Chapter 295: The "Red" of the Deep Stratum

The Helm of the Special Enhanced Armor [Tsuya-Bane], which corresponds to the Tactical Mech-Bird [Suzaku], apparently possessed a night-vision effect on its own. However, it seems that effect was strictly possible because it was receiving an energy supply from Suzaku.
No matter how much players receive a visual correction that turns absolute pitch-black darkness into mere "gloominess," dark is still dark.

It's not like water was going to leak into the armor, but since there was no way to supply oxygen, I still had to periodically use an Inventoria Escape. Even so, the powered suits from the Divine Age are seriously convenient.
Being underwater, having the power turned off, and simply being heavy... while moving my limbs—which felt surprisingly sluggish due to this triple threat—I activated a certain magic.

"Thinking about it carefully, this magic is blatantly designed as the Lycaon-meta..."

When I equipped [Fugaku], I set a magic on the Star Cloak of Lapistella, which I had stuffed into the armor along with me. It was 【Magic Torch】, a spell that continuously consumes MP while activated to generate a light source until it is canceled. The price was 2,000 Mani—mere pocket change... but the fact that it pointlessly consumes MP makes it essentially a strict downgrade of the "Torch" item, right? Do you even need this in the first place?

Not a chance! The fact that it can be cast underwater and doesn't occupy your hands makes it an incredibly useful magic! By simply setting this on rotation in the head of a muscle-brain who doesn't rely on MP, you can effectively counter Lycaon's invisible clones.
But that wasn't the true worth of this magic. In ShanFro, where both magic and skills are fundamentally active types, this magic allows for an incredibly rare passive usage. I don't know if dedicated magic classes have skills that make this possible since I'm not well-versed in them, but if you have an accessory capable of proxy activation like the Star Cloak of Lapistella, you can double-cast magic.

"Magic Scroll... 【Active Sonar】"

The price was 200,000 Mani—pocket change.
A search magic that displays the topographical information within a thirty-meter radius centered on the caster, as well as the coordinates of players, NPCs, and enemies. Generally speaking, the price of a Disposable Magic Scroll is directly proportional to the difficulty of learning that magic.
Well, a magic that directly shoves topographical data into your brain as an image must require an absurd amount of system resources, so I'm completely satisfied with the 200,000 Mani price tag.

"...Honestly, to think he seriously just pressed down on it from above and crushed it to use it as a 'Lid'."

Between the field of vision illuminated by the Magic Torch and the topographical image floating in my mind from the Active Sonar, it was proven that the "Lid" at the absolute bottom of this crater—the very thing that halted the volcanic activity—was a massive something that still retained traces of horns and scales here and there.

And at the same time, I could see a fissure running along a part of the wall inside the crater. It was a scar in the volcano perfectly sized for a single person to pass through. The "Lid" separated the fissure right around the middle, which conversely meant that if I went through the inside of the fissure, I could slip right underneath the Lid.

"Alright... Fnn!"

Goryu (The sound of [Fugaku] getting stuck in the fissure).

This Fat Bastard ... I'll temporarily retreat into the storage dimension with Inventoria.

"I should be fine with the water pressure, right............ Actually, no."

It was highly likely that even the other, more slender Enhanced Armors wouldn't be able to pass through the fissure compared to [Fugaku]. In that case, I'd have to return to my bare body... I really didn't want to abuse it, but I needed to prepare myself.

What I pulled out was the other Chalice I obtained as a reward from the Ctarrnid battle... the Indigo Chalice.
It possesses the incredibly powerful ability to swap the numerical values of specific stats. However, as a penalty, after a certain amount of time passes, the two designated stats are slapped with a debuff that weakens them to less than half their original value for a set duration.
While recovering my MP, I activated the Indigo Chalice, and...

"Gobobobu......!?"

The instant I returned to real space, a massive mass of water attacked me, threatening to crush my body completely───

............

.........

......

"Ssha, ora... I survived it, ora...!!"

The Crater Lake of Rise and Fall, which had accumulated an absurd amount of water within its sealed crater over a long, long period of time. Slipping past the "Lid" deep inside the crater, threading through the gaps in a geological stratum that appeared to be cooled and hardened magma... Not worrying about the minor details, I had finally reached an underground cavern where I could breathe.

As expected, I took damage from the water pressure... meaning my read and prediction were completely dead-on.
The stats I inverted using the Indigo Chalice were "VIT" and "LUC." Water pressure is essentially environmental damage; it's practically synonymous with stepping into a poison swamp or lava. And since "pressure" is basically a continuous blunt impact, I figured I could endure it if I raised my VIT, and it looks like I hit the jackpot.

"Looks like I completely used up the MP charged into the Star Cloak of Lapistella..."

But I don't need a light source anymore.
Because this place is so bright I don't even need one.

............

.........

......

How exactly should I describe it?

I don't have a real-life skill like being highly knowledgeable in geology. But even I can tell that a magma chamber is absolutely not structured like this.

"Folololololololololo........."

"What the hell is thaaat..."

The Crater Lake of Rise and Fall... The area I'll tentatively refer to as the "Deep Stratum," was a dome-shaped area smaller than a baseball stadium.
Past the Middle Stratum right before the Red Dragon Lid, diving even deeper below that, you reach the Lower Stratum with a canopy of cooled, hardened magma. Descending through the fissure from there leads to the Deep Stratum, where, due to the nature of the entrance, water was falling from several spots on the ceiling like waterfalls.
The material of the walls and ground was the same as the canopy—meaning it was cooled, hardened magma... But normally, a terrain wouldn't form like this. The fact that it cooled and hardened means it was submerged in water at some point. If there are no gaps for magma to flow in, it means the water was drained through some abnormal method.

So basically, the scenery of the field was a dome with no exits, featuring pillars of water pouring down from above onto a water-covered floor. And situated exactly in the center was That............ I really don't want to get involved with it, but no matter how I look at it, the item I'm looking for has to be That.

"Fololololololo........."

"A monster... No, is there a possibility it's an NPC...?"

No, seriously, how exactly am I supposed to describe that... A sphere emitting a light that looks like a mix of vermilion—reminiscent of magma—and white, with broccoli sprouting out of it in an X-shape? On top of that, it's making a bizarre noise that sounds like a mix between laughing and snoring.
Seeing as my body, which had been drenched just moments ago, was drying far too quickly for it to be natural, I could tell that the magma-colored glowing something was also emitting heat.

"........."

Maybe it's because I've spent the vast majority of my ShanFro playtime wearing it, but the mask had become a sort of routine for me. Equipping the Gazing Bird Mask and becoming a bird-head once again, I tentatively drew my weapo—

"Qiqiqiqiqiqiqi......"

"Okay, got it! We'll go with 'No Weapons' today..."

Stowing my weapons with the fastest, smoothest movement I had ever achieved—a motion so flawless I felt like I could aim for a world record in a time attack—the X-Broccoli's "warning sound" vanished, and that Laughing-Snore began again.
For now, I understood that the monster... well, it's probably a monster, but the X-Broccoli possesses a nature extremely close to a non-active monster. If merely readying a weapon shifts it into a state of high alert, then going unarmed... or so I thought, but it seems it decided to let me off the hook.

"More importantly, didn't that thing just start transforming...?"

I couldn't tell clearly because of the light it was emitting, but in that brief instant, something shaped like broccoli was attempting to unfold, much like spreading out a crumpled piece of cloth. It was safe to assume that its current form was strictly its standby state.

The Crater Lake of Rise and Fall. The mysterious floating object in the Deep Stratum. Since this space is completely sealed as a dome, it means my objective has to be That, but...

"Lately, my equipment has gotten pretty solid, so I've been able to just brute-force my way through things, so I haven't done this much recently... But maybe I should go in for some good old-fashioned testing!"

Let's have a heart-to-heart!

Author's Afterword
Two "Reds" that seem similar but are actually different. The Colored Dragons are related in a way, but also kinda not really.