Chapter 480: Gravitational Vertigo Caused by Impact

Draw, and stab! Draw, and stab!

Techno-Magi-Gelus are strong against magic and weak against skill attacks, and furthermore, thanks to the level difference, I can take them down in one hit even with RNG.

However, you see? Yeah...

"Are they equipped with a 'Call for Backup' command or something?! Hahaha! It's an all-you-can-farm buffet!!"

Draw, and stab! Draw, and stab! The floor is completely covered in gel, but it turns into items the moment my feet touch it. I'll let it slide as video game logic, but the moment I touch those instantly bottled gels with my hands, they are promptly guided straight into my inventory.

"Thirty-five...? Tch, if they're trash mobs the respawn rate should be at least fifty per minute..."

No, wait... this area has been turned into a labyrinth using container-like obstacles, but... because the core of a Techno-Magi-Gelus is just a normal solid object, they can't slip through the gaps or anything.
Naturally, they have to follow the pathways to move as well... don't tell me the golems are actually getting lost too...

Splat.

".........Ah, so they're coming from above too."

That's great news; when it comes to three-dimensional maneuvering, that's my specialty. Although I can't do it right now thanks to Critical Speed's peaky performance!! ...I can't, anyway.

"Saina,"

"Acknowledgment: Composite Variable Armament 【Vanity Box】 Operational. In Gatling Mode... commencing eradication."

A meteor shower of bullets tearing through the steel sky. The magical gravel soaring from bottom to top effortlessly blows away the bodies of the Techno-Magi-Gelus, which are supposed to be resistant to magic, and crushes their exposed cores.

"It is simple physics. A body 'molded' into a humanoid shape by a mechanical core... needs only to be blown away."

"Thanks to that, it's raining gel over here!!"

"An Intelligence dripping with gel...!!"

That sounds more like an R-18 rating to me.
Whether because their main bodies were destroyed, or because touching their thoroughly squishy remains caused them to turn into items one after another, I watched with indescribable eyes as bottles clattered to the ground while we continued to advance further and further...

……

…………

………………

 "Anyway, I just went and sliced up roughly three hundred golems, both old and new models included, but since we went way too far I decided to come back for a bit. Here, a souvenir."

"What is this?"

"Beauty gel."

"What the hell did you even go out there for?!"

Infinite item collection... I guess.

"At any rate, what I've figured out is that steadily searching for the boss using orthodox methods is a complete waste of time."

The clan Tottori belongs to apparently specializes in this kind of thing, but unfortunately, in the First Shell Layer of this ship—which is larger than most islands—or in other words, the outermost and widest area, finding a boss from the inside of a whale's skin when we don't even know its exact size is just too high of a difficulty.
At the very least, for the Pioneer players... even assuming a maximum party size of fifteen, it's simply reckless.

"In other words, I'm guessing there's a hint somewhere... or rather, an intended strategy."

For example, just like how we defeated the Sealed Generals in Ruluiath to weaken Ctarrnid, my hypothesis is that there's some kind of backdoor stage gimmick.

And I have a feeling the hint is... up above.

"Saina, investigate the top of that object for me."

"Acknowledgment."

This is the tough part about party play; even if I want to act as a scout, Critical Speed is just too hard to use. Well, judging from the 【Speed Holder】 title I somehow acquired, I know that my velocity alone is completely unrivaled, but... man, it really is just too peaky.

"Verification Complete: No notable anomalies detected."

"I see, then which direction did those Gel Golems come from?"

"From that vector."

I see, I see. The golems that the AI overseeing this ship proudly declared "I made them" are all uniformly coming from a specific direction...

I stare intently at Isana with dead salmon eyes, but Isana just keeps smiling happily for whatever reason. Hmm, I'm not a Schemer like Pencilgon, so extracting information isn't exactly my forte...

"It's just a hypothesis, but if we challenge the labyrinth dead-on... we can probably reduce the number of combat encounters."

It seems reinforcements will rain down from above if we stay in one place for too long, but... conversely, if we sprint through the labyrinth non-stop, there's a high chance we'll only have to deal with encounter battles.

"On the other hand, if we take the route 'above' the labyrinth... we'll probably have to fight a massive amount of enemies, but we can shortcut the maze entirely."

After all, there are no walls up there; we can charge straight through with perfect visibility. Well, it might be tough for Araba since he doesn't jump or bounce around much... ah, my mistake, Le Araba, right, right.

"But this is ultimately just a matter of changing the distance. There has to be something else..."

『"Isana" Weather Report〜!』

What the hell, did this piece of junk glitch out?
Hearing the word "Weather" in relation to the Divine Age made everyone, myself included, brace ourselves slightly, as the suddenly appearing hologram woman began to speak while spinning around.

『Today in the First Shell Layer, due to insufficient maintenance, there will be showers of Gravitational Rain (Gravity Rain)! Please exercise caution!!』

"No, if you know insufficient maintenance is going to cause something, then go do maintenance."

『P-Please exercise caution!』

Ah, right, right, it's a forced event, I get it. More importantly, what the hell is Gravitational Rain? Gravity pouring down like raindrops makes zero sens...

Splat.

"...Gel rain?"

A Techno-Magi-Gelus suddenly fell from above and smashed into the floor, scattering gel everywhere. Just how fast did it fall......... wait, fall?

".........Ah, so that's it."

So what does this mean? Because the gravity control inside the Leviathan is bugged from lack of maintenance, enemies that fell from the floor to the ceiling are now falling back from the ceiling to the floor.
Or maybe it's the other way around, but there's one thing I can say for sure.

"Everyone, ruuuun!!!"

Looking up, those bullshit Raindrops (Golems) with metal chunks inside their gel bodies were flying in from somewhere, aiming their vectors straight down right above our heads───

"I'm probably dead here."

"Le Araba, giving up is not good."

"Saina!"

"Acknowledgment: Commencing cargo transport."

"Oguu!!?"

Splat-splat-splat-splat-splat!!!! A torrential downpour of gel smashed into the spot we just ran through. Idiots, a homing AoE attack is practically synonymous with "it won't hit if you just keep running." Heh, as long as we don't get chased into a dead-end, running guarantees we won't get hi... Ah, it's a dead-end.

"Kuh... I was able to lay eyes upon the Divine Beast before I died. I have no regrets...!!"

"Don't just give up on your own, you dumbass!!"

Shoot them down with Saina's Vanity Box (Gatling)? No, even if we blow away the body, they won't turn into items unless we crush the core. Gel or not, through whatever principle they're currently a murderous rain flying at us like fastballs; if we let even one slip through, worst-case scenario it takes a direct hit to the head and kills us.
Dying by getting struck by a rain of jelly is on the same level of stupidity as dying by bumping your head on the corner of a block of tofu.

What do we do, risk it all on an interception... wait, "it blows up if unmaintained"? Where exactly were they supposed to do maintenance anyway? Gravity is going, like... up, down...

"...The floor?!"

When it comes to dungeon tropes... it's convoluted mazes and traps that activate when stepped on!!

"Saina! Destroy the floor!!"

"Why... Negative. Acknowledgment: Form Alteration (Make-up) 【Triple Acceleration Hammer (Impactor)】... Operational."

With a clank-clank and shifting through a mechanism I couldn't even begin to comprehend, Saina raised her Vanity Box, which had transformed into a hammer fitted with cylindrical boosters.

"Boosters Operational. Commencing pulverization."

Her slender frame slammed the great hammer into the floor.
A deafening roar. Fissures spiderwebbed across the metallic floor, but instead of shattering...

Vwum (The sound of a section of the floor glowing red)

"Oh."

"Nuooh."

"Wa—"

"Isana you bastard remember this seriouslyyyyyyyy.........!!!"

Apparently, antique electronics can be fixed by whacking them, but the Leviathan's floors just break normally.
Stepping onto a floor where the gravity vector had completely glitched out, our bodies were sent launching into the sky without wings, exactly like the Gel Golems raining down from above...

Author's Afterword
Originally, this was the exterior armor, and the gravity control units meant to repel debris were flipped inside-out at "Isana's" discretion; thus, destroying them causes the controlled gravity to run wild, resulting in "falling" upwards.
Because a certain God did something completely unnecessary, the Leviathan has turned into a surprise-filled trick-house.