Secret Plan
“In any case, I have a plan regarding how to slay the stratum lord, the Flame Skeletitan.”
As I sway to and fro on Lammis’s comfy back, I bend my ear to Director Bear’s explanation.
“A large trap waits down this main passage, and there are many hunters who don’t know it exists. It’s a unique trap that only activates under certain conditions.”
“Weight, right?”
Captain Kerioyl slows his pace to move from the head of the pack to us, interrupting the conversation. Is he bored?
“That’s right. Anything over a certain weight will trigger the trap…a giant hole. A pitfall, in other words. Dropping the Flame Skeletitan down there will be our contrivance.”
If that thing can fit, it must be a pretty big hole. I feel like everyone would notice something like that, though.
“The unpleasant part of this trap is that it doesn’t allow people to congregate in large masses and push their way through the stratum by force. The main passage is the origin for conquering the maze stratum. Everyone has to go through it, so if too many are on the trap at once, they get flipped right over.”
“That’s why we have quality over quantity, right?”
Oh, I see. That’s why the two gatekeepers are coming with us, too. After all, Karios and Gorth have excellent skills among the guards.
“The Clearflow Lake stratum has seen an influx of hunters, and its stratum lord is already slain. Karios and Gorth being away from their post will not be an issue.”
“They’re skilled enough that I’d want them for our group… Relax, Director, I’m kidding.”
Director Bear turns a short stare on the captain, who shrugs back.
Calling the two gatekeepers the core of the settlement’s defenses wouldn’t be an overstatement. Director Bear is in charge of the Clearflow Lake stratum, so them leaving would cause trouble for him.
I think those fears are groundless, to be honest. At the very least, Karios wouldn’t ever leave that stratum. I glance over at him.
“Once this is all over, my girlfriend is throwing a welcome-home party. Man, it’s tough to be loved, eh?”
Saying that with a broad grin? Your stern, skinhead face is melting. As long as she remains at Clearflow Lake, Karios will remain its gatekeeper. This must be a very exceptional case, so I’ll have to thank him.
Next to Karios, Gorth puts a hand to his forehead and sighs. As usual, I don’t envy him his situation.
“We’re almost to the pitfall. Everyone, get along the right wall. Press your backs up to it.”
Everyone obeys, leaning up against the wall and forming a line. Only Director Bear proceeds, one hand to the wall, seeming to grope about for something. After a short time, he nods deeply and looks at us.
No sooner does the ground rumble than a single massive fissure appears to split it in two. Excluding the area right next to the wall where we are, the entire ground of the passage has completely disappeared.
The giant square hole that suddenly appeared looks to my eye like you could fit a whole eighty-foot-long pool in there. The hole is too deep to see the bottom. All I can see as I gaze in is a black abyss.
“The edge is slanted like a mortar, so take caution. I want you all to memorize the location of this hole. I purposely triggered the trap this time, but normally, as long as we aren’t all on it, the pitfall will never open…though I have my doubts about Boxxo.”
I am pretty heavy. But I think Director Bear is, too.
He manipulates something again, and the ground’s lid closes up slowly.
“To be safe, proceed without touching the part of the ground that just opened. Once we’re past it, I’ll explain the outline of this mission in more detail.”
The Band of Gluttons seems scared out of their wits at the hole’s depth, but watching them go along with their eyes transfixed to the ground is adorable in its own right. When they’re not snarling, they’re practically therapy animals.
A short distance away from the hole, we sit down in a circle, and this time, it looks like Captain Kerioyl is in charge of doing the explaining.
“Great. So now that we’ve joined back up with Boxxo, I’ll give you all the details. The hole back there is twice as deep as the Flame Skeletitan. The plan is to guide it above the hole and drop it in, but I doubt the fall alone will destroy it, even if we do things right. And if we attack it from above the hole, its hellfires will melt everything. The idea, then, is to use the vice captain’s water-based magic and Boxxo providing even more to fill the hole with water.”
I see. That’s why you needed me. His idea is that if we can just extinguish its flames, the bones will be exposed like the flame scolls, and we’ll be able to damage it. It’s certainly possible to put the fire out by flooding the hole with water, but how many hours would it take to fill it?
With bottled water alone, it’ll take far more than just a few days.
I’ve heard it takes half a day just to fill up a school swimming pool with water. Based on this giant hole’s depth, it’ll take ten times that. Doing it normally would be a dizzying job.
“I know this is asking a lot, but… Do you have any way to sell large amounts of water or discharge it?”
Everyone’s eyes gather on me. Those expectant eyes on me make me uncomfortable. If we’re talking water vending machines, there are some that sell only mineral water. I believe it was in the features list. But it would take far too much time to fill the hole up with the water I could put out from that.
Water, water… Maybe I can put together the features I’ve already acquired to come up with something to lead me to a solution.
Come to think of it, if I use the ice vending machine I got before to dump ice in, it might fill up faster than putting in water.
Also, I just added a coin-operated vacuum cleaner from the feature list, too, but that won’t do much now. I do remember going to a self-service car wash before, but…hmm? A self-serve car wash. Which means I should be able to choose that, right?
Great. I feel like I’ve been spending far too many points lately, but a vending machine’s purpose is to be useful to its customers. I’ll add this feature.
By choosing it, my form begins to change. I morph into something several times wider than a vending machine, and several buttons appear. A hard, black hose affixes to my side, and beyond that, a nozzle with a lever resembling a gas pump.
“Yet another form I’ve never seen. Boxxo, this is your answer, right?”
“Welcome,” I answer immediately to Captain Kerioyl’s question. I’d normally doubt they’d figure out how to use this, but this time, Lammis and Hulemy are here for me. I trust that they’ll manage to do something.
“Excuse me, then. A bunch of bumps—will they respond somehow, like when you press the bumps to buy items?”
“Hulemy, there’s a really nicely drawn picture here. Could this be how to use it?” asks Lammis from my side as she points, as Hulemy’s already taken her first step in consideration.
Yes—this type has several different courses, and the photograph shows the process and how much it costs. If Hulemy looks at this, with how well she understands things, she’ll figure it out.
“Heh, what’s this? When a woman holds this, it shoots water! Boxxo, do you mind if I try it?!”
Hulemy presses me, eyes sparkling brightly. I don’t have any reason to refuse her. “Welcome. Insert coins.”
I’ve been doing free community service a lot recently, so I appeal to money. The Menagerie of Fools will end up fronting the bill in the end anyway, so there should be no problem.
“Oh? Then I’ll pay. Vice Captain?”
“How very like you not to consider paying from your own wallet.”
Vice Captain Filmina takes a gold coin out of her wallet and inserts it. Power fills my body, telling me that the preparations are complete.
“Great, all set. Just press this switch, point it away from others, and pull!”
Water erupts from the nozzle’s tip, scattering into a spray and hitting the wall. It seemed to be stronger than Hulemy anticipated, because the force made her take a step back.
“Incredible. You could easily extinguish a flame scoll with this.”
It looks like she’s starting to have fun, since she sprays the water on the wall from the top to the side, starting to clean off the dirt on it.
Lammis and Pell and Suco of the Band of Gluttons watch. Shui and the twins of the Menagerie of Fools go over to Hulemy, waiting enviously, with eyes as pure and innocent as a child who just spotted a toy.
“We can take turns,” says Hulemy as though instructing children. She’s met with a chorus of yeses. This pressure washer is actually fairly fun to use when washing your car. I’ve had machines clean the whole thing before, but ever since learning how fun it is to wash it yourself, I’ve been going for the self-service washes.
“With this much water, filling the hole isn’t a fantasy anymore. That’s a great help, Boxxo!”
I don’t feel bad that Captain Kerioyl praised me, but even with this amount, it will take days… No, maybe over a week would make more sense. If I keep shooting water that whole time, will things really go that well?
Plus, is this really the deciding factor? There’s no end to my questions and concerns, but if this is really the best option, I’ll just have to go with it. Time for me to let loose with everything I have.
Uh, wait, hold on. I can only use a form change for two hours per day… What should I do?
Two days passed after that.
Our days consist of one person wearing a rope just to be safe and fiddling with the trap-activating mechanism to open the big hole, while I keep pouring water inside.
Still, in the end, I’m only a pressure washer for one hour per day in case of unexpected accidents. After that, I continuously drop two-liter bottles of mineral water.
At first, they would have someone open the cover and they’d pour water onto the slanted part inside, but after seeing me getting rid of just the plastic bottle once so the water inside could get out, they immediately understood. Right now, I’m dumping entire plastic bottles down the hole.
Hugehog fiends and risen skeletons appear several times during the process, but it’s reckless of them to challenge this many skilled hunters in one group, so we drive them off in the blink of an eye.
When flame scolls appear, Lammis puts me on her back, and whoever we decided beforehand is on water-shooting duty strides right up to them and happily blasts them with water.
With this much water, their flames go right out. They seem to be having fun with it, and when a flame scoll appears, everyone that’s not on duty gets jealous.
“I’ll go down and check how much water accumulated. Be sure to hold on to the rope.”
The lightweight Mikenne ties a rope around his stomach, then has his friends lower him slowly down into the hole. It feels like there should be quite a bit of water down there now, but what does it actually look like?
After a while, Mikenne returns—having been fished out by Lammis—and delivers his report to Director Bear and the others.
“It’s cold like midwinter in the hole, but it looks like the bottom has good drainage. The water is seeping into it, so not all of it filled up.”
“Hmm. I see.”
“I thought it was a good plan, too… It should be effective to drop it down there, still, but I guess we have to go back to the drawing board.”
Director Bear and Captain Kerioyl trade looks and groan about it.
Good drainage? There might be something to test here.
“Oh, Boxxo changed all of a sudden. This is— Oh, I get it. If it’s cold, we should drop ice in, rather than water.”
That’s right. It’ll only be for an hour a day, but it’s better than doing nothing. And I increased my speed, so I can drop the ice out at a much faster rate than before.
