance squad, Class-1, and Class-8—reflexively found themselves gazing in the direction of explosion.

"Wha—Ekatrina-sama!"

"F-Fortress's HP—!"

"Whoa, I can't even count how many deportation magic circles there are!"

A wave of palpitation seized the alliance.

The corridor was the spot where their mastermind, the brain of the alliance, was! And a double whammy on top of it, the explosion had also taken the robust fortress's HP with itself!

For a brief moment, many members of alliance petrified on the spot for worry of Ekatrina as a huge number of teleportation magic circles could be seen amidst the dust and cloud stirred by explosion.

The Alliance squad was dominated by a sudden shock. However their hanging heart finally let down when they saw the «Ranged Focused Assault» skill played out. It was Rina's skill, which means she was safe!

"Ekatrina-sama is safe!"

"W-wait, there must be some opponent still there if the leader is using her skill!"

"I know, but we're also stuck here!"

On the other hand, the Alliance squad wasn't in an entirely pleasant situation as well.

They'd been somehow holding off the two classes' united front, but the lack of support from fortress top was concerning. And now, they'd even lost their fortress. The alliance was completely shaken from their core.

"Calm down,everyone! Get a grip on yourself!"

Lamda immediately tried to reign in the situation, his loud voice reverberating across the area.

"As you see, Ekatrina-dono is completely fine! And the fortress might be down, but we still have our base! Do not give the enemy a chance to worm their way in your panic!"

"Y-yeah. It's not good. I nearly forgot what's important for us."

"Leader's right. We shouldn't lose focus on who's our enemy!"

"Ekatrina-dono has guards with her. So rest assured. Base isn't going to go down immediately! Take a deep breath, and take action!"

" " "Yes, sir!" " "

With their belief in Ekatrina, and Lamda's prompt reign on situation, he succeeded in subsiding the alliance's panic, and had them once again focus on their opponent.

But, only he, Lamda, knew how much his back was drenched from the cold sweat.

However, a moment later, a boy's shout echoed through the battlefield as he reported. "R-Reinforcement is here! Class-3 is here!"

◇◇◇

Meanwhile, the excitement of Class-1 and Class-8 was all time high as they saw the situation unfolding.

"Fortress is doooown!"

" " "Let's goooo!!" " "

"Hurray!!"

No one knew who did it—oh wait, didn't I know them?—but the destruction of the fortress was only good news for them.

Boy, oh boy. I really wasn't expecting Saturn to use that. I mean, that was what you call a 'meme item.' So, imagine my surprise they actually did something so monumental.

«Explosive Glove» was a one-time use equipment, and once used, it would be destroyed afterward. —Wait, wait. What do you mean it's equipment? Isn't it more of a consumable item?

Yeah, I know this was a normal train of thought, but something, you know, just doesn't have a better explanation, and this was one of such points. But anyway, there was not a recipe for the glove, so it was impossible to recreate it. So, this could only be obtained from rare item drop.

The problem, however, was its destructive usage. The user would go down along with the glove's destruction, and there was no revival method unless they left the dungeon.

But you may wonder, woah, but that explosion was impressive? Right, that's how it may appear as a threat, but frankly, it had a short range, and relied on INT stats. And that means only the rearguard could use it! I mean, anyone focusing on INT stats wouldn't be a tank. Anyway, rearguards obviously lack any proper defense, so just snipe out the user with a glove, and voila.

Well, but if that's not enough, the damage from the glove was registered as a foreign attack. And that means the 95% damage negation from friendly fire was out of the window. So, if precaution wasn't taken, even the party's tank might lose themselves in the explosion.

The only saving grace was the effect could be immediately identified by a red glow. The Explosive Glover user would be covered in a fiery red radiance when the glove's effect was activated—and the explosion would occur three seconds later.

As a matter of fact, it was common sense for players in «Dungeon Activity» to immediately escape at the first notice of fiery red glow.

Anyway, as they say, One Man's Trash is Another's Treasure. This might be far from ideal equipment, but you would always be the odd one out option for precisely such unconventional playstyle. I could understand, truly. After all, the games were all about having fun. They were a lump of infinite adventures.

Inwardly, I also felt satisfied to see I managed to give Saturn that spirit. ......Ah, wait, I think I forgot to tell him it could only be used one time... Hmm, whatever.

The fortress only had 30% HP left, but I was thoroughly impressed that he actually blew it away in one blast. The impact of it was even more than «Muscle Roller»! And from the look, it appeared he had carefully planned to jump among the opponent's team before blowing himself. I think, Saturn might have a knack for this.

Anyway, the Fortress was completely blown away as it hit 0 HP. Well, it didn't immediately disappear into effect. Like an actual building, it gradually started to fall apart, turning into nothingness. In the game, that would've happened in an instant, and anyone inside would have been thrown outside. I guess it didn't happen because suddenly being caught in rubble would be dangerous?

Though, since there was no more HP bar, skills were effective in destroying rubbles. It was fine that way too.

"«Ranged Focused Assault»!"

"Ahhh!"

"Ah! Jilong fell down from the fortress! He will be eliminated at this rate!!"

"Uh... he seems to have fallen head first, will be okay?"

Good question. But fret not, almighty HP had it covered. And moreover, that height was barely enough to deal damage.

◇◇◇

Immediately following the explosion, Jilong could feel his limbs shivering as if he had suddenly caught paralysis. Why? It was the giant hole that had opened in the fortress.

"H-How am I supposed to cross this......"

After succeeding in pulling the self-destruction move, Saturn departed out of the match with grace, but the aftermath had exceeded Jilong's imagination. Both in a good way, and bad way.

"Fufu. He really did it, didn't he...? Almost all of the pieces protecting their king had also been cleaned out, but.. who would have thought the fortress itself would start to fall apart. What should I do?"

In the aftermath, the only one, aside from Rina, left behind was the twin-shield user Tomoyo. It was an impressive result, to weed out 8 people in exchange for one. Saturn really earned his share here.

Alas, not everything was so sunshine. Jilong was supposed to target Rina immediately after the explosion, but the result went so beyond that the path leading to her was also destroyed.

What was he supposed to do here? Jilong at his wit's end.

But, it appeared he wasn't alone who was shaken from top to bottom.

"You really must have some loose screw! What kind of moron would blow himself!?"

"Fufu."

Devoid of usual 'uppityness' in the current moment, Jilong only offered his characteristic smirk. It just showed his inner perplexment at the situation. Well, from his perspective, it was like fate was playing tricks on him. His comrade paid a heavy price to allow him to take down the leader, but everything fell apart, just like the Fortress. And as if to mock him, he was the sole person left behind, so the weight of responsibility went beyond the words could explain.

Tomoyo's indignant voice resounded from below. She had fallen down along with the other broken bits of fortress. She quickly gulped down the Hi-Potion, and glared at Jilong, who was also just glancing at the big hole.

In the end, Jilong had barely gotten his willpower to even squeeze out his brain for the next plan, but it appeared there was no rest for him.

"—«Ranged Focused Assault»!"

"Fufu!?"

In the moment he let down his guard—to be precise, he mustn't have even used his brain to think he would obviously be under Rina's target after the outcome—Rina unleashed her skill at him.

Jilong barely managed to dodge the attack, but, since there was no more target to block it, the skill struck the part of the corridor's floor. And in absence of an HP barrier, floor gave out at the skill impact and Jilong fell alongside it, unable to secure his footing.

"Fuaaaaa!?"

"Nice, Rina-san!"

And of course, Tomoyo was ready to greet him. Though Jilong might have escaped injury due to HP effect, he fell straight under Tomoyo's line of fire.

"You're finally down here huh! —«Double Shield Bash»!"

"Pfft!?"

Jilong was trying to recover himself after the fall, and failed in evading the attack. The impact blew him away as he slid on the floor... albeit head-first.

Of course, Tomoyo had more than just one attack prepared. She continued with her non-stop—on another hand, maybe not so non-stop?—attack.

"And, this is the end—«Shield Cymbal»! Haaa!"

And for the final note in her assault, she stood in front of Jilong and held the shields in her hand like she was holding 'Cymbal,' a music instrument, and struck them against each other—while Jilong's head was right in the middle of their trajectory.

"Gaahhh!?"

—«RUUUNG»! 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

An unfamiliar, yet pleasant sound echoed, and under the impact of that sound, Jilong «Fainted».

After confirming «Faint» status on Jilong, Tomoyo turned to drag him toward the alliance member, but stopped as she saw Rina jumping down from the same hall. Akemi and her followers, who were supposed to be dealing against Karua, were also with her.

—Meanwhile, Jilong was dragged to where her comrades were.

"Are you safe, Tomoyo-san?!"

"Yes, Rina-san! But the other members, and even Fortress are no more..."

"It's only a waste of time to delve and lament at what has passed. Instead, we need to focus on the present for now. So, get yourself up!"

"What's the next step then, Rina-san? Shall we retreat?"

"Ouch! Hey, Kajmal fell down due to bad footing! Hey, are you alright?"

"Rgh. Yes, it doesn't hurt at least."

"We need to get into formation first! «Command»! This is our final chance, everyone! Let's be on the offensive!"