The prototype of the explosive orb ended up being scrapped.

The main issue was that its power was simply too high.

After defeating the Giant Ape, I used one of the remaining explosive orbs to test it on the remaining monsters in the hall.

The result… well, it was the same.

It wasn’t some fortunate fluke where only the Giant Ape was affected. Every monster, starting with the Ogre, was completely wiped out, core and all.

The explosive orb won’t activate unless it hits a monster. However, if it happens to detonate while you’re carrying it — say from a collision — that power would explode right in your pocket.

In short, you’d die.

If someone dies in a dungeon, their body is absorbed into the dungeon within about a day.

If the body isn’t retrieved before that, the dungeon’s maintenance fees increase the following year. But if the body is incinerated without a trace, there’s nothing left to recover.

Even if Fiora hadn’t scrapped it, Liesel would’ve rejected it during the check.

As a weapon, it’s an extremely powerful success, but considering its intended purpose, it’s unfortunately a huge failure.

It’s rare for Fiora to fail, but rather than feeling discouraged, she was instead excitedly working on improvements.

And, of course, I’m the one who gets to test her improved explosive orbs.

◇

“Yo, Vice Commander! Testing another one of Lady Fiora’s experiments today?”

The adventurers lounging at the usual base at the uppermost floor greeted me.

They hunt in the middle and upper floors, never venturing into the lower floors where I hunt. They shouldn’t have seen me in action, yet somehow they’ve picked up on what I’m doing down there through gossip.

I can’t go into details yet, but spreading awareness about my activities isn’t a bad thing.

So, from time to time, I chat with them when passing by.

“Yeah, yeah. She’s been making whatever comes to mind one after another, so there’s a lot of stuff. But I think she’s nearly finished.”

The issues with the explosive orb were its excessive power and the blinding flash during detonation.

Fiora figured she had rushed the process too much, so she’s now methodically adding one ingredient at a time to the combustion orb, creating new versions.

It’s just a matter of tweaking the formula, so it’s not overly demanding for her. But these adventurers, unaware of that, are quite impressed.

That said, if I kept coming and going like this too often, they might start feeling uneasy. Fortunately, with today’s test likely being the final one, I doubt their opinion of Fiora will drop.

“Alright then, I’m off. See ya!”

I couldn’t linger here too long, so I ended the conversation at a reasonable point, waved to them, and left the hall.

◇

Now then, as usual in the lower floor’s familiar hall, I spread poison to paralyze the monsters.

And, just like always, the Giant Ape lumbered out from the passage at the back.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve defeated this thing by now…

I can’t let my guard down, but I’ve already figured out how to deal with it.

Sorry, buddy, but you’re going to be my test subject again today!

After the initial prototype with excessive power and blinding light, Fiora adjusted the orb to reduce both effects, replacing them with a deafening blast instead.

Since I was warned in advance, I stuffed cloth in my ears — yet even so, the sound was still overwhelming.

It was effective for alerting others in the area, which wasn’t bad… but it still had too much impact on the user and barely affected the monsters.

That version was scrapped as well.

The third version removed the combustion effect entirely, leaving just sound and light. But that version’s effects were underwhelming.

After several more missteps, Fiora finally found a promising direction.

The previous version had been refined to rely purely on shock impact.

It no longer resembled a combustion orb at all, yet the results were solid.

The newest version built upon that — I’d already heard the details.

This one’s likely to be the final form.

“One, two… now!”

I accelerated the 【Floating Orb】 and threw the explosive orb over the Giant Ape’s head as I passed by.

A moment later, a loud pop echoed, like a balloon bursting.

When I turned around, the Giant Ape staggered back, then collapsed onto its rear.

Good. Just as planned.

I redirected the 【Floating Orb】 and charged toward the Giant Ape again.

“Take this!”

This time, I hurled a combustion orb.

As always, its effect was spectacular — flames erupted from the Giant Ape’s head.

“Heh.”

Seeing that, I quickly activated 【Danrem’s Thread】 and began preparing for my next strike.

Hit with that mysterious shockwave and then engulfed in flames… not even a Giant Ape could endure that.

I lined up my shot carefully… This next strike will finish it!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・【Hideout】+1 【Prayer】 【Mira’s Blessing】 【Wind’s Garment】 ・【Floating Orb】+1 【Shadow Sword】 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 ・28 cards

Seriana ・【Area Identification】 ・【】 ・38 cards

Elena ・【】 ・【Green Fang】 【Amber Sword】 ・4 cards

Alec ・【Strong Strike】 ・【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・9 cards