So I’m a Fish, So What?

Ahhh, this is annoying.

I just wanted a blood pumping battle, man… 

I guess it’s my fault for choosing a Water Dragon as an opponent when I know they’re gregarious.

Note to self, please stop acting on impulse and take a moment to think about the consequences.

Maybe some other dragon species can fulfill my desire.

I know for a fact that earth dragons are honorable warriors that love battle as much as or even more than I do.

However, I only know about the ones living down in the Elroe Labyrinth’s lower stratum.

Also, they seem to hold some important position which led to them being monitored by that administrator guy that popped up when Kumoko killed the Fire Dragon.

Or more specifically, the Elroe Labyrinth seems to be an incredibly important place in this world judging by the ridiculously strong monsters that work as glorified security guards over there.

The entire middle stratum is a magma sea which prevents over 90% of the species on this planet from passing through.

Even if you’re lucky enough to survive a fall down a pit from the upper stratum, you’ll be greeted by tons of high level monsters and a bunch of Earth Dragons.

Then if the goddess of luck is madly in love with you and you survive all of this stuff and finally reach the bottom stratum.

You’d be greeted by an army of Taratects along with a legendary Queen Taratect capable of crushing countries with ease– ah, and an angry upcoming Demon Lord.

Pretty sure Demon Lord Ariel was actually living down in the bottom stratum before she decided to take the job, although I don’t have enough information to guess why.

If you tell me all of this is some kind of coincidence, it’s impossible for me to believe you.

I’m 100% sure there’s a mind-blowing discovery waiting for me to make down there!

For now though, I’d be content with finding a different earth dragon habitat with ones stronger than Araba inhabiting it.

I mean, just one spike from me and the guy that was Kumoko’s worst nightmare for months would be dead, y’know? 

Using my entire skillset with my current stats would be complete overkill if I’m matched against the monsters in the Elroe Labyrinth.

Even if the power creep over there is insane, I can confidently assert that fighting the monsters over there can only end with me either winning or fleeing.

Let’s not mention Mischief for now, the fact that I can insta-cast Long-Range Teleportation skills while having high priority in controlling the surrounding space means that I’m pretty much the most elusive creature living on this planet.

The Daughter of Space skill doesn’t just grant me some abilities, it puts me in a special position inside the W system. It’s kinda similar to the Hero and Demon Lord titles.

Except for administrators and outsider gods, my space authority is undoubtedly the highest!

However, this kinda puts me in an embarrassing spot. I mean, others wouldn’t understand nor care, but I personally feel embarrassed.

You see, I really wanna have a long fight against an even-matchup, but my skillset leans towards huge amounts of burst damage with different ways to land that burst combo.

For example, I could’ve actually just used Phantom Runes right at the start of the previous fight, then I follow up with a Short-Range Teleport above the dragon’s head and stab him through the eye.

Nonetheless, I went through the pain of letting him use some of his spells, even going as far as letting him use the poison Water Dragons are good at so that the fight doesn’t end quickly.

Yet this guy just decided to call for foreign aid and mess it all up. Like, foreign aid and luck are a part of strength, sure.

But for him to resort to such methods as soon as we encountered the first stalemate in our battle meant that he couldn't do better, so it kinda killed the mood.

Which led me to just end it and look for some other opponent.

Despite that, I still had a slither of hope that he might surprise me with some ingenious tactic, but I was left disappointed until the very end. 

To think that a quick combo of Phantom Runes and Magic Barrier easily ended the fight… The guy didn’t even understand how I killed him! I had to fucking spell it out for him!!

I’m quite conflicted about the ways I could go about fixing this.

I mean, Expel and Mischief were already sealed yet it was still a crushing victory for me in the end.

Maybe I should seal a couple more skills…? I really don’t wanna do that, I feel like it would fuel my arrogance to uncontrollable levels.

You know, A lioness will use all of her strength even when hunting a rabbit and all that.

If I become arrogant, I might soon become the first lioness in history who loses due to a rabbit’s trick…

Also, imagining myself fighting against honorable opponents like Earth Dragons, especially their leader Gakia with sealed skills just feels sickening.

Sigh… Well, if my stats and skills are too strong that I can easily decimate opponents with similar or lower strength to mine, then I’ll just target monsters that are stronger than me.

I was forced to do that if I wanted to gain any experience as a Laethoul Ramae, but it seems I’ll keep on doing it even after this restriction was lifted.

It’s like a drug, I guess. A drug that was tailor made for me and secretly introduced into my blood by the most evil goddess in this world.

It’s also one I’ll willingly indulge in nonetheless.  The sheer euphoria it inspires in me is worth it.

You win this time, D. I hope this serves as good entertainment material for you.

Ah well, enough of me ranting… I should probably focus on post-battle cleanup now.

The dragon’s death doesn’t mean that it’s all over, his backup consisting of hundreds of wyrms is still there albeit still stuck in my illusion.

Also, I believe it’s safe to use Conquest this time, my soul has already been restored to pristine condition!

Well, here goes nothing.

 

{Condition Satisfied. Acquired title [Wyrm Slaughterer].}

{Acquired skills [Magic Hoard LV 1] [Wyrm Barrier LV 1] as a result of title [Wyrm Slaughterer].}

{Skill [Magic Mass LV 6] has been integrated into skill [Magic Hoard LV 1].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Magic Hoard LV 1] has become [Magic Hoard LV 2].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Divinity Expansion LV 4] has become [Divinity Expansion LV 5].}

 

Thanks for the meal, I’ll make sure to enjoy the rest later!

Ahhh, nothing can restore my mood better than a big tasty meal!

The disgusting feeling I got from using conquest was diluted by the sheer satisfaction, and I even gained some of that MA energy in my stats!

Oh! And the amount of pollution in my soul isn’t that much…

Actually, I’ve developed a habit of boosting Soul Seeker and checking my soul once every two weeks since that time with Greed. 

I’ve even increased the frequency to once per week after getting Mischief.

You can never be sure when it comes to illusory things like souls after all.

It seems that I've reached the number cap on the stats plundered from water wyrms though, a very regrettable development.

Well then, guess I'm done here!

I do wonder where that strange purple cloud popped out from, it seems that any creature that comes into contact with it dies for some reason.

Who'd be so heinous as to create and leave such an environmental disaster without thinking about the consequences?!

Well, it doesn't have anything to do with me– definitely maybe.

Onwards, I go!

 

---

Back on Earth, Japan.

“Why are you not interfering when she’s heading in that direction?! If that dragon guy finds out that such a strong creature discovers the complete truth, he would stop at nothing in order to kill her!”

“Stop shouting in my ears now, would you? I normally wouldn’t interfere nor explain my intentions to someone as lowly as you, but I’ll humor you since it’s about the little fish this time.”

Too lazy to keep the normal act up, she materializes a bunch of floating windows and mentally manipulates them to show certain scenes.

The first one shows the current scenery around Tomoko, with a bunch of parameter measurements above it.

On the second screen, the real-time monitoring of an enormous eastern-style dragon that’s heading in a certain direction is shown on it. Its blue scales are a clear indicator of its species, a Water Dragon.

Then on the third and last screen, a dark-skinned armored man with draconic horns growing out of his head can be seen frowning. 

However, unlike the other two, Ouri was unable to glean much information about him.

That wasn’t needed though. She already knew who he was, the Dragon God Güliedistodiez and also the person whom she just mentioned.

“Why is he not moving? That’s about a thousand high-level wyrms and a low-high tier dragon dead… Normally, he’d be at her side in less than a second, especially considering the location they died in. Also, why isn’t he reacting even though you’re spying on him?”

“It’s not that he doesn’t want to go, it’s that he can’t , silly. Though he did send a large snake to investigate, it’s just that it’s unknown whether it can find anything useful.”

“... You’re not gonna answer me if I ask why, are you?”

“Hmm? Of course not.”

“Figured… It’s fine if you let her go there, but both you and I know that her skillset is completely unsuited for the creatures that live there– no, those ones aren’t even alive anymore.”

“Ahh, you can see the little one’s quite frustrated that her long awaited fight had to end early, isn’t she? Allowing her to go there is just fulfilling her wish, is it not?”

“The... things over there are not the type she wants to fight though. Also, I’m pretty sure they aren’t included in your system, right?”

“Ahh, they aren’t. After all, those puppets in the depths would seem alive when compared to these ones. They were directly created by the planet after all.”

Even if D can easily destroy a planet if she wants to, it’s an undisputed fact that the first gods were essentially created by planets as a self-defense mechanism.

Although that changed after some specific races figured out methods of ascending to godhood, both the knowledge and energy required for the process come from planets.

“Annnd there, all done. I’ve added them in.”

“Huh? Their energy gets recycled by the planet itself though. Surely even you can’t interfere with the planet when it’s reabsorbing its own energy, right?”

“You can think of it this way, yeah.”

“But then where would the experience points gained by killing them come from?”

“From the system’s stockpiled energy of course, silly.”

“WHAT?! But that is reserved for p–”

“Preventing the planet from collapse? Pfft, it’s not my problem in the first place. Don’t think about stopping me unless you have some other plan that doesn’t include killing my fun time.”

“...”

Crossing her legs, D pulls up another window that shows those familiar vertical-slit eyes. 

However, they appear to be unfocused and full of conflicted emotions right now which brings a tiny unnoticeable but definitely evil smile to D’s face.

“Well? I’m all ears.”

“... Don’t give energy to all of the monsters at once,  just the ones she kills. Also, don’t touch the stockpile… just use my physical body’s life force instead.”

That unnoticeable smile suddenly widens into a grin that is eerie enough to send shivers up Ouri’s spine.

“Ahaa! So, that’s what it was! I was quite curious about why you cared too much about the little fishie, but to think you have such ambitions.”

“Anyone would be the same if they were in my place, even that bird woman.”

Not wanting to continue with this conversation, Ouri’s window disappears as does her telepathic connection with D.

Of course, both know that she was only able to do so because D allowed it, otherwise it’s impossible for someone of her power to resist for a moment against D.

“Oh, but she is in your place– no, she’s in an even worse spot. The dragon's struggle has been boring to watch lately, yet I can now witness the struggles of two more gods. Ahh, Tomoko is truly a treasure, isn’t she?”