Chapter 83
Hiss—!
A little more time passed, and at last, with a soft mechanical hum, the completed equipment popped out of the armory.
Since the rainbow ore and leather had gone into it whole, I had expected at least somewhat stiff leather or hard armor plates layered inside, even though I had ordered a windbreaker.
But when I actually examined the clothes, all my expectations had been wrong.
"It's just an outdoor windbreaker with a lot of pockets?"
The texture beneath my fingertips was pure, soft, supple nylon.
It was light, too.
The design was perfect for everyday wear, but I was a little doubtful that it could actually function as armor capable of blocking monster attacks.
Honestly, it looked like it would tear if it caught on a tree branch...
"This won't do. I need to test it."
With a suspicious look, I spread the windbreaker out flat on the floor.
I slid a steel plate beneath it.
Then I called over the golem that had been waiting nearby.
"Come here and stomp on those clothes as hard as you can."
The golem hesitated, cocking its foot quizzically, but at my firm gesture, it soon raised its massive steel leg.
Thud—!
The golem planted its full weight on the floor.
It was an enormous impact, enough to tear ordinary clothes apart or dent the steel plate beneath them.
An unexpected sight unfolded where the foot had been lifted.
"The clothes are fine..."
The paper-thin windbreaker was perfectly intact, without even a single thread pulled loose.
When I lifted it, the steel plate beneath it was unchanged as well.
If anything, the golem looked flustered, as though its toe had gone numb.
"As expected, it's not ordinary."
Armor made from visibly excellent materials had equally extraordinary performance.
Everything was good, except for one bothersome detail.
I looked down at the intact windbreaker and let out an incredulous hollow laugh.
"...Why is it glowing?"
The instant it received the impact of the golem's stomp, a brilliant rainbow wave spread softly across the black windbreaker's surface, following the spot that had been struck.
It felt exactly like the LED lights spreading every time you pressed a gaming keyboard at a PC bang.
It wasn't even a gaming windbreaker.
"Come on, just because it has rainbow ore in it doesn't mean it needs to flash like that."
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
Its defensive power was beyond question, but if it blasted rainbow LED lights in every direction whenever it was hit, it wouldn't help me stay hidden—instead, it would attract every monster's aggro for miles around.
While I was at it, I called over a combat drone as well.
I was a little nervous, but it had withstood the golem's impact—
"Drone. Fire at this."
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
The drone's muzzle flashed, and live rounds struck the windbreaker dead-on.
Sssshing—! Thunk.
The bullets failed to penetrate the fabric, spinning helplessly across the windbreaker before slowly coming to a stop.
At the same time, another brilliant rainbow wave danced outward from the point of impact.
It was dazzling enough to advertise to every monster, I got hit here!
"...The performance is good."
I picked up the glowing windbreaker and let out a deep sigh.
Wearing this into a dungeon would probably attract aggro in an instant, but—
"Still, I can't give up armor tough enough to withstand gunfire."
It was a little awkward, but survival came first.
Depending on the situation, glowing like this might even be helpful.
...Wouldn't some monsters find the light confusing?
I shook the windbreaker out and put it on.
The fit was even better than I had expected.
The soft feel against my skin was nice, and its light weight made it easy to move.
It was well ventilated, too. At this rate, I could probably wear it comfortably even in summer.
I adjusted my clothes in front of the mirror and set one more goal for today.
'...It would be best to root out the hazards around Demi-Human Town in advance.'
Now that the Constellations' attention was focused on me and Demi-Human Town,
if I showed them myself clearing a dungeon, I might be able to expect sponsorships like before.
I also wanted to gather materials for my new equipment and replenish the golem's dwindling supply of shells.
When I looked toward Ha-seon, Ha-seon was busy checking the Gallery because of the newly added feature.
Even when I had just fired a gun at the windbreaker in Car No. 2, Ha-seon's concentration hadn't wavered.
"Find the nearest dungeon to the safe zone."
Whirrrrr—!
At my command, the drones scattered in every direction, and before ten minutes had passed, I received a signal that they had found a rippling rift in a nearby aboveground parking lot.
I watched the footage sent by the drone in the cockpit and nodded.
"Good. Let's go."
I thought briefly of Sua.
Normally, I would borrow Sua's skill to learn about the dungeon's interior before entering, but this time, a strange confidence got the better of me.
'I've got armor on... and Sua looks a little tired...'
Without the slightest idea that it would become a painful blunder, I led the golem and drones confidently into the rift.
***
The moment I passed through the rift, what I felt was darkness and silence.
It was a pitch-black space where not a single ray of light entered.
I cautiously adjusted my grip on the spear and watched the area ahead.
"Drone, light up the front."
Flash—!
Thank goodness the drones were here.
When they illuminated the surroundings all at once, purple mushrooms covering the cave walls came into view.
But something was strange.
The moment the light touched them, the mushrooms began trembling and emitting an unpleasant sound.
'What? Do they make sounds in response to light?'
That was when it happened.
A shadow dropped silently from the ceiling and descended onto my shoulder.
Crack!
"Aah!"
I rolled across the floor from the sudden impact.
Fortunately, the windbreaker had prevented any damage.
I had only rolled because the ambush and the noise had startled me.
And then—
Flash!
The instant it was struck, my windbreaker began blasting brilliant rainbow LED lights in every direction as if it had been waiting for that moment.
In the pitch-black darkness, my body shone brilliantly like a gaming keyboard, illuminating the surroundings.
At the same time, I looked up at the ceiling.
"Ah..."
I saw hundreds of eyes flashing simultaneously from the ceiling.
Bats, and rats?
Screeech—!
Hundreds of monsters hidden in the darkness began pouring down madly toward me, flashing rainbow light in the middle of the dungeon.
"...What is with this number...?"
Watching my windbreaker flash nonstop, I gripped my spear tightly, belatedly filled with regret.
...My plan to appeal to the Constellations seemed to have succeeded.
Messages saying that the Constellations were laughing heartily were already flooding my vision.
Apparently, the sight of me unintentionally becoming a human disco ball in the middle of a dungeon was entertaining the Constellations.
"Ugh, this is so damn disgusting!"
The monsters raining down toward my rainbow-colored body were fist-sized bats and swarms of rats with blood-red eyes.
Their individual attacks weren't particularly threatening, but the real problems were the pathogens they carried and their maddening numbers.
The sniper drone and I specialized in single-target attacks, while the reconnaissance drones had weak combat abilities.
The combat drones and golem could at least launch area attacks, but their missiles and shells had reload times.
Whoooosh—! KABOOM!
"Kiiiieek—!"
The golem fired a shell, scattering the rats' formation, but the moment it broke apart, even more rats poured out screaming from the darkness all around us.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
The combat drone sprayed bullets and knocked bats from the air, but the instant it entered a brief reload cycle, they swarmed it like bees and began gnawing at its armor plates.
"They just keep coming!"
I swung my spear to knock away the bats rushing at me, but the rats boiling up from every direction climbed my legs and bit at my clothes.
At that point, I felt relieved.
'Is it because it's glowing? They're only biting the windbreaker.'
If they had attacked my pants, shoes, or exposed skin, it would have been dangerous. This was an advantage I hadn't expected.
The windbreaker wasn't being pierced, but the attacks made it flash constantly, scattering LED light throughout the cave.
The moment I was driven back by their assault and stood with my back against the cave wall,
the creatures latched onto the drones, the golem, and me.
Since I was being attacked without pause, the windbreaker's light seemed to be almost constantly switched on.
"At this rate... this could get bad..."
I tightened my grip on the spear.
At that moment, something changed.
"...Huh?"
The rainbow light swirling around the windbreaker flowed down my arm and into the shaft of the spear in my hand in an instant.
Vmmmm—!
The spear in my hand blazed with rainbow light, as if it were about to burst.
I had a sudden intuition.
I needed to swing the spear now.
Instinctively, I swung the spear in a wide arc through the air toward the swarms of rats and bats rushing at me.
I spun my upper body in a full circle and brought the spear down to brush away the rats and bats.
"Hoo!"
KWAANG—!
Along with the breath exploding from my mouth, a rainbow-colored wave spread from the spear.
I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it felt like the sword aura I had seen in certain martial arts novels.
Squeeeak—!
The cave space within a radius of several dozen meters was engulfed in a rainbow flash.
The swarms of rats and bats filling one side of my vision were swept up in the slash and evaporated into mist in an instant.
Along the slash's trajectory, one side of the dungeon wall split open, revealing a scene that had been cleanly cleared out.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"Oh... LED sword aura..."
With a dazed expression, I uttered words that would make any martial arts novel reader recoil.
Half the enemies that had filled the cave disappeared with a single swing.
At the same time, I felt an impact strong enough to numb the arm holding the spear.
I stared blankly at the scene before me, then examined my chest.
The rainbow glow that had brightly illuminated the windbreaker had disappeared.