Chapter 20 – The Son Gets a Kid-Gloves Match from the Boss Monster 【Part 2】

The day after Ryuuji and the others went goblin hunting with his mother in tow.

Ryuuji was delving into a dungeon with Sheila and his mother.

“And now, the moment of truth! My son is about to challenge the boss!”

His mother, holding her Recording Crystal, walked ahead of Ryuuji and Sheila, documenting their every move.

“He looks so gallant as he prepares to face the boss! Ah, so cool! So precious! Mother thinks she’s about to ascend to heaven!”

“…Please don’t.”

Ryuuji retorted to his airhead mom, Karma, as he steeled himself.

He then recalled the series of events that had led him here today.

They had come to this place to achieve their goal.

That goal: to defeat the boss monster living in the dungeon, using only their own strength.

The last time they were in this dungeon, Ryuuji and Sheila had challenged the boss.

But they were completely outmatched (though his mother had incinerated it afterward).

That failure had frustrated Ryuuji and Sheila.

We’ll definitely beat the boss, just the two of us.

With that goal in their hearts, they had worked tirelessly.

Enduring his mother’s repeated interference, they had focused on gathering quests to get better equipment.

Putting up with his mother’s embarrassing cheers, they had devoted themselves to subjugating monsters to build up their strength.

Everything they had done up to this day was for the sake of their goal to defeat the boss together.

And yesterday, Ryuuji and Sheila had reached level 25.

They had purchased weapons, armor, and items with the money they had earned themselves.

All that was left was the challenge itself.

“Alright, we’ve arrived at the boss room! We made great time!”

“…Yeah. Thanks, Mom.”

After a short while, they reached the depths of the dungeon.

Several enemy monsters had appeared along the way, but…

“Your goal is to defeat the boss, isn’t it, Ryu-kun? Then you must focus only on that! Mother will take care of these grunts in a jiffy!”

GWAAAAAAH!!!

With a roar and a blast of dragon’s breath, Karma had wiped out every grunt that appeared.

It was true that today’s main event was the boss subjugation.

They didn’t have the time to waste on small fry.

But that aside.

Standing before the boss room, Ryuuji looked at his partner and spoke.

“Let’s do our best, Sheila. We’ll be fine if we stick to the plan.”

“Right! Let’s do this! Yeah!”

“Yeah!” they both cheered, pumping their fists to build their spirits.

Karma recorded the scene, weeping. “So preeeecious… so preeeecious…”

…Mom shouldn’t interfere. She shouldn’t.

Today, too, Ryuuji had asked her to come along and watch them do their best.

…However, Ryuuji was anxious.

Even if her son had asked her to just watch…

Would his mother really let him do something as dangerous as fighting a boss?

“…”

But there was no point in thinking about it. Having come this far, they just had to do it.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s do our best!”

Ryuuji pushed open the boss monster’s large doors with a great…

Creeeak…

His mother and Sheila followed him in.

“And now my son has entered the boss’s room!”

The recording must have started.

His mother gave a play-by-play commentary for the Recording Crystal.

“Today, just like last time, my son will be challenging the boss of this dungeon, the Diamond Beetle! That gallant look on his face is truly that of an archangel! Oh, Mother is about to ascend for real this time…!”

She’s really killing the tension, he thought as he advanced into the room.

“Kree… kree kreee…!!”

There, it stood: a beetle so large they had to look up at it.

Its entire body was covered in diamond.

Last time, they couldn’t even scratch it, but this time will be different!

“Let’s go, Sheila-san! Just like we planned!”

“Yes, sir!”

Sheila focused her mind.

The plan was to use Enveloping Thunder into the Thunder God Blade.

“Here I come, beetle! I’m your opponent!”

Ryuuji ran toward the beetle.

He was the decoy, of course.

“KREEEEEE!!!”

The beetle noticed Ryuuji. It was coming after him.

“Alright, perfect!”

Ryuuji stopped at a spot far away from Sheila.

He lowered his stance and raised his shield.

“KREEEE!!!”

Thump, thump, thump, thump. The beetle charged toward him.

Ryuuji braced himself.

He quickly pulled a Toughness-Boosting Potion from the pouch at his waist and drank it.

His toughness had also increased from reaching level 25.

If he gave it his all, he should be able to withstand the beetle’s charge!

The beetle closed in.

Its horn was about to smash into his shield.

Ryuuji prepared for the impact… and that’s when it happened.

SKREEE!!

It froze…!!

“…Huh?”

Ryuuji couldn’t believe his eyes.

The beetle… had stopped, right before crashing into his shield.

“Huh? Wha—? Why did you stop…?”

“KREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Just as he thought that, the beetle launched itself backward with all its might.

And no, it wasn’t because Ryuuji had sent it flying with his power.

And Sheila hadn’t used any magic, either.

The beetle did it on its own.

It stopped of its own volition right before impact and threw itself backward.

“Kreeeeeeee………………!!”

“Oh, my! The beetle has been blown away, defeated by Ryu-kun’s defensive power!! W-w-what incredible toughness!”

The beetle crashed into the far wall and became embedded in it.

“Kree…”

The beetle glanced over at his mother. Karma glared back without a word. The beetle flinched, trembling.

…Is it scared?

…But what is it scared of?

“Ryuuji-kun! Enveloping Thunder!!”

With no time to ponder his question, Sheila’s lightning spell was complete.

Lightning enveloped Ryuuji’s sword.

Ryuuji readied his sword and charged toward the beetle embedded in the wall.

“Kree, kree—!”

“Oh, my! The beetle is stuck in the wall and can’t move! This is a chance! An unprecedented chance! You can do it, Ryu-kun!”

Although he felt a growing sense of unease, it was certainly a chance.

“Hyaaaaaaaah!!”

Ryuuji swung the lightning sword down toward the immobilized beetle, and then…

thwack.

“Ah.”

SPLAT!

…Ryuuji tripped and fell.

The dungeon floor was exposed dirt.

Naturally, there were stones and rock fragments scattered everywhere.

Ryuuji’s foot had caught on one of them, and he’d gone down.

“D-dammit…!”

He had let go of his sword when he fell.

And now his posture was completely broken.

This was the perfect chance for the enemy to counterattack!

“Kreeee…”

The beetle glanced over at Karma.

“…”

Karma was silent. She just glared at the beetle without a word.

“K-kreee—!!!”

The beetle began to flail its limbs about while still stuck in the wall.

“Oh, my! It seems the beetle is embedded deep within the wall! It can’t move! It won’t be able to move for a while!”

His mother’s commentary echoed emptily.

Ryuuji understood.

…Mom is keeping the beetle in check.

Come to think of it, he now realized, wasn’t this Diamond Beetle the same boss his mother had incinerated before?

Then why was it here?

…She probably revived it with a Resurrection spell.

The beetle had the memory of his mother’s terror carved into it.

It had been taught by death itself what would happen if it incurred his mother’s displeasure.

That’s why the beetle couldn’t defy his mother.

…What is this? This is a fixed match. A kid-gloves match.

An incredible sense of emptiness washed over Ryuuji.

“K-kree… kree…”

The beetle, still stuck in the wall, kept glancing over at him.

It was as if it were pleading with its eyes.

Please, make it quick.

“Uh, sorry about this…”

Ryuuji picked up the iron sword he had dropped.

The effect of Sheila’s Enveloping Thunder was still active.

Ryuuji approached the wall and thrust the lightning sword into the beetle’s eye.

An intense bolt of lightning struck the beetle’s eyeball directly.

Through its eye, a powerful electric shock coursed through its entire body.

Eventually, the lightning stopped, and the beetle was charred black.

“Kreeee… Kreeee—…”

In its final moments, the beetle’s face looked strangely peaceful.

It was a good death, as if to say, Now I am free from the terror…

The beetle exploded into pieces, leaving behind a mana crystal drop item.

“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! My soooooooooooon! My son defeated the booooooooooss!! Congratulatioooooons!!!”

…Ryuuji just didn’t have the energy to say, “Thanks, Mom.”